Eingebetteter MedieninhaltThe war on Yemen and agriculture – Surviving the war in Yemen – The Middle East as electronic battleground – US and global detention – The futility of force in Yemen – Cholera – Saudi air raid at market kills 25 – and more
Schwerpunkte / Key aspects
Klassifizierung / Classification
cp1 Am wichtigsten / Most important
cp1a Cholera
cp1b Saudischer Luftangriff auf Markt / Saudi air raid at market
cp2 Allgemein / General
cp3 Humanitäre Lage / Humanitarian situation
cp4 Kulturerbe / Cultural heritage
cp5 Nordjemen und Huthis / Northern Yemen and Houthis
cp6 Südjemen und Hadi-Regierung / Southern Yemen and Hadi-government
cp7 UNO und Friedensgespräche/ UN and peace talks
cp8 Saudi-Arabien / Saudi Arabia
cp9 USA
cp11 Deutschland / Germany
cp12a Katar-Krise / Qatar crisis
cp13a Waffenhandel / Arms trade
cp13b Söldner / Mercenaries
cp13c 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 Medieninhalt19.6.2017 – London School of Economics and Political Science (*** B K P)
Empire of Information: The War on Yemen and its Agricultural Sector
This memo was presented at a workshop on ‘Yemen’s Urban–Rural Divide and the Ultra-Localisation of the Civil War‘ organised by the LSE Middle East Centre on 29 March 2017.
Introduction
Almost two years since the beginning of the war, McGoldrick calls for al Hudaydah to be spared military occupation, and Feierstein for the USA to hasten Coalition occupation of the port city. Saudi–Emirati Coalition seizure of al Hudaydah would cut the highlands from the sea. This recalls one of the triggers of the war: a constitutional decision by the Hadi government on 10 February 2014 to make Yemen a Federal Republic of six regions. The ‘Azal’ region (Sana’a, Dhamar, Amran and Saada) was to be separate from ‘Tihamah’ and without direct access to the sea.
War requires constant attention to the events of its unfolding rendering it difficult to see overall patterns. Transport around the city of al Hudaydah was targeted from the early days of Coalition bombing, but the port itself was spared as ships were controlled by the Saudi naval blockade. In the initial months of the war (March–July 2015) the targets were mainly military. When this did not produce surrender in Sana’a, the Coalition increasingly targeted cultural heritage and economic infrastructure. As part of this, the port and food storage facilities of al Hudaydah were struck first over two days in mid-August 2015. This can be taken as the beginning of a second phase in the war, pursued massively in the following two months. It is on a less well known part of the targeting of economic infrastructure, that of agriculture and rural life, that my work focuses. The bombing of rural Yemen appears to have been central in the second phase of the war that extended, with many pauses for negotiation, for over a year to September 2016. When the targeting of economic infrastructure did not lead to surrender, tactics shifted from the autumn of 2016 into yet a third phase of war which today focuses on geo-political control over the Red Sea, division of former South Yemen, and closure of the Yemeni market economy as a whole. In the below, I briefly examine the bombing of rural Yemen over the period March 2015 – August 2016 during what I have called the first and second phases of the war.
Why rural Yemen? Simply put, it represents the bulk of the country: 65% of Yemen’s population still lives in dispersed villages, and over half of the population relies in part or in whole on agriculture and animal husbandry. Villages, sites of food production, are inevitably less ‘visible’ in media than the urban centres.
Before we turn to the overall patterns, it is necessary address the structure of information and silence that prompted me to try to shed light on the impact of the war on rural Yemen.
Character of Information in Western Media
Over much of the first year of the war Western news media had little coverage of the conflict. This was not just the result of a political editorial decision. Journalists could not enter Yemen easily since the Saudis controlled all flights and passengers to Sana’a airport. Few Western journalists had links with Yemeni journalists who, along with Yemeni rights organisations, worked to document the strikes.
The silence was, however, not only one of journalists but also of international institutions well established in Yemen.
Targeting Rural Yemen
In the face of the ongoing silence of those with multi-million dollar budgets, we have made modest efforts to try to chart the wider pattern of targeting in rural Yemen. The first step in our analysis was to map data compiled by the extension officers of the Ministry of Agriculture and Irrigation (MAI) covering the period March 2015–August 2016. This was completed in October 2016. At the time of writing we are working on linking that data to a further set of data from the Yemen Data Project which covers strikes from March 2015 to date. Essentially the two corroborate each other; the YDP reveals that the lists from the MAI are indeed conservative.
The detailed results will be published elsewhere; here I present only a graphic representation of the total targeting by governorate based on the MAI data for the first 15 months of the war.
Placing the rural damage alongside the targeting of food processing, storage and transport in urban areas, we find strong evidence that Coalition strategy has aimed to destroy food production in the areas which the Houthis and the General People’s Congress (GPC) control.
In a longer-term perspective, it appears that this war, prosecuted by countries in which oil, armament, and the dollar loom so large, aims at a further devaluation of Yemen’s rural human and animal labour beyond that already brought about by the oil–dollar economies and the policies of the ‘development complex’. – by Martha Mundy
19.6.2017 – London School of Economics and Political Science (*** B K P)
Saada: Ground Zero
This memo was presented at a workshop on ‘Yemen’s Urban–Rural Divide and the Ultra-Localisation of the Civil War‘ organised by the LSE Middle East Centre on 29 March 2017.
Saada province has witnessed the most intense destruction of rural livelihoods of anywhere in Yemen. The Saudi-led coalition has decimated viable farming communities tied by kinship and mutual religious and economic interests – many of them already severely damaged by the previous wars (2004–2010).
Following Trump’s election victory, the coalition has continued to use cluster bombs in spite of an earlier declaration that it would refrain from doing so. In mid-March these bombs targeted streets, markets, and remote villages in Saada which could not be reached by ambulances. As elsewhere in northern Yemen, Saudi air force followed this course in the hope that the local population would rise against the Huthis; in seeking to undermine the Huthis’ support base in Saada, it has wiped out much of its civilian infrastructure.
Shortly after Saudi Arabia’s devastating bombardment of a funeral hall in San‘a in October 2016, which killed more than a hundred people, the coalition and their allied Yemeni fighters opened a new front in Saada province.
Briefly contextualising this recent development, note that over the past decades both Saudi Arabia and Ali Abdullah Saleh, by sponsoring Salafi-Wahhabi teaching centres and using Sunni Islamists for their own political ends, sought to weaken the Zaydi elites and their socialist rivals. In the 1980s, a Zaydi revival movement emerged in Saada in response to those policies. Both the Yemeni and Saudi armies were concerned to suppress it. One of the problematic decisions taken by Saleh’s government was to rely on fighters of both the Hashid confederation and Sunni jihadis. After the uprising against Saleh’s regime in 2011, fighting began between the Huthis and the inhabitants of the Dar al Hadith in Dammaj, a Salafi centre near Saada city, which also involved Hashid who had pledged to defend the latter’s interests. Subsequently those tribal fighters and Islamist paramilitaries – who had already aided the army during the war of 1994 between northern and southern forces and during the Saada wars – again fought the Huthis in 2013–14.
Following government mediation, the Dammaj centre was closed in 2014. Some of its defenders who were obliged to leave Saada have returned to the northern region, this time under Saudi Arabia’s banner. The composition of the fighting force and the timing of the recent offensive in Yemen’s border region demonstrate a sectarian war in the making, and there are likely to be both local and regional ramifications.
The Saudi army has recruited Yemeni tribal leaders with anti-Shiʿi leanings, among them the Wa’ila, who were defeated by the Huthis in the 5th and 6th Saada wars and had subsequently fled to Marib and Najran and have been asking to join coalition forces for some time. The cycles of revenge are thus destined to continue. Whilst all groups involved in the conflict are claiming to be ‘protecting the faith’, retribution seems to be a powerful motive. Angered by their expulsion from Dammaj and Kutaf, the Salafis re-grouped in Taiz and Aden where they fought against the Huthis. They are now participating in the offensive against Saada – by Gabriele vom Bruck
http://blogs.lse.ac.uk/mec/2017/06/19/saada-ground-zero/
19.6.2017 – Open Democracy (** B H K)
The details: surviving the war in Yemen
We are all survivors of a kind of mass abuse called war whether as human rights defenders and monitors or as simple Yemenis under the worst kind of internal and external war.
It is the details that kill you. It is the details that really get to you: a simple gesture, a sarcastic smile, a shadow of a tear in someone's eyes when telling their story, and all the little details you see and hear. That is what really haunts you whenever you close your eyes, and that is also what keeps me going as a human rights activist in Yemen.
Working in Yemen, I am used to seeing rubble, blood, and grief, and working in the field of monitoring human rights violations I met with fear, anger and despair. I work in maybe the only human rights organization in Yemen that was able to accomplish independence despite all the madness and all the pressure. Although this topic - the difficulties human rights defenders face in Yemen - is very rich I write today to honor the details, the excruciating details, all the names that I type into my computer, all the ways each name has been tortured and abused, maybe writing about them would help me drop off some of their load into this sheet of paper.
Mwatana for human rights mentioned in its report ( Blind Airstrikes) the very drastic effect of these airstrikes on civilians. Working with Mwatana in monitoring these cases changed the perspective of details for me. I was never a very detail-oriented person, but after I saw how all the wounded people became very detailed, it became as if the detailed memories of their lost loved ones is their most expensive possession. That changed me in two different ways. First, I started cherishing every detail in my life with my loved ones: the simple sit-downs with my mother and father, and the long unimportant discussions we enjoy having about everything. These details became very important: the way my dad listens and nods when I speak even if he didn’t agree, the way my mother moves her hand when she speaks and changes her posture, as if she is speaking in some of her conferences, or how my sister laughs at my jokes every time, and how every time me, my sisters and brother sit in the same room alone I feel safe to say absolutely anything. Every reaction my friends make is important. Every time I close my eyes I want my brain to register it all and keep it forever because I saw that at the end they will be all that matters.
Another way this affected me is that every single detail the survivors tell me or ever detail I imagine when visiting a specific market or house that has been bombed, or in a detainee's family, is still with me. The details haunt me every time I close my eyes
I wonder at the end, when the war stops, will the details stop existing? I know they will never do – by BONYAN JAMALL
https://www.opendemocracy.net/north-africa-west-asia/bonyan-jamall/details-surviving-war-in-yemen
18.6.2017 – Al-Bab (** B P)
How the Middle East became an electronic battleground
Viewed in isolation, the temporary disappearance of Al Jazeera's Arabic-language Twitter account last Saturday might seem fairly insignificant. In the light of other events, though, it's yet another sign that political battles in the Middle East are increasingly being fought via the internet.
There's already a plentiful array of weaponry in use, from hacking and other forms of electronic harassment to politically-targeted phishing attacks, fake social media accounts, and robots programmed to deluge Twitter with propaganda or sectarian hate speech.
But the Twitter affair was not the first strange thing to happen to Al Jazeera in the last couple of weeks. On 8 June it reported that all its websites and digital platforms were "undergoing systematic and continual hacking attempts".
Russians and robots
All the electronic shenanigans described above fit within the timeline of what has now been dubbed the "Qatar crisis", and they have clearly helped to fuel it. In terms of international politics and diplomacy, this would be an extremely juvenile way for Gulf states to behave. But if Gulf states aren't doing it, who is?
March of the Twitter bots
At the same time though, there is a vast amount of suspicious activity on social media which seems indigenous to the Middle East and unlikely to interest Russia.
Basically, this involves the creation of fake Twitter accounts, usually in large batches, which are programmed to post tweets in Arabic at pre-determined intervals. One aim of the tweets is to create an impression that Gulf regimes enjoy tremendous support from their loyal citizens; another is to encourage sectarianism amongst Sunni Muslims, directed at Shia Muslims and Iran.
The bulk of this activity, though by no means all of it, is associated with Saudi Arabia. Though clearly organised by government supporters, it may or may not be a government-run project.
Marc Owen Jones, currently a research fellow Exeter University's Institute of Arab and Islamic Studies, has been monitoring the use of Twitter bots in the Gulf over the past year and I have reported his findings in several previous blog posts:
Interestingly, the Twitter bots have recently joined the fray over Qatar.
Malicious purposes
There's another illegitimate type of activity where Arab governments appear more strongly implicated – by circumstances, if not by hard evidence. It's known as "phishing" and the aim is to trick people into disclosing sensitive personal information, such as internet passwords, in order to use it for malicious purposes.
The Voiceless Victims affair
Another operation, last year, targeted people and organisations campaigning in support of migrant workers in Qatar, and was apparently intended to gather intelligence about them.
I covered the Voiceless Victims affair in a series of blog posts last December and January, and readers who are interested in the details can look them up here:
Safeena Malik: mystery woman
Qatar cropped up again in a phishing operation built around a fake character called Safeena Malik – supposedly a young university graduate carrying out research into human trafficking.
Phishers spread their net
In an article for Bellingcat last week, Collin Anderson and Claudio Guarnieri described yet another phishing operation, known as Bahamut, which appears to be larger and technically more sophisticated that any previously seen in the Middle East. It is also very puzzling because of the diversity of its targets – by Brian Whitaker
http://al-bab.com/blog/2017/06/how-middle-east-became-electronic-battleground
My comment: In the case of Yemen, certainly this is quite similar.
16.6.2017 – Counterpunch (** B P)
Global Detention
There is now a clear genocidal intent in the Saudi attack on Yemen. An attack assisted by and designed in part by the United States. It is worth noting at the top that once King Abdullah died, and Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud took the throne, the shape of the Saudi power structure was changed. And the most important part of that change was the ascension of Mohammad bin Salman to defense minister. Bin Salman is all of thirty one, and in addition has retained the title of Minister of State, and added secretary general of the Royal Court. A rather astounding and nearly unprecedented consolidation of power in the hands of thirty one year old.
The logic at work, from the U.S. assault on Yugoslavia (which looms as the real trial run) to Libya and Iraq and now Syria, has been not just to defuse pockets of developing resistance to Western capital, but to dominate labor markets and control resources. The penetration of Western capital is the engine behind this massive wave of attacks on the global south. All of this began, in a sense, at least in its current incarnation, after 1989 and the fall of the U.S.S.R. But the hyper escalation began with 9/11. And it was Obama, far more than Bush, that implemented the structural and tactical policy that Trump has inherited. And to return to the Saudis for a moment; Obama oversaw a cooperation with the Saudis in channeling money to Takfiri mercenaries as part of the assault on Syria. To the tune of billions of dollars (or as one analyst put it, over a hundred thousand dollars a year for every single anti Assad terrorist mercenary). And it was Obama who had U.S. military advisors in Riyadh, from day one, of the Saudi attack on Yemen.
And remember, too, that Saudi Arabia only exists in its current form because of the U.K., and because of subsidizing from the West. And the British saw some sort of logic in supporting the minority fringe fundamentalism of Wahabbist Islam.
The Western mainstream press and good deal of the left in the West continue to express the generalizing Orientalism that links Milosevic, Qadaffi, and Assad as all the same, and all somehow inherently despotic and creations outside history. The demonizing of Islam is linked to the Western (meaning U.S. and U.K.) need to bury the reality of Saudi influence, and the history of Wahabbi fanaticism. But it is also a part of the hidden security apparatus (or deep state, a term predictably being ridiculed in mainstream media now) that works to defuse and squash any organic grassroots movements of resistance.
Obama ordered troops to South Sudan, the Congo, and the Central African Republic…a de-facto invasion of desperately poor nations, all with total invisibility in U.S. media. The western narrative on terrorist attacks never varies. Lone wolf acting alone. Product of a barbaric Islam, a culture of violence, anti modern, savage and anti democratic.
ISIS, as must be clear by now, is the creation of Saudi Arabia with huge amounts of help from the U.S., Israel, and U.K. And secondary assistance from NATO, Turkey, Jordan, and the other gulf monarchies. When Trump blames Iran for the terror in its capital, he is part of the inversion of reality that is now daily fare in western media.
So what is the conclusion one draws from all these facts? Well, firstly, the United States is the #1 world aggressor. The Saudis, like ISIS, like Kagame, are just a tool.
The U.S. has entered a gilded age in which the affluent classes, the managerial class (now increasingly elitist, and including a kind of new technological expert priest class ) who live largely in big urban centers, have grown ideologically and culturally apart from the underemployed working class, are aligned with the impossibly rich 1%.
And Hollywood deserves a fair share of blame for the effectiveness of the propaganda. The endless repetition of Imperial lies and the fawning adoration of militarism has helped create a nation run by a sub literate gangster billionaire.
This is a society of extraordinary denial and self delusion. Global aggression and the artificial Salafi terrorist mercenaries are the result of Capitalism and Imperialism. They are the proxy warriors in the West’s irrational lust for more. Of everything. And of the barely concealed death instinct of the western psyche – by John Steppling
https://www.counterpunch.org/2017/06/16/global-detention/
13.3.2017 – Council on Foreign Relations (** B K P)
The Futility of Force in Yemen
An escalation in U.S. counterterrorism strikes is unlikely to degrade the country’s al-Qaeda affiliate and a two-year-long Saudi-led air campaign is no closer to defeating Houthi rebels, says Ambassador Barbara Bodine.
Interview by Zachary Laub, Barbara K. Bodine, Interviewee
U.S. President Donald J. Trump has escalated counterterrorism strikes in eastern Yemen against the al-Qaeda affiliate there. But his administration is no more likely than President Barack Obama’s to be successful in degrading the group, says Barbara K. Bodine, a former U.S. ambassador to Yemen. “Even when a drone takes out al-Qaeda leaders, it doesn’t dislodge the organization or affect why people support it,” Bodine says, noting al-Qaeda’s steady territorial gains. Similarly, she says, the separate Saudi-led air campaign to restore the government of Abed Rabbo Mansour al-Hadi has little prospect of defeating Houthi rebels. There should be a new U.S.-driven effort for a political settlement to the civil war, she says, but barring that, the United States and other major international actors should consider a “humanitarian intervention of sufficient duration and size to try to forestall catastrophe.”
Bodine: Drones are a tool, not a strategy. Do they keep al-Qaeda long-footed? Maybe. But have they deterred or diminished al-Qaeda? No. Al-Qaeda’s numbers have increased, the territory it controls has increased, and it seems to be increasingly well dug-in.
The Saudis did not have a clear idea of an endgame beyond putting the Hadi government back in charge. Securing the border between Yemen and Saudi Arabia was a strategic objective, but [most of] the fighting has been in the south. What their endgame is, beyond a Yemen that doesn’t threaten its borders and isn’t controlled by Iran, is pretty unclear. There has not been any real reconstruction—political reconstruction, physical infrastructure—and there is no “day after” plan.
The Saudis went in with the hubris that given the size and sophistication of their air force and the prowess of Emirati ground troops, this would be a short war; the Houthis, a ragtag insurgency, would collapse after “shock and awe.” It has not worked out that way.
The campaign has to be seen within the context of Saudi dynastic maneuvering. The war was, by many accounts, designed to bolster the standing of the second crown prince, Mohammad bin Salman. To the extent that’s true, it makes the resolution that much more difficult, because whatever the endgame is, it cannot be a political defeat for the Saudis.
History is littered with technologically superior armies being thwarted by ragtag groups that have a survival imperative. It’s a common mistake that large armies make; our own military history is littered with that. For the Houthis, this is an existential fight.
Most of the fighting has taken place along a band that runs from the north in Saada [province, along the Saudi border,] all the way down to Aden. There hasn’t been much taking place to the east, and nobody has been shooting at al-Qaeda.
Shortly after Hadi came in [after a negotiated political transition in 2012], AQAP was driven out of Abyan, which had been their stronghold, by [Yemeni] ground forces with U.S. air support. They moved east and have basically been there ever since.
There was the one attempt [to clear them] months ago, when the Emiratis and others came in to clear the [three hundred miles of] coastline from Aden to Mukalla. It was nominally successful. There was some fighting, but AQAP didn’t really contest Mukalla. Who controls that territory now is an open question.
I think Hadi calculated that since President Trump, who had taken an extraordinarily tough line on Iran, was coming, he could get a much better deal than he was going to get from an Obama administration, if not more military support for a decisive victory.
The calculation was that the Trump administration would be more open to those arguments than the previous administration was. We were already very much on the Saudi side; we just didn’t entirely buy the argument.
There’s a great deal of debate on the degree and importance of Iranian support for the Houthis. The International Crisis Group makes a persuasive case that “the Houthis are not Hezbollah,” as a recent report is titled. That’s the view of most people who watch this part of the world
https://www.cfr.org/interview/futility-force-yemen
cp1a Am wichtigsten: Cholera / Most important: Cholera
Eingebetteter MedieninhaltEingebetteter Medieninhalt
20.6.2017 – IRIN (** A H)
EXCLUSIVE: Largest ever stock of cholera vaccine headed for Yemen
One million doses of an emergency oral cholera vaccine from a global stockpile have been approved for urgent use in Yemen, IRIN has learnt. It is the largest quantity ever deployed at once and is intended to help combat a deadly outbreak sweeping across the war-torn country.
The International Coordinating Group, a body established in 2013 to manage to the global stockpile of emergency cholera vaccines, made the decision to deploy the vaccine in Yemen last week, although no official announcement has yet been made.
Zagaria’s team submitted the request to the ICG for access to the stockpile, and he said the first doses are expected to arrive on the ground early next month.
Why the vaccine?
“As the conflict continues, it continuously erodes the existing basic social services. It has affected the healthcare, water and sanitation systems, which have been damaged or run out of fuel to operate,” explained Bismarck Swangin, a UNICEF spokesman based in the capital, Sana’a.
Less than half of Yemen’s health facilities remain operational. The rest have been bombed and destroyed, and those hospitals still standing face dire shortages in power, supplies, and staff.
Enter the vaccine, which is really a temporary solution to combat the disease’s spread to uninfected individuals. “The vaccine can only be administered to those who do not have cholera. It is a preventive measure,” said Swangin.
And although one million doses were approved, challenges remain.
Identifying priority areas for vaccination is usually done through vulnerability mapping, which looks at factors like population density, sanitation systems, etc. to determine where vaccines would be most effective.
In Yemen however, identified hotspots may fall unevenly on various sides of the conflict. Any deemed unfairness in distribution could exacerbate animosities between the warring factions, requiring deft and delicate political manoeuvring in proposing target areas.
Any delays caused by protracted dialogue between the parties will be at the cost of human lives.
The airport in Sana’a has been shuttered to commercial flights by the pro-Hadi, Saudi Arabian-led coalition. Along with seriously diminished capacity at Yemen’s ports plus a lengthy UN and Saudi vetting process, this is causing a bottleneck in humanitarian aid.
Nonetheless, the WHO coordinated the delivery of other vaccines as recently as May, using UN chartered flights that are still running (albeit with human rights workers and journalists barred). Zagaria seemed confident in their ability to do so again.
Once the vaccines arrive, the WHO representative said there is already a network and system in place to distribute them immediately on a door-to-door basis in priority areas to everyone above the age of one, and to allay the concerns of those who may be suspicious of the vaccine, or of health workers in general.
An education campaign will also be a key part of the rollout.
According to UNICEF, there are 16,000 volunteers trained from earlier immunisation campaigns ready to help create public awareness. There are also solar panels and cold boxes still in the country to keep the doses chilled for up to a day in the absence of electricity.
Cholera expert Doctor David Sack, a professor at the Department of International Health at John Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, told IRIN he has confidence in the effectiveness of the oral cholera vaccine in emergency outbreaks, explaining that “it provides about 65 percent protection [for individuals], but also a significant amount of ‘herd protection’. So in terms of effectiveness, it is actually higher than [65 percent].”
Will it be enough?
This begs the question as to whether one million doses will be enough to contain the outbreak, as eight million people in Yemen are already considered at risk of contracting cholera.
WHO requested up to 3.4 million doses from the ICG, but the size of the global stockpile and rate of production are both limited. Meanwhile, concurrent outbreaks of cholera in Somalia, Malawi, and Mozambique are creating competition for the existing vaccines.
And even if the outbreak is brought under control with the help of the emergency vaccines, in the face of prolonged war, Yemen faces the bleak prospect of being unable to stave off future waves – by Naomi Stewart
https://www.irinnews.org/news/2017/06/20/exclusive-largest-ever-stock-cholera-vaccine-headed-yemen
20.6.2017 – APA / DPA (** A H)
Zahl der Cholera-Toten im Jemen auf mehr als 1.100 gestiegen
Die WHO registrierte fast 167.000 Krankheitsfälle. Allein in der vergangenen Woche sind 187 Erkrankte gestorben.
Die Zahl der Toten durch eine anhaltende Cholera-Epidemie im Jemen ist auf mindestens 1.146 Menschen gestiegen. Knapp 167.000 Menschen hätten sich mit der Krankheit angesteckt, teilte die Weltgesundheitsorganisation (WHO) mit. Allein in der vergangenen Woche seien 187 Erkrankte gestorben.
Vor allem in den Provinzen Hadscha, Hodeida und Amran sowie in der Hauptstadt Sanaa im Norden des Jemen wütet die Krankheit demnach. Fälle wurden in 20 der 22 Provinzen verzeichnet. Insgesamt lebten in den Epidemie-Gebieten 7,6 Millionen Menschen, hieß es von der WHO.
http://www.tt.com/panorama/katastrophe/13120690-91/zahl-der-cholera-toten-im-jemen-auf-mehr-als-1.100-gestiegen.csp = http://derstandard.at/2000059520245/Zahl-der-Cholera-Toten-im-Jemen-auf-mehr-als-1
19.6.2017 – Anadolu (** A H)
Cholera kills 1,146 Yemenis in 2 months
A cholera epidemic has killed some 1,146 people in war-torn Yemen since late April, according to the World Health Organization (WHO).
In a late Monday statement, WHO's Yemen office said over 166,976 suspected cases of cholera have been registered in the country since April 27.
The northwestern Hajjah province has recorded the highest number of deaths from the disease with 195 fatalities.
http://aa.com.tr/en/health/cholera-kills-1-146-yemenis-in-2-months/845253
referring to:
19.6.2017 – World Health Organisation (** A H)
YEMEN: cholera outbreak Weekly epidemiology bulletin Week 24 – 2017
Since 27 April 2017, a total of 166,976 suspected #cholera cases and 1146 deaths have been reported across #Yemen
Highlights
During week 24 (from 11 to 17 June 2017), 37 808 suspected cholera cases and 187 deaths were reported in Yemen. • Since the beginning of this outbreak second wave (from 27 April to 18 June 2017), 166 976 suspected cholera cases, and 1 146 deaths (CFR: 0.7%) have been reported in 20 of the country 23 governorates (87%), and in 85% of the districts (283/333).
Geographical distribution of cases
The four most affected governorates were Amanat Al Asimah, Al Hudaydah, Amran and Hajjah with 49.3% (82 308/166 976) of the cases reported since 27 April 2017. Al Mahwit governorate had still the highest attacks rate (116.0 per 10 000), followed by Amran governorate (114.8 per 10,000) (see table 1 and figure 2). Table 1: Number of cholera cases and attack rate by governorate, Yemen, 27 April – 18 June 2017
Since 12 June2 , 33 091 suspected cases and 175 deaths of cholera were reported in 20 governorates and 250 districts (see table 2). The highest numbers of cases were reported in Amanat Al Asimah and Al Hudaydah governorates, and in the districts of Al Hali (Al Hudaydah gov., 1 820 cases, 4 deaths), Ma'ain (Amanat Al Asimah gov., 871 cases, 2 deaths) and Bani Al Harith (Amanat Al Asimah gov., 861 cases, 2 deaths).
Table 2: Number of cholera cases and deaths by governorate, Yemen, 12 June – 18 June 2017
Since 27 April 85% of all districts (283/333) have been affected. Figure 3 shows the 45 most affected districts where 56.4% (93 428/165 575) 3 of the cases have been reported. The highest number of cases were reported in Al Hali (Al Hudaydah gov., 7 722 cases, 15 deaths), Bani Al Harith (Amanat Al Asimah gov., 5 280 cases, 10 deaths) and Ma’ain (Amanat Al Asimah gov., 5 261 cases, 7 deaths). Zulaymat Habur (Amran gov.) and Ash Sharyah (Al Bayda gov.) had the highest attack rates (respectively 390.2 and 316.4 per 10 000).
Table 3: Number of cholera cases and case fatality ratio (CFR), Yemen, 27 April – 18 June 2017
http://www.emro.who.int/images/stories/yemen/Yemen_epi_bulletin.19.6.17.pdf?ua=1
20.6.2017 – TRT (* A H)
Film: Cholera outbreak in Yemen kills at least 1,000
Cholera is spreading at an alarming rate in Yemen. The number of deaths nearly doubled in the first two weeks of this month. With sea ports blocked and airports shut, aid is not reaching the country.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cof1KLoYJR0
19.6.2017 – Deutsche Welle (** A H)
Film: Cholera death toll rises again in Yemen
More than 1,000 people have died because of the bacterial infection Cholera in Yemen. People there not only suffer from epidemics, but from an ongoing civil war, attacks and famine
http://www.dw.com/en/cholera-death-toll-rises-again-in-yemen/av-39315031
19.6.2017 – Doctors Without Borders (* A H)
.@MSF received +41,400 patients of #cholera & acute watery diarrhea since the start of the rapid increase of the epidemic in #Yemen (photos)
https://twitter.com/msf_yemen/status/876806191413940225
18.6.2017 – World Health Organization (** A H)
YEMEN: cholera outbreak Daily epidemiology update: 18 June 2017
From 27 April to 17 June 2017, 158 960 suspected cholera cases and 1 100 deaths (CFR: 0.7%) have been reported in 87% (20/23) of Yemen governorates, and 83% (278/333) of the districts.
The four most affected governorates were Amanat Al Asimah, Al Hudaydah, Amran and Hajjah with 49.6% (78 794/158 960) of the cases reported since 27 April 2017. Al Mahwit governorate had still the highest attack rate (112.2 per 10 000), and Raymah governorate the highest case fatality ratio (1.7%) (see table)
Table: Number of suspected cholera cases & deaths, AR and CFR by governorate, Yemen, 27 April – 17 June 2017
http://www.emro.who.int/images/stories/yemen/Yemen_epi_d_update.18.6.2017.pdf?ua=1
18.6.2017 – Aljazeera (** A H)
Film: Who is to blame for the cholera outbreak in Yemen? – Inside Story
The world's worst humanitarian disaster.
That's how the United Nations is describing the unprecedented cholera outbreak in Yemen.
And that is on top of the devastating effects of the nearly three-year war between the government and Houthi rebels.
The Saudi-led coalition has closed the main airport and prevented many human rights workers from entering the country.
So, is the Saudi-imposed blockade complicating aid efforts?
Presenter: Jane Dutton, Guests: Ibrahim Fraihat - Professor of Conflict Resolution at the Doha Institute for Graduate Studies; Shabia Mantoo - Spokeswoman for the UNHCR in Yemen; Hussain Al Bukhaiti - Pro-Houthi Activist
http://www.aljazeera.com/programmes/insidestory/2017/06/blame-cholera-outbreak-yemen-170618202453916.html and https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-z_zPvfsg9k
Comment by Judith Brown: From Doha but Qatar is still blaming the Houthis and the interviewer obviously did not allow the pro-Houthi spokesman to have his say - more critical of him than she was of other spokesmen and no academic with an even view was given chance to speak up for ordinary Yemeni citizens who are suffering and dying.
https://www.facebook.com/judith.brown.794628/posts/10155638451233641
18.6.2017 – WHO Yemen (* A H)
Film: Dr Ahmed Zouiten, WHO Health Emergencies Programme
WHO scales up oral rehydration points in #Yemen for the treatment of mild/ moderate cases of dehydration
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tqhtWcHkerA
18.6.2017 – UNICEF (*A H)
Film: #WaterIs life.. @UNICEF launched a water project serving nearly 0.5 million people in and around Taizz city.
https://twitter.com/UNICEF_Yemen/status/876524048032858112
cp1b Am wichtigsten: Luftangriff auf Markt / Most important: Air raid at market
18.6.2017 – Kurier (** A K)
Viele tote Zivilisten bei Luftangriff im Jemen
Bei einem Luftangriff auf einen Markt im Jemen sind nach Angaben von Ärzten mindestens 24 Zivilisten getötet worden. Die meisten Opfer hätten auf dem Al-Mashnak-Markt nahe der Grenze zu Saudi-Arabien gearbeitet, sagten ein Arzt und mehrere Zeugen am Sonntag. Auf dem Markt in der von Houthi-Rebellen kontrollierten nördlichen Provinz Saada wird die Alltagsdroge Kat verkauft.
Für den Luftangriff wurde die von Saudi-Arabien geleitete arabische Koalition verantwortlich gemacht. Den Zeugen zufolge diente der Markt als Umschlagplatz für Kat, dessen Konsum in Saudi-Arabien streng verboten ist.
https://kurier.at/politik/ausland/viele-tote-zivilisten-bei-luftangriff-im-jemen/270.460.296 und von RT: https://deutsch.rt.com/newsticker/52570-huthi-rebellen-vermelden-24-tote-bei-luftangriff-in-jemen/
18.6.2017 – Reuters (** A K)
Twenty five killed in Saudi air strikes on Yemen market - health official
At least 25 Yemenis were killed when Saudi-led coalition aircraft struck a market in the northern Saada province, a local health official said on Sunday, the latest in a string of deadly incidents in the 27-month-old conflict.
Officials from the Saudi-led coalition could not immediately be reached for a comment on the report.
The director of the Houthi-run Health Department office in Saada said the aircraft conducted two raids on al-Mashnaq market in Shada district, which is close to the Saudi border, on Saturday, killing 25 people and wounding at least one.
"Rescue teams were unable to reach the area for some time for fear of being hit by artillery shelling of the area," the official, Dr Abdelilah al-Azzi, told Reuters by telephone.
Reuters could not independently confirm the report because the area is located very close to the frontline, but several Yemeni online news outlets carried a similar report.
http://in.reuters.com/article/yemen-security-idINKBN1990GJ?rpc=401&
18.6.2017 – AFP (** A K)
24 killed in air raid on Yemen market: medical official
At least 24 civilians were killed in an air raid Sunday on a market in northern Yemen, a medical official and witnesses said, blaming the Saudi-led coalition battling Yemeni rebels.
Most of the casualties worked in the Mashnaq market in the rebel-controlled Saada province on the Saudi border, an official at a nearby hospital told AFP on condition of anonymity.
Witnesses said the market was a centre for trafficking in qat, a leafy stimulant plant that is widely used in Yemen but illegal in Saudi Arabia.
One of the witnesses said some of the casualties had "just returned from a trip across the border".
https://www.afp.com/en/news/23/24-killed-air-raid-yemen-market-medical-official
and AP is somewhat misleading: http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/M/ML_YEMEN?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2017-06-18-09-48-12
and by Saba Net:
19.6.2017 – Saba Net (A K PH)
Saudi aggression air strike kills 24 civil shoppers in popular market
At least 24 civilians were killed on Saturday evening when a Saudi aggression warplane hit a popular market in Saada province, a medic official told Saba.
The air strike killed 24 shoppers and owners of shops and injured another citizen in the market in central Shada district of northern Saada.
http://www.sabanews.net/en/news467297.htm and condemnations by various parties and institutions at Sanaa: http://www.sabanews.net/en/news467298.htm and http://www.sabanews.net/en/news467299.htm and http://www.sabanews.net/en/news467300.htm and http://www.sabanews.net/en/news467301.htm
19.6.2017 – Saudi war Crimes (** A K PH)
Finally, a photographer managed to enter the market in the province of # Sa'ada,
which was bombed by the coalition of aggression planes the day before yesterday after a long flight of flight and the danger of repeated targeting!
Only 17 bodies have been identified.
1- Ali Hassan Hanoun Al-Wakishi
2 - Salman Ahmed Lakhmi
3 - Majed Jaber Hassan
4 - Hashim Darwish Mohammed
5- Abdo Tihan Jaber
6- Shafiq Tihan Jaber
7- Hosny Ahmed Asaad
8. Hussein Ahmed Asaad
9 - Sadiq Jubran Ahmed
Salem Jubran Ahmed
11- Brother of Salem Jubran Ahmed
12- Issa Atef Mousa
13. Ali Sari Shami
14 - Fayez Yahya Issa
15. Munir Yahya Sari
16. Ali Darwish Qais
Injured:
Awad Mansour Maklab
https://www.facebook.com/SaudiArabia.war.crimes.against.Yemen/posts/1690492517913402
and photos:
https://www.facebook.com/SaudiArabia.war.crimes.against.Yemen/posts/1690498351246152
https://www.facebook.com/SaudiArabia.war.crimes.against.Yemen/posts/1690492517913402
films:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YJfSj1czpZc
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4_8WE8yw_0g (day after)
19.6.2017 – Hussain Albukhaiti (* A K PH)
16ppl named&confirmed dead 9bodies still unrecognizable Body parts scattered everywhere n Almashnag market n Shada #Saada
https://twitter.com/HussainBukhaiti/status/876821310588026880
Bones,flesh,wood,earth&rocks mixed togothr n Almashnag market Shada #Saada #Yemen Awad Mansour lone survivor 25kild by #Saudi #UAE strikes
https://twitter.com/HussainBukhaiti/status/876812689921769472
19.6.2017 – Almasdar Online (* A K PS)Coalition launch intensive raids in Saada, targets qat traffickers house – source
A number of traffickers between the Yemeni and Saudi borders have been killed and wounded in an aerial bombardment launched by the aircrafts of the Saudi-led coalition on a house in the Shada district of Saada province, the stronghold of the Houthi group far north of Yemen, a local source said.
The source told Almasdaronline that the aircrafts launched a number of raids on a house in Umm Mashnaq area in the old qat market, which is only few meters away from the Saudi territory.
The house was crowded with qat traffickers and other civilians. Added the source.
The coalition aircrafts also launched intensive raids on the positions of the Houthis-Saleh forces in the districts of Shada, al Dahir, Baqem, and Ketaf, causing casualties and destruction of military equipment.
http://almasdaronline.com/article/92103 and also at http://almasdaronline.com/article/92134
My comment: Qat is a legal drogue in Yemen, it is consumed by the great majority. At this bombed site there might have been some traffickers of course, as the Saudi border is close. But the way how the subject is presented here it looks whether emphasizing these (alleged) traffickers should function as a way of explanation or even excuse for the raid. Is this really serious?
It is strange how willingly Western media, as AP, follow this Saudi propaganda line, how easily they adopt Saudi viewpoints and Saudi values. Does anybody really think when the German air force would bomb a “coffeeshop” at Amsterdam killing 25 people anybody would think this could be justifiable? Why the standards are so shifted when Yemen and Saudi Arabia are concerned?
19.6.2017 – Aljazeera (* A K)
Film: Hakim Almasmari (Yemen Post editor) on AJE on the latest Saudi atrocities that killed 25 civilians
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Eu7mnyddZM
18.6.2017 – Nasser Arrabyee (* A K P)
Yemen Houthi spokesman: This brutal crime against popular market is an expression of the real face of UN Security Council.
https://twitter.com/narrabyee/status/876458375298633729
18.6.2017 – Press TV Iran (A K)
Saudi jets have launched fresh airstrikes on Yemen, leaving more deaths and destruction in the Arab country – interviewed: Catherine Shakdam
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g44dqPeD1NY
19.6.2017 – Sputnik News (A K P)
Jemen wartet „auf richtigen Zeitpunkt“ für Schlag gegen Saudis – General
Mindestens 25 Zivilisten sind beim jüngsten Luftangriff der von Saudi-Arabien angeführten arabischen Koalition auf einen Markt im Jemen getötet worden. Der jemenitische General Aziz Rashid sprach in einem Sputnik-Interview von einer Vergeltung gegen die Saudis.
Laut Rashid handelte es sich bei der Attacke um kein Versehen. Am Sonntag habe die Koalition insgesamt 42 Luftschläge im Jemen geflogen, Dutzende Zivilisten seien ums Leben gekommen.
„In der Welt schweigen alle über die Verbrechen, die die internationale Koalition und die Terrororganisationen, die von bestimmten Ländern finanziert werden, im Jemen begehen“, so Rashid.
„Aber wir, die jemenitische Armee, sagen unseren Mitbürgern, dass diese Verbrechen nicht ungesühnt bleiben. Die Antwort auf diese Verbrechen wird ein Schlag im Zentrum Saudi-Arabiens auf dessen Militärobjekte sein. Wir werden den richtigen Zeitpunkt für eine Antwort auf diese Aggression finden“, versicherte Rashid. https://de.sputniknews.com/politik/20170619316230768-jemen-saudi-arabien-luftschlag-zivilopfer-vergeltung/
and English version:
19.6.2017 – Sputnik News (A K P)
World Remains Silent: Yemeni General Vows to Respond to Deadly Saudi Strikes
Dozens of people were killed in the north of Yemen during an airstrike, carried out by the Saudi-led coalition on June 18. In an interview with Sputnik Arabic, a representative of the Yemeni army, Brigadier General Aziz Rashid, said that the attack was not an accident.
The UN Security Council has recently issued a resolution calling on Yemeni forces to cease attacks against the Saudi army.
According to Rashid, the resolution has given a green light to the Arab coalition to continue airtrikes against Yemeni citizens.
"The world is silent about the crimes committed against Yemen by the international coalition and terrorist organizations financed by certain countries," Rashid said.
"But we, the Yemeni army, tell our compatriots that these crimes will not remain unpunished. The response to the committed crimes will be an attack on military infrastructure in the center of Saudi Arabia. We will choose the right time to respond to this aggression," he added.
https://sputniknews.com/middleeast/201706191054777605-yemeni-general-saudi-strikes/
19.6.2017 – New News (A P)
Popular Market Massacre Caused by the Meeting of the Security Council:Minister of Information
Minister of Information Ahmed Hamed condemned on Sunday the horrific massacre committed by the US-Saudi alliance raids in the popular market in the province of Saada.
The minister said in a statement to the Yemeni news agencies that the alliance warplanes committed this crime,as aresult to the green light granted by the Security Council in his last statement, to committ a brutal massacre in the popular market of Shada directorate in Sa’ada province, which resulted in 25 martyrs.
Remark: Sanaa government.
18.6.2017 – Press TV Iran (* A K P)
Yemen market attack shows Saudi savagery, media critic says
Alexander Azadgan, a media critic and professor of strategic global management, says Saudi Arabia’s airstrike on a marketplace in Yemen proves how “un-Islamic” and “fake” the Saudi Wahhabis are because Muslims are not supposed to bomb or wage war during the holy month of Ramadan.
“This exhibits the cruel and barbaric Saudi regime’s savagery especially at a time when people were collecting staples and food items for the upcoming Eid al-Fitr, which for our non-Muslim viewers is a celebration at the end of Ramadan,” Azadgan told Press TV in an interview on Sunday (Film)
19.6.2017 – European Union (A P)
Statement by the Spokesperson on Yemen
The bombing of a market in Yemen's Northern province of Saada last Saturday resulted in the death of more than 20 civilians and several injured.
The EU expresses its condolences to the families of the victims and wishes a speedy recovery to all those injured. The bombing is a stark reminder that Yemeni civilians are the ones bearing the brunt of a war that has devastated their country, threatening to undermine regional stability.
The EU is increasingly worried by the humanitarian situation in the country, on the verge of widespread famine and most recently hit by a cholera outbreak.
The EU expects all parties to re-engage constructively, under the auspices of the UN, to find a peaceful and negotiated political solution to the conflict so as to bring an end to the current unprecedented humanitarian crisis.
As stated by its Foreign Affairs Ministers in April, the EU will continue to work with the UN and all Yemeni and regional actors in the search of a political solution to the crisis while remaining committed to provide humanitarian assistance to the Yemeni population according to their rising needs.
My comment: Hypocrisy of Saudi Arabia’s second largest arms seller (UK, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, Belgium, Bulgaria)
19.6.2017 - RT (A P)
Film: Aftermath of brutal Saudi air raids on Yemen’s Saada province
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oQQgJh27MqI and https://www.almasdarnews.com/article/graphic-18-aftermath-brutal-saudi-air-raids-yemens-saada-province/
My comment: Wrong film!! This is a raid in Alaresh area in Taiz province, May 29, 2017: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gsTv2v2WwZs
cp2 Allgemein / General
20.6.2017 – RT (B K)
Film: Krieg gegen den Jemen: Saudis setzen perfide Taktik gegen Zivilisten ein
Saudi-Arabien setzt im Krieg gegen den Jemen angeblich sogenannte Double Taps ein. Dabei handelt es sich um Angriffe, die in zwei Wellen erfolgen. Der zweite Schlag zielt darauf ab, die nach dem ersten Schlag herbeigeeilten Helfer zu treffen.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dYDdcWoWMOM
19.6.2017 – Der Freitag (* B P)
Mit dem Krieg im Gepäck
Saudi-Arabien: Für Riad zahlt es sich aus, Donald Trump demonstrativ hofiert zu haben
[…] Verdacht, dass es bei Katar nicht nur darum geht, die von diesem Land bewaffneten Gruppen zu zähmen. Vielmehr sollen alle Staaten des Golf-Kooperationsrates samt ihren aus aller Welt rekrutierten terroristischen Hilfstruppen auf eine Linie gegenüber Iran eingeschworen werden. Dem hat sich Katar bislang mehr oder weniger entzogen. Ohne diesen Schulterschluss kommt es nicht zu der Nahostmilitärallianz, die auch Israel nachdrücklich fordert. Sie wäre ohne Katar weit weniger effizient als erhofft.
Äußerlich lässt sich der Konflikt zwischen Riad und Doha gewiss beilegen, geht es doch eigentlich um die Konkurrenz zwischen Saudi-Arabien und Iran, deren gespanntes Verhältnis sich zuletzt immer mehr aufgeheizt hat.
Die im Westen medial gern in den Vordergrund gerückte, angeblich ewig brodelnde Fehde zwischen Schia und Sunna ist nur die äußere Hülle für den tatsächlichen Zwist um politische und wirtschaftliche Hegemonie in der Region. Wie gerade die jetzige Krise zwischen Saudi-Arabien und Katar zeigt, kann es ohne weiteres zu bedrohlichen bis hin zu kriegerischen Konflikten zwischen weltanschaulich kompatiblen sunnitisch-wahhabitischen Staaten kommen. Die wachsende Aggressivität Saudi-Arabiens, Israels und der USA gegenüber dem Iran beruht auf der äußerst zerstörerischen, aber bislang glücklosen Einmischungspolitik des Westens und der Golfstaaten in deren Nachbarländern.
Die Bündnisse des Westens im Nahen Osten erweisen sich als zerrüttet. Sie zu reparieren, wird nicht nur Mühe, sondern auch Zeit kosten. Bringt Präsident Trump das dafür nötige diplomatische Geschick auf? Zeigt er sich geduldig? – von Sabine Kebir
https://www.freitag.de/autoren/sabine-kebir/mit-dem-krieg-im-gepaeck
20.6.2017 – Middle East Eye (* B P)
Democracy and the Arab axis of tyranny
The Qatar-Gulf crisis is a battle rooted in the aborted first wave of the Arab Spring. So far, Arab despots have succeeded in curbing democratic change in the region, but their latest tactics come with much higher risks
The current Gulf Crisis that threatens to destabilise the whole region didn’t pop out of thin air. Its origins lie in a much deeper rivalry rooted in the geopolitics of the Arab Spring, when people rose up and threatened to overthrow an existing order that favoured the preservation of tyranny.
Authoritarian rulers in the region took this as a direct threat to their power and thus began to invest their resources in a counter-revolutionary effort led by Saudi Arabia and the UAE.
Their neighbour, Qatar, home to the Al Jazeera news network, however, chose a different direction and decided to embrace change. Thus began a vicious contest in one of the world’s most strategic locations.
Chaos or anarchy
Saudi Arabia and the UAE have since spearheaded a multifaceted and largely successful effort to roll back the legacy of the Arab spring.
For the Gulf-led counter-revolution, the message to its people is clear: either blind obedience to our absolute rule, or chaos and anarchy.
Anyone or anything that gets in the way of that calculus is deemed an existential threat. To these regimes, therefore, combating democracy is a matter of life or death.
Fostering despair
Under the banner of political realism, right-wing centres in Europe and the US, and now the Trump administration too, have, unfortunately, reinforced this false narrative, by peddling the myth that authoritarian regimes in the Middle East act as a bulwark against terrorism, radical Islamism, and all out chaos. This, they maintain, is the best solution in a region unfit for freedom and democracy.
The truth, however, is that tyranny, which marginalises people’s grievances and aspirations, thus fostering despair of any way out or a viable future, is what pushes them into the arms of extremism.
Political conflict in the region largely stems from a religious and ideological polarisation between theocratic monarchies and a reformism that seeks to create a form of liberal Islamic democracy.
This theocratic Islam is today locked in an ideological civil war with the more reformist tradition, which originated in the 19th century and has striven to carve out an Islam that works in tandem with democracy, pluralism, women’s rights and freedom of expression.
The most liberal Gulf kingdom
Compared to its neighbours, Qatar has manifested greater openness towards the ideals of political participation and freedom of thought, speech and organisation, which lie at the heart of the Arab spring.
The axis of Arab despotisms has so far succeeded in curbing democratic change in the region by sowing chaos from Libya to Yemen. But this is a reckless game with unpredictable outcomes. A limited regional rivalry may easily spiral out of control and degenerate into dangerous civil conflicts and wider wars. – by Soumaya Ghannoushi
http://www.middleeasteye.net/columns/democracy-arab-axis-tyranny-1031396599
19.6.2017 – American Herald Tribune (* B H K)
Humanitarian Catastrophe Looms in Yemen with Over 18.8 Million in Need of Humanitarian Aid
The raging Saudi-imposed, U.S.-backed war continues amid a backdrop of U.S. president Donald Trump’s recent visit to the Arabian Peninsula. While the Potomac potentate amused himself dancing with swords alongside the Riyadh royals, the oppressed people of Yemen continued to suffer under a siege launched in March 2015 by the self-proclaimed guardians of the Two Sacred Mosques.
The all-but-forgotten (in U.S. and the West) war against Yemen so far (as of March 2017) has caused:
* 18.8 million people in need of humanitarian aid
* 14.8 million people with no access to health care services
* 14.5 million people who lack clean water, sanitation and hygiene services
* 2.1 million people unable to return to their homes
* 462,000 children suffering from malnutrition
* 186,687 Yemenis have fled to other countries
* 7,800 people killed and 44,000 injured
* 357 agricultural targets destroyed
* 274 health care facilities destroyed
The Saudis appear to be deliberately targeting Yemen’s civilian infrastructure, although they deny this and blame the Houthis for the devastation. As bad as targeting hospitals and medical facilities is, the Saudis have also bombed water infrastructure, food plants, poultry farms, markets, mosques, bridges, factories, food trucks, stores and even Coca Cola bottling plants. This deliberate destruction, in addition to the ongoing Saudi naval blockade, has had a shattering effect on the nation, which before the war imported some 90% of its food—less than 3% of Yemen’s soil is under cultivation.
The United States role in supporting this Saudi onslaught has been crucial – BY YURAM ABDULLAH WEILER
My comment: A good overview article.
18.6.2017 – Deutsche Wirtschaftsnachrichten (* B E K)
Eskalation im Jemen gefährdet weltweiten Öl-Handel
Der Konflikt im Jemen droht auf die Meerenge Bab al-Mandab überzugreifen. Diese stellt eine der wichtigsten Routen des globalen Ölhandels dar.
The Middle East Eye berichtet nun, dass die jemenitischen Houthi-Rebellen in der Nacht vom 14. auf den 15. Juni 2017 in der Meerenge Bab al-Mandab einen Raketenangriff auf ein Schiff der Vereinigten Arabischen Emirate (VAE) durchgeführt haben sollen – direkt, nachdem das Schiff den jemenitischen Hafen von Mokha verlassen hatte.
Die jüngste Eskalation in der Seestraße von Bab al-Mandab stellt ein enormes Risiko für den internationalen Containerhandel und den Öl-Handel dar.
„Die jüngsten Angriffe auf die Handelsschifffahrt im Golf von Aden und Bab al-Mandab haben gezeigt, dass es immer noch Risiken gibt, die mit den Transiten durch diese Gewässer verbunden sind“, so die von den USA angeführten Combined Maritime Forces (CMF) in einer Mitteilung. Die CMF befindet sich in Bahrain und schützt den Golf von Aden.
WINEP führt aus, dass der Jemen-Konflikt aktuell das größte Risiko für die Meerenge Bab al-Mandab und die internationale Schifffahrt darstelle.
Mein Kommentar: Das Risiko geht freilich weit weniger von den Huthis aus, die feindliche Kriegsschiffe angreifen, als von der saudischen Koalition, die von ihren Kriegsschiffen aus die jemenitische Küste beschießt und aus der Luft kleinere Fischer- und Flüchtlingsschiffe direkt angreift.
19.6.2017 – Press TV Iran (B K P)
Film: 'Saudi Arabia seeking to force Yemenis to break away from govt.'
Press TV has asked Jim W. Dean, managing editor of the Veterans Today from Boston, and Richard Millet, a journalist and political commentator from London, to share their views as to why Saudi Arabia keeps bombing non-military areas in Yemen despite its technologically advanced precision weapons.
Jim W. Dean said that the Arab kingdom is using a war of attrition in Yemen in order to put pressure on the Yemeni people to break away from their government and accept the Saudi hegemony.
“This is a war of attrition against the population to undermine their support for the government; so that they would be willing to take peace on Saudi terms, which is [for them to] be a colony of Saudi Arabia,” the commentator said.
He added that instead of striking key military assets in Yemen, Saudi forces target the civilian population to undermine their support for the Yemeni fighters’ resistance against the aggression.
Meanwhile, Richard Millet claimed that the Saudi airstrike campaign on the Yemeni people is a “defensive war” because, Saudis “do have a right to stop attacks” on their country.
http://www.presstv.com/Detail/2017/06/19/525764/Yemen-Saudi-Aggression-Market
My comment: The old propaganda song by Millet: No, this is no Saudi “defensive” war – just because the Saudis started this war 10 weeks BEFORE their own territory had been attavcked.
18.6.2017 – Pakistan Today (* B K P)
Till the last man in Yemen
The bystanders look upon the ongoing war in Yemen as an unnecessary stupid conflict among Muslim states as it has caused over ten thousand deaths in the last two years and in which precious treasure is being frittered away not to save but kill more lives with sophisticated weaponry supplied by the most ‘civilised’ nations of the world. For the onlookers, the Yemen conflagration is nothing more than a saga of colossal human tragedy in which innocent people have been uprooted from their hearths, women widowed, children orphaned and food and medical supplies are becoming extinct, however, to the main players of this war i.e. Saudi Arabia, Iran and the US, their “national interest” is more important than human lives, particularly of Saudi Arabia, which looks upon any political crisis in Yemen as an existential threat to her territorial integrity. That is why Saudis will fight to the last man or till the time they successfully neutralise the existential threat.
What is this existential threat to Saudi Arabia? It is the region of Asir bordering Yemen that has been the Saudi underbelly because even before the formation of Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA), the tribal Emir of Asir and the ruler of Yemen hobnobbed to resist the authority of King Abd al-Aziz.
The ongoing war in Yemen can bring such people in power, who can again stake claims on the Saudi territories bordering Yemen. Saudi Arabia does not want such a situation to arise again and that is why it has gone full throttle in Yemen and is likely to remain engaged till a friendly government is ensconced in power – by BASHARAT HUSSAIN QIZILBASH
https://www.pakistantoday.com.pk/2017/06/18/till-the-last-man-in-yemen/
18.6.2017 – Living in Yemen on the edge (B E P)
Fathi bin Lazraq a southern Yemeni journalist wrote " I recommend to the #Aden families who want to buy clothes at cheap prices and all their Eid needs to travel to #Sanaa to buy their needs of the malls that were opened there during the war.
ere they will find all their needs of clothes and food at cheap prices compared to what is sold in Aden.
The lie of those who said that Aden is liberated and Sanaa besieged. The true is that Aden is besieged and Sanaa is liberated.
Woe to the corrupt legitimacy that failed to secure one mall of two meters''
cp3 Humanitäre Lage / Humanitarian situation
Siehe / Look at: cp1; Cholera: cp1a
19.6.2017 – Your Abilities (A H)
@Yourabilities_o distributed 110 food baskets of the 5th Stage from Ramadan campaign, Al-Thrir district Sanaa 19/6/2017 (photos)
https://twitter.com/Yourabilities_o/status/876936205912375296
We in really appreciate our sponsor's great efforts 4 supporting @Yourabilities_o humanitarian missions in Yemen. Much regards & respect (photos)
https://twitter.com/Living_Yemen/status/876940566235299840
@Yourabilities_o team (No1) already moved 2 Manakha district, while team(No 2) will move 2 Al-Himaa Alkharjiah area, at morning (photos)
https://twitter.com/Yourabilities_o/status/876939696214900736
19.6.2017 – Al Araby (* B H)
For some in war-torn poverty-stricken Yemen, suicide is the only relief
Poverty is a killer, and its callousness matches that of the war. When poverty and war meet in a nation, people tire of their existence on earth. Some choose to take their life, bidding farewell to this world’s misery.
Today, the previous lines apply to Yemen, a war-ravaged country and poverty-stricken nation in the volatile Arab world. Poverty has sabotaged the psyche of people and shattered their hopes, pushing them to opt for suicidal acts.
Early this month, a 40-year old woman in Yemen's Ibb province, intentionally swallowed poison to end her life. A Yemeni news website quoted a local source saying the woman committed suicide poisoning herself along with her two daughters aged 9 and 12.
This horrific accident is not unrelated to the psychological situation of the victim, which can be attached to her living condition. The accident reflects the extent of frustration among poor families during wartime in Yemen.
This story speaks volumes of the destitute families' plight in Yemen. Even prior to the war flare-up in 2015, Yemen was struggling with employment and poverty. The conflict just came to further cement the misery at a large scale – by Khalid Al-Karimi
https://www.alaraby.co.uk/english/blog/2017/6/19/for-some-in-yemen-suicide-is-the-only-relief
and a very sad story…
20.6.2017 – Ahmad Alghobary (A H)
This boy executed himself in my city Dhamar ,Otma area #Yemen Some people said that his family is really poor and he was the breadwinner. (photo)
https://twitter.com/AhmadAlgohbary/status/877016363432386560
19.6.2017 – Meritxell Relano, UNICEF (* B H K)
UNICEF #Yemen School rehabilitation targets: 1021 schools. Completed: 631!!! Getting ready for the next school year (photos)
https://twitter.com/RelanoMeritxell/status/876784988636753921
18.6.2017 – Press TV Iran (A H)
Yemeni people donate to those displaced by Saudi airstrikes
Film: Yemenis increase their self-motivated efforts to help each other survive a significantly increasing famine and food insecurity amid the continuation of the Saudi war against their country. Over the past few days another food shipment was distributed to displaced people in the northern part of Sana’a. There are also efforts to create long-time welfare projects and enable displaced families to make their own living and return to their normal life. From the Yemeni capital Sana’a, Mohammed al-Attab reports.
15.6.2017 – UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (A H)
Overview of CERF Funding to Famine Prevention (as of 15 June 2017)
Thanks to the generosity of its donors, CERF has released $117.5 million for early action and life-saving operations in Nigeria, Somalia, South Sudan and Yemen. Yemen received $25 million for famine prevention to focus on the provision of food, nutrition and health supplies, as well as necessary logistical and security support for all humanitarian partners.
http://reliefweb.int/report/somalia/overview-cerf-funding-famine-prevention-15-june-2017 and in full http://reliefweb.int/sites/reliefweb.int/files/resources/CERF_wrl_famine_20170616.pdf
11.6.2017 - World Health Organization (A H)
WHO EMRO Weekly Epidemiological Monitor, Volume 10; Issue no 24, 11 June 2017
Communications in public health emergencies
Recent experience with famine and cholera outbreak in Somalia has shown that communication, whether with affected communities, among public health response actors, or with the media, is a critical component of effective response to public health emergencies.
http://reliefweb.int/report/yemen/who-emro-weekly-epidemiological-monitor-volume-10-issue-no-24-11-june-2017 and in full http://applications.emro.who.int/docs/epi/2017/Epi_Monitor_2017_10_24.pdf
22.4.2017 – Veritas Consulting (* A H)
Yemen Reconstruction Fund
Since 2015 Veritas-Consulting has partnered and supported charitable organizations in Yemen to provide the country with much-needed humanitarian relief.
Our goals are many — raise awareness to Yemen’s plight, denounce war crimes, promote peace and social cohesion, help towards education, defend human rights, speak on behalf of those who have been silenced … Our task is enormous but we shall not waver in our duty.
Yemen is precious! Yemen remains the beating heart of Arabia, the very land which for thousands of years has spoken a light onto the region. With Yemen’s disappearance it is a part of all our History we are abandoning to the evil of Wahhabism.
Yemen needs all of our combined strength and generosity!
Veritas-Consulting ambitions now to draw a comprehensive humanitarian map of Yemen to devise new aid campaigns and programs to meet communities’ needs and offer people a real chance at rebuilding their lives. Distributing emergency aid is not enough.We ought to think reconstruction.
https://www.gofundme.com/yemenfund
cp5 Nordjemen und Huthis / Northern Yemen and Houthis
20.6.2017 – Nasser Arrabyee (A P)
Yemen foreign ministry: Emarati occupation of Soccatra island is flagrant violation of all international laws
https://twitter.com/narrabyee/status/877162741173288962
20.6.2017 – Aljazeera (* B P)
Who is Ali Abdullah Saleh?
Ali Abdullah Saleh, Yemen's president for three decades, was a wily political operator but a poor administrator.
Yemen's former president, Ali Abdullah Saleh took over North Yemen in 1978, and became president of the whole republic after its two halves were united in 1990. The only man to ever serve as president of a unified Yemen, he proved to be a wily political operator, manipulating the country's tribal system and fending off sustained insurrections in the north and south.
He often portrayed himself as the only man who could hold Yemen together.
But his reign was also defined by charges of corruption and mismanagement: At the onset of the uprising, Yemen was one of the poorest countries in the world, with widespread unemployment and persistent inflation. Its billions of dollars in oil revenues embezzled or wasted. Forty percent of Yemen's population lived on less than $2 per day.
After his removal
Following months of protests in 2011, Saleh's reign ended after he signed a deal brokered by the Gulf Co-operation Council, in which he agreed to step down after months of unrest. However, a few years after he was deposed, Saleh resurged when he allied with Houthi fighters in 2015, after his home was targeted in Arab coalition airstrikes. Before that, he had asked Gulf countries for safe passage out of the country.
There have been constant skirmishes between the country's government and Houthis since 2004, with most of the fighting limited to the group's stronghold in northern Yemen. Then in 2014, the Houthis took control of Yemen's capital, Sanaa, and proceeded to push southwards towards the country's second-biggest city, Aden. In response to the Houthis' advances, a coalition of Arab states launched a military campaign in 2015 to defeat the Houthis and restore Yemen's government.
Prior to his alliance with the Houthis, the UN Security Council imposed sanctions on Saleh, along with two allied rebel commanders, for threatening the peace and stability of the country and obstructing the political process.
The UN decision came after thousands of Saleh and Houthi supporters filled the streets of Sanaa to protest the punishment of the former president in November 2014.
There were also allegations of leaked phone conversations between Saleh and Houthis a month after the group took Sanaa in 2014.
In the audio recording, received by Al Jazeera in January 2015, Saleh is heard apparently coordinating military and political moves with Abdul Wahid Abu Ras, a Houthi leader.The audio was reportedly recorded in October.
In 2016, during the revolution's anniversary, Saleh made a rare appearance at large gathering in Sanaa. He attempted to offer an olive branch to the coalition. "We extend a hand of peace, the peace of the brave, for the direct talks with the Saudi regime without a return to the (UN) Security Council, which is incapable of resolving anything," Saleh told the crowd.
That same year, He signed a Houthi appointed political council that allowed them to run thecountry from Sanaa.
http://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/spotlight/yemen/2011/02/201122812118938648.html
20.6.2017 – Saba Net (A K P)
Military options are open to response on aggression countries: Army Spokesman
Army spokesman Brig. Gen. Sharaf Luqman confirmed that all options for the army and popular forces are open to all levels to response to the aggression countries.
He said that the capacity and abilities of the national forces are now much better than before.
http://www.sabanews.net/en/news467375.htm
and
20.6.2017 – Middle East Monitor (A K P)
Yemeni militias warn of attacks deep within Saudi Arabia
The Houthi militias and their allies among the followers of ousted President Ali Abdullah Saleh have warned that they will attack strategic military bases deep within Saudi Arabia that have been used to launch attacks against them in Yemen, Safa news agency reported on Monday.
“The military choices for the army and the popular committees are open for carrying out responses in all fields in response to the crimes of the Saudi-American coalition,” said the spokesman of the militias, Sharaf Ghalib Luqman. “Today, our military capabilities are better than at any time previously. We are reinforcing the new reality on the ground aiming to undermine the movement and attacks of the enemy from all of its strategic military bases inside Saudi Arabia, which are being used to launch military attacks on Yemen.”
https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20170620-yemeni-militias-warn-of-attacks-deep-within-saudi-arabia/
My comment: “Militias”: LOL. Luqman is the spokesman of the regular Yemeni army. This is the greater part of the army which did not follow “president” Hadi but stayed loyal to ex-president Saleh.
19.6.2017 – New News (A K P)
Defense Minister: army and popular committees impose a new operational
Minister of Defense General Mohammad Nasser Al-Atefi said that the army forces with the popular committees have been able to achieve a military equation, which would impose a new operational and combat field for its benefit in all the theaters of future combat operations.
From now on, the leaders of the alliance against Yemen must realize that our comprehensive strategy in confrontation and defense has the full capacity to control existing and potential hostile tactics.
The new military equation allows the armed forces to carry out offensive and qualitative operations against vital combat targets and important and paralyzed the effectiveness and neutralize the bases of the main departure in the strategic depth hostile,the Defense Minister pointed out in the statement.
19.6.2017 – Saba Net (A P)
FM meets Russian acting ambassador, renews Yemen stance for peaceful settlement
http://www.sabanews.net/en/news467302.htm
18.6.2017 – Yemen Updates (A P)
Saleh Muthana Jarban, an officer affiliated to Saleh, enters a clinical death after an assassination attempt by #Houthis in Ibb!
https://twitter.com/yemen_updates/status/876603795505115136
18.6.2017 – Yemen Updates (A P)
#Houthis released Fares Mathkur, a detainee in the Political Security prison in Sana'a for 2yrs, after being paralyzed.
https://twitter.com/yemen_updates/status/876598908352417792
18.6.2017 – Yemen Updates (A P)
A senior #Houthi leader & commander of the Death Brigades, Mohammed al-Bazili, was assassinated yesterday morning in #Sanaa.
https://twitter.com/yemen_updates/status/876601325148143616
18.6.2017 – Yemen Updates (A P)
Mohammad al-Houthi accused 2 other #Houthis' leaders of abducting his son; an official complaint to the prosecutor-general in #Sanaa!
https://twitter.com/yemen_updates/status/876555813128732672
18.6.2017 – Yemen Peace Project (* B P)
PRISON DIARY: THE 64TH DAY
We're pleased to publish this guest post by Dr. Abdulkader Alguneid, a physician and activist from Ta'iz. Dr. Abdulkader was kidnapped from his home by Houthi fighters in August 2015; he was released after 300 days of illegal imprisonment and torture in May 2016.
It was mid-day, and I was in a tight, dim cell with two companions.
The clanging sound of the iron door being unlocked came suddenly and loudly, startling and unnerving us. These doors never opened, day after day and month after month, except for the most unusual, or for taking an inmate out for interrogation or something unpleasant.
We were three: Gamal al-Ma'amary (who was tortured until paralyzed), Moataz al-Sari (A Syrian jailed to blackmail his employer), and me.
The jail commander entered, scowled at me, and ordered me to take my worn-out mattress and blanket and get out.
He had been the commander of this jail since days before the Houthi-Saleh coup.
Beside him, a Houthi agent was watching. With the passage of days, one starts to know who is Houthi and who is not. It is an open secret that they hate each others’ guts. They try to hide it, but sometimes it just surfaces and they explode and show it – by DR. ABDULKADER ALGUNEID
https://www.yemenpeaceproject.org/blog-x/alguneid-the-64th-day
cp6 Südjemen und Hadi-Regierung / Southern Yemen and Hadi-government
20.6.2017 – Nadwa Dawsari (B P)
Hadi's govt in exile is no more than an extension of Saleh's regime. Half of cabinet busy enriching themselves & other half to serve Saleh.
https://twitter.com/Ndawsari/status/877156137157709824
20.6.2017 – New News (A P)
Prevent Aden governor appointed from Saudi Arabia to enter the building
According to information sources belonging to the alliance forces led by Saudi Arabia, a security force responsible for guarding the Aden governorate prevented the so-called Abdul Aziz al-Muflihi, who was appointed by the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia as governor of Aden, from entering the building.
Al-Maflhi arrived at the building with Ahmed Obaid bin Dagher, They prevented them from entering the building and forced them to leave, its worthy to mention ,Al-Muflihi was appointed governor a month ago to replace Aydros al-Zubaidi, who was a supporter of the United Arab Emirates.
19.6.2017 – Medium (* A P)
Failed Promises and Intentional Power Cuts in Aden South Yemen
Residents of the port city of Aden South Yemen take to the streets almost daily to protest against the lack of power supply as temperatures soar to 40 degrees Celsius (104 degrees Fahrenheit).
Despite repeated promises by Prime Minister Ahmed Obaid Bin Dagher that the this summer in Aden will be cold — his government has failed to find any practical solutions aimed at improving the electricity situation to alleviate the suffering of the citizens of Aden.
The commission members were surprised when the managers and engineers at the power plant said that no one had discussed any agreement or consulted with them regarding repairs and maintenance on the station. They also stated that they have sent numerous complaints and requests for repairs to the Ministry of Electricity but requests were ignored the while ministry officials continue to lie to the media that they’re working on a solution.
The commission issued a statement standing with the leadership and employees of the Al-Haswah power station and holds the government of Bin Dagher responsible for the power cuts and all that happens in Aden.
Fast forward to today, one month after the Prime Minister’s Office sent the memo, and almost two years since Aden was liberated from the Iran-backed Houthi and Saleh militia; no repairs have been done on any of the the power stations and even the 60MW generators provided by Qatar and the 100MW and more provided by UAE have not been integrated into the power stations and people of Aden continue to suffer amidst extreme heat and a deadly cholera outbreak.
Residents of Aden use social media to express their discontent with Hadi’s government and accuse Bin Dagher and the Muslim Brotherhood who control Hadi’s government of deliberately using public service such as electricity and water as war tools against the people of Aden and South Yemen as a whole because they fought for and are calling for the independence of South Yemen.
Hundreds have taken to the streets to protest at night using candles and flashlights. They’re not able to protest during the day because of the extreme heat and humidity – by Ahmed Summer
https://medium.com/@samwrax/failed-promises-and-intentional-power-cuts-in-aden-south-yemen-721add21426a and photos look at YPR 312, cp6.
18.6.2017 – Hussam Al-Sanabani (A P)
Aden governor uses flashlight to read his papers. A story of Hadi interim capital which is living in the paradise of the wealthy GCC. (photo)
https://twitter.com/HussamSanabani/status/876544013695897601
19.6.2017 – Mohammed Al Qadhi (A P)
State employees in war-torn #Taiz protest against president #Hadi government, demanding its ouster after failure to pay their salaries for the past 9 months . Portrait pictures for prime minister and other officials were burnt down at the protest. (photos)
https://www.facebook.com/mhalqadhi/posts/10212271785766031 and more pictures: https://twitter.com/Ndawsari/status/876823815883509760 and https://twitter.com/Ndawsari/status/876824010662830080
Comment by Hisham Al-Omeisy: Remember when prime minister of "legitimate" gov't of #Yemen claimed salaries were paid? (Images!)
https://twitter.com/omeisy/status/876864437776506880
Audacity of "legitimate" gov't lying about disbursing salaries to "all state employees" across #Yemen incl those in Houthi controlled areas. (Images!)
https://twitter.com/omeisy/status/876888080627716096
19.6.2017 – Critical Threats (* A P)
Hadramawt Governor Ahmed Bin Brik announced on June 18 that the Transitional Political Council for the South will issue a resolution in fall 2017. The resolution proposes the formation of a confederation in southern Yemen and details its system of governance and regulation. Bin Brik assured supporters that the cancellation of the Council’s scheduled meeting on June 13 will not slow its progress. The Transitional Political Council, a body of southern Yemeni political leaders formed on May 4, seeks to establish a representative governing entity for southern Yemen.[7]
19.6.2017 – Naji Alkaladi, Haykal Bafana (A P)
Former Prime Minister of #Yemen @KhaledBahah will returns again in a big position & as a leader in The Southern Transitional Council , #Soon
https://twitter.com/NajTV/status/876643726449397766
From Saleh to Hadi to Saudi to UAE..... It must be pleasant to live a life with no principles.
https://twitter.com/BaFana3/status/876668811314962432
cp7 UNO und Friedensgespräche / UN and peace talks
19.6.2017 – Humanitarian NGOs (A P)
NGOs welcome UN Security Council statement on Yemen: words must now be turned into action
We the undersigned organisations welcome the action taken by the UN Security Council on 15 June 2017 on the situation in Yemen through its release of a Presidential Statement. This is a critical step towards addressing the ongoing humanitarian crisis, protection of civilians and breaking the deadlock in political negotiations. However, more must be done.
We welcome the Statement’s call for a durable cessation of hostilities, efforts to improve the access, capacity and safety of Yemen's ports, including the vital installation of cranes into Hodeida, and increased access via Sana'a Airport. This long-overdue leadership from the Council will be vital in offering hope to the millions of Yemeni civilians facing the triple horrors of hunger, cholera and violence, and we urge all parties to the conflict to heed the Council's calls to end the violence, improve humanitarian and commercial access, resume the payment of government salaries and re-engage in good faith in peace talks.
However, the Statement falls short of addressing issues that could offer the peace process real political impetus. It does not address the crucial contextual issues, including the worsening economy, a lack of accountability in respect of international humanitarian and human rights law and the ongoing impediments to humanitarian and commercial goods access into and within Yemen, including the closure of Sana'a International Airport and delays at key ports. Furthermore, we note with concern that UNSC members are highlighting this man-made crisis whilst continuing to supply the weapons that fuel the conflict, and reiterate our call for the immediate suspension of all sales of arms that are at risk of being used in the conflict in Yemen.
The Council must now set a clear timeframe for implementation, including convening an additional meeting within one month to assess progress and work to ensure all measures are fully implemented, while continuing its work towards the adoption of a new Security Council Resolution.
The Presidential Statement is a welcome small step towards addressing the worsening man-made humanitarian crisis, which can only be done through a political solution.
My comment: The UNSC statement is siding with the Saudi coalition and the Hadi government. These NGOs are dependent on the UN and the Saudis to do their work; they stay somewhat vague here.
19.6.2017 – Emirati News Agency (* A P)
Yemeni government welcomes UN Security Council statement
The Government of Yemen has welcomed the statement of the United Nations, UN, Security Council, issued on 15th June, 2017, about the conditions in Yemen, despite some misgivings with certain important points in the statement that need to be discussed and clarified.
The official Yemeni news agency, reported a statement from a source in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs stating that the Security Council statement is positive overall, even though it only fulfils the minimum requirements of the current phase of implementing an international resolution to restore peace and security in Yemen, and to end the war that was started by the coup supporters, and reduce the suffering of the Yemeni people.
He added that the Yemeni government was expecting a stronger statement so the coup supporters would not misinterpret it. Therefore, they could not avoid fulfilling their commitments towards the international community, especially after attacking the UN Secretary-General’s Special Envoy, he further added.
He reiterated that the Yemeni government has welcomed the confirmation of the Security Council of three peace initiatives, including the Gulf Initiative and its executive mechanisms, and the outcomes of the National Dialogue Conference and UN-backed resolutions, especially Resolution No. 2216.
http://wam.ae/en/details/1395302619828. Earlier reporting on the UNSC statement in YPR 312, cp7. An abridgement at https://www.criticalthreats.org/briefs/gulf-of-aden-security-review/gulf-of-aden-security-review-june-19-2017
My comment: That’s no wonder as this statement is totally biased.
20.6.2017 – Saba Net (A P)
Foreign Minister sends 3 messages to UNSC
Foreign Minister Hisham Sharaf met with United Nations Resident Coordinator in Sanaa, Jamie McGoldrick.
During the meeting, Sharaf delivered three messages to the United Nations Security Council.
The messages emphasized the sovereign right of the Republic of Yemen to defend and preserve the sovereignty and territorial integrity of its territories.
The messages also stressed that Yemen extends the hand of peace.
http://www.sabanews.net/en/news467376.htm
Remark: Houthi-Saleh government at Sanaa.
19.6.2017 – Ulf Sandmark (* A K P)
The Yemensolidarity delegation from Sweden, Roland, Walid and Ulf, at HCR in Geneva together with Saif and Ebrahim from the Yemen Association in Germany and David from Geneva. There was quite an impact for Yemen at this session of the Human Rights Council! Se report below:
Yemensolidarity hold seminar in Geneva HR Council
The seminar was part of a broader intervention on behalf of Yemen which included three statements (1 min and 30 seconds) to the full HR Council with the representatives of all the member nations listening. The statements were given by Mr. Saif Alwashali, chairman of the Yemeni Association in Germeny speaking for Organization Defending Victims of Violence (a), by Mr. Bahar Kimyonghur speaking for the Human Rights Agency (b), Ms. Yousra Al Kahli, a Yemen HRactivist from Switzerland speaking for the Iraqi Development Organization, European Human Rights Organization and Arabian Rights Watch (ARWA) (c) and French Colonel (ret.) Alain Corvez speaking for the Human Rights Agency. Also Mr. Abdulhameed Dashti, MP from Kuweit, intervened against Saudi Arabia and the Emirates (d).
A spirited demonstration was held June 15th, in the square in front of the UN Palace of Nations with speakers participating from Yemen, Sweden, Germany, France, Switzerland, UK, Iran and Turkey.
(a) http://webtv.un.org/search/item3-general-debate-contd-19th-meeting-35th-regular-session-human-rights-council/5468752920001(presentation as chapter 73)
(b) http://webtv.un.org/watch/item4-general-debate-contd-24th-meeting-35th-regular-session-human-rights-council-/5473892532001(presentation as chapter 61)
(c) http://webtv.un.org/search/item3-general-debate-contd-19th-meeting-35th-regular-session-human-rights-council/5468752920001# (presentation as chapter 6)
(d) http://webtv.un.org/watch/item4-general-debate-contd-24th-meeting-35th-regular-session-human-rights-council-/5473892532001 (presentation as chapter 20)
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=1415744671839977&set=o.881035005273060&type=3
cp8 Saudi-Arabien / Saudi Arabia
19.6.2017 – Jamila Hanan (A P)
Stateless #Rohingya in #Saudi jail, having done nothing other than try to find a country of refuge, ask to be let out this #Ramadan #Eid (image)
https://twitter.com/JamilaHanan/status/876885597570437121
19.6.2017 – Democracy Now (* B P)
Egyptian Writer Omar Robert Hamilton: Saudi's Bankrolling of Egypt Is Tied to Internal Crackdown
We speak with Egyptian filmmaker and writer Omar Robert Hamilton, who says Saudi Arabia’s strategy is to counteract democratic movements in countries surrounding it.
OMAR ROBERT HAMILTON: Yeah. So, Saudi Arabia is one of the main counterrevolutionary—probably the principal counterrevolutionary force in the region. After the Arab Spring began in 2011, when—autocracies began to crumble in the region, and Saudi Arabia has been working very hard to counteract any democratic measures or successes in any countries around it. It’s a huge bankroller of the Sisi regime. About $12 billion in aid poured into the country immediately after the military coup in 2013.
I think that Trump’s visit to Saudi Arabia, the fact that it was his first state visit, and the promise of $100 billion in weapons purchases from the Saudis to the Americans has definitely given a green light to the Saudis. The isolation of Qatar is the clearest and most immediate example of what’s going on.
https://www.democracynow.org/2017/6/19/egyptian_writer_saudi_arabia_bankrolling_authoritarian
18.6.2017 – The Guardian (* B P)
Ten years in jail and 1,000 lashes: why we must defend Saudi blogger Raif Badawi
The theocratic and repressive regime in Riyadh has no regard for the western values and human rights we hold dear
The Badawi case is illuminating about the nature of the Saudi regime and the ideas that it understands as an existential threat. These include Badawi’s brisk dismissal of the role of Islam in public life: “No religion at all has any connection to mankind’s civic progress … the codes governing the administration of the state can hardly be derived from religion.” Such ideas are obviously incompatible with the practice of theocracy. And perhaps they are so strange to the Saudi authorities that they can’t be taken seriously – after all, those convicted of “sorcery” in the kingdom are beheaded, whereas Badawi may survive his sentence, given enough attention and support from the outside world.
There isn’t a clean or simple answer to the appalling horrors of the Middle East. If the Saudi theocracy falls, as it eventually must, what comes after won’t be a tranquil, secular democracy. Nonetheless, we owe it to Badawi to support and honour his courage with as little self-righteousness as we can possibly manage. At its root, the idea of human rights means that there are some things that it is wrong to do to any human being, and the punishment to which he was unjustly sentenced is one of them – by Andrew Brown
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2017/jun/18/raif-badawi-saudi-arabia-blogger
cp9 USA
Siehe / Look at cp1
19.6.2017 – The Guardian (* B K P)
America will regret helping Saudi Arabia bomb Yemen
Selling weapons to Saudi Arabia has consequences. The intense anti-US sentiment in Yemen should be a wake-up call for Americans
“USA Kills Yemeni People”, screams graffiti plastered on walls in Yemen’s capital Sana’a. The Yemeni people who have been on the receiving end of US bombs dropped by Saudi pilots know all too well that the United States is complicit in their suffering.
The intense anti-US sentiment in Yemen should be a wake-up call for Americans: if you don’t care about the millions of suffering Yemenis, you might think about the future blowback.
People in the region understand that until there is a serious US interest in a political solution, it won’t happen. Even if Trump is only interested in “putting America first”, he would do well to stop being involved in dropping bombs on Yemenis and instead use his “art of the deal” to join with the United Nations in ending this catastrophic conflict – by Medea Benjamin
19.6.2017 – The Intercept (A P)
JOE MANCHIN WAS ONE OF FIVE DEMOCRATS WHO SAVED SAUDI ARMS SALES. HIS PRIMARY OPPONENT IS FURIOUS.
A SENATE RESOLUTION disapproving of a portion of arms sales to Saudi Arabia — which has been waging a long, bloody war in Yemen that has sparked multiple humanitarian crises — narrowly failed along a 47-53 vote on Tuesday. Five Democrats voted against the measure, ensuring that it did not pass.
One of those Democrats was Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., who is facing a challenge from environmental activist Paula Jean Swearengin in next year’s primary. In an interview with The Intercept, Swearengin reacted harshly to Manchin’s vote in favor of the arms sale — which provides equipment necessary to conduct airstrikes in Yemen — and even suggested the conservative West Virginia Democrat is a Trump ally.
“I’m not surprised because of his history of voting in favor of President Trump, like a Republican,” Swearengin said.
She then went on a tear suggesting that the weapons would end up in terrorist hands rather than focusing on how the arms could be used in the war against Yemen. “Sen. Manchin voting against the provision to stop the sale. That tells me that Sen. Manchin supports giving weapons to a country that is known for harboring terrorists,” Swearengin said. “The weapons could possibly end up in the hands of terrorists.” – by Zaid Jilani
https://theintercept.com/2017/06/19/joe-manchin-saudi-arabia-arms-primary-swearengin/
27.3.2017 – Council on Foreign Relations (* B K P)
Obama’s Worst Foreign Policy Decision, Two Years Later
You probably missed it, but Saturday was the second anniversary of President Barack Obama’s worst and most indefensible foreign policy decision. Late on the evening of March 25, 2015, the White House posted a statement from National Security Council spokesperson Bernadette Meehan on its website: “President Obama has authorized the provision of logistical and intelligence support to GCC [Gulf Cooperation Council]-led military operations. While U.S. forces are not taking direct military action in Yemen in support of this effort, we are establishing a Joint Planning Cell with Saudi Arabia to coordinate U.S. military and intelligence support.”
With only that quiet statement—and absent a single congressional hearing or any public debate—the United States became a co-combatant in yet another open-ended war of choice in the Middle East. My latest column in Foreign Policy recognizes the two years of U.S. support for the Saudi Arabia-led intervention in Yemen – by Micah Zenko
https://www.cfr.org/blog/obamas-worst-foreign-policy-decision-two-years-later
cp11 Deutschland / Germany
18.6.2017 – Andreas Kindl, German ambassador to Yemen (* B P)
My last days as German Ambassador to Yemen, my successor is designated. The last two years have not been a good time for the Yemenis (1/9)
https://twitter.com/AmbSanaa/status/876545301770842112
Conflict in #Yemen always was and still is ONLY politically solvable. Those who believe in military solution: step aside! And quickly! (2/9)
https://twitter.com/AmbSanaa/status/876545339318292481
Broad agreement that there have been massive violations of IHL/IL on all sides. Independent International Inquiry is morally necessary (3/9)
https://twitter.com/AmbSanaa/status/876545380984467456
Biggest global humanitarian disaster is man-made! Politicizing aid, strangulating access, destroying health infrastructure appalling (4/9)
https://twitter.com/AmbSanaa/status/876545412747886592
Current situation not explicable but by lack of responsible leadership. #Yemen'i people deserve better. Hope for new generation (5/9)
https://twitter.com/AmbSanaa/status/876545450438012929
International Community needs 'lessons learned': 'friends' architecture not helpful to UN, absence from #Yemen undercuts diplomacy (6/9)
https://twitter.com/AmbSanaa/status/876545490103521281
Comments by Hisham Al-Omeisy: Saddened by news @AmbSanaa reassigned after finishing #Yemen post. Wise, caring, and respected, wish other diplos were half the man he is.
https://twitter.com/omeisy/status/876485151794106368
Thank you for everything @AmbSanaa. You won hearts & minds in #Yemen and will always be fondly remembered for wisdom, candor, and fairness.
https://twitter.com/omeisy/status/876485912405962752
Comment by Jane Novak: Agree! @AmbSanaa's independent intellect & concern for the average Yemeni reflects well on Germany & is an example for the diplo corps
https://twitter.com/JNovak_Yemen/status/876490884887564289
cp12a Katar-Krise / Qatar crisis
19.6.2017 – The Conversation (* A P)
Qatar’s conflict with its neighbours can easily set the Horn of Africa alight
When Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Egypt, Bahrain, Yemen and the Maldives declared at the beginning of June that they were severing diplomatic relations with Qatar it appeared to be of interest mainly to the Arabian Peninsula – and the Gulf in particular.
But the countries just across the Red Sea have found themselves dragged into the dispute. After prevaricating for some time, Eritrea, which had hitherto good relations with Qatar, fell into line with the Saudis and broke ties with Qatar – by Martin Plaut
19.6.2017 – Yeni Safak (A P)
UAE's Gargash says Qatar isolation could last for year
http://www.yenisafak.com/en/news/uaes-gargash-says-qatar-isolation-could-last-for-year-2727022
19.6.2017 – Hussam Al-Sanabani (A P)
Qatar asks Yemeni embassy staff to leave Doha within 48 hours. Lol, Saudi should quickly arrange hotel booking for the Yemeni Embassy staff
https://twitter.com/HussamSanabani/status/876913300138737664
The Yemeni Embassy in Doha invites Yemeni expatriates to finalize any pending documents at the embassy within the next 48 hours.
https://twitter.com/HussamSanabani/status/876985022942720000
19.6.2017 – Press TV Iran (A P)
Saudi-Turkish relations deteriorate over Qatar
http://www.presstv.ir/Detail/2017/06/19/525767/Saudi-Turkish-relations-strained-Qatar
19.6.2017 – Press TV Iran (A P)
No negotiations possible unless embargos on Doha reversed: Qatar
http://www.presstv.ir/Detail/2017/06/19/525855/Qatar-Saudi-Arabia
19.6.2017 – Reuters (* B P)
New assertive generation of Gulf leaders at heart of Qatar rift
Like Yemen adventure, Qatar dispute linked to young leaders
Muscular policy breaks from traditional caution and consensus
Two weeks on, sanctions remain despite mediation efforts
While the dispute could end up costing Qatar dearly, it also has implications for the Saudis and Emiratis whose activism, critics say, is fuelling uncertainty in an already unstable neighbourhood and could even push the region towards all-out conflict with arch-enemy Iran – By Stephen Kalin and William Maclean
http://www.reuters.com/article/us-gulf-qatar-rift-idUSKBN19A1KN = http://af.reuters.com/article/egyptNews/idAFL8N1JC419
18.6.2017 – SCMP (A P)
How the Qatar crisis could turn into a disaster for Beijing
Staying engaged in the Middle East is in China’s long-term economic interests, but competing with the US for influence may be a slippery slope towards picking sides in potential armed conflicts
http://www.scmp.com/week-asia/opinion/article/2098337/how-qatar-crisis-could-turn-disaster-beijing
18.6.2017 – Wallstreet Journal (* A P)
Qatar Responds to U.A.E., Saudi Charges
Emiratis, not Qataris, were among the hijackers who flew planes into the Twin Towers.
https://www.wsj.com/articles/qatar-responds-to-u-a-e-saudi-charges-1497806593
Comment: Qatar's response to the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia.
Nothing new just one fact to singe out: financing coups, sponsoring terrorists, siding with the dark side of history is a common trait of many. Not only Qatar's.
https://www.facebook.com/LivingInYemenOnTheEdge/posts/1407590269293999
16.6.2017 – Stratfor (A P)
Turkey Marches Ahead With Its Military Plans in Qatar
https://worldview.stratfor.com/article/turkey-marches-ahead-its-military-plans-qatar
9.6.2017 – The Real News (* B P)
How Far Will US & Saudis Go to Remake the Middle East?
Junaid Ahmad of the Center for Global Dialogue says the U.S.-backed Gulf campaign against Qatar is part of a broader strategy to crush the remnants of the Arab Spring and spark a confrontation with Iran
http://therealnews.com/t2/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=31&Itemid=74&jumival=19287
cp13a Waffenhandel / Arms trade
19.6.2017 – Antonov Company (A K P)
Demo flights #An132D on #PAS17 will be at 15:55, Paris time. Also waiting for everyone at our stand A54 in hall 6. #Ukraine #KSA #Antonov
https://twitter.com/AntonovCompany/status/876750377164648448
and
19.6.2017 – MbKS15 (A K P)
#RSAF delegation headed by the Cmdr of Prince Sultan AFB visited #An132D aircraft at #PAS17 (Photos)
https://twitter.com/MbKS15/status/876859581376471042
My comment: Saudi-Ukrainian joint venture.
cp13b Mercenaries / Söldner
18.6.2017 – Living in Yemen on the edge (A K P)
A voice from #Sudan
''The era of deception has ended. Bring our sons back from #Yemen immediately
I address President Omar Hassan Ahmed al-Bashir to leave the deception and abandon the false slogan that the Sudanese army introduced in the Saudi war against Yemen, where he announced that he participated in the defense of the two Holy Mosques. It has now become clear that the Al Saud has nothing to do with the two, "We are now calling upon you, Mr. President, to show courage and immediately announce the withdrawal of the Sudanese army from Yemen and the apology of the Yemeni people for what our armed forces have done in a war that has exceeded 800 days."
https://www.facebook.com/LivingInYemenOnTheEdge/posts/1406894789363547
cp13c Flüchtlinge / Refugees
19.6.2017 – Reuters (A H)
Khawla (R), 20, from Yemen shows her German birth certificate at the Souda refugee camp in Chios Island, Greece, June 10, 2017. Khawla was born in Germany and lived there until the age of 11 when the family moved back to Yemen. The family applied for reunification, but while some of the family were successful Khawla and her sister Halima were not accepted. "In spite of my birth certificate proving that I was born in Germany, I was not accepted. It is depressing. We don’t know what to do," she said. "Going back to Yemen alone is impossible because of the war, and in our culture unmarried girls cannot live far from their parents. Here in Europe, they may not understand our traditions." she added. REUTERS/Zohra Bensemra (photo)
http://pictures.reuters.com/archive/REFUGEE-DAY-GREECE-WOMEN-RC17DA3430E0.html
18.6.2017 – I care for you (A H)
Film: ICFY-Projekt: Junge Familie aus dem Jemen
Die junge Flüchtlingsfamilie Alyafei aus dem Jemen soll in Selzach (SO) ihre eigenen vier Wände haben. Sie wohnen in einer Wohnung vom Sozialdienst / Kanton und sollen die eigentlich mit einer anderen Flüchtlingsfamilie teilen - dies ist aber eine Belastung und eine Nachbarin hilft jetzt mit einem Crowdfunding-Projekt, sodass die Familie alleine in der Wohnung bleiben kann. Hier mithelfen: http://icfy.ch/Sicheres-Zuhause
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=036yYieA9MU
15.6.2017 – UN High Commissioner for Refugees (A H)
Yemen UNHCR Flash Update, 9 - 15 June 2017
KEY FIGURES
18.8 million people in need
1,988,946 Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs)
81 Percentage of IDPs displaced for more than a year
900,258 IDP returnees
860,061 recipients of NFIs since March 2015
280,096 refugees and asylum seekers
21,698 new arrivals to Yemeni coast since 1 January 2017
FUNDING
USD 114.6 million requested for IDPs and refugees in Yemen for 2017
OPERATIONAL UPDATE
As conflict continues on all frontlines, UNHCR teams across the country worked to respond to meet the needs of the most vulnerable internally displaced persons (IDPs), IDP returnees and refugees. With five operational hubs, including Sana’a, Sa’ada, Hudaydah, Ibb and Aden, UNHCR has the capacity to reach those most in need with lifesaving assistance; even in some of the hardest to reach areas when access permits.
However funding remains a key challenge, with just 28% of the operation funded half way through the year. UNHCR is calling on donors to ensure that the situation in Yemen does not become an abandoned crisis.
http://reliefweb.int/report/yemen/yemen-unhcr-flash-update-9-15-june-2017 and in full http://reliefweb.int/sites/reliefweb.int/files/resources/Flash%20Update%20Yemen%20Situation%2015%20June%202017%20%28Final%29.pdf
31.5.2017 – UN High Commissioner for Refugees (* A H)
UNHCR Somalia: Response to Yemen situation 1 - 31 May 2017
504 new arrivals from Yemen
3,661 individuals provided with health care assistance
193 core relief items distributed to 188 households (350 individuals)
5,074 individuals provided with cash grants
955 beneficiaries enrolled in community-based projects
http://reliefweb.int/report/somalia/unhcr-somalia-response-yemen-situation-1-31-may-2017 and in full: http://reliefweb.int/sites/reliefweb.int/files/resources/57800.pdf
cp14 Terrorismus / Terrorism
19.6.2017 – Critical Threats (* A T)
Yemen Security Brief
AQAP and the Islamic State of Iraq and al Sham’s (ISIS) Wilayat al Bayda claimed attacks in al Bayda governorate, central Yemen. AQAP militants killed one al Houthi-Saleh fighter in a village near Hammat Sarar, northwestern al Bayda governorate on June 16 and eight al Houthi-Saleh forces in al Taffa area, central al Bayda governorate on June 17. ISISmilitants and tribal militiamen attacked al Houthi-Saleh forces in Laqah village, northwestern al Bayda governorate on June 18. ISIS claimed that the attack lasted 10 hours and killed 15 al Houthi-Saleh fighters. Wilayat al Bayda previously claimed to seize Laqah village on February 24. ISIS, AQAP, and local militias cooperate on a tactical level against al Houthi-Saleh forces in central Yemen.[5]
19.6.2017 – Critical Threats (A P)
AQAP senior spokesman Khaled Batarfi released two videos as part of his series “Stories of the Prophets” on June 16 and June 17. The second episode of the series, “The Power of Faith,” focused on the strength of belief. The intended audience for this series is Yemen’s Sunni tribes. AQAP seeks to present its ideology as more palatable to the Yemeni population than ISIS’s ideology.[6]
cp15 Propaganda
20.6.2017 – Al Arabiya (A P)
Our war is on terrorism, not on Qatar
We are not at war with Qatar but at war with terrorism. This message must be the slogan of the countries, which boycotted Qatar. “The frontline of the war on terror” is a phrase that must always be used to remind of the major aim which Qatar is trying to divert people’s attention from by coming up with other headlines such as siege, starvation, subjugation and others.
The second plan is “to internationalize our goals” and not just limit them to our local front.
This is a strategic orientation that requires different activity that’s directed to the international public opinion and not just to the decision makers.
Unfortunately, Qatar insists to bury its head in the sand as it thinks the time it will gain will be in its favor. However, Qatar does not have a winning card and its only bet is to try and gain time. Its only hope to survive is to disintegrate “the front of the war on terror” locally and internationally and divert the world’s attention from our goal which is war on terror and make everyone think that there is a war against its people and economy.
It is inspired by the Israeli model as it internationally markets the crisis by claiming it is a moderately religious country that’s surrounded by extremist religious countries. It is marketing itself as a small state that is surrounded by big countries and as an oasis for safety among countries suffering from unrest. It wants the world to think that it was targeted for these reasons to divert attention from what is really happening.
My comment: LOL. Saudi propaganda. Throwing stones while sitting in a glass house – Saudi Arabia is one of world’s main terrorism sponsors.
20.6.2017 – Asharq Al-Awsat (A P)
Popular Anger in Yemen over Houthi Attempts to Recruit Youth for Combat
There has been increasing popular anger in Yemen over attempts by the Houthi and Saleh militias to forcefully recruit youths and children to fight among their ranks.
In the province of the militia-held region of al-Mahwit, the militants have upped their violations by forcing children to join their fighters, especially on the volatile Taiz front, local sources told Asharq Al-Awsat.
They spoke of the death of a Houthi commander, known as Abou Mortada, who had arrived in al-Mahwit city from Saada to assume control of the security belt in there.
He was killed along with Abduallah al-Nazili, a director in the investigations office, after the militias sought to recruit members of al-Nazili family, prompting an armed clash.
This led to a backlash by the Houthis, whose militants harassed people on the street and began kidnapping civilians.
Governor of al-Mahwit, Dr. Saleh Hassan Samei, called for supporting the al-Nazilis in the city against the Houthi “barbarism” and “violations.”
The human rights agency in al-Mahwit region had in its latest report said that the Houthi and Saleh militias had committed 451 violations against civilians in May.
My comment: The same propaganda subject again and again. The Houthis and all other sides in this war are recruiting children, detaining people and violating Human Rights. The Saudis by their air raids by far the most.
19.6.2017 – Asharq Al-Awsat (A P)
Yemen’s Ministry of Health: Insurgents Hinder Training of Medical Teams
The Ministry of Health in Yemen is focusing on environmental sanitation to eradicate cholera, spokesman Mohammed al-Saadi told Asharq Al-Awsat.
He however noted the collapse of the coup-controlled areas due to the lack of proper sanitation and the accumulation of waste.
Saadi added that epidemic monitoring teams are unable to operate in areas under the control of the Houthis, explaining that technical training for workers needs time, while experience is limited in this field.
He complained of the militias’ obstruction of their work, revealing that doctors in the areas of control of the coup have not been allowed to go to Aden to join the workshops organized by the Yemeni Ministry of Health.
Houthis are making threats to the medical staff who want to go to Aden or cooperate with the legitimate government.
My comment: An obvious propaganda article, written after Saudi coalition air raids had destroyed 368 water tanks and networks and “president” Hadi’s Central Bank policy had caused a break of city cleaners’ payment for 9 months now. And the Sanaa government of course has its own Ministry of Health and its institutions. And there is no “legitimate government” at Aden anyway.
19.6.2017 – Critical Threats (A P)
Yemen Security Brief
Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General Joseph Dunford condemned Iran for supplying “advanced anti-ship cruise missiles” to al Houthi Salah forces on Yemen’s western coast on June 16. He highlighted the threat that al Houthi-Saleh forces pose to freedom of navigation in the Bab al Mandab Strait. Al Houthi-Saleh forces attacked an Emirati ship near the coast of Taiz, western Yemen, on June 14.[4]
My comment: That is repeated again and agin, but it is odd propaganda. The main threat for shipment in the Bab al Mandab is war in general, with the Saudi coalition attacking the Yemeni coastline by air raids and by shelling war ships, and by attacking civilian fisher and refugee boats by air raids.
18.6.2017 – Al Sahwa (A P)
Hundreds of children used in Yemen war
The figure of children who were killed during their involvement in the battle amounted to 424 and 16 others were paralyzed ,the head of the monitoring and documentation unit of the Yemeni Alliance for Monitoring Claims of Human Rights Violations Riyadh al-Duba'e has revealed.
In a symposium held by the alliance in the Human Rights Council in Geneva, al-Duba'e pointed out that children are recruited form tribal and poor areas, pointing out that the Houthi-Saleh militias use them in military camps, checkpoints and others.
https://www.alsahwa-yemen.net/en/p-7875
My comment: As all parties of the war do so, this here must be labeled as propaganda.
18.6.2017 – Al Arabiya (A P)
Yemen: Militias detain more than 600 relief ships and convoys
The head of the Higher Relief Committee Abdul Raqib accused militias of obstructing, detaining and looting more than 63 aid ships from the Gulf Cooperation Council states in the ports of Al-Hudaydah and Al-Salif.
He pointed out in a statement to ‘SABA’ agency that the militias detained and looted 550 more relief convoys at the entrances of the provinces under their control, which contributed to the deterioration of the humanitarian situation.
https://english.alarabiya.net/en/News/gulf/2017/06/18/Yemen-Militias-detain-more-than-600-relief-ships-and-convoys.html and also https://english.aawsat.com/theaawsat/news-middle-east/yemeni-official-says-houthi-militias-seized-63-aid-vessels
My comment: Odd propaganda. All parties in the Yemen war and many local tribes detain humanitarian aid. In many cases, after negotiations and / or some payments the convoys can continue. – Propaganda like this one here serve to underline the Saudi claim that the Houthis (or, to be more precise, the Sanaa government) should be forced to leave Hodeida city and harbour.
18.6.2017 – Gulf News (A P)
‘Al Houthis responsible for bulk of civilian deaths in Yemen’
At least 18,734 people have been arbitrarily arrested by Al Houthi rebels since the conflict began in 2014
The internationally-recognised government of Yemen has said that 11,251 people including 1,080 children and 684 women have been killed in more than two years of conflict that started after an Iran-backed Al Houthi movement coup which ousted Yemen’s legitimate president Abd Rabbo Mansour Hadi in 2014.
The state-run Saba news agency quoted the minister of human rights, Mohammad Mohsen Askar, as saying that the rebels are to be blamed for most of the deaths as they continually shell densely populated areas in Taiz and other cities and prevented vital humanitarian aid from reaching people.
The figures released by the Yemeni government are close to those released by the United Nations that put death toll at more than 10,000.
Highlighting human right violations committed by Al Houthis, Askar said that at least 500 civilians have been killed since the beginning of this year and his ministry has recorded the death of eight journalists and a death verdict against a Yemeni journalist in Al Houthi-held Sana’a.
In the past 20 days, Al Houthis are said to have killed 62 civilians in Taiz, including eight women and 14 children, Al Askar said.
My comment. This is odd propaganda. Even according to (quite conservative) estimates of the UN 60 % of all killed civilians in Yemen are victims of the Saudi coalition air raids. I would estimate even more, take 2/3 of all. 1/3 (33 %) is due to all parties fighting on the ground. Taking into account Houthi-Saleh shelling at Aden in 2015 and at Taiz they must be taken responsible for more than the other side. Let’s take 20 % : 13 %. Well, 20 % is definitely much less than 80 %. But that’s propaganda.
And if you also would take into account those who died because of blockade of supply of food and medical aid, because of the consequences of bombed health facilities (and those killed by the consequences of the war and all the destructions by far outnumber those who were killed by military violence) then the percentage of those killed by the saudi coalition side by far will outnumber even 90 %.
18.6.2017 – Fox News (A P)
Former Italian Foreign Minister: It's time for Europe to align itself with the US in standing up to Iran
President Donald Trump is, rightly, developing an assertive policy toward the Islamic Republic.
The modest limits imposed on the Iranian nuclear program will be worthless if the Islamic Republic emerges from the nuclear agreement with improved delivery systems which - being capable of reaching the whole of Europe - would constitute an immediate threat for European security and peace – by Giulio Terzi
My comment: An odd anti-Iranian propaganda article by a European politician. This is just mongering conflict or even more.
cp16 Saudische Luftangriffe / Saudi air raids
Eingebetteter Medieninhalt20.6.2017 – Legal Center (* A K PH)
The Violations and Crimes that are committed by #Saudi_Arabia and its alliance in #Yemen 19 June 2017 (full list)
Eingebetteter Medieninhalt19.6.2017 – Legal Center (* A K PH)
The Violations and Crimes that are committed by #Saudi_Arabia and its alliance in #Yemen 18 June 2017 (full list)
Eingebetteter Medieninhalt18.6.2017 – Legal Center (* A K PH)
The Violations and Crimes that are committed by #Saudi_Arabia and its alliance in #Yemen 17 June 2017 (full list)
20.6.2017 – Saba Net (A K PH)
US-Saudi aggression destroys mosque in Serwah
The US-Saudi aggression warplanes destroyed on Monday a mosque in Serwah district in Mareb province.
A local official told Saba that the US-Saudi aggression hit the mosque with an air raid, destroying it completely.
In addition, the hostile warplanes waged an air raid on Souk Serwah, causing huge damage to trade shops.
http://www.sabanews.net/en/news467368.htm
and
20.6.2017 – Tasnim News (* A K PH)
Saudi Jets Destroy Yemeni Mosque in Ramadan
Saudi warplanes pounded a mosque in Yemen's central Ma'rib province, killing all worshippers inside.
On Monday, Saudi jets bombed a mosque in the district of Serwah in Ma’rib and completely destroyed it in the fasting month of Ramadan, Yemen’s Saba news agency reported.
A large number of people were killed in the raid.
In addition, the kingdom’s warplanes targeted Souk Serwah market, causing huge damage to several shops there.
https://www.tasnimnews.com/en/news/2017/06/20/1442080/saudi-jets-destroy-yemeni-mosque-in-ramadan
19.6.2017 – Sanaa in the morning (A K)
Now in the capital Sanaa Intense Saudi jets flying over the sky of the city looking for new war crimes to be committed against #Yemen-is
https://twitter.com/Fatikr/status/876684245305090048
0915 hrs, #Yemen capital Sanaa : #Saudi jets roaring low over residential areas like a gay Wahhabi imam wearing pink lace G-string panties.
https://twitter.com/BaFana3/status/876685193326858240
18.–19.6.2017 – Sanaa at night (A K)
Sana'a under airstrikes at this very minute and while we're breaking fast. Saudi pilots definitely not Muslim nor human.
https://twitter.com/omeisy/status/876465408387272704
20.6.2017 – Almasdar Online (A K PS)
Civilian casualties in Coalition airstrike targeted fruit warehouse west of Saada – residents
The aircrafts of the Saudi-led Arab Coalition launched an airstrike on a warehouse containing fruit-storage refrigerators in Saada city, the stronghold of the Houthi group in northern Yemen, local residents and witnesses said on Monday.
Residents said the airstrike had killed civilian people whom were in the Jayash fruit market west of Saada city, and that a huge fire broke out in the refrigerators, but no specific figure for the casualties was reported.
They pointed out that this is the third time that the coalition aircrafts bomb the warehouse, since the outbreak of the Arab Coalition military operations against the Houthis and Saleh's forces on March 26, 2015.
A source in Saada city said that aircrafts continuously bombard fruit refrigerators, which are reportedly used by the Houthis to transport and store weapons and missiles, saying they are fruit.
http://almasdaronline.com/article/92134
My comment: That really makes sense: Transporting arms in refrigerators, and all this on a fruit market. Odd propaganda at its best.
18.–19.6.2017 – Saada at night (A K)
#Saada city is under heavy bombardment now by #Saudi jets
https://twitter.com/AhmadAlgohbary/status/876605025228922880
Exclusive photos of #Saudi attack on a shop in #Saada city #Yemen Reports of casualties #Saada is under hill right now
https://twitter.com/AhmadAlgohbary/status/876612616298397697
18.–19.6.2017 – Dhamar at night (A K)
#Saudi jets are over my city Dhamar now #Yemen God save us ,they want more blood and more deaths.
https://twitter.com/AhmadAlgohbary/status/876567690000957443
Today at 01:40 am, Saudi jets bombed the Electric cell for water wells, causing a water pumping cessation in Dhamar governorate
https://twitter.com/HussamSanabani/status/876610732535803908
It is clear that Saudi is seeking to double human suffering and acceleratting the spread epidemics in #Yemen
https://twitter.com/HussamSanabani/status/876613500256350209
Is this part of the "enhanced" rules of engagement conditioning the new #Saudi arms sales for targeted missiles?
https://twitter.com/sarahleah1/status/876625276322672640
18.–19.6.2017 – Harad at night (A K)
6 hours ago,Harad was bombard by 22 #Saudi strikes #Yemen
https://twitter.com/AhmadAlgohbary/status/876565643012829185
19.6.2017 – Almasdar Online (A K PS)
Coalition aircrafts bomb Saleh forces’ camp southern the capital Sana’a – residents
http://almasdaronline.com/article/92104
18.6.2017 – James (A K)
Photos of the Saudi war crime striking a house in Haissi Salem village in Mocha #Yemen killing a child, wounding 3 children. June 14 2017
https://twitter.com/JustLames123/status/876556085649432577
cp17 Kriegsereignisse / Theater of War
19.6.2017 – Almasdar Online (A K PS)
Houthis-Saleh militants kill two women in Taiz
Two women were killed on Sunday evening by gunfire and artillery shelling of the Houthis-Saleh militants in Taiz city, southwestern Yemen.
A medical source told Almasdaronline that Maysaa al-Baziji was killed in an artillery shelling launched by the Houthis on the Al Gumhori neighborhood from their positions in the eastern region.
“Another woman, Alhan Ahmed, was also killed by a Houthi sniper in Ghorab region, in the western entrance to Taiz city.” ( (photo)
http://almasdaronline.com/article/92132
19.6.2017 – Mohammed Al Qadhi (A K)
Photos: Damage left by fighting at alaskari zone , east of #Taiz city, #Yemen
https://twitter.com/mohammedalqadhi/status/876941404525793280
https://twitter.com/mohammedalqadhi/status/876941845372309505
18.6.2017 – Mohammed Al Qadhi (A K)
Film: Serious damage left by ongoing battles , east of #Taiz
https://twitter.com/mohammedalqadhi/status/876492224619532288
Pro-Houthi / Pro-Saleh reports, films:
https://www.tasnimnews.com/en/news/2017/06/20/1441681/yemeni-forces-pound-saudi-positions-in-jizan
https://twitter.com/5XBFg6s9setfqwR/status/876565261255663616 (killed Sudanese soldiers in Midi)
Pro Saudi / Pro Hadi reports:
http://almasdaronline.com/article/92135
http://almasdaronline.com/article/92099
http://almasdaronline.com/article/92102
cp18 Sonstiges / Other
18.6.2017 – UNICEF (A)
Drawing hope from adversity in Yemen
An Art workshop and exhibition has offered a priceless outlet for children coping with conflict in Yemen.
"My objective is to add beauty to what has been done by the creativity of mankind through the ages, and deliver my message in spreading peace and freedom". Such are the noble ambitions of Yemeni artist, Ghada Hadad, who is helping curate a children's art workshop and exhibition in Sana'a, Yemen.
Designed in collaboration between UNICEF and a group of nationally-renowned artists, the workshops encourage children to express themselves through art. 125 children have now taken part in the workshops, and their work proudly hangs in the exhibition space alongside works of more established artists in an exhibition in Sana'a.
The exhibition focuses on the themes of 'Hope' and 'Peace', with 11 nationally-renowned artists asked to create a new piece of art especially for the exhibition showing what these ideas mean to them. The artists came from all across Yemen, including Sana'a, Taizz, Hodeidah, Dhamar, Radaa and Aden.
Many of the children involved in the workshops have witnessed the shocking results of conflict through airstrikes and ground fighting. In many instances it becomes difficult to come to terms with what they have witnessed, and the risk of such distress affecting them long-term is almost unavoidable.
The exhibition provided a rare opportunity for the young painters to express themselves, and many felt a great sense of achievement. Another of the young artists, Hathim, said, "I was able to draw my feelings. My emotions were drawing, not my hands. I felt that I was a real artist and people were coming to see my drawing. I felt I had achieved something." – By Eman Al-Sharafi and Peter Tubman (photos)
https://www.unicef.org/yemen/reallives_12035.html
Vorige / Previous:
https://www.freitag.de/autoren/dklose/jemenkrieg-mosaik-312-yemen-war-mosaic-312
Jemenkrieg-Mosaik 1-312 / Yemen War Mosaic 1-312:
https://www.freitag.de/autoren/dklose oder / or
http://poorworld.net/YemenWar.htm
Der saudische Luftkrieg im Bild / Saudi aerial war images:
(18 +, Nichts für Sensible!) / (18 +; Graphic!)
http://poorworld.net/YemenWar.htm und / and http://yemenwarcrimes.blogspot.de/
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