Schwerpunkte / Key aspects
Klassifizierung / Classification
Zuerst: Verschleppte der Huthis / At first: Houthi detainees
cp1 Am wichtigsten: Allgemein / Most important: General
cp1a Am wichtigsten: Seuchen / Most important: Epidemics
cp1b Nikki Haleys Raketenshow / Nikki Haley’s missile show
cp1c Am wichtigsten: Vormarsch der Saudi-Koalition / Most important: Advance of Saudi coalition
cp2 Allgemein / General
cp2a Allgemein: Saudische Blockade / General: Saudi blockade
cp3 Humanitäre Lage / Humanitarian situation
cp4 Flüchtlinge / Refugees
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
cp10 Großbritannien / Great Britain
cp11 Deutschland / Germany
cp12 Andere Länder / Other countries
cp12b Libanon / Lebanon
cp13 Waffenhandel / Arms Trade
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
Zuerst: Verschleppte der Huthis / At first: Houthi detainees
(* A P)
New prisoner dies of torture in Houthi jails
Another prisoner in the jails of the Houthi militia has died of torture, local sources in the northern province of Amran said.
The armed rebel militia has been holding incommunicado Abdulghani Jahlan from Amran and torturing him for seven months until he died (on Saturday), his relatives told the press.
Jahlan, 40, is a soldier whom the militia arrested during their expansions in north Yemen and takeover of Amran in 2014.
https://www.alsahwa-yemen.net/en/p-13716
(* A P)
RSF relieved by announced release of 41 journalists
Reporters Without Borders (RSF) is relieved by the reported release of the 41 journalists and employees of the Al Yemen Al Youm TV channel who had been held by Houthi rebels in Sanaa since 2 December.
They were freed yesterday evening in still unclear circumstances. According to the Houthi-controlled Yemeni news agency, Supreme Political Council president Saleh Al Sammad issued the release order in consultation with the Houthi rebel government's information minister.
https://rsf.org/en/news/rsf-relieved-announced-release-41-journalists
Remark: Earlier reporting: YPR 367.
cp1 Am wichtigsten / Most important
(** B K P)
Todenhöfer: "Die schlimmste Hungersnot der letzten hundert Jahre"
Jürgen Todenhöfer im Gespräch mit Christine Heuer
Das stärkste Bild, was einen sehr bedrückt - ich bin immer wieder in Krankenhäusern -, sind vor Hunger sterbende Kleinkinder. Wenn dann der Arzt sagt, wenn ich frage und die Mutter fragt, hat er eine Chance, und der Arzt mir dann sagt, vielleicht 30 Prozent.
Also der Hunger ist dominierend, und für einen persönlich - das ist natürlich zweitrangig - sind es die nächtlichen Bombenangriffe, die fast jede Nacht kommen und die einen aufwecken und die anderen wieder damit konfrontieren.
Alles, was ich Ihnen sage, wird widersprüchlich klingen, weil es ein Krieg voller Widersprüche ist. Mir haben Jemeniten gesagt, wer Ihnen erzählt, dass er diesen Konflikt total versteht, sagt Ihnen nicht die Wahrheit. Der Konflikt ist sehr kompliziert, und zu den komplizierten Auswirkungen gehört auch, dass das Alltagsleben, das Leben in den Basaren, auf den Straßen völlig normal zu sein scheint, abgesehen von den bettelnden Menschen, abgesehen vom Hunger.
Es gibt eine überraschende Normalität, weil die Leute ja gar keine Wahl haben.
Die Stadt ist völlig unter Kontrolle der Huthis, es gibt kaum militärische Präsenz, weil sie nicht mehr nötig ist, und es hat sich dann als ein Sieg der Huthis herausgestellt, was dann zu heftigen Bombardements der Gegner der Huthis geführt hat.
Aber das Bild, dass das eine extrem fundamentalistische Gruppe ist, ist nach meinen Dutzenden Gesprächen, die ich mit Huthis, einfachen in den Straßen oder auch mit führenden Huthis geführt hatte, völlig falsch. Und das ist auch nicht eine schiitische Organisation - Saidis nennt sich diese Sekte, sondern in der Huthi-Bewegung - die bei Wahlen vielleicht im ganzen Land von 35 Prozent gewählt würde, also ähnlich wie die CDU ist sie die stärkste Bewegung im Lande. In der Huthi-Bewegung sind 15 bis 20 Prozent Sunniten, also es kann schon deswegen gar nicht diese Radikalität haben.
http://www.deutschlandfunk.de/krieg-im-jemen-todenhoefer-die-schlimmste-hungersnot-der.694.de.html?dram:article_id=406206 und Audio: http://www.ardmediathek.de/radio/Interview/Krieg-im-Jemen-Todenh%C3%B6fer-Die-schlim/Deutschlandfunk/Audio-Podcast?bcastId=21676300&documentId=48432502
(** B H K)
Film: .@clarissaward: It’s not the bombs or bullets that kill the most people in #Yemen’s forgotten war, it’s the humanitarian crisis.
https://twitter.com/CNNConnect/status/940972673663868929
(** B H K)
U.S. Support “Vital” to Saudi Bombing of Yemen, Targeting Food Supplies as Millions Face Famine
For more, we’re joined by award-winning journalist Iona Craig, journalist who was based in Sana’a from 2010 to 2015 as the Yemen correspondent for The Times of London.
Craig: It’s very dire. Now the number of people on the brink of famine has reached more than 8 million. And this is 27 million people now that are being strangulated by the coalition tactics of creating this blockade and blocking of humanitarian access. And this is creating disease.
The U.S. involvement has been both logistically, politically, and in support of the Saudi-led coalition.
I think it’s really how man-made the humanitarian crisis is, the Saudi coalition’s policy of not just blockading the country and restricting food imports—and Yemen imports 90 percent of its food in peace time—but it’s also the bombing campaign, that I mentioned in that report for The Guardian, that has been used to systematically target Yemenis’ ability to grow their own food or supply food for themselves. So, there is a clear pattern of a strategy to bomb farmland, to target the areas where farmers are trying to grow food, and, again, as well, targeting fishermen, where people have become increasingly reliant on, you know, fish and fishermen’s supplies to feed themselves. And so, in that report, I spoke to fishermen on the Red Sea coast in Hudaydah, the head of the fishermen’s union, and to farmers. And there has also been academic research done on the data of the airstrike campaign since 2015 that does show a pattern of the Saudi coalition apparently targeting Yemen’s food supplies, its own farmers and fishermen, in order to prevent them from being able to provide food for themselves, in addition to this blockade. So this is what is so largely responsible for the humanitarian crisis that we’re seeing now, with more than 8 million people facing famine, with hundreds of thousands of children now starving to death. And this has been a policy of the Saudi coalition, which is, of course, backed by Western nations, including the U.S. And so, they are complicit in that. And it’s mass starvation of 27 million people.
I think the problem is now, it’s with the U.S. cozying up more to Saudi Arabia, being very much on side with the Saudi coalition, whilst being more hostile towards Iran, really means that the—getting some kind of dialogue going on the war on Yemen to bring an end to the conflict is less and less likely. And actually, U.S. actions at the moment are pointing towards a sort of never-ending conflict. Trying to find an end to the conflict becomes more difficult, and the U.S. is actually making it more difficult by this kind of relationship, very close relationship, with Saudi Arabia, whilst being much more aggressive in their rhetoric towards Iran.
And that has a direct consequence on the civilian population now, who are literally starving to death in Yemen. And the U.S. policies at the moment and their activities are making that worse for Yemenis on the ground, and will do, if they can’t get to the point of some form of political discussion or a ceasefire to at least bring a halt to hostilities in some way. And so, yes, the U.S. is actually making the situation worse in Yemen rather than better (with interview in film)
https://www.democracynow.org/2017/12/14/us_backed_saudi_air_campaign_in and second part https://www.democracynow.org/2017/12/15/us_backed_saudi_bombing_of_yemen
and also interview in youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RZsQ_PZCNjM (part 1) and https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jEAxl2JLg_E (part 2)
(** B K P)
Yemen after Saleh
Former Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh’s killing last week reverberated throughout Yemen and the wider region. As the most dominant figure in the country for more than 30 years, the implications of his demise are formidable. To garner a deeper understanding of how the outlook has changed for the ongoing conflict and the country in general, the Sana’a Center asked seven experts on Yemen for their insight.
Maysaa Shuja al Deen | Yemeni journalist and non-resident fellow at the Sana’a Center for Strategic Studies
Prospects for peace with the Houthis controlling Sana’a
Helen Lackner | Author of ‘Yemen in Crisis: Autocracy, Neo-liberalism and the Disintegration of a State’
Saleh’s rise and fall
Jamila Ali Raja | Yemeni Diplomat and director at Consult Yemen
Houthi empowerment
Peter Salisbury | Senior Consulting Fellow, Chatham House, Nonresident Fellow Arab Gulf States Institute in Washington (AGSIW)
The Houthis without their paymaster
Maged Al-Madhaji | Executive Director, Sana’a Center for Strategic Studies
An irreplaceable dictator
Iona Craig | Freelance journalist and Orwell Fellow
Checkmate for the master
Dr. Abdulrahman al-Saqqaf | Secretary General of the Yemeni Socialist Party
International community must act to avoid disaster
http://sanaacenter.org/publications/analysis/5170
Comment by Judith Brown: These are the views of a number of people with different perspectives but they have in common their love of Yemen and its people. They bring their own expertise to this paper but the one paragraph that really did it for me was the one by Helen Lackner who states that had he retired gracefully in 2012 he would have been remembered for the good things he did - the unification and modernisation of Yemen - but his implication in both the cause of the war, his manipulation of events in the war, and his eventual lunge for a return to power whilst deserting his previous allies - all to the detriment of Yemeni people - have tarnished his reputation.
https://www.facebook.com/judith.brown.794628/posts/10156211323403641
(** B P)
Yemen’s Ali Mohsen al-Ahmar: Last Sanhan Standing
Yet in Riyadh’s attempts to unite the multiple forces operating on the ground across Yemen, it has also come to sponsor a deeply controversial figure: Major General Ali Mohsen al-Ahmar, a onetime Saleh ally who split from his regime in 2011.
Mohsen is an influential player in the network of tribal and Sunni Islamist groups whose center of gravity is Islah, widely (and inaccurately) known as “Yemen’s Muslim Brotherhood.” He also stands accused of helping to cultivate the groups that ultimately became Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, the local franchise of the global extremist movement.
Mohsen has been able to position himself as Saudi Arabia’s best hope of winning a military victory against the Houthis and as the last line of defense for Yemen’s republic
If he is able to achieve results on the ground, Mohsen may well be able to build on his current position and engineer an unlikely return to power. If and when this were to happen, his past is likely to come under much greater scrutiny. Any future role for Mohsen is likely to be the source of anger for southern groups who still blame him for the excesses of Yemen’s 1994 North-South civil war.
The longer the war lasts, the greater Saudi Arabia’s dependency on Saleh’s former right-hand man is likely to be. With the UAE apparently warming to the idea of Mohsen, his return to a position of power becomes more likely, bringing the last of the Sanhan elders full circle – by Peter Salisbury
http://www.agsiw.org/yemens-ali-mohsen-al-ahmar-last-sanhan-standing/
Comment: 'Deeply controversial figure' is almost a compliment.
https://www.facebook.com/LivingInYemenOnTheEdge/posts/1587343674651990
cp1a Am wichtigsten: Seuchen / Most important: Epidemics
(** A H)
WHO: Nearly 1m cases of cholera in Yemen
There are currently one million people infected with cholera in wartorn Yemen, the World Health Organisation (WHO) announced on Wednesday
Some 2,225 people have died on the disease since 27 April, it added.
The UN organisation issued a report stating that as of Monday, there were 983,486 cases of Cholera in Yemen.
The organisation also noted that during the same period, it recorded 2,225 deaths caused by the disease, spread across 21 of the country’s 22 provinces.
https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20171215-who-nearly-1m-cases-of-cholera-in-yemen/
(* A H)
Yemen – Cholera and Diphtheria – DG ECHO Daily Map |14/12/2017
https://reliefweb.int/map/yemen/yemen-cholera-and-diphtheria-dg-echo-daily-map-14122017
(* B H)
Cholera-Ausbruch im Jemen
Der Jemen leidet an einer menschengemachten Katastrophe. Die andauernde politische Instabilität wurde durch die Belagerung und den fortwährenden Krieg verursacht, den Saudi-Arabien und eine Koalition arabischer Staaten mit Unterstützung der USA seit 2015 führt. Inzwischen hat sich die Situation durch die Blockade der Luft-, Land- und Seeverbindungen in den Jemen noch weiter verschlimmert.
https://www.ippnw.de/commonFiles/pdfs/Forum/152/Forum152_extern_s10.pdf
cp1b Nikki Haleys Raketenshow / Nikki Haley’s missile show
in the following order: offivial US sites - Critical analyses - Media reports - Reactions
(** A K P)
Cartoon: The Washington Post response to Trump's administration with this cartoon
(** A K P)
Remarks at a Press Conference on Iranian Arms Exports
Ambassador Nikki Haley
U.S. Permanent Representative to the United Nations
It’s really important that you be here today, because we have a story to tell, and the story is a very important one. And it’s not just important for the United States, it’s important for the entire international community. As President Trump announced on October 13, the United States is taking a new approach to Iran by focusing on all of the regime’s destabilizing behavior. That means we are focused not just on the nuclear program.
We’re also taking a hard look at Iran’s ballistic missile program, its arms exports, and its support for terrorists, proxy fighters, and dictators.
Our new strategy was prompted by the undeniable fact that the Iranian regime’s behavior is growing worse. The nuclear deal has done nothing to moderate the regime’s conduct in other areas.
[…]
The fight against Iranian aggression is the world’s fight. The United States is acting today in the spirit of transparency and international cooperation that is necessary to defeat this threat.
In this warehouse is concrete evidence of illegal Iranian weapons proliferation, gathered from direct military attacks on our partners in the region.
Behind me is an example of one of these attacks. These are the recovered pieces of a missile fired by Houthi militants from Yemen into Saudi Arabia. The missile’s intended target was the civilian airport in Riyadh, through which tens of thousands of passengers travel each day.
I repeat: This missile was used to attack an international civilian airport in a G-20 country.
Just imagine if this missile had been launched at Dulles Airport or JFK, or the airports in Paris, London, or Berlin. That’s what we’re talking about here. That’s what Iran is actively supporting.
What is most revealing about this missile is what’s not here. This is a short-range ballistic missile. It is missing the large stabilizer fins that are typically present on these kinds of missiles.
The Iranian Qiam missile is the only known short range ballistic missile in the world that lacks such stabilizer fins and includes nine valves that you will see running along the length of the missile. Those valves are essentially Iranian missile fingerprints.
On your walk through, you will also see missile debris stamped with the logo of Shahid Bagheri Industries, an Iranian manufacturer.
Those are just two of the many pieces of evidence that tell us of this missile’s Iranian origins.
[…]
We must speak with one voice in exposing the regime for what it is: a threat to the peace and security of the entire world. We call on all nations to join us in a united front resisting this global threat.
https://usun.state.gov/remarks/8215
and by the US Department of Defense, the Nikky propaganda show must go on:
(* A K P)
DoD Shows Iranian Weapons as Proof of Tehran’s Duplicitous Ambitions
Successive U.S. administrations have warned of Iran’s malign influence in the Middle East, but lying in a hangar at Joint Base Anacostia-Bolling here is concrete proof that the Iranian regime is exporting arms to sow instability and promote violence throughout the region.
In the hangar are three intact Iranian weapon systems and debris from a fourth, recovered from the battlefields of the Middle East that can be directly traced to Tehran.
The equipment in the hangar is proof of Iran’s malicious strategy, Seal said. “We present this evidence so that we, our allies and international partners -- including organizations like the [United Nations] -- can be clear eyed about Iran’s activities as we work together,” Seal said.
Specifically, the hangar contains “objects that provide evidence of Iranian weapons proliferation in violation of U.N. Security Council resolutions 2216 and 2231,” Seal said.
Iran would like to see an Iranian crescent going from northern Iran through Iraq and Syria into Lebanon to the Mediterranean. The regime would also like to extend its hegemony throughout the Persian Gulf and onto the Arabian Peninsula. Iran is operating through and supplying the Houthis in Yemen, officials said.
The weapons systems on display were retrieved from battlefields in the Middle East by U.S. partners in the region -- primarily Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, Seal said – by Jim Garamone
and the photos supplied by Dep. of Defense:
(* A K P)
Haley Says Iran Must Stop Destabilizing Behavior
“We are not just focused on [Iran’s] nuclear program,” the ambassador said during a press conference at a Joint Base Anacostia-Bolling hangar where the illegal Iranian equipment is on display.
The display is hard evidence that Iran is seeking to destabilize the Middle East. Haley stressed that Iran is engaging in many other illegal behaviors that are causing suffering from the Arabian Peninsula, to Central Asia, to the Levant.
And Iran’s behavior is growing worse, she said. “The nuclear deal has done nothing to moderate the regime’s conduct in other areas,” the ambassador said.
The instance of missile and weapons systems being sent from Iran’s Revolutionary Guard to militias and terror groups is increasing. “It’s hard to find a terrorist group in the Middle East that does not have Iran’s fingerprints all over it,” she said.
Iran is “fanning the flames” of conflict, Haley said – By Jim Garamone
Remark: This is how the US Department of Defense puts it.
Comment: So looking forward to US stabilizing bombs
https://www.facebook.com/LivingInYemenOnTheEdge/posts/1586765431376481
(** A K P)
One cannot argue with what @thekarami says: "The UN and the US have spent more time investigating one Houthi missile into Saudi Arabia, which caused no damage, than thousands of Saudi/US missiles into Yemen which has killed thousands."
https://twitter.com/BaFana3/status/941699011442077697
(** A H K P)
Haley’s Stunt and the War on Yemen
Nikki Haley is very concerned about the origin of a missile that didn’t kill anyone in Yemen.
Supporters of the U.S.-backed, Saudi-led war on Yemen have been desperate to shift the blame for the disaster engulfing that country to anyone other than the coalition and its Western patrons. They have therefore exaggerated the negligible role of Iran in the conflict in order to distract attention from the far larger, much more destructive role that the U.S. and our clients have had over the last two and a half years. Insofar as Iranian support for the Houthis has increased during the course of the Saudi-led intervention, that is just proof of how unsuccessful the coalition’s war has been and how pointlessly destructive their blockade continues to be.
That is why our U.N. ambassador feels the need to put on a show to accuse Iran of providing missiles to the Houthis at the same time that she and the rest of our government pointedly ignore the routine bombing of civilian targets by coalition forces and the coalition blockade that is strangling Yemen’s civilian population to death.
It is the Saudi-led coalition backed by the U.S. and other Western states that escalated the conflict in Yemen and created the world’s worst humanitarian crisis. These are the governments whose fingerprints are “all over” the devastation and loss of life in Yemen. Whatever else Iran may be responsible for elsewhere in the region, it is not responsible for most of what has happened in Yemen, and Haley’s stunt doesn’t change that – by Daniel Larison
http://www.theamericanconservative.com/larison/haleys-stunt-and-the-war-on-yemen/
(** B K P)
Trump’s Misuse of Intelligence on Iran
Bowing to Israeli-Saudi desires, the Trump administration is abusing the U.S. intelligence process to whip up a war fever against Iran, much like George W. Bush did on Iraq
Now Nikki Haley has provided the closest replication yet of the notorious show-and-tell from 2003. She has tendentiously and selectively brandished pieces, including physical pieces, of intelligence to stir up hostility toward Iran, with which the Trump administration seems intent on picking a fight.
The featured piece consisted of remnants of a missile fired from Yemen in the direction of Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
Haley and the Trump administration have gone beyond Powell and the Bush administration in dragging U.S. intelligence agencies into their hostility-selling campaign.
Just as in 2003, the show missed the fundamental issues involved in the relevant Middle Eastern mayhem. The missile fired at Riyadh was a rather feeble and ineffective response to the continuing air assault on Yemen by a Saudi-led coalition that has turned a civil war sparked by tribal disgruntlement into one of the world’s biggest current humanitarian disasters.
It is both misguided policy and morally offensive for Haley to try to focus attention on Iranian-related markings on a missile fragment while her own government abets far more suffering and destruction in the same war of which that missile was a part.
Haley’s remarks at the show-and-tell did nothing to explain how the munitions displayed around her demonstrate anything about either Iranian policies or the drivers of conflict and instability in the Middle East, much less about implications for U.S. policy.
Officials of the United States — the world’s leading exporter of arms — ought to be especially careful about suggesting that factory markings on munitions equate to evidence about a country’s foreign policy, given how U.S.-origin arms have been used even by the likes of ISIS.
Haley grossly mischaracterized a new United Nations report on implementation of Security Council Resolution 223
Haley knows well that the only obligations that Iran undertook in either the JCPOA or the U.N. resolution that endorsed the agreement concern nuclear activities. The reference in Resolution 2231 to missiles was intentionally and carefully worded as a “call” that entails no additional obligation.
We still don’t know exactly where Trump, Haley, or anyone else in the current administration wants or expects to go with their campaign of stoking maximum tension with, and hostility toward, Iran. But more and more of their campaign sounds a lot like what the Bush administration and neoconservatives were saying about Iraq in 2002 and 2003. Add to the other similarities a perversion of the relationship between policy and intelligence – By Paul R. Pillar
https://consortiumnews.com/2017/12/16/trumps-misuse-of-intelligence-on-iran/
(** B K P)
All the problems with Nikki Haley’s speech on Iran
Revealing what it calls evidence of Iran's violations of U.N. sanctions, the U.S. leaves key questions unanswered.
Although the United States has Saudi Arabia’s enthusiastic backing in the claims against Iran, it has yet to determine when the weapons — assuming they are actually Iranian-made — were sold or transported to Yemen. And there has been no independent verification of where the weapons were actually made or used.
The U.S.-Saudi strategy on Iran is clear. Saudi Arabia views Iran’s growing reach into the Arab world — in Lebanon, Syria, Iraq and perhaps even Qatar — as a threat. It has enjoyed U.S. support in its blockade against Qatar as well as benefiting from U.S. weapons and logistics in its airstrikes in Yemen.
The administration of President Donald Trump has also been looking for ways to limit Iran’s reach
(** B K P)
Nikki Haley Is Not Good At Foreign Policy
There are a variety of problems with Haley’s assertions. Three in particular stand out.
First, Haley cited a UN report in her claim regarding Iranian missile transfers to the Houthis. Of course, the UN has reached no such conclusion.
If Iran is arming the Houthis, it is a terrible policy that Iranian officials should reverse. All countries should stop arming the various factions in Yemen. Tehran is no exception. But neither is Washington.
It was therefore appalling to see that Haley’s speech reference Yemen and not include a single word about America’s ongoing military, intelligence, and logistical support for the Saudi-led humanitarian catastrophe taking place.
The most inexplicable part of Haley’s charade is her insistence on talking about Iran rather than talking to Iran. The only thing stopping her from sitting down one on one with her Iranian counterpart at the UN to respectfully discuss these matters is her own shortsighted ideological rigidity.
If Haley is truly concerned about Iran’s missile program and regional activities, she can take three immediate steps to demonstrate her seriousness: First, immediately halt all American military, intelligence, and logistical support for the Saudi-led humanitarian catastrophe in Yemen. If the war ends, concerns about Iran in Yemen recede. Second, freeze all missile sales to Middle Eastern countries.
Haley’s dearth of foreign policy experience is no excuse for her shambolic performance yesterday. – by Reza Marashi, director of research at the National Iranian American Council. He came to NIAC after serving in the Office of Iranian Affairs at the U.S. Department of State
http://lobelog.com/nikki-haley-is-not-good-at-foreign-policy/ = https://www.commondreams.org/views/2017/12/16/nikki-haley-not-good-foreign-policy
And, if Haley’s claim would be reasonable, than you must draw the same conclusions from this report:
(** B K P)
Waffen für ISIS: USA verletzten mit Weitergabe EU-Regeln
Das Auswärtige Amt hat eine umfangreiche Untersuchung zu den Waffenbeständen des so genannten Islamischen Staates mitfinanziert, deren Ergebnis die deutsche Außenpolitik vermutlich nicht so prominent hervorheben wird: Die britische Organisation Conflict Armament Research (CAR) ist der Frage nachgegangen, woher ISIS in den vergangenen Jahren seine Waffen bezogen hat. Und neben den Lieferungen – auf Umwegen – aus russischer und chinesischer Produktion tauchen dabei vor allem Waffen aus EU-Ländern auf – die legal an die USA verkauft wurden, aber von den USA offensichtlich in Verletzung der Endverbleibsklauseln an syrische Rebellenorganisation weitergegeben wurden und dann bei ISIS landeten.
http://augengeradeaus.net/2017/12/waffen-fuer-isis-usa-verletzten-mit-weitergabe-eu-regeln/
(** B K P)
ISIL weapons traced to US and Saudi Arabia
Weapons supplied by the United States and Saudi Arabia to opposition fighters often fell into the hands of ISIL, significantly enhancing the "quantity and quality" of the group's armaments, a new report alleges.
The number of weapons goes "far beyond those that would have been available through battle capture alone", according to the study by arms-monitoring group Conflict Armament Research (CAR) published on Thursday.
The Weapons of the Islamic State report was based on a three-year field investigation in Iraq and Syriainto the group's arms and their origins.
http://www.aljazeera.com/news/2017/12/isil-weapons-traced-saudi-arabia-171214164431586.html
and
(** B K P)
Arms supplied by U.S., Saudi ended up with Islamic State, researchers say
Arms provided by the United States and Saudi Arabia to Syrian opposition groups frequently ended up in the hands of Islamic State, an arms monitoring group that analyzed weapons found on the battlefield said on Thursday.
Conflict Armament Research (CAR) said most Islamic State weapons were looted from the Iraqi and Syrian armies. But some were originally provided by other countries, mainly the United States and Saudi Arabia, to Syrian opposition groups fighting against President Bashar al-Assad.
And it’s even better:
(** B K P)
'Islamic State' is fighting with weapons made in the EU: study
More than a third of the weapons used by "Islamic State" in Iraq and Syria came from European Union states — including Germany, a new report has found. The data shows that deadly arms can often end up in the wrong hands.
In its 200-page investigation, the weapons tracking organization claimed that more than 30 percent of the arms used by IS extremists on battlefields in Syria and Iraq originally came from factories in Bulgaria, Romania, Hungary and Germany.
Russia and China produced more than half of the weapons held by the terror group, the report added.
http://www.dw.com/en/islamic-state-is-fighting-with-weapons-made-in-the-eu-study/a-41802825
(** B K P)
Food and medicine can’t get passed the Saudi blockade on Yemen, but Nikki Haley thinks missiles can
Nikki Haley is once again pushing for war against Iran–this time making an argue met that is not only flawed but nonsensical.
Nikki Haley, Donald Trump’s Ambassador to the United Nations, has given an extraordinary “press conference”, even by her habitually outrageous standards.
Haley’s position is that since the outbreak of the current crisis in Yemen, beginning in March of 2015, Iran has been supplying Yemen’s Ansar Allah Movement, more commonly known as the Houthis, with the missiles they have sporadically used to target Saudi Arabia and allegedly the UAE.
There is a fatal flaw in this line of thinking however. Saudi Arabia has, since the beginning of the conflict, controlled all air and sea traffic coming into Yemen, while monitoring the region with the latest US made technology.
Yemen has subsequently been surrounded by a Saudi Naval blockade, Saudi borders through which nothing can pass and Omani borders through which there is no evidence of anything passing and which in any case, border areas which do not belong to Houthi fighters, but instead have fluctuated between the Hadi government based in Aden, al-Qaeda terrorists and ISIS terrorists.
But for Nikki Haley, who gave her press conference standing in front of what appeared to be a rusty missile casing–it all makes perfect sense. In Haley’s parallel universe, an aid ship with UN flags cannot bring bottles of water and jars of medical pills to Yemenis, but somehow Iranian ships bearing humongous missiles have easily passed through the Saudi blockade undetected.
There is simply no logic to the argument, no matter how it is interpreted.
Even a journalist at Haley’s “press conference” asked how the US can verify the provenance of the missiles and in particular when they were sent to Yemen. She had no answer apart from effectively saying ‘trust us–we know’. – by Adam Garrie (with comments)
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Weapons Went From The CIA To ISIS In Less Than Two Months
Years late to the party, mainstream media outlets like USA Today, Reuters, and Buzzfeed are just out with “breaking” and “exclusive” stories detailing how a vast arsenal of weapons sent to Syria by the CIA in cooperation with US allies fuelled the rapid growth of ISIS. Buzzfeed’s story titled, Blowback: ISIS Got A Powerful Missile The CIA Secretly Bought In Bulgaria, begins by referencing “a new report on how ISIS built its arsenal highlights how the US purchased munitions, intended for Syrian rebels, that ended up in the hands of the terrorist group.”
The original study that Buzzfeed and other media are referencing comes from a UK-based independent weapons research organization called Conflict Armament Research (CAR) which has had a team of weapons and munitions experts on the ground in the Middle East for years examining arms and equipment recovered from ISIS and other terrorist groups in Iraq and Syria. Using serial numbers, crate shipping markings, and all available forensics data, the CAR experts began finding that as early as 2013 to 2014 much of the Islamic State’s advanced weapons systems as well as small arms were clearly sourced to the United States and the West.
Supplies of material into the Syrian conflict from foreign parties – notably the United States and Saudi Arabia – have indirectly allowed IS to obtain substantial quantities of anti-armor ammunition,” states the CAR report. “These weapons include anti-tank guided weapons and several varieties of rocket with tandem warheads, which are designed to defeat modern reactive armor.”
And CAR’s damning publications presenting such inconvenient empirical data have been consistent for years, yet were largely ignored and suppressed by analysts and media who were busy cheerleading US support for Syrian “rebels” cast as romantic revolutionaries in their struggle to topple Assad and his secular nationalist government. Of course, it’s an old story if you’ve been reading Zero Hedge or the profusion of independent outlets that have long reported the truth about the covert “dirty war” in Syria since nearly the beginning.
Even though it’s now suddenly acceptable and fashionable to admit – as does one recent BBC headline (“The Jihadis You Pay For”) – that the US and Saudi covert program in Syria fuelled the rise of ISIS and various other al-Qaeda linked terror groups, it must be remembered that only a short time ago the mainstream media openly mocked analysts and writers who dared make the connection between the West’s massive covert Syrian rebel aid programs and the al-Qaeda insurgents who so clearly benefited – by Tyler Durden
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2017-12-15/weapons-went-cia-isis-less-two-months-new-study-reveals = http://www.mintpressnews.com/the-surge-of-media-coverage-on-the-cias-arming-of-isis/235587/
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Experts doubt Haley's evidence of Iran violations will spur action
For other experts, Haley’s evidence fell short of an irrefutable case.
“The missile fragments appear to be from an Iranian-made Qiam missile and the drone fragments resemble an Iranian Qasef 1,” said Mary Kaszynski, deputy director of policy at the Ploughshares Fund. “But Pentagon officials could not say when the weapons were transferred, used, and who supplied them.”
Kaszynski warned the presentation could prove counterproductive.
“By failing to present concrete evidence, the administration is demonstrating an anti-Iran bias that undercuts its ability to coordinate an international response to Iran’s bad behavior,” she said.
Doga Eralp, a scholar-practitioner of international conflict resolution at American University, saw Haley’s speech as one more attempt by the Trump administration to undermine the nuclear agreement by linking it to Iran’s hegemonic outreach.
“The Iranian regime has always maintained that the agreement has nothing to do with the regional politics,” he said.
Barbara Slavin, director of the Future of Iran Initiative at the Atlantic Council, had harsher words, calling Haley’s presentation “mystifying.”
“Apparently there is no proof that this stuff was actually transferred after the resolution, so it’s kind of hard to come to any particular agreement,” she said.
According to Slavin, constant attacks on the JCPOA by the Trump administration are not going to unite the international community behind action over Iran’s other dangerous and destabilizing activities. She also took issue with Haley invoking Iranian missiles striking U.S. airports.
“This is just irresponsible warmongering,” she said. “She’s trying to make people in this country afraid of Iran and build a case for military action.” – by Stephen Loiaconi
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WILL THE U.S. GO TO WAR? IRAN SAYS IT FEELS LIKE IRAQ RIGHT BEFORE THE INVASION
Iran's top diplomat compared a recent U.S. exhibition about his country's alleged growing missile threat to the rhetoric heard in the days leading up to the U.S. invasion of Iraq, raising fears that the White House's hard-line stance against Tehran could erupt into conflict.
Haley's ultimatum was reminiscent of Powell's 2003 presentation in which he asserted that "Saddam Hussein and his regime will stop at nothing until something stops him." Haley's other assertion, that "it’s hard to find a conflict or a terrorist group in the Middle East that does not have Iran’s fingerprints all over it," echoed Powell's charge that "terrorism has been a tool used by Saddam for decades" and that the Iraqi leader "provides haven and active support for terrorists."
Both Haley and Powell framed their arguments as a call to arms for allies, which in both cases have called for dialogue rather than military action, with the exception of the U.K. in 2003 – by Tom O’Connor
http://www.newsweek.com/will-us-go-war-iran-feel-iraq-invasion-748907
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Loose Missiles, Loose Talk: Nikki Haley’s Claims of Iran’s ‘Lawless Behavior’
Why are the United States Department of Defense and the US ambassador to the United Nations acting as spokespeople for Saudi Arabia’s atrocious war against the religious Yemeni-Houthi minority?
And why is Ambassador Nikki Haley throwing herself in front of the international community with laughable evidence
What Iran is doing is not violating UN resolutions or UN sanctions, contrary to Haley’s statements. The board of governors of the UN’s International Atomic Energy Agency has just confirmed in its November report for the 10th time since Resolution 2231 was adopted in 2015 by the Security Council that Iran is following the letter and spirit of its obligations under the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action — the Iran nuclear deal.
UN sanctions experts on Yemen have also reported many times that there is no evidence of violations of the arms embargo imposed on Yemen’s insurgencies by official Iranian actors.
By following the facts and reading the experts’ reports, Haley should have known better than to draw conclusions about possible lawless behavior. But once again, US diplomats and related experts are attempting to weave a web of speculative intelligence to create the appearance of Iran’s culpability.
If, however, the Qiam missiles bear the signature of the Houthi insurgents, their counterstrikes into Saudi territory sits well within international law of war. The missiles follow decade-long trajectories of cross-border violence, mostly rooted in Sunni-Saudi intolerance for the Shiite Houthis based in the northeastern border region adjacent to Saudi Arabia.
Siding with Saudi Arabia, Haley also said at her news conference in Washington that “the weapons might as well have had ‘made in Iran’ stickers all over it,” a non sequitur possibly meant to create an impression of Iran’s culpability, where there is none.
UN sanctions and arms-embargo experts settled this evidentiary issue a long time ago. Based on standards that have been honed over 18 years and in many conflict zones, the use of arms in such settings does not automatically impugn the manufacturer of arms or the manufacturer’s country of origin.
The “made in Iran” label on weapons or ammunition is as meaningless as the national origin of the countless other military items constantly found in Yemen, as the majority of such material are pre-war and pre-embargo military stockpiles that the Houthis looted from the Yemen military and security depots – by Enrico Carish
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Netanyahu is calling shots as US beats drums of war vs Iran' – CIA veteran
The US envoy to the UN, Nikki Haley, is dancing to Israel’s tune as she calls for a Western coalition against Iran while posing in front of a missile’s wreckage, former CIA officer Ray McGovern told RT, saying the spectacle was aimed at distracting attention from Yemen.
“I think that Netanyahu is calling the shots. Look, Jerusalem has just been recognized as the capital of Israel, Nikki Haley is getting on this bandwagon. She sees this as being very propitious for her, politically,” McGovern said.
“It’s giving hypocrisy a bad name, when you look at the situation in Yemen, where the US supported Saudi attacks that indiscriminately killed so many civilians as opposed to this one rocket that was sent by the Houthis into Saudi Arabia to land whatever it might,”McGovern said.
“This is the time to beat the drums against Iran and the best thing they could find are some missile parts,” McGovern said, adding that while the missile might indeed have originated in Iran, it was used by Haley “to deflect a conversation from the fact that a million people in Yemen now have cholera, 70 percent of the Yemenis now depend on outside food to survive.”
The rocket might have been supplied to the Houthis “years ago,” he said, and the fact that it landed near a Riyadh airport on November 4, was a mere “piece of luck” for the rebels.
By focusing on Iran, Washington is trying to heal the wounds from its defeat in Syria, where it was effectively excluded from the settlement process, led by Russia, Iran and Turkey.
https://newsline.com/netanyahu-is-calling-shots-as-us-beats-drums-of-war-vs-iran039-cia-veteran/
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Haley’s Missile Stunt ‘Incredible Distraction’ From US, Saudi Horrors in Yemen
Speaking to Radio Sputnik's Loud & Clear, Medea Benjamin, co-founder of CODEPINK, called the move by Haley "disgusting."
"The US is selling weapons to Saudi Arabia that it [in turn] uses everyday to bomb civilians and kill so many people [in Yemen]," Benjamin said. "And then she has the gall to take this this one fragment of the missile and talk as if this is something totally out of the blue? Of course the Yemenis are going to be trying to get back at the Saudis."
"It's absolutely absurd that she's taking this one incident and trying to act like this is an act of war… there has been a war going on since March 2015 with Saudi Arabia being the active participant in the intervention of a country it has no business in," Benjamin added.
Rather than standing next to a missile, fellow guest Kathy Kelly, co-coordinator of Voices for Creative Non-Violence, suggested Haley should instead "go and stand in front of one of the four [combat littoral ships] that the US sold to the Saudis that's blockading the ports and preventing desperately needed food and medicine from getting into [Yemen]."
"It is an incredible distraction," says Benjamin. "To try to turn this around with one missile attack that did not hit anybody, didn't hurt anybody, and to pretend that this is now a new phase in this war, is a total distraction."
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USA präsentieren Beweise für Irans Einmischung im Jemen
In einer aufwendigen Pressekonferenz haben die USA mutmaßlich iranische Waffenteile aus dem Jemen-Krieg präsentiert. Zum Einsatz des verbündeten Saudi-Arabien in dem Bürgerkrieg dagegen kein Wort.
Nikki Haley, US-Botschafterin bei der Uno, zeigt dort mutmaßliche Beweisstücke, die belegen sollen, dass in Iran gebaute Waffensysteme oder Bauteile für Waffen aus Iran an Huthi-Rebellen im Jemen geliefert wurden.
Haley verurteilte in der Pressekonferenz einen Angriff der Huthi-Rebellen auf einen zivilen Flughafen in Saudi-Arabien, bei dem eine Rakete iranischer Bauart verwendet worden sein soll.
Hinter Haleys Rednerpult war eine Metallröhre aufgebaut, die zu besagter Rakete gehören soll. Außerdem präsentierte sie elektronische Bauteile und Teile eines unbemannten Flugkörpers.
Irans Uno-Botschafter Gholamali Choschru wies die Vorwürfe der Waffenlieferungen an die jemenitischen Rebellen zurück. " Saudi-Arabien und seine Verbündeten am Golf begrüßten die harte Haltung der USA zu Iran.
http://www.spiegel.de/politik/ausland/usa-praesentieren-beweise-fuer-irans-einmischung-im-jemen-a-1183442.html und auch http://www.zeit.de/politik/ausland/2017-12/jemen-usa-iran-waffen-huthi-rebellen-nikki-haley und Film: https://www.stern.de/video-usa-sehen-beweis-fuer-iranische-verstrickung-im-jemen-7788882.html http://www.thueringer-allgemeine.de/web/zgt/politik/detail/-/specific/USA-sehen-Beweis-fuer-iranische-Verstrickung-im-Jemen-1247494552
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USA werfen Iran Einmischung im Jemen vor
„Der Kampf gegen iranische Aggressionen ist nicht nur unser Kampf, er ist der Kampf der ganzen Welt“, sagte die republikanische Politikerin. In New York stand zur gleichen Zeit ein Bericht der Vereinten Nationen vor der Veröffentlichung, von dem angenommen wird, dass er dem Iran die Einhaltung des Atomabkommens mit der internationalen Gemeinschaft attestiert.
Auf die Einsätze des verbündeten Saudi-Arabien ging Haley am Donnerstag tatsächlich nicht ein.
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Starre Fronten zwischen Iran und USA
Der Iran ließ nicht lange mit einer Replik warten und beschuldigte Haley, "Beweise zu fabrizieren". Der iranische UN-Botschafter Gholamali Khoshroo reagierte ziemlich verärgert. "Der Iran hat dem Jemen nie Raketen zur Verfügung gestellt und diese Unterstellungen sind absolut grundlos". Auch die angeblichen Beweise Haleys seien gefälscht. Sie reflektieren Khoshroo zufolge erneut die provokante US-Politik gegenüber seinem Land. "Das Ziel solcher Vorwürfe ist, die Verbrechen Saudi-Arabiens im Jemen zu vertuschen"
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US calls for anti-Iran coalition as it presents Yemen weapons 'evidence'
"You will see us build a coalition to really push back against Iran and what they're doing," Haley told a news conference, standing in front of what she said were the remnants of an Iranian missile fired by Houthi rebels from Yemen into Saudi Arabia.
"This is not just about the nuclear program. This is about everything else they're doing...Iran believes they have been given a pass."
The arms presented included charred remnants of what the Pentagon said was an Iranian-made short-range ballistic missile fired from Yemen on 4 November at King Khaled International Airport outside Saudi Arabia's capital Riyadh
The unprecedented presentation by the Pentagon is part of its follow-through on President Donald Trump's new Iran policy, which promises a far harder line toward Tehran.
Comment: .@nikkihaley media event today on #Yemeni missile is done in advance of #Saudi plan to use surface to surface missiles against #Yemen capital #Saana . Mark my words
https://twitter.com/AliAlAhmed_en/status/941479322690473985
Comment: Re US claims yday of #Iran's role in #Yemen, note -Iran wasn't the military game-changer for the Houthis 2014-15. Former Pres Saleh was, bringing with him c.2/3 of Yemeni military -Houthi grievances were domestically generated -#Saudi-led campaign has assisted not diminished Iran
https://twitter.com/Dr_E_Kendall/status/941651537004244992
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Haley presents 'undeniable' evidence of Iran's support for Yemeni rebels
“As you know, we do not often declassify this type of military equipment recovered from these attacks, but today we are taking an extraordinary step of presenting it here in an open setting,” she said, standing in front of one of the missiles in a hangar at the Defense Intelligence Agency headquarters at Joint Base Anacostia-Bolling. “We did this for a single urgent purpose: Because the Iranian regime cannot be allow to engage in its lawless behavior any longer.”
Haley described Thursday’s press conference as in line with Trump’s October speech in which he also pledged to clamp down on Iran’s ballistic missile program, arms exports and support for destabilizing actors across the Middle East.
The other evidence includes materials from an antitank missile than can travel 2 miles, a kamikaze drone that can take out radar sites and a Shark-33 explosive boat that has a warhead inside that explodes upon impact with another vessel.
“All of these weapons include parts made by Iran, some by Iran’s government-run defense industry,” Haley said. “All are proof that Iran is defying the international community.”
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In first, U.S. presents its evidence of Iranian weaponry from Yemen
The United States on Thursday presented for the first time pieces of what it said were Iranian weapons supplied to the Iran-aligned Houthi militia in Yemen, describing it as conclusive evidence that Tehran was violating U.N. resolutions.
Reuters was given advanced access to the military hangar at Joint Base Anacostia-Bolling just outside of Washington where the U.S. Defense Department put the fragments of weaponry on display and explained how it concluded that they came from Iran.
Iran has denied supplying the Houthis with such weaponry.
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Iran accuses US of trying to hide own role in Yemen war
Iranian FM shares report which blasts US for weapon sales to Saudi, but acknowledges Iranian, US components discovered in fired missiles
Iran's foreign minister accused the United States on Friday of trying to divert attention from its own responsibility for the deadly war in Yemen with claims of Iranian weapons shipments.
Mohammad Javad Zarif was responding to claims by US ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley on Thursday that a missile fired by Yemeni rebels at Riyadh airport on 4 November was "made in Iran".
Zarif shared a link in his tweet to report posted on the Iran’s UN mission website titled “A refutation of alternative evidence – Case Study: Yemen”.
http://www.middleeasteye.net/news/iran-accuses-us-trying-hide-own-role-yemen-war-1990251129 and directly from Iran on Iranian rejection: http://www.presstv.com/Detail/2017/12/15/545703/Zarif-Houthi-Twitter-Saudi
and
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Iran supplied Yemen rebels with ballistic missile - US
She showed reporters the remnants of a ballistic missile that came close to hitting Riyadh's airport last month.
It "might as well have had 'Made in Iran' stickers" on it, she said, adding that Iran was violating UN resolutions.
But Mr Haley said several technical details - the absence of stabiliser fins and a series of valves on the side - marked the missile as Iranian-made.
She added that it had the potential to kill hundreds of civilians, and that this highlighted the "undeniable fact that the Iranian regime's behaviour is growing worse".
"We must speak with one voice in exposing the regime for what it is - a threat to the peace and security of the whole world."
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-42356969 and film by Fox News https://twitter.com/MbKS15/status/941372044012343296
My comment: “She added that it had the potential to kill hundreds of civilians”: Oh these bad Iranians. US supplied bombs do not???
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Haley’s ‘Smoking Gun’ on Iran Met With Skepticism at U.N.
She claims 'undeniable evidence' that Iran is violating U.N. restrictions. But not everyone is on board yet.
But U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres reached no such conclusion in his report this month that addresses U.S. and Saudi claims.
While the presence of Iranian missile parts has strengthened the circumstantial case for the regime’s role in the Yemen conflict, some of Haley’s counterparts on the U.N. Security Council aren’t yet willing to point the finger at Tehran.
Sweden’s U.N. ambassador, Olof Skoog, who serves as a non-permanent Security Council member and has access to the confidential U.N. panel report, said Haley “may be in possession of evidence I have not seen. The information I have up to now is less clear” that Iran is the culprit.
Haley’s press conference on Thursday followed her efforts in recent weeks to persuade the U.S. military and intelligence community to declassify evidence of Iranian misbehavior in the region, as Foreign Policy first reported. The administration, which has been isolated over its rejection of the 2015 Iran nuclear accord, has been trying to redirect the world’s attention towards Tehran’s conduct in the Middle East.
“The fight against Iranian aggression is the world’s fight,” Haley said.
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France cautious over U.S. "evidence" on Iran weaponry in Yemen
France reacted cautiously on Friday to U.S. evidence which allegedly proved Iran supplied weapons to Houthi militia in Yemen, saying it was still studying information at its disposal and the United Nations had yet to draw any conclusions.
When asked whether Paris believed that evidence was irrefutable, foreign ministry deputy spokesman Alexandre Giorgini declined to respond directly.
“The United Nations secretariat has not, at this stage, drawn any conclusions. France continues to examine the information at its disposal,” he said.
Remark: And also Sweden, read down http://www.middleeasteye.net/news/iran-accuses-us-trying-hide-own-role-yemen-war-1990251129
And some more reports:
https://www.rt.com/usa/413243-haley-iran-missile-evidence/
https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20171215-us-unveils-evidence-of-iran-weapons-in-yemen/
And
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Yemen's Houthis say Iranian missile charges a distraction from Jerusalem decision
A spokesman for Yemen’s Houthi group on Thursday dismissed U.S. accusations that Iran had supplied a missile fired at Saudi Arabia last month, saying it was an attempt to divert attention from the United States’ decision to recognize Jerusalem as Israel’s capital.
“After three years of war, America suddenly finds evidence that Iran supports the Houthis,” Abdel-Malek al-Ejri said in a message on his Twitter account.
“America did not find any evidence in all the missiles fired from Yemen until now. The story is clear. They want to give Arabs a story to divert their attention from Jerusalem. Instead being angry at Israel, they wave the Iranian bogey,” he added.
Comment. Distraction over Jerusalem decision!!!! What about the distraction from Saudi's and US's role in starving 8.3 million Yemeni civilians???????
https://www.facebook.com/judith.brown.794628/posts/10156208478593641
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Iran says weaponry displayed by Haley is 'fabricated'
Iran rejected as unfounded a U.S. accusation on Thursday that it supplied a missile fired at Saudi Arabia from Yemen on Nov. 4, describing weaponry displayed by U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley as “fabricated.”
Iran’s mission to the United Nations said in a statement that the accusation by the United States was “irresponsible, provocative and destructive.”
Comment: Well if this is fabricated by US it wouldn't be the first time. It might have been more useful as collaborating evidence if fragments of the bomb were shown at the site where they were found in Saudi Arabia. This could have been connived although of course it could also be true. It is unsubstantiated and leaves is no clearer to knowing the truth. But even so, even if it was Iranian what about over €100bn of US weapons that are being supplied to Saudi Arabia which DO hit their targets in Yemen.
https://www.facebook.com/judith.brown.794628/posts/10156208430873641
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Iran’s Zarif Likens Haley’s Speech to US Claims on Iraq’s WMD Program
Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif rejected US Ambassador to the UN Nikki Haley’s remarks over the Islamic Republic’s missile support for Yemen, comparing them to US claims in 2003 that Iraq possessed weapons of mass destruction (WMD).
“When I was based at the UN, I saw this show and what it begat...,” Zarif said on his Twitter account on Thursday night in response to anti-Tehran allegations.
During her press conference on Thursday, Haley appeared standing before parts of a ballistic missile that she claimed Iran delivered to Houthis in Yemen, who then fired it at the Riyadh airport in Saudi Arabia last month.
The Iranian top diplomat likened her presentation Thursday to former US Secretary of State Colin Powell’s claim in 2003 that Iraq possessed WMD.
Powell’s 2003 speech to the UN laid out the Bush administration’s case for a war in Iraq. Powell in 2016 called the speech “a great intelligence failure”.
https://www.tasnimnews.com/en/news/2017/12/15/1601675/iran-s-zarif-likens-haley-s-speech-to-us-claims-on-iraq-s-wmd-program and also http://en.farsnews.com/newstext.aspx?nn=13960924000562
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Iran Blasts US Hypocrisy in Yemeni Crisis
Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif blasted the US hypocrite stance over the Saudi-led war in Yemen.
"On the very day US regurgitates Saudi & Emirati propaganda on Yemen, CAR (Conflict Armament Research) report confirms US & Saudi weapons end up in the hands of ISIS (ISIL). With this US administration, it seems hypocrisy knows no bounds," Zarif wrote on his Twitter account on Friday.
Most Islamic State weapons were looted from the Iraqi and Syrian armies. But some were originally provided by other countries; mainly the United States and Saudi Arabia, to the Syrian opposition groups fighting against President Bashar al-Assad, CAR statement said.
“These findings are a stark reminder of the contradictions inherent in supplying weapons into armed conflicts in which multiple competing and overlapping non-state armed groups operate," Zarif said.
http://en.farsnews.com/newstext.aspx?nn=13960925000463
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US accusation of Iran arming Houthis could not be proven
Iranian ambassador to the UK denounced allegations raised by US Ambassador to UN Nikki Haley against Iran at the Defense Intelligence Agency stressing that such accusations could not be proven.
Reacting to Haley's allegations, Hamid Baeedinejad posted a series of tweets on Friday saying, 'Nikki Haley in her propaganda show could not prove that :a/what exhibited was an Iranian missile, and if so, b/ the missile was exactly the one which hit the KSA airport (nobody trusts American just to say so), and c/ it had been transferred to Yemen after the UN res.'
http://www.irna.ir/en/News/82764599
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US missile presentation against Iran was ‘comedy show’
The US government’s recent display of “evidence” to back up claims that Iran provides Yemen’s Houthi Ansarullah fighters with ballistic missiles was nothing short of a “comedy sketch show,” a political commentator tells Press TV.
Speaking to Press TV from London on Saturday, Hafsa Kara Mustapha said it was “embarrassing” to watch Haley present to the world what she thought would serve as a “smoking gun” to help push Washington’s anti-Iran agenda.
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Call for Int'l Action Against US Weapons Used to Kill Yemenis
The international community should stop the United States from supplying Saudi Arabia with arms that are being used by the Saudi-led coalition in Yemen to kill innocent people, a member of Majlis National Security and Foreign Policy Commission said on Friday.
Heshmatollah Falahatpisheh made the remark in response to US Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley's recent claims about Iran's role in the Yemen conflict.
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“Yemen Has Long Been Equipped with Soviet, N. Korean Missiles”
Spokesman for the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps Brigadier General Ramazan Sharif rejected her claims and underlined that it is no secret anymore that Yemen has long been equipped with missiles provided in the past by the Soviet Union and North Korea.
“The US envoy stands before a pipe saying there are fingerprints of Iranian nationals on it. This comes as it is a widely-known fact that Yemen used to be a country with missiles after receiving cutting-edge missile technologies from the Soviet Union and North Korea in the past,”
http://ifpnews.com/exclusive/yemen-long-equipped-soviet-n-korean-missiles/
and more rejections from Iran:
http://en.farsnews.com/newstext.aspx?nn=13960926000463
http://www.tehrantimes.com/news/419385/U-S-ignorant-of-Yemen-s-missile-technology-general
http://en.farsnews.com/newstext.aspx?nn=13960924001059
https://en.mehrnews.com/news/130303/Nikki-Haley-s-show-political-fiasco-Amir-Abdollahian
http://www.presstv.com/Detail/2017/12/16/545821/Zarif-Nikki-Haley-Yemen-missile
http://en.farsnews.com/newstext.aspx?nn=13960925001651
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Haykal Bafana: Yesterday, @nikkihaley says Iran sent ballistic missiles to Yemen. Today, #Saudi Arabia says there are workshops making ballistic missile in #Yemen.
https://twitter.com/BaFana3/status/942029871743688704 referring to https://english.alarabiya.net/en/News/gulf/2017/12/16/VIDEO-Coalition-forces-destroy-ballistic-missile-workshops-in-Yemen.html
It may be advisable for you Americans & Saudis to coordinate your lies on Yemen better, in the future. Y'all look like blundering buffoons now, honestly.
https://twitter.com/BaFana3/status/942030648524656642
(A K P)
Saudis welcome U.N. report, U.S. stand on Iran's missile supplies to Houthis: agency
Saudi Arabia on Thursday welcomed a United Nations report and a U.S. stand on Iran’s missile supplies to Yemen’s Houthis and demanded immediate action to hold Tehran accountable for its actions, state news agency SPA reported.
The agency said Saudi Arabia also welcomed the U.S. position announced by Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley.
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Haley slammed for attacking Iran's 'lawless behavior' while ignoring plight of Yemeni civilians
The US envoy to the UN was slammed on social media over a speech blaming Iran for a missile launched at a Saudi airport last month. Some accuse Nikki Haley of lying, while others say she's ignoring Yemeni civilians' struggles.
Social media backlash has rolled in at full speed, with podcaster John Aravosis saying there is "zero reason to believe anything Nikki Haley is saying right now about Iran. She represents a pathological liar..."
Meanwhile, the leader of the National Iranian American Council, Trita Parsi, accused Haley of "laying the groundwork for a US-Iran war on behalf of Saudi Arabia," and questioned why Washington is treating Saudi interests as American interests.
Others took issue with Haley for ignoring the fact that the Saudi-led coalition - which is supported by the US - continues to bomb civilians who are experiencing a humanitarian crisis.
Some compared Haley's speech to one made to the UN by former US national security adviser Colin Powell in 2003, in which he justified the George W. Bush administration's rationale for the war in Iraq.
https://www.rt.com/news/413322-haley-iran-missile-airport/
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Arms Control Expert: US Cannot Win Int'l Support Against Iran by Voicing Concerns, Reimposing Sanctions
Executive Director of the Arms Control Association in Washington Daryl G Kimball blasted strongly the recent allegations by US Ambassador to the UN Nikki Haley who claimed that Iran had supplied Yemen with a missile fired at Saudi Arabia, and said that Washington cannot win international support by voicing concern about Tehran's activities and reimposing sanctions against the country.
"It would be foolish by White House to think that it can rally international for addressing concerns about Iran's role in the Middle East," Kimball wrote on his Twitter account on Thursday.
http://en.farsnews.com/newstext.aspx?nn=13960924000486
And this is how Fox News propaganda tells it:
(A P)
Iranian missiles going to rebels in Yemen pose a danger to our ally Saudi Arabia
The debate about whether Iran is providing ballistic missiles to Houthi rebels in Yemen has been ended, thanks to U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley, who has unveiled components of Iranian missiles recovered from target sites in Saudi Arabia fired on by the Houthis.
The U.S. has now made clear that Iran is not just violating a U.N. Security Council Resolution that imposes an arms embargo on Yemen. Iran is also violating another resolution by the U.N. Security Council that codifies the 2015 Iran nuclear deal known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action.
Typically, Iran has backed the Houthis with rifles, rocket-propelled grenades, and anti-tank weapons like the Toophan, which is an Iranian copy of the American TOW missile. This transfer of basic infantry weapons has been confirmed by numerous intercepted arms transfers between Iran and the Yemeni insurgents.
However, Iran’s provision of ballistic missiles to the Houthi insurgents means that Tehran may be willing to escalate a conflict once assumed peripheral to its regional designs.
Washington must work to stem the flow of Iranian arms to Yemen, impose economic costs on Tehran and beef up the missile defense systems of its partners in the region. While Iran can be expected to continue denying that it is arming the Houthis, the evidence presented by Ambassador Haley speaks for itself.
My comment: That's really odd brainwashing for the US public.
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Mattis says no need to step up military posture against Iran
US Defense Secretary James Mattis says there is no need to resort to military option against Iran over allegations that Tehran supplies missiles to Yemen.
“It's the reason Ambassador Haley was there and not one of our generals," he said. "This is a diplomatically-led effort to expose to the world what Iran is up to."
Mattis accused Iran of “contributing to the deaths of innocent people” in Yemen.
http://www.presstv.com/Detail/2017/12/16/545838/MattisIranwarYemenmissileNikey-Haley and also http://www.tehrantimes.com/news/419384/U-S-to-pursue-diplomacy-toward-Tehran-Mattis
cp1c Vormarsch der Saudi-Koalition / Saudi coalition advance
(** A K)
Zermürbungskrieg im Jemen: Saudi-Allianz startet Offensive auf Huthi-Versorgungshafen
Im Jemen-Konflikt beginnt sich das militärische Gleichgewicht zugunsten der von Saudi-Arabien geführten Koalition zu wenden, hat der US-Analysedienst Stratfor berichtet. In den vergangenen Tagen rückten pro-saudische Truppen erfolgreich auf den letzten großen Seehafen unter Kontrolle der Huthis vor.
Am 7. Dezember begannen saudische Koalitionskräfte entlang der Westküste des Jemen in Richtung der strategisch bedeutsamen Hafenstadt al-Hudaydah vorzurücken. Das ist der letzte große Hafen, der noch unter Huthi-Kontrolle steht. Der Hafen ist entscheidend bei der Gewährleistung internationaler Hilfslieferungen in die Hauptstadt Sanaa, die von der pro-iranischen Miliz gehalten wird. Bisher scheiterten saudische Versuche, auf die Stadt al-Hudaydah und in Richtung Taiz erfolgreich vorzurücken.
Überläufer der gut ausgerüsteten Republikanischen Garde, die Ali Abdullah Salih loyal und bis zum 4. Dezember mit den Huthis verbündet war, wendeten das Blatt. Mechanisierte Einheiten aus den Vereinigten Arabischen Emiraten und einige Mitglieder der Republikanischen Garde nehmen an der al-Hudaydah-Offensive teil. Seit Beginn der Offensive halbierten die pro-saudischen Truppen den Weg nach al-Hudaydah von Mokka, unterstrich Stratfor.
https://deutsch.rt.com/der-nahe-osten/62272-zermurbungskrieg-in-jemen-saudi-allianz/
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Yemen Frontlines: December 2017
Forces loyal to late Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Salehstopped supporting the al Houthi movement and joined an Emirati-led offensive, breaking a nearly yearlong stalemate in western Yemen and revitalizing the Saudi-led coalition’s plan to end the civil war militarily. Forces from Saleh’s Republican Guard, the Emirati military, and Yemen’s internationally-recognized Hadi government advanced farther north along Yemen’s western coast than at any other point in the conflict.
This offensive aims to seize al Hudaydah port to isolate the al Houthi movementfrom Iranian support by sea and compel the al Houthis to surrender. (with map and overview of events)
https://www.criticalthreats.org/analysis/yemen-frontlines-december-2017
(* A K PS)
The West Coast Front: Tens of Al-Houthi militias were Killed and Injured While Southern Giants Forces and Tehami Resistance Block Al-Houthi Attack East of Al-Khoukha.
http://en.smanews.org/the-west-coast-front-tens-of-al-houthi-militias-were-killed-and-injured-while-southern-giants-forces-and-tehami-resistance-block-al-houthi-attack-east-of-al-khoukha Remark: By Southern Yemeni separatists’ media agency.
(** A H K)
World’s worst humanitarian crisis about to get worse… again
The looming battle for the key port of Hodeidah threatens vital infrastructure and civilians
A large-scale operation in the port city may still be avoided – a similar move was threatened before and postponed in part thanks to some serious diplomatic wrangling – but humanitarians are nonetheless concerned.
“The potential humanitarian impact of a battle at Hodeidah feels unthinkable,” Suze Vanmeegen, protection and advocacy advisor at the Norwegian Refugee Council, told IRIN. “We are already using words like ‘catastrophic’ and ‘horrendous’ to describe the crisis in Yemen, but any attack on Hodeidah has the potential to blast an already alarming crisis into a complete horror show – and I’m not using hyperbole.”
Predictions of famine have hastened in the past month, following a partial blockade by the Saudi Arabian-led coalition at Yemen’s Houthi-controlled Red Sea ports of Hodeidah and Saleef.
Hodeidah imports the majority of Yemen’s staple food and fuel, and humanitarians have long argued it is key to avoiding famine in a country where the UN’s latest estimates put 8.4 million people at risk of starvation.
Aid agencies do appear to have back-up plans ready for a Hodeidah battle, which could, in the worst-case scenario, see the port destroyed.
The most recent published contingency plan, put together when a battle was predicted in March, says that if Hodeidah becomes completely inaccessible, the WFP-run logistics cluster (which facilitates humanitarian transport for various aid agencies) will reroute some cargo to Aden.
The plan notes that if all sea cargo is rerouted to Aden “there is a concrete risk of congestion, resulting in considerable delays”.
Overall, the main message from the humanitarian community remains that Hodeidah is irreplaceable.
“The investment of the humanitarian community in ensuring Hodeidah port is protected and able to function is by no means arbitrary,” the NRC’s Vanmeegen told IRIN. “It is based on well-founded fear that the use of alternative ports would have security and cost implications that would compromise the delivery of aid and leave more people without access to the things they need to survive.”
A battle would not just threaten supply routes that are a lifeline to civilians – The area around Hodeidah port is heavily populated and fighting there and across the city could mean loss of civilian life and further displacement in a province that already hosts more than 100,000 displaced people.
Shabia Mantoo of the UN’s refugee agency, UNHCR, told IRIN that an intensification of conflict in Hodeidah could lead to “large-scale displacement of anywhere between 100,000 to half a million people” – by Annie Slemrod
http://www.irinnews.org/news/2017/12/14/world-s-worst-humanitarian-crisis-about-get-worse-again
(A K PS)
Bomb blast kills 4 soldiers in Yemen
A bomb blast has killed four government troops in Yemen’s southwestern Taiz province, according to a pro-government commander.
A device planted by Houthi rebels exploded as a military vehicle was passing on a road linking al-Mokha and al-Khawkhah districts in Taiz
http://aa.com.tr/en/middle-east/bomb-blast-kills-4-soldiers-in-yemen/1006771
(* A H K)
Yemeni officials say foreign aid workers have left port city
Foreign humanitarian workers with the United Nations and other international organizations have left Yemen's Red Sea port city of Hodeida because of intensified fighting there, Yemeni officials said on Friday.
Their departure came as Yemen's Shite rebels, known as Houthis, stepped up fighting with forces loyal to the internationally recognized government of President Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi along the Red Sea coast of Hodeida and western Yemen.
Local employees with the U.N. and other organizations are now doing the humanitarian work in rebel-held Hodeida, a lifeline for most of Yemen's population, said the officials.
(** A H K)
More displacement, new humanitarian needs as hostilities flare on Yemen’s west coast
This is a summary of what was said by UNHCR spokesperson Babar Baloch – to whom quoted text may be attributed – at today's press briefing at the Palais des Nations in Geneva.
Over the past few days, UNHCR has received reports of new displacement from Hudaydah and Taizz governorates. UNHCR and partners are still assessing the situation, but initial reports are that more than 1,400 people have fled from Taizz and Hudaydah to the Ash Shamateen district in Southern Taizz, and Al Fayoosh district in Lahj. With numbers expected to rise further, UNHCR is working with partners to be in position to support and help those fleeing.
To date we have deployed emergency relief items for 2,000 families in Hudaydah, and a further 2,000 aid kits are on their way along with 2,000 emergency shelter kits. As the port of Hudaydah remains closed an additional 43 containers with emergency, shelter and household aid, including plastic tarpaulins and blankets for more than 20,000 families had to be diverted to Aden.
Of particular concern to UNHCR is the fate of 1,460 Eritrean refugees as well as Yemeni civilians in the Al Khawkah area, 117 kilometres south of Al Hudaydah City. The area has been declared a military zone.
http://www.unhcr.org/uk/news/briefing/2017/12/5a33986ed/displacement-new-humanitarian-needs-hostilities-flare-yemens-west-coast.html = https://reliefweb.int/report/yemen/more-displacement-new-humanitarian-needs-hostilities-flare-yemen-s-west-coast
Comment: Hodeida governate in the Tihama - the flat plain that borders the Red Sea - is well populated and the UN has been saying for at least a year that a military attack in this area would create a disaster. The levels of disease and malnutrition there are already very high. Pity the nation.
https://www.facebook.com/judith.brown.794628/posts/10156209246413641
(* A K)
UAE, allies advance in southern Yemen
[Subscribers only]
http://www.janes.com/article/76428/uae-allies-advance-in-southern-yemen
cp2 Allgemein / General
(* A P)
Local news is reporting that Saleh's family moved through #Lahij and arrived in #Aden today. They reportedly will fly to the #UAE from Aden International Airport in southern #Yemen
https://twitter.com/MaherFarrukh/status/942160079528386560
(A H K)
Posting Instagram stories showing each day of my reporting trip to Taiz . Can find me here https://instagram.com/p/Bcxc09nFOsV/
https://twitter.com/abubakrabdullah
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You see, the tragic truth is that to a wide slate of regional and global powers, #Yemen is hugely important. In contrast, Yemenis are not.
Strategies against the Saudi war which focus on the worsening plight of Yemeni civilians are important, certainly. But unfortunately, terrible Yemeni suffering will not have any substantive effect to change the policies of these foreign states on Yemen.
The only strategy that may reduce, or even cease completely, the multiple facets of what we call the Saudi war on Yemenis is to address with suitably measured responses each of the intrinsic issues which make Yemen important to these regional & global powers.
https://www.facebook.com/haykal.bafana/posts/1543654865714518
Comment: From Haykel Banafa - so very sad but true - and more than that, money is more important to the war makers and warmongers and those who make obnoxious weapons that are used in Yemen than the lives of Yemenis - including those Yemenis who are leading the fighting factions within Yemen.
https://www.facebook.com/judith.brown.794628/posts/10156211126338641
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Konferenz in Vereinigten Arabischen Emiraten baut an Einheitsfront gegen Huthis
In Abu Dhabi versammelten die Emirate diese Woche Führungspersönlichkeiten des Allgemeinen Volkskongress (GPC), der von Ali Abdullah Salih angeführt wurde. Der Vizepräsident des Südlichen Übergangsrates (STC), Hani bin Braik, der in Aden beheimatet ist, teilte auf Twitter mit, dass der STC die Regierung von Abdurabbu al-Hadi unterstützt, dem international anerkannten Staatschef Jemens. Am Donnerstag leakte das Nachrichtenportal Bloomberg, dass Saudi-Arabien ebenso die einflussreiche al-Islah-Partei nach Abu Dhabi einlud. Die Partei steht der Muslimbruderschaft nahe und wird von Saudi-Arabien sowie den Emiraten als terroristische Vereinigung gelistet. Die Partei gehört zu den einflussreichsten Machtblöcken im politischen Mosaik Jemens, die einen Durchbruch der Saudis und vor allem der Emiratis im Raum von Taiz vor allem bisher im Weg stand.
https://deutsch.rt.com/der-nahe-osten/62272-zermurbungskrieg-in-jemen-saudi-allianz/
(* B H K)
Photos. Part of the road you have to take to get to Taiz from Aden as the main road via Hawban is under Houthi control. Food, medicine.. everything has to go by this road.
https://twitter.com/abubakrabdullah/status/941728058276421632
(* B K)
Maps: Yemen - Taizz City - Scale of Building Damage - As of September 2017
https://reliefweb.int/map/yemen/yemen-taizz-city-scale-building-damage-september-2017
https://reliefweb.int/map/yemen/yemen-taizz-city-salh-scale-building-damage-september-2017
https://reliefweb.int/map/yemen/yemen-taizz-city-al-mudhaffar-scale-building-damage-september-2017
https://reliefweb.int/map/yemen/yemen-taizz-city-al-qahirah-scale-building-damage-september-2017
https://reliefweb.int/map/yemen/yemen-taizz-city-western-taizz-scale-building-damage-september-2017
https://reliefweb.int/map/yemen/yemen-taizz-city-eastern-taizz-scale-building-damage-september-2017
(* B K P)
Opinion: We cannot wait another 1,000 days to help Yemen
Today marks the 1,000-day anniversary of the beginning of the war in Yemen.
We Yemenis have lived with this war for over two and a half years. For 1,000 days — day in, day out — we have woken up and gone to bed with the terrifying reality of airstrikes, ground-fighting, and hunger. But this is not the worst of our pain. Our real source of pain is knowing that all of this could have been prevented, with one simple, life-saving decision — to support peacebuilders. In fact, a concerted effort by the international community to invest in local peacebuilders would not only help stop the violence and bloodshed, but would also stabilize our country and alleviate horrific human suffering in the long term.
It’s time to stop oversimplifying this war as “the next Syria.” It’s time to go beyond addressing only the humanitarian crisis and other symptoms of the conflict. It’s time to help local mediators and peace builders succeed.
The people of Yemen have suffered for 1,000 days. Please do not wait another 1,000 days before you decide to support us – by Shoqi A. Maktary
https://www.devex.com/news/opinion-we-cannot-wait-another-1-000-days-to-help-yemen-91770
(* A K P)
Iran Unveils Factsheet on Yemen
Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif strongly rejected US claim about Tehran's missile aid to Yemen, and said alternative evidence has no place in international relations.
"Fact sheet on why alternative facts and alternative evidence have no place in international relations," Zarif wrote on his Twitter account followed by This Link through which the fact sheet can be retrieved.
The Iranian foreign minister in a post on his official Twitter account shared links to a report which reveals some inconvenient facts about the war in Yemen.
“Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) have since March 2015 instigated a humanitarian catastrophe of Biblical proportions in the poorest of Arab nations. More than 10,000 people in Yemen have been killed in over two years of heavy airstrikes and fighting which have destroyed countless schools, hospitals, factories and other civilian targets,” the opening paragraph of the report reads.
http://en.farsnews.com/newstext.aspx?nn=13960924000964 and also by Middle East Eye: http://www.middleeasteye.net/news/iran-accuses-us-trying-hide-own-role-yemen-war-1990251129
referring to
(* B K P)
Case study: Yemen
'In an age of alternative evidence, some inconvenient facts about the war in Yemen. Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) have since March 2015 instigated a humanitarian catastrophe of Biblical proportions in the poorest of Arab nations. More than 10,000 people in Yemen have been killed in over two years of heavy airstrikes and fighting which have destroyed countless schools, hospitals, factories and other civilian targets. These attacks constitute war crimes. UN human rights chief Zeid Ra’ad al Hussein has stated that Saudi-led forces are “responsible for twice as many civilian casualties as all other forces put together, virtually all as a result of airstrikes.” Indeed, at least 3,158 aerial attacks over the past two years have struck non-military sites.
Moreover, having imposed a naval blockade, Saudi Arabia has created a man-made famine that has put 17 million Yemenis on the brink of disaster. An entire generation of Yemeni children are now stunted in their growth. In addition, the worst outbreak of cholera in recorded history has afflicted over one million Yemenis. Aid organizations are now warning of a diphtheria epidemic. Having extensively besieged Yemen, Saudi Arabia has also been systematically targeting food supplies.
And the United States is directly complicit in this calamity. Last year, Saudi Arabia was the world’s second largest weapons buyer, increasing its intake by 212% - mainly from the United States.
http://en.newyork.mfa.ir/uploads/yemen_132659.pdf and also http://www.irna.ir/en/News/82764488 and http://ifpnews.com/exclusive/yemens-ballistic-missiles-come/
My comment: When reading this, you will realize: This is much more real than Haley’s propaganda show. And actually, it cannot matter at all whether this is coming from Iran.
(* B K P)
Why Yemen Matters
Saleh's death was the by-product of Saudi efforts to undermine the Houthi resistance by luring Saleh away with a promise of a future political role, thereby denying the rebels the considerable military and tribal forces under Saleh's control. The Saudis correctly assessed that the Saleh-Houthi alliance was merely a matter of political convenience for Saleh. But it was not so for the forces he ostensibly led, most of whom were bitterly opposed to the Saudi-led intervention in their country and loath to throw their support behind Hadi, who was viewed as little more than a Saudi puppet.
The Saudi-led coalition sought to exploit tension between the Houthis and Saleh, with the United Arab Emirates, heavily invested in a campaign to capture the Houthi-held port city of Houdeida, sending covert arms shipments to Saleh loyalists. The Houthis intercepted these shipments, exposing Saleh's conspiracy with the Saudis. Saleh's decision to publicly call for negotiations with Saudi Arabia was little more than the desperate final act of a man trapped by his own scheming.
So if anything, the failed Saudi effort to flip Saleh has left the coalition in a weaker position than before.
When it began, Yemen's civil war had nothing to do with Iranian regional ambition, and everything to do with traditional Yemeni domestic politics, which historically involved Saudi Arabia. But through its ill-advised and poorly executed intervention, Riyadh has opened the door for a level of Iranian intervention which had not previously existed – by Scott Ritter
http://beta.energyintel.com/world-energy-opinion/why-yemen-matters/
My comment: A good look at the Houthi / Saleh rift, but at the end just repeating the baseless propaganda on Iranian arms supply to the Houthis.
Comment by Judith Brown. This is by Scott Ritter who was very much involved in US intelligence in Iraq and opposed the Iraq war. This is sort of interesting - and a bit off kilter relating to the position of the Houthis in Yemen. It assumes that they are a popular Yemeni movement, whereas the support they do have stems more from their opposition to Saudi Arabia rather than Yemenis being pro-Houthi - which some are, but not all by any means; the majority strongly oppose them as a political movement. Ritter also has detail on the provision of weapons by Iran to the Houthis - and involvement of the Republican Guard - I'm not sure where this comes from but I haven't seen it expressed by other intelligence experts with a lot more knowledge of Yemen, so I'm not sure how credible it is - most Yemen experts seem to think that Iran's support it linked to rhetoric more than practical assistance, and Yemen is awash with arms and doesn't need Iranian weapons.
https://www.facebook.com/judith.brown.794628/posts/10156208332268641
(* B H K P)
Film: Meritxell Relano, UNICEF: Interview this morning on CNN. My plea. Please stop the war!
https://twitter.com/RelanoMeritxell/status/941567551926161409
(* B K P)
Film: Jemen: Kriegsverbrecher auf der Anklagebank?
Sind im Jemen-Konflikt Kriegsverbrechen begangen worden? Der Internationale Strafgerichtshof hat sich bisher nicht damit befasst, weil die beteiligten Konfliktparteien nicht anerkennen. Doch ein französischer Anwalt glaubt, nun eine juristische Lücke gefunden zu haben.
https://www.arte.tv/de/videos/080014-000-A/jemen-kriegsverbrecher-auf-der-anklagebank/
(* B H K P)
Film: Yemen Edging Closer To Becoming Failed State, Reporter Says
Here & Now's Robin Young speaks with Ward about the unfolding humanitarian crisis.
Yemen, the world's poorest Arab country, is edging closer to becoming a failed state. That's according to CNN's Clarissa Ward (@clarissaward), who's just back from a rare reporting trip inside the country.
https://twitter.com/CNNnewsroom/status/941336587773849600
(* B P)
Divided in mourning: A family and country after Saleh
Accused of corruption during his rule and devastation after it, Saleh was Yemen's strongman who many loved to hate
When historians pen the history of this period, the death of Saleh will be marked as a turning point in the country's contemporary history. When he first came to government, it was predicted he would only last six months, but he ended up leading for over 33 years.
He is the only president many Yemenis have ever known. He brought about one of the most peaceful periods and one of the most disastrous, in recent times.
Saleh's death is deeply symbolic in the minds of Yemenis as a reflection of the level of chaos the country has now reached, but also for its strategic importance. His death creates a systemic imbalance in Yemen's political and military elite. Who will this void, and how, is now the most prominent question.
(* B K)
Landmine Monitor 2017
However, according to Landmine Monitor 2017, armed conflict in Afghanistan, Libya, Ukraine, and Yemen contributed to a second year of exceptionally high casualties caused by mines, including improvised devices that are triggered like mines, and other explosive remnants of war (ERW). This latest annual report of the Nobel Prize-winning International Campaign to Ban Landmines (ICBL) was released today.
Over that time, non-state armed groups used antipersonnel mines, including improvised mines, in at least nine countries: Afghanistan, India, Iraq, Myanmar, Nigeria, Pakistan, Syria, Ukraine, and Yemen.
https://reliefweb.int/report/world/landmine-monitor-2017 and full report https://reliefweb.int/sites/reliefweb.int/files/resources/Landmine_Monitor_2017_Embargoed.pdf
(* A P)
Emirati Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Anwar Gargash reported that the Islah party cut ties with the Muslim Brotherhood on December 14. Emirati Crown Prince Mohammed bin Zayed and Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman met with Islah party leadership in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia on December 13.[2]
https://www.criticalthreats.org/briefs/gulf-of-aden-security-review/
My comment: This sounds like a joke. Islah party IS Muslim brotherhood.
(* A P)
Saudis Host Surprise Talks Between U.A.E., Yemen's Brotherhood
Meeting could mark beginning of new realignments in Yemen
Saudi Prince Mohammed made the meeting happen, Islah says
Mohammed al-Yadomi, the head of an influential Yemeni party held talks with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed, the crown prince of the U.A.E.’s capital.
Little detail has emerged from the discussions. But the fact that the meeting took place at all may signal the beginning of new realignments in Yemen’s nearly three-year civil war.
The U.A.E. classifies the Muslim Brotherhood as terrorists, putting it on the same spectrum as extremist groups such as Islamic State.
Majed al-Madhaji, executive director of the Sana’a Center of Strategic Studies, said “it is too early to talk about a breakthrough in the highly tense relation between Islah and the U.A.E. It is difficult to defuse this tension in one meeting but it’s an indication that there is a will to have understanding on big issues.”
Remark: Earlier reporting YPR 367, cp2.
(A P)
Head of Yemeni Islah Party: The meeting with HRH Crown prince Mohammad bin Salman and Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed is fruitful and positive
In a press statement to Yemeni Islah Party website, Al-Yidumi said: "The meeting dealt with the critical and historical role being played by the Arab coalition in Yemen, as its security, unity, and stability are an essential part of the security and stability of the Arab States of the Gulf and the Arab region in general."
http://almasdaronline.com/article/96083 and also https://aawsat.com/english/home/article/1113911/yemen%E2%80%99s-islah-party-says-riyadh-meeting-aids-freeing-country-iranian-militias
My comment: This strange meeting (UAE is prosecuting and jailing Muslim Brotherhood member) reported earlier YPR 367, cp3.
(A P)
Yadoomi denies rumor of rift with Arab Gulf states
The Yemen Congregation for Reform [Islah Party] has denied the persistent rumors of rift between itself and the Arab Gulf states backing Yemen against the armed rebellion of Iran-affiliated Houthis.
https://www.alsahwa-yemen.net/en/p-13715
(A P)
[UAE Foreign Minister ] Gargash reveals the objective of the meeting, which gathered Crown Prince «Abu Dhabi» leaders of the Islah Party in Riyadh
[…] seeks to unite efforts to defeat Iran and its Huthi militias," Gargash said in a tweet through his Twitter account. "We bet on national diet and loyalty."
He added in another tweet that "the Yemeni Islah Party recently announced its disengagement from the terrorist organization of the Muslim Brotherhood, we have an opportunity to test intentions and to give priority to the interest of Yemen and its Arab environment.
"The Saudi leadership is a compass of our work within the Arab alliance and in the face of terrorism and Iranian ambitions, our partnership is existential and principled, and together we will win and win," he said.
https://marebpress.net/news_details.php?sid=132808 and translation https://translate.google.com/translate?sl=ar&tl=en&js=y&prev=_t&hl=de&ie=UTF-8&u=https%3A%2F%2Fmarebpress.net%2Fnews_details.php%3Fsid%3D132808&edit-text=
(* B K P)
Yemen after Saleh’s Death: Moscow on Standby
The United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia (and, to a certain extent, Qatar) are the most influential actors in the history of Yemen. Western and pan-Arab media often refer to Iran, and more specifically, to Hezbollah, as the Houthi’s main sponsors. However, many Russian experts regard this position as a completely intentional and hysterical exaggeration of Iran’s role in Yemen. Although the Gulf Coalition has continued as a united front for a while, it soon became clear that each party is pursuing its own interests and goals.
The collapse of the Saleh–Houthi alliance will without a doubt tip the balance of Yemeni political forces. This does not mean, however, the change will be for the better, and the Coalition will finally be able to destroy all the Houthi forces. We will most likely see further fragmentation of the political forces within the country.
What does Moscow stand to gain from issuing accreditation to a Hadi-appointed ambassador? Russia has shown it is ready to mediate in the crisis, but nothing more. Moscow has sought to alleviate some of the tensions in its relations with Saudi Arabia on the Yemen matter, while maintaining a multi-faceted approach – by Ruslan Mamedov
http://moderndiplomacy.eu/index.php?option=com_k2&view=item&id=3452:yemen-after-saleh-s-death-moscow-on-standby&Itemid=139 = http://www.eurasiareview.com/17122017-yemen-after-salehs-death-moscow-on-standby-analysis/
(* B P)
YEMENIS REFLECT ON FORMER LEADER SALEH’S DEATH: “EVERYTHING THAT HAPPENED IN YEMEN WAS ALWAYS ABOUT HIM”
I asked five Yemenis of different ages and from many parts of society to reflect on Saleh’s death and what they think it means for the future of their country. A recent internet and social media clampdown in Sanaa has made communication with people in Houthi-controlled territory much more difficult; as a result, I was unable to reach Houthi supporters for comment. All the Yemenis I spoke to were shocked that their famously mercurial ex-president was gone, but none saw his death as a good omen for Yemen, even those who risked their lives to protest against the Saleh regime in 2011.
https://theintercept.com/2017/12/14/yemen-war-ali-abdullah-saleh-dead/
cp2a Saudische Blockade / Saudi blockade
Siehe / Look at cp1
(* B H P)
Saudis Are Not Easing Yemen Blockade – What Next?
Too many lives hang in the balance. Exiting this intractable war is not going to be easy, but it’s possible. Saudi Arabia has not been able to come to terms with the stalemate. It cannot win and it will not be able to convince the resistance movement of Ansarullah and their allies to stand down. Deep problems in Saudi Arabia’s economy, as well as regime-change defeats in Syria and Iraq, have put pressure on the house of King Salman and its American masters.
If the international pressure rises on Saudi Arabia it will be forced to back down. No such pressure comes from the West though. But it could come from the UN. Since this is possible, there can be a way to end this senseless suffering of the Yemenis.
http://en.farsnews.com/newstext.aspx?nn=13960922001656
cp3 Humanitäre Lage / Humanitarian situation
(* B H)
Film: Crisis deepens in Yemen's forgotten war
Rasha Muhrez, Director of Program Operations in Yemen, Save the Children discusses the ongoing humanitarian crisis in Yemen with CNN's Hannah Vaughan Jones.
http://edition.cnn.com/videos/tv/2017/12/16/exp-conflict-in-yemen-rages-on.cnn
(A H)
I'm so happy to see those faces are happy. Our 107 project in food insecurity which was carried out today in Sanaa by @monarelief and funded by @Khalsa_Aid as I'm still stuck in Amman of Jordan. Our team in #Yemen is doing well in alleviating the suffering of our ppl in #Yemen (photos)
https://twitter.com/Fatikr/status/942239837532446721
https://twitter.com/Fatikr/status/942237845653282816
https://twitter.com/Khalsa_Aid/status/942131214760267776
https://twitter.com/Mohammed_Hojily/status/942084726436909057
(B H)
Photo. (Re)establishing a sense of normality.
All is well. photo credit: Ali Alsonidar @alialsonidar
(B H)
Jemen: Spenden für die Kinder im Konfliktgebiet
Der katastrophale Konflikt im Jemen hat 17 Millionen Menschen an den Rand einer Hungersnot getrieben, ohne Zugang zu sauberem Wasser, ohne sanitäre Anlagen und medizinische Grundversorgung. 80 Prozent der jemenitischen Kinder brauchen dringend humanitäre Hilfe. Alle zehn Minuten stirbt ein Kind
https://web.de/magazine/unicef/jemen-spenden-kinder-konfliktgebiet-32700832
(A H)
Mona Relief's ground crew delivered today blankets and winter clothing to children with special needs.
Our project today was carried out in Sana'a and funded by our donors from Kuwait. (photos)
monareliefye.org delivering blankets and winter clothing to most vulnerable families in the capital Sana'a.
This project was funded by our Kuwaiti donor. Yemen (photos)
(* B H)
Jemen: "Zwischen dem Kugelhagel bleibt kaum noch Platz für Hilfe und jegliches Leben"
"Stilles Sterben ohne Ausweg" - mit dieser Botschaft warnten die Hilfsorganisationen im Bündnis "Aktion Deutschland Hilft" bereits im Dezember 2016 vor der dramatischen Lage im Jemen. Ein Jahr später ist die Situation drastischer denn je.
"Die humanitäre Katastrophe ist eingetroffen", sagt Manuela Roßbach, geschäftsführender Vorstand von "Aktion Deutschland Hilft". "Zu lang hat die internationale Gemeinschaft die Augen verschlossen." Im Jemen herrschen erbitterte Kämpfe. Die Bevölkerung ringt um ihr Überleben.
Etwa 20 Millionen Jemeniten und damit 75 Prozent der Bevölkerung sind auf humanitäre Hilfe angewiesen
(B H)
Yemen: Revised Humanitarian Response Plan - Funding Status
Remark: Sat the end of the year – still 39 % missing.
(B H)
Yemen: Humanitarian Dashboard (January - October 2017)
Despite the difficult operational environment some 143 national and international humanitarian partners are actively coordinating to assist people with the most acute needs in priority districts across Yemen. An average of 7.4 million people were reached in September and October with emergency food assistance while more than half a million people received livelihoods support. At the end of October, the Humanitarian Response Plan was 61 per cent funded with significant funding imbalances among clusters.
https://reliefweb.int/report/yemen/yemen-humanitarian-dashboard-january-october-2017
(B H)
USAID: Yemen - Food Assistance Fact Sheet, updated December 13, 2017
To date in Fiscal Year (FY) 2018, USAID’s Office of Food for Peace (FFP) has contributed $130 million to support the UN World Food Program (WFP) emergency food assistance operations in Yemen. WFP targets 7 million severely food-insecure individuals with in-kind food assistance and food vouchers across 20 of Yemen’s 22 governorates.
Since the beginning of FY 2017, FFP has supported WFP and other non-governmental organization (NGO) implementing partners with nearly $500 million in emergency food assistance, including the provision of U.S.-sourced wheat, peas and vegetable oil, locally- and regionally-procured food and food vouchers to Yemen’s most vulnerable populations.
https://reliefweb.int/report/yemen/yemen-food-assistance-fact-sheet-updated-december-13-2017
(B H)
Fisher’s Dream of Catching more Fish with less time
Ahmed finally achieved his dream to catch more fish in less time using fish detecting technique. In partnership with @USAIDMiddleEast we support 200 fishermen with fish detectors through @SMEPSYEMEN under #YECRP
http://www.ye.undp.org/content/yemen/en/home/ourwork/crisispreventionandrecovery/successstories/fisher_s-dream-of-catching-more-fish-with-less-time.html and https://twitter.com/UNDPYEMEN/status/941221737919860736
My comment: By USAID. In other parts of Yemen, the Saudi coalition bombs the fishers or at least prevents them from fishing: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/dec/12/bombed-into-famine-how-saudi-air-campaign-targets-yemens-food-supplies
(A H)
42'000 people received food parcels this week in Maarib governorate, where many of those fleeing frontlines took refuge (photo)
https://twitter.com/ICRC_ye/status/941345137719955461
(A H)
Yemen: Access Constraints as of 13 December 2017
https://reliefweb.int/map/yemen/yemen-access-constraints-13-december-2017
(BH)
Photo. Too young to be missing school. Too cold for not wearing shoes.
Too thin for carrying a big bag.
(A H)
@monarelief's ground crew in Sanaa was able today to resume our humanitarian work despite the current situation in #Yemen We succeeded in delivering blankets and winter clothing to disabled children in Sanaa. Pix taken by @monareliefye
https://twitter.com/Fatikr/status/941264989087772672
cp4 Flüchtlinge / Refugees
Siehe / Look at cp1c
(* B H)
„Migrant smuggling: paths from the Horn of Africa to Yemen and Saudi Arabia“
This report tries to fill in the gaps to better understand the smuggling networks facilitating irregular migration.
This report examines the smuggling networks facilitating irregular migration from the Horn of Africa to countries in the Arabian Peninsula, also referred to as the Gulf. In addition to analysing the structure and modus operandi of migrant smuggling networks, the author considers the extent to which these networks are involved in other forms of organised criminal activity, such as arms and narcotics trafficking. The report concludes with recommendations for policymakers and stakeholders operating in the Horn of Africa and Yemen.
Previous fieldwork by the Global Initiative against Transnational Organized Crime, consisting of semi-structured and open-ended interviews with government officials, migrants, migrant smugglers, and other key informants in Ethiopia, Djibouti, Somalia, and Yemen in 2016, indicated that migrants paid on average US$200–500 to journey from Ethiopia to Yemen via Djibouti. Based on these numbers, revenues from migrant smuggling along the Ethiopia–Djibouti–Yemen corridor could be conservatively estimated at US$4.5 million in 2016. Meanwhile, migrants from Ethiopia reported paying US$100–200 to be smuggled from Ethiopia to Bosaso, and both Ethiopian and Somali migrants most frequently cited prices between US$100 and US$250 for boat crossings to Yemen.
About the author
Peter Tinti is an independent journalist focusing on conflict, human rights and organised crime.
http://ffm-online.org/2017/12/15/migrant-smuggling-paths-from-the-horn-of-africa-to-yemen-and-saudi-arabia/ and in full http://ffm-online.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/aitwr-7.pdf
(* A H)
UN Migration Agency Responds to Displacement Caused by Fighting in Yemen’s Capital
In response to this sudden displacement, IOM, the UN Migration Agency immediately began providing humanitarian assistance to displaced people and people affected by the conflict using prepositioned stocks of relief including shelter building materials, mattresses, blankets, winter clothes and personal hygiene items.
So far, nearly 25,480 people have been reached with this support in Taizz, Ibb, Hajja and Amran Governorates – all areas where people have fled to from Sana’a. IOM is in the process of bringing more humanitarian relief to the Sa’ada and Sana’a Governorates to improve living conditions of approximately 28,000 vulnerable displaced people sheltering in those locations.
(B H)
Film: This 2-year-old Yemeni girl is suffering from a treatable skin condition. But her displaced family can't afford to get her the help she needs.
https://www.facebook.com/StopTheWarOnYemen/videos/vb.319595141544022/780579268778938/?type=2&theater
(B H)
Somalia: Arrivals from Yemen at 30 November 2017
https://reliefweb.int/map/somalia/somalia-arrivals-yemen-30-november-2017
Somalia: Refugees, asylum-seekers and returnees at 30 November 2017
https://reliefweb.int/map/somalia/somalia-refugees-asylum-seekers-and-returnees-30-november-2017
cp5 Nordjemen und Huthis / Northern Yemen and Houthis
(A K P)
Houthis arrest tens of their fighters on treason suspicions
Houthis have reportedly arrested tens of fellow rebel fighters in Ras Esa in Hodeida on suspicions of "treason" after the Arab Coalition struck a boat with member militants onboard, local sources told Al Meena News website.
https://www.alsahwa-yemen.net/en/p-13713
(A P)
Republican Decree appoints Minister of Communications and Information Technology
http://www.sabanews.net/en/news481844.htm
Remark: he replaces a Saleh follower.
(A P)
President Al-Samad and Minister of Agriculture discuss work performance in agricultural sector
http://www.sabanews.net/en/news481832.htm
(A P)
President Al-Samad meets the parliamentary bloc of Ibb Province
The meeting discussed the situation on the national scene in light of the current circumstances in Yemen and the serious conspiracy being waged by the Saudi-led aggression coalition aimed at undermining the unity of the nation and the internal front.
The meeting also reviewed the national role of the parliamentarians during the current stage
http://www.sabanews.net/en/news481841.htm
My comment: I think after the fail of the Houthi / Saleh alliance there will no more be enough members of parliament left to reach the quorum which is required by the constitution. The majority of MPs had been followers of Saleh’s party GPC and they not all will be loyal to the Houthis now.
(A P)
Film: Yemeni women rally to protest US al-Quds decision
Yemeni women have staged a rally in central Sana'a to condemn the US decision to recognize al-Quds as Israel's capital.
http://www.presstv.com/Detail/2017/12/15/545648/Yemeni-women-rally-to-protest-US-alQuds-decision-
(* A P)
Yemen’s Pro-Saleh Faction, Houthis Make a Deal to End Dispute
It’s unclear what such a deal actually means, if it reflects a serious rapprochement between the two sides or simply a recognition from the GPC that they cannot survive without Houthi support after losing so many top figures.
https://news.antiwar.com/2017/12/13/yemens-pro-saleh-faction-houthis-make-a-deal-to-end-dispute/
Remark: Earlier and more reporting YPR 367, cp5.
cp6 Südjemen und Hadi-Regierung / Southern Yemen and Hadi-government
Siehe / Look at cp1
(B P)
Website of the separatist Southern Transitional Council
(A P)
Declaration of the Southern Transitional Council in Jehaf
http://en.smanews.org/declaration-of-the-southern-transitional-council-in-jehaf
(A P)
The STC Presidium Approved a Date for the First National Assembly Meeting,
The STC presidium said, ‘That the STC has almost completed implementing its foundations, its first meeting of the National Assembly in Aden is an excellent step in the right direction’.
http://en.stcaden.com/news/8065
(A T)
Suspected #AQAP militants temporarily clashed with #UAE-backed forces in al Surrah town, #Abyan governorate, southern #Yemen. Security forces captured two militants.
https://twitter.com/MaherFarrukh/status/942155036909596672 and also https://twitter.com/demolinari/status/941990871003627521
https://twitter.com/demolinari/status/942046783357591553
#AQAP claimed its militants shelled #UAE-backed security forces in Mahfad district, Abyan governorate, southern #Yemen on 12 DEC. #AQAP has only claimed 5 attacks this month (3 in Abyan, 1 in Shabwah, 1 in Hadramawt all targeting Emirati-backed forces).
https://twitter.com/MaherFarrukh/status/941287629403901953
#AQAP claimed its militants shelled #UAE-backed security forces in Mahfad district, Abyan, southern #Yemen on 15 DEC, second time this week.
https://twitter.com/MaherFarrukh/status/942150496671985666
(A T)
AQAP militants shell Emirati-backed forces in Abyan governorate, southern Yemen [4]
cp7 UNO und Friedensgespräche / UN and peace talks
(* A P)
We Saved Iraq and Syria - We Can Save Yemen Too
International Law lives or dies on the quality of universal conversation. Were it left to the United Nations to decide whether there should be war or peace in Yemen, without a doubt the world body would not hesitate a moment to prefer the latter.
Today it doesn’t take the smarts of a UN to realize that the universal conversation on International Law and International Humanitarian Law, filtered through US/Saudi-controlled, often-fractured Security Council and Human Rights Council, is faltering. While trying to analyze how to fix its modern-day broken system, from the promotion of warmongers like Saudis to a seat at the Human Rights Council to acting on fake news about the Ansarullah movement at the Security Council, right now is a critical moment for the world body to hold the line and realize that people are still dying in that poorest country in the Arab world. If the UN hopes to reinvigorate its power and stop this mounting humanitarian catastrophe, today its International Law defenders are called upon to act - and quickly.
http://en.farsnews.com/newstext.aspx?nn=13960923001052
My comment: From Iran, but reasonable anyway, as far as Yemen is concerned. The text sounds like an (unnamed) non-Iranian author. But the headline is unfortunately wrong: Syria and Iran are not “saved” at all.
(A P)
UN Envoy for Yemen: Houthi militias violate international law
The United Nations Special Envoy for Yemen Ismail Ould Cheikh Ahmed, said on Friday evening that "what is happening in Sanaa is unacceptable and contrary to international law," in reference to Houthi militia’s killings, raids and kidnappings affecting those who were loyal to late President Ali Abdullah Saleh, and their opponents.
Ould Cheikh Ahmed stressed the need to "put an end immediately to the attacks targeting the leaders of the General People's Congress, activists and their families and terrorizing them."
My comment: Still no word about Saudi air strike and blockade? How biased this envoy actually is?
Referring to
(A P)
What is happening in #Sana'a is unacceptable and against Humanitarian International Law. We need to put an end to the targeting of GPC leaders, activists and their families
https://twitter.com/un_envoy/status/941705158119034880
I met as well with a number of senior leaders of the General People's Congress to offer my condolences on the death of President Saleh and the best way to put an end to the conflict in #Yemen
https://twitter.com/un_envoy/status/941704759974785025
My comment: I scrolled back his tweets and looked whether there were any blaming the Saudi coalition for its blockade and air raids. I checked just the English tweets, also his retweets. Went back to Feb. 17. NOTHING. Niente. Nada. Rien. Hic bir sey yok.
cp8 Saudi-Arabien / Saudi Arabia
(* B K P)
Saudi Arabia has the best military equipment money can buy — but it's still not a threat to Iran
Saudi Arabia has some of the greatest military equipment money can buy, but its military is still not seen as a threat to its longtime rival Iran.
Saudi Arabia's military has not proved capable of effectively fighting back Iran-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen.
Its arsenal is designed for a large conventional war — not proxy fighting.
Saudi Arabia's military faces two main problems. It is too large, making it more susceptible to organizational and quality issues, and its arsenal is designed for a large conventional war rather than the proxy wars of the 21st century.
For all Saudi Arabia's military ineffectiveness, it's hard to blame the kingdom's equipment. Last year, Saudi Arabia was the fourth-largest spender on defense products in the world, just behind Russia.
In Knights' view, Saudi Arabia needs to downsize its military, focus on quality recruitment and training, and make units that are capable of fighting alongside and training local allies.
http://www.businessinsider.de/saudi-arabia-iran-yemen-military-proxy-war-2017-12?r=US&IR=T
My comment: The best way would be a stop to begin and lead wars on other countries like Yemen.
(* B P)
Saudi Arabia’s new foreign policy doctrine
In the foreign policy arena, a careful reading suggests that the new Saudi doctrine is based on three strategies: strengthening its military, reevaluating its alliances, and aggressively confronting Iranian expansionism.
For decades, Saudi Arabia relied on checkbook diplomacy, quiet mediation, secret agreements, and US guarantees to secure its foreign policy aims.
Strengthening the military
With the era of pax Americana in the Middle East seemingly ending, Saudi rulers have moved to rapidly build up a military that does not overly rely on the United States and is capable of meeting both Iranian and jihadist threats.
Reevaluating alliances
Aggressively confronting Iranian expansionism
As Iran’s shadow grew and America’s footprint shrank, Saudi leaders concluded that the Kingdom would need to shift from a reactive to a proactive foreign policy posture when it came to dealing with the Islamic Republic.
Following the 2011 Bahraini uprising and the 2014 Houthi seizure of Sana’a, aggressively confronting Iranian expansionism became a strategic imperative in the Kingdom’s “near abroad.”
For the Saudi leadership, the bottom line was that the cumulative effect of Iranian expansion and US inaction demanded that the Kingdom simultaneously tackle multiple foreign policy challenges quickly and decisively. This approach led to some tactical mistakes that disquieted and confused friends and provided fuel to critics.
http://www.arabiafoundation.org/arabia-comment/saudi-arabias-new-foreign-policy-doctrine https://english.alarabiya.net/en/views/news/middle-east/2017/12/15/Saudi-Arabia-s-new-foreign-policy-doctrine.html
My comment: Showing Saudi doctrine; of course, quite biased.
(A P)
‘A Night with Travolta:’ Hollywood star hosts talk show in Saudi Arabia
Hollywood star John Travolta held a three-hour talk show on Friday at the Apex Exhibition and Conference Center in Riyadh.
The show is part of the event titled ‘A Night with Travolta’ organized by the Saudi Entertainment Authority.
(A P)
Palestinian billionaire Masri detained in Saudi Arabia
Sabih al-Masri, a Palestinian billionaire and the chairman of Jordan’s largest lender Arab Bank, was detained in Saudi Arabia for questioning after a business trip to Riyadh, family sources and friends said on Saturday.
(* A P)
77% of illegal expats in Saudi Arabia are Yemeni
Yemenis make up 77 per cent of the total, followed by Ethiopians at 22 per cent.
Saudi authorities have nabbed 194,000 foreigners staying illegally in the country during a crackdown that lasted from November 15 to December 11.
Authorities have deported 2,029 illegals so far.
Foreigners staying illegally in Saudi Arabia were given three months, starting March 29, to leave the kingdom without paying fines or facing legal measures.
http://gulfnews.com/news/gulf/saudi-arabia/77-of-illegal-expats-in-saudi-arabia-are-yemeni-1.2139937
(* A P)
Mohammed bin Salman Doesn’t Want to Talk About Jerusalem
Saudi Arabia's rulers have lots of worries, but Trump's announcement about the holy city isn't one of them.
http://foreignpolicy.com/2017/12/14/mohammad-bin-salman-doesnt-want-to-talk-about-jerusalem/
(* A P)
Saudi-backed military alliance to help G5 Sahel fight: minister
A Saudi-backed Islamic military coalition will provide logistical, intelligence and training to a new West African counter-terrorism force that is struggling to get off the ground, Saudi Arabia’s foreign minister said.
The announcement by Adel al-Jubeir signals the involvement in the Sahel of a Muslim military alliance widely seen as a vehicle for countering the growing influence of Riyadh’s rival Iran.
My comment: Saudi Arabia interferes in Africa, on a quite higher level than Iran does in Yemen. Who cares? Nobody.
cp9 USA
Siehe / look at cp1, cp1b
(* A P)
On top of a €420m yacht and a $450.3m painting, CP Mohammed bin Salman of Saudi Arabia bought a $300m French chateau. And, oh yeah, he's fighting corruption at home. https://nyti.ms/2k2ZcLs
https://twitter.com/NYTBen/status/942097198963200001
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nX76sO0MeUE
World’s Most Expensive Home? Another Bauble for a Saudi Prince
When the Chateau Louis XIV sold for over $300 million two years ago, Fortune magazine called it “the world’s most expensive home,”
and Town & Country swooned over its gold-leafed fountain, marble statues and hedged labyrinth set in a 57-acre landscaped park.
The 2015 purchase appears to be one of several extravagant acquisitions — including a $500 million yacht
and a $450 million Leonardo da Vinci painting — by a prince who is leading a sweeping crackdown on corruption and self-enrichment by the Saudi elite and preaching fiscal austerity at home.
Those companies are owned by Eight Investment Company, a Saudi firm managed by the head of Crown Prince Mohammed’s personal foundation.
https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x6bsmeu
(* B P)
WILL TRUMP LIE US INTO ANOTHER MIDDLE EAST WAR?
"The evidence is not conclusive," former CIA Associate Deputy Director of Operations Rob Richer said.
"The Iranians have an extensive defense industry and their weapons are shipped to many parts of the world," he added.
Emile Nakhleh, a former CIA senior intelligence official, also suggested the weapons may have come from a number of other sources just as arms and ammunition from other major powers end up in the hands of militants around the world.
Trump's hardline stance against Iran has raised concern among the international community, including key U.S. allies.
As Trump doubled down on his rhetoric against Iran, Tehran has responded by mobilizing its forces and allies including those in countries where U.S. troops were present in and around – by Tom O’Connor (with film)
http://www.newsweek.com/will-trump-lie-us-another-middle-east-war-750152?piano_t=1
(* B P)
Are We Going to War With Iran?
Are we sure we’re not letting ourselves get dragged into an ill-advised Saudi scheme for a decisive confrontation with their regional rival?
Also complicating Haley’s claim that Iranian weapons “are turning up in war zones across the region” — or at least the moral authority of the United States to complain about that — is that our weapons and those of our allies tend to do the same, both intentionally and otherwise. It is a little hypocritical to demagogue against Iran for backing its preferred factions in the Yemeni civil war while Saudi Arabia besieges and bombs that country with Washington’s backing, the weapons the U.S. dumps in Syria and Iraq keep ending up in the hands of extremists, and private Saudi money funds at least as many jihadists across the Middle East as Iran’s Revolutionary Guard does.
But what really makes Haley’s speech reminiscent of Powell’s is that the latter was a crucial step towards war, whereas that the former, well, could be – By Jonah Shepp
http://nymag.com/daily/intelligencer/2017/12/are-we-going-to-war-with-iran.html
(A P T)
We Guantánamo Bay detainees have the right to protest our condition
I’ve been held at Guantánamo Bay without charge or trial since 2002. Like others here, I’m on hunger strike in protest at my detention without charge. The Trump administration is trying to force us to drop our protest.
I’m currently in solitary confinement – I’ve been stuck here since 19October. A “single cell operation”, that’s what they call it. In fact, it’s isolation. It’s terrible – by Khalid Qassim
(B K P)
The Role of the United States in Yemen
None of the arguments in favor of staying involved with the Saudi-led coalition in Yemen hold validity. One possible argument is that though American action has arguably exacerbated the conflict, American withdrawal from the conflict could end in catastrophe. Such a policy could result in a repetition of the mistakes made during interventions in Libya, Iraq, Afghanistan, and Syria, when premature US withdrawal from these countries created a power vacuum to be filled by insurgent groups
This is not to say that the best American policy on Yemen is no American policy on Yemen. Rather, the United States should focus on the suffering Yemeni populace, instead of the politics of the Saudi-Iran proxy war – by Molly McCammon
http://uchicagogate.com/articles/2017/12/15/role-united-states-yemen/
My comment: “American withdrawal from the conflict could end in catastrophe” is absurd anyway. American interference in conflict had caused all this catastrophes.
(A P)
A Story of Two Blockades: New York City and Yemen
On December 11, in response to the growing humanitarian crisis in Yemen, more than 50 concerned people including representatives of various peace, justice and human rights organizations and communities, gathered in New York City’s Ralph Bunche Park, across First Avenue from the United Nations.
After speeches, songs and a powerful minute of silence, the rally moved up First Avenue to both the US and the Saudi Permanent Missions to the United Nations.
I could not help but wonder as we were handcuffed and loaded into vans
https://www.counterpunch.org/2017/12/15/a-story-of-two-blockades-new-york-city-and-yemen/ = https://dissidentvoice.org/2017/12/a-story-of-two-blockades/
(A P)
A Veterans Group Is Suing The Trump Administration Over Failed Raids In Yemen And Niger
The group has asked for documents laying out the Trump administration's response to two raids that ended with the deaths of five US service members.
(* A P)
Die außenpolitische Risikoanalyse des Council on Foreign Relations offenbart einige interessante Einblicke in die amerikanische Perspektive
Jährlich gibt der Thinktank Council on Foreign Relations einen Bericht über die aktuellen außenpolitischen Konflikte heraus, mit denen die US-Regierung im jeweils folgenden Jahr konfrontiert sein wird.
Dagegen gelten der Krieg im Jemen, die Kämpfe in Somalia und 'Konflikte zwischen Regierungstruppen und bewaffneten Rohingya zwar als sehr wahrscheinlich, aber ohne großen Einfluss auf die USA. Humanitäre Krisen, die nicht unmittelbar die USA berühren, gelten als wenig wichtig, was auch die Perspektive der "Experten" und der amerikanischen Politik entlarvt. Humanitäre Krisen wie die Versorgungskatastrophe im Jemen oder der "Genozid" in Myanmar an der muslimischen Minderheit haben nur dann Bedeutung, wenn geostrategische Interessen der USA ins Spiel kommen.
https://www.heise.de/tp/features/Die-USA-sind-der-unvorhersagbarste-Akteur-der-Welt-3917902.html
(* A P)
White House Statement Ignores US Role In Yemen And Blames Iran
The statement begins by expressing “grave concern” for the dire situation in Yemen. The US, of course, helped create this crisis under the Obama regime and continued support under Trump by selling billions in weapons to Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, and other smaller members of the Saudi coalition.
Despite Saudi Arabia’s devastating air war against Yemen, the press statement first chose to blame Ansarullah (the Houthis) for violence and the humanitarian catastrophe.
As long as the United States considers the Houthis to be Iranian puppets, it’s hard to rule out increased US military involvement against them altogether.
http://geopoliticsalert.com/white-house-us-role-in-yemen
Remark: The statement is several days old, look at YPR 366.
(A H P)
Film: @statedeptspox: Today, the United States Government is announcing nearly $130 million in emergency food assistance to #Yemen through @USAID. This brings total U.S. humanitarian assistance to the people of Yemen to nearly $768 million since October 2016.
https://twitter.com/StateDept/status/940670028478681088
Comment: It is called nonsense. US is complicit in the war on #Yemen
https://www.facebook.com/LivingInYemenOnTheEdge/posts/1585886911464333
(* A P)
U.S.-Iran Clash Over Yemen Highly Likely, Crisis Group Warns
Yemen is the riskiest flashpoint between the U.S. and Iran at a time when tensions between the two powers are at a “critical level,” the International Crisis Group conflict-resolution center said.
Overlapping Middle East conflicts increase the potential for intentional or inadvertent clashes, the group said in a report released Thursday. An escalation in Yemen, such as a successful strike by Iranian-backed Houthi rebels on a Saudi or Emirati city, could prompt Saudi Arabia, the U.A.E or even the U.S. to retaliate against Iran, the group said.
My comment: Anti-Iranian paranoia could lead US to war – on a fact-free base.
cp10 Großbritannien / Great Britain
(* A P)
The United Kingdom calls on a majority of Yemenis of all denominations to unite behind the legitimate government of Yemen to form a new national movement against the tyranny of the Houthis and the methods of intimidation they use.
By Edwin Samuel, British Government Spokesman for the Middle East and North Africa
https://twitter.com/EdwinSamuelUK/status/941252615383416832
My comment: That’s real interference, isn’t it?
More:
The Huthis deserve to be represented in Yemeni institutions, in proportion to their number in Yemen and the support they provide, nothing more. It is time for them to sit around the table and lay down weapons
https://twitter.com/EdwinSamuelUK/status/941260148374417408
My comment: Equity, please. If really, all Yemeni parties must lay down weapons – and foreign forces must retreat.
(A P)
Gulf-British Meetings in London to Support Stability in Yemen, Iraq
Gulf and British officials have carried out intensive workshops and meetings in the past two days in London to discuss means of supporting stability in the Gulf region, especially in Iraq and Yemen.
My comment: And again: Britain as warring party in Yemen.
cp11 Deutschland / Germany
(A P)
Film: Deutschland: Mehr Geld mit Rüstung an Saudis als Hilfe für Jemeniten
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e_HaTTg9dzg&feature=youtu.be
(A P)
IPPNW fordert Stopp der deutschen Waffenlieferungen an Saudi-Arabien
https://www.ippnw.de/startseite/artikel/de/ippnw-fordert-stopp-der-deutschen-wa-1.html
(A P)
Stoppt die Rüstungsexporte!
Die Organisation IPPNW (Internationale Ärzte zur Verhütung des Atomkrieges/Ärzte in sozialer Verantwortung) forderte am Donnerstag in einer Mitteilung den Stopp der deutschen Waffenlieferungen an Saudi-Arabien:
Die ärztliche Friedensorganisation IPPNW fordert die deutsche Bundesregierung auf, sich gegenüber der saudi-arabischen Regierung für das Ende der Blockade im Jemen einzusetzen und sämtliche Waffenlieferungen an Saudi-Arabien auszusetzen sowie keine weiteren Genehmigungen mehr zu erteilen
https://www.jungewelt.de/artikel/323622.stoppt-die-r%C3%BCstungsexporte.html
(A P)
Demonstration für Frieden im Jemen, 18.12.2017, 14 Uhr, Berlin
http://www.djg-ev.de/cms/upload/dokumente/Demo_12-2017_Flyer__2seitig.pdf
cp12 Andere Länder / Other countries
(A E P
Israel delegation to visit Bahrain after furore: report
A delegation of Israeli business leaders will travel to Bahrain in January amid a warming of ties between the two countries, according to a media report.
http://www.aljazeera.com/news/2017/12/israeli-delegation-headed-bahrain-report-171215084410464.html
(B P)
The death of Yemen’s Saleh is a warning to M’sia
By allowing the King Salman Centre for International Peace to be created right in the midst of Putrajaya, this when Wahhabism is known as the aggressive ideology that lionised many militant Islamic groups across the world, Malaysia is playing with fire.
Instead of taking a neutral position, Malaysia has inched closer to the Middle East, especially Saudi Arabia. But no one knows who MBS is and what is he capable of.
https://www.malaysiakini.com/news/405552
(A P)
UAE delegate 'storms out' of UN human rights meeting
Activists have accused Emirati officials of refusing to address criticism of the UAE's human rights record and storming out of a UN organised meeting with civil society groups.
http://www.aljazeera.com/news/2017/12/uae-delegate-storms-human-rights-meeting-171214074155921.html
(A P)
Pak-Saudi Arabia ties
Pakistan also needs to assess Saudi Arabia’s track record on fanning sectarian unrest in the region. The Kingdom has been accused of funding militant groups that identified with its brand of wahhabi Islam. Such groups were actively involved in the Afghan war and in Kashmir, and their operations inside Pakistan have undermined the security and wellbeing of a sizeable Shia Muslim population. Now that the authorities in Pakistan are working to put our house in order, they must not indulge in any projects with Saudi patronage that end up undermining these efforts.
https://dailytimes.com.pk/159743/pak-saudi-arabia-ties/ m
(A P)
Russian ambassador comments on Yemen crisis
The situation in Yemen is extremely dangerous and the conflict is unlikely to be resolved in the near future, Russia’s Ambassador in Sana’a Vladimir Dedushkin told TASS on Thursday.
http://tass.com/politics/981113
(A E P)
Russia, Saudi Arabia sign atomic energy cooperation roadmap
Russia and Saudi Arabia have signed a roadmap for cooperation in the atomic energy sector, Russian state nuclear company Rosatom said on Thursday.
My comment: The Russians are as foolish as the Americans and the French who hope to achieve a big business with the Saudi nuclear program – while they all lamented about the Iranian program and even sanctioned Iran for it.
(A P)
Greek anarchists target Saudi embassy over Yemen conflict
cp12b Libanon / Lebanon
https://www.freitag.de/autoren/dklose/libanon-mosaik-lebanon-mosaic-8
cp13 Waffenhandel / Arms trade
(A K P)
#RSAF 12-1001 F-15SA loaded with AGM-88B #HARM missiles on STA-1&9 during test flight at Palmdale, CA.
https://twitter.com/MbKS15/status/941581855081533440
My comment: They test whether the planes are fir for bombing Yemen.
cp14 Terrorismus / Terrorism
(A T)
Bin-Laden-Fahrer wieder frei
Der frühere Fahrer von El-Kaida-Chef Osama bin Laden ist nach seiner Abschiebung aus dem US-Gefangenenlager Guantanamo nun auch aus der Haft im Jemen entlassen worden.
https://www.focus.de/politik/ausland/jemen-bin-laden-fahrer-wieder-frei_aid_361225.html
(* B T)
Arms supplied by U.S., Saudi ended up with Islamic State, researchers say
Arms provided by the United States and Saudi Arabia to Syrian opposition groups frequently ended up in the hands of Islamic State, an arms monitoring group that analyzed weapons found on the battlefield said on Thursday.
cp15 Propaganda
Siehe / Look at cp1b
(A P)
Yemen welcomes UN's report on UNSC resolution 2231 implementation
Yemen has welcomed the U.N. presented report of December 13 on the implementation of U.N. Security Council Resolution 2231. That's the resolution that endorsed the Iran nuclear deal and called on Iran not to undertake activities related to ballistic missiles for eight years."
https://www.alsahwa-yemen.net/en/p-13714
(A P)
The #Yemen Foreign Minister told a reporter in an interview that there is "no political solution on the horizon" for the conflict and that the #Saudi-led coalition and Yemeni Army seek to compel a Houthi surrender through military pressure
https://twitter.com/MaherFarrukh/status/942168664756899841 referring to https://www.mofa-ye.org/Pages/%D9%86%D8%A7%D8%A6%D8%A8-%D8%B1%D8%A6%D9%8A%D8%B3-%D8%A7%D9%84%D9%88%D8%B2%D8%B1%D8%A7%D8%A1-%D9%88%D8%B2%D9%8A%D8%B1-%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%AE%D8%A7%D8%B1%D8%AC%D9%8A%D8%A9-%D9%84%D9%84%D9%82%D8%AF%D8%B3/
(A K P)
Film: File under 'Fantasy/SciFi' genre. #Saudi-produced CGI animation video depicts how #Iran would be occupied and completely destroyed by an invasion of Saudi armed forces
https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=1&v=9selhGBPdek
(A H P)
KSRelief gives vital medicine to Yemen Health Ministry
The King Salman Humanitarian Aid and Relief Center (KSRelief) on Saturday gave Yemen’s Health Ministry 20 tons of medicine and medical equipment in Aden, in the presence of senior ministry staff.
http://www.arabnews.com/node/1210276/saudi-arabia
( A H P)
ERC launches aid campaign to assist 35,000 in Yemen's Jahaf district
The Emirates Red Crescent (ERC) has announced the launch of a water campaign to assist the people of the Jahaf district in Yemen's Dhale Governorate.
http://gulftoday.ae/portal/31d82600-909d-43a0-a436-eb6d4510a849.aspx
(A P)
Gargash says Houthi rebels looting up to $5bn from Yemen
Twenty-three wounded Yemenis returned home on Saturday as part of the UAE’s humanitarian assistance programme
Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Dr Anwar Gargash said on Saturday that Houthi rebels in Yemen are looting up to $5 billion (Dh18.4bn) from the state to support their terrorist militias.
(A P)
Decision Time on Iran
Column: President Trump faces a Middle East reckoning in 2018
Very soon, President Trump will have to decide whether America should remain a bystander to Iranian expansionism or take steps to confront this menace to international security and sponsor of global terrorism.
The pressure will be great from Democrats, Europeans, realists, and the remnants of the Obama echo chamber to persist in the fiction that a bad deal is better than no deal at all. Relenting to such pressure would signal to Iran that America is comfortable with a terrible status quo, and would bolster the impression among our allies that we are willing to cede the region to the Russian-Turkish-Iranian axis. Which would be a mistake.
http://freebeacon.com/national-security/decision-time-iran/
My comment: Trump should be pressed to be even more harder towards Iran: That’s open warmongering in the media.
(A P)
Iran's Enterprise, in Yemen, definitely, about to Vanish -President Hadi Says
The Iranian sponsored enterprise, in Yemen, is definitely approaching the time of being vanished, as the hour of triumph is similarly approaching ticking time, in order purge Yemen of all evils brought up by the Iranian backed pro-coup Houthi militia, Yemeni President Abdu Rabbo Mansur Hadi said here today.
Yemen will ever be among its natural pan-Arab milieu, due to the solidarity among all people of the country to confront these militias that strenuously exerting efforts to push the country backwards, to the era of odious and dark time of the clergyman rule, according to the Yemeni official news agency.
President Hadi concluded by lauding the sacrifices, back up and support the Arab Coalition forces, taking part in the battle to decide the identity and destiny of joint Arab Will and to uproot Iran's tools and militias that wreak havoc, in the country, jeopardize Yemeni security and seek to destabilize it.
http://www.spa.gov.sa/viewfullstory.php?lang=en&newsid=1698804
My comment: the craziest propaganda roundup of the week.
(A P)
How did Qatar lose its vital weapons?
The dispute with Qatar has stripped it of its main weapons: The media and information. The dispute accelerated the idea of seeking to control the information society, which was hijacked by terrorist organizations such as Al-Qaeda and Daesh, and by enemy states such as Iran and Qatar, which place overthrowing political regimes high among their priorities. A stream of digital websites, TV channels and e-armies were launched against Qatar and its extremist allies, the effects of which can be felt now more than before.
http://www.arabnews.com/node/1209676
and
(A P)
How did Qatar lose its audience?
http://www.arabnews.com/node/1209321/opinion
(A P)
Iran expands provision of ballistic missile technology to militias
The number of ballistic missiles deployed by Iran’s proxies is rising at an unprecedented level. Four ballistic missiles were fired at Saudi Arabia by Yemen’s Houthi militias this year. The UN has revealed in a report that these missiles appear to have been designed by Iran.
Tehran is ratcheting up its delivery of weapons to the Houthis as a robust message of defiance against the US and its allies, which have intensified their efforts to resolve the conflict in Yemen and confront extremist groups. Iran’s agenda in arming the Houthis is much broader than what has been depicted in mainstream media.
http://www.arabnews.com/node/1209661
My comment: The UN report exactly does not tell what is claimed here. – Four missiles this year against Saudi Arabia – how horrible and how urgent to have international action!! 33 Saudi coalition air raids against Yemen just on Dec. 14: Not worth mentioning at all. Dec. 13: 41 air raids. Dec. 12: 80 air raids. And so on: Back nearly 1.000 days now.
(A P)
UAE calls for action against Iran after UN and US reports
Foreign ministry says revelations of weapons supply to Yemen rebels confirms Tehran's 'destabilising behaviour'
The UAE has called on the global community to more forcefully address the threat posed by Iran after a UN report this week on violations of Security Council resolutions and evidence presented by the United States of Tehran's arming of Houthi rebels in Yemen.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation said the UN secretary general’s recent report on UN Security Council Resolution 2231 strongly confirmed what the UAE and its allies had long known - that Iran is continuing its "expansionist and destabilising behaviour in the region, and is fuelling the conflict in Yemen".
And evidence presented by the United States on Thursday "left no doubt about Iran’s flagrant disregard for its UN obligations
(A P)
Yemen Govt. Urges International Community to Take Immediate Measures against Iran, Houthis
The Yemeni government called on Friday the international community to take “immediate” measures to implement all United Nations Security Council resolutions related to it, starting with resolution 2216, reported the Yemeni news agency SABA.
It also called for holding the Iranian regime and the Houthi militias responsible for their hostile acts against the people of Yemen and the region, accusing them of obstructing the political process and prolonging the political and humanitarian crisis in the country.
It welcomed the fourth UN report on the implementation of resolution 2231 which it condemned the blatant and hostile Iranian meddling in Yemen’s internal affairs.
(A P)
After Iraq and Syria, I.R.G.C. Seeking to “Expand” Its Role in Yemen and Broader Region
Emboldened by its recent gains in Syria and Iraq, Iranian military leaders are seeking to play a more aggressive role in other regional conflicts in order to “expand” Iranian influence and export the “Islamic Revolution.” In particular, latest statements by commanders of the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps and commentaries in the Iranian media suggest that the I.R.G.C. is planning to further increase its support for its Houthi allies in Yemen.
My comment: There is more propaganda supporting Haley’s “stunt”.
There is no place for a Hezbollah clone in Yemen
Their strong ideological and operations links to Iran and Lebanon’s Hezbollah, often downplayed by analysts as Gulf paranoia or exaggeration, are now overwhelmingly evident. It is the explosive mixture of radicalism and populism, quite characteristic of Khomeinist ideology, that has driven the Houthi leadership down the path of trying to revive the Imamate in north Yemen.
The example of Lebanon, where Hezbollah has become a state above the state, should provide a cautionary tale.
http://www.arabnews.com/node/1209111 = http://www.eurasiareview.com/15122017-there-is-no-place-for-a-hezbollah-clone-in-yemen-oped/
(A P)
Coalition to Restore Legitimacy in Yemen: Iran Sending Arms to Houthis to Prolong Battle
Official spokesman of the Coalition Colonel Turki al-Maliki told Al-Arabiya television: “Iran’s meddling in Yemen is not limited to ballistic missiles.”
He therefore demanded that the international community take action to stop Tehran’s violations in the world and hold it accountable for smuggling weapons to the Houthis.
(A P)
Riyadh meeting reflects KSA’s keenness on securing Yemen’s future
The meeting of Crown Prince Muhammad Bin Salman, deputy premier and minister of defense, with the senior Yemeni political leaders shows the keenness of the Saudi government in closing ranks of the Yemeni political parties while working toward the restoration of legitimacy in the neighboring country.
met with Col. Muhammad Abdullah Al-Yidoumi, president of the Yemeni Congregation for Reform Party and Abdul Wahab Ahmad Al-Anisi, secretary general of the party in Riyadh on Wednesday.
http://saudigazette.com.sa/article/524169/SAUDI-ARABIA/Riyadh-meeting-reflects-KSAs-keenness-on-securing-Yemens-future
(A P)
Will Iran's Troubles In Yemen Propagate Elsewhere?
Recent developments in Yemen and the killing of former president Ali Abdullah Saleh has highlighted what Iran has sought long to cloak. Tehran’s campaign in Saudi Arabia’s backyard has stumbled upon major political and military setbacks, providing the opportunity for Washington to correct a policy in need of strong amending.
How the future unfolds in Yemen has the potential of sparking a series of major defeats for Iran across the region, spilling into the country’s shaky politics and fueling further domestic unrest.
My comment: And again and again in the US, the Yemen war is told as an Iranian story. It’s a Saudi story in the first, a US story in the second, a UAE and UK story in the third and an Iranian story in the forth place. So what?
cp16 Saudische Luftangriffe / Saudi air raids
(* A K PH)
Saudi coalition air raids, overview day by day (maps; Arabic only), Dec. 13-14
https://twitter.com/LCRDye/status/941386625149530112
https://twitter.com/LCRDye/status/941386625149530112
(* A K PH)
Saudis massacre twelve women during wedding in Yemen
Saudi airstrike on a wedding ceremony in the northern Yemeni province of Ma’rib on Saturday has resulted in the death of twelve women, all of them civilians.
The air strike targeted a procession that took place after a wedding in the Qaramesh region of the province. Witnesses state that the bombing was specifically aimed at a group of women who were returning home from the celebrations. A dozen civilians perished in the attack.
“The aggressor committed a hideous crime by targeting ordinary women who were returning from a wedding,” a father who lost two daughters in the raid told Yemeni broadcaster al-Masirah.
https://www.almasdarnews.com/article/saudis-massacre-twelve-women-wedding-yemen/ and http://www.presstv.com/Detail/2017/12/17/545878/Saudi-Yemen-women-fatality (“Several” women)
(A K)
10:12PM Saudi-led coalition jets hovering over Sanaa sky at the moment.
https://twitter.com/A7medJa7af/status/942110247182831616
(* A K PH)
Over 20 citizens killed in US-Saudi airstrikes on Hodeida
More than 20 citizens, mostly women and children, were killed in airstrikes carried out by US-Saudi aggression warplanes on a village in al-Khokha district of Hodeida province, a local official told Saba on Saturday.
The official made it clear that the aggression air force waged a series of raids Friday evening on al-Mazarea’h village in al-Khokha district, which led to the killing of over 20 civilians, including the family of the citizen Abdullah Marboa.
http://www.sabanews.net/en/news481825.htm
and
(A K P)
Ministry of Human Rights condemns the massacre aggression against civilians in Hodeidah
http://www.sabanews.net/en/news481848.htm
(A K PH)
Local source in #Marib: Warplanes of the aggression targeted a wedding procession in the area of Bani Haysan in Hareeb Al-Qaramish by 3 raids and news of victims.
(A K PH)
The correspondent of the Yemeni Press Agency that the aviation alliance of aggression targeted a grocery store citizen Abbas Mansoub in the Zami district of the Directorate of Hayes resulted in his death, a number of members of his family and other citizens.
Killed: father, son, daughter; Injured; man and two children
Photos. https://twitter.com/narrabyee/status/942651131217567745
(A K)
Can you imagine that #Saudi jets targeted #Saada governorate yesterday with 58 air strikes ,this is some kind of insanity growing each day .
https://twitter.com/AhmadAlgohbary/status/942163185293058048
(A K PS)
VIDEO: Coalition forces destroy ballistic missile workshops in Yemen
A video illustrated the success of the coalition forces in destroying the workshops manufacturing land-to-surface missiles and ballistic missiles in Saada.
(A K PS)
VIDEO: #Saudi-led Coalition strike #Houthi missile workshops in Sa'dah. The secondary explosions lasted for more than 5 hours.
https://twitter.com/MbKS15/status/941802966784278528
(* A K PH)
Over 50 aggressive airstrikes kill 23 civilians in Taiz and Saada
The US-backed Saudi warplane launched more than 50 raids on a number of provinces in the country, killing 23 people during the past few hours, a military source told Saba on Friday.
The source said that 12 citizens were killed during the air raids om Taiz province that targeted the bridge between Burh and Wahis and neighboring areas.
The source said that eight citizens, including two women, a child and three paramedics were killed by the airstrikes on the area of Shoumiyah in Ghomr in Saada province, and killed three citizens on the highway in Qad square of Razih district after three aggressive airstrikes.
http://www.sabanews.net/en/news481791.htm
(A K PH)
US-Saudi air strikes kill 2 women in.Saada
The US-backed Saudi aggression warplanes Killed two women and destroyed mosque in two air strikes on Gamr and Dhaher districts of Saada province, a security source told saba on Friday.
The security source said the warplanes launched one raid to Walbah area on Al-Dhaher district and killed two women and caused many damages in people's properties,
http://www.sabanews.net/en/news481793.htm
(A K PH)
Film: Aggression commits a crime against shoppers in the market Al - Sheikh district Directorate Munabeh, Saada province (Dec. 16). Victims.
https://www.facebook.com/Hona.Almasirah/videos/1742488882448835/ = https://twitter.com/Hona_Almasirah/status/942137490961510400
(* A K PH)
Air raid against poultry farm, Aljirahi directorate, Hodeida province, Dec.16. 8 workers killed, 5 injured
Film:
https://www.facebook.com/Hona.Almasirah/videos/vb.1127621230602273/1742487195782337/?type=2&theater = https://twitter.com/Hona_Almasirah/status/942135467109244931
Photos:
https://twitter.com/HussainBukhaiti/status/942411437137424385
https://twitter.com/HussainBukhaiti/status/942397308595068928
https://twitter.com/narrabyee/status/942680800973254656
(A K PH)
Film: The Saudi American Air agressionn targeted two farms in the departments of Beit al-Faqih and Zubaid in Hodeidah province
https://www.facebook.com/Hona.Almasirah/videos/1742453675785689/ = https://twitter.com/Hona_Almasirah/status/942127420399935488
(* A K PH)
Saudi Arabia Massacring Civilians in Yemen: +70 People Killed Across War-Torn Country
Al-Masirah television network reported that the Saudi warplanes bombed a market in the Mawza district in the west of Ta’izz province on Friday, killing eight people and wounding 15 others.
At least 15 people also lost their lives in Saudi air raids on the province of Sa’ada. According to al-Masirah, 12 of the victims were killed in two airstrikes that hit a market and a car in the Munabbih district. The three other victims, including two women, were killed in earlier air raids on the districts of al-Dhaher and Shada. The aerial attacks also left five people injured in the Northern province.
Medics and security sources also reported on Friday that Saudi air raids claimed the lives of 28 people around Yemen's West coast.
Saudi airstrikes also killed another 20 people, mostly women and children, in al-Hudaydah Province, in Yemen’s Northwest on Friday, while another 10 people were injured.
Saudi bombers targeted residential areas in Ghamr District, killing eight people, including two women and a child, Yemen's al-Masirah TV channel reported on Thursday.
Three civilians were also killed in another Saudi air raid against Razih District.
http://en.farsnews.com/newstext.aspx?nn=13960925000579 and also http://www.presstv.com/Detail/2017/12/15/545727/Saudi-airstrikes-Yemen
Film: https://www.facebook.com/Hona.Almasirah/videos/vb.1127621230602273/1740301196000937/?type=2&theater = https://twitter.com/Hona_Almasirah/status/941409518310903810
Photos: https://www.facebook.com/SaudiArabia.war.crimes.against.Yemen/posts/1755247351437918
(* A K)
Yemen air strikes, clashes kill 51
Saudi-led air strikes have killed 28 Huthi rebels around Yemen's west coast, medics and security sources close to the insurgents said Friday, as government forces reported deadly clashes in the south.
The security sources said air strikes on Thursday and Friday hit five towns controlled by the Huthis around 70 kilometres (45 miles) south of Hodeida.
Medical sources said 28 Huthis were killed and 17 wounded in the attacks.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/wires/afp/article-5184033/Yemen-air-strikes-clashes-kill-51.html
(* A K)
Saudi-led coalition airstrikes kill 10 Houthis in Yemen
At least 10 Houthis were killed in airstrikes carried out by the Saudi-led coalition in western Yemen's Al-Hudeidah province.
The Anadolu Agency quoted local sources as saying that the airstrikes were conducted against Houthi sites by the coalition forces in Al-Hudeidah's Hays district.
At least five civilians were also killed in Mawzi district in southwestern Taiz province in a separate airstrike by the forces.
(* A K PH)
Saudi Airstrikes Leave 11 Civilians Dead in Yemen
[Saada province:] Saudi fighter jets targeted residential areas in Ghamr District, killing eight people, including two women and a child, Yemen's al-Masirah TV channel reported on Thursday.
Three civilians were also killed in another Saudi air raid against Razih District.
http://en.farsnews.com/newstext.aspx?nn=13960923001147
(* A H PH)
#Today 15/12/2017
#Taiz: The warplanes of #Saudi_Led_Coalition launched 1 airstrike targeting #AlNojaibah_Market in #AlHamili district, which led to kill 9 civilians & injure 15 others ... (photos)
https://www.facebook.com/SaudiArabia.war.crimes.against.Yemen/posts/1755624934733493 and
A list of the names of the martyrs and the wounded who were targeted by the aviation in the # market _ Alnajibh isolation of the city located between the Directorate of Al-Khokhia province of # Hodeidah and the Directorate of # Hamili in the province of # Taiz (10 killed, 10 injured) (photos as above, and falsely also photos of raid in Ghamer, Saada province
https://www.facebook.com/SaudiArabia.war.crimes.against.Yemen/posts/1755629154733071
#Saudi #UAE strikes yesterday in a car in Alhamily area n #Taiz #Yemen kild9ppl injrd several ppl The car has just left Alnajeebiah market U can see fromwheat, flour, potatoes, tomatoes&other food suplies&cooking gas cylinders They were just going back home to their families (photos; better)
https://twitter.com/HussainBukhaiti/status/942074732857487360
and film
https://www.facebook.com/Hona.Almasirah/videos/vb.1127621230602273/1741414785889578/?type=2&theater and longer: https://twitter.com/Hona_Almasirah/status/941741123378216961 and another https://www.facebook.com/SaudiArabia.war.crimes.against.Yemen/posts/1755903294705657
(A K PH)
Film: The crime of aggression against the property of citizens in al - Khokha, Hodeidah, 14-12-2017
This calamity tells the 80-year-old man Abdullah Al-Sarraji of his grievance after the flight of the aggression on all his possessions in the area of Moshaj east of the Directorate of Khokha in Hodeidah province
https://twitter.com/Hona_Almasirah/status/941408257993736192
(A K PH)
Dec. 14: Al-Hudaydah province. Aviation targets several raids of a citizen's farm in Al Tuhayata district#
Causing significant material loss of property, destruction of trees and agricultural crops and loss of the sole source of income for a number of farmers (photos)
https://www.facebook.com/SaudiArabia.war.crimes.against.Yemen/posts/1755222438107076
(* A K PH)
Airstrikes on the bridge off Al Barah-Hayes (#Taiz) ,
A dozen victims.confirmed
(A K PH)
Film: Saudi air raids, Hodeidah province
https://www.facebook.com/Hona.Almasirah/videos/1740178976013159/ = https://twitter.com/Hona_Almasirah/status/941370552148733953
Remark: New raids or earlier ones?
(* A K PH)
Shelling of a civilian house in Shaaban - Razih Directorate - Saada Governorate on 8 December 2017
The Saudi Arabian war coalition committed a war crime and a new crime against humanity against several civilian families belonging to the citizen Abdullah Jahadi al-Shemad and his brothers, 18 people, mostly children and women, in a brutal raid on their house late on Friday, 8 December 2017. Shaaban Directorate of Razih, Saada Governorate, the air raid completely destroyed the house and killed 15 civilians, including 11 children, 3 women and wounding 3 others Mother and her two children, the rest of the family of Abdullah Jahadi shepherd, the intervention of the people of the region to save their lives after lifting a pillar of building their house above them Ambulance to the center In the area of Sha'ara, which is managed by MSF, which in turn transferred them to the hospital in the city of Saada.
According to accounts and eyewitnesses and medics from the region to the legal center mentioned in this report, the bodies of three of the 15 victims were found from the affected family and the rest did not find Only after small pieces were thrown by the raid after being torn around the house at a distance of one kilometer in the valley and in the surrounding farms. The search continued, the remains were collected in plastic bags and buried in the area. The raid completely destroyed the house and damaged two houses and a nearby mosque. And the destruction of a large amount of copies of the Koran Koran mosque.
http://www.lcrdye.org/2017/12/14/قصف-منزل-مدني-في-منطقة-شعبان-مديرية-ر/
(A K PH)
More air strikes reported on:
Dec. 16:
http://www.sabanews.net/en/news481828.htm Serwah, Marib
Dec. 15:
http://www.sabanews.net/en/news481791.htm Taiz, Saada, Sanaa prov.
http://www.sabanews.net/en/news481790.htm Marib prov.
(* A K PH)
Names of the martyrs and missing persons who were targeted by the airstrikes on Tuesday 12/12/2017 in the military police prison in #Sanaa.
- 33 martyrs have been identified
- 25 have been wounded.
- 32 still missing so far
https://www.facebook.com/LivingInYemenOnTheEdge/posts/1587313531321671 = https://www.facebook.com/SaudiArabia.war.crimes.against.Yemen/posts/1755639524732034
cp17 Kriegsereignisse / Theater of War
Siehe / Look at cp1c
(A K)
17th Infantry Brigade and Al-Subaiha Resistance checkpoint in Hayfan district #Taiz seized a shipment of weapons including RPG shells being smuggled to Houthi forces. (photos)
https://twitter.com/demolinari/status/941788850363305985
(A K)
Al Houthi forces are currently counterattacking from al #Bayda into #Abyan while Hadi government-aligned forces continue the push to seize the rest of #Shabwah governorate #Yemen (maps)
https://twitter.com/MaherFarrukh/status/942141421624098816
(A K)
A young Jordanian reportedly died fighting alongside al Houthi forces in al Daleh governorate, central #Yemen. His father was reportedly a doctor in the area. (photo)
https://twitter.com/MaherFarrukh/status/942130561694519297
(A K)
Al #Houthi forces claimed to fire a Qaher-2M missile at a command center in Jazan region #SaudiArabia. Saudis claimed the launch failed and the missile fell in Hajjah, northwestern #Yemen
https://twitter.com/MaherFarrukh/status/942165442797465611 referring to https://www.almasirah.net/details.php?es_id=16892&cat_id=3
(A K PS)
Film: Yemen - The Yemeni Army Advances In Al-Salo Front In Taiz
The Yemeni army forces, supported by the Arab Alliance, managed to make large advances in Al-Salo area in Taiz governorate and were able to control many of the Houthi-controlled military positions and inflict heavy losses in lives and equipment. Members of the 35th Brigade stationed at Al-Salo front also began to clear mines planted by the Houthis
(A K PH)
Habab Valley in #Serwah district came under a rain of missiles today. A number of houses and farms were hit. No casualties reported, yet. https://www.facebook.com/LivingInYemenOnTheEdge/photos/a.961595153893515.1073741828.961126490607048/1588091734577184/?type=3 and http://www.sabanews.net/en/news481790.htm
(* A K)
Yemeni army pushes Houthis from outpost in southern Yemen
The Yemeni army and allied fighters on Friday drove Houthi militants from a town that was one of the last positions they held in the country’s south, military sources and local officials said.
The forces advanced into Bayhan, about 300 km (190 miles) southeast of the Houthi-held capital Sanaa, killing dozens of the militants in clashes, the sources said.
Bayhan is important in Yemen’s war because it is located on a major road linking Shabwa province with Houthi-held Maarib province to the north.
https://uk.reuters.com/article/uk-yemen-security/yemeni-army-pushes-houthis-from-outpost-in-southern-yemen-idUKKBN1E91YY?rpc=401& and by Saudi media https://aawsat.com/english/home/article/1114701/legitimacy-closer-clearing-houthis-shabwa
(A K PS)
Yemeni army is about to completely control Shabwa province
In what could come out as a great breakthrough in its land battles against the Houthis who usurped the country for the last three years, the Yemeni army, with its Arab Alliance sky cover, has made great strides in its battle to liberate Shabwa province, confirmed reports from the field said.
http://www.spa.gov.sa/viewfullstory.php?lang=en&newsid=1698742 and also http://en.smanews.org/1672-2 and http://en.smanews.org/the-southern-resistance-sends-military-reinforcements-from-all-over-the-southern-governorates-to-bihan-shabwa and http://en.smanews.org/group-escape-of-al-houthi-militias-from-bihan-and-citizens-rejoice-liberation and http://en.smanews.org/preliminary-estimation-after-liberation-of-bihan-17-martyrs-and-23-injured-among-the-southern-resistance-and-army-forces
and
(A K PS)
Army and Southern Resistance forces entering Al-Nuqub area of #Bayhan #Shabwa.
[thread with a lot of photos, maps]
https://twitter.com/demolinari/status/941675716562653184
Comment: Contrary to some of the reporting, the Hadi government has not seized all of Shabwah yet. It has made some significant advances.
https://twitter.com/MaherFarrukh/status/941690421520060416
(A K PS)
dozens of gifts are what Houthis left behind before they wr pushed out of Shabwa's Bayhan. National Army hz bn removing hundreds of remote-controlled landmines planted by Houthis in the area since yesterday (photo)
https://twitter.com/Alsakaniali/status/942032949855301632
(A K PS)
Taiz: Fighting renew, Houthis bomb villages
The Houthi militias in al Sallal and Softail hills intensified their shelling towards the residential neighborhoods eastern the city while the government forces responded to the shelling sources.
http://almasdaronline.com/article/96082
(A K)
Saudi school student killed in border shelling from Yemen
http://www.gdnonline.com/Details/298518/Saudi-school-student-killed-in-border-shelling-from-Yemen
cp18 Sonstiges / Other
(B)
Meet the Habibs: the Yemen connection in Jakarta politics
Firebrand cleric and Islamic Defenders Front (FPI) leader ‘Habib’ Rizieq Shihab has long been the face of the hard-line Islamic movement in Jakarta. In Indonesia, he is often given the honorific title ‘Habib’, commonly used to refer to Islamic scholars from the Sayyid community, or descendants of Prophet Muhammad.
The Sayyid community in Indonesia are mostly descendants of Ba’Alawi families that settled in the Hadhramaut(link is external) region in Southern Yemen in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries, and most follow the related Tariqa Alawiyah Sufi sect. Collectively known as Hadhramis (after the region), they spread across the Indian Ocean rim and migrated to Indonesia in the sixteenth century.
http://indonesiaatmelbourne.unimelb.edu.au/meet-the-habibs-the-yemen-connection-in-jakarta-politics/
Vorige / Previous:
https://www.freitag.de/autoren/dklose/jemenkrieg-mosaik-367-yemen-war-mosaic-367
Jemenkrieg-Mosaik 1-367 / Yemen War Mosaic 1-367:
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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