Jemenkrieg-Mosaik 287 - Yemen War Mosaic 287

Yemen Press Reader 287: Es fehlt sauberes Wasser–USA: Pläne, den Krieg anzuheizen–Britische Mittäterschaft bei Kriegsverbrechen–Humanitäre Krise–Saudischer Luftschlag, 10 Tote (8 Kinder)–Kämpfe

Bei diesem Beitrag handelt es sich um ein Blog aus der Freitag-Community.
Ihre Freitag-Redaktion

Eingebetteter Medieninhalt

Lack of clean water – US plans to escalate war in Yemen – British complicity with war crimes in Yemen–Humanitarian crisis – Saudi air raid kills 10 (8 children) – Heavy fighting – and more

Schwerpunkte / Key aspects

Klassifizierung / Classification

cp1 Am wichtigsten / Most important

cp2 Allgemein / General

cp3 Humanitäre Lage / Humanitarian situation

cp5 Nordjemen und Huthis / Northern Yemen and Houthis

cp6 Südjemen und Hadi-Regierung / Southern Yemen and Hadi-government

cp7a Saudi-Arabien und Iran / saudi Arabia and Iran

cp8 Saudi-Arabien / Saudi Arabia

cp9 USA

cp10 Großbritannien / Great Britain

cp12 Andere Länder / Other countries

cp13a Waffenhandel / Arms trade

cp13b Flüchtlinge / Refugees

cp14 Terrorismus / Terrorism

cp15 Propaganda

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

Eingebetteter Medieninhalt

29.3.2017 – UN Children's Fund (** B H)

27 million people lack safe water in countries facing or at risk of famine

Unsafe water as deadly to severely malnourished children as lack of food

Water shortages, inadequate sanitation, poor hygiene practices and disease outbreaks are posing an additional threat to severely malnourished children in northeast Nigeria, Somalia, South Sudan and Yemen, UNICEF said today.

Across the four famine-threatened countries, nearly 27 million people are reliant on unsafe water which, for malnourished children, can lead to fatal diarrheal diseases.

“The combination of malnutrition, dirty water and poor sanitation sets off a vicious cycle from which many children never recover,” said Manuel Fontaine, UNICEF Director of Emergency Programmes. “Because unsafe water can cause malnutrition or make it worse, no matter how much food a malnourished child eats, he or she will not get better if the water they are drinking is not safe.”

In Yemen, ongoing conflict and mass population displacement have left at least 14.5 million people without adequate drinking water, basic sanitation and hygiene, while causing damage to water infrastructure. An outbreak of cholera and acute watery diarrhoea in October 2016 continues to spread, with over 22,500 suspected cases and 106 deaths. Almost 2 million children are at risk of diarrheal diseases which, even before the conflict, were the second leading cause of death among children under the age of five. The primary health care system in the country is on the verge of collapse, putting the lives of millions of children at risk.

UNICEF’s response, alongside its partners in the four affected countries, includes: • In Yemen, working with partners to keep health facilities functional for the prevention and treatment of malnutrition among the most vulnerable children, and supporting water and sanitation services for 4.5 million people, many of them are displaced.

https://www.unicef.org/media/media_95483.html = http://reliefweb.int/report/yemen/27-million-people-lack-safe-water-countries-facing-or-risk-famine and

Download photos and videos from: http://weshare.unicef.org/Package/2AMZIFDD22Q

28.3.2017 – The Atlantic (** B K P)

Make the Anti-War Movement Great Again

President Trump is being pressured to expand a war of choice in a faraway land with an immoral ally that flagrantly kills civilians. Why are so few Americans paying any attention?

the secretary of defense, former general Jim Mattis, wants the White House to lift restrictions on “military support for Persian Gulf states engaged in a protracted civil war against Iranian-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen.”

That wouldn’t be a fight against terrorists bent on attacking us––it would be geopolitical positioning in alliance with Saudi Arabia, a major sponsor of Islamic extremism.

If a cabinet official was pushing President Trump to arrest flag burners, execute warrantless searchers, or torture death row inmates, the Washington Post would presumably note that acceding to the request would violate the United States Constitution.

By contrast, even as the newspaper’s article on Yemen policy notes that “approval of the request would mark a significant policy shift,” since “U.S. military activity in Yemen until now has been confined mainly to counterterrorism,” it leaves unmentioned these crucial bits of context: that the U.S. Congress has not declared war on Houthi rebels; and that participation in Yemen’s civil war cannot possible be justified under the 2001 Authorization to Use Military Force that allows the president to wage war against the perpetrators of 9/11 and associated forces.

Secretary Mattis is urging extra-constitutional war-making. And almost no one has noticed.

The way the Washington Post covered the story––and the failure of many media outlets to cover it at all––stem in large part from the anemia of America’s anti-war movement.

Since September 11, 2001, the United States has been at war, the longest continuous conflict in its history. Its citizens have witnessed a failed surge into Afghanistan, a catastrophe in Iraq that helped destabilize vast swaths of the Middle East, an unconstitutional war in Libya that created a power vacuum exploited by ISIS, and a drone war that has killed hundreds of innocents in a half-dozen countries. The last two presidents campaigned against dumb wars and won. The more interventionist candidate has lost every election since 2008.

Meanwhile, as Glenn Greenwald notes, “Trump has escalated the 16-year-old core premise of America’s foreign policy—that it has the right to bomb any country in the world where people it regards as terrorists are found—and in doing so, has fulfilled the warped campaign pledges he repeatedly expressed.

The absence of significant protests in the face of this inhumane militarism is a major reason why it is neither emphasized in the press nor kept in check by the most effective brake on killing among those who lack a moral compass: political consequences. Trump and most Republicans won’t worry about civilian deaths until they’re affected by them. Neither will most Democrats.

I’d have thought more Democrats would speak up.

The moral case for distancing America from Saudi Arabia’s war in Yemen is compelling too. Read Micah Zenko’s lament about what America is complicit in doing:

Congress should force the Trump Administration to stop.

But Congress won’t assert itself absent a political angle. “The frustrating reality is that both the Obama and Trump administrations have been able to back the war without ever having to face much serious scrutiny from Congress or most of the media, and so they have not had to defend a policy that has shamefully encountered relatively little criticism and minimal resistance,” Daniel Larison writes.

What’s needed is clear: a reinvigorated antiwar movement.

The foreign policy establishment wasn’t smart enough to pull that off with Clinton, Bush, or Obama at the helm. Attempting any such thing under Trump, a commander-in-chief with the attention span of a child, is madness. If the powers that be don’t see that, a newly energized anti-war movement needs to focus their attention. – by Conor Friedersdorf

https://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2017/03/make-the-anti-war-movement-great-again/520983/

28.3.2017 – Moon of Alabama (** B K P)

U.S. To Escalate Its Two Years War On Starving Yemen

The picture shows yesterday's rally in Sanaa,Yemen where up to 1 million people were condemning the war Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, the UK and the U.S. have been waging on them for two years.

Nether the New York Times nor the Washington Post reported of the million strong rally. Both though reported widely of a 8,000 strong demonstration in Moscow led by the ultra-nationalist anti-semitic racist Alexey Navalny (vid). Navalny, who polls less than 1% in Russia, is their great and groundless hope to replace the Russian President Putin.

The war on Yemen was launched to show the manliness of the Saudi princes. Well, that may not be the proclaimed reason but it is the only one that makes sense. The U.S. takes part in the war because ... well - no one knows:

The morning after that NSC news release was posted on the White House webpage two years ago, Gen. Lloyd J. Austin, commander of the U.S. Central Command, was asked about the objectives of the U.S. support. His stunning reply remains the most accurate characterization from a U.S. official: “I don’t currently know the specific goals and objectives of the Saudi campaign, and I would have to know that to be able to assess the likelihood of success.” Other than dropping weapons with an unconscionable lack of discrimination and proportionality, it appears there are no clear goals and objectives to this day.

The Saudis claim their coalition has dropped 90,000 bombs during the two year war. That are 123 bombs per day. 5 each and every hour for no good reason. It hasn't helped them at all. The Houthi/Saleh alliance the Saudis fight claims (vid) to have destroyed 176 AFVs, 643 MRAPs, 147 MBTs, 12 Apaches, 20 drones, 4 aircraft. Additionally 109 tactical ballistic missiles were fired. Many of those (certainly exaggerated) Houth/Saleh successes happened on Saudi ground. Its southern desert does not protect Saudi Arabia, it opens it up to attacks.

The U.S. provides planing, intelligence, air-refueling and the ammunition for the Saudi bombing. Without U.S. support this war would not happen at all!

The United Nation claims that the death toll of the war is a mere 5,000. Others speak of 7-8,000. These numbers are laughable. One Saudi attack alone, a "double tap" on a Sanaa funeral hall, killed more than 800. The real death toll of the war is by now likely beyond 100,000. Especially in north-west Yemen, along the Saudi border, each and every Yemeni town and city has been bombed into ruins. Where are the people who once lived there?

The Saudis have simply threatened the UN that they will stop to provide any money for any of its relief efforts should it it make any noise. The UN folded.

Yemen is starving. Even before the war 90% of Yemen's staple food was imported. The Saudis have since bombed each and every food production facility, chicken farm and port. All larger bridges have been cut. There is no longer any way to import food into the capital Sanaa and the other areas the Saudis besiege. Too small official relief efforts are still running through the Hodeida port on the western coast. The port itself is controlled by the Houthi/Saudi alliance the Saudi want to eliminate. But the port is blockaded from the water side. The Saudis navy and airforce destroys all ship who try to enter or leave it. Some official relief ships are allowed to pass but they have difficulties to unload. All large cranes in the harbor have been destroyed by air attacks.

Still - to deliberately starve off all of the 17 million Yemenis who are "food insecure", i.e. extremely hungry and nearly starved, the port needs to be closed down for good. That is why the UAE and the Saudi plan to invade, conquer and occupy it. The fighting about the port will be a good excuse to close it down for good until no one in Sanaa is left alive.

The Pentagon is now requesting a free hand to help the Saudis to conquer and occupy the Hodeida harbor. Why the U.S. would do this? Well - the reason is at least as good as the one given two years ago:

[I]f decisions are not made soon, the senior administration official said, “we’re afraid the situation” in Yemen may escalate, “and our partners may take action regardless. And we won’t have visibility, and we won’t be in a position to understand what it does to our counterterrorism operations.”

So if the U.S. does not "help" (i.e. organizes) to close down the last source of food for the millions besieged by the Saudis then it may not be able to understand what that means.

Now there is a really good reason to put boots on the ground! "Unless we do it, we will not know the consequences and that is something we would want to know, right?"

http://www.moonofalabama.org/2017/03/us-to-escalate-its-two-years-war-on-starving-yemen.html

28.3.2017 – Al Araby (** B K P)

Information denied: British complicity with war crimes in Yemen

What's the extent of Britain's support to Saudi Arabia in Yemen?

The political and military support that Saudi Arabia receives from the United Kingdom has been well publicised. Britain has licensed over £3bn of weapons to the Kingdom since the bombing of Yemen began two years ago. Analysis by Greenpeace show that in 2015, 83 percent of UK arms exports were sold to Saudi Arabia.

Less widely known though, is the direct assistance Britain is providing Saudi Arabia in terms of personnel and training on the ground. It has been established that there are British military officers stationed in the command and control rooms from where the bombing campaign of Yemen is being directed.

Who are these people, and what is their role?

Were there British officials in the command and control centre when the decision was made to strike the boat filled with refugees? Were they involved when a funeral was struck killing 140 people and wounding over 500? What role did British officials play when a Medicines Sans Frontiers hospital was hit by the Saudi-led coalition?

These are all questions that demand answers. I'm sure I am not the only journalist to have submitted a number of Freedom of Information requests to the Ministry of Defence on this issue, in an attempt to provide some clarity.

Unsurprisingly, the MOD have proved obstructive to say the least.

In the absence of transparency from the government, there are two conclusions that might be drawn from Britain's involvement. The first is that - as the MOD has claimed - British forces are there to provide training to the coalition on compliance with international law.
On this, let's consider the 51-page report which the UN panel investigating the conflict compiled.

So whatever training Britain is providing, it clearly isn't working. The mission has to be considered an unmitigated failure.
The other, even more disturbing conclusion, is that the British military is once again wilfully engaged in some of the gravest war crimes happening today - an utterly dreadful thought.

Either way, the facts cast a shadow of Britain's deep involvement in a war which has had catastrophic humanitarian consequences for the civilian population of Yemen. The paradox of course is that Britain is sending humanitarian aid to a country which only needs that aid because it is being bombed to smithereens by British weapons.

The window of opportunity to act before an even worse crisis unfolds is closing.

With Saudi Arabia controlling Yemen's airspace, no visas have been granted for journalists for months. The lack of international reporters on the ground makes it even more difficult for the war to receive the coverage it deserves.

The crisis in Yemen cuts to the heart of the folly and hypocrisy of British foreign policy.

The United Kingdom cannot take any moral high ground on human rights, while at the same time supporting a tyrannical and undemocratic regime like that of Saudi Arabia. It cannot claim to be combating "terrorism" while at the same time laying the most fertile of ground for extremism.

The full truth on Britain's murky role in the unfolding catastrophe in Yemen will eventually become clear – by Liam O'Hare

https://www.alaraby.co.uk/english/comment/2017/3/28/information-denied-british-complicity-with-war-crimes-in-yemen

cp2 Allgemein / General

Eingebetteter Medieninhalt

29.3.2017 – Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre (B K)

Infographic: Yemen Crisis: Timeline of Key Events, as of March 2017

http://reliefweb.int/report/yemen/yemen-crisis-timeline-key-events-march-2017-enar and in full http://reliefweb.int/sites/reliefweb.int/files/resources/20170329_Timeline-key-events.pdf

29.3.2017 – World Socialist Web (* B K P)

Pentagon bereitet Eskalation des Kriegs im Jemen vor

Das Pentagon hat das Weiße Haus offiziell aufgefordert, die Saudi-Monarchie in ihrem brutalen Krieg gegen die verarmte Bevölkerung des Jemen wieder uneingeschränkt zu unterstützen. Die Obama-Regierung hatte diese US-Militärhilfe Ende letzten Jahres geringfügig eingeschränkt.

Wie die Washington Post am Montag berichtete, hat Verteidigungsminister James „Mad Dog“ Mattis, Ex-General des US Marine Corps, vor Kurzem ein entsprechendes Memo bei Trumps nationalem Sicherheitsberater, Generalleutnant McMaster eingereicht. Darin ersucht er um verstärkte Unterstützung der Militäroperationen, die Saudi Arabien gemeinsam mit den Vereinigten Arabischen Emiraten, seinem wichtigsten Verbündeten, im Jemen durchführt.

In diesem Memo, so die Post, werde betont, dass eine solche US-Militärhilfe der Abwehr einer „gemeinsamen Bedrohung“ diene.

Diese „Bedrohung“ gehe vom Iran aus, also der Regionalmacht im Nahen Osten, die der Vorherrschaft des US-Imperialismus über die Ölreserven der Region am gefährlichsten werden kann. Sowohl die Saudi-Monarchie als auch die Trump-Regierung haben wiederholt den Vorwurf erhoben, der Iran habe die Huthi-Rebellen bewaffnet, ausgebildet und angeleitet, die 2014 die Hauptstadt und einen großen Teil des Jemen eroberten und das Marionettenregime von Präsident Abed Rabbo Mansur Hadi stürzten, das von den USA und den Saudis unterstützt wurde.

Die angestrebte Eskalation der US-Intervention im Jemen zielt in erster Linie darauf ab, eine militärische Konfrontation mit Teheran zu provozieren, um den Einfluss des Iran in der Region zu schwächen. Trump hat bereits im Wahlkampf 2016 der Obama-Regierung vorgeworfen, sie sei zu „weich“ gegenüber dem Iran und hätte nicht gemeinsam mit den anderen Großmächten das, so Trump, „katastrophale“ Atomabkommen mit Teheran aushandeln sollen. Seine Berater, insbesondere der mittlerweile abgesetzte erste nationale Sicherheitsberater General Michael Flynn und Verteidigungsminister Mattis, taten sich mit kriegerischen Posen gegen den Iran hervor.

Unmittelbarer Anlass für Mattis‘ Forderung sind dem Vernehmen nach Pläne für eine Operation, mit der die Vereinigten Arabischen Emirate die strategisch wichtige Hafenstadt Hodeida am Roten Meer erobern sollen. Dadurch würde ein großer Teil des von den Huthi kontrollierten Landes und seiner Bevölkerung von der Außenwelt abgeschnitten. Mindestens 70 % aller Einfuhren erreichen den Jemen über diesen Hafen. Schon vor dem Krieg musste der Jemen 90 % seiner Lebensmittel importieren. Hilfsorganisationen warnen, dass ein Militärangriff auf den Hafen von Hodeida eine Massenhungersnot auslösen könnte.

Washington war sowohl unter Obama als auch unter Trump tief in die Kriegsverbrechen des Saudi-Regimes und seiner Verbündeten verstrickt. Wenn Mattis‘ jüngste Forderung erfüllt würde, käme dies einer qualitativen Eskalation der US-Intervention gleich. Eine Anfrage der Vereinigten Arabischen Emirate, ob sich US-Sondereinsatztruppen direkt an dem Angriff auf Hodeida beteiligen könnten, war der Post zufolge nicht Bestandteil von Mattis‘ Vorschlag. Allerdings gab die Zeitung zu bedenken, dass das Militär des Golfscheichtums „eine so große Operation, bei der das zurückeroberte Gebiet auch gehalten und stabilisiert werden müsste, womöglich gar nicht durchführen kann, ohne dass US-Truppen hineingezogen werden.“ Tatsächlich handelt es sich bei der Armee des Emirats im Wesentlichen um eine Söldnertruppe, in der ehemalige Angehörige der Armeen Kolumbiens, El Salvadors und Chiles für die Königsfamilie die Drecksarbeit machen.

Weiter berichtet die Post: „Regierungsvertretern zufolge enthält der Plan des US Central Command zur Unterstützung der Operation andere Bestandteile, die nicht Gegenstand von Mattis‘ Ersuchen sind. Schon seit etwa einem Jahr liegen Schiffe des US Marine Corps vor der Küste Jemens, obwohl nicht klar ist, welche Rolle ihnen zukommen könnte.“

Wie aus zahlreichen Berichten hervorgeht, hat das Weiße Haus unter Trump Mattis und dem US-Oberkommando im Wesentlichen freie Hand für bewaffnete Operationen gegeben.

Im Jemen soll die amerikanische Bevölkerung in einen weiteren verbrecherischen Krieg gegen eine der schwächsten Bevölkerungen der Welt gezerrt werden, der zum baldigen Hungertod von Millionen führen könnte. Das strategische Ziel hinter diesem ungeheuerlichen Kriegsverbrechen besteht darin, die Hegemonie des US-Imperialismus im Nahen Osten durch eine militärische Konfrontation mit dem Iran zu sichern und zugleich einen globalen Konflikt mit den Hauptrivalen Washingtons, Russland und China, vorzubereiten – Von Bill Van Auken

http://www.wsws.org/de/articles/2017/03/29/yeme-m29.html = https://linkezeitung.de/2017/03/29/pentagon-bereitet-eskalation-des-kriegs-im-jemen-vor/

28.3.2017 – SWR (B K)

Audio und Text: Fest in den Fängen des Krieges

[Überblicksbericht, Kommentare]

https://www.tagesschau.de/ausland/jemen-krieg-101.html = http://www.ardmediathek.de/tv/Tagesschau-de-Audio/Kein-Ende-f%C3%BCr-den-Jemen-Krieg/tagesschau-de/Audio?bcastId=33521952&documentId=41852298

und

29.3.2017 – SWR (B K)

Audio: Der Jemen – eine humanitäre Katastrophe

http://www.ardmediathek.de/radio/SWR2-Globales-Tagebuch/Der-Jemen-eine-humanitäre-Katastrophe/SWR2/Audio-Podcast?bcastId=19147764&documentId=41864882

Kommentar von LK: Wo ist bei diesem Artikel der Hinweis dass Saudi Arabien bei diesem Krieg nach internationalem Recht Kriegsverbrechen begeht? Wenn man diesen Artikel liest bekommt man den Eindruck dass die Huthis die Bösen sind und die Saudis die Guten. Ist das nicht etwas Einseitig?

28.3.2017 – IRNA (* B K P)

Activist: Saudi gov't has no regard for Law, Yemenis need help

Kim Sharif, Yemeni activist based in the UK, slammed Saudi government for committing genocide in Yemen, and urged the international community to defend the right of the Yemeni people.

The following is the full text of IRNA's interview with Yemeni activist Kim Sharif:

Q. What is the way forward for Yemen?
A. My view as an independent lawyer is that this war is illegal, because there is no express UN mandate, there is no other legal ground justifying the Saudi coalition attacking the Yemen and there is no other reason for this war to continue. Yemen has its own government in Sana'a and it is incumbent on the international community and they are legally obliged to acknowledge and recognize the government of Sana'a and stop this nonsense.

Q. Saudi Arabia is accusing the Iranian government for interfering in Yemen, what is your thoughts on that?
A. It is hilarious. I am not laughing because I am deeply saddened by the crimes being committed against Yemen.
We understand from newspaper reports that the American intelligence has confirmed that there is no Iranian involvement in relation to the Houthis of Yemen.
As far as we are aware we have not seen any Iranian involvement whatsoever in Yemen.
This is a Saudi narrative that is being played down in the international mainstream media. The Saudis have been able to purchase everybody with their petrodollars to continue repeating this false narrative. Some people do believe it unfortunately but the truth is that there is no connection and Iran has been keeping away from all of this.

http://www.irna.ir/en/News/82476443/

28.3.2017 – Haykal Bafana (B K)

By @MasirahTV : #Yemen attacks on #Saudi forces INSIDE #KSA have destroyed 147 battle tanks, 176 armoured vehicles & 643 military jeeps (image)

https://twitter.com/BaFana3/status/846799831158919170

28.3.2017 – Sputnik News (* B K P)

War in This Mideast Country is 'Becoming a PR Disaster for Saudi Arabia, US'

The bloody war in Yemen is turning out to be a PR disaster for Saudi Arabia and the US. Furthermore, the Trump administration considers providing more military support for the Saudi-led coalition. Radio Sputnik spoke with Dr. Christopher Davidson, associate professor in Middle East politics at Durham University.

“We have a proxy struggle for the region between Saudi Arabia and the Islamic Republic of Iran and in many ways Saudi Arabia saw the advances made by the Houthi tribes in alliance with a formal regime of Salah on the capital city of Yemen as essentially an Iran-backed advance and decided to intervene,” Davidson said.

He further spoke about how this intervention has gone terribly wrong over the past two years.

Talking about Trump’s administration considering providing more military support to the Saudi-led coalition, the professor said that it is important to be careful how such statements are interpreted.

“The kind of support the United States is likely to provide Saudi Arabia with is very limited. It will include providing further intelligence and logistical support,” Davidson said.

He further said that it is important to see this in light of the current US administration’s efforts to make Saudi Arabia invest as much as possible into the US economy and to keep Saudi Arabia buying as many weapons as possible at all costs.

According to the professor the best way to achieve these two scenarios is to keep Saudi Arabia engaged in the never-ending war in Yemen, which of course from “Saudi Arabia’s perspective is seen as an existential struggle with Iran.”

Davidson further looked at other possible reasons why the US administration seeks to extend support to the Saudi-led coalition.

“There is a great concern that the US is drifting away from its alliance with Saudi Arabia and there are big things happening in the US right now that the White House cannot control,” the professor said.

He further said that the “war in Yemen has gone very badly wrong and it is starting to become very much like a PR disaster not just for Saudi Arabia but also for its major allies including the United States.”

https://sputniknews.com/middleeast/201703281052052508-middle-east-war-public-relations-disaster-west/

My comment: US support for Saudi Arabia “very limited”? Certainly this is not true at all.

28.3.2017 – Xinhua (* A K)

UN warns against military escalation in Yemen port city of Hodeidah

A top UN humanitarian official in Yemen warned Tuesday against military escalation in the Yemeni port city of Hodeidah, stressing it as the most important port to deliver aid to the needed Yemeni civilians.

Jamie McGoldrick, UN humanitarian coordinator in Yemen, said in a press conference here in the capital Sanaa on Tuesday that "in case of any military escalation in Hodeidah port city, the UN is searching for possible alternatives to deliver humanitarian aid to Yemenis in need, including using the southern port city of Aden."

McGoldrick's remarks signal a potential military escalation soon between Saudi-led military coalition backing the Yemeni exiled government of President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi and their foe of Iranian-allied Shiite Houthi fighters backed by forces loyal to former President Ali Abdullah Saleh.

It's also a sign of shifting in the fighting along the Yemeni Red Sea coast as ongoing battles between the warring forces have intensified over the past hours in nearby port city of Mokha, few miles to the south of Hodeidah.

McGoldrick has previously warned against any war escalation in the port and strongly condemned the destruction of five cranes in Hodeidah port that he said has forced dozens of vessels to line up offshore.

http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2017-03/28/c_136165069.htm

28.3.2017 – Reuters (* A H)

U.N. may use other Yemen ports to ensure food pipeline, avert famine

The United Nations is considering using other ports in Yemen or land convoys to deliver food for 17 million hungry people in case the main port of Hodeida is attacked, the chief U.N. humanitarian official there said on Tuesday.

Jamie McGoldrick, U.N. humanitarian coordinator in Yemen, said the aid effort was on a "knife edge" due to insufficient funding, despite the threat of famine. The U.N. has received only 7 percent of its $2.1 billion appeal for 2017.

Yemen's main port at Hodeida is badly damaged and has been short of cranes. The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) has already switched to using Aden port in the south.

"We face an enormous difficulty bringing material into the country because of the coalition's activities on the open seas and the delays in bringing vessels into Hodeida, which is the main port for us to supply humanitarian and commercial goods in to the country," McGoldrick told a Geneva news briefing, speaking by telephone from Sana'a.

"However, because we find there is a possibility of the attack on the Hodeida area because of the current west coast military activity, that port may become inoperable or inaccessible in the near future," he said.

Army forces and a group of militias launched an offensive on the Red Sea coast in January to deprive the Houthis of ports and to isolate them. Nearly 50,000 people have already fled, joining 2 million displaced, McGoldrick said.

The United Nations is looking at "contingency planning of using alternative ports such as Aden" and land convoys from Saudi Arabia and other neighboring countries, he said.

Aden port will be insufficient due to its size and congestion. Salif port is used for dry goods and Ras Isa for oil –By Stephanie Nebehay

My comment: That will become difficult. There is hardly any alternative to Hodeidah port.

http://www.reuters.com/article/us-yemen-security-un-idUSKBN16Z22E

28.3.2017 – Middle East Monitor (* A H K)

UN receives only 7% of humanitarian aid required for Yemen

The United Nations humanitarian coordinator for Yemen, Jimmy McGoldrick said the UN humanitarian response plan for 2017 has received only seven per cent of the requested $2 billion.

McGoldrick said during a press conference held Tuesday at the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) office in the Yemeni capital of Aden that “the conflict in the country and its economic consequences are causing one of the world’s greatest humanitarian crises”, adding that nearly 19 million people need humanitarian assistance and protection.

He said that the fighting in the country for the past two years has exacerbated the humanitarian situation which threatens 27 million people with starvation.

McGoldrick reviewed the latest estimates of Yemen’s humanitarian needs, particularly with respect to food, security, nutrition, protection, health, displacement, education and others, saying this year’s humanitarian response was aimed at giving priority to lifesaving and protective assistance to people facing acute needs, wherever they were.

The United Nations humanitarian coordinator for Yemen, Jimmy McGoldrick said the UN humanitarian response plan for 2017 has received only seven per cent of the requested $2 billion.

McGoldrick said during a press conference held Tuesday at the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) office in the Yemeni capital of Aden that “the conflict in the country and its economic consequences are causing one of the world’s greatest humanitarian crises”, adding that nearly 19 million people need humanitarian assistance and protection.

He said that the fighting in the country for the past two years has exacerbated the humanitarian situation which threatens 27 million people with starvation.

McGoldrick reviewed the latest estimates of Yemen’s humanitarian needs, particularly with respect to food, security, nutrition, protection, health, displacement, education and others, saying this year’s humanitarian response was aimed at giving priority to lifesaving and protective assistance to people facing acute needs, wherever they were.

“We want at the press conference to inform the world about the reality of the dire humanitarian situation in Yemen,” he said.

McGoldrick has accused the media in the country of not conveying the reality of the tragic situation and informing the world about the magnitude of the disaster.

https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20170329-un-official-only-7-of-humanitarian-aid-required-for-yemen/

27.3.2017 – American Herald Tribune (A P)

Media Blackout as Thousands of Muslims March against Saudi Arabia

In the heart of London, protesters gathered on Sunday to voice outrage at Saudi Arabia’s military intervention in neighbouring Yemen. The protest in London was just one of many similar protests taking place around the world on the same day. Thousands more activists came out in countries such as France, Italy, Switzerland, Sweden, Germany, the USA, Canada, Lebanon and Yemen

http://ahtribune.com/world/north-africa-south-west-asia/war-on-yemen/1578-muslims-march-saudi-arabia.html

Remark: The Swiss may have the sole Western MSM who dealt with the Sanaa demonstration: http://www.lematin.ch/monde/demonstration-force-rebelle-houthis-sanaa/story/19398756

27.3.2017 – Kim Sharif ( A K P)

Film: Sharif: The Saudi regime is worse than the Nazis

Kim Sharif - A lawyer and human rights activist gave a speech at Marble Arch in London in 26/03/2017. It is the second year of the Saudi war on Yemen that started in 25/03/2015.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0GbQ2bZ8yzI

Film: Kim Sharif of Human rights for Yemen join the March for the Children of Yemen

A Muslim convert protest against UK arms sale to Saudi against Yemen –

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cVmItrLk3Zo

My comment: “worse than the Nazis”: Such statements are odd. The Saudis are terrible even without Nazi comparison; they lack the gas chambers, anyway.

26.3.2017 – PRI (* A H K)

Listen to Yemenis describe how they're getting through the war

We asked Yemenis with strong English skills to recall one vivid experience from the first two years of the war and to record the story on their phones. I've written up some of their accounts here.

But for a more direct experience, click on the audio bars and hear Yemenis tell you their experiences of the war — in their own voices.

“Yemeni people… should stop acting like this.”

“My son was completely frightened.”

“We started hearing the snipers' bullets passing right over our heads.”

“People outside Yemen do not understand about the south. And they should."

“I feel that I am not going to marry ...” By Stephen Snyder (with audio)

https://www.pri.org/stories/2017-03-26/listen-yemenis-describe-how-theyre-getting-through-war

? – ITV (* B K)

Films on Yemen, retweeted

#Yemen war: civilians & infrastructure are under attack (2.1)

Hospitals, schools, markets, & power stations are all targets. It seems the rules of war means nothing here! Children are determined to hold on to what little they have.

https://twitter.com/Living_Yemen/status/846816064411488258

Is the UK guilty of war crimes against civilians in #Yemen? (7.4)
US-made advanced UK cluster bombs been found "British government are criminals because of what's happening here. They are committing crimes, killing children and pregnant women"

#Yemen War:14 Million short of food. Children reality is worse (7.5)

The war on #Yemen has meant more than 1/2 of the country is short of food. The reality for children is even worse. Staggering 300,000 children in #Yemen starving to death

https://twitter.com/Living_Yemen/status/846790279843713031

Children, #Yemen's most venerable, are fighting for life (12.1)

This is what the worst largest humanitarian crisis looks like: severe malnutrition is claiming lives as the famine looms in Yemen

https://twitter.com/Living_Yemen/status/846790384160325632

cp3 Humanitäre Lage / Humanitarian situation

Eingebetteter Medieninhalt

29.3.2017 – RT (* B H)

Einführender Film: Das Leid im Jemen. Zwischen Streubomben, Missbildungen und Handelsblockaden

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=70o9r4BbH6c = https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-oTeWdAIAY4

29.3.2017 – UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (A H)

Infographic: Yemen Crisis: Yemen Voices - as of March 2017

http://reliefweb.int/report/yemen/yemen-crisis-yemen-voices-march-2017-enar and http://reliefweb.int/sites/reliefweb.int/files/resources/YemenVoices_Collage.pdf

29.3.2017 – UN Children's Fund (* A H)

27 million people lack safe water in countries facing or at risk of famine

Unsafe water as deadly to severely malnourished children as lack of food

Water shortages, inadequate sanitation, poor hygiene practices and disease outbreaks are posing an additional threat to severely malnourished children in northeast Nigeria, Somalia, South Sudan and Yemen, UNICEF said today.

Across the four famine-threatened countries, nearly 27 million people are reliant on unsafe water which, for malnourished children, can lead to fatal diarrheal diseases.

“The combination of malnutrition, dirty water and poor sanitation sets off a vicious cycle from which many children never recover,” said Manuel Fontaine, UNICEF Director of Emergency Programmes. “Because unsafe water can cause malnutrition or make it worse, no matter how much food a malnourished child eats, he or she will not get better if the water they are drinking is not safe.”

In Yemen, ongoing conflict and mass population displacement have left at least 14.5 million people without adequate drinking water, basic sanitation and hygiene, while causing damage to water infrastructure. An outbreak of cholera and acute watery diarrhoea in October 2016 continues to spread, with over 22,500 suspected cases and 106 deaths. Almost 2 million children are at risk of diarrheal diseases which, even before the conflict, were the second leading cause of death among children under the age of five. The primary health care system in the country is on the verge of collapse, putting the lives of millions of children at risk.

UNICEF’s response, alongside its partners in the four affected countries, includes: • In Yemen, working with partners to keep health facilities functional for the prevention and treatment of malnutrition among the most vulnerable children, and supporting water and sanitation services for 4.5 million people, many of them are displaced.

http://reliefweb.int/report/yemen/27-million-people-lack-safe-water-countries-facing-or-risk-famine and

Download photos and videos from: http://weshare.unicef.org/Package/2AMZIFDD22Q

29.3.2017 – House of Commons (* B H)

Yemen: the largest humanitarian crisis in the world

A country in need

A humanitarian snapshot compiled by the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) provides some stark figures for a country of 27 million people:

18.8 million people are in need of assistance

Half of those are children

Over 10 million people are in acute need

17 million people are unable to adequately feed themselves

462,000 children under the age of five are suffering from severe acute malnutrition

Half of the 3 million people internally displaced are children

Estimates of deaths caused by the two years of fighting range from 7,600 to 10,000: the humanitarian snapshot referenced above provides a figure of 7,684 people killed; OCHA said in mid-January the civilian death toll had reached 10,000, based on information gathered by health facilities.

So what is the international community doing? A ‘man-made crisis’

A ‘man-made conflict’ has brought Yemen to the brink of famine. Stephen O’Brien told the UNSC that the “humanitarian suffering that we see in Yemen today is caused by the parties and proxies.”

Prospects for peace?

Prospects for a ceasefire?

Next steps

https://secondreading.uk/world/yemen-the-largest-humanitarian-crisis-in-the-world/

Remark: A good overview.

29.3.2017 – UN Population Fund (* A H)

Two-year conflict in Yemen’s takes heaviest toll on women and girls

UNFPA, the United Nations Population Fund estimates that the health and protection of more than 2.2 million women and girls of childbearing age are at risk as the conflict in Yemen enters two-years.

Over three million people are displaced because of the conflict, said UNFPA’s representative a.i. Ezizgeldi Hellenov. More than of half of them are women and girls; they are typically those that pay the highest price in any war.”

As of March 2017, 18.8 million people are in need of humanitarian support, and 10.3 million in acute need. Rising food shortages have left an estimated 1.1 million pregnant women malnourished. The breakdown in health services, with nearly one third of the total number of health facilities currently providing maternal and newborn care services can result in the death of one thousand of the 52,800 pregnant women in Yemen at increased risk of developing complications during childbirth.

In a country with one of the highest maternal death rates in the Arab region, lack of food, poor nutrition and eroding healthcare could mean an increase in premature or low-birth weight babies and severe postpartum bleeding, making the process of giving birth more life threatening.

Displacement and the breakdown of protection mechanisms has drastically increased the vulnerability of women and girls to violence, whose position in society was already at a disadvantage before the conflict. Incidents of gender-based violence have reportedly increased by over 63 percent in the last two years, with over 10,000 such cases of violence reported in 2016 alone. This means more frequent rapes, domestic violence, forced and child marriage, physical and psychological abuse and trauma, and many more acts of violence against women and girls compared to two years ago.

http://reliefweb.int/report/yemen/two-year-conflict-yemen-s-takes-heaviest-toll-women-and-girls

29.3.2017 – CARE (A H)

CARE zur Hungerkrise in Somalia und Jemen: Ohne Finanzierung kein Überleben / Millionen Menschen droht Hungertod / CARE-Generalsekretär Zentel vor Ort im Jemen

In dem Bürgerkriegsland sind 17 Millionen Menschen von Nahrungsmittelunsicherheit betroffen, mehr als 462.000 Kinder leiden unter akuter Mangelernährung. "Ich treffe hier täglich Eltern, die nicht wissen, wie sie ihre Kinder ernähren sollen. Cholera ist auf dem Vormarsch und Medikamente gibt es kaum mehr. Viele Frauen essen nur einmal am Tag, um das Überleben ihrer Kinder sicherzustellen", beschreibt CARE-Generalsekretär Karl-Otto Zentel, der zur Zeit vor Ort ist, die Situation.
CARE betont, dass die internationale Gemeinschaft jetzt handeln muss, um Leben zu retten. Über vier Milliarden Euro werden bis Ende Juli benötigt, um den Hunger in Jemen, Nigeria, Südsudan und Somalia zu stoppen. Bislang sind nur knapp zehn Prozent der Gelder geflossen

http://www.finanznachrichten.de/nachrichten-2017-03/40311069-care-zur-hungerkrise-in-somalia-und-jemen-ohne-finanzierung-kein-ueberleben-millionen-menschen-droht-hungertod-care-generalsekretaer-zentel-vor-ort-007.htm

28.3.2017 – CARE (* A H)

Yemen: Preventing cholera to save lives

Twenty-eight year-old Khadija Mohammed lives with her husband and four children in Al Mahabishah village of Hajjah Governorate in Yemen. Her father used to live with them, but he passed away after being sick with diarrhea and fever for three days. They could not afford to take him to the hospital for treatment and he died at home.

Soon after, Khadija’s four year-old son, Amar, fell sick with symptoms similar to her father’s including severe diarrhea, fever and weakness. She and her husband tried to treat him at home, but he did not get better. Khadija heard from neighbours that the hospital in Al Mahabsha was providing treatment to people suffering from symptoms like Amar’s.

“We had to walk for over two hours to get to the hospital. My husband had to borrow money from friends to cover the fees for the medical examination,” says Khadija.

Amar was diagnosed with cholera, received treatment and soon recovered from the disease.

After Khadija went back home, she joined her neighbours in learning more about cholera and the ways to prevent it. Through regular sessions run by CARE staff in her village, people were taught ways to prevent getting infected, the symptoms to look out for if they suspect that someone has cholera and where to go for support. Thanks to CARE, Khadija’s family also received soap for hand washing.

CARE international is working in Al Mahabishah to raise awareness among communities on the existence of cholera and ways to prevent it. This includes mass hand washing campaigns, personal hygiene lessons as well as public advertisements to raise awareness on cholera prevention. A cleaning campaign has also been undertaken to rid the area of solid waste that was increasing the spread of cholera. Moreover, CARE is providing clean water to the people in Al Mahabishah which is used for cooking and cleaning, further reducing the spread of cholera.

Since the start of the outbreak in October 2016, a cumulative total of 23,506 suspected cases of cholera, including 108 associated deaths, have been reported across the country. 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 they are facing 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 outbreak.

http://care.ca/story/yemen-preventing-cholera-save-lives

28.3.2017 – The Independent (* A H)

'My wounds still hurt and I am very afraid': Yemen's civil war in the words of its forgotten children

'I have nightmares at night – I see aircraft hitting our house again and again,' says six-year-old Noor

Nine-year-old Ali wears two hearing aids and barely speaks after an airstrike hit a building near his home in Sa’ada Governorate. The blast threw him from a window and he fell two stories, before landing on his neck.

“Blood was coming out of Ali’s ears and nose," his mother Enas said. "Blood was even coming out from his mouth… it was hard for him to even breathe.”

She added: “We took shelter in a small ground room that was made from mud. It was the most horrible night of our lives. Ali was injured and we couldn’t take him to the hospital – there were the sounds of the flying jets and missiles falling one after the other very close to our home.”

Khalil and his sister Noor, aged nine and six, were peppered with shrapnel when an airstrike hit their home on New Year’s Day. The attack killed their grandfather, three-year-old cousin and three guests.

Khalil has since stopped going to school and Noor is too afraid to leave the house.

“I was playing in the yard with my brother, and then we heard the missile coming towards us," Noor said, adding that she was "so scared," she kept her eyes closed.

“My wounds still hurt and I am very afraid when I hear aircraft overhead," she said. "I have nightmares at night – I see aircraft hitting our house again and again. My brother and I cannot sleep properly. Sometimes I wake up because I hear my brother Khalil shouting while he is asleep.”

“In this crisis children are not just being bombed – they are also being starved. The Saudi-led coalition is stopping vital supplies getting in by sea, while warring parties are detaining aid workers and obstructing deliveries by land,” Save the Children’s Interim Country Director for Yemen Grant Pritchard said.

“Millions of children and their families have no idea where their next meal is coming from, or where the next bomb will fall.” – by Lucy Pasha-Robinson

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/middle-east/yemen-civil-war-forgotten-children-conflict-mp-debate-saudi-arabia-airstrikes-a7652966.html

28.3.2017 – Huffington Post (* B H)

War And Looming Famine Are Pushing More Yemeni Girls Into Child Marriage

The two-year conflict has devastated the country and caused the practice to skyrocket.

The rate of child marriage in Yemen has skyrocketed over the course of the country’s devastating civil war, according to a UNICEF report released on Monday. More than two-thirds of girls in the country are now married off before their 18th birthday, up from 50 percent before the conflict.

The increase in child marriage is one of the ripple effects of the two-year civil war

Amid this heightened insecurity, UNICEF says that a growing number of families are turning to child marriage as a coping mechanism. Families marry off girls in the hope that their husband will be able to provide for them, to lessen their own cost of child care or in order to seek dowry payments. The practice is especially prominent in areas with large populations of internally displace persons.

In addition to the rise of child marriages, the report also says gender-based violence has increased by 63 percent since the war began. Nearly 3 million women and girls in Yemen are at risk of gender-based violence, the United Nations Population Fund said late last year.

Although the prevalence of child marriage has risen as a result of the war, Yemen has long struggled with the practice.

Child marriage can cause immense physical and psychological harm to girls, human rights groups say. These marriages often cut short the education of girls by taking them out of school, as well as put them at risk of domestic abuse and rape. Rights groups have repeatedly called on authorities in Yemen to take action to end child marriage.

But there’s no indication that the humanitarian situation in Yemen shows any signs of improving, and the UN has warned that a famine is looming that could worsen the already dire conditions – By Nick Robins-Early

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/yemen-child-marriage-war_us_58daa5f0e4b07634059fa6e2 and a survey of the UNICEF report: http://muftah.org/yemen-war-children/#.WNuh16JCSUk

28.3.2017 – Your Abilities (A H)

'During the mission we organised on the ground, we distributed food baskets in the most effected areas of Hodeida province, Durahmi district. This specific area has been witnessing unprecedented starvation and subsequent death created by air-land-sea imposed by the Saudi-led coalition over Two years.
We found many families in need of basic humanitarian assistance such as food , medicines, water.
Children left schools due to the lack of education.
Children needs milk and medicines to survive.

Our organization receives calls from many families there, hoping to help them with food, medicines.
We are planning to reach over there and help as possible as we can, So let's save those families of starvation, we need your support and generosity. Little of help can save a live (photos)

https://www.facebook.com/LivingInYemenOnTheEdge/posts/1319845641401796 Alhamdulillah, we finished distributing the food items today morning in the capital of Yemen, Sanaa. It was a great time especially when we see the smiles on our children who most of them are suffering with malnutrition.
Best thanks to the kindest souls of Comitato Nour for their generosity.

https://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=1888068764812033&id=100008267826631

28.3.2017 – US Department of State - Humanitarian Information Unit (A H)

Infographic: Yemen: Food Security and Displacement Snapshot

According to the Yemen IPC NTWG, an estimated 17 million Yemenis, 60% of the population, are in crisis or worse (IPC phase 3 and 4) food insecurity due to ongoing conflict, restrictions on food and fuel imports, and high food prices. Access to ports is critical for commercial traders and humanitarian organizations, since Yemen is dependent on imports to meet basic food and fuel needs.

Humanitarian organizations are concerned an increase in conflict and insecurity along the western coast of Yemen and near the port of Al Hudaydah, the main port for commercial and humanitarian deliveries, will restrict access and impact commercial and humanitarian imports. Humanitarian operations are further hindered by bureaucratic impediments, damage to roads and bridges, and low levels of funding.

http://reliefweb.int/map/yemen/yemen-food-security-and-displacement-snapshot and in full: https://hiu.state.gov/#NEA,U1559 = http://reliefweb.int/sites/reliefweb.int/files/resources/Yemen_FoodSecurity_2017Mar28_HIU_U1559.pdf

28.3.2017 – UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (* A H)

Humanitarian coordinator in Yemen, Jamie McGoldrick, statement on the humanitarian situation in Yemen two years into the escalation of the conflict

Two years of relentless conflict in Yemen have devastated the lives of millions of people. An alarming 18.8 million of them- almost two thirds of the population- need some kind of humanitarian or protection support. This man-made disaster has been brutal on civilians. Some seven million women, children, and men could be put at risk by famine in 2017.

Ordinary Yemenis are bearing the brunt of a conflict which is not theirs; caused by warring parties who are conducting themselves in a manner that totally disregards their responsibilities to do their upmost to protect civilians while they wage a war that is pushing Yemen further into despair. Over 50,000 civilians have been killed, injured or maimed. Atrocities, including at least 1,540 children killed; 2,450 children injured; and over 1,550 children recruited to fight or to perform military related duties have been reported. Hundreds of people have been killed in mosques, markets, funeral wakes, schools and hospitals.

Deliberate military tactics to shred the economy have moved an already weak and impoverished country towards social, economic, and institutional collapse. Half of the population lack access to basic healthcare. Thousands have died from preventable diseases, which shockingly include one child every ten minutes. With malnutrition amongst children at an all-time high and at least two million children out of school, the conflict and its consequences is jeopardizing future generations in Yemen More than eleven per cent of Yemen’s entire population has been forced to move from their homes in search of safety and livelihoods. One million of these people have sought to return to their areas of origin only to find destruction and lack of opportunities to re-start their lives.

Prolonged displacement and the lack of sustainable return options are putting people in greater jeopardy, as humanitarians struggle to meet their daily needs and host families deplete their resources. In the past few weeks alone, intensified fighting in Yemen’s Western Coast has forced more than 48,000 people to move.

A continuation of this conflict only increases the suffering across Yemen and makes matters worse.
Despite the lack of money and adequate humanitarian access, humanitarian partners have provided coordinated aid to millions of people across Yemen’s 22 governorates during the past two years.

http://reliefweb.int/report/yemen/humanitarian-coordinator-yemen-jamie-mcgoldrick-statement-humanitarian-situation-yemen and in full: http://reliefweb.int/sites/reliefweb.int/files/resources/hc_statement_28_march_2017_0.pdf and https://www.humanitarianresponse.info/en/operations/yemen/document/statement-humanitarian-coordinator-jamie-mcgoldrick-humanitarian-situation

28.3.2017 – UN News Centre (* A H)

Half of all health facilities in war-torn Yemen now closed; medicines urgently needed – UN

“More than half of all health facilities are closed or functioning only partially,” Tarik Jasarevic, a WHO spokesperson, told journalists in Geneva.

Mr. Jasarevic, who was in Yemen in February, said that at least 274 health facilities had been damaged or destroyed as a result of the conflict, and some 44 health workers either killed or injured.

He noted also a shortage of medicines and specialized staff, such as surgeons, many of whom have fled the country.

“For more than six months, health facilities in Yemen had received no financial support to cover operational costs and staff salaries,” the spokesperson said.

As a result, health facilities such as the chemo-dialysis centre in Hudaydah, is on the brink of ceasing operations, as there was no more fuel to run the obsolete chemo-dialysis machines, Mr. Jasarevic noted. Without the facility 600 people with kidney failure would likely die.

The long-term impact of the conflict is also having detrimental effects on the country’s food system and infrastructure.

Malnutrition is on the rise with close to half-a-million children suffering from severe acute malnutrition, with one out of every two children under the age of five stunted in their growth.

This is “a 200 per cent increase since 2014 – when that number was at 160,000 – raising the risk of famine,” said Christophe Boulierac, spokesperson for the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF).

UNICEF estimates that every 10 minutes, at least one child dies in Yemen as a result of preventable causes such as malnutrition, diarrhoea or respiratory tract infections.

In addition to malnutrition, children face malaria and dengue fever, both of which have been on the rise in the past two months. An outbreak of cholera has been contained, Mr. Jasarevic said.

WHO, UNICEF and other UN agencies and their partners are providing aid but resources are stretched. For 2017, for example, the health cluster appealed for $322 million.

http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=56446#.WNq3G_nyiUl = http://reliefweb.int/report/yemen/half-all-health-facilities-war-torn-yemen-now-closed-medicines-urgently-needed-un

28.3.2017 – Council on Foreign Relations (* B H)

How Conflict Drives Hunger in Africa, Yemen

Interviewee: Arif Husain, Chief Economist, World Food Program, Interviewer: Claire Felter, Assistant Copy Editor/Writer

How dire are the food crises in these parts of the world?

And how does the fighting play into these problems?

Conflict affects both the demand side and the supply side. On the demand side, you cannot produce your own food, you don’t have your own livestock anymore, and your income opportunities go down, particularly in the sense of agricultural labor. But at the same time, on the supply side, prices of essential food and non-food commodities keep rising because traders working in conflict zones face higher and higher transaction costs, which are then passed on to the consumers.

[Additionally], when you have conflict, people's ability to escape is limited.

How significant is the distinction between populations facing famine and those that are food insecure?

Insofar as these four countries’ governments are involved in their respective conflicts, they are contributing to food insecurity. Are they cooperating in terms of famine prevention?

Do humanitarian organizations like WFP have the necessary access to needy populations?

What kind of aid would be required to bring these countries back to a minimal level of food security?

U.S. President Donald J. Trump’s budget blueprint proposes substantial cuts to foreign aid. What would be their effects on these humanitarian crises?

The UN just released a report [PDF] on threats to children in these regions caused by water scarcity. How does the water crisis tie into all this?

What should these countries expect for the future?

http://www.cfr.org/humanitarian-intervention/conflict-drives-hunger-africa-yemen/p38977 and look at photos here: https://www.globalcitizen.org/en/content/somalia-south-sudan-yemen-nigeria-hunger/

? – Sabeen Hospital, Hodeida (* A H)

"300% price increase of medicines. Children & family members are sick, and get sicker" (text in image)

https://twitter.com/Fatikr/status/846870563142451200

23.10.2016 – UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, UN Country Team in Yemen (A H)

Joint Operating Principles of the Humanitarian Country Team in Yemen: A Principled Delivery of Humanitarian Assistance in Yemen

1. The humanitarian community engaged in humanitarian response in Yemen agrees that the principles outlined in this Protocol reflect humanitarian policies, guidance and well established practices for interaction with parties to the conflict. Humanitarian organisations agree that this Protocol forms the basis for such engagement.

2. Humanity, neutrality, impartiality, and operational independence are core fundamental principles that the humanitarian community adheres to. These principles are the cornerstone of any humanitarian operation, and are derived from International Legal Framework (including International Humanitarian Law, Human Rights Law and UN General Assembly Resolution 46/182 (10 December 1991)) and are part of codes of conduct and organisational mission statements guiding humanitarian organisations.

3. Humanitarian operations and organisations are guided by:

http://reliefweb.int/report/yemen/joint-operating-principles-humanitarian-country-team-yemen-principled-delivery = http://reliefweb.int/sites/reliefweb.int/files/resources/joint_operating_principles_of_the_humanitarian_country_team_in_yemen_final_eng_2.pdf

cp5 Nordjemen und Huthis / Northern Yemen and Houthis

29.3.2017 – Asharq Al-Awsat (A P)

Houthis Imprison Pro-Saleh Leaders

Disputes between leaders of Yemeni Republican Guard of former President Ali Abdullah Saleh and the Houthis, who have seized state institutions, compelled dozens of officers to find a safe exit from Sana’a and some main battlefronts.

Despite this, some Republican Guard leaders failed to escape the Houthis and were arrested.

Officials in the Yemeni Army received direct calls from Yemeni Republican Guard leaders to ensure a safe way out for them, revealed Major General Amin al-Waeli, commander of the 6th Military district of the National Army.

Waeli did not reveal the army’s measure to escort Yemeni Republican Guard officers from their locations in Sana’a but affirmed that the military has the potential and capabilities that serve this purpose.

He revealed that there are disputes between the Houthis and the pro-Saleh Yemeni Republican Guard on the management of battles and on issuing orders.

Waeli reiterated that the army and the legitimate government welcome those who return to the right track, and those who have realized the truth behind the coup on democracy and the nation’s freedom.

http://english.aawsat.com/saed-alabyadh/news-middle-east/houthis-imprison-pro-saleh-leaders

My comment: That smells like propaganda. There seem to be strifes between Houthi and Saleh loyalists – and even more strifes between Saudi and UAE and various anti-Houthi factions which still more or less back “president” Hadi.

28.3.2017 – Press TV Iran (* A K P)

Yemeni army unveils mid-range ballistic missile: Images + video

The Yemeni military has announced the manufacture of a medium range ballistic missile dubbed the Qaher M2.

The domestically-built missile, which weighs 350 kilograms and has a range of 400 kilometers, was unveiled during a ceremony on Tuesday.

According to a statement released by the Yemeni army, the Qaher M2 was announced after three successful test launches on Saudi military facilities.

http://www.presstv.com/Detail/2017/03/28/515942/yemen-saudi-missile-qaher-2 and by Saba Net: http://www.sabanews.net/en/news460470.htm

28.3.2017 – Living in Yemen on the Edge (A)

They bomb #Yemen and we reply with an arts exhibition:
Today was the opening of the exhibition "Art of Hope" at Coffee Corner in #Sanaa
If you are around, please do come and visit (with photos)

https://www.facebook.com/LivingInYemenOnTheEdge/posts/1319743951411965

cp6 Südjemen und Hadi-Regierung / Southern Yemen and Hadi-government

29.3.2017 – Almasdar Online (A)

Two children killed, press reporter injured in gunfire incidents in Taiz

Two children were killed on Monday by the gunfire of unknown gunmen in Senah neighborhood in western Taiz city, southwestern Yemen, and a press reporter was injured in another incident by other unknown gunmen fire in Jamal Street central the city.

A security source told Almasdaronline that two children, Suleiman Basheer al Raimi and Alawi Taha Mohammed, were lled after unknown gunmen have opened the fire on them in Senah area.

However, no information about the reasons behind the incident was mentioned by the source.

The perpetrators were arrested by the forces of Abu al Abbas Battalions, a Salafi entity in the popular resistance, and will be referred to the competent authorities. The source added.

In another incident, unknown gunmen opened the fire on the press crew of al Ghad al Moshreq TV channel in Jamal Street in Taiz city, and the reporter Jamal al Shari was injured.

The cameraman Akram al Raseni posted on Facebook that gunmen have opened the fire indiscriminately on the press crew while returning from filming a report.

It is noteworthy that the neighborhoods under the control of the government forces and popular resistance are in the city are witnessing major security imbalances, while human rights activists are calling on the local authorities to stabilize the security situation

http://almasdaronline.com/article/89945

cp7a Saudi-Arabien und Iran / Saudi Arabia and Iran

29.3.2017 – fars News (* A K P)

Iran Condemns Saudi Arabia's Continued Massacre of Yemeni People

Iranian Foreign Ministry Spokesman Bahram Qassemi renewed Iran's condemnation of the Saudi-led troops' attacks on the innocent people in Yemen.

"We condemn the tragic massacre of thousands of Yemeni women and children by the Saudi-led troops," Qassemi said.

He said that the real danger in region is Takfiri terrorism and their regional and international supporters who have registered the most horrendous crimes in the region under the guise of fighting terrorism.

“The regional terrorism is rooted in extremist thoughts in Saudi Arabia which has today become the evil cause for the people of the region and the world,” Qassemi added.

The Iranian foreign ministry spokesman also underlined Iran’s all-out efforts for convergence and collective move in line with restoration of stability in the region.

“We have also said before that the interference of trans-regional countries throughout the history has not had any achievement other than instability, division and spread of terrorism and violence and it has never had any result which benefitted people," he added.

In a relevant development on Sunday, the Iranian foreign ministry in a statement called for an immediate end to Saudi Arabia's military invasion of Yemen.

"War and bloodshed must immediately end in the impoverished country of Yemen," the Iranian foreign ministry said in a statement.

"The power vacuum created as a result of war and military conflict in Yemen has prepared a suitable ground for the spread of the dangerous phenomenon of terrorism and the increase in the activities of terrorist groups in different parts of the country,” the foreign ministry added.

It went on to say that as confirmed by the international figures and organizations, two years of a fruitless and destructive war against Yemen have claimed the lives of thousands of civilians, including women and children, and left more than 18 million people in need of humanitarian aid and some eight million Yemenis on the brink of malnutrition, starvation and famine.

"The deliberate destruction of infrastructure in the impoverished country of Yemen and the constant bombardment of its medical and educational centers are among other outcomes of this brutal war," the foreign ministry added.

It also said that undoubtedly, continuation of this situation will not only fail to benefit any country in the region, but also create regional instability and insecurity.

The statement reiterated the importance of implementing a proposed peace plan put forward by Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif in 2015 to help end the ongoing conflict gripping Yemen.

http://en.farsnews.com/newstext.aspx?nn=13960109000409

cp8 Saudi-Arabien / Saudi Arabia

29.3.2017 – International Business Times (A P)

Is Saudi Arabia Safe For Tourists? US Issues Travel Warning

The U.S. State Department warned Americans Wednesday to think twice about traveling to Saudi Arabia due to the risk of terrorism. The State Department noted fighting in Yemen has spilled over into Saudi Arabia.

“Terrorist groups, including ISIS [the Islamic State group] and its affiliates, have targeted both Saudi and Western government interests, mosques and significant religious sites [both Sunni and Shiite], and places frequented by U.S. citizens and other Westerners,” the warning said.

http://www.ibtimes.com/saudi-arabia-safe-tourists-us-issues-travel-warning-2517535

28.3.2017 – Ali AlAhmed (A P)

#Saudi security source: @Saudi CP @M_Naif_Alsaud plans terrorist attacks on Shia gatherings ahead of #April21 planned unemployed protests

https://twitter.com/AliAlAhmed_en/status/846725659162497026

28.3.2017 – Ali AlAhmed (A P)

#Saudi deaths quads murder 2 Shia Arab youths from AlNimer family hours ago Mohamed & Miqdas AlNimer (photos)

https://twitter.com/AliAlAhmed_en/status/846709023747559424

28.3.2017 – New News (* A P)

Saudi Forces Attack Al-Awamiyah City.

“Today, two people of Anmer’s family were martyred and injured another in shooting by Saudi forces”,as Source stated. Saudi forces launched an attack on Armes area at the north of Al-Awamiyah city . The source confirmed that the martyrs’ names are Mohammad Taher Anmer and Miqdad Mohammad Anmer as well Mohammad Abdullah Anemr who is wounded .

In addition , the source underlined that arbitrary arrests were happened during last hours ,and the Saudi emergency forces have withdrawn from the city after forcing siege against the city and the attacking it with massive shooting .

The source added that the forces destroyed the parking cars at the attacking positions as well at the roads of Arames area , Al-Awamiyah city . Five injured cases were recorded as result of the Saudi soldiers’ shooting against walkers and farmers , two of the wounded cases are dangerous as well as material damages in many of the civilians’ farmers .

News talked about dropping two bombs at the city.

http://newnewss.net/?p=3923

Remark: That’s a city within Saudi Arabia, in the East of the country: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Al-Awamiyah .

cp9 USA

Siehe / Look at cp1, cp2, cp15

29.3.2017 – MbKS15 (A K P)

Photos. #RSAF 3rd batch of five F-15SAs land at RAF #Lakenheath, bringing the total of delivered fighters to twelve — by: Rodney Martins

https://twitter.com/MbKS15/status/847161721265537024

My comment: US-British-Saudi complicity in photos.

29.3.2017 – Telepolis (* A K P)

USA wollen sich stärker auf der saudischen Seite im Jemen-Krieg engagieren

Es geht vor allem um eine Offensive auf den Hafen al-Dudeida, während der Krieg eskaliert, vertieft sich die humanitäre Katastrophe Während die Huthis-Rebellen aufrüsten und gerade neue Qaher-M-2- Boden-Boden-Raketen mit einer Reichweite von 400 km vorgestellt haben, mit denen weite Teile Saudi-Arabiens bedroht werden können, haben die USA offenbar eine Kehrtwende gemacht. Während sie bislang die saudische Koalition vor allem mit Waffen unterstützt haben und ansonsten gegen Al-Qaida im Jemen (AQAP) vorwiegend mit Drohnenangriffen vorgegangen sind, stärkt das Pentagon unter Trump noch deutlicher das saudische Vorgehen im Jemen und damit den Konflikt mit dem Iran.

Möglicherweise als Ausgleich zu Syrien, wo die Amerikaner mit den Kurden im Konflikt mit der Türkei und den von der Türkei und den Golfstaaten unterstützten sunnitischen Milizen die Offensive auf Raqqa vorbereiten, sollen nun die Streitkräfte Saudi-Arabiens und der Vereinigten Arabischen Emirate logistisch und aufklärungstechnisch unterstützt werden. Dabei soll es um Drohnen, Auftanken der Kampfflugzeuge, Planungshilfen etc. gehen.

Vermutet wird, dass auch die vermehrten Meldungen von zivilen Toten in Mosul und in Syrien durch Luftangriffe der US-Koalition darauf zurückgehen, dass Präsident Trump die Zügel gelockert hat. Im Wahlkampf hatte er Obama vorgeworfen, zu sanft gegen den Islamischen Staat vorzugehen.

Es scheint, als habe es die Trump-Regierung eilig, in Mosul, aber vor allem in Raqqa Erfolge gegen den IS vorzulegen. Man kann zudem vermuten, dass die engere Kooperation Saudi-Arabiens mit China, das unter anderem Kampfdrohnen an die autoritäre Monarchie liefert, für einen demonstrativen Schulterschluss der Amerikaner sorgen könnte.

Verteidigungsminister Jim Mattis hatte sich in einem Brief an den Nationalen Sicherheitsberater McMaster gewandt, wie die Washington Post am Wochenende berichtete, und sich für eine "begrenzte Unterstützung" ausgesprochen, insbesondere solle eine geplante Offensive auf die Hafenstadt al-Hudaida im Roten Meer unterstützt werden, um eine "allgemeine Gefahr" abzuwenden. Mit der direkten Unterstützung geben die USA auch die Zurückhaltung im Jemen-Krieg auf und machen sich mit der saudische Koalition gemein, der immer wieder Angriffe auf zivile Ziele wie Märkte, Schulen und Krankenhäuser mit vielen zivilen Opfern vorgeworfen wurden.

Mit der Einnahme oder der Zerstörung des Hafens al-Hudeida sollen die Rebellen von der Verbindung mit Iran abgekoppelt werden, um so die Lieferung von Waffen oder anderen Gütern, auch Lebensmittel, zu unterbinden. Allerdings besteht bereits seit längerem mit der Unterstützung von US-Kriegsschiffen eine Seeblockade, wodurch auch die Versorgung der Bevölkerung mit Hilfsgütern behindert wurde. Präsident Obama hatte die Offensive auf den Hafen im letzten Jahr noch abgelehnt, weil man zu Recht fürchtete, dass der Krieg damit weiter eskalieren würde. Der Plan scheint zu sein, wie Al-Arabiya berichtete, dass Truppen der Emirate den Hafen erobern, während die USA die Offensive mit Spezialeinheiten und Unterstützung durch Angriffe aus der Luft und von Kriegsschiffen unterstützen sollen. Die Eroberung selbst wird offenbar nicht als größeres Problem betrachtet, wohl aber das Verteidigen der Stadt.

Ob die USA allerdings mit eigenen Truppen eine solche Offensive unterstützen werden, scheint fraglich zu sein. Es heißt, dass das Pentagon eigene Pläne entwickelt – von Florian Rötzer

https://www.heise.de/tp/features/USA-wollen-sich-staerker-auf-der-saudischen-Seite-im-Jemen-Krieg-engagieren-3670200.html

29.3.2017 – Soufan Group (* A K P)

Trump Eyes Expanding Role in Yemen

In addition to concerns over civilian casualties posed by the prospective increase in U.S. involvement in Yemen, the U.S. is facing increased scrutiny over its own targeting practices after allegations that recent U.S. air strikes in Iraq caused hundreds of civilian casualties. Coupled with the civilian casualties from strikes in Iraq, the possibility of increased U.S. support for the Saudi-led coalition raises the prospect that the Trump administration is willing to ease restrictions on the rules of engagement at the expense of civilians on the ground.

While the civil war in Yemen is highly complex, U.S. involvement since the beginning of the conflict in March 2015 has consistently lacked an overarching objective and a coherent strategy to achieve it. Initial U.S. support to the anti-Houthi coalition under the Obama administration was neither able to shift the military dynamic of the conflict, nor minimize civilian casualties from Saudi airstrikes. Initial U.S. support likewise did nothing to stop the expansion of al-Qaeda and the Islamic State in Yemen. Given the static dynamics of the conflict, there is no reason to believe that renewed U.S. support for the Saudi-led coalition would now achieve any of these goals. Furthermore, while the U.S. has a clear interest in combating international terror groups in Yemen, claiming a stake in the Yemeni civil war risks repeating the same mistakes the U.S. made in Syria and Iraq, where U.S. support was viewed as an attempt to underwrite the agenda of one regional sectarian power at the expense of another.

http://www.soufangroup.com/tsg-intelbrief-trump-eyes-expanding-role-in-yemen/

28.3.2017 – The American Conservative (* A K P)

Trump Compounds Obama’s Terrible Error in Yemen

Giving the coalition even more support further encourages and rewards the worst behavior of the Saudis and their allies, and it shows that the administration’s Iran obsession is leading it to escalate the worst Obama-era policy for all the wrong reasons. The administration’s Iran hawks support a policy that will do enormous harm to the people of Yemen and involve us in an atrocious war, but it will not reduce Iranian influence in the region. It will only make the region less stable, fuel sectarian hatreds, and strengthen jihadists as they take advantage of the situation. Republican hawks berated Obama for his treatment of regional clients, and many have called for having “no daylight” between them and the U.S. This is what “no daylight” looks like in practice: indulging and enabling their most destructive behavior and making the U.S. complicit in their crimes.

The [Wall Street Journal] report is somewhat misleading about the coalition campaign, almost all of which is focused on fighting the Houthi/Saleh alliance and virtually none of which has been aimed at Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP). The Houthis still receive only limited support from Iran, so to call them “Iranian-backed” suggests that there is far more Iranian involvement and influence than there is. Insofar as Trump administration officials accept the coalition line about “Iranian expansionism” in Yemen, they are letting themselves be played for fools. If they think that the coalition will suddenly take more of an interest in combating AQAP in the future, they are kidding themselves.

Support for the war on Yemen was arguably Obama’s greatest foreign policy blunder, and now Trump is starting off his presidency by compounding Obama’s terrible error with even more support for the Saudi-led coalition – By Daniel Larison

http://www.theamericanconservative.com/larison/trump-compounds-obamas-terrible-error-in-yemen/

28.3.2017 – CNN (* A K P)

White House looks at stepping up military role in Yemen

The Trump Administration is expected to decide as soon as this week on a plan to increase US military involvement in Yemen's civil war.

The proposal calls for stepping up military assistance to support Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates in their fight against the Iran-backed Houthi rebels who have toppled the central government there. The move would have significant implications for the US military posture on Iran, while Yemen is a key location for a top al Qaeda affiliate.

The proposal is part of the overall military plan to counter ISIS being reviewed by the White House, a US defense official said. But in contrast to other parts of the strategy, increased US support to the Saudis and UAE in Yemen could be interpreted by Iran as the beginning of a Trump administration effort to build an anti-Iranian military coalition, the official acknowledged.

The defense official noted that if Iran perceives US assistance to Tehran's foes in Yemen as an anti-Iranian move, it could hurt US efforts to fight ISIS in Syria and northern Iraq, where pro-Iranian militias have until now largely stayed away from interfering with US efforts.

The White House and Pentagon have not publicly indicated that they are trying to build an anti-Iranian coalition, although Defense Secretary James Mattis is known to be determined to curb Iran's influence.

The most immediate decision for the White House and Pentagon is whether to provide the UAE with intelligence and air refueling in their upcoming efforts to stage an amphibious assault on the Yemeni coastline to retake key areas – by Barbara Starr

http://us.cnn.com/2017/03/28/politics/yemen-war-us-military-role/index.html and by Al Araby: https://www.alaraby.co.uk/english/news/2017/3/29/trump-could-intervene-in-yemen-war-against-iran-backed-rebels and (for Syria, Iraq, Afghanistan): http://reason.com/blog/2017/03/28/trump-escalates-wars-in-iraq-syria-yemen

28.3.2017 – Slate (A K P)

Trump Is Increasing U.S. Support for the Pointless, Brutal War in Yemen

The main U.S. interest in Yemen is still fighting AQAP, but Mattis and the administration also seem to buy the Saudi case that Yemen is necessary to push back against Iranian encroachment.

The thing is, the war hasn’t been very good at accomplishing either goal.

There was once a (not all that convincing) case to be made that U.S. coordination with the Saudi-led strikes could help limit the collateral damage. That’s tougher to argue now, given the Trump administration’s seeming indifference to civilian casualties.

So what are we doing there? – by Joshua Keating

http://www.slate.com/blogs/the_slatest/2017/03/28/trump_increasing_u_s_support_for_the_pointless_brutal_war_in_yemen.html

28.3.2017 – Alternet (* A K P)

Behind Trump’s Bloody War in Yemen: A Saudi Offensive Against Iran

The president pursues Obama's policy, but without restraint.

As war flares in Yemen, the civilian victims are among the first to feel the difference between President Obama’s Middle East war policy and Donald Trump’s.

While President Obama put certain limits on U.S. intervention in Yemen, Trump has removed them.

The Trump administration is also reportedly stepping up military assistance to Saudi Arabia.

Why Yemen?

The battle for Yemen, an impoverished desert country of little strategic importance besides the presence of AQAP fighters, is not just a counterterrorism fight; it is a proxy war fought between two rival Islamic powers, Saudi Arabia and Iran.

Trump's escalation is just the opening phase of what Saudi Arabia (and Israel) hopes will be a regional offensive against Iran. The Saudis, whose dominant faith is the austere doctrine of Wahhabism favored by al-Qaeda, are contemptuous of the Iranians and their Shia faith. With a restive Shia minority, Saudi Arabia also fears Iran's political influence.

The Saudis are disturbed that Iran backed President Bashar al-Assad in Syria’s civil war, helping him turn back a fundamentalist insurgency, which has been covertly funded by Wahhabists in the Persian Gulf oil emirates.

Saudi Arabia’s most dynamic leader, Deputy Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, recently visited the White House to encourage the Trump administration to take the fight to Iran.

Like the little kid on the playground who picks a fight and then hides behind his big brother, Saudi Arabia is coaxing Washington into a fight of its own making.

“Saudi Arabia is prepared to work with the United States and its allies to restrain Iranian conduct, just as we have helped to stabilize the Arabian Gulf and its energy supplies since World War II,” Asiri wrote in a piece for Fox News.

Israeli Prime Minister Bibi Netanyahu also supports the idea of a regional coalition against Iran, which makes escalation in Yemen even more palatable for the Trump administration.

The U.S Interest

While the Saudis and the Israelis stand to benefit from a U.S. confrontation with Iran, the United States does not.

According to the administration’s ideologists, the United States has to stand up to Iran to stem “radical Islamic terrorism." But what the Trump administration doesn't say is that the terrorist threat facing the United States comes almost exclusively from Wahhabist militants, financed and supported by governments and individuals in the Persian Gulf. Fifteen of the 19 hijackers on 9/11 came from Saudi Arabia. By contrast, virtually no terror attacks on Americans since September 11 have been traced to the Islamic Republic. Indeed, Iran is the sworn enemy of al-Qaeda and ISIS.

The emerging Trump strategy—confronting Iran while vowing to “bomb the sh*t” out of ISIS and promising not to deploy more U.S. ground troops in the region—is more of a fantasy than a plausible policy. Yet that is what the U.S. national security apparatus is now recommending.

Once again, the U.S. government is misreading the realities of the region.

The fact that Trump’s newly aggressive policy toward Iran is supported by the best minds of the Pentagon and the National Security Council demonstrates that when it comes to losing wars in the Muslim world, Washington has forgotten nothing, and learned nothing – By Jefferson Morley

http://www.alternet.org/world/behind-trumps-war-yemen-saudi-offensive-against-iran

28.3.2017 – The Hill (* A P)

Groups worry as Trump weighs wider role in Yemen fight

Humanitarian groups are voicing concern after reports the Trump administration may step up support for the Saudi-led coalition fighting in Yemen.

“If the U.S. is going to escalate military intervention in Yemen, it needs to make sure that it minimizes civilian casualties,” Sahr Muhammedally of the Center for Civilians in Conflict told The Hill.

Muhammedally said the administration should encourage Saudi Arabia to be take more precautions to avoid civilian casualties, such as coordinating with local communities.

Kristine Beckerle of Human Rights Watch told The Hill that escalating the U.S. role, including selling the Saudis more weapons, could make the administration complicit in civilian casualties.

Beckerle said the U.S. should not resume weapons sales and that halting those sales would give the administration leverage to influence Saudi policy in Yemen. “The USA and UK are fueling serious violations that have caused devastating civilian suffering through multibillion-dollar arms transfers to Saudi Arabia that vastly overshadow their humanitarian efforts,” said Amnesty International in a March 23 statement – by Sara Sirota

http://thehill.com/policy/international/326166-groups-worry-as-trump-weighs-wider-role-in-yemen-fight

29.3.2017 – USA Today (A P)

Yemen raid needs answers: Our view

If the nation has learned anything in 16 years of war, it's that things can go very wrong, very fast in the battlefield. No matter how well-planned the mission or how skilled the fighting force, the enemy always gets a vote. Military investigations of the Yemen raid are underway, and several crucial questions need to be answered:

When the mission team of two dozen American and Emirati commandos entered the village, militants there — even the women — were armed and on high alert. Why didn't the U.S. commanders anticipate this?

How many civilians were killed during the raid, and to what extent did this damage relations with the government of Yemen?

How did the effort to evacuate the besieged commandos go so wrong? An Osprey lost power and struck the ground, leaving three servicemembers injured.

Senior military leaders insist that good intelligence was gathered, information desperately needed after U.S. advisers were forced out of Yemen in 2015 and lost intelligence sources. Moreover, leaders say, the attack disrupted the al-Qaeda affiliate so that its commanders were successfully targeted in U.S. airstrikes that followed. Maybe the mission was worth the risk, and the cost, falling somewhere in the gray area between success and failure.

Either way, the president should stand by his decisions and not publicly fob them off on someone else. He's in charge now, and there will almost certainly be more tough choices in the future – by Editorial Board

http://www.usatoday.com/story/opinion/2017/03/29/yemen-raid-needs-answers-editorials-debates/98777060/

27.3.2017 – RT (A P)

Film: 9/11 Widow Terry Strada Fights for Justice

Sean Stone sits down with 9/11 widow and JASTA activist Terry Strada to discuss the newest lawsuit born from that controversial Act and her desire to bring the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia to justice for their alleged support of the 9/11 hijackers.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xsq5AK5_h1I

28.3.2017 – Safety4Sea (A K P)

US flag vessels to avoid enter Yemen

The US Maritime Administration (US MARAD) issued an advisory recommending that US-flag commercial vessels avoid entering or loitering near Yemen’s Red Sea ports and that vessels transiting the area exercise special vigilance. US MARAD also warns U.S. flagged commercial vessels transiting the region to conduct a pre-voyage risk assessment and incorporate appropriate protective measures into their vessel security plans. U.S. Coast Guard information.

U.S. flagged commercial vessels in the region should operate under a heightened state of alert due to the potential for direct or collateral damage. These threats may come from a variety of different sources including, but not limited to, missiles, projectiles, mines, small arms, or waterborne improvised explosive devices. Vessels in this region should report hostile activities immediately and contact coalition naval forces on VHF Channel 16.

U.S. flagged commercial vessels should also make contact in advance with the U.S. Fifth Fleet Naval Cooperation and Guidance for Shipping (NCAGS) detachment.

Transit by yachts and privately owned sailing vessels through the region is also extremely hazardous and may result in capture. The U.S. Coast Guard advises against all operation of yacht and pleasure craft in these areas.

http://www.safety4sea.com/us-flag-vessels-to-avoid-enter-yemen/

24.3.2017 – Al Monitor (* A P)

Saudis jump on Trump bandwagon

After a deep disillusionment with the United States during Obama’s terms in office, the Saudis are now looking toward a better relationship with the Trump administration.

The new administration is unlikely to be as diffident on the issues raised by the Arab Spring. Trump has already embraced the Abdel Fattah al-Sisi military regime in Egypt.

The Saudis are not putting all their eggs in the US connection, however. Last week, King Salman bin Abdul-Aziz Al Saud completed a three-week trip to Asia with a stop in China

Two issues will continue to unsettle the US-Saudi partnership. First is growing opposition in Congress and elsewhere to the war in Yemen. Opponents of the Saudi blockade of the Houthi-controlled northern half of Yemen suggest Saudi strategy now is to use starvation as a tool to defeat the rebels. The anticipated coalition offensive to take the north's major port at Hodeidah away from the Houthis would tighten the blockade further.

The other irritant is the Justice Against Sponsors of Terrorism Act, which allows the kingdom to be sued for its alleged role in the 9/11 terrorist attacks – by Bruce Riedel

http://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/originals/2017/03/saudi-arabia-trump-administration-obama-clinton-salman.html

27.3.2017 – RT (* A P)

Film: Saudi-Kampagne gegen 9/11-Klage: „Man hat uns instrumentalisiert“

Mehr als 300 Familien von Opfer der Anschläge vom 9. September klagen gegen Saudi-Arabien. Unterdessen betreibt Saudi-Arabien eine massive PR-Kampagne gegen das Gesetz, mit dem das Öl-Königreich wegen der Terroranschläge verklagt werden kann.

Veteranen des US-Militär beklagen sich nun, dass sie von der saudischen PR-Firma hinters Licht geführt wurden.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IL-2KR1Fmpw

cp10 Großbritannien / Great Britain

Siehe / Look at cp1

29.3.2017 – The National (* A K P)

Tasmina Ahmed-Sheikh: We must not forget the suffering of the Yemeni population

"I SEE the damage everywhere and I see how many people are affected by the bombs. I feel scared when I see weapons and especially when I hear the sound of planes up in the sky. When you hear that sound it means a big explosion will follow and that people will be killed… Hospitals and schools are damaged too. For children there is no education anymore. Life is very difficult in Yemen right now.”

This week marks the second anniversary of the conflict in the Yemen. This is often referred to as a forgotten conflict, marginalised by the mainstream media and consigned to stub articles in national and international newspapers. But the words here from a thirteen-year-old Yemeni girl should chill the heart of every humanitarian across the world.

Two years on from the start of a Saudi-led military intervention against the country’s Houthi rebels, seven million Yemeni people are currently on the brink of starvation. Shipments of aid and commercial goods entering Yemen continue to be delayed and diverted by Saudi Arabia and its coalition allies. This continues today, despite the fact that famine threatens to grip much of the country and where the local healthcare system is already on the brink of collapse. But despite this, violations of human rights are not being properly and independently investigated, and this is preventing those responsible from being held to account. We must continue to shout from the rooftops about the horrors that the population there face each day, and ensure that we keep the suffering of the Yemeni people at the forefront of the international political agenda. Over the last year Tory Ministers have crowed about their ability to take to the world stage again and to show world leadership on a range of issues, from promoting free trade to re-establishing the “Empire 2.0”. Rather than using their influence to recreate the past, I’d rather that Ministers in Whitehall use their time and resources to build a better future for the Yemeni people, free from the violence and terror that has hung over them for the past two years – by Tasmina Ahmed-Sheikh, MP

http://www.thenational.scot/comment/15187669.Tasmina_Ahmed_Sheikh__We_must_not_forget_the_suffering_of_the_Yemeni_population/

28.3.2017 – The Morning Star (* B P)

Please don’t mention Western intervention

By downplaying the West’s role in Yemen and Somalia, the Guardian is keeping its readers ignorant of the true nature of Western foreign policy

UN figures show 17 million people face severe food insecurity, the Guardian noted, including nearly seven million people deemed to be in a state of emergency.

With the article relegated to page 29 of the newspaper, there was just one oblique mention of the US and Britain, which the report explained “have influence over the Saudi-led coalition” currently attacking Yemen and blocking aid entering the country.

Here are the basic facts the Guardian chose not to highlight. Since March 2015, Saudi Arabia has led a coalition of countries in a bombing campaign to overthrow the Houthi government in Yemen (which itself overthrew the previous government).

The US and Britain have been closely collaborating with Saudi Arabia in Yemen. “We’ll support the Saudis in every practical way, short of engaging in combat… political support, of course, logistical and technical support,” the then foreign secretary Philip Hammond announced a month into the bombardment.

Speaking to me last year, activist Medea Benjamin, author of Kingdom of the Unjust: Behind the US-Saudi Connection, explained Saudi Arabia is “getting munitions from the West… The US is even refuelling their planes in the air.”

Speaking in January 2017, O’Brien was crystal clear about the main cause of the ongoing humanitarian crisis: “The conflict in Yemen is now the primary driver of the largest food security emergency in the world.”

The Guardian has form when it comes to (not) reporting the causes of the deepening humanitarian crisis in Yemen. Surveying the newspaper’s coverage of Yemen between June 2016 and mid-January 2017, Peace News editor Milan Rai concluded: “The critical role of the Saudi blockade in creating these conditions in Yemen has been effectively suppressed by the British media, including Britain’s most liberal mainstream newspaper, the Guardian.”

According to Rai, there were 70 stories or editorials about Yemen on the Guardian website during this period: “Most of those 70 items (42 stories, 60 per cent of the total) do not mention the humanitarian crisis — or the role of the Saudi blockade — in any way at all.” And though the other 28 articles did refer to the humanitarian crisis “most did so only in a way that effectively suppressed the information,” Rai notes.

Unsurprisingly a recent YouGov/ Independent poll found more than half of British people were unaware of the war in Yemen, with just 37 per cent of 18-24 year olds aware of the conflict.

Turning to Somalia, on March 13 the Guardian published a full-page article on the ongoing humanitarian crisis in east Africa. “As many as 6.2 million Somalis — more than half the population — need urgent food assistance,” noted the Guardian, including “some districts… under the control of Islamist rebels al-Shabab, making [aid] access complicated.” There is one mention of the US: “The US government says it has spent more than $110 million on humanitarian assistance in Somalia in 2017.”

In reality, the US has been heavily involved in Somali affairs since the 1990s. These interventions, noted BBC journalist Mary Harper in her 2012 book Getting Somalia Wrong?, are viewed by “a growing number of experts” as having “contributed towards [Somalia’s] destruction as a viable nation-state.”

Like Yemen, the US military involvement in Somalia has harmed the country’s ability to deal with humanitarian crises. This quick survey of the Guardian’s recent coverage of Yemen and Somalia puts the lie to Guardian regular Polly Toynbee’s claim that the newspaper is “always free to hold power to account: to take on politicians, global corporations, the secret security state or great vested interests.”

The Guardian may well be free to hold power to account but it’s currently missing some huge open goals when it comes to Western foreign policy.

To be clear, I’m not saying the Guardian never mentions Western interference in Yemen and Somalia or links this to the growing humanitarian crises — I’m arguing the newspaper’s coverage does not match the importance of the issue.

As Edward Herman and Noam Chomsky argue in their 1988 book Manufacturing Consent, the fact “that the media provide some information about an issue… proves absolutely nothing about the adequacy or accuracy of media coverage… More important is the way they present a particular fact — its placement, tone, and frequency of repetition — and the framework of analysis in which it is placed.”

Indeed, by downplaying of US intervention in Yemen and Somalia, the Guardian has helped to keep the large swatches of the general public ignorant of Western foreign policy — a state of affairs that suits the US government’s interests, as the Los Angeles Times report above makes clear – by Ian Sinclair

http://www.morningstaronline.co.uk/a-e155-Please-dont-mention-Western-intervention#.WNtuD6JCSUk

My comment: Nevertheless, the Guardian is among the best of the “mainstream” media as far as reporting on Yemen is concerned, and there are several very good articles. Compared to German newspapers for instance, you only could dream of something like the coverage in the Guardian.

28.3.2017 – Middle East Eye (* B P)

Tobias Ellwood showed courage in London attack. Can he do the same in Yemen?

The Middle East minister has been a key apologist for the Saudi-led slaughter in Yemen. The instincts he showed last week are needed there.

For the last two years, Ellwood has been the minister responsible for dealing with Saudi Arabia's war in Yemen.

During this period, the Saudis (and their Gulf allies) have inflicted unspeakable carnage.

Throughout this pointless and unnecessary war, Ellwood has been one of the most important apologists for the Saudis - and their campaign of slaughter.

He has repeatedly insisted that there is no evidence that Saudi Arabia has broken international humanitarian law. He has helped to block an independent international investigation into alleged Saudi war crimes in Yemen.

Ellwood also misled the House of Commons on several occasions last year when he said that the British government had carried out its own assessments of Saudi conduct and concluded that there had no breaches if international humanitarian law.

In an excruciating moment in July 2016, Ellwood issued a scrappy statement to Parliament in which he admitted that he had not been telling the truth, and that no such assessments had been carried out. It was issued on the final day before the summer recess and with not a word of apology.

Ellwood claims his repeated failure to tell the truth was down to a "mistake". As I have explained here previously, this is an implausible explanation for the Foreign Office failure to be straightforward about the Saudi campaign of carnage in Yemen. It actually maligns the competence of serving officials who cannot defend themselves.

Of course, the prime offenders are the Saudi war machine and its murderous allies among the Gulf states. Nevertheless, it would be wrong to absolve Ellwood of all responsibility.

This is because Britain is one of the most important allies of Saudi Arabia. We have used our clout as a permanent member of the Security Council to prevent an independent UN investigation and insisted that the Saudis themselves can be relied on to make this assessment - in other words, to mark their own murderous homework.

Britain continues to allow our major defence companies to supply arms to Saudi Arabia, along with the US, sending more than $5bn worth since the conflict began.

We all know the excuses. Britain has important strategic interests in the Gulf. Saudi Arabia is one of our closest allies. Thousands of skilled manufacturing jobs in the north of England depend on British aerospace contracts with Saudi Arabia.

Our politicians insist that Britain acts as a critical friend, speaking the truth in private to our Saudi allies, while supporting them in public.

I am certain that Ellwood knows all of this, and that must trouble him. Politics at a senior level often involves difficult and morally hazardous choices.

But the Saudi conduct in Yemen is not morally hazardous. It's morally repugnant. It makes all its defenders collude in war crimes.

The British Foreign Office has made itself dependent on a regime which fundamentally despises Britain. The regime is divided and tottering. We have no idea who will rule the country and its oil if the regime falls – or control the colossal arsenal which we have so eagerly sold it.

As Middle East minister, Tobias Ellwood is caught up in the heart of this moral quandary – by Peter Oborne

http://www.middleeasteye.net/columns/tobias-ellwood-13636622

28.3.2017 – Huffington Post (A P)

Yemen, A Forgotten Country - Remembered Today In Parliament

Today in Parliament MPs will debate a motion to highlight the conflict in Yemen.

MPs Keith Vaz, Mrs Flick Drummond & Alison Thewliss will lead and open a debate in the House of Commons today to highlight the worsening situation in Yemen. They will ask the UK government to take a lead in passing a resolution at the UN Security Council that would give effect to an immediate ceasefire in Yemen.

The people of Yemen need both peace and emergency assistance. The DEC is calling for all parties to respect international humanitarian.

Read this report and watch these films to see how life-saving aid is getting through to the people of Yemen.

To prevent famine, more funding and immediate action is needed. The DEC Yemen Crisis appeal is still open and your help is much appreciated. Together, we can and must do more to prevent this crisis of humanity. Please help the forgotten people of Yemen. – by Monica Blagescu

http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/monica-blagescu/yemen-civil-war_b_15654016.html

cp12 Andere Länder / Other countries

29.3.2017 – French mission at UN (A P)

Yemen: there is only a political solution to the conflict

Remarks to the press by Mr François Delattre, Permanent Representative of France to the UN - 29 March 2017

One word on Yemen to tell you how concerned we are by the blocking of the situation with respect to both the very worrying deterioration of the humanitarian situation, but also the total stalemate of the political talks in a context where there is only a political solution to the conflict, and no military solution whatsoever.

In this very difficult situation we more than ever support the Special Envoy’s efforts in a context where everyone must play their part to encourage the parties to resume the negotiations. So we will see how the consultations go but again the situation is very alarming.

http://www.franceonu.org/Yemen-there-is-only-a-political-solution-to-the-conflict

My comment: More western hypocrisy: France, one of Saudis’ greatest arms supplier, shedding crocodile tears on Yemen while making billions on arms sales to Saudi Arabia.

29.3.2017 – New Mathilda (* A P)

Penny For Her Thoughts: ALP Changes Stance On Yemen From Silence To Waffly Garbage

In response to queries, the Australian Labor Party has released to New Matilda – and apparently no-one else – its statement on the situation on Yemen. It is basically a weak joke.

In almost exactly two years, the ALP has barely said a single word about the war in Yemen. I looked through the media releases of Tanya Plibersek, and the only comments she made about it were criticising the Iranians for allegedly supporting the Houthis. Not a word about the blockade, or the desperate humanitarian situation.

Penny Wong, the new Foreign Affairs spokesperson for the ALP, has said nothing at all.

In response to media queries sent to the offices of Plibersek and Wong, I received a response from Stephen Spencer, the media adviser to Wong. He sent me what he said was “Labor’s position on Yemen”.

That is the only thing they have said about the war on Yemen. They did not release it publicly. The only record of it, until this article, was in the email sent to me.

Perhaps they are embarrassed by the weakness of their release. “Deeply concerned” means nothing. They do not identify who or what has attacked “civilians, schools and hospitals”. They condemn “all violence”, which, by failing to differentiate in any way, renders it effectively meaningless. They call on both sides to “de-escalate the conflict”, which they presumably expect to have no effect. It is likely to have particularly limited effect, given that this call has been solely issued to New Matilda.

The ALP tacitly recognises the Abd Rabbu Mansour Hadi as the legitimate president of Yemen, by identifying the invading coalition as the “pro-government forces”, and endorsing negotiations on the basis of a UN Security Council Resolution which endorses Hadi’s government, and imposed sanctions on the Houthis. That is, other than bland diplomatic opposition to attacks by unnamed parties, and telling me and no-one else that they urge “restraint”, the ALP has quietly tilted to the Saudi-led invaders – By Michael Brull

https://newmatilda.com/2017/03/29/new-matilda-exclusive-alp-changes-stance-on-yemen-from-silence-to-waffly-garbage/

My comment: Western politicians and political parties mostly all are the same: as Australian Labour.

28.3.2017 – Sputnik News (A P)

Moscow Reaffirms Support of Resumption of Peace Talks in Yemen

Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Bogdanov reaffirmed Moscow's support of the resumption of reconciliation talks in conflict-hit Yemen during a meeting with Yemeni President Abdrabbuh Mansur Hadi on Tuesday, the Russian Foreign Ministry said.

https://sputniknews.com/middleeast/201703281052057742-moscow-support-yemen/

28.3.2017 – Dawn (A P)

Raheel Sharif's appointment as coalition chief an administrative decision, says Khawaja Asif

Defence Minsiter Khawaja Asif said the decision to appoint former army chief General Raheel Sharif as head of the 39-nation coalition of Muslim countries is an administrative decision and is not linked to the conflict in Yemen

https://www.dawn.com/news/1323388/raheel-sharifs-appointment-as-coalition-chief-an-administrative-decision-says-khawaja-asif

27.3.2017 – Telesur (A P)

UAE Acts Pro-Palestine, but Joins Military Drills with Israel

Reports suggest that the oil-rich Arab monarchy is having a cozy and secret relationship with Israel in intelligence sharing and economy sectors.

Despite having no diplomatic ties with Israel and rhetorically being pro-Palestinian, the United Arab Emirates, UAE, is conducting military exercises in Greece alongside the same Israeli Army that has maintained a decades-long brutal occupation in the West Bank and has been accused of human rights abuses against Palestinians by the United Nations and others.

The military exercises include several other countries such as the U.S. and Italy.

The Iniohos 2017 exercise aims to “strengthen our relationships, maintain joint readiness and interoperability, and reassure our regional allies and partners,” the U.S. Army said in a press release about the military training earlier Monday.

While there are no official ties between Israel and the UAE, news reports and officials in both sides have reported secret talks and cooperation in economic, intelligence and military sectors between the two controversial nations.

http://www.telesurtv.net/english/news/UAE-Acts-Pro-Palestine-but-Joins-Military-Drills-with-Israel-20170327-0021.html

cp13a Waffenhandel / Arms trade

28.3.2017 – News Deeply (* B H)

Desperate Red Sea Journeys: Refugees Pour Into and Out of Yemen

Following the attack that killed 42 Somali refugees off the coast of Yemen, we report from Djibouti on the desperate choices faced by refugees who fled to Yemen and now find themselves in the middle of another conflict.

Thousands of refugees fleeing in both directions across the narrow passage of water that separates the Arabian Peninsula and the Horn of Africa.

The desperate choices these refugees face were horrifyingly illustrated this month when a boat carrying around 150 Somali refugees was attacked by a helicopter gunship and military ship after it departed from the Yemeni rebel-held port Hodeidah. At least 42 refugees were killed.

The closest country for refugees from Yemen is Djibouti.

Djibouti, strategically located on the slender Bab el-Mandeb strait, has long been a major transit country for migrants and refugees attempting to make their way to Yemen, and often onward seeking work opportunities in Saudi Arabia or Jordan.

The war has not stopped migrants from continuing to take boats to Yemen. More than 117,000 refugees and migrants, mainly Ethiopians and Somalis, arrived in Yemen last year according to the U.N. refugee agency UNHCR.

Since the war broke out in Yemen two years ago, boats have also been going back toward Africa. They carry Yemenis fleeing war as well as African migrants and refugees who ended up in the middle of the conflict and had no choice but to turn around.

Djibouti shelters around 26,000 refugees, according to UNHCR.

There are three official refugee camps in the country. Ali Addeh and Holl Holl in the south mainly host Somalis, Ethiopians and Eritreans.

Following the recent wave of arrivals from Yemen, UNHCR and Djiboutian authorities constructed Markazi camp in Obock.

Around 1,500 people live there in tents and small huts, according to UNHCR. Directly opposite the camp is the reception center of the U.N.’s migration agency, the International Organization for Migration (IOM).

Obock has temperatures above 122F (50C) in summer and a harsh desert wind called khamsin. “It’s like a sand tornado, with everything, sand, garbage … You can’t eat, you can’t sleep, it gets everywhere, sometimes it blows tents away,” says Irsaal, a Yemeni refugee – by Emilienne Malfatto, Emeline Wuilbercq

https://www.newsdeeply.com/refugees/articles/2017/03/28/desperate-red-sea-journeys-refugees-pour-into-and-out-of-yemen

cp13b Flüchtlinge / Refugees

Eingebetteter Medieninhalt

28.2.2017 – UN High Commissioner for Refugees (A H)

Somalia Task Force on Yemen Situation: Inter-Agency Update #24 (1 - 28 February 2017)

In February, 391 individuals; 314 Somali returnees and 77 Yemeni refugees, arrived from Yemen and were received by UNHCR and partners in Somalia;

Access to education was provided to 581 refugee children;

Health care assistance was provided to 671 Yemeni refugees by UNHCR and partners;

UNHCR and partners distributed cash assistance to 718 Yemeni refugee households, comprising of 1,383 individuals, to meet their basic needs.

http://reliefweb.int/report/somalia/somalia-task-force-yemen-situation-inter-agency-update-24-1-28-february-2017 and in full: http://reliefweb.int/sites/reliefweb.int/files/resources/Somalia-Inter-AgencyUpdate1-28February2017.pdf

cp14 Terrorismus / Terrorism

29.3.2017 – Reuters (A T)

Four suspected al Qaeda members killed in Yemen drone strike: residents

At least four suspected al Qaeda members were killed in an apparent U.S. drone strike on a vehicle in central Yemen, residents said on Wednesday, part of an escalating campaign against the Islamist militant group.

They said the attack in Amqoz in the Moudiya district of Abyan province took place around midnight on Tuesday. Their vehicle was completely burned and the four bodies inside badly charred, they added.

Residents also reported hearing missile strikes on a suspected al Qaeda outpost in Wadi al-Naseel area, also in Abyan province, but said the number of casualties was unknown.

Abyan is one of several provinces in central and southern Yemen where Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) and its local affiliate Ansar al-Sahria operate.

http://www.reuters.com/article/us-yemen-security-attacks-idUSKBN17010K

29.3.2017 – AFP (A T)

Drone strikes kill 5 Qaeda suspects in Yemen

Drone strikes killed five suspected Al-Qaeda militants in southern Yemen on Wednesday, a security official said, as the US intensifies air raids on jihadists in the war-torn country.

Four suspected members of Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula died when two missiles hit a vehicle on the outskirts of the town of Mudiyah in Abyan province, the official said.

In a separate raid, three missiles hit a motorbike driving down a side street in the town of Rawda in nearby Shabwa province, killing a man known locally as an AQAP member, the official said.

The raids come two weeks after US President Donald Trump's administration reportedly gave the CIA new powers to conduct drone strikes against extremist targets in the Middle East.

http://www.france24.com/en/20170329-drone-strikes-kill-5-qaeda-suspects-yemen

And related photos (?): https://twitter.com/demolinari/status/847370934268735488

My comment: “Qaeda suspects”, again. Having been a target, always means “Qaeda suspects”, at least.

28.3.2017 – Janes (not rated B T)

AQAP activity in northeast Yemen indicates increased terrorism and cargo risks on Saudi side of border

Suspected Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) militants based in Yemen on 24 March 2017 raided a Yemeni Border Guard position in the al-Akhashim district, approximately 90 km north east of al-Wadiah border crossing, according to local media.

The motivation for the raid appears to have been to acquire weapons, supplies, and equipment. According to local sources quoted in Yemeni media, a battalion of the 11th Brigade of the Yemeni Border Guard was withdrawn from this outpost several months ago, leaving behind only a token force.

The withdrawal of this battalion is consistent with reporting from Jane's in-country source network, that Yemeni military commanders in the east, who are effectively operating without any government control or support, have given priority to safeguarding local security and acquiring the basic supplies they need from a range of state and non-state armed groups (subscribers only)

http://www.janes.com/article/69088/aqap-activity-in-northeast-yemen-indicates-increased-terrorism-and-cargo-risks-on-saudi-side-of-border

28.3.2017 – Reuters (A T)

Yemen says it captures senior al Qaeda leader

Yemeni troops captured a senior leader of al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) during an early morning raid on Tuesday in the southeastern Hadramawt region, a local security official said.

Special forces stormed the house in a remote village where Abu Ali al-Sayari, a Saudi national of Yemeni origins, was hiding, the official said. They detained three others and killed two more.

http://www.reuters.com/article/us-yemen-security-alqaeda-raid-idUSKBN16Z1QL

Remark: “Yemen”: Hadi government controlled.

Just a reminder:

20.4.2016 – Financial Times (* B T)

Mutual suspicion frays historic US-Saudi ties

After the Iraqi city of Mosul fell to a lightning Isis offensive in 2014, even the late Prince Saud al-Faisal, the respected Saudi foreign minister, remonstrated with John Kerry, US secretary of state, that “Daesh [Isis] is our [Sunni] response to your support for the Da’wa” — the Tehran-aligned Shia Islamist ruling party of Iraq – by David Gardner

https://www.ft.com/content/876a971c-0644-11e6-a70d-4e39ac32c284

And another:

9.12.2015 – Accuracy (* B T)

“Elephant in the Room” — Terrorism and the U.S.-Gulf States Alliance

“When it comes to existing discourse on efforts to counter radicalization and the subsequent extremism that arises, it appears that Western policymakers and media outlets want to address everything but the actual long-term causes. The elephant in the room being Gulf states (namely Saudi Arabia and Qatar) whose state institutions have acted as an ideological incubator for extremist sentiment to flourish both domestically and abroad.

“It is rarely talked about in a sensible way since the Saudis continue to hire a spree of U.S. lobbyists and PR experts, one of which is the PR powerhouse Edelman. The largest privately owned PR agency in the world, Edelman is known for helping clients with favorable media coverage on mainstream outlets. Meanwhile, a Saudi-led coalition is continuing to bomb the poorest country in the Middle East (Yemen), violating international law in the process, which like many of their activities has Western approval due to lucrative arms deals, in turn, affording Gulf states impunity for any of their actions. This explains the notable media blackout and minimal coverage on events in Yemen across Western media outlets.

“If you look at the relationship extremist movements have with these countries, you find they will employ various discrete or indirect methods of both financing and arming. A prime example being Al-Qaeda’s affiliate in Syria — Jabhat Al-Nusra. GCC states along with NATO member Turkey have effectively armed them through the guise of arming a so-called moderate coalition ‘Jaysh al-Fatah,’ which itself is already comprised of hardline Sunni Islamist groups such as Ahrar al-Sham.

“Qatar in particular, are known to finance such groups by way of paying ransoms; acting as a mediator in hostage situations. The most recent example being in Arsal, Lebanon, where Qatar mediated on a prisoner exchange deal for the release of Lebanese soldiers held captive by the group. Using this method enables them to deflect any charges of culpability for financing what are effectively al-Qaeda insurgents.

“In modern times, much of the extremism we witness today can be traced back to the U.S. and Saudi backing in the 1980s when they built up the Afghan Mujahideen to battle the Soviets; who we come to know today as the Taliban. It just goes to show how such policies of arming the ‘moderate Islamist’ has come back around to bite the U.S., having to invest in conflicts just to get rid of a problem they themselves aided and abetted in creating. We see a similar process taking place in Syria today.

“As part of this process, the Saudis would go on to utilize their petrodollars in order to finance and build fanatical religious schools.

http://www.accuracy.org/release/elephant-in-the-room-terrorism-and-the-u-s-gulf-states-alliance/

cp15 Propaganda

29.3.2017 – Al arabiya (A P)

King Salman stresses on a peaceful solution in Yemen

Saudi King Salman bin Abdulaziz stressed in his speech at the 28th Arab Summit’s opening session on Wednesday, on a peaceful solution to the crisis in Yemen.

He also stressed that the unity of Yemen and its stability are very important, explaining that the solution in Yemen should be based on the Gulf initiative and the outputs of the national dialogue.

He highlighted that “the most dangerous thing facing our Arab nation is terrorism and extremism. https://english.alarabiya.net/en/News/gulf/2017/03/29/King-Salman-stresses-on-a-peaceful-solution-in-Yemen.html

My comment: A double LOL.

29.3.2017 – Defense News (A P)

CENTCOM chief: 'Vital US interests at stake' in Yemen

As the White House is reportedly weighing deeper military involvement in the Yemeni civil war alongside Middle Eastern allies, America’s top commander in the region told Congress “there are vital U.S. interests at stake” in the fight.

Army Gen. Joseph Votel told the House Armed Services Committee on Wednesday that the U.S. does not want Yemen to be used as a sanctuary for attacks against the U.S. and allies or for militants to choke off the Red Sea’s Bab el-Mandeb strait, which runs past Yemen on the Arabian Peninsula as well as Djibouti and Eritrea on the Horn of Africa.

The comments came as U.S. Defense Secretary Jim Mattis is asking the White House to lift restrictions on U.S. military support for Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, The Washington Post reported this week. The plan under consideration reportedly includes backing a planned Emirati offensive to retake a key Red Sea port – By: Joe Gould

http://www.defensenews.com/articles/centcom-chief-vital-us-interests-at-stake-in-yemen

Comments by Daniel Larison: "Vital interests" is probably the most abused phrase in our language

https://twitter.com/DanielLarison/status/847468474142048256

No vital U.S. interests are at stake in Yemen. The limited interests we may have are threatened by coalition war

https://twitter.com/DanielLarison/status/847468631164190721

Saudi-led war on Yemen actively harms U.S. interests. It is insane to invoke our interests to justify more support for that war

https://twitter.com/DanielLarison/status/847468813897441281

Comment by Chris Fountain: #VitalInterests in #Yemen = Saudi contracts for US weapons. Disgusting. Sad. Totally counterproductive. Terrorism generator.

https://twitter.com/Cfountain72/status/847635485065330688

29.3.2017 – AFP (A P)

Houthi rebels in Yemen threatening strategic strait: US official

Houthi rebels in Yemen are threatening free movement into and out of the Red Sea with missiles, mines and other sophisticated defenses on a key strait, a top US general said Wednesday.

The Bab el-Mandeb Strait connects the Red Sea to the Indian Ocean, a strategic passage for world trade.

Acting "with the support of Iran," the rebels have deployed "coastal defense missiles, radar systems, mines and explosives boats that have been migrated from the Strait of Hormuz," US Central Command chief General Joe Votel told the House Armed Services Committee.

The installations threaten "commerce and ships and our security operations in the area," he said.

"I am extraordinarily concerned about another contested maritime chokepoint in the region," Votel said.

http://www.france24.com/en/20170329-houthi-rebels-yemen-threatening-strategic-strait-us-official = https://www.yahoo.com/news/houthi-rebels-yemen-threatening-strategic-strait-us-official-183705588.html

My comment: This statement simply is bullshit propaganda. The by far greatetst threat to shipping in the Red Sea is 1) Saudi air raids at refugee and fishing boats, 2) Saudi air raids and pounding at the Yemeni coast, 3) Saudi blockade of Yemeni harbours. – It’s absolutely odd that Votel really thinks that the Yemenis at the coast should not be allowed to have “"coastal defense missiles, radar systems”, what almost every country will have at its coastline. – And it’s odd when Votel is speaking of “our security operations in the area”. US “security operations” would occure at the US coast, not more than 10.000 km away from it. - All these statements are a part of the propagandistic preparation of more US interference in Yemen, of the planned attack at Hodeida port (which will lead to an even greater humanitarian disaster), of a much more aggressive politics against Iran.

29.3.2017 – Brookings (A P)

6 elements of a strategy to push back on Iran’s hegemonic ambitions

Iran is posing a comprehensive challenge to the interests of the United States and its allies and partners in the Middle East. Over the past four decades, it has managed to establish an “arc of influence” that stretches from Lebanon and Syria in the Levant, to Iraq and Bahrain on the Gulf, to Yemen on the Red Sea. What the United States now needs is a comprehensive, integrated, and sustainable “push-back” strategy.

Any such American strategy needs to take account of the way that, in the Middle East, everything is connected. Push back on Iran in Yemen, and they might well stir up the Shiite population in Bahrain. Push back on Iran in Syria, and they might well use the Shiite militias in Iraq to undermine our effort to eliminate ISIS there, or encourage Hamas to launch rocket attacks on Israel from Gaza.

A comprehensive strategy would need to contain at least six elements:

1) Rigorous enforcement of the Iran nuclear deal.

2) Support for the Iraqi governmentof Haider al-Abadi and the Iraqi Armed Forces as they campaign to defeat ISIS

3) Promotion of a political resolution of the civil war in Yemen. The Trump administration is currently considering stepping up military support for Saudi Arabia and the UAE in their two-year long military campaign in Yemen. This makes sense only if it is wedded to a diplomatic strategy for ending the war, which has already caused thousands of civilian casualties and vast human suffering. Otherwise, the United States will be sucked into the Yemen quagmire like so many outside powers before us.

Gains on the battlefield should impact the dynamics at the negotiating table. In that regard, a successful effort to take control of the Red Sea port of Hodeida could impact the Houthi calculus and lead to greater seriousness and reasonableness on their part in the negotiations. But American support needs to be conditioned on the pursuit of a political solution by our Saudi allies as well.

4) Reduce Iran’s influence in Syria.

5) Concert the capabilities of our regional allies in a regional security framework that can sustain a long-term, burden-sharing effort. The United States is fortunate to have capable regional strategic partners in Israel, Turkey, Saudi Arabia, and the Sunni Arab states that share a common interest in countering Iran’s threatening ambitions. While each has its own strategic perspective, there is a new readiness across the region to work together, with Turkey, the Gulf states, and Egypt all improving cooperation with Israel, for example. It is time to test the readiness of our allies to come together in a regional security arrangement that will allow us all more effectively to coordinate our efforts against Iran.

6) Lay the foundations for negotiations with Iran about its ambitions and behavior in the region.

Countering Iran’s regional hegemonic ambitions is a deadly serious business. In pursuing this objective, we should be careful about making threats unless we are prepared to back them up, and we should be wary of declaring objectives that we have neither the will nor interest to achieve. – by Martin S. Indyk, Executive Vice President, The Brookings Institution

My comment: A document oft he implicitness of US elites to interfer all over the world, including military interference, bringing death and destruction. Ridiculous: Lamenting about “Iran’s regional hegemonic ambitions” while the worldwide US “hegemonic ambitions” are more than obvious.

29.3.2017 – The National UAE (A P)

Yemen and allies close to dealing ‘debilitating blow’ to Iran, President Hadi tells Arab League

Yemeni president Abdrabu Mansur Hadi told leaders at the 28th Arab League summit in Jordan on Wednesday that his forces and their allies were close to a major victory that would serve as a debilitating blow to Iranian interests in the region.

"This is the storm that has shattered the dreams and ambitions of the Iranians … now currently we are on the verge of a great victory," he said, thanking Saudi Arabia, the UAE and other Arab states which backed him with military might in his fight against Houthi rebels.

In his speech, which lasted more than 20 minutes, Mr Hadi called Tehran "the true sponsor of terrorism" and described Iranian involvement in the Middle East as a "conspiracy."

Mr Hadi’s speech stood out in a summit where other leaders alluded to Iran’s swollen influence in the region at times without naming the power – by Josh Wood

http://www.thenational.ae/world/middle-east/yemen-and-allies-close-to-dealing-debilitating-blow-to-iran-president-hadi-tells-arab-league

29.3.2017 – AP (A P)

The Latest on the Arab summit being held in Jordan (all times local):

5 p.m.

Yemen's embattled president has launched a scathing verbal attack on Iran, saying the non-Arab and mostly Shiite nation is pursuing expansionist policies to destroy the Arab identity.

Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi told an Arab summit in Jordan on Wednesday that Iran "is the true sponsor of terrorism."

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/M/ML_JORDAN_ARAB_SUMMIT_THE_LATEST?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2017-03-29-11-03-11 and look at photo: https://www.facebook.com/LivingInYemenOnTheEdge/photos/a.961595153893515.1073741828.961126490607048/1320593121327048/?type=3

My comment: The usual Hadi nonsense.

29.3.2017 – Asharq Al-Awsat (A P)

Yemeni Minister of Culture: Saleh Wants to Save a Place in Any Settlement

Yemeni Minister of Culture, Marwan Damaj believes that the Houthi-Saleh coalition aims to return to establishing the Arab Yemeni Republic to what serves their interests as they are not willing to reach a peace agreement.

Tackling several issues in Yemen as the warn-torn country enters its third year of conflict, the minister criticized ousted president Saleh for trying to find a way to be included in any future settlement.

When asked about the death sentence issued against President Abd Rabbu Mansour Hadi and other officials, Damaj said it can be regarded from two points of view; it represents Houthi-Saleh’s rejection of all peace options and will be used to publicity in an attempt to show the public they are still strong.

During his latest statement, Saleh tried to get out of being partner in the insurgency which Damaj viewed as his continuous tendency to maneuver his positions. By doing so, Saleh is trying to ensure he has a position in any settlement that could be reached and clear his name, according to the minister.

After four failed rounds of negotiations between Yemeni parties, the minister believes it is not possible as long as Houthis and Saleh do not accept the conditions of the settlement. They reject any form of governance that does not ensure their domination.

http://english.aawsat.com/theaawsat/interviews/yemeni-minister-culture-saleh-wants-save-place-settlement

My comment: That certainly is Saleh’s goal. He has a great followership in Yemen, anyway. A peaceful solution should exclude two persons at least: Saleh and Hadi. In any case, Saleh’s followerships and party (GPC) will stay important political forces. – The last paragraph cited here is mere bullshit. For the peace negotiations, it obviously is “president” Hadi’s only goal to get full political power – which he hardly can get militarily.

29.3.2017 – American Interest (* A P)

Why Trump May Escalate in Yemen

Why this apparent enthusiasm for a beefed-up role in Yemen? For Mattis, the calculation is all about Iran. Unlike President Trump or advisers like Sebastian Gorka who have prioritized the fight against ISIS, Mattis has spent his career fixated on the longer-term threat from Tehran. And if Mattis wants an early chance to roll back Iranian gains, Yemen must look like a tempting target.

Dislodging Iranian proxies in Yemen could achieve a number of objectives: It would take an Iranian pawn off the chessboard, prove that the U.S. is still capable of organizing the Sunni Arabs, and send a signal to the Russians that the United States is still a vital player in the Middle East. Mattis may be calculating that he can achieve these objectives with only limited exertions. It’s not such a crazy idea: Tactically speaking, unlike Syria or Libya, Yemen is an “island” in that the United States can project force into any part of the country without having to put boots on the ground permanently. And the Emiratis—by far our most reliable Gulf military allies—would take the lead in the campaign anyway, with U.S. providing sea-based support.

The big question is what happens when the shooting stops. This most recent war has exacerbated divisions in a country historically known for relatively harmonious relations between Shi’a and Sunni.

A successful U.S. military campaign will need to be accompanied by serious diplomatic efforts to work out a post-war settlement, and above all will require the U.S. leaning on the Saudis to prevent them from over-reaching. That said, it’s doable. Yemen, once again, is not Libya or Syria.

http://www.the-american-interest.com/2017/03/29/why-trump-may-escalate-in-yemen/

My comment: What does it matter for the US when a country is bombed into ruins and scores are killed or injured? Nothing: “Mattis may be calculating that he can achieve these objectives with only limited exertions” and “Yemen is an “island” in that the United States can project force into any part of the country without having to put boots on the ground permanently.” – And: At first fuel war upon them, exploit and deepen their inner strife, and when all is over, then appear on the stage with “serious diplomatic efforts to work out a post-war settlement”. Abominable. The US, the greatest warmonger on earth.

29.3.2017 – Gulf News (* A P)

Al Houthis time their missile attack to coincide with Arab summit

Ballistic missiles have come from Iran and prove Tehran’s malevolent determination to harm Arab states

Yemen desperately needs peace, but it is hard to see any negotiated end to the fighting in north Yemen as Al Houthi fighters flagrantly disregard any norms of war and are also deliberately provocative in their timing. The latest missile attacks on the civilian populations in Saudi cities happened two days before the ongoing Arab Summit in Jordan and seem designed to remind the world that Al Houthis retain their open supply channels from their Iranian backers, and are following Iranian orders in refusing to seek any peaceful settlement of the war. The timing that was so close to the Arab Summit was clearly on the UAE’s mind when the Foreign Ministry issued a statement after the attacks that “firing ballistic missiles against Saudi cities clearly indicates that the militias seek to undermine the political efforts aimed at ending the crisis”. It is hard to see any accommodation with forces that are prepared to use force so ruthlessly as they are steadily beaten back from their conquests.

But the further issue of continuing Iranian malevolence was highlighted by the UAE’s next sentence when the Foreign Ministry said: “The attacks also signify the involvement of regional parties to trigger conflicts and the continuing instability in the region to serve their own agenda.”

The missiles have been supplied to Al Houthis by the Iranians and they must have transited through the port of Hodeidah on the Red Sea coast controlled by the militia. The Saudi-led coalition fighting Al Houthis, in support of the legitimate government of Yemen, has mounted a naval blockade in the Red Sea and is ready to start an assault on Hodeidah. It has rightly asked for the port to be put under United Nations’ supervision to stop arms smuggling and improve the provision of humanitarian aid to Yemen’s starving civilian population

http://gulfnews.com/opinion/editorials/al-houthis-time-their-missile-attack-to-coincide-with-arab-summit-1.2002520

My comment: A nice propaganda plot. The Houthi missiles are even worse because they coincide with the Arab summit. At an other date, they would have coincided with something else… The article claims these missiles were “on the civilian populations in Saudi cities”, a nice allegation when taking into account a) the Houthis side reported these missiles targeted military camps and b) the Saudi coalition raids at civilian targets in Yemen since 2 years now. – And secondly: This article tries to give us logical reasons for the Saudi blockade of Yemeni harbours like Hodeidah, fueling the Yemeni famine, and a justification for the allegded attacks at Hodeidah port, which will deepen famine to an extreme scale.– And, thirdly, of course the Iranians are to blame for all evil. – Thus, at last: Further happy bombing and killing, coalition!

29.3.2017 – Kuwait news Agency (A P)

Saudi, Egytian leaders call on Arab countries to unite"

http://www.kuna.net.kw/ArticleDetails.aspx?id=2598820&Language=en

29.3.2017 – The National UAE (A P)

Iran sends Afghan proxy forces to Yemen as support for Houthis increases

http://www.thenational.ae/world/middle-east/iran-sends-afghan-proxy-forces-to-yemen-as-support-for-houthis-increases

My comment: Referring to a Critical Threats “report” which has hardly any evidence, and other reports already linked to earlier. Western and Middle East (Saudi and UAE) propaganda seem to be mutually reinforcing, playing there and back, forming a sort of anti-Iranian echo chamber.

29.3.2017 – Arab News (A P)

Saudi Royal Navy: Protection, support and special missions

The Saudi Royal Navy works to protect the coast of the Kingdom and participates in providing military support and protection of oil facilities along the coast of the Arabian Gulf as part of the coalition to support legitimacy in Yemen, according to the Saudi Press Agency (SPA).
It monitors the movement of Yemeni ports and secures the Bab Al-Mandab Strait against hostile infiltrations to ensure security for the region and the world.
The naval forces participated in Operation Decisive Storm and Renewal of Hope that led to cutting off supplies to the Houthis and the liberation of a number of Yemeni ports.
The marine forces managed to liberate Jabal Al-Doud from the Houthi militias and ousted President Ali Abdullah Saleh’s forces, according to SPA. The navy also participated actively in Operation Golden Spear, which aims to secure ports, cities and the Yemeni west coast, where coalition forces have taken control of important coastal cities that were a supply force for militants, SPA said.
These areas were placed under strict control, and some of the tributaries of support for the Houthi militias and pro-Saleh forces were cut off, which paved the way for the coalition forces to liberate the port of Mukha.

http://www.arabnews.com/node/1075816/saudi-arabia

My comment: LOL.

29.3.2017 – News of Bahrain (A P)

Bahrain condemns missile attacks on Saudi cities

Bahrain condemned in the strongest terms the ongoing ballistic missile attacks on Saudi cities by putschists in Yemen.
“Today’s attack provides clear evidence of the arms smuggling that continues to take place in Yemen, notably through the port of Hodeida in order to undermine all exerted efforts to reach a settlement to Yemen’s crisis and destabilize the region”, said the Ministry of Foreign Affairs yesterday.
In a statement today, it called on the international community to take full control of strategic Hodeida port, which is under Houthi rebels, to put an end to the use of the port for weapons smuggling and to facilitate the access of the humanitarian aides to Yemeni people.
It reiterated that the Arab Saudi-led coalition is committed to support legitimacy in Yemen until it enforces security and upholds peace in Yemen, as well as to enable the legitimate government led by President Abd Rabu Mansour Hadi to assume its responsibilities, end all kinds of external interference, and to reach a political settlement based on the terms stipulated in the GCC initiative and its executive mechanisms, the outcome of National dialogue, and the UN Security Council Resolution (2216/2015).

http://www.newsofbahrain.com/viewNews.php?ppId=31734

My comment: That’s really funny. They condemn Houthi missile attacks but not the Saudi coalition air raids (in which they participate themselves). Even if these missile attacks evidently are retributive actions (beginning just 10 weeks AFTER the coalition bombings). And the rest is the well-known propaganda bullshit.

29.3.2017 – Asharq Al-Awsat (A P)

Yemeni Official: 50 Iranian Experts Running Battles in Hodeidah

Hodeidah Undersecretary Walid al-Qadimi revealed that some 50 Iranian experts, including members of the so-called Lebanese “Hezbollah”, are currently present in the Yemeni city and are spearheading various military operations.

These experts oversee the mass planting of land mines, in addition to naval mines along Hodeidah’s coastal lines, and are responsible for rockets launched from the city “Sarh Saba’a” against military posts held by pro-government Yemeni army troops, said Qadimi. Increased projectile activity has been registered by local sources recently.

Iranian experts have set up a command operations room in Hodeidah through which they manage firsthand offensives and military confrontations on the west coast.

Meanwhile, pro-legitimacy army forces continue to register sweeping advances on different west coast fronts.

Such advances enraged present Iranians, who poured in from several Yemen provinces, moving closer to Hodeidah, in an attempt to stop national army forces from taking over the port city in the coming days, he added.

Qadimi pointed out that large numbers of foreign experts in Hodeidah, which is the key route for militias’ arms smuggling, prompted leaders in coup-run Sana’a to send military reinforcements.

Two brigades of Yemen’s elite Republican Guard, loyal to ousted president Ali Abdullah Saleh, have been deployed to Hodeidah in the last few days.

http://english.aawsat.com/saed-alabyadh/news-middle-east/yemeni-official-50-iranian-experts-running-battles-hodeidah

29.3.2017 – Al Sahwa (A P)

Vice President: Iran supported terror, violence groups in Yemen

Vice President Ali Muhsin Saleh has said that Iran provided quantum weapons as well as military and logistic support to the violence and terror groups in Yemen.

In a meeting with the acting US Ambassador to Yemen, Muhsin asserted that Iran uses Yemen to apply its sophisticated weapons, calling the international community to cooperate and put an end Iran's behaviors in the region.

https://www.alsahwa-yemen.net/en/p-5401

My comment: Whatever Iran does or does not in Yemen, it certainly does not support “terrorism”. Those who really support Al Qaida in Yemen in various ways are the Saudi coalition. Look at cp14, Financial Times.

28.3.2017 – Hussam Al-Sanabani (A P)

Film: Dum Asiri:Yemen fired 4 missiles at 1 time, 6 months ago they've only1or 2 launchers.This proves that a new launchers were smuggled 2 #Yemen

https://twitter.com/HussamSanabani/status/846852488057753612

It was better for Gen. Assiri not to say that. But appearntly his military qualifications was not the reason for his general rank

https://twitter.com/HussamSanabani/status/846869223431385088

cp16 Saudische Luftangriffe / Saudi air raids

29.3.2017 – Saba Net (* A K PH)

Roundup: 1107 Saudi airstrikes kill 135 Yemeni civilians in March

At least 135 Yemeni civilians were killed, including 11 children and six women, and 192 others wounded in 1107 airstrikes launched by the US-backed Saudi aggression coalition warplanes on many Yemeni provinces in March, officials told Saba on Saturday (list)

http://www.sabanews.net/en/news460481.htm

Eingebetteter Medieninhalt

29.3.2017 – Legal Center (* A K PH)

The Violations and Crimes that are committed by #Saudi_Arabia and its alliance in #Yemen 28/3/2017 (full list):

https://www.facebook.com/lcrdye/photos/a.551858951631141.1073741828.551288185021551/798507286966305/?type=3

Eingebetteter Medieninhalt

28.3.2017 – Legal Center (* A K PH)

The Violations and Crimes that are committed by #Saudi_Arabia and its alliance in #Yemen 27/3/2017 (full list):

https://www.facebook.com/lcrdye/photos/a.551858951631141.1073741828.551288185021551/797955573688143/?type=3

29.3.2017 – Saba Net (A K PH)

Saudi air aggression continues heinous crimes, kills child, wounds women

US-Saudi aggression warplanes continued heinous crimes on Yemeni children and women over the past hours, killing a child and wounding five women and children, a military official told Saba on Wednesday.
The airstrikes destroyed a resident's house in Al-Jawf province, killing the child and injuring the others of one family.

The aggression fighter jets also launched a raid on Al-Omary district and Mokha city in Taiz province.
The enemy planes dropped two cluster bombs on Sa'ada province and launched five raids on nearby Hajjah province.

http://www.sabanews.net/en/news460483.htm

29.3.2017 – Ahmad Alghobary (A K)

A man with his 2 children killed by #Saudi air strike on Mofrq Almokha road in #Taiz #Yemen 8 people sells a potatoes were injured badly

https://twitter.com/AhmadAlgohbary/status/847090377823846400

29.3.2017 – Saba Net (A K PH)

US-Saudi aggression launches four raids on Serwah

The US-Saudi aggression coalition warplanes waged on Wednesday four raids on Serwah district of Mareb province, a local official told Saba.
The official added that the hostile warplanes targeted Wadi Rajab area with an air raid, and three raids on al-Zagan area in the district, causing huge damage to citizens' houses.

http://www.sabanews.net/en/news460545.htm

29.3.2017 – Saba Net (A K PH)

US-Saudi aggression wages raid on Ibb

The US-Saudi aggression coalition warplanes launched on Wednesday an air raid on Ibb province, a security official told Saba.
The official added that the violent raid targeted Qa'a al-Jame'a area in the province, causing damage to citizens' houses nearby the area. http://www.sabanews.net/en/news460543.htm

29.3.2017 – Saba Net (* A K PH)

2 Saudi airstrikes kill 10 children, women in Sa'ada

Ten citizens were killed by two airstrikes of Saudi aggression warplanes on Bakim district of Sana'a province on Wednesday, an official told Saba.
The official added the Saudi aggression warplanes launched two air strikes on a citizen's house in Bakim district, killing eight children and two women and wounded four others of one family.

http://www.sabanews.net/en/news460486.htm and

29.3.2017 – Saudi war crimes (* A K PH)

Eight children and two women were killed and four others were injured, including a child in a raid on the Saudi-American aggression that targeted the house of Mohammad Mahdi, a danger in the area of ​​Winnin in the province of Baqam in Saada province .. The names of martyrs and wounded:

Martyrs:

1 - Aziz Mohammed Mahdi risk of 7 years

2 - Sultan Mohammed Mahdi risk of 7 years

3 - Turki Mohammed Mahdi is 6 years old

4 - Ammar Yahya Abdullah Al-Hudhaifi two years

5 - Najah Mohammed Mahdi risk 25 years

6- Nourah Salah is 35 years old

7. Khalil Mohammed Hadshan is 6 years old

8- Yahya Abdullah Al-Huthaifi's statement 4 years

9 - Shorouk Mohammed Mahdi is 11 years old

10 - the memory of Mohammed Mahdi risk of 5 years

Wounded:

1- Mohammed Mehdi Misfer is dangerous (the owner of the house) 60 years

2 - Riyad Mohammed Hudshan is 9 years old

3 - Nourah Mohammed Mahdi is 25 years old

4 - Noha Mohammed Mahdi risk of 14 years

https://www.facebook.com/SaudiArabia.war.crimes.against.Yemen/posts/1655928368036484

photos: https://www.facebook.com/SaudiArabia.war.crimes.against.Yemen/posts/1655940288035292

https://www.facebook.com/SaudiArabia.war.crimes.against.Yemen/posts/1655928368036484

https://www.facebook.com/SaudiArabia.war.crimes.against.Yemen/posts/1655928301369824

Films:

Al Masirah: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Vh3_3rH06k

Yemen Today: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FVGMgEsLiHI

29.3.2017 – Press TV Iran (* A K PH)

Saudi air raid leaves 10 civilians dead in Yemen's Sa’ada

Eight children and two women have lost their lives in a fresh Saudi aerial attack on Yemen’s northwestern Sa’ada province.

Four people were also injured in Wednesday’s airstrike that hit a residential area in Sa’ada, Yemen's Arabic-language al-Masirah television network reported.

Additionally on Wednesday, Saudi warplanes bombarded the Yemeni districts of Dhubab, Harad and Munabbih, situated in the provinces of Ta'izz, Hajjah and Sa’ada, respectively.

The Wednesday airstrikes were carried out a day after similar raids on Nihm neighborhood of Sana'a province killed all members of a family.

http://www.presstv.com/Detail/2017/03/29/516016/Yemen-Saudi-Arabia-Saada-civilians-killed

28.3.2017 – Yamanyoon (A K PH)

a child was killed and five others injured by a raid of the Saudi aggression warplanes , where it targeted citizen’s house in Jawf province .

http://www.yamanyoon.com/?p=69374&lang=en

cp17 Kriegsereignisse / Theater of War

29.3.2017 – Gulf News (* A K PS)

Yemen army reinforcements deployed to Sa’ada

Push on Al Houthi bastion aims to weaken the rebel stronghold where its leader is holed up

The Yemen army is sending military reinforcements, including hundreds of highly-trained and well-equipped forces, to the Al Houthi heartland of Sa’ada to shore up government forces battling the rebels there.

The official website of ministry of defence said the first group of army soldiers were dispatched to the Alab frontline in eastern Sa’ada province and the army is also preparing other reinforcements to bolster the Bouqa battlefield in northern Sa’ada.

Hadi Tarshan, the governor of Sa’ada, told Gulf News that they have deployed 1,200 soldiers from Brigade 102 to the Alab front, and he said more forces were currently being trained in Marib to join their peers.

After advancing into the province from the Saudi side of the borderline last year, Yemen government forces backed by massive air support from the Saudi-led coalition are now battling Al Houthis on two fronts; Alab, from which they will move in on the Al Baqum district centre and Bouqa where intense clashes are taking place.

Army commanders expect tough battles ahead.

http://gulfnews.com/news/gulf/yemen/yemen-army-reinforcements-deployed-to-sa-ada-1.2002276

Remark: “Yemen army” = President Hadi army and fighters.

And what that actually means:

29.3.2017 – Saba Net (A K PH)

US-Saudi aggression coalition continues shelling Sa'ada

US-Saudi aggression coalition continued air strikes and missile shelling on Wednesday, targeting residents' houses and their properties in many districts in Sa'ada, a military official told Saba.
The US-Saudi warplanes waged four air strikes on the districts of Kutaf and Dhahir in Sa'ada.
Also, the enemy launched missile and artillery attack on the directorate of Munabah and destroyed roads and people's houses. http://www.sabanews.net/en/news460468.htm

29.3.2017 – Janes (* A K)

Yemeni rebels attempt apparent ballistic missile saturation attack

Yemen's rebels fired multiple ballistic missiles on 28 March in an apparent attempt to overwhelm the Patriot battery that defends the neighbouring Saudi cities of Abha and Khamis Mushayt. The official Saudi Press Agency (SPA) reported that four ballistic missiles were launched towards the cities from Yemen at 0630 h local time but were successfully intercepted by the Royal Saudi Air Defence Forces (RSADF) without causing any damage. It did not identify the ballistic missiles.

Amateur video footage was posted on social media sites showing at least six Patriot missiles being launched in quick succession, indicating the battery was simultaneously engaging multiple threats.

Pro-rebel media outlets reported that three medium-range ballistic missiles had hit King Khalid Air Base and inflicted heavy losses. The airbase is located in Khamis Mushayt and plays a major role in the military intervention that Saudi Arabia and its allies launched in Yemen two years ago.

The rebels subsequently said a new type of missile called the Qaher-M2 was used in the attack. The Al-Masirah TV channel released footage showing three missiles being launched nearly simultaneously, purportedly at King Khalid Air Base – by Jeremy Binnie (full article subscribers only)

http://www.janes.com/article/69120/yemeni-rebels-attempt-apparent-ballistic-missile-saturation-attack

28.3.2017 – Xinhua (A K)

Saudi Arabia intercepts 4 ballistic missiles from Yemen

Saudi forces have destroyed 4 ballistic missiles launched from Yemen which were targeting two border cities, Al Arabiya local news reported on Tuesday.

The cities are Abha and Khamis Mushait and they are among other border areas that have been targeted in such attacks since the beginning of Saudi-led war against Houthi militias in Yemen that completed two years this week.

http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2017-03/28/c_136164544.htm

Comment by Nasser Arrabyee: Funny Saudi army spokesman Asiri, saying they received 4 missiles. Yemenis fired only 3! The 4th was the panic that hit Asiri&his boss!

https://twitter.com/narrabyee/status/847073833735598080

28.3.2017 – Saba Net (A K PH)

Three missiles target Khalid air base in Aser

The missile force of the army and popular forces launched on Tuesday three missiles against Khalid Air Base at Khamis Mushait city of Aser region.
A military official told Saba that medium range missiles targeted the Khalid air base in Aser.
The missiles targeted the command center, the aircraft runway, the pilot city at the base, claiming that they hit their targets accurately, causing damage and loss to the base.

http://www.sabanews.net/en/news460401.htm

film: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=olTw5LRpH4I = https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k91VdQzrKdM

photos: https://twitter.com/ONCoF3q82cygePO/status/846773345496518657

My comment: No proof of impact.

Houthi / Saleh reports:

http://www.sabanews.net/en/news460469.htm

http://www.sabanews.net/en/news460484.htm

http://www.sabanews.net/en/news460395.htm

http://www.sabanews.net/en/news460405.htm

cp18 Sonstiges / Other

29.3.2017 – Gulf News (A P)

Arab summit convenes in Amman amid pessimism about drastic decisions

Civil war in Syria and Yemen and Iran’s interference to figure in Arab summit

The two-day Arab League Summit, held in the Dead Sea region south of Amman, is expected to discuss the issues of the Arab world, including the Palestine situation, the ongoing conflict in Syria and Yemen, threats of terrorists groups and relations with Iran.

Arab political analysts, meanwhile, said decisions at the summit are expected to be “ordinary” — nothing that would radically differ from positions taken during previous high-level gatherings.

Internal strife in some Arab countries, including Libya, Yemen and Syria are among the topics on the agenda of Jordan’s summit. http://gulfnews.com/news/mena/jordan/arab-summit-convenes-in-amman-amid-pessimism-about-drastic-decisions-1.2001605

28.3.2017 – TRT (A H)

Syrian restaurant owner in Yemen offers free meals to needy

Ayman Saif, a Syrian who fled Damascus, decided to help feed hungry people at the falafel shop he's opened in Sanaa, Yemen

Ayman Saif fled the war in Syria and moved to Yemen, only to find that conflict followed him to his adopted home.

But the Syrian businessman decided to stay and set up a popular falafel (a croquette made with fava bean flour or ground chick peas) restaurant in Yemen's capital, Sanaa.

Saif, who is also known as al muallim, the master, decided to feed the hungry for free.

The idea came when a customer paid for a sandwich for a hungry child. Saif saw it, spoke to the child and gave him the sandwich. The next day he made the decision to help in any way he can.

http://www.trtworld.com/mea/syrian-restaurant-owner-in-yemen-offers-free-meals-to-needy-325628 and film: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fTdL--2C4Hc

28.3.2017 – Open Doors

Yemen: Baptisms taking place despite two years of war in country where leaving Islam is punishable by death.

While society is still dominated by strict Islamic rule, some Christian pastors baptize new believers regularly. Jamil*, a former Yemeni Muslim but now a follower of Christ, shares a unique insight into the body of Christ in Yemen. "Yemeni Christians really long for Jesus to return. We have lost so much; we reach out to the everlasting peace that He will bring one day - hopefully soon!"

Christians before the war

Dangerous Faith

Being a Christian in Yemen is still extremely dangerous, Jamil pointed out. "Before the war, persecution by the government, the community and relatives was the main problem. Now the government control has diminished the main threats for Christians come from Al Qaeda and IS-like terrorist organizations roaming the country.

War and poverty

http://www.opendoorsuk.org/news/stories/yemen_170328.php?ref=lnstorylnk

28.3.2017 – Tagesspiegel

Roman über Jemen: Triebe und Terror

Eine Klinik in Afrika: Der Roman „Yemen Café“ von Evelyn Schlag wirft einen aktuellen Blick auf die komplizierte Lage in Jemen.

In Jemens vergessenem Krieg, der nur selten in den Schlagzeilen auftaucht, hat die österreichische Autorin Evelyn Schlag ihren präzise recherchierten Roman „Yemen Café“ angesiedelt. Aus der scheinbar heilen Welt eines Krankenhauses für Privilegierte, die sich die Behandlung leisten können, wird ein Blick auf die prekäre Situation Jemens geworfen. Schlag schildert die stets drohende Terrorgefahr, die Loyalitätskonflikte der Einheimischen in diesem von Westlern geleiteten Krankenhaus, das gespannte Verhältnis der Jemeniten zum indischen Pflegepersonal, dem man gerne mal den Lohn verweigertSchlag legt in ihrem außergewöhnlich spannenden Roman die existenziellen Nöte der jemenitischen Gesellschaft offen und die Rolle, die westlichen Helfer dabei spielen. Sie müssen sich die alte Frage stellen: Auf welcher Seite stehst du? – von Rolf Brockschmidt

http://www.tagesspiegel.de/kultur/roman-ueber-jemen-triebe-und-terror/19577086.html

Vorige / Previous:

https://www.freitag.de/autoren/dklose/jemenkrieg-mosaik-286-yemen-war-mosaic-286

Jemenkrieg-Mosaik 1-286 / Yemen War Mosaic 1-286:

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/

Dieser Beitrag gibt die Meinung des Autors wieder, nicht notwendigerweise die der Redaktion des Freitag.
Geschrieben von

Dietrich Klose

Vielfältig interessiert am aktuellen Geschehen, zur Zeit besonders: Ukraine, Russland, Jemen, Rolle der USA, Neoliberalismus, Ausbeutung der 3. Welt

Dietrich Klose

Was ist Ihre Meinung?
Diskutieren Sie mit.

Kommentare einblenden