Jan. 10, 2018: MONA Relief – Western media have failed – Women in Yemen – National catastrophe, local order – Humanitarian catastrophe – Air raids, victims – Fed up with propaganda – Houthis target Saudi fighter jets
Schwerpunkte / Key aspects
Klassifizierung / Classification
Zuerst: Verschleppte der Huthis / At first: Houthi detainees
cp1 Am wichtigsten / Most important
cp1a Am wichtigsten: Seuchen / Most important: Epidemics
cp1b Huthi-Raketen / Houthi missiles
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
cp7a Saudi-Arabien und Iran / Saudi Arabia and Iran
cp8 Saudi-Arabien / Saudi Arabia
cp9 USA
cp10 Großbritannien / Great Britain
cp12 Andere Länder / Other countries
cp12a Katar-Krise / Qatar crisis
cp12b Libanon / Lebanon
cp13a Waffenhandel / Arms Trade
cp13b Wirtschaft / Economy
cp14 Terrorismus / Terrorism
cp15 Propaganda
cp16 Saudische Luftangriffe / Saudi air raids
cp17 Kriegsereignisse / Theater of War
cp17a Saudi-Kampfjets abgeschossen, angeschossen / Saudi jets downed, hit
cp18 Sonstiges / Other
Klassifizierung / Classification
***
**
*
(Kein Stern / No star)
? = Keine Einschatzung / No rating
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 B P)
YEMEN: 113 DETAINEES KILLED UNDER TORTURE IN HOUTHI PRISONS
The Netherlands based foundation for Human Rights in the Arab world, Rights Radar (RR), announced that 113 detainees have been killed in Yemen under torture inside detention centers run by the Ansarallah (Houthi) rebel group since 21 September 2014. Some cases may be qualified as war crimes.
RR stated that it had investigated 113 killings under physical torture carried out in illegal detention centers run by the Houthi rebel group in the capital Sana’a and other cities under Houthi control, along with some other death cases of civilian detainees in prisons run by Yemeni forces loyal to the UAE in the governorates of Aden and Hadramout, southern Yemen.
Ali Muhammad A’ayedh al-Tuwayti, 35, died after having been tortured to death in the city of al-Radhma, Ibb province, central Yemen, by the Houthi’s prison guards. Al-Tuwayti is number 113 of the persons that died as a result of physical torture in Houthi detention centers in Yemen.
RR confirmed that the Houthi gunmen kidnapped al-Tuwayti on November 19, 2017, at a Houthi checkpoint in the city of Demt, Dhalea governorate, on his way to his hometown Yareem in the Ibb governorate.
“Al-Tuwayti died on November 22, 2017 after having been subjected to brutal torture for three days in the Houthi detention center in al-Radhma, Ibb governorate. His family received his body from the Houthi militants at the end of December 2017 and buried him on 1 January 2018”, a security source said.
A medical source told RR that “the injuries on al-Tuwayti’s body demonstrated that he had been subjected to physical torture, severe beating, wounding with sharp instruments and burning with boiling water, that changed the color of the skin of his body and caused deformities of his body shape”.
The sources of human rights NGOs estimate the number of detainees inside Houthi detentions at 7,000, distributed over 643 illegal prisons across Yemen. Most of these detainees belong to the Yemeni Islah Party. Their number recently grew with the new detainees, members of the General People’s Congress (GPC) of former president Ali Abdullah Saleh after the Houthi militants assassinated Saleh on December 4, 2017 and subsequently started to arrest GPC supporters in Sana’a city.
The international relations officer and spokesperson of Rights Radar, Mr. Gerard van der Kroon, said “the cases of murder under torture are serious violations of human rights that should be qualified as War Crimes leading to individual criminal responsibility under International Criminal Law and that should not go unpunished”.
http://rightsradar.org/latest/yemen-113-detainees-killed-under-torture-in-houthi-prisons/
(* A P)
Houthi militia torture Toweiti to death
A new man has died of torture at the hands of Houthis after less than two months of his abduction by the Shiit Islamist militia, local websites reported.
Ali al-Toweiti, 35, was arrested by the rebel militia on November 19 when he was traveling back to his village in Yarim of Dhamar coming from Qaatabah in Dhale'a.
He was abducted by rebel militants in the road and transported to a jail that the militants run in Dhamar, informed sources told the media. He was subjected to brutal torture to the point of his death last week.
https://www.alsahwa-yemen.net/en/p-14476 and also http://almasdaronline.com/article/96437
(* A P)
Yemeni Baha’i receives death sentence as persecution escalates
On 2 January 2018, the Specialized Criminal Court in Sana’a, Yemen, issued a ruling unprecedented in the persecution of the Baha’is in Yemen. Sentencing Mr. Hamed bin Haydara to death due to his religious beliefs, the judge furthermore called for the dissolution of all Baha’i Assemblies, thereby placing other Baha’i prisoners as well as the Baha’i community as a whole in imminent danger.
Following a protracted court case and a cruel four-year imprisonment, the final court hearing was held while the defendant, Mr. Haydara, was purposely prevented from attending. During the hearing, the local judge, Mr. Abdu Ismail Hassan Rajeh, called for the execution of Mr. Haydara and the confiscation of all of his assets, on the pretext that Mr. Haydara had been in communication with the Universal House of Justice, the highest governing body of the Baha’is, which is located in Israel. The verdict requires that the execution, the date of which is unknown, be carried out in public.
https://www.bic.org/news/yemeni-bahai-receives-death-sentence-persecution-escalates
(* A P)
Outcry over appalling death sentence of Yemeni Baha’i
Over 100 known activists, lawyers, and leaders of thought have raised their voices over the past week in protest of the ordered death sentence of Yemeni Baha’i Hamed bin Haydara, unjustly imprisoned four years ago for his religious beliefs.
Mr. Haydara was sentencedto public execution by the Specialized Criminal Court in Sana’a on 2 January. The local judge also called for the dissolution of all elected Baha’i institutions, placing the entire Baha’i community in imminent danger.
http://news.bahai.org/story/1232/
Remark: Earlier reporting in previous YPRs.
(* A P)
#Yemen-i documentary photographer Amira al-Sharif, has apparently been arrested in Yemen.
Al-Sharif, known for her outstanding photography and documentaries, was on her way to #Hodeidahwhem at #Bajel check-point, she was arrested.
Her camera, computer, phone, car, external hard drive have all been confiscated.
We urge for her immediate release (photo)
For Amira al-Sharif look here: https://www.facebook.com/Amira-Al-Sharif-Photography-405844366127187/
https://vimeo.com/amiraalsharif
http://www.lepictoriumagency.com/en/amira-al-sharif
http://www.cairoscene.com/ArtsAndCulture/Yemen-female-photojournalist-amira-al-sharif
https://www.npr.org/2011/06/08/133272681/yemeni-photographer-turns-her-lens-on-the-west
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FMMIP87eJVo
http://www.kimknoppers.nl/index.php/2011/12/878/
and
(* A P)
Amira al Sharif, documentarist and photographer held at Bajel checkpoin on her way to #Hodeidah, has been released
(* A P)
Houthis release journalist after one and a half year kidnapped
The source told Almasdaronline that the Houthis had released the journalist Abdalah Abad, with a probationary guarantee, while his trial continued, pointing out that the Abbad family may have played a fine ransom.
The kidnappers abducted Abad, who worked as a reporter for a number of news sites from Midi front about a year and half ago from his shop in the capital, Sana'a
http://almasdaronline.com/article/96432
cp1 Am wichtigsten / Most important
(** B K)
UCDP Interactive Map: Yemen Deaths 1994–2017
http://ucdp.uu.se/#country/678
My comment: Great map, by going to more detailed scales the figures are more ansd more split up regionally and local, until you reach the figures for single events. For each event, the date and the number of victims is given. Unfortunaltely, the descriptions for aggressors and victims in all cases I checked are wrong. They always are described as: Side A: Government of Yemen (North Yemen), Side B: Forces of Hadi, whether looking at Saada (Saudi coalition air raids) or Aden in spring / summer 2015 (Houthi shelling). For Aden, you also can find IS as aggressor. – For Saada, I think many raids are missing. Needs improvement!
(** B H)
[Look at all the projects achieved by Yemeni humanitarian organization MONA relief]
https://www.monareliefye.org/en-projects
[Here highlighted just one, showing what could happen]
Mona Relief's ground crew gets arrested by security authorities in al-Hamassia village of Bait al-Fakeh district in Hodeidah governorate after finishing food aid delivery funded by Kuwaiti donor
As I'm preparing to distribute food aid packages to beneficiaries, I received a phone call "via the phone of a person in the village who alerted us along with others to not distribute food aid. During the conversation, a powerful person, who introduced himself that he is from the security headquarters in Bait al-Fakeh district, that person told me that we are not allowed to deliver food packages in the field unless we gave him some of the packages, during the conversation I told him that packages must be delivered to 100 vulnerable families in the village and I can't hand him over any package. So, he ordered me to stop delivering food before his coming along with other armed men. I refused his orders and started delivering beneficiaries their food aid package. (photos)
[or look at this]
Woman in Yemen resorts to begging people to save her family and to buy medicine to her sick's husband and son
monareliefye.org visited today a 6-member family in the capital Sana'a to discover that the father in this family is sick with liver fibrosis as his oldest son is sick as well with cerebral atrophy. Due to the condition of the family. The wife resorted to begging people in an attempt to save her family. I was shocked as I'm listening to the story of this family.
Our crew delivered this family urgent food aid basket funded by an anonymous Kuwaiti donor who promied us to help this family with food basket monthly. He promised us as well to help this family to get their medicine monthly along with the rent of the family's house. (photos)
and this (with not mentioning MONA by name)
Jewish kids in Yemen receive humanitarian aid
Suffering and facing starvation as the Yemen civil war drags on, the tiny community of 67 Jews is provided with aid packages funded by a British charity.
The Jews live in an enclosed compound in the capital Sana'a, under the protection of the Yemenite army. They recently received humanitarian aid by a local organization funded by a British charity. The organization says that the community received aid packages at least five times.
In the past, the charity has assisted the Jewish community including when they faced floods in the Amran and Al Hudaydah regions in 2016.
https://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-5068444,00.html
Homepage / About / Contact / Donate https://www.monareliefye.org/
(*** B K P)
Yemen: National Chaos, Local Order
Popular depictions of Yemen’s three-year-old civil war suggest a chaotic, fractured and polarized country in which the differences between key fighting groups on the ground, and by extension between their international backers, are intractable. Such depictions also reflect an assumption that conflict covers much of the country.
In fact, until the death of former president Ali Abdullah Saleh in December 2017 – as this paper was being finalized – the conflict had mostly settled into a pragmatic, if economically destructive, stalemate. Front-line fighting was confined to several largely static battlefields, with many actors increasingly focused on the internal politics of individual territories rather than on the wider conflict. The most dynamic aspect of Yemen’s multidimensional conflict in 2017 was the fracturing of the troubled alliance between Houthi militias and Saleh loyalists, a showdown ultimately resolved in the Houthis’ favour.
Narratives of the war rarely acknowledge the relative stability of the borders between different areas of territorial control, the continuing flow of goods and people between these areas, or the political competition occurring within them. Nor do such narratives recognize the complexity of factors driving and sustaining hostilities, or the multiplicity of combatants and interests involved.
‘Chaos state’
Yemen has become a ‘chaos state’ – a nominal entity that exists largely as lines on a map and as a concept in newspaper reports and policymaker briefings.
Popular depictions of Yemen’s three-year-old civil war suggest a chaotic, fractured and polarized country in which the differences between key fighting groups on the ground, and by extension between their international backers, are intractable. Such depictions also reflect an assumption that conflict covers much of the country.
In fact, until the death of former president Ali Abdullah Saleh in December 2017 – as this paper was being finalized – the conflict had mostly settled into a pragmatic, if economically destructive, stalemate.
Narratives of the war rarely acknowledge the relative stability of the borders between different areas of territorial control, the continuing flow of goods and people between these areas, or the political competition occurring within them. Nor do such narratives recognize the complexity of factors driving and sustaining hostilities, or the multiplicity of combatants and interests involved.
War economy and resources
A path to peace?
There is no easy way of transforming Yemen into a functioning, Westphalian model of statehood in the short time frame that many Western and foreign officials may wish for.
Any deal brokered solely between the parties engaged by the UN is guaranteed to create incentives for other players on the ground to act as spoilers – triggering renewed conflict if careful provisions for a new, genuinely inclusive political process encompassing all other Yemeni groups are not embedded into the current UN-led peace process.
An approach that ignores the role and nature of external actors and interests in Yemen will not be successful. The mediation process must include incentives for third parties involved in the conflict to act in good faith to support a negotiated political settlement, and must provide for punitive measures if they do not.
Current policies and frameworks for peace in Yemen are built around simplistic, binary models of conflict that bear little resemblance to reality and that often reflect wishful thinking rather than careful analysis. Learning lessons from the 2012–14 transition period, policymakers and mediators need to adjust their priorities accordingly. In particular, they need to lend as much weight to ground-up initiatives – complex, messy, difficult and time-consuming as these are – as to top-down processes.
Recommendations for policymakers – by Peter Salisbury
https://www.chathamhouse.org/publication/yemen-national-chaos-local-order and full report https://www.chathamhouse.org/sites/files/chathamhouse/publications/research/2017-12-20-yemen-national-chaos-local-order-salisbury2.pdf
Remark: This report already was presented in Yemen Press Reader 369, but I missed that I had just noticed the summary, not the whole report. Thus, here again.
Comment by Judith Brown: This is an excellent piece of work by Peter Salisbury who is one of the foremost experts on Yemen. In it he describes the situation as it is now, the impediments to peace talks and to a solution, and offers a wider view of how the Yemeni conflict and other similar complex conflicts might be solved - with the UN dropping its past negotiation tactics and looking at something more fundamental in examining underlying issues with all groups that control parts of Yemen - which he describes as like a series of small statelets held together by a common trading system. As he says, it is not chaotic in most parts of Yemen, as the war is in particular pockets, and the rest gets by with the leaders of warring factions making lots of money.
https://www.facebook.com/judith.brown.794628/posts/10156277867408641
(** B P)
MSNBC Ignores Catastrophic US-Backed War in Yemen, Finds Russia 5000% more newsworthy
For the popular US cable news network MSNBC, the largest humanitarian catastrophe in the world is apparently not worth much attention—even as the US government has played a key role in creating and maintaining that unparalleled crisis.
An analysis by FAIR has found that the leading liberal cable network did not run a single segment devoted specifically to Yemen in the second half of 2017.
And in these latter roughly six months of the year, MSNBC ran nearly 5,000 percent more segments that mentioned Russia than segments that mentioned Yemen.
Moreover, in all of 2017, MSNBC only aired one broadcast on the US-backed Saudi airstrikes that have killed thousands of Yemeni civilians. And it never mentioned the impoverished nation’s colossal cholera epidemic, which infected more than 1 million Yemenis in the largest outbreak in recorded history.
All of this is despite the fact that the US government has played a leading role in the 33-month war that has devastated Yemen
With little corporate media coverage from MSNBC or elsewhere, the US—under both presidents Barack Obama and Donald Trump—has staunchly supported Saudi Arabia as it imposes a suffocating blockade on Yemen, diplomatically shielding the draconian Gulf dictatorship from any form of punishment as it has plunged millions of Yemeni civilians into mass hunger and pushed the poorest country in the Middle East onto the brink of famine.
MSNBC was eager to highlight attacks by US official enemies, yet the tens of thousands of air sorties Saudi Arabia has launched in Yemen—with weapons, fuel and intelligence from the US and UK—were made almost entirely invisible by the network.
While MSNBC did not bother to mention Yemen’s cholera epidemic, it did express lots of interest in a disastrous Navy SEAL raid President Donald Trump approved in the country, which left an American dead. Particularly early in the year, the network devoted substantial coverage to the January 29 raid, which killed dozens of Yemeni civilians and one US soldier.
A search of the Nexis database shows that MSNBC mentioned the Trump-approved US raid in Yemen in 36 distinct segments in 2017.
But after this raid left the news cycle, so too did Yemen.
The message conveyed is clear: to the leading liberal US cable news network, Yemen is relevant when it is Americans who die—not when thousands of Yemenis are killed, bombed daily by Saudi Arabia, with US weapons, fuel and intelligence; not when millions of Yemenis are on the verge of starving to death while the US/Saudi coalition uses hunger as a weapon.
The conclusion that only Americans’ lives are newsworthy is confirmed by the fact that Trump launched another disastrous raid in Yemen on May 23, in which several Yemeni civilians were once again killed. But American soldiers did not die in this raid, so MSNBC had no interest. The network did not devote coverage to this second botched Yemen raid.
The day after Christmas featured an onslaught of Russia coverage.
On this one day, MSNBC mentioned Russia almost twice as many times in six hours of coverage than it mentioned Yemen in all of 2017.
What is striking is that MSNBC is clearly extremely critical of Donald Trump, yet it has passed on one of the best opportunities to condemn his policies. Instead of covering some of Trump’s worst, most violent actions—his acts of war that have left many thousands of civilians dead—MSNBC has ignored Trump’s Yemeni victims – by Ben Norton
https://fair.org/home/msnbc-yemen-russia-coverage-2017/ = https://www.commondreams.org/views/2018/01/09/msnbc-ignores-catastrophic-us-backed-war-yemen = https://www.alternet.org/media/msnbc-ignores-catastrophic-us-backed-war-yemen
My comment: Great article. And MSNBC is just one. And in other Western states, things do not look much better. Be aware how our media do not inform us but manipulate us. Just let us look at the UK:
(** B P)
Yemen and the Media Bullshit Machine
In what may be seen as some parody of Orwell, the British Foreign Office tweeted a video that describes the UK as “leading the humanitarian response in Yemen” and “working with international partners to find a peaceful solution”. Both the tweet and the video neglect to mention that we are currently still bombing the country we appear to be offering charity to.
Despite the confusing way the issue is presented in the media, this is not some impossibly complex dilemma for us without a clear way forward. If our government were really interested in doing something about ‘the worst humanitarian crisis in the world’, the first thing they could do is to stop participating in it, and deny support to those carrying it out.
This might sound reasonable enough to those outside the Westminster bubble, but when Emily Thornberry put forward a motion to do exactly that , , this was voted down by MPs and dismissed.
Boris Johnson explained his reasoning shortly after the vote, stating that “if we don’t sell arms to Saudi Arabia, someone else will”. We can imagine how far that reasoning would get us in court for any other crime (‘Sorry your honour, but if I wasn’t selling them heroin, someone else would be’, etc).
Defence Secretary (at the time) Michael Fallon’s view a few months ago was that criticism of the Saudi regime while we’re trying to sell them fighter jets is “unhelpful”:
How are the mainstream media reporting on this?
A search of the BBC news website brings up plenty of features on Yemen, including a HardTalk interview, a Newsday discussion and several harrowing reports showing us the humanitarian catastrophe unfolding. Yet the way it is reported is interesting.
The suffering is typically attributed to things like: “worsening conditions” “fighting on the ground” “the ongoing violence”, “the situation” and other vague, sterile language that hides who is responsible. When perpetrators are identified, they are always described as “the Saudi-led coalition” or “Saudi-led campaign” without informing people that our government and the US are a central part of that ‘coalition’.
Who are the warring parties? Could they include us? Any viewer without knowing better would assume we have nothing to do with it.
The possibility that we may share some responsibility for the crisis is not discussed, or apparently even contemplated.
Instead, the leading theme of coverage, discussion and blame is now pointed towards Iran, with laser-like focus (here and here for example) on the allegation that they have been arming rebels in Yemen.
Historian Mark Curtis aptly tweeted in response:
“So, after nearly 3 years of basically concealing massive UK arms exports to Saudi, BBC puts front and centre US allegations of the same for Iran as soon as a US official makes the claim. It’s not even funny and we are paying for this trash.”
Some of the reporting, even from the left-leaning Guardian, absurdly tries to praise Saudi Arabia, one of the most savage dictatorships in the world, as a positive force of modernisation and reform in the region, currently on an “anti-corruption drive”.
All of this tells us exactly what we need to know about our political class and the media outlets that are trusted to give us the news.
- There is no western concern for issues of aggression, atrocities, human rights abuses, democracy, and so on — if there’s a profit to be made from it. Nothing could show that more clearly than this case.
- War crimes, repression and other abuses are absolutely fine when they are committed by us or our allies.
All of the politicians who support the Saudi-led bombing, who refused to back the Yemen motion, along with the commentators and news outlets that continue to hide our complicity in this crisis, should have zero credibility when they next stand up to display grave concern about human rights or democracy somewhere (as they are now doing in Iran). The policy hawks and mainstream journalists have demonstrated that they really don’t care about any of these things, and the public can see these performances for the cynical theatre it is, often with much uglier agendas behind it – by Matthew Corr
https://medium.com/@matthewcorr/yemen-and-the-media-bullshit-machine-e1b45986b215
and almost in a nutshell:
(** B P)
Fiona Bruce used the phrase, 'Syrian government forces, backed by Russia', on #BBCNewsTen last night. Why does @BBCNews not routinely use the phrase, 'Saudi government forces, backed by the US and the UK', when reporting on #Yemen?
https://twitter.com/medialens/status/950667964189151232 and https://www.facebook.com/MediaLensUK/photos/a.511628708874290.1073741825.147079088662589/1567159489987868/?type=3
My comment: That’s the wording and almost undercover propaganda bullshit we are daily fed with.
(** B K P)
Saudi Arabia has the right to defend itself ! What about Yemenis?
These words have since been repeated frequently, usually in support (qualified or un-) of Saudi’s operation Decisive Storm in Yemen since March, 26, 2015.
This Saudi air campaign has been shelling Yemen with different U.S. weapons, bombs, shelling, artillery, and rifle guns. It targeted civilians, schools, hospitals, government faculties, popular markets, mosques, and almost everything around us.
There is an inarguable truth here: No country would sit idly by under such circumstances. Every state, and every citizen in those states, has a universally recognized right to self-defense. But does the white house know about this? Where is humans rights? Humans equality, democracy, children rights in living in peace.
But what — the question is almost never posed — of the defenseless?
The Yemeni people are routinely expected to suffer precisely what Saudis describe as defence rights from what they called “Houthis Threat”.
Let me be very clear: Popular committees is a defensive force. In its resistance to Saudi terror, it has used rifles and small Klashinkufs and rocket attacks on Saudi installation based on borders with Yemen, both tactics are despicable, and retaliation for Saudi war crimes. After this, they end up able to develop domestically ballistic missile that could reach Riyadh. Therefore, when Houthis and Yemeni army engages the Saudi military, it could be argued that such engagement is, at least, legitimate (armed force against terror force). But who would convince Sarah of the White House.
This administration is trying to defend Saudi military bases and condemn in the strongest words targeting it, but never said asked or wondered when the Saudi strikes killed hundreds on the grand hall while people gather to pay respect of losing one Yemeni official.
It’s simply a fact: The Royal Family has no access to internationally sanctioned violence. Which in practice means it has no access to self-defense.
What I question is the Saudi government’s methods, used over and over, so far unsuccessfully, and at enormous cost to both its own people and the Yemenis.
And I wonder if the world will ever get around to asking if maybe Yemenis have a right to self-defense, too – by Naseh Shaker
http://anayemeni.net/show1671331.html
(** B H K)
Nadia Al-Sakkaf: War in Yemen gives women more responsibility but not empowerment
But the war has also had a much longer-term impact on Yemeni society: it has changed the country forever -- especially for women.
It is Yemen's women who during the conflict have maintained the social fabric of society and kept communities together. They are the nurturers, mediators, peacemakers, and keepers of tradition.
Because of the conflict, the entire socio-cultural balance of the society has been tipped over.
Across Yemen, women find themselves in charge of managing the poverty afflicting their communities -- and they do so with very few resources and, in some cases, no qualifications.
Very few women have gone through what one would call empowerment, as they are not really acquiring more power.
Instead, they are being given more responsibilities. In some cases, this gives them more freedom of mobility as they are forced out of their homes in search of income. It is not that cultural values have changed; it's that war has increased the burden on women.
The situation in Yemen was bad before the war. But with the conflict, it has reached unprecedented levels of desperation.
How does a Yemeni mother, wife, sister or caretaker appease her loved ones and take care of her responsibilities when she has nothing to work with?
Even during humanitarian aid delivery, it is usually men who take charge and decide where and how to distribute aid -- if it is distributed at all.
But as the instability extends over the course of the conflict, women are gradually finding themselves in charge, as the men in their lives are either killed, out fighting, or become too depressed to be useful. The problem of being in charge without basic resources is a very consuming one – by Nadia Al-Sakkaf, a researcher specializing in gender and politics. She was the first Yemeni woman appointed as Information Minister. Before that she was The Yemen Times Chief Editor. She is currently a PhD candidate at Reading University in UK.
http://edition.cnn.com/2018/01/08/opinions/yemen-women-nadia-sakkaf-asequals/index.html
Comment: There was a time when Nadia al-Sakkaf represented a pure voice of #Yemen. Times do change and the first female Minister of Information no longer represents Yemeni women.
Mrs Al-Sakkaf rushed with the government in exile to Saudi Arabia in 2015, enforced the embargo and now lectures about women's rights in her own country.
Strangely enough, she refers to the old UN figures on civilians killed in the war: JUST 5000 and refers to 'the women of the dominantly Sunni northern regions' who 'are equally involved in the conflict, sending off their men to the front lines'.
In a country where religion has never been an issue, it is hard to recognise a Yemeni woman in her words.
https://www.facebook.com/LivingInYemenOnTheEdge/posts/1611541605565530
My comment to comment: However, this sounds like an “argumentum ad hominem” and does not tell anything about the article. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ad_hominem ). Please look at this film in addition https://www.facebook.com/StopTheWarOnYemen/videos/vb.319595141544022/794128854090646/?type=2&theater .
(** B K P)
Saleh’s Death Mark the Beginning of the End for Yemen’s Houthi Rebels?
Most significantly, Saleh’s death and the Houthis’ deadly crackdown on Saleh loyalists has endangered the already fragile alliances between the Houthis and tribal and military elites. While the Houthis are now the sole power in the Yemeni capital of Sana’a, their victory is Pyrrhic and may well help bring about their eventual defeat.
Saleh’s death will result in a significant reconfiguration of political alliances in northwest Yemen and will further harden the divisions between the Houthi rebels, southerners and what is left of the ancien regime. The assassination of Saleh is likely a Pyrrhic victory for the Houthis. His death further limits the Houthis’ options and gives the coalition led by Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) additional political cover for intensifying their attacks on northwest Yemen. With the death of Ali Abdullah Saleh, the future of Yemen—especially a unified Yemen—is even less certain. What is certain is that the war there will become even more deadly over the coming months—particularly for Yemen’s already long suffering civilians.
Saleh’s death was greeted with consternation by many within the upper echelons of the Houthi leadership, which is itself diffuse and in a state of flux. The Houthi leadership—at least the less fanatical among them—understood that Saleh’s tacit support, while not to be trusted, provided a veneer of legitimacy to the Houthis. Saleh’s backing—however limited—allowed the Houthis to claim that they were ruling Sana’a and a large part of northwest Yemen as part of a coalition that included Saleh’s political party, the General People’s Congress (GPC). Saleh’s backing also brought with it the support of many of the Yemeni Army’s long-serving general and field grade officers. This allowed the Houthis to cement and maintain their control of northwest Yemen. Without the acquiescence of a large part of the army, it is likely that the Houthis’ core forces, which number well-under ten thousand men, would be forced to retreat to their strongholds in the governorate of Sa’da.
The Houthis’ ability to maintain their power over the medium term is questionable. While the Houthis were able to rapidly overcome the immediate challenges to their leadership following Saleh’s assassination, which made them the sole power in Sana’a, it is likely that his death also marks the beginning of the end for the Houthis’ control of northwest Yemen.
The Houthis are under pressure on three fronts.
The Houthi leadership and the capabilities of their fighters have been continually underestimated by Yemeni elites and by foreign governments, most particularly those of Saudi Arabia and the UAE.
The Houthis are now deeply embedded in the political, martial and economic fabric of northwest Yemen. They have slowly and methodically peeled away many of those who were loyal to Saleh and other longstanding sources of authority. However, the majority of these carefully crafted alliances are fragile and subject to ongoing renegotiation. The Houthis’ position has undoubtedly been weakened by the assassination of Saleh. Their initial reaction to Saleh’s death was swift and deadly. It preserved their hold on Sana’a, but it has cost them a great deal of political capital.
More than anything else, it is their own hubris that will likely defeat the Houthis. However, this defeat will not be in anyway total. At worst, the Houthi leadership and their core contingent of followers and fighters will retreat to Sa’da where, if necessary, they could fight on for years. Though, this scenario is unlikely to play out anytime soon. While the Saudi and Emirati led war in Yemen is—for the first time in nearly three years—making limited progress in pushing Houthi allied forces out of some of the areas they control, their involvement in Yemen helps sustain the Houthis. The Saudi-led aerial campaign has devastated northwestern Yemen and has resulted in hundreds if not thousands of civilian casualties. Antipathy toward Saudi Arabia and the UAE — both are viewed as invaders, with the UAE also viewed as a colonizing force — is the one thing that unites many Yemenis. As one of the best organized and most capable fighting forces in Yemen, the Houthis feed on this antipathy and use the actions of the Saudis and Emiratis to cast themselves as the defenders of Yemen – by Michael Horton
https://jamestown.org/program/hot-issue-salehs-death-mark-beginning-end-yemens-houthi-rebels/
(** B K P)
Yemen Proves US Needs to Get a Handle on War-Making Powers
With the Yemen War fast approaching its third anniversary, Afghanistan well into its 17th year, Iraq and Syria seemingly permanent US wars, and escalations ongoing across Africa, the US has seemingly more wars than ever going on. President Trump has been giving the military increasing autonomy in those wars, and the feeling of loss of control is palpable.
It’s been years since Congress has willingly asserted its authority on war-making in any serious way, and the president too is now delegating much to the generals. The American public’s ability to give meaningful input on America’s wars is far more limited.
Recent polls suggest that’s a position the American voters aren’t necessarily all that comfortable with.
While there are no shortage of reasons for America’s war-weariness to be skyrocketing, the Yemen War seems to be the tipping point for a number of reasons. The Yemen War was never debated even a little within the US, and is rapidly settling into one of the worst humanitarian crises in a generation.
Even if, as recent presidents have asserted, the 2001 AUMF really did offer blanket war-making authority for every vaguely Sunni enemy on the grounds of 9/11, it plainly doesn’t apply in Yemen, where the US is backing a Saudi invasion to bring the nation’s Shi’ite population back under the rule of a former general.
Even if, as recent presidents have asserted, the 2001 AUMF really did offer blanket war-making authority for every vaguely Sunni enemy on the grounds of 9/11, it plainly doesn’t apply in Yemen, where the US is backing a Saudi invasion to bring the nation’s Shi’ite population back under the rule of a former general.
While initially, the Saudi goal was just to reinstall Hadi, at this point Hadi’s under house arrest in Riyadh, and the Saudi War, with its substantial US involvement, seems to be an end unto itself.
With the American public increasingly aghast at the situation in Yemen, and increasingly aware of US military complicity in what has happened, Yemen is the perfect situation for Congress, and by extension the voters, to reassert control over overseas conflicts.
This could’ve all been resolved years ago, but Congress long believed it was politically safer to just ignore the unauthorized wars – by Jason Ditz
https://original.antiwar.com/jason/2018/01/09/yemen-proves-us-needs-get-handle-war-making-powers/ = http://www.mintpressnews.com/yemen-proves-us-needs-to-get-a-handle-on-war-making-powers/236160/
cp1a Am wichtigsten: Seuchen / Most important: Epidemics
(A H P)
Cholera epidemic figures in Yemen were exaggerated, says KSRelief
The King Salman Center for Humanitarian Aid and Relief (KSRelief), which has launched rapid response efforts to contain the cholera outbreak in strife-torn Yemen, said Monday that the extent of the epidemic was exaggerated by a section of media and international organizations.
Speaking to Arab News, Aljetaily said: “I think there is a misconception about the terminology and the definition of the epidemic used in reports. Unfortunately some of the organizations talked about suspected cases as if they are confirmed cases, and there is a big difference between the two.”
He said that some other infections, too, were reported as cholera, which was inappropriate.
http://www.arabnews.com/node/1221686/saudi-arabia
M ycomment: For the second time: Saudi propaganda shamelessly downplaying cholera in Yemen – because the blame for this epidemics mainly is to be given to Saudi Arabia, its aerial war and blockade. Look at the wording: “exaggerated by a section of media and international organizations” – well, simply ALL told so. Simply 100 %.
(A H)
QFFD and Unicef sign $5m pact for cholera eradication in Yemen
Qatar Fund for Development (QFFD) signed a $5m Cooperation Agreement with Unicef in response to Unicef’s call for the prevention and treatment of acute watery diarrhoea and cholera in Yemen.
(* A H)
Map: Yemen: Cholera Attack Rate (%) Population (From 27 April - 6 January 2018)
https://reliefweb.int/map/yemen/yemen-cholera-attack-rate-population-27-april-6-january-2018
(* A H)
Map: Yemen: Cholera Suspected Cases (From 27 April - 6 January 2018)
https://reliefweb.int/map/yemen/yemen-cholera-suspected-cases-27-april-6-january-2018
(* B H)
Film: WHO warns diphtheria killing more #Yemenis
https://twitter.com/A_mtrz/status/950010359175237632
(* B H)
Yemen: Cholera Response Weekly Epidemiological Bulletin: W52 2017 (Dec 25-Dec 31)
The cumulative total from 27 April 2017 to 31 December 2017 is 1,019,044 suspected cholera cases and 2,237 associated deaths, (CFR 0.22%), 1094 have been confirmed by culture.
59.3 % of death were severe cases at admission - The total proportion of severe cases among the suspected cases is 16.9% - The national attack rate is 370 per 10,000. The five governorates with the highest cumulative attack rates per 10,000 remain Amran (870), Al Mahwit (824), Al Dhale’e (644), Hajjah (498) and Abyan (494).
Children under 5 years old represent 28.6% of total suspected cases.
(* B H)
Yemen: Cholera & Diphtheria Response - Emergency Operations Center - Situation Report No.18 - Week 51
The cumulative total of suspected cholera cases reported since 27th April 2017, reached 1,005,207 as of 24 December 2017, with 2,229 associated deaths reported across the country, the overall case fatality rate is 0.22%.
Most vulnerable age group and areas: Children under the age of 5 years represent 28.4 % of the cases. People over the age of 60 continue to account for the highest percentage of deaths 31.16%. 22 out of 23 governorates are affected representing 96%. 92% percent of districts are affected, 305 out of 333 districts in-country.
(* B H)
Diphtheria's Resurgence Is a Lesson in Public Health Failure
With stronger, more resilient healthcare systems accessible to all, there would be less need for emergency response to disease outbreaks such as diphtheria.
In each outbreak, crises with different causes (state failure, conflict, displacement) have disrupted or disabled already dysfunctional public health infrastructure and caused rapid resurgence of the disease. But this is not the first time diphtheria has been the harbinger of public health collapse.
It is shameful that in 2017, so many people are still dying from an entirely preventable disease that should be fully consigned to history. The international community must work together to prevent tragedies such as Yemen, Bangladesh or Venezuela happening again by carefully balancing emergency response with investment in strong, resilient and universally accessible healthcare systems.
https://www.chathamhouse.org/expert/comment/diphtherias-resurgence-lesson-public-health-failure
cp1b Huthi-Raketen / Houthi missiles
(? B K)
OSAC's latest security analysis looks at the ballistic missile threat in #SaudiArabia. Log in with your OSAC password and read it at https://www.osac.gov/Pages/Login.aspx?ReturnUrl=%2fPages%2fContentReportDetails.aspx%3fcid%3d23100
(* A K P)
Yemenis firing own missiles at Saudi Arabia: Iran's IRGC
The chief commander of Iran's Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) has dismissed the allegations leveled by the US and its allies about the Islamic Republic’s provision of missiles to Yemeni forces.
"Missiles fired at Saudi Arabia belong to Yemen which have been overhauled and their range have been increased," Major General Mohammad Ali Jafari said on Sunday.
He added that there is no possibility at all that the Islamic Republic could transfer missiles to Yemen.
He said the US and its puppets have so far spread many lies and leveled many allegations against Iran.
"How is it possible to send weapons, specially missiles, to a country which is fully under siege and there is even no possibility to send medical aid and foodstuff?" the IRGC commander asked.
http://www.presstv.com/Detail/2018/01/07/548134/IRGC-Yemen-missile-Iran-Mohammad-Ali-Jafari and by Sputnik https://sputniknews.com/middleeast/201801071060580018-revolutionary-guard-yemeni-missile-explanation/
Comment: They may be right - but they may be able to send technical expertise to make missiles more effective. But the world ignores the missiles dropped on Yemen by the Saudi led coalition. There have been over15000 from march to December 2017.
https://www.facebook.com/judith.brown.794628/posts/10156273383588641
(* B P)
The US has released an image indicating the 4 Nov Burkan-2H/Qiam ballistic missile was not intercepted by Saudi Patriot. Difficult to see how so much frag could be recovered if warhead did not detonate on the ground. (photo)
https://twitter.com/JeremyBinnie/status/941694550468366336
cp2 Allgemein / General
(* B H K)
Jürgen Todenhöfer: Meine Reise in den vergessenen Krieg
Die Anreise
Es war für mich noch nie so schwer, in ein Land hineinzukommen, so abgeschottet ist der Jemen.
Die Kriegsgründe
Die Huthi waren eine der führenden Käfte im Arabischen Frühling. Der Krieg brach aus, als die Huthi nach einer manipulierten Wahl den von den Saudis unterstützten Präsidenten vertrieben hatten. Darauf schlugen Saudis und Vereinigte Arabische Emirate zurück. Die Huthi haben über 100 000 Mann unter Waffen, haben russische und nordkoreanische Waffen aus den alten Beständen der jemenitischen Armee. Sie haben weitergekämpft, weil bei allen Plänen zur Neuordnung des Jemen ihnen Gebiete zugeteilt wurden, die nicht lebensfähig waren – ohne Zugang zum Meer, und ohne die Erdöl- und Gasvorkommen im Osten.
Der Krieg wird von Außen permanent angeheizt – von den Iranern vor allem politisch, von den Saudis und dem Westen militärisch. Der Einfluss der Iraner ist nicht so stark, wie ich gedacht hatte.
Die Gefahr
Als wir in das Kriegsgebiet nordöstlich von Sanaa gefahren sind, tauchten dort sofort zwei Kampfflugzeuge auf. Autos sind die Lieblingsziele, weshalb uns geraten wurde: Sofort anhalten und raus! Ich war nur zweieinhalb Wochen dort – aber die Menschen dort müssen das dauerhaft aushalten! Bitter war für mich aber auch die Erkenntnis, dass wir hier mit US- und britischer Unterstützung bombardiert wurden.
Das Leid der Bevölkerung
Am schlimmsten ist, dass das Huthi-Gebiet eingekesselt ist und kaum Nahrung und Medizin ins Land kommt. Der Norden hungert still vor sich hin! In der Altstadt von Sanaa wird man verfolgt von Hunderten von Kindern, die nur noch aus Haut und Knochen bestehen. Dutzende von Menschen aus den ländlichen Gebieten drängen tagtäglich mit ihren unterernährten Kindern in die Krankenhäuser. Es ist schon bitter, wenn Sie vor einem Krankenbett eines ausgemergelten Dreijährigen stehen, und der Arzt sagt: Seine Überlebenschance liegt bei 30 Pozent…
Ich weiß nicht, wer die Huthis schlagen sollte. Aber ich weiß auch nicht, wie die Huthis über den Süden gewinnen sollen. Deswegen gibt es Leute, die fürchten, dass dieser Krieg noch 25 Jahre dauern kann – von Jürgen Todenhöfer
(B)
Best sources for what happens on the ground are independent journalists/analysts currently in Yemen, to know what’s going on in Sanaa follow some one in Sanaa, same goes for Saada, Aden & Taiz etc....
https://twitter.com/Zayed17/status/950970051443740672
(* B H K)
Film: Yemen's cultural capital Taiz now lies in ruins
Until last year, fighting between Houthi rebels and pro-government forces wrecked the city. But with attacks now at a standstill, residents fear that Taiz won't be rebuilt anytime soon
Taiz was once Yemen's cultural capital, but like Syria's Aleppo and Iraq's Mosul, much of it now lies in ruins.
The Red Cross says the city is now a case in point for how destructive urban warfare can be.
Pro-government militias liberated the city from Houthi rebels last year, but the memory of the fighting is still fresh for the residents that stayed.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A0ijrb9cBjk
(? B K P)
E-Book: Destroying Yemen: What Chaos in Arabia Tells Us about the World
Since March 2015, a Saudi-led international coalition of forces—supported by Britain and the United States—has waged devastating war in Yemen. Largely ignored by the world’s media, the resulting humanitarian disaster and full-scale famine threatens millions. Destroying Yemen offers the first in-depth historical account of the transnational origins of this war, placing it in the illuminating context of Yemen’s relationship with major powers since the Cold War. Bringing new sources and a deep understanding to bear on Yemen’s profound, unwitting implication in international affairs, this explosive book ultimately tells an even larger story of today’s political economy of global capitalism, development, and the war on terror as disparate actors intersect in Arabia. Author: Isa Blumi is Associate Professor in the Department of Asian, Middle Eastern, and Turkish Studies at Stockholm University
https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/destroying-yemen-isa-blumi/1126061862?type=eBook
(* A P)
Al Jazeera bureau in Yemen forcibly closed
The office was ordered shut by soldiers on Tuesday for reasons that were not made clear, Al Jazeera Media Network said in a statement.
"The Yemeni military force belonging to the Higher Security Command in Taiz, southern Yemen, stormed Al Jazeera Media Network's offices in the city and forcefully ordered its closure," it said.
http://www.aljazeera.com/news/2018/01/al-jazeera-bureau-yemen-forcibly-closed-180109202009406.html
My comment: Aljazeera has become more and more critical to the Saudi coalition. That’s reporting and liberty of the media Hadi government of course does not like.
(A P)
Iran and Oman agree: Saudi war against Yemen must stop
During a visit of Foreign Responsible Minister of the Sultanate of Oman, Yusuf bin Alawi, to Iran, the two nations have issued a collective statement calling on Saudi Arabia to immediately cease its offensive operations against the Republic of Yemen.
Minister Yusuf bin Alawi voiced his country’s support for the stance of Iran regarding the Yemeni conflict during a meeting with his Iranian colleague Javad Zarif during a meeting in Tehran on Monday.
https://www.almasdarnews.com/article/iran-oman-agree-saudi-war-yemen-must-stop/
(* B H K)
Jemen: "Gesundheitssystem ist zusammengebrochen"
Bernadette Schober, Projektkoordinatorin für Ärzte ohne Grenzen im Jemen, über die ignorierte Krise und die verheerenden Auswirkungen der Blockade durch Saudi-Arabien.
Das Gesundheitssystem im Jemen hat seit 2015 kontinuierlich abgebaut und ist mittlerweile weitgehend zusammengebrochen. Das liegt einerseits an den Kampfhandlungen, andererseits daran, dass das medizinische Personal seit einem Jahr keine Gehälter mehr erhalten hat. Um zu überleben, ziehen die Mitarbeiter in die größeren Städte oder arbeiten in teuren Privatkliniken, die sich die normale Bevölkerung nicht leisten kann.
Der Jemen ist zu großen Teilen von Importen abhängig, die Blockade führt zu rasanten Preisanstiegen. Aufgrund der Teuerungen bei Lebensmitteln beobachten wir mittlerweile einen deutlichen Anstieg der Mangelernährung bei Kindern unter fünf Jahren. Viele Familien kochen nur noch eine Mahlzeit pro Tag, manche können sich einfach nichts mehr leisten.
Unser Team bemerkt die Blockade vor allem bei den Treibstoffpreisen, denn die Stromversorgung läuft primär über Generatoren. Es kommen auch immer weniger Patienten zu uns ins Krankenhaus, weil sie sich die Fahrt hierher nicht mehr leisten können. Natürlich wird auch der Nachschub von Medikamenten und Personal immer schwieriger, unsere Vorräte werden irgendwann zur Neige gehen.
https://www.profil.at/shortlist/ausland/jemen-krieg-schober-8602786 und Film https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B15BFZHvSFs
(B H K)
Wunschzettel für den Jemen
Die Menschen in meiner Heimat sind vom Krieg erschöpft und ausgezehrt. Der Jemen braucht endlich Frieden.
Was wünschen sich die Menschen im Jemen für 2018? Sie möchten wieder schlafen, ohne sich Sorgen um die Zukunft machen zu müssen. Sie wollen ein friedliches Leben führen, in dem Normalität und Stabilität, nicht Angst und Hunger dominieren. Sie wünschen sich Strom und sauberes Wasser und möchten ihre Kinder wieder zur Schule schicken. Sie wollen ohne Angst durch die Straßen gehen können.
http://www.mittelbayerische.de/politik-nachrichten/wunschzettel-fuer-den-jemen-21771-art1601769.html
(* B K P)
From bad to worse? 5 things 2018 will bring to the Middle East
- The Syrian conflict will drag on without resolution.
- Saudi Arabia’s ‘reforms’ will fizzle.
Saudi Arabia will continue to make reforms under the direction of Crown Prince Muhammed bin Salman, but those reforms will be purely cosmetic.
Although the crown prince has been portrayed as a reformer, it is important to remember that Bashar al-Assad, the president of Syria, once played that role as well.
The crown prince will continue to try to consolidate power in his branch of the ruling family.
- The caliphate will be gone, but not the Islamic State.
- Trump’s ‘ultimate deal?’ Gone for now.
- Yemen will sink further into the abyss.
Down the road, the most important underreported crisis in the Middle East is the war in Yemen, which Saudi Arabia, with American support, is waging against an indigenous uprising. There is no end in sight.
https://theconversation.com/from-bad-to-worse-5-things-2018-will-bring-to-the-middle-east-89653
(* B H K)
Civilian deaths from explosives surge in 2017 - campaign group
More than half of the deaths were caused by airstrikes, mainly in Syria, Iraq and Yemen
More than 40 civilians were killed every day by explosive weapons last year, according to a preliminary survey of media reports, a sharp rise on 2016 largely due to an increase in deadly airstrikes, a campaign group said on Monday.
From monitoring English-language news reports up to the end of November, Action on Armed Violence (AOAV) recorded 15,399 civilian deaths, an increase of 42 percent from the same period in 2016.
The civilian death toll from explosive weapons was the highest since AOAV's records began in 2011, the group said. More than half of the deaths were caused by airstrikes, mainly in Syria, Iraq and Yemen.
"When explosive air weapons are used in towns, the results are inevitable: innocent children, people will die," Iain Overton, executive director of AOAV, told the Thomson Reuters Foundation.
"Civilian deaths are not just a tragedy, but the reverberating effects of this violence fuels refugee crises, convinces many to join Salafist-jihadist (militant) groups in revenge and destroys families and communities for decades."
https://reliefweb.int/report/yemen/civilian-deaths-explosives-surge-2017-campaign-group
(* B H K P)
Yemen: 2017 in review
The poorest Arab nation with a population of around 25 million has been sent into destitution after nearly four years of war. 2017 has been a year of utter despair in light of countless human rights atrocities committed on multi-fronts; from the Saudi-led coalition to Saleh-Houthis’ forces and the U.S. counter-terrorism military operation, all sharing responsibility for creating unspeakable human suffering in Yemen. However, the killing of Saleh at the end of 2017 marks a historical transition that’s going to drastically change Yemen’s political map for years to come.
While Houthis’ (and Saleh’s for a certain time, until his death) forces in Taiz continued their indiscriminate shelling or, as described by the UN Human Rights Office, the “unrelenting shelling,” against civilian inhabited areas for about three years, resulting in a terrible death toll, the Saudi-led coalition airstrikes since 2015 did not cease to hit non-military populated areas across many parts of Yemen.
Yemen without Saleh
Saleh’s death posed two critical aspects. One is that, whether Saleh genuinely desired to initiate negotiations away from Houthis or him forseeing the deadly path of his alliance with the Houthis, it’s confirmed today that Houthis’ politics are driven by violence.
The other aspect is, in spite of Houthis’ violent politics, Saleh’s absence has created for the first time in the course of Yemen’s nearly four years of war, one single centralized power in the north part of Yemen; that’s in the hands of the Houthis. Now more than ever, there has to be a regional and international political will to face this centralized power, reinvent a political solution and resolve the conflict.
Unfortunately, this is unlikely to happen as in 2017 alone – by Afrah Nasser
https://www.opendemocracy.net/north-africa-west-asia/afrah-nasser/yemen-2017-in-review
(* B K T)
Yemen Frontlines: January 2018
Anti-al Houthi forces began an offensive in late December to recapture parts of central Yemen. This operation may inadvertently empower al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) because it distracts coalition resources from areas of AQAP presence and, more dangerously, could establish AQAP proxy militias as legitimate partners.
The possible intermixing of AQAP fighters with coalition forces may limit America’s ability to attack AQAP in al Bayda.
Coalition-backed forces, primarily from northern Yemen, crossed into central al Bayda from neighboring Shabwah governorate on December 26. Anti-al Houthi forces from Aden deployed to al Bayda’s southern border on January 1. The offensive has not yet reached areas where AQAP is strong, however. Similarly, AQAP members obtained coalition funds and took on governance roles in Taiz city by participating in the anti-al Houthi fight alongside coalition-backed forces. (with map)
https://www.criticalthreats.org/analysis/yemen-frontlines-january-2018
(B H K P)
De-escalate conflict in Yemen
Cholera is one of the world’s most preventable and treatable diseases. So it is almost unthinkable that, as of last month, some 1 million people have gotten cholera in Yemen and about 2,200 have died.
To put those numbers in perspective, Yemen’s entire population is about 27 million, meaning that nearly 4 percent of the country has gotten cholera in the years since civil conflict began in late 2014. With modern technology and health care, that simply shouldn’t happen.
The strategic importance of a peaceful resolution to the conflict in Yemen is significant. The humanitarian importance cannot be overstated. Mr. Trump and his administration must make de-escalation a goal in the New Year.
(* B K)
Yemen Control Map & Report - January 2018
This is the first edition of our newly-redesigned Yemen control map, which has been optimized to match our maps of control in Syria, Iraq, Libya, and Somalia. To see earlier versions of this map, you can view all Yemen articles on PolGeoNow.
[Map; introduction; events from Aug. 2017 up to now]
http://www.polgeonow.com/2018/01/who-rules-yemen-map-houthis-control.html
(* B K P)
The Security Briefing: Yemen in 2018
The future of Yemen will be closely tied to Saudi politics moving forward. MBS sees Yemen as one of the leading threats posed to the Kingdom by his Iranian adversary. Given his desire to consolidate power, the Crown Prince will likely escalate the rhetoric against Iran in the coming months. Further, MBS tends to bite when he barks, so one should expect the kingdom’s activities in Yemen to intensify in the short-term. In the long-term, concerns over the effectiveness of the Yemen campaign will likely proliferate.
More than anyone, the weight of this proxy war will continue to be borne by the Yemeni population.
The domestic political dimension also remains complex. Even if the Saudi-led coalition effectively reversed the situation on the ground for Yemeni forces, Hadi’s reinstatement is far from certain. The proliferation of extremist, Islamist groups, like AQAP and Daesh, in addition to the multiplicity of political actors involved in Yemen spells a complicated recovery process for the country.
Even among coalition members, disagreements about Yemen’s future abound.
Considering all of these factors, it is very unlikely for a political solution to take place in Yemen anytime soon. Military and rhetorical escalation by involved parties will likely continue in the short-term, further increasing a quickly rising civilian death toll.
In the long-term, any sort of post-conflict reconciliation will have to account of the different forces that have vied for leadership in Yemen since well before the conflict began in 2011. In settling its domestic political dynamics, Yemen also needs to find a way to distance itself from the Saudi-Iranian proxy war. The country will stay embroiled in bloody conflict for as long as it remains the playground for the region’s great powers – by Nicolò Donà dalle Rose
https://globalriskinsights.com/2018/01/security-briefing-yemen-houthis-2018/
My comment: Overview and outlook. The article gives a somewhat wrong picture as it clearly overrates the Iranian role and influence. It’s mainly Saudi and US paranoia and rhetorics but not reality. And the role of the West (especially of the US) is underrated ( I would say by intention).
(* B P)
Sectarianization
Mapping the New Politics of the Middle East
An anatomy of the increasing sectarianization of conflicts in the Middle East, by some of the leading scholars writing on the region.
As the Middle East descends ever deeper into violence and chaos, ‘sectarianism’ has become a catch-all explanation for the region’s troubles. The turmoil is attributed to ‘ancient sectarian differences’, putatively primordial forces that make violent conflict intractable. In media and policy discussions, sectarianism has come to possess trans-historical causal power.
This book trenchantly challenges the lazy use of ‘sectarianism’ as a magic-bullet explanation for the region’s ills, focusing on how various conflicts in the Middle East have morphed from non-sectarian (or cross-sectarian) and nonviolent movements into sectarian wars. Through multiple case studies — including Syria, Iraq, Lebanon, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Yemen and Kuwait — this book maps the dynamics of sectarianisation, exploring not only how but also why it has taken hold. The contributors examine the constellation of forces — from those within societies to external factors such as the Saudi–Iranian rivalry — that drive the sectarianisation process and explore how the region’s politics can be de-sectarianised.
Featuring leading scholars — and including historians, anthropologists, political scientists, scholars of religion and international relations theorists — this book will redefine the terms of debate on one of the most critical issues in international affairs today.
‘Why has sectarianism become such an urgent, destructive force in today’s Middle East? This collection brings together a diverse group of scholars to advance a distinctively political explanation for the rise of sectarian conflict across the region. Rather than resort to essentialised identities, these essays expertly dissect the historical, political and instititutional contexts within which cynical political and social actors have mobilised sectarianism for their own ends. – Edited by Nader Hashemi and Danny Postel
http://www.hurstpublishers.com/book/sectarianization/ and film https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AKIBFfN5OfM
(B K P)
Narendra Modi's call to Saudi King helped India's operation 'Rahat' in Yemen: Sushma Swaraj
One direct phone call from Prime Minister Narendra Modi to Saudi King in 2015 turned out to be a decisive game changer and facilitated a massive evacuation of Indians and foreigners stranded in war-torn Yemen, External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj said today.
'Operation Rahat' was launched by Indian Armed Forces to evacuate more than 4,000 Indian citizens and other foreign nationals from Yemen during the 2015 military intervention by Saudi Arabia and its allies.
cp2a Saudische Blockade / Saudi blockade
No fuel, no water pumps working
(* B H P)
Ansarollah-Bewegung: Saudi-Arabien ist für den Tod von 247000 jementischen Kindern verantwortlich
Die Ansarollah-Bewegung wirft den saudischen Machthabern vor, mit ihrer Blockade den Tod von 247000 Kindern im Jemen verursacht zu haben.
Laut dem Nachrichtensender "Al-Mayadeen" teilten der "Oberste Rat der Ansarollah-Bewegung" und "Al-Laqa Al-Muschtarak-Parteien" heute nach einer gemeinsamen Sitzung mit: Die von Saudi-Arabien angeführte arabische Kriegsallianz hätten mehr als 75 Lebensmittellager vernichtet.
(* A H P)
CMA CGM: Port congestion surcharge Aden, Yemen
Considering the evolution of the port congestion in Aden, Yemen, CMA CGM will apply the following Port Congestion Surcharge* with immediate effect:
Effective January 8th, 2018 (B/L date) until further notice:
https://www.ajot.com/news/cma-cgm-port-congestion-surcharge-aden-yemen
My comment: This clearly shows that the Saudi coalition claim that the harbour of Aden should substitute Hodeida harbour is mere propaganda whi ch should hide that Hodeidah port working unhindered is essential for the supply to the greatest part of Yemen.
cp3 Humanitäre Lage / Humanitarian situation
Siehe / Look at cp1
(* B H)
115 families lost breadwinner in Taiz in December, CHR says
One hundred fifteen families in the central Yemen city of Taiz had their breadwinners killed in the conflict in December 2017, the Coalition for Humanitarian Relief (CHR) organization said in a periodical report issued early January 2018.
The CHR said "around 121 others who used to earn the livelihoods of their families were injured beyond earning capacity in the same month."
https://www.alsahwa-yemen.net/en/p-14473
(* B H)
Film by TRT: Al Shaqab village, Saber al-Mawadem district in #Yemen's central province of #Taiz, is on the frontline of an endless fight between Houthis and a kaleidoscopic scenario of militias funded by the Coalition.
As if the aggression was not enough with the constant airstrikes around the clock, the ground battles are inflicting endless suffering on the locals who have no part in the war. They just want to live.
This is, indeed, the ugly side of the war: the price civilians are paying.
https://www.facebook.com/LivingInYemenOnTheEdge/videos/1611252612261096/
(A H)
750 of the most needy families in my city Zabid of Hodeidah in Western #Yemen receiving 3 days a week free bread from Malaysian students studying in the city. They see people starving to death, so they decided to help them. Thanks very much to them for the initiative. (photos)
https://twitter.com/Fatikr/status/950717491617124353
(B H)
Jewish minority head in Sana'a delivering @monarelief's founder and CEO a certificate for his support to Jewish community's members in #Yemen for 6 times. No one, I mean it, NO ONE helps them as they were starving to death excepts @monareliefye (photo)
https://twitter.com/Fatikr/status/950442037597351941
(* B H P)
Film: There's now only one route to #Taiz, that used to be #Yemen's second-most populous city, with a dry river bed and a mountain road along the way.
Every other road is controlled by Houthis who have imposed a blockade for over two years.
TRT World's Middle East Reporter, Abubakr Al-Shamahi took that road into the city, where a humanitarian disaster is unfolding.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4RBdG7x7ISE and https://www.facebook.com/LivingInYemenOnTheEdge/videos/1610078465711844/
(* B H)
Film: This is why the war needs to stop. Suffering Beyond Belief: #Yemen
https://www.facebook.com/LivingInYemenOnTheEdge/videos/1610113239041700/
(* B H)
Film: Truly heartbreaking! Impact of #YemenConflict on children is immeasurable. These girls tell .@UNICEF_Yemen what they miss the most.
https://twitter.com/unicefeducation/status/949958870851612672
(* B H)
Film: The situation in #Yemen is extremely desperate. But what does life there really look like? [A woman talking]
https://twitter.com/icrc_ye/status/948910400095096832
Comment: This interview with a Yemeni woman really shows how she is suffering from war. Horrible. It's only one minute of your safe life, so please watch it so that you can understand hers better.
https://www.facebook.com/judith.brown.794628/posts/10156272451883641
Comment: When your house is on the frontlines.
When your husband gets killed by a sniper.
When you cannot return home.
When you cannot even go and fetch water.
When war is the end of your world but you have young kids to take care of
https://www.facebook.com/LivingInYemenOnTheEdge/videos/1609425065777184/ (also showing the film)
(A H)
Real time pictures @monarelief is in the field right now distributing food aid packages to most needy families in Sanaa. Our project today was funded by School for Peace in Poland. Great thanks to them More pix will be later.
https://twitter.com/Fatikr/status/949961248258580481
cp4 Flüchtlinge / Refugees
(* B H)
Film: Yemen: More than two million displaced since conflict began
Hundreds of thousands of displaced Yemenis are trying to survive in camps without basic health and sanitation provisions.
More than two million have been displaced since the war begin three and a half years ago.
http://www.aljazeera.com/news/2018/01/yemen-million-displaced-conflict-began-180109144933881.html = https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fmhZCOLE8Qs
(* B H)
Film: No child should have to live like this.
https://twitter.com/britishredcross/status/949355579360690176
(* B H)
Film: This video will give you hope! Farmers in #Yemen are #PartOfSolution creating jobs for the internally displaced - showing us how to bridge #humanitarian & #development. Can you be part of the solution?
https://twitter.com/SMEPSYEMEN/status/950063500205920256
(* B H)
Yemen UNHCR Update, 19 – 31 December 2017
22.2 million people in need
2,014,026 Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs)
89 per cent of IDPs displaced for more than a year
956,076 IDP returnees
1,015,375 recipients of CRIs since March 2015
280,539 refugees and asylum seekers
USD 114.6 M requested in 2017
https://reliefweb.int/report/yemen/yemen-unhcr-update-19-31-december-2017
cp5 Nordjemen und Huthis / Northern Yemen and Houthis
Siehe / Look at cp1
(A P)
President meets Parliament speaker
President of the Supreme Political Council Saleh al-Sammad met on Wednesday with Parliament speaker Yahya Al-Raey and other senior government officials to discuss internal situations and latest development in US-Saudi aggression against Yemen.
http://www.sabanews.net/en/news484330.htm
My comment: While the Hadi government tries to get enough MPs for a parliament session under ist own control, even reaching the quorum (look at cp6)
(A H K)
84 of those wounded in war graduated this week in Sanaa. It's the 3rd batch. Now, they are tailors,after being fighters Each one has now Medal of War Wounded Rehabilitation goes on (photos)
https://twitter.com/narrabyee/status/950990237597159424
(A P)
Yemen clerics call all Yemenis to go fight against US-Saudi invaders as as a MUST duty on every one capable. Go Fight! Light and Heavy! Under this motto, registration began in Sanaa & all other provinces, districts, counties, villages, etc. ( clerics meeting in Sanaa, Jan 9) (photos)
https://twitter.com/narrabyee/status/951004490131496960
(* A P)
209 prisoners involved in December sedition released
A total of 209 prisoners who had been arrested during December sedition were released on Monday following an amnesty decree issued by President Saleh al-Sammad, an interior ministry official told Saba.
http://www.sabanews.net/en/news484235.htm
#Yemen's Houthi/AnsarAllah movement and the GPC
“As part of the political agreement between the AnsarAllah movement [Houthis] and the General People’s Congress,
aimed at ending the December tensions, all political and military prisoners will be released excluding five persons that will be held by the movement including Saleh’s relatives … The agreement is aimed at opening a new page [in relations] between the main allies who are fighting against the Arab coalition headed by Saudi Arabia,” the source said.
https://www.facebook.com/LivingInYemenOnTheEdge/posts/1611132198939804
(A P)
Hajjah governor meets CARE humanitarian agency official
http://www.sabanews.net/en/news484167.htm
(* B K P)
Yemen warns: We will cut off Red Sea access if Saudi aggression continues
Yemen will not hesitate to cut off the international shipping route in the Red Sea if the Saudi-led coalition will not cease with its attack against major port city Al-Hudaydah. This was said by Yemeni president Saleh Ali al-Sammad on Monday.
Saleh Ali al-Sammad, who is the chairman of the Supreme Council of Yemen (the revolutionary government composed of supporters of Ansarullah, also known as the Houthi movement), said this in a conversation with UN representative for Yemen, Maeen Sharim. The position of Supreme Council chairman is similar to that of president of the country.
“Once military operations of aggressors to Yemen’s largest city Al Hudaydah are continued, we will cut off the international shipping route in the Red Sea,” president al-Sammad said, adding that Yemen is fed up with the fact that “While Yemeni people die from hunger, they (the Saudis and their allies) cross our waters with their vessels freely.”
https://www.almasdarnews.com/article/yemen-warns-will-cut-off-red-sea-access-saudi-aggression-continues/ and by Reuters https://www.reuters.com/article/us-yemen-security/yemens-houthis-threaten-to-block-red-sea-shipping-lane-idUSKBN1EY2AP
and
(* A K P)
SANA’A FORMALLY NOTIFIES UN WILL CLOSE RED SEA INTL’ NAVIGATION LINES PROTESTING BLOCKADE
“We are ready with the utmost understanding and concern for peace, extending our hands for peace as things before this visit won’t be like previous one,” Al Sammad told UN deputy envoy.
“If the aggression continues blocking sea and air ports , we will carry out strategic military options. If the escalation of the aggression continues towards Hodeidah, there are options that will be used, especially when the negotiants reached no return point, including the options of cutting navigation roads of the Red Sea,” he said.
” Aggressors pass their navigation ships from sea, while Yemeni people are on the brink of starvation. If they want us get back to negotiation table, we are ready and prepared for understandings and they will get from us what they did not find in the past, not surrendering; but a desire to stop the bloodshed of the people, the security and stability of the region.
My comment: This is not as odd as the Emirati media (following article) suggests, as the Saudi coalition of course will misuse the Red Sea for their naval attack against Hodeida.
Comment by Judith Brown: They are quite crazy. It seems like they are doing their very best to bring USA. into the war. Is this really on their own interests? Or Yemen's?
https://www.facebook.com/judith.brown.794628/posts/10156277870103641
(* B K P)
Houthis threaten to block shipping traffic in Red Sea
Yemen's Houthi rebels have threatened to block the vital shipping route that connects the Mediterranean Sea with the Arabian Sea and Indian Ocean.
The president of the so-called supreme political council, which runs Sanaa and other rebel-held territory, made the threat in a meeting with the deputy UN envoy to Yemen on Monday, according to both Saudi and Houthi media.
Council president Saleh Al Samad told the UN's Maeen Shureim that the Houthis will turn to "strategic choices" if the Saudi-led coalition fighting in Yemen does not halt efforts to retake ports in Hodeidah province, where coastline runs along the Red Sea.
According to Saudi Arabia's Al Hadath news channel, Mr Al Samad said the rebels would "cut international navigation", while the Houthis' Al Masirah TV elaborated, reporting that he threatened to "block the Red Sea and target international navigation".
https://www.thenational.ae/world/mena/houthis-threaten-to-block-shipping-traffic-in-red-sea-1.693988
My comment: By Emirati media. The UN and a great part of the “international community”, as all humanitarian NGOs ask the Saudi coalition not to assault Hodeida.
Comment: One of many. But the Houthis don't control the Red Sea so I'm not sure how they could achieve this.
https://www.facebook.com/judith.brown.794628/posts/10156276901828641
(B K P)
Film: Yemeni women ready to fight in Yemen war
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DbuHTeXrmvk
(A K P)
President of the Supreme Political Council Saleh al-Sammad said: If the escalation of aggression continues towards #Hodeidah, we will use the options of cutting the Red Sea and international shipping, we will not allow them to pass through our waters with their ships and our people are starving.
(* A K P)
Yemen's Houthis storm schools to recruit children as fighters, say residents
Yemen's Houthi militants are storming public schools in rebel-held areas to recruit students as fighters, taking some away by force without telling their families, local residents have told The National.
It comes after Yemeni news sites on Sunday published a letter from the president of the so-called Supreme Political Council — which rules Sanaa and other rebel-held territory — to the chairman of the rebel movement's Revolutionary Committee, ordering him to begin recruiting male students for military training from all public universities and primary and secondary schools under Houthi control.
The letter did not stipulate the age of the students that should be "recruited" but pro-government forces have in the past arrested Houthi fighters as young as 10.
Ramzi Mokhtar, a journalist covering the fighting between pro-government forces and the Houthis in Al Jouf province told The National that 45 civilians — the majority children — from the Gabal Al Shariq area of Dhamar province, south of Sanaa, had been forced to fight in Al Jouf, north of Sanaa.
My comment: By an Emirati media with anti-Houthi bias.
(A E P)
Houthis accused of stealing almost $800,000 from Yemeni pensioners
The Yemeni Pensions Association released a document accusing the Houthi militia of stealing two billion Yemeni Riyals (almost $800,000) from funds deposited by the General Authority for Insurance and Pensions from the Central Bank in Sanaa.
The association called on the CEO of the World Bank to pressure the militia to return the money that they stole, and pay them their salaries which they have not received for a whole year, since the beginning of 2017.
The document which was shared on local websites on Sunday said that the Houthi controlled General Authority for Insurance and Pensions has incorporated the rights of retirees into public debt securities, even though the money is private, not public.
My comment: This article by a Saudi media with anti-Houthi bias.
(* B P)
GPC female leader says Houthis killed 212 special forces in Sana'a
A senior female member of the GPC party and loyalist to the slain Ali Abdullah Saleh said the Houthi rebel militia "have killed 212 members of the special forces in Hospital 48 south of the capital Sana'a." Nora al-Jarawi who, like hundreds of GPC members, fled to the government-held Marib gave this testimony in Marib on Thursday during a session with human rights officials gathering facts about the Houthis in Sana'a.
The special forces troopers were killed during the brief uprising that Saleh led against the Houthi rebels in late November and early December before they killed him.
https://www.alsahwa-yemen.net/en/p-14426
My comment: There is a lot of propaganda – former GPC leaders seem willing to tell everything about the Houthis which there new hosts in the south want to hear. In many cases, it is almost impossible to differ between facts and fiction.
(A K P)
Press conference on aggression massacres held in Sana’a
The Political Bureau of Ansar Allah and the joint meeting parties held on Sunday a joint press conference on the massacres of the aggression states in Yemen under the international silence.
The conference reviewed the crimes and violations committed by the aggression coalition and its terrible massacres during one thousand and 18 days of the aggression under a suspicious international disregard.
The press conference referred to what the Saudi-led aggression coalition has carried out since March 26, 2015 up to date
http://www.sabanews.net/en/news484091.htm
(A K P)
Houthi commander turns himself in to UAE forces in Yemen, joins Arab Coalition
A Houthi militia commander has turned himself in to the UAE forces operating in Yemen and voiced willingness to work for the Saudi-led Arab Coalition Forces in Support of Legitimacy in Yemen.
Sheikh Hamir Ibrahim, who was in charge of the Hais and Al Khokha fronts in Yemen, urged, in statements to the Emirates News Agency (WAM), his tribesmen to surrender, turn themselves in and join the ranks of the Arab coalition against the Iran-backed Houthi rebels in order to "liberate the entire Yemeni territories."
He added that the rebels are forcing the Yemeni people to fight along with them before leaving them in the lurch in utter suffering along with their children who are "forced to fight on the frontlines."
http://wam.ae/en/details/1395302658678
My comment: This reports sounds somewhat strange; could be a propaganda story.
(A P)
Bani Matar women protest against Saudi war crimes
http://www.sabanews.net/en/news483979.htm and also https://www.almasdarnews.com/article/come-ladies-yemeni-women-hold-protest-marches-saudi-aggression/
Amran women condemn Saudi fierce war crimes against civilians
http://www.sabanews.net/en/news484028.htm
(* A P)
Houthis, Supporters of Saleh Open ‘New Page’ of Alliance
Yemen’s Houthi rebels and supporters of the country’s former President Ali Abdullah Saleh, who was killed by the Houthis in December 2017, decided to open a new page of cooperation to fight against the Saudi-led coalition, a high-ranking source in the General People's Congress party founded by Saleh told Sputnik on Monday.
“As part of the political agreement between the Ansar Allah movement [Houthis] and the General People's Congress, aimed at ending the December tensions, all political and military prisoners will be released excluding five persons that will be held by the movement including Saleh’s relatives … The agreement is aimed at opening a new page [in relations] between the main allies who are fighting against the Arab coalition headed by Saudi Arabia,” the source said.
https://sputniknews.com/middleeast/201801081060591099-yemen-houthi-rebels/
(* A P)
Partei des getöteten Ex-Präsidenten wählt Nachfolger
Der frühere Vize-Regierungschef Sadik Amin Abu Rass wurde am Sonntag einstimmig zum Chef des Allgemeinen Volkskongresses gewählt, wie die Partei in Jemens Hauptstadt Sanaa erklärte. Wo genau die Wahl stattfand, wurde nicht mitgeteilt.
Rass gilt als ein Vertrauter des getöteten Saleh. Der 65-Jährige solle den Allgemeinen Volkskongress bis zu einer Vollversammlung der Partei führen, hieß es in der Mitteilung. Ein Termin dafür könne "wegen der aktuellen Schwierigkeiten" derzeit nicht festgelegt werden.
Die Partei versicherte mit Blick auf den Bürgerkrieg im Jemen, dass sie weiter gegen "die Aggression und die Belagerung" kämpfen werde, der das Land seit dem Eingreifen eines Militärbündnisses unter der Führung Saudi-Arabiens ausgesetzt sei. Zugleich sei sie offen für einen Dialog und "nationale Versöhnung".
http://www.t-online.de/nachrichten/ausland/krisen/id_83008690/nachfolger-von-jemens-ex-praesident-gewaehlt.html = https://www.nzz.ch/international/aktuelle-themen/die-partei-des-getoeteten-jemenitischen-praesidenten-saleh-waehlt-dessen-nachfolger-ld.1345226
(* A P)
Yemeni party names new leader after Saleh killed
The party of former Yemeni president Ali Abdullah Saleh named a new leader on Sunday after he was killed last month by the Iran-aligned Houthi movement his one-time allies in the country’s civil war.
Questions have arisen over where the loyalty of the General People’s Congress (GPC) fighters lay after Saleh was killed in a roadside attack after switching sides, abandoning the Houthis in favor of a Saudi-led coalition.
Sunday’s announcement condemned the Saudi “aggression” and said the party would keep resisting, but did not mention the Houthis. It said Sadeq Amin Abou Rass, a former agriculture minister, had succeeded Saleh.
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-yemen-security/yemeni-party-names-new-leader-after-saleh-killed-idUSKBN1EW0JN and also https://sputniknews.com/middleeast/201801071060575226-yemeni-party-leader/
and photos https://twitter.com/SaadAbedine/status/949959636056076289
Remark: Look at the photos showing Saleh – who is labeled as “traitor” by the Houthis.
and
(* A P)
Party of Yemen's slain Saleh elects new chief
The General People's Congress, a key player in Yemeni politics for decades, elected former deputy premier Sadiq Amin Aburas by consensus at a meeting of its general committee, it said in a statement.
It made no mention of the Huthis, but said it would continue to "reject and resist aggression and siege" against Yemen, a reference to a military campaign being waged since 2015 by a Saudi-led coalition.
Aburas, 65, is seen as having been close to Saleh, the long-time Yemeni strongman killed by Huthi gunmen on December 4 after their alliance collapsed.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/wires/afp/article-5244085/Party-Yemens-slain-Saleh-elects-new-chief.html
(A P)
Aburas, 65, will lead the GPC until its next general assembly, a date for which could not yet be set "because of the current difficulties", a statement said.
(* A P)
Leaders in the GPC party reject meeting held in Sanaa
Nawra Al Garwi, a member of the GPC assembly who fled to government-controlled Marib province after the Houthis killed Saleh in December, said on Twitter that the meeting in Sanaa "doesn't make any sense" and no longer represented the party.
Kamel Al Khoudani, editor in chief of the Al Mithak newspaper affiliated with the GPC, tweeted that the move by party leaders in Sanaa was a "shame" and a betrayal of the blood of the former Yemeni president, many of whose relatives were arrested by the Houthis.
Mr Abou Rass was appointed GPC deputy leader by Saleh in 2014. The chairman of the Houthi political council, Saleh Al Samad, congratulated him on his election as party leader.
https://www.thenational.ae/world/mena/leaders-in-the-gpc-party-reject-meeting-held-in-sanaa-1.693429
My comment: There are at least three factions of the GPC party now. Of course, the other factions would reject this Sanaa meeting and its vote.
and also
(* A P)
Yemen: General People’s Congress Says Sana’a Meeting is Void
The General People’s Congress (GPC) considered on Sunday a meeting held by party members in Sana’a as “void,” and said that “most members of the general committee and the party’s permanent committee were not in Sana’a to attend the meeting, whose decisions became illegal.”
The political party, previously led by former Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh, who was killed in December 2017, described the step as an “attempt to hijack and control the GPC with an aim to justify the policies of robberies, crimes and killings imposed by Houthi militias on party members.”
GPC issued a statement on Sunday saying the decision of appointing Abou Rass as Saleh’s successor was “meaningless.”
https://aawsat.com/english/home/article/1136826/yemen-general-people%E2%80%99s-congress-says-sana%E2%80%99-meeting-void and see also this report: https://www.eremnews.com/news/arab-world/yemen/1144829 and translation https://translate.google.com/translate?sl=ar&tl=en&js=y&prev=_t&hl=de&ie=UTF-8&u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.eremnews.com%2Fnews%2Farab-world%2Fyemen%2F1144829&edit-text=
My comment: And all factions of the Party now label themselves as “GPC”.
and also
(* A P)
‘Al Houthis hijacking Saleh’s party’
Yemen’s General People’s Congress party have accused the Iran-backed Al Houthi militants of seeking to hijack the party by pressuring the party to choose a new leader.
In a statement carried by the Saba news agency, the party’s members, who live in government-controlled areas or abroad, said that Al Houthis have released senior members of the party, who have been under house arrest since Saleh’s killing, and forced them to meet in Sana’a to select a new leader to the party and issuing a statement backing Al Houthis and criticising the Saudi-led coalition.
“Al Houthis’ attempts to hijack the party in Sana’a through [pushing the party’s] hostages and prisoners to legitimise their crimes and pass their policies do not reflect the party’s unchanged nationalist principles and the speech of its founder before his martyrdom by Al Houthis.” the statement said.
http://gulfnews.com/news/gulf/yemen/al-houthis-hijacking-saleh-s-party-1.2153692
and
(* A P)
Yemen's General People’s Congress Officials Denounce ‘Sanaa Meeting’
In the meantime, Congress leaders and branches inside and outside Yemen continued to issue a wave of statements denouncing the Sanaa meeting, who brought together only a few of their party members. They deemed decisions made at the meeting as "null and void."
Congress statements issued by the branches in the governorates of Saada, Amran, Dhamar, Abyan, Aden, Hadramout, Hodeidah, Hajjah, Mahweet, Rameh and Baiyada condemned attempts by the militias to take over the party and exploiting it as a political pawn, which serves its coup agenda.
It is no more than an attempt by Houthi militias to forcibly hijack the party’s stance by forcing some leaders still in Sanaa to take extra-procedural stances foreign to the Congress collective voice, the leaders explained.
Comment: This is from Sharq Al Awsaat but I've heard this from Yemen as well.
https://www.facebook.com/judith.brown.794628/posts/10156276904358641
My comment: This also by Saudi media, being anti-Houthi propaganda or at least showing the split within this party. Anyway, the pro-Hadi branch in the south and the pro-Saleh beranch at Sanaa already had split in 2014/15, each claiming to represent the GPC party.
and
(A P)
Yemen GPC Assistant Secretary-General, Shiekh Yassir Alwadhi, was not part of GPC general committee latest congress, and insist on ending the partnership with #Huthis ( the killers of GPC leaders, President Saleh and Aref Alzoka.
https://twitter.com/AbdullaRafiq/status/950124163523600384
and
The GPC meeting up to now had not been reported by the English section of Houthi-run Yemeni Saba Net, but by Iranian media, giving more information:
(* A P)
Yemen’s GPC names new head to replace slain Saleh
The GPC announcement said the party would keep resisting the Saudi “aggression”, but it did not mention the Ansarullah. Also missing from the statement was the name of Ahmed Ali Saleh, the exiled son of the former president who had vowed to lead a campaign against the Houthis after his father was killed in a roadside attack by fighters loyal to the Ansarullah.
“What happened (Saleh’s killing) will not prompt us to make peace with the aggressors against the sovereignty, the dignity and the freedom of our great Yemeni people,” said the statement, adding that the GPC remained open to national reconciliation and talks with all Yemeni factions.
The party also called for the release of its prisoners, including Saleh’s family members and staffers of the pro-Saleh TV channel Yemen al-Yawm.
http://www.presstv.com/Detail/2018/01/07/548163/Yemen-Saleh-GPC-new-leader and also https://www.alaraby.co.uk/english/news/2018/1/8/slain-yemen-president-salehs-former-party-elects-new-chief
My comment: The last paragraph shows that – different to an earlier announcement – still not all members of the Yemen a-Yawm (Yemen Today) TV channel had been released.
cp6 Südjemen und Hadi-Regierung / Southern Yemen and Hadi-government
(* A P)
Security forces open fire on Yemen detainees, wounding 12
Family members and a detainee say Yemeni security forces this week opened fire on detainees in the southern port city of Aden, wounding 12.
According to the detainee and two family members visiting their jailed kin, the incident took place on Sunday in the Beir Ahmed 2 detention center. The facility is part of an anti-terror campaign led by the United Arab Emirates, which set up a network of secret prisons to hold hundreds of terror detainees.
The detainee, one of the 12 wounded, told The Associated Press on Wednesday that the soldiers opened fire to halt a protest by the detainees against restrictions on closer contact with visitors.
(A T)
Hadrami Elite forces dismantled IEDs planted by #AQAP militants on the road between Doan and Al-Dhliaah districts of #Hadramout on Jan 09. (photos)
https://twitter.com/demolinari/status/951002303300956160
(A T)
#AQAP claims they took control of a Security Belt checkpoint in Al-Rida area between #Wadea district #Abyan and Aqabat Al-Sabar in Al-Maraqisha after the soldiers fled during a 3am attack on Jan 09.
https://twitter.com/demolinari/status/950940631316099072
(A P)
Yemen’s Parliament Convenes Next Month with Participation of General People’s Congress MPs
The Yemeni government is preparing to hold the country’s first parliament session in the temporary capital, Aden, early next month, a Yemeni high-ranking official said on Monday.
The official said the government was able to reach the necessary quorum required to hold the session by driving a large number of representatives of late former President Ali Abdullah Saleh’s General People’s Congress (GPC) and other parties to the meeting.
Mohammed al-Shadadi, deputy speaker of the parliament, told Asharq Al-Awsat that the cabinet is currently exerting efforts to hold the first parliament session in February, after the majority of lawmakers were ready to attend, particularly those coming from the Houthi-liberated areas and who can be quickly moved to Aden.
“The quorum has been reached with the participation of 135 deputies in the first planned session,” he said, adding that the number of lawmakers wishing to attend this session is expected to gradually increase in the upcoming days, with the exit of the remaining detained MPs from Sanaa and other Houthi-controlled directorates.
My comment: Wait and see whether they really will reach the quorum. The greatest part of MPs are members of GPC, and the parliament (by reaching the quarum) had been assembled at Sanaa under Houthi/Saleh rule.
(A P)
Lutfi Shatara of the Southern Transitional Council (@STCSouthArabia) met with the French Foreign Ministry in Paris and explained the goals and visions of the Council.
https://twitter.com/demolinari/status/950571773380063232
(A T)
Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) militants attacked Emirati-backed forces on January 6, according to AQAP’s official social media channel. AQAP militants also attacked an Emirati-backed al Hizam commander with an improvised explosive device (IED) in Wade’a district, Abyangovernorate, southern Yemen.[3]
(A P)
Women in E. #Yemen’s #Mahra today protested vs influx of outsiders (#Salafi hardliners posing as migrants) & issued statement calling on: -New Gov’r (arrived from #Saudi) not to allow new extremist centres -Tribes to head off “the coming danger” -Mahris not to sell land/buildings (image)
https://twitter.com/Dr_E_Kendall/status/950787359645282304
My comment: The Saudis put their grip on this region. By this, they a) block the laud route from Yemen to Oman; b) they get a direct route from Saudi soil via Yemen to harbours at the Indian Ocean.
(A P)
Saudi TV reports locals in East #Yemen's #Mahra "dancing for joy" at new #Saudi military presence there & promised aid. Mahris say footage not representative. One wonders how #Oman feels. (photos)
https://twitter.com/Dr_E_Kendall/status/950301064611409920
My comment: This obviously is odd propaganda. Earlier reporting on the Saudi presence at this region: YPR 374, 373.
(A)
Air traffic Stop: #Seyun Airport
Air traffic to and from Seyoun International Airport was suspended on Monday 8 January 2018.
In a note sent by the airport manager, the reasons for stopping the flights is due to the fact that the airport supply unit could not supply the aircrafts with fuel.
The memo indicated that the airport will resume operations once fuel reaches the airport.
(A T)
According to local reports Security Belt checkpoint commander Nasser Omeir was wounded by an IED planted near a checkpoint in Lasaba area of northern #Wadea district #Abyan and transported to #Aden for treatment.
https://twitter.com/demolinari/status/950184260660416512
(A K PS)
Yemen security forces seize 50 bags of Sanaa-bound explosive materials
Yemeni security forces in Aden stopped on Saturday a Sanaa-bound lorry carrying 50 bags of Urea nitrate, a fertilizer-based high explosive that can be used in improvised explosive devices.
The Arab coalition, which includes Saudi Arabia and the UAE, fighting on behalf of the internationally-recognised government of Yemeni president Abdrabu Mansur Hadi had found such material in a number of sites in the northern provinces of the country, where the Houthi rebels would assemble explosives and landmines under the leadership of Iranian experts.
“Aden police stopped a big lorry at the Al Areesh checkpoint in the Khormaksar city of Aden [on Saturday] and discovered that its cargo was 50 bags of Urea nitrate, which was covered up with rice to conceal the content inside,” Lt Abdulrahman Al Nakeed told The National.
“The driver of the lorry admitted that he was heading with the substance to Sanaa, the capital, which is held by the Houthis.”
My comment: By Emirati media, suggesting “Iranian experts”.
(A P)
Yemen’s Al-Islah Party to Reintroduce New Administrative Framework
Yemen’s Al-Islah leader Mohammed al-Yadumi said that his political party is in the process of preparing for the Fifth General Conference
In an interview with Asharq Al-Awsat, Yadumi highlighted efforts spent by neighboring Gulf states, namely Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.
Addressing repeated accusation of the party's affiliation with the Muslim Brotherhood, Yadumi stressed that his party is a national political party with a reformist approach, as it is mentioned in its name—Al-Islah is Arabic for reform.
https://aawsat.com/english/home/article/1135986/yemen%E2%80%99s-al-islah-party-reintroduce-new-administrative-framework and also http://gulfnews.com/news/gulf/yemen/yemen-s-islah-party-distances-itself-from-brotherhood-1.2154324
Comment: #Yemen's Islah Party is confirming it has no links with the Muslim Brotherhood, yet, interestingly, it says it will review its stands on key issues 'after' Houthis are defeated.
After.
https://www.facebook.com/SaudiArabia.war.crimes.against.Yemen/posts/1764806253815361
My comment: Islah Party mostly simply IS Muslim Brotherhood. Would you take serious US Republicans or Democrats if they would be propagating a monarchy in the US??
cp7 UNO und Friedensgespräche / UN and peace talks
Siehe / Look at cp1
(A P)
STATEMENT BY MAEEN SHARIM, DEPUTY SPECIAL ENVOY TO YEMEN
The Deputy Special Envoy of the United Nations to Yemen, Maeen Sharim, said that there are positive indicators towards the peace process from all parties in #Yemen.
He said during a meeting with the Minister of Human Rights in the Sana'a government Alia al-Shaabi that "the international delegation came in his current visit carrying the message of peace, which expresses the approach of the United Nations to promote peace in the world."
He also stressed that the mission of the delegation is to facilitate the peace process by bringing together the views of all parties concerned.
My comment: I fear, forced optimism.
(A P)
Yemen’s Hadi will not engage the Houthis
Yemen’s foreign minister has outlined the conditions under which his government will hold talks with the Houthis, Al-Yemen Today reported.
In a meeting US Deputy Chief of Mission in Yemen, Ana Escrogima, today, Abdul Malik Al-Makhlafi said the current condition the people of Yemen live under cannot be tolerated or accepted.
He added that talks with the Houthis will only occur if the crimes against the Yemeni people and politicians halt, prisoners are released, the Houthis stop firing missiles and attacking cities and permit humanitarian access to Yemenis.
The internationally recognised government led by President Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi is reaching out to political forces in Yemen to join an alliance with the Saudi-led coalition to counter the Houthis in the strategic Red Sea port of Hudaydah and the capital Sana’a.
https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20180109-yemens-hadi-will-not-engage-the-houthis/
My comment: Repeating again these preconditions – which actually make any peace talks impossible. The Hadi government really does not want any peace – they simply claim surrender of the Houthis. But this way peace never works.
Comment: Hadi is a real block to peace. When the war ends he won't be president. So he wants the war to go on and on.
https://www.facebook.com/judith.brown.794628/posts/10156276918493641
(A P)
Peace talks restart bid fails: Houthi leaders have rejected meeting with the assistant UN envoy who arrived in #Yemen capital Sanaa yesterday.
https://twitter.com/BaFana3/status/950102660727926786
(A P)
Deputy UN Envoy to Yemen Arrives in Sanaa to Revive Peace Negotiations
Shraim would seek to convince the militia delegation to accept a roadmap that would guarantee a political and military process to end the coup and to promote trust between the two sides.
Yemeni Foreign Minister Abdul Malik al-Mekhlafi has set five conditions for returning to negotiations with the coup.
My comment: By Saudi media. Earlier reporting YPR 374, cp7. – These preconditions actually would block any negotiations; this seems to be the purpose of it, with the idea to finally blame the Houthis for any failure.
(A P)
New peace bid in Yemen but skepticism reigns
UN deputy envoy Maeen Sharim has arrived in Al Houthi-held Sana’a to launch new efforts to revive peace talks
The United Nations envoy to Yemen, Esmail Ould Shaikh Ahmad, has sent his deputy to Sana’a to try and convince Al Houthis to join peace talks with the internationally-recognised government, as the Iran-backed rebels boycott him.
Al Houthis refused to deal with Ould Shaikh Ahmad after accusing him of “siding” with the Saudi-led coalition.
Yasser Al Yafae, a political analyst based in Yemen’s southern city of Aden, told Gulf News that Sharim’s efforts would lead nowhere given the Al Houthis’ persistent refusal to withdraw from cities under their control, or to release prisoners and halt the shelling of cities like Taiz.
“Al Houthis will continue to take a hardline on talks as long as they are in control of Sana’a and Hodeida,” Al Yafae said.
http://gulfnews.com/news/gulf/yemen/new-peace-bid-in-yemen-but-skepticism-reigns-1.2152964
My comment: By Emirati media. The blaming of Houthis as expected. The “analyst’s” propaganda is putting upside down. The Houthis are calles “hardliners” and their “persistent refusal” is lamented, taking the hadi government’s preconditions as a natural base for further peace talks.
cp7a Saudi-Arabien und Iran / Saudi Arabia and Iran
(* B P)
Saudis watching Iran protests intently
Saudi Arabia is following the unrest in Iran with intense interest, hoping it will force its regional rival to turn inward. The Saudis have little capacity to influence Iranian domestic developments, however, and share many of the same problems as Tehran. The Iranian question is unlikely to help resolve Riyadh’s biggest foreign policy challenge — the expensive quagmire in Yemen that is only getting worse.
Since the start of the protests Dec. 28 in Mashhad, Iran's second-largest and holies city, the state-controlled media in Saudi Arabia has followed the protests closely. The protesters' call for Iran to spend more money at home and less on foreign adventures in Syria, the Gaza Strip, Iraq and Yemen especially has gotten much attention in Saudi media outlets – by Bruce Riedel
https://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/originals/2018/01/saudi-arabia-watching-iran-protests-yemen.html
cp8 Saudi-Arabien / Saudi Arabia
(? B P)
Film by BBC: House of Saud: A Family at War Episode 1
Saudi Arabia stands at a crucial crossroads facing unprecedented change. The Kingdom has long enjoyed seemingly inexhaustible wealth and untold power and influence. But the House of Saud is accused of spreading extremist ideology and even supporting violent extremists. This series looks at the challenges facing the new Crown Prince, 32-year-old Mohammed bin Salman, who has pledged to transform the country.
The first episode examines the new leader's dramatic commitment to end extremism and to return to moderate Islam. Travelling from eastern Europe to India, and across the bloody battlefields of Syria and Yemen, the programme traces the impact that huge amounts of Saudi cash and weapons have had around the world.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b09m53py (only in UK) and trailor https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gpKBZ78osPY
and there is a long discussion on Twitter: https://twitter.com/hashtag/houseofsaud?src=hash
(* A P)
Confirmed: #Saudi clansman @Alwaleed_Talal has agreed to give up all his wealth & to all conditions by #MBS. He will also record a video statement admitting guilt & requesting forgiveness from the king. He will be freed but not allowed to leave the country. He was tortured.
https://twitter.com/AliAlAhmed_en/status/949810258544906240
Remark: On the case of this prince, YPR 374, and earlier as well.
and also
(A P)
Father of Alwaleed bin Talal has been on hunger strike since 10 November to protest Mohammed bin Salman's arrest campaign
The 86-year-old prince, who is the half brother of King Salman, stopped eating on 10 November, shortly after his first son, Alwaleed, was arrested on 4 November, and has lost 10 kilos in one month.
http://www.middleeasteye.net/news/senior-saudi-royal-hunger-strike-722949715
(* B P)
Film: Saudi Arabia's Big Brother
Saudi state TV channel: 'Everyone is under the watchful eye of the state'
https://www.facebook.com/LivingInYemenOnTheEdge/videos/1611721302214227/
(* B P)
Saudi Arabia pressures Canada over stance on Yemen war: report
The Canadian embassy in Riyadh has faced pressure and threats by Saudi officials unhappy with Ottawa’s calls for an immediate end to hostilities in war-ravaged Yemen and an independent investigation into allegations of human rights abuses committed by all sides, according to reports in Saudi opposition media.
Citing an anonymous source “close to the Canadian embassy,” the UK-based Al-Khaleej Online Arabic-language publication reported last week that Saudi officials have exerted sustained pressure on Canadian diplomats “to stop the Canadian campaign against the war in Yemen” and have threatened to withdraw unspecified Saudi investments in Canada.
Ali Al-Ahmed, director of the Washington-based Institute for Gulf Affairs and a critic of Saudi kingdom’s human rights record, said while Canada’s position on the war in Yemen is similar to other Western countries that have tacitly supported the Saudi intervention, Riyadh has been irked by Ottawa’s call for an international investigation by independent experts.
Al-Ahmed said if true, the alleged Saudi pressure and threats would be very typical of the way the kingdom operates internationally.
http://www.rcinet.ca/en/2018/01/08/saudi-arabia-pressures-canada-over-stance-on-yemen-war-report/
Comment: Have they no shame? All ordinary Yemenis just want the war to end. Whoever wins. They want to be able to eat, to find a home, to work. I for this be an sick of all those fighting in Yemen and I just want peace.
https://www.facebook.com/judith.brown.794628/posts/10156276916058641
(* B P)
Verschwörerische Liaison
Zwischen Jerusalem und Riad gibt es offiziell keine diplomatischen Beziehungen. Aber der gemeinsame Feind in Teheran sorgt für eine Geheimallianz, die immer wichtiger wird.
Im Mittleren Osten finden zwei ungleiche Partner zueinander: Israel und Saudi-Arabien. Sie haben zwar keine diplomatischen Beziehungen. Aber die beiden US-Verbündeten eint die Sorge über die zunehmende Macht des Iran, den sowohl Jerusalem als auch Riad als Erzfeind betrachten. Beide eint das Interesse, die regionalen Ambitionen des Iran abzuwehren. Die heimliche israelisch-saudische Zusammenarbeit könnte deswegen im kommenden Jahr intensiver werden, meinen Beobachter in Tel Aviv und in Riad.
Im militärischen Bereich funktioniert die Kooperation der beiden Staaten besser. Die Saudis, sagt ein europäischer Waffenverkäufer in Riad, prüfen derzeit zum Beispiel den Kauf israelischer Rüstungsgüter. Um Raketenangriffe aus dem Jemen abzufangen, gilt ihr Interesse dem israelischen Abwehrsystem „Iron Dome“ – von Pierre Heumann
(* B P)
Swiss Newspaper reveals: Secret military cooperation between Saudi Arabia and Israel
The Swiss newspaper Basler Zeitung revealed the fact that there exists a “secret alliance” between Saudi Arabia and Israel, intended “to restrain Iran’s expansion in the region, despite the absence of any official relations between the two countries.”
“For the time being, Riyadh rejects any official normalization of relationships with Israel as long as the Palestinian-Israeli conflict is not resolved and normalization has not been publically declared by Arab countries and thus there will be no exchange of ambassadors,” said Pierre Heumann, the newspaper’s correspondent in Israel in his report.
“There is an intensive secret cooperation between Saudi Arabia and Israel in order to achieve the main goal of curbing Iran’s expansion project and undermining its regional ambitions,” said the reporter. He added that “there exists indeed military cooperation between Saudi Arabia and Tel Aviv.”
https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20180108-swiss-newspaper-reveals-secret-military-cooperation-between-saudi-arabia-and-israel/ and also http://www.jpost.com/Middle-East/Report-Saudi-Arabia-sought-to-buy-Israels-Iron-Dome-system-533185
(* B P)
Saudi Arabia's biggest geopolitical weakness is the fact that the country is surrounded by maritime choke points in the form of the Strait of Hormuz, Strait of Mandeb, and the Suez Canal. It does not have direct access to the "open seas", This means Saudi always feels cornered.
Saudi Arabia therefore feels that it needs to control the maritime choke points either directly or by proxy. This means that countries like Yemen and Egypt are very important for Saudi Arabia's economy. Riyadh can't afford to lose either country to Iranian or Turkish influence.
The more Saudi Arabia feels it is cornered by Iran or Turkey, the more aggressive its foreign policy will become. Unlike Iran and Turkey, which are buffered in some form, Saudi does not enjoy any real geographic buffers. For Saudi, attack is the best form of defense for survival.
https://twitter.com/nadiabelush/status/950184865848315905 (Thread)
(B P)
#Saudi clanwoman tweets about her brother former air-force general Bandar bin Abdullah bin Mohamed AlSaud who was arrested by secretive MBS militia. His cousin Turki bin Bandar was kidnaped from France in 2016 & disappeared. (thread)
https://twitter.com/AliAlAhmed_en/status/950101661665591307
(* B P)
The available information indicates that #Saudi CP MBS created his owen private militia with #BlackWater in charge. Militia staff are mostly foreigners with American & other nationals. @MohamedBinZayed was key.
https://twitter.com/AliAlAhmed_en/status/950069146758328320
(A P)
Saudi Arabia Arrests Princes for Criticizing Government
Distant royals complain of cutbacks to benefits, punishment of others
Saudi authorities arrested 11 princes for criticizing the government, the latest indication that the country’s rulers are moving to stamp out traces of internal dissent as it pushes through a painful economic transition.
Saudi Arabia’s attorney general said the princes were arrested after staging a sit-in outside a royal palace in Riyadh to protest the government’s decision to stop paying electricity and water bills for members of the extended royal family. He said they were also asking for compensation for the execution of a relative who was sentenced to death for murder last year.
https://www.wsj.com/articles/saudi-arabia-arrests-more-princes-for-criticizing-government-1515260252
Remark: Earlier reporting YPR 374, more details are here.
and
(A P)
Statement by the Attorney General of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia on the arrest of 11 princes
Despite being informed that their demands are not lawful, the 11 princes refused to leave the area, disrupting public peace and order. Members of security services stepped in to restore order and the princes were arrested. Following their arrest, they have been charged on a number of counts in relation to these offences. They are detained at Al-Hayer prison south of the capital pending their trial.
No one is above the law in Saudi Arabia, everyone is equal and is treated the same as others.
cp9 USA
Siehe / Look at cp1
(* B P)
America's Balancing Act in Yemen
Senator Todd Young says the U.S. has a strategic stake in helping the Saudis and a moral obligation to hold them accountable.
But the strategic alliance has produced a moral dilemma for the Americans, as well.
The thrust is that Young is dealing in more than just diplomatic niceties—or, as he put it to me Friday, is providing “leverage to our own government to try and ensure that this starvation blockade is lifted.” The hawkish Indiana Republican is trying to balance strategic and humanitarian necessities in his approach to the Saudis.
http://www.weeklystandard.com/americas-balancing-act-in-yemen/article/2011077
My comment: As long as Young does not leave the Saudi / US anti-Iranian mental propaganda cage he will not achieve much. – And can anybody seriously tell why the US should have any “strategic stake in helping the Saudis”?? What for?? Of course, the US (as the UN as well) would have “a moral obligation to hold them accountable”. You call it schizophrenia.
(* B P T)
Der Iran ist nicht der Top-Sponsor des Terrorismus – ehemalige Geheimdienstmitarbeiter informieren Trump
Eine Gruppe ehemaliger US-Geheimdienstmitarbeiter fordert Trump auf, die falschen Behauptungen seiner Administration zu unterbinden, dass der Iran zu den wichtigsten Unterstützerstaaten des Terrorismus gehört, wenn gleichzeitig befreundete Staaten wie Saudi-Arabien eine weitaus größere Rolle spielen. Das Memorandum ist in englischer Sprache auf Consortiumnews erschienen.
„Wir sind besorgt über die jüngsten scharfen öffentlichen Äußerungen wichtiger Mitglieder Ihrer Administration, die den Iran in sehr alarmierender Weise beschreiben. Dies könnte den Durchschnittsamerikaner ohne umfassende Geschichtskenntnisse zu der Überzeugung verleiten, dass der Iran eine unmittelbare Bedrohung darstellt und dass ein Militärschlag für uns alternativlos ist.
In seinen Memoiren „Decision Points“ schreibt der frühere Präsident Bush über an diesen Moment, dass die augenfälligen Ergebnisse der Geheimdienstuntersuchungen ausschlaggebend für sein Nichthandeln waren. Als rhetorische Frage fügte er hinzu: „Wie hätte ich das Militär einsetzen können um die Nuklearwaffen eines Landes zu zerstören, von dem die Geheimdienste behaupteten, dass es über gar kein Nuklearprogramm verfügt?“
Nach unserer Auffassung sind Sie heute mit einer ähnlichen Situation konfrontiert. Aber statt der falschen Behauptung, dass der Iran im Besitz von Atomwaffen ist, lautet die neue Ente zur Rechtfertigung eines Krieges mit dem Iran, das dieser weiterhin „der weltweit führende Sponsor des Terrorismus“ ist. Dies ist falsch, wie wir unten ausführen werden.
Die Beschreibung des Irans als „weltweit führender Sponsor des Terrorismus“ ist nicht mit Fakten unterlegt. Der Iran hat sich durchaus der Anwendung terroristischer Methoden schuldig gemacht, aber das war 1981 und nicht 2017. In den Anfängen der Islamischen Republik arbeiteten iranische Agenten durchaus mit Autobomben, Entführung und Ermordung von Dissidenten und amerikanischen Bürgern. Dies ist schon seit vielen Jahren nicht mehr der Fall.
http://www.nachdenkseiten.de/?p=41843
and original English version, published Dec. 21, 2017:
https://consortiumnews.com/2017/12/21/intel-vets-tell-trump-iran-is-not-top-terror-sponsor/
(* B K P)
American impunity
In the year since Donald Trump took over as US president there has been continuity in US foreign policy, in the sense that the county continues to flout international law at will, but this disregard for the rights of others has been ramped up to a new level.
US drone strikes in Somalia doubled to 34 and in Yemen tripled to 127 in the last calendar year.
The fact is that the US has no right to be fighting wars of aggression in either country.
For all his isolationist talk, Trump has turned out to be yet another committed foot soldier in the cause of the US Empire.
https://www.thenews.com.pk/print/266173-american-impunity
(* B P)
Tears, despair and shattered hopes: the families torn apart by Trump's travel ban
As Trump’s ban quietly came into effect last month, US citizens and residents saw loved ones’ approved visas suddenly denied – with no end in sight
Five-year-old Gamila Almansoob has asked the same question for years: “When are we going to daddy?” Each time, the Yemeni girl’s mother gives the same reply: “When we get the paperwork.”
Gamila’s father, Ramy Almansoob, a US citizen, moved to Virginia in 2015 with the hopes that his wife and three daughters could soon follow and escape their war-torn home country. After a lengthy vetting process, the visas were approved on 4 December 2017. That same day, however, the US supreme court ruled that Donald Trump’s travel ban on six Muslim-majority countries, including Yemen, could go into effect.
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2018/jan/08/trump-travel-ban-families-affected-first-month
Just a reminder from 2006:
(** B K P)
The Plot to Balkanize the Middle East
This article first published by GR in November 2006 is of particular relevance to an understanding of the ongoing process of destabilization and political fragmentation of Iraq, Syria and Yemen.
Washington’s strategy consists in breaking up Syria and Iraq.
http://anti-imperialist-u.blogspot.de/2018/01/the-plot-to-balkanize-middle-east.html?spref=tw
cp10 Großbritannien / Great Britain
Siehe / Look at cp1
(* B K P)
How bad does Yemen need to get before Britain stops selling weapons to Saudi? (VIDEO)
Britain’s re-conquest of Yemen is not a practical solution, nor one anybody would seriously consider. But surely Britain, with its special relationship with Riyadh, could be doing far more to end the slaughter?
“We don’t have the diplomatic clout to do it anymore, I’m afraid,” said Lees. “Probably because everyone is so concerned with Brexit that the rest of the world can go hang, as far as the Foreign Office is concerned.”
“We haven’t played our hand at all well in the Middle East, I’m afraid.”
Critics of the Saudi-led war say Britain has a moral and historical obligation to stop selling weapons to the Gulf kingdom and to pressure Riyadh diplomatically. Andrew Smith, spokesman for Campaign Against Arms Trade, thinks Britain has failed to take the initiative – frankly, because it shares the blame.
Like it or not, the war in Yemen has made a lot of money and sustains thousands of high tech manufacturing jobs in the UK.
What do Yemenis think?
https://www.rt.com/uk/415393-yemen-arms-trade-saudi/ and film https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7BbQK3fgy2k
(A H)
Appeal in Leamington to help those in Yemen raises £1,000
GENEROUS shoppers helped raise over £1,000 in aid of those caught up in the political crisis in Yemen.
Save the Children held its Yemen Crisis Appeal in the Royal Priors to help the population which is in need of food, clean water and medical care.
Visit www.savethechildren.org.uk for more details.
https://leamingtonobserver.co.uk/news/appeal-in-leamington-to-help-those-in-yemen-a-success/
(A E P)
Look. BP is now doing fine from #Iraq oil. And one of BP’s Board members is ‘Sir’ John Sawers, former head of MI6, who in 2003 Iraq invasion/occupation was the UK's special rep in Iraq. It’s just amazing what is allowed to happen (images)
https://twitter.com/markcurtis30/status/950416307215912961
(A P)
It's a sign of growing international horror at the #Yemen war when even a UK MOD Minister @Tobias_Ellwood admits (Sunday Telegraph today) that it's "compounding the worst humanitarian crisis in the world". Calls for UK & allies to do more to resolve it & to stabilise Hudaydah. (image)
https://twitter.com/Dr_E_Kendall/status/949958122990440448
Remark: He is one of the heaviest backers of the Saudis. And obviously this should be understood as a support for the Saudi position:
(A P)
British minister demands international action over Yemen port
Defence minister calls for the port of Hodeidah to be “stabilised”
“We must be less risk averse, haunted as we are by our experiences is Iraq and Afghanistan,” he wrote in an article for Britain’s Sunday Telegraph.
He said that the Red Sea port was “calling out to be stabilised” by a third party. “This should not mean Britain always doing the heavy lifting but coordinating with others to make this happen,” he wrote.
Remark: ““calling out to be stabilised” by a third party”: Does this mean intervention?
Comment: Man’s a cheap walking parody of a failing off West End Churchill comedy. #UK Min Tobias Ellwood: Shrug off UK failures in Iraq, Afghanistan. #Yemen’s Hodeidah port calling out to be stabilised by 3rd party. UK should play a role
https://twitter.com/BaFana3/status/950102530087899136
cp12 Andere Länder / Other countries
(A P)
#Kuwaiti social media star seeks asylum #UK after receiving a 10 year combined sentences from AlSabah court for "insulting" #Saudi & #UAE ruling clansmen
https://twitter.com/AliAlAhmed_en/status/950882964535218181 referring to https://twitter.com/abdullahalsaleh/status/950759854465044480
(A P)
Kuwait has sentenced 19 ppl to 10 yrs in jail in absentia for joining ISIS. By contrast, Kuwait has handed out jail sentences averaging 40 yrs to ppl who simply exercised their right to free speech. In Kuwait, free speech is a GREATER crime than joining ISIS. :/
https://twitter.com/nadiabelush/status/950859884622417921
cp12a Katar-Krise / Qatar crisis
(* A P)
Qatar: UN report proof Saudi-led blockade illegal
The National Human Rights Committee of Qatar (NHCR) calls the UN report proof the blockade is illegal.
A blockade against Qatar by several fellow members of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) is arbitrary and negatively impacting the people of the region, according to a new UN investigation.
"This report shows without a spec of doubt that these procedures undertaken by blockading countries are not mere diplomatic severing of relations, they are not just an economic boycott," he said.
"These are unilateral, abusive, arbitrary measures that are impacting citizens and expats in Qatar."
http://mwcnews.net/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=69877&catid=44&Itemid=118
My comment: OK, and what about the blockade of Yemen, which is much more severe?
cp12b Libanon / Lebanon
(A P)
Saudi Arabia responsible for all chaos in region: Nasrallah
Seyyed Hassan Nasrallah, the secretary general of Lebanese resistance movement Hezbollah, says Saudi Arabia is responsible for all the chaos in the region.
“Al Saud (the Saudi ruling family) is responsible for any killing and massacre in the region,” Nasrallah said in remarks published by Lebanese newspaper al-Akhbar.
http://www.presstv.com/Detail/2015/10/07/432363/-Nasrallah-Saudi-Arabia-Hajj-Iran
cp13a Waffenhandel / Arms trade
(B K P)
Waffen für Nordafrika: Immer mehr deutsche Rüstungsgüter werden nach Ägypten, Algerien, Marokko und Tunesien verkauft. Im Interesse von Bundesregierung und Konzernen
Ägypten wird vier deutsche U-Boote erhalten, zwei wurden bereits an die ägyptische Marine übergeben.
Im Roten Meer beteiligt sich die ägyptische Marine zudem an Operationen im Zusammenhang mit Saudi-Arabiens Krieg im Jemen. Riad sucht den Sieg unter anderem mit einer Hungerblockade zu erzwingen, die auch jemenitische Häfen am Roten Meer betrifft. Mit Blick auf die Rüstungsexporte ist anzunehmen, dass Riads Krieg im Jemen, der sich gegen eine etwaige Einflussnahme Irans auf das Land richtet, den Interessen Berlins entspricht: Saudi-Arabien, dessen Marine die Hauptverantwortung für die Blockade trägt, wird gegenwärtig mit deutschen Patrouillenbooten beliefert.
https://www.jungewelt.de/artikel/324978.waffen-für-nordafrika.html
(* B E K P)
Trump to call on Pentagon, diplomats to play bigger role on arms sales
The Trump administration is nearing completion of a new “Buy American” plan that calls for U.S. military attaches and diplomats to help drum up billions of dollars more in business overseas for the American weapons industry, going beyond the assistance they currently provide, U.S. officials said.
President Donald Trump as early as February is expected to announce a “whole of government” effort to ease export rules on purchases by foreign countries of U.S.-made military equipment, from fighter jets and drones to warships and artillery, according to people familiar with the plan.
Trump is seeking to fulfill a 2016 election campaign promise to create jobs in the United States by selling more goods and services abroad to bring down the U.S. trade deficit from a six-year high of $50 billion.
(* B K P)
La guerra in Yemen e le forniture militari italiane ai sauditi. Mimmo Cortese (OPAL): "Roma sbaglia
[Important interview on the Italian arms to the Saudis from the Italian national TV network, RAI, to Mimmo Cortese of OPAL (scientific Council of the Permanent Observatory on Light Weapons and Security and Defense Policies): "Rome is wrong"]
" L’inchiesta del New York Times sulle bombe italiane utilizzate dall’aeronautica militare saudita nel conflitto in Yemen ha riacceso l’attenzione e il dibattito sulle esportazioni di armamenti. Facciamo il punto della situazione con Mimmo Cortese, membro del Consiglio scientifico dell’Osservatorio permanente sulle armi leggere e politiche di sicurezza e difesa (OPAL) di Brescia
(* B E K P)
La fabbrica delle bombe di Domusnovas è pronta a trasferirsi in Arabia Saudita
[After two years, #Domusnovas Italian bombs factory could be ready to relocate the production to Saudi Arabia. These very same bombs are being dropped on #Yemen-i civilians.]
Il cambio di sede è frutto di una trattativa durata due anni per accorciare i tempi e ridurre i costi, producendo le armi nella capitale Riad
Non saranno le inchieste giornalistiche a scrivere il futuro della Rwm, la fabbrica delle bombe di Domusnovas. La chiusura dalla filiale sarda del gigante tedesco degli armamenti, la Rheinmetall, non verrà decretata nemmeno dalle azioni di protesta dei movimenti pacifisti, indignati dalla produzione di bombe commissionate dall'Arabia Saudite e utilizzate contro lo Yemen dove uccidono, senza troppe distinzioni, guerriglieri e civili, colpendo obiettivi militari e presidi umanitari. La Rwm di Domusnovas potrebbe presto fare le valigie perché la Rheinmetall sarebbe pronta a chiudere una trattativa proprio con gli sceicchi sauditi, interessati ad accorciare la filiera delle bombe producendo in casa il materiale bellico. La trattativa è iniziata due anni fa ma, secondo il quotidiano Avvenire, sarebbe vicina all'epilogo.
(* A P)
Bombe italiane sullo Yemen, cosa dire delle 26mila bombe Usa?
E’ un lavoro giornalisticamente pregevole, tuttavia sarebbe auspicabile che il New York Timessoffermasse l’attenzione anche sulle bombe Usa, dato che solo nel 2016 gli Usa ne hanno sganciate 26.171 (tre ogni ora per 365 giorni all’anno) su sette Paesi sovrani.
La vendita di armi all’Arabia Saudita, Paese dove prevale il wahabismo che è la dottrina più radicale dell’Islam, viola la legge n. 185 del 9 luglio del 1990 che espressamente vieta di esportare armamenti a Paesi in stato di conflitto.
cp13b Wirtschaft / Economy
(A E)
#Yemen currency devaluated rapidly over this past year. In 2015 $1= 215 Yemeni riyals. Today $1= 470. Prices of basic needs skyrocketed leaving a third of the population at high risk of famine
https://twitter.com/Ndawsari/status/950434640942297093
(* B E P)
World Bank: Yemen Policy Note 1: A Summary
- Overarching topics for consideration
- Restoring quickly the fiscal capacity and the economic stocks will be key to stabilize the economy and provide for peace incentives.
Peace cannot win, if the economy continues to struggle, respectively if the war economy prevails. Anchoring the economy and providing a credible perspective for recovery and reconstruction will be extremely important. Balancing the macro economy, essentially the external and the domestic economic aggregates, would be a first step. Stabilizing the macro economy would initially – beyond policies – require restoring the essential stocks of the macro economy, with (1) a minimum stock of foreign reserves to allow for imports and recovery, including recovery of the private sector, and (2) a minimum of fiscal resources to begin rebuild public services and respective institutions, ultimately the central state. Endowing the future new Yemeni Government with initial fiscal resources would allow for salary payments, servicing some critical arrears, and for restarting service delivery.3 Particularly, the latter, restarting service delivery, will be important in order to restore credibility among the Yemeni population.
- Unleashing private sector capacity should be the overall objective for public policies of a post- conflict government in Yemen.
Restoring state functions, institutions, and service delivery capacity will be the principal cross-cutting objectives for the first 2 years. A weakened state and public sector will, however, have to seek maximum use of private sector capacity, energy, efficiency, and functionality.
- Using the private sector as an instrument for change, betterment, and economic advance has no alternative.
https://reliefweb.int/report/yemen/yemen-policy-note-1-summary and in full http://www.worldbank.org/en/country/yemen/brief/yemen-policy-notes and https://reliefweb.int/sites/reliefweb.int/files/resources/ACS.pdf
My comment: View of the World Bank. Solution for peace and reconstruction: Introduction of Neoliberalism to Yemen.
cp14 Terrorismus / Terrorism
(A T)
Drone kills three al-Qaeda militants in Yemen
Drone thought to belong to U.S. struck car in central Al Bayda Governorate
There have been no statements so far on the incident from U.S. or Yemeni officials.
http://aa.com.tr/en/americas/drone-kills-three-al-qaeda-militants-in-yemen/1026773
(A T)
ISIS Wilayat #Bayda publishes images claiming they dismantled a rock camouflaged IED planted by the Houthis on a road in #Qayfa. (photos)
https://twitter.com/demolinari/status/950787319975501824 and https://twitter.com/Dr_E_Kendall/status/950806599056220161
(A T)
#AQAP militant Abu Hafs Al-Sanaani killed during clashes with Houthis in Al-Zahir district #Bayda. Pro-AQAP channel claimed 'mujahideen' attacked several Houthi positions in Al-Zahir on Jan 07. (photo)
https://twitter.com/demolinari/status/950268361287413760
(* B T)
Jihadi 'catch and release' is a dangerous failure
nine terrorists previously held at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba who were recently released by the Kingdom. The Yemeni Islamic extremists were released by President Obama in the waning days of his presidency.
The Obama administration released the jihadists to Saudi Arabia for “rehabilitation” at the Mohammed bin Nayef Center for Counseling and Care. The center is touted as a reentry program for "former" jihadist, providing religious re-education, vacations, conjugal visits and art therapy.
So, what of the nine hardened jihadists who “graduated” from the Center for Counseling and Care. Where are they now?
Given available intelligence, the “rehabilitated graduates” have likely returned to jihad. In fact, we know of at least 462 “graduates” who have returned to terror, be it the battlefield, recruiting or fundraising for Islamist causes.
Jihadi rehab centers are not effective. The programs do not work. In its attempt to honor a campaign promise to close Guantanamo Bay, the Obama administration returned many hardened Islamic terrorists to the battlefield.
http://thehill.com/opinion/national-security/367864-jihadi-catch-and-release-is-a-dangerous-failure
(A T)
#IslamicState #Yemen (ISY) just issued 1st claim since end November: 3 Houthis killed by bomb in Qayfa, al-Bayda' (its main front). US bombed ISY's 2 training camps there in Oct.
https://twitter.com/Dr_E_Kendall/status/950020247540654080
Zur Erinnerung:
Film: Doku Ansar al Scharia Der Islamische Staat im Jemen
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9U4hDS9yrFU
cp15 Propaganda
Siehe / Look at cp1, cp1a
Judith Brown rereads an article from 2016 with a great bulk of background information and comments. We learn about the Saudi “humanitarian relief” propaganda:
(* B K P)
YEMEN: UN Whitewashing Saudi Coalition War Crimes and International Human Rights Violations.
and comments:
I found the comments at the end of this article on UNICEF's reaction to the King Salman Centre very interesting and hadn't read anything about this UN meeting before - although I regularly get news feeds about the 'wonderful' work this Saudi organisation was doing in Yemen. One of the initial reasons for Saudi's invention of the King Salman Centre was because the UN refused to be selective in the aid given to the needy in Yemen - the initial international appeal by UN for aid to Saudi Arabia was completely covered by a pledge from KSA so the UN international appeal terminated, thus denying the Saudi attacks on Yemen any publicity. But although Saudi money was pledged it did not arrive in the UN coffers as the UN would not accept money for specific areas in Yemen - there was a delay of many months, from memory I think almost a year - this was overcome by the setting up of this Saudi 'charity' that can direct its own aid. If it can be called that - maybe blood money is a better title.
https://www.facebook.com/judith.brown.794628/posts/10156277917598641
(A P)
Houthis Opt for War by Refusing UN Peace Efforts
The Iranian-backed Houthi militias confirmed on Tuesday their attachment to the choice of war by refusing fresh UN efforts to achieve peace in Yemen.
Houthi militias official sources said that head of the coup council, Saleh al-Sammad, rejected during a meeting with deputy UN envoy to Yemen, Moein Shraim any “partial solutions” to the Yemeni war, including a previous suggestion to hand over the Yemeni port city of Hodeidah to a neutral party.
Instead, the rebel group insisted that the Arab coalition fighting in Yemen lift the siege on Houthi-linked militias, reopen the Sanaa airport and stop launching airstrikes.
https://aawsat.com/english/home/article/1138966/houthis-opt-war-refusing-un-peace-efforts
My comment: This is mere propaganda. Look at cp7 for these talks. When the Houthis reject one precondition of the Saudi coalition (the suggestion to hand over the Yemeni port city of Hodeidah to a neutral party, an idea which became part oft he UN suggestions just by threat of the Saudi coalition to otherwise attack Hodeida) and names ist own preconditions (as they are quoted here), this has nothing to do with „opt for war“. The end oft he Saudi blockade is not just asked by the Houthis, but meanwhile by almost all sides (the US included; at least verbally), and and end to air strikes (that is: a ceasefire) would be a quite serious precondition for any peace talks. And thus, all previous Yemeni peacetalks also had been accompanied by an (unfortunately broken and broken) ceasefire.
(A P)
WAM reports on situation in liberated areas of Yemen
The Arab Coalition Forces, led by Saudi Arabia, have liberated the West Coast of Yemen, and Yemeni children have started smiling again.
The Emirates News Agency, WAM, is reporting the events live from the scene in the country’s liberated areas, by visiting some of the critical facilities rebuilt by the UAE, represented by the Emirates Red Crescent, ERC, to provide comprehensive services to the Yemeni people.
After a period of darkness caused by the Houthi siege, the Mocha Steam Power Plant reopened following the liberation of Mocha and began its round the clock operations to supply electricity to the city.
Naji Jaafar Qasim, Deputy Director of the Mocha Steam Power Plant, said that the plant was built over 30 years ago and stopped operating in 2015 after the Iranian-backed Houthis militias entered the city.
http://wam.ae/en/details/1395302659033
My comment: This really is odd propaganda. “Liberated” areas suffer from starvation and lack of security as other parts of Yemen. – And who had bombed the Mocha powerplant’s staff in 2015? The Saudi coalition: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bombing_of_Mokha and http://poorworld.net/Yemen/YemenImages158.htm and following
(A P)
Al-Jataili: King Salman Relief Center appeals to United Nations, organizations working in Yemen to ensure humanitarian assistance access to all areas besieged by Huthi militias
Spokesman of King Salman Humanitarian Aid and Relief Centre Dr. Samer Al-Jataili said that the number of relief and humanitarian projects provided by the center to the suffering people in the world amounted to 308 projects implemented in cooperation with 119 partners at a total cost of 967,595,831 US dollars.
He added that the Republic of Yemen has received the largest share of the center's projects because of its neighborhood rights and fraternal ties
http://www.spa.gov.sa/viewfullstory.php?lang=en&newsid=1706845 and more details http://alriyadhdaily.com/article/b4645daea3094e41a591c9081e42fb6a
Comment: The Saudi Press Agency forgets about the bombs and siege: ''The Republic of #Yemen has received the largest share of the center's projects because of its neighborhood rights and fraternal ties.
https://www.facebook.com/LivingInYemenOnTheEdge/posts/1610680558984968
My comment: Which are the “areas besieged by Huthi militias”, which are the areas besieged by Saudi blockade?
(A P)
PHOTOS: A volcanic mountain in the middle of Red Sea in Saudi Arabia
Comment: Saudi Arabia is trying to promote tourism but, basically, all the PR companies working around the clock to implement the project, forgot one basic rule: when you promote a destination, you must disclose the name. Simple. Yet, in the 'article', no name is mentioned.
Reminder: #Yemen's beautiful Kamaran volcanic island - south of the anonymous Saudi ' splendor' - has been bombed several times by the Coalition. There were only fishermen there.
https://www.facebook.com/LivingInYemenOnTheEdge/posts/1610776095642081
(A P)
Houthis sell foreign humanitarian aid in Sana'a black markets
The Houthi rebel militia has been selling humanitarian aid they receive in the black markets of Sana'a instead of delivering them to their intended recipients, local sources said.
https://www.alsahwa-yemen.net/en/p-14428
My comment: All do it (http://www.middleeasteye.net/news/yemen-war-corruption-stops-food-aid-reaching-us-say-desperate-families-802764333 ), taking this for blaming the Houthis is propaganda.
(A P)
The army is gaining the upper hand in Yemen’s civil war
Comment: The Economist has, officially, become the house-organ of the Saudi-led Coalition, reporting directly from #Marib
It is not the frontlines we are contesting, but the gossips on atrocities picked up from WhatsApp.
https://www.facebook.com/LivingInYemenOnTheEdge/posts/1609446489108375
My comment: the comment is justified. Look at the wording: “Army” just is the part of the army loyal to “president” Hadi. The article suggests this would be the only or real army of Yemen. There is another part of the army still fighting allied to the Houthis. Other tries to whitewash the Saudi coalition support the Facebook comment.
(A P)
UAE will always stand by Yemen
For almost three years now, the people of the Shabwa Governorate of Yemen have endured misery and deprivation while enduring the wrath and rule of Al Houthi rebels
The challenge has been a difficult one, but the UAE will neither abandon its Arab brothers there, nor will it and the other coalition partners allow the nation to become a hegemony of Tehran through its Al Houthi minions. And once the fighting is done and peace won, Yemen will be rebuilt, it will be ensured that its schools and hospitals function for the benefit of all, its roads and infrastructure modernised, and its power and water supplies upgraded to endure all Yemenis can have a stable and secure future.
The UAE and other Arab partners are committed to rebuilding Yemen in the long term.
http://yemenonline.info/focus/1380
cp16 Saudische Luftangriffe / Saudi air raids
(* A K PH)
Saudi coalition air raids day by day
Jan. 6: https://twitter.com/LCRDye/status/949928500529696769
Jan. 5: https://twitter.com/LCRDye/status/949928154726064133
(A K)
Saudi-led coalition jets over #Sanaa now, low & loud. #Yemen 7:52AM
https://twitter.com/a7medja7af/status/950954576399790080
More than 16 huge air strikes until now!!! Still hovering and explosions everywhere
https://twitter.com/A7medJa7af/status/950987751276580865
OK I lost count!! +13 explosions so far.. Hovering is nonstop! Heard screaming of students of a nearby school.. This is beyond ugly.. What's going on?
https://twitter.com/HanaalShowafi/status/950986042697551874
+20 airstrikes so far!! Almost 3 years of war but I still can't normalize fear of explosions sound! Employees are distracted at work, students at schools, People in streets looking at sky! Mothers checking on loved ones & relatives..
https://twitter.com/HanaalShowafi/status/950994361864638464
Non-stop bombings on Sanaa NOW. More than 20 US-Saudi airstrikes in these minutes (9:44 -10:10 am). On northwest outskirts
https://twitter.com/narrabyee/status/950992295058399232
Yemen children Walking out now from their schools in the capital Sanaa. Screaming & running in panic as huge explosions seemed "never-ending"! (photos)
https://twitter.com/narrabyee/status/950994492445818880
(* A K PH)
New Saudi airstrike leaves dozen civilians dead in Yemen’s Ta’izz
At least a dozen more civilians have lost their lives when Saudi fighter jets carried out an airstrike in an area of Yemen’s southwestern province of Ta’izz
Local source, speaking on condition of anonymity, told Arabic-language al-Masirah television network that the victims were killed as Saudi military aircraft targeted trucks loaded with coal travelling along a road linking al-Najibiyah district and Hays region in the neighboring coastal province of al-Hudaydah on Tuesday afternoon.
and
(* A K PH)
12 Yemeni civilians killed in Saudi airstrikes on Taiz
12 civilians were killed on Tuesday when the US-Saudi aggression warplanes hit trucks loaded with coal at al- Najeeba regular road in Hais district of Taiz province
http://www.sabanews.net/en/news484261.htm
and
It is reported that the civilians were going home after a morning tour of gathering coal to cook food as the Saudi blockade imposed on Yemen makes life hard for them to buy cooking gas.
(* A K PH)
5 killed in airstrike on Hodeidah Fishery office
Five employees were killed on Monday evening when the US-backed Saudi-led aggression collation warplane launched a strike on Fishery Wealth office in Hodeidah port, a security official told Saba.
http://www.sabanews.net/en/news484216.htm
Remark: AlKhuba area, AlLehya district.
and
Names of 3 killed (16, 17 and 85 years old), 4 injured:
http://www.newnewss.net/new-saudi-airstrike-five-civilians-yemens-alhodeida/
also at, with photos:
https://www.facebook.com/SaudiArabia.war.crimes.against.Yemen/posts/1764809817148338
and
(* A K PH)
Photos: This is HOW US-Saudi war criminals killed 5 Yemeni fishermen in Khokha, western coast. Wherever there is working on food , to produce food, To help Yemenis live, US-Saudis destroy it. To guarantee their blockade & starvation "pay off"! Thuggish and bullying thinking!
https://twitter.com/narrabyee/status/950751038692380672
(A K)
Photos: Today ,#Saudi jets targeted #Saada city with 4 air strikes #Yemen 2 women killed and 4 men injured while they were walking in the neighborhood.
https://twitter.com/AhmadAlgohbary/status/950408537586524161
Remark: Referring to the following, in this case reports of victims varying:
(A K PH)
3 civilians injured in 4 airstrikes on Saada
Three citizens were seriously injured on Monday when the US-backed Saudi aggression coalition warplanes waged two strikes on Saada city of Saada province, a security official told Saba.
Two others airstrikes waged on Al- Amar area in Safra district, leaving damages in the main road.
http://www.sabanews.net/en/news484125.htm
and
(A K PH)
Film: The aggression targeting citizens in the city of Saada 08-01-2018
Civilians and their property are a renewed target of the raids of the day and night on the province of Saada, 3 injured drivers and shop owners wounded two raids on the city of Saada
https://www.facebook.com/Hona.Almasirah/videos/1767746126589777/ = https://twitter.com/Hona_Almasirah/status/950461077141311488
12:15 - 8. Jan. 2018
(A K PH)
2 airstrikes waged on Hodeidah
The US-backed Saudi aggression coalition warplanes launched two raids overnight on Hodeidah province, an official told Saba on Sunday.
The airstrikes targeted two houses on Saeidiah area of Khokha district, causing the injured a number of civilians.
http://www.sabanews.net/en/news483999.htm
(A K PH)
Civilian killed, 5 injured in Saudi airstrikes hit Saada
A civilian was killed and others five were injured when the US-backed Saudi-led aggression coalition warplanes launched overnight strikes on several districts of Saada province, a military told Saba on Sunday.
In central of Saada province, a civilian was killed and another injured when aggression warplane launched a strike on their house in Jawazat area.
Also, five airstrikes hit Jaiash market in the same district.
In Sehar district, a civilian was wounded in an airstrike which targeted gas station in Ahma area, and three others were injured when the warplanes waged three strikes on civilian's house in Khafji area.
Furthermore, the fighter jets of aggression waged a series of raids on civilians' homes in Qahr area of Baqem district, and five air raids on Jaiash market in city of Saada.
In Kutaf district, the warplanes launched a strike beside of school in Sawh area, four airstrikes on Boqa area, one raid hit Atifin area, and another raid waged on Farea area.
http://www.sabanews.net/en/news483997.htm
My comment: Just one province, just one night…
(A K PH)
More Saudi coalition air raids reported on:
Jan. 9:
http://www.sabanews.net/en/news484309.htm Hajjah prov.
Jan. 8:
http://www.sabanews.net/en/news484211.htm Hajjah prov.
http://www.sabanews.net/en/news484207.htm Khubah port in Luhaia district, Hodeida prov.
http://www.sabanews.net/en/news484188.htm Jawf prov.
http://www.sabanews.net/en/news484166.htm Nehm
http://www.sabanews.net/en/news484159.htm Asir, Saudi Arabia
http://www.sabanews.net/en/news484148.htm poultry farm, Saada prov.
http://www.sabanews.net/en/news484147.htm Marib prov.
http://www.sabanews.net/en/news484145.htm Hodeida prov.
Jan. 7:
http://www.sabanews.net/en/news484095.htm Hajjah prov.
http://www.sabanews.net/en/news484010.htm Farm in Hajjah prov.
http://www.sabanews.net/en/news484004.htm Najran (Saudi Arabia)
http://www.sabanews.net/en/news484002.htm Sanaa city
http://www.sabanews.net/en/news483998.htm Jawf prov.
http://www.sabanews.net/en/news483999.htm Hodeida prov.
cp17 Kriegsereignisse / Theater of War
(A K PH)
Yemen [Pro-Houzhi forces] introduces new surface-to-air missile system to battlefield
The Yemeni Air Force and Air Defense on Tuesday announced the introduction of a new locally developed system of surface-to-air missile system to the battlefield, in a statement received by Saba.
The new missile system has already downed Tornado combat aircraft of enemy Saudi-led aggression coalition while it was flying over Saada province and hit another enemy F-15 plane over the capital Sanaa.
Despite that the Yemeni Air Defense unit has been targeted in attempts to get it out of service, the unit has regained its capabilities gradually and it became now able to attack enemy aerial weapons," read the statement.
http://www.sabanews.net/en/news484316.htm
(A K PH)
Woman injured in Saudi shelling in Saada
A women was seriously wounded on Monday when the artillery and missile force of the US-Saudi aggression coalition targeted Saada province, a security official told Saba.
http://www.sabanews.net/en/news484212.htm
(A K PH)
2 child injured in Saudi shelling in Saada
Two child were seriously injured in missile and artillery shelling by the US-backed Saudi aggression coalition overnight which targeted Saada province, a security official told Saba on Monday.
The shelling targeted Hofra market in Munabah border district.
Also, the missile and artillery shelling of Saudi aggression targeted several areas in Razeh district.
http://www.sabanews.net/en/news484154.htm
(A K PS)
Southern Resistance martyr Asil Faisal Modara removed hundreds of land mines and IEDs planted by the Houthis on the west coast (photos)
https://twitter.com/demolinari/status/950292960091947008
(A K PS)
Arab Ally Destroys Houthi Boat West of Al-Hodeida
The Arab Ally destroyed a Houthi boat west of Al-Hodeida on Sunday morning. Knowledgeable sources indicated that a boat of Al-Houthi militias approached a military ship of the Arab Ally and the ship destroyed it at sight.
http://en.smanews.org/arab-ally-destroys-houthi-boat-west-of-al-hodeida
and also by an anti-Iranian propaganda channel, claiming that the boat was destroyed in Hodeida harbour, and “was patrolling the Red Sea waters and targeting commercial vessels crossing the international shipping lanes”, what obviously is nonsense.
(A K PS)
Yemeni troops advance to Al-Hays under air cover from UAE Armed Forces
Yemeni troops are continuing to advance towards Al-Hays in the coastal province of Hodeida, heavily backed by Arab Coalition forces led by Saudi Arabia.
http://wam.ae/en/details/1395302658732 and film https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5AUdp41sa-o = https://twitter.com/MbKS15/status/950309760892588032 and photos https://twitter.com/MbKS15/status/950298647102619648 = https://twitter.com/JeremyBinnie/status/950431082675167232 and https://twitter.com/MbKS15/status/950305474003505152
(A K PS)
15 Houthis surrender in al Mocha district, including Ibrahim Adabo's Son
The source told Almasdaronline that Hemair Adabo and two of his brothers and about 15 others loyal to Adabo surrendered to the government forces in the area between Al-Khocha and Yakhtel, northern al Mocha.
http://almasdaronline.com/article/96438
(A K PS)
Al Jouf: Government forces seize control of al Yatma area, capture 45 Houthi
http://almasdaronline.com/article/96429
(A K PH)
Saudi-paid mercenaries kill civilian in Saada
A civilian was killed when the Saudi-paid mercenaries artillery shelled civilians' houses overnight in Jawf province
http://www.sabanews.net/en/news483998.htm
(A K PH)
Saudi-paid mercenaries kill civilian in Jawf
A civilian was killed when the Saudi-paid mercenaries artillery shelled civilians' houses overnight in Jawf province, a military told Saba on Sunday.
The mercenaries' artillery shelled the houses in Ghail district.
http://www.sabanews.net/en/news483998.htm
(A K PS)
Arab Coalition Air Raids Thwart Houthi Militia Infiltration Attempt in Yemen
Arab Coalition aircraft have thwarted an infiltration attempt by Iranian-backed Al-Houthi militias into liberated Al-Khawkhah city in Yemen.
http://www.spa.gov.sa/viewfullstory.php?lang=en&newsid=1706172 and also http://www.arabnews.com/node/1220581/middle-east
cp17a Saudi-Kampfjets abgeschossen, angeschossen / Saudi jets downed, hit
The Houthis claim to have downed two Saudi fighter jets: a Tornado over Saada province, a F 15 over Sanaa city. The Saudis claim the Tornado had crashed for technical reasons, the debris fell on Saudi territory and the two pilots had been saved, showing photos of them. The Houthis showed a film and photos of the wreckage on the ground, claiming the Saudis even had bombed this site to remove any clues.
For the F-15 hit over Sanaa, the Houthis aired a film, a FLIR video, showing how the jet was targeted with the assistance of this system. Some media reported that they had “downed” the jet, but even Houthi’s Saba Net did not claim this. It seems the jet was just hit but could continue its flight.
There is questioning and discussion how the Houthis got the FLIR system and how they could have targeted the jets. The Sanaa Houthi government’s air defence claimed they had improved their anti-aircraft missile systems.
Some media seem to have misunderstood the fact that two jets had been downed or attacked or crashed and mix both cases and both places.
All this – different propaganda agendas of actors, different interpretations of sources, copy and paste journalism, misunderstanding – contribute to a media chaos making it difficult to understand what really had happened.
(* A K PH)
STATEMENT OF THE YEMENI AIR FORCE AND AIR DEFENSE
Highlights of the statement:
With God's help, we have become stronger and more capable of confronting the hostile air force.
We announce the introduction of a new surface-to-air missile system for the battlefield.
The new system is locally developed with purely national expertise and competencies.
The new system was able to drop a Tornado aircraft in Saada and hit the F-15 in Sana'a. (document)
https://www.facebook.com/LivingInYemenOnTheEdge/photos/a.963391330380564.1073741829.961126490607048/1611583222228035/?type=3
and also
Yemen Air Force announces officially ( in this statement) that it has fielded Surface-to-Air Missile System to the Battlefield. Locally made & modified by purely patriotic competences. US-Saudi Tornado downed & F15 damaged, both on Jan8, 2018, by this system.
https://twitter.com/narrabyee/status/950954849562185728
(* A K PH)
ON THE BRINK: Yemen Warns It Will Shoot Down Saudi Jets Amid Fears Of Gulf War
Sana’a military bosses said they have set up sophisticated anti-aircraft missile systems in the war-torn country that may be a “surprise” to unidentified planes and helicopters.
Ruthless Air Defense Commander has already ordered the deployment of the high-tech S-300 and S-400 units in order to protect Yemeni troops on the ground as well civilians.
Major-General Pilot Ibrahim Al-Shami, said: “Any missile or air strikes on the territory controlled by the Yemeni government will create a clear threat to Saudi Air Forces.
“Yemen air defense system crews are unlikely to have time to determine in a ‘straight line’ the exact flight paths of missiles and then who the warheads belong to.
(* A K)
Houthi Rebels Release FLIR Video Showing Shoot Down of Saudi F-15S
Houthi rebels have released video they claim shows the exact moment they shot down Royal Saudi Air Force F-15S over Yemen. The Iranian-supported militants appear to have at least tracked the jet using a repurposed FLIR Systems Star SAFIRE sensor turret, which features an infrared camera.
There is a distinct possibility that the United States might have supplied the FLIR Systems turret the Yemenis claimed to have employed during this shoot down. In July 2009, the Defense Security Cooperation Agency, the Pentagon’s main arms broker, approved a so-called Pseudo-Foreign Military Sales, or Pseudo-FMS, deal that included three Ultra 8500 turrets “or equivalent,” as well as other equipment and contractor support.
If this turns out to be the case, it would be embarrassing for the United States, as well as FLIR Systems to a lesser degree. There is already evidence that the Houthis have been able to acquire other U.S.-government supplied arms and equipment, including .50 caliber Barrett M82 anti-materiel rifles.
Otherwise, there is still relatively little information about what weapon the Houthis might have used or how they linked the FLIR turret directly to that system, if at all.
http://www.thedrive.com/the-war-zone/17486/houthi-rebels-release-flir-video-showing-shoot-down-of-saudi-f-15s and also https://theaviationist.com/2018/01/09/yemens-shiite-houthis-claim-saudi-f-15-kill-with-sam-over-capital-city-of-sanaa/ and film on Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=1&v=a7sn6ybiOZQ and https://www.facebook.com/LivingInYemenOnTheEdge/videos/1610601412326216/
(A K PH)
YEMEN’S AIR DEFENCE COMMANDER PRAISES TROOPS’ EFFORTS AGAINST SAUDI AIR FORCES
The Air Force and Air Defense commander Major General Ibrahim Al-Shami said that efforts to develop Yemeni air defenses have reaped what it sow; the latest results of downing the Saudi Tornado aircraft of the Aggression Coalition is an example of these exerted efforts.
(* A K)
Yemen's Houthi Rebels Shoot Down Saudi Warplane Over Sanaa
Yemen's Shiite Houthi rebels managed to down a Saudi warplane over the Yemeni capital of Sanaa, local media reported on Monday.
The Houthis shot down the F-15 fighter with a ground-to-air missile, the Houthi-affiliated Saba news agency reported, citing the army's statement.
https://sputniknews.com/middleeast/201801081060588488-yemen-houthi-shoot-saudi-warplane/
and
(A K PH)
'Saudi F-15 hit by Yemeni forces over Sana'a'
Yemeni forces say they have successfully targeted a Saudi F-15 fighter jet just hours after downing another Saudi warplane.
According to Yemen's Arabic-language al-Masirah television network on early Monday, the F-15 was hit while flying over the capital Sana'a.
http://www.presstv.com/Detail/2018/01/08/548185/yemen-air-force-saudi-airstrike and by Saba http://www.sabanews.net/en/news484105.htm
and The Mirror did not understand that there had been downed two jets: http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/world-news/saudi-fighter-jet-blown-out-11825804
and Popular mechanics as well did not:
http://www.popularmechanics.com/military/aviation/a14929167/yemen-rebels-shot-down-f15-tornado/
(* A K)
Saudi-arabisches Kampfflugzeug abgestürzt
Nach Angaben der saudischen Armee konnten die beiden Piloten gerettet werden. In der offiziellen Erklärung ist von einem "technischen Defekt" die Rede. Die jemenitischen Huthi-Rebellen reklamierten den Absturz dagegen für sich. Das Flugzeug sei im Luftraum über dem Jemen abgeschossen worden und dann auf saudischem Boden aufgeschlagen.
(* A K)
Yemen's Houthis shoot down Saudi-led coalition warplane: TV
Yemen’s Houthi forces shot down a warplane of the Saudi-led coalition in Saada province, broadcasters said on Sunday.
Saudi-owned TV channel Al Arabiya said the two pilots survived.
The Houthi armed movement’s TV channel al-Massirah said the fighter was a Britain-made Tornado. It gave no details on the pilots.
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-yemen-security-warplane/yemens-houthis-shoot-down-saudi-led-coalition-warplane-tv-idUSKBN1EW0NV and statement by Saba http://www.sabanews.net/en/news484064.htm and
Specifications of the warplane downed by #Yemen-i defence forces:
and
(* A K PH)
Photos of the wreckage of the warplane Tornado of the coalition of aggression, which was shoot down by the #Yemen-i air defenses on Sunday in the province of #Saada.
https://www.facebook.com/LivingInYemenOnTheEdge/posts/1610511189001905 = https://twitter.com/HussainBukhaiti/status/950437105871802369
and film by Almasirah TV:
https://www.facebook.com/Hona.Almasirah/videos/1767778679919855/ = https://twitter.com/Hona_Almasirah/status/950465947625775104
and screenshots: https://twitter.com/narrabyee/status/950602021501067264
and as the Saudis put it:
(* A K PS)
Arab Coalition Forces Command announces the rescue of two pilots whose fighter suffered a technical failure
The Arab Coalition Forces Command, "Coalition Supporting Legitimacy in Yemen", announced that two pilots were evacuated from operations area following a joint search and rescue operation implemented after their fighter jet was fallen due to a technical failure.
In a statement to Saudi Press Agency (SPA), Colonel Turki Al-Malki, Spokesman of the Joint Coalition Forces, disclosed that, at 03:40 p.m. today, a Saudi Royal Air Force fighter jet was exposed to a technical failure after implementing one of the operational tasks to support legitimacy in Yemen which resulted in its fall inside the operation area with no injuries to the aircraft's crew.
http://www.spa.gov.sa/viewstory.php?lang=en&newsid=1706433
My comment: And what did really happen? The Saudis of course would avoid to admit that the enemy had downed a Saudi air plane.
and
(* A K PS)
Two Coalition pilots evacuated after jet crash in Yemen
Two Coalition pilots Captain Fahad M. Al-Hoqbani and Captain Abdullah H. Al-Zeer were rescued from an area of operation in Yemen after their plane crashed due to technical faults, according to a statement from Col. Turki Al-Maliki, spokesperson for the joint forces coalition (photos of pilots rescued)
http://www.arabnews.com/node/1220726/middle-east
cp18 Sonstiges / Other
(-)
#Yemen-i artist Logodesigner Adel Almaweri calls #Sanaa the 'city of creativity' and his aquarelle is a breathtaking tribute to 3000 years of civilisation
(* B P)
Interview mit dem Nahostexperten Ouaissa zur Religiosität arabischer Jugendlicher
Warum der Imam vor Ort zwar an Einfluss verliert, Religiosität für die muslimischen Jugendlichen aber dennoch wichtig ist, erklärt der Leiter des Marburger Centrums für Nah- und Mitteloststudien in einem Interview.
Vorige / Previous:
https://www.freitag.de/autoren/dklose/jemenkrieg-mosaik-374-yemen-war-mosaic-374
Jemenkrieg-Mosaik 1-374 / Yemen War Mosaic 1-374:
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
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