... Ewiger Krieg im Nahen Osten – Trumps Machtpolitik – USA mobbt Welt in den Krieg gegen Iran – US-Forderungen an Iran – Saudischer Lobbyismus – Zyklon – und mehr
May 27, 2018: Prisoners brought to Eritrea for torture – Eight days in Aden – Imperialism and Yemen – Saudi air raids caring for civilians? – Saudis and sectarianism in Yemen – The Emirates‘ empire bulding – Eternal war in the Middle East (in German) – Trumps foreign power policy (in German) –US bullying the world into war with Iran – Mike Pompeo and his demands to Iran – Saudi lobby scheme – Cyclone – and more
Schwerpunkte / Key aspects
Klassifizierung / Classification
Für wen das Thema ganz neu ist / Who is new to the subject
cp1 Am wichtigsten / Most important
cp1a Am wichtigsten: Seuchen / Most important: Epidemics
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
cp11 Deutschland / Germany
cp12 Andere Länder / Other countries
cp13a Waffenhandel / Arms Trade
cp13b Mercenaries / Söldner
cp13c Wirtschaft / Economy
cp14 Terrorismus / Terrorism
cp15 Propaganda
cp16 Saudische Luftangriffe / Saudi air raids
cp17 Kriegsereignisse / Theater of War
cp18 Sonstiges / Other
cp18a Cyclone Mekunu
Klassifizierung / Classification
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**
*
(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
Für wen das Thema ganz neu ist / Who is new to the subject
Einführende Artikel u. Überblicke für alle, die mit den Ereignissen im Jemen noch nicht vertraut sind, hier:
Yemen War: Introductory articles, overviews, for those who are still unfamiliar with the Yemen war here:
https://www.freitag.de/autoren/dklose/jemenkrieg-einfuehrende-artikel-u-ueberblicke
cp1 Am wichtigsten / Most important
(** B P)
Intelligence sources: Americans interrogate Yemenis At Emirates Base in Eretria
High Yemeni intelligence officials said that Emirates is moving Yemeni prisoners from Aden by military aircraft to the Emirates military base at Eretria, were Americans participate in the interrogation with picked prisoners at local prisons in Yemen.
Almasdaronline got confirmed information indicating that UAE has moved groups of Yemeni prisoners to the UAE base at Eretria without going through any security checks at Aden Airport, were the Emirates interrogate them along with American and western interrogators.
Emirates were transporting the prisoners to Al Rayyan airport which there are indications that American is present there and they have the main prison there and it became a military base for UAE, and then they moved them to Eretria where there more interrogators with deferent nationalities and considered more confidential.
A high ranked officer at the Yemeni intelligence said to Almasdar online that they have confirmed information that UAE is moving those prisoners to UAE if they suspect that they have any kind of information and interrogate them with American and Australian and other western interrogators, the officer indicates that moving the prisoners to Eretria provide more confidential environment away from media and decrease the American conservativeness from performing interrogations inside Yemen.
The thing facilitates the UAE soldiers missions is that they don’t go through any checking procedures and they move from their camps directly to aircraft, taking with them whomever they want without even acknowledging the local authorities or airport authorities and without recording their data in arriving or departure lists which make this operation much more secret.
The officer said, many of my colleges transferred the Emirates base to train them to invade Houdieda and they confirmed to me the presence of Yemeni prisoners there and they have been interrogated by American officers and western as well.
We are concerned about the destiny of those prisoners since many of them confess under intolerable torture the officer said.
He added. until now we have no records of any prisoners return from those abroad prisons and that increase the suspicion of executing them as to what happened in Yemeni prisons, unfortunately, Yemeni government and with interior minister confirmation has no authority on such prisons and all of them is under full control of UAE.
Many of the prisoners at Local prisons (coalition, Shallal, Abu Yamamah in Aden) and Saleh Elsayed in Lahj have been threatened under tortured to be moved to Alryyan airport or to the island in an indication may be to (Myon or Socotra island) or to Eretria were the torture is more terrifying.
http://almasdaronline.com/article/99132
and
(* B P) What are US troops doing in Yemen?
US politicians want to know whether there's an American connection to disappearance of hundreds of Yemeni prisoners.
The US House of Representatives has voted to investigate the US role in torture prisons in Yemen - and want Defence Secretary Jim Mattis to find out.
The Associated Press say hundreds of men, captured in the hunt for al-Qaedafighters in southern Yemen, disappeared into a secret network of prisons.
Human Rights Watch found that the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and its allies detained and tortured hundreds of people in their three year war against Houthirebels. The UAE denies the allegations.
So, have US forces broken the law by torturing suspects during interrogation?
Presenter: Folly Bah Thibault; Guests: Kristine Beckerle - Yemen and UAE researcher, Human Rights Watch, Hakim Al Masmari - editor-in-chief, Yemen Post; Nabeel Khouri - former US diplomat and former deputy chief of mission in Yemen
https://www.aljazeera.com/programmes/insidestory/2018/05/troops-yemen-180526204121502.html and https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QDfGvcm-ws4
(** B K P)
Eight Days in Aden – a Forgotten City in Yemen’s Forgotten War
Two and a half years after the last major fighting in the southern port city of Aden, officially Yemen’s “temporary capital”, our Arabian Peninsula Project Director April Longley Alley finds a patchwork of rival armed forces, buildings in ruins and political groups’ effective steps toward autonomy, if not outright separation.
After three years of war, the country is in fact fragmented into several competing power centres. The Houthis retain control of the north-west, including Sanaa. Components of the Hadi government aligned with Saudi Arabia are dominant in Marib, east of Sanaa. Those aligned with the United Arab Emirates (UAE) focus on the territories of the former South Yemen, an independent state prior to 1990. Nominally one bloc, the Saudi-led coalition and its Yemeni allies are divided, with UAE-aligned southern forces at odds with the Hadi government, especially over control and influence in Aden.
Bureaucratic hurdles and technical difficulties are frequent obstacles to my and Crisis Group’s mission: finding and advocating ways to end Yemen’s war and mitigate its catastrophic impact
As the days fly by I am so much back in my element that I mix up the date of my departure. I try to prolong my stay but the complex bureaucracy makes this impossible. I don’t want to leave. I remember how the war forced me out before, and I’m anxious that it will again be much too long before I can come back.
My whirl of meetings and impressions make me conscious that Yemen’s social fabric has been stretched and frayed, but not torn completely. Communities are working together at the local level to feed those in need. The idea and desire for diversity of opinion is present in Sanaa, even if there is little pluralism for now. Women, too, are playing an increasingly important role, especially on the dangerous divide between the Huthis and Islah. Islah women, for instance, are doing the hard work of following up on cases of disappearances or jailings of Islah members. Because people trust the women more and fear them less, their involvement can ease tensions. Many average Yemenis are swimming against the strong tides of sectarianism and social fragmentation engulfing the country and the region.
Yemenis are pining for a path out of the war. It will be tricky to find a solution to the confusingly regionalised aspect of the conflict, which must satisfy both Saudi political and security concerns while not trampling Yemenis’ honour or their various red lines in politics or security. Saudi Arabia, like many Yemenis, is concerned that Iran is gaining a foothold in the country through the Huthis. They also worry about security on their border and likely want to have significant influence over any new government in Sanaa. The Huthi/Saleh bloc is sensitive to any solution that would be perceived as surrender to Saudi Arabia or the Hadi government. They must work with local constituencies that are seething with revenge toward their northern neighbour.
Then there is the separate but related issue of finding a compromise among Yemen’s competing power centres, a challenge that will need to take into account the country’s new reality of decentralisation and regional autonomy. While the challenges to negotiators are many, my conversations in Sanaa lead me to believe that at least some practical measures are possible. Both Huthi and GPC interlocutors discuss ways of finding a compromise to prevent the extension of the war to Hodeida, to find a solution for the payment of salaries nationally and to move forward with political talks. There is some political room to work with, in other words, but finding this space requires consistent and broader engagement with, not the isolation of, stakeholders on the ground, including in Sanaa – by Aprol Longley Alley
(** B K P)
It was Ideology and empire that lit Yemen’s fire
Yemen is the war being avoided by US politicians because it’s not politically convenient, and while it becomes Saudi Arabia’s Vietnam, and the UAE exploits the situation, we need to separate the narrative of ‘officaldom’ and see the commercial motives and political motivations that have catalyzed this secretive and ignored war.
The official political story
Ideology and empire, not sectarian animosity has lit a fire in Yemen
The grievances in Yemen were at first political, not sectarian.
Empire fuels animosity
For the US, Yemen was a nation US political factions wished to influence during the Cold War ,especially South Yemeni waters used by the Soviets. Now, Yemen is a steady income source for the US military-industrial complex, as well as the British armaments industry and other nations supplying Saudi Arabia and the UAE in Yemen.
The Saudi military lacks proficiency and even will. They’re having much of their logistical needs handled by the Americans. The world’s policeman wishes to maintain their $120 million per month contracts to supply and direct the inept Saudi military
Also, the Americans are trying to placate the Saudis in the face of an encroaching threat to the petrodollar by a buoyed China, as several nations are actively trying to break away from the US dollar
For the Saudis, it’s about cultivating Yemen into a vassal state due to its strategic location and ideology.
The Saudis sought to destabilize any such ideology on its border that would threaten the Saudi monarchy. They did this through sponsoring royalists of the previous king in the North Yemen Civil War and funded Wahhabism in the 90s in a unified Yemen still heavy with the dogma of Marxist South Yemen, along with their former ideological apprentice Qatar.
Simultaneously, as the British occupier began to recede from southern Yemen in the 1960s, the Saudi’s began to get involved in Marxist South Yemen in anyway it could.
And now, with the paranoia gripping the House of Saud about their increasing defunct authority and influence in the Middle East, any authority in Yemen not under their persuasive influence or associated with Iran will be repudiated even though the Houthis are a home-grown political and religious movement.
Finally, the UAE is a quiet tactician. It had its commercial interests revoked by the Saudi-sponsored Hadi government, which gave those contracts to the Emiratis’ long-term rival and occasional partner Qatar, as well as its ally Saudi Arabia.
The consequences
This political trap to paint Yemen as a Sunni-Shia proxy war is an imagined geography – a narrative that has been imagined, but didn’t exist. However, it has now become a self-fulfilling prophecy as the Iranians are likely to sympathize and politically support the Houthis, as they see each other as political resisters to American, Saudi, and Israeli injustices, even though Zaydism bears commonality with Sunnism.
However, the US’s Nikki Haley would have the UN believe that Iranian missiles are penetrating Saudi skies and used this to justify their aiding in a full naval, air and land blockade with the Saudis. These condemnations were because the Saudis weren’t succeeding against the Houthis.
It’s not implausible, but the Houthis are more likely using their own ingenuity to manufacture missiles using Yemeni weapons caches left from the well-supplied days of heavy Soviet support.
The UN is also embarrassing itself with its immovable death toll. The 10,000 dead is a bygone shadow; cholera, malnutrition, famine, stagnant water, and roving airstrikes have set into Yemen like rot in a tree. Don’t deaths caused by a blockade on medicine and food count? It is after all, an aggressive act.
The UN’s OCHOA in January 2017 reported that 10,000 were dead, 40,000 were injured, and in 2018, that figure hasn’t changed, and the UN stopped counting in 2014, so the Yemeni death toll is being whitewashed. UNICEF, however, reported in 2016 that 63,000 died from preventable causes. Aren’t those deaths attributable to the Saudi and American blockade?
As with many events, the origins have been forgotten and the imperial motives glossed over, but as the politics trickle into UN speeches, nightly porous news coverage, and military actions, Yemen is being torn apart and plundered by neighbouring jackals and far off opportunists – by Andrew Brennan
http://www.atimes.com/it-was-ideology-and-empire-that-lit-yemens-fire/
(** B K P)
With New U.S. Arms Sale Pending–What Happened to Saudi Assurances on Civilian Casualties in Yemen?
The State Department is reportedly reviewing a multi-billion-dollar deal between Saudi Arabia and the arms manufacturer Raytheon. Should the State Department decide to license the sale, Congress would then have thirty days to block it. In June 2017 a similar, smaller arms agreement was approved, predicated on Saudi assurances to change procedures and undertake a large $750 million U.S.-run training program to reduce civilian casualties. Nearly a year on from that agreement, and with another one pending, now is a good time to step back and evaluate the efficacy of any such safeguards put in place. That analysis shows that civilian casualties from Saudi-coalition bombing have actually increased, not decreased. This raises serious concerns about Saudi Arabia’s ability and willingness to reduce civilian deaths even as a major new arms deal is under review.
The munitions from this new arms sale would doubtless be used in Yemen The munitions from this new arms sale would doubtless be used in Yemen.
As former senior CIA official Bruce Riedel observed in a New Yorker Radio Hour interview last month, “Not only are many Yemenis going to nurse a grudge against Saudi Arabia for the rest of their life, many of them are going to blame America. We’re stoking the fires of a generation that’s going to want revenge.” To much of the world, the approval of a massive new arms deal would likely represent de facto American approval of Saudi Arabia’s conduct in Yemen.
The Saudi Air Force is only capable of functioning effectively with extensive American support. According to Mr. Riedel, “We are an enabler of the war. If the United States decided today that it was going to cut off supplies, spare parts, munitions, intelligence, and everything else to the Royal Saudi Air Force, it would be grounded tomorrow.” This reliance makes the United States’ lack of substantive oversight all the more troubling.
Since the training and safeguards began, however, the Saudi Air Force appears to be killing civilians at an increased rate.
The continuing and widespread civilian casualties from Saudi bombing raises the possibility that the safeguards promised have not been implemented and that the promised training program has stalled or is ineffective - by Isa Qasim
My comment: Be honest: The whole „training programm“ was a farce simply to whitewash Saudi war crimes and US complicity.
(** B K P)
Saudi Attempts to Sow Seeds of Sectarianism in Yemen Are Backfiring
Day and night, Yemenis in rebel-held areas are bombarded with polarizing sermons, radio ads reminiscent of the vitriol that fueled the 1994 Rwandan massacre, and leaflet drops that routinely rain down messages of disunity like confetti commandments hurled from an angry, vengeful God.
A phalanx of flickering video cameras frames the portly Saudi Imam in a shimmering half-light, as he exhorts a brigade of Sunni Muslim mercenaries from the East African nation of Sudan to prepare for battle with rebels from Yemen’s Shia sect known as Houthis.
The (Saudi) King Salman Bin Abdulaziz brought you to defend the Prophet Muhammad; Salman gave you the honor of defending the Prophet Muhammad’s companions.”
He continues, accusing the heterodox Houthis of heresy, in effect:
For Aisha, wife of Prophet Muhammad, has been accused of adultery by the Houthis. You should defend her. You will die on the path of Allah; you will go to heaven. You must be thankful to (King) Salman for giving this chance to you.”
Posted on YouTube, the imam’s stemwinder is part of Saudi Arabia’s broader media campaign to portray its military effort here at the Arabian peninsula’s edge as an intervention of sorts, an altruistic attempt to help a population of 28 million Yemenis sort out sectarian rivalries between Sunnis and Shias that date back centuries.
Since the conflict in Yemen erupted seven years ago, Saudi Arabia has taken to the pulpit and the airwaves, Facebook and Twitter and the Western media, to inflame Islamic passions, manufacture dissent, and rally Sunni Muslims both at home and abroad to repel the backwards Shia rebels and their supporters from Iran, which is home to more Shias than any country in the world. Day and night, Yemenis in rebel-held areas are bombarded with polarizing sermons such as in the above YouTube rant filmed in 2017, radio ads reminiscent of the vitriol that fueled the 1994 Rwandan massacre, and leaflet drops that routinely rain down messages of disunity like confetti commandments hurled from an angry, vengeful God.
“We’re trying to save you from the Persians,” reads one batch of leaflets. “Coalition forces came for you, when the Furs (Persians) tried infringing the origin of Arabism and Arab people, also for keeping your wealth and safety.”
Combined with Saudi cash, this propaganda campaign has succeeded in recruiting Muslim sectarians and mercenaries from around the world, and disseminating its narrative in the Western media.
“How Sectarianism shapes Yemen’s War,” reads a Washington Post headline.
“How Sunni-Shia Sectarianism Is Poisoning Yemen,” reads a headline for the Carnegie for Middle East Center’s website.
“Combat in Yemen Risks Stirring Sectarian Hatreds,” reads a Reuters headline.
But here in Yemen, among a population that is roughly that of Texas, such Balkanizing rhetoric has largely fallen on deaf ears. In one interview after another, Yemenis told MintPress that they do not view the conflict in tribal terms but through a geopolitical lens: along with its allies in the U.S., Western Europe and Israel, Saudi Arabia wants to seize control of Yemen’s lucrative oil and natural gas reserves, and strategic supply routes.
A Yemeni scholar, Mohammad Taher Anam, told MintPress:
Saudi Arabia depicts the war on Yemen as a sectarian war to provoke Sunni followers . . . It is just like a bullfighter irritating the bull by waving the red cape.”
Yemenis are not falling in Saudi propaganda
While the Houthis do represent the vanguard of Yemen’s resistance movement, their beliefs are relatively moderate within the context of Islamic factions, and historically Sunnis and Shias lived together peacefully. Even before the war, it was not uncommon to see Sunnis and Shias praying together at local mosques in Yemen.
(** B K P)
The UAE weaves a regional ‘string of pearls’
It has establisehed a web of bases and armed allies in Yemen and Somalia as a wedge against alleged Islamist and Iranian influence, but quietly, Emirati schemes have greater foresight.
It may promote itself as a stable, open, and somewhat tolerant Muslim country, but what does the security web the UAE is weaving really indicate?
Equally so, Emirati media has been trumpeting the altruistic acts of its leadership in Yemen with articles in the UAE’s The National stating, “The UAE aspires to achieve peace and stability in the region; it is neither an occupier nor a troublemaker.” A closer examination can repudiate the performative, magnanimous image; really it’s not philanthropy but empire building.
From the war-torn Yemeni mainland to the failed state of Somalia, both are suffering from Salafists militias, US droning and Emirati interference under the pretext of security against such Salafist militants.
The aligned interests between Saudi Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman (MBS) and Emirati Crown Prince Mohammad bin Zayed (MBZ) in reshaping the Middle East offer the UAE an opportunity to re-enter a polarized and fragmented Yemen.
Abu Dhabi has made concerted efforts to fissure Yemen through supporting secessionist movements and local but loyal militias in southern and eastern Yemen, from Aden to Hadramawt Province. Its own military are deployed at specific ports or “pearls” such as Mocha Port on the Red Sea to Mukalla in the east, which Emirati-trained southern Yemeni forces captured from al-Qaeda. It hosts Emirati helicopters, a training center, detention facility and also a small contingent of US Special Forces.
Abu Dhabi is doggedly cultivating influence over the Horn of Africa and Gulf of Aden to expand its naval presence by using Assab in Eritrea, Mukalla in Yemen, as well as Djibouti, Berbera Port in Somaliland and Bosasa in Puntland, along with the Port Sudan. All of these ports stretch from the Red Sea to the Indian Ocean, and are erecting a “String of Pearls” for an Emirati commercial and energy empire under the sole auspicious of deterring Iran, and the jewel in this string is Socotra.
And it is an occupation, with Britain’s The Independent reporting its writers on Socotra “found the UAE has all but annexed this sovereign piece of Yemen, building a military base, setting up communications networks, conducting its own census and inviting Socotra residents to Abu Dhabi by the planeload for free healthcare.” In fact, the UAE is going heavy on the militaristic side.
From Emirati-backed separatists wrenching much of Aden from other pro-Hadi government factions and thus pro-Saudi forces in January, UAE proxies in Yemen are breaking somewhat from the Saudi agenda. Now, even though MBS and MBZ are cohorts, meaning the on-the-ground events could be completely coordinated, a fork in the road could yet come.
The lucrative financial gain of commandeering these islands is noteworthy: fish-rich waters can be exploited by the UAE, and catches can be transported to the Emirates’ markets. The addition of Socotra for UAE tourism operators, through weekly commercial flights and package vacations, also adds to the Emirati domestic economy.
The strategic significance of Socotra can’t be dismissed either as it sits in the Gulf of Aden, between the shipping traffic lanes on the way to the Bab al-Mandab Strait, and beyond, the Suez Canal of Egypt.
The lucrative financial gain of commandeering these islands is noteworthy: fish-rich waters can be exploited by the UAE, and catches can be transported to the Emirates’ markets. The addition of Socotra for UAE tourism operators, through weekly commercial flights and package vacations, also adds to the Emirati domestic economy.
The strategic significance of Socotra can’t be dismissed either as it sits in the Gulf of Aden, between the shipping traffic lanes on the way to the Bab al-Mandab Strait, and beyond, the Suez Canal of Egypt.
Partitioning Yemen would gift the entire southern coast of South Yemen to a favoured UAE, which sponsored actors like Aidarous al-Zubaidi, and Hani bin Breik in establishing the Southern Transitional Council.
Equally, establishing such ports allows the UAE to safeguard its commercial ports against Pakistan and Iran’s development of their port facilities on the Indian Ocean – by Andrew Brennan
http://www.atimes.com/the-uae-weaves-a-regional-string-of-pearls/
(** B K P)
Der ewige Krieg
Im Dreißigjährigen Krieg wurde um vieles zugleich gekämpft – deshalb fand das Morden erst ein Ende, als alle Kräfte erschöpft waren. Ein Schicksal, das heute dem Nahen Osten droht.
Es sind seine strukturellen Merkmale, die ihn zur Analysefolie heutiger und künftiger Kriege werden lassen: die Vermischung religiös-konfessioneller Konflikte mit Hegemonialkriegen; die Gleichzeitigkeit eines “großen”, regulären Krieges und eines exzessiven, gegen die Bevölkerung gerichteten Kleinkrieges; sowie die Verbindung sozialrevolutionärer Elemente mit einem Staatenkrieg, in dem es um die Verschiebung von Grenzen und die Annexion von Räumen ging. Der Dreißigjährige Krieg war ein ganz ähnlicher Krieg wie der, der sich an der Wende zum 21. Jahrhundert im subsaharischen Afrika im Gebiet der Großen Seen abspielte oder der jetzt im Raum zwischen Syrien und dem Jemen, zwischen Mesopotamien und Libyen tobt.
Dass sich unterschiedliche Motive und Gründe des Konflikts überlagern und mit allen möglichen Formen des Kampfes verbinden, lässt diese Kriege so lange dauern und macht ihre Beendigung so schwierig.
Die mit dem Ende des Dreißigjährigen Krieges errichtete Westfälische Ordnung gewann in den folgenden Jahrzehnten zunehmend an Stabilität. Aber sie war keine Ordnung des Friedens, sondern eine der Regulierung des Krieges. Sie machte den Krieg (wieder) zu einem Instrument der Politik, das diese alternativ zu den Mitteln der Diplomatie einsetzen konnte. Eine solche Instrumentalität war im Übrigen nur möglich, weil man Krieg und Frieden als unterschiedliche Aggregatzustände des Politischen klar voneinander trennte.
Unkontrollierte Kriege vom Typ “Dreißigjähriger Krieg” kennen diese präzise Trennung nicht. Tatsächlich führten zahlreiche Akteure gegeneinander Heere ins Feld, ohne sich jemals den Krieg erklärt zu haben.
Zu den strukturellen Ähnlichkeiten zwischen den gegenwärtigen Kriegen im Vorderen Orient und dem Dreißigjährigen Krieg gehört auch der Umstand, dass zunächst auf unterschiedliche Räume verteilte Konflikte zu einem einzigen Krieg zusammenwachsen. Von Herfried Münkler
(** B P)
Das Recht bin ich
(…) “God bless you” – damit endete Trumps Ansprache, in der er Amerikas Ausstieg aus dem Atomabkommen mit dem Iran begründete, dem “schlechtesten Deal der Geschichte”. Trump hätte durchaus noch einen Satz hinzufügen dürfen: Hier und heute beginnt eine neue Epoche der Weltgeschichte, und ihr dürft euch glücklich schätzen, dabei zu sein.
Das stimmt sogar. Denn während George W. Bush im Irak “nur” einen regime change exekutierte, stellt Donald Trump die gesamte Weltordnung auf den Kopf. Geht es nach dem Willen des Präsidenten, dann beruht die künftige Ordnung nicht mehr auf der “Schwäche” des Rechts, sondern auf der Stärke der Macht. Sie beruht auf nationaler Souveränität und militärischer Konsequenz, auf hard power statt soft law. Und siehe da, es funktioniere heute schon: Diktator Kim Jong Un, triumphiert Trump, habe die Sprache der Macht verstanden. “The rocket man” kapituliert und kriecht vor Amerika zu Kreuze.
Der US-Präsident sei irrational, heißt es überall, doch das Gegenteil ist der Fall. Trump ist von unmissverständlicher Klarheit; er hält Wort und handelt genau so, wie er es im Wahlkampf angekündigt hat. Man hätte das alles längst wissen können, sein Programm war ausformuliert und stammt in seinen Grundzügen aus einer kalifornischen Kaderschmiede, einem philosophischen Institut in der Kleinstadt Claremont. Dessen Mitglieder haben sich mit Haut und Haaren dem Denken des in die USA emigrierten deutschen Philosophen Leo Strauss (1899 bis 1973) verschrieben, und nicht einmal die zurückhaltende New York Review of Books lässt Zweifel daran, dass in Claremont “Trumps Hirne” versammelt sind.
Schon seit Langem predigen die “Claremonsters” – wie sie sich selbst nennen – einen radikalen Isolationismus; jede Nation sei nur sich selbst verpflichtet und müsse in freier Wildbahn um ihr Überleben kämpfen. Leider werde Amerika bei diesem Kampf von innen behindert, ein linkes Kartell aus “Progressisten”, Globalisten und politisch Korrekten nutze die Lücken des liberalen Rechts und falle der Nation in den Rücken. Kurzum, ein “tiefer Staat”, eine Art Schattenregierung, habe die Machtzentren gekapert, vergleichbar den Al-Kaida-Terroristen, die am 11. September 2001 Flugzeuge in ihre Gewalt gebracht hatten. “Stürm das Cockpit, oder du stirbst!” – von Thomas Assheuer
https://www.zeit.de/2018/21/donald-trump-weltordnung-claremont-philosophie-leo-strauss
Mein Kommentar: Man sollte nicht in den Fehler verfallen, diese Politik für eine besondere Eigenart von Trump zu halten. Die USA haben niemals eine andere Art von Außenpolitik betrieben. Die US-Außenpoltik hat sich nie an etwas anderem orientiert als an den Interessen der USA (was gleichbdeutend ist mit den Interessen der US-Elite). „Wir müssen Ländern den Arm umdrehen, wenn sie nicht das machen, was wir wollen”, das hat Barack Obama gesagt. Trump vertritt diese Politik bestenfalls noch direkter – er verzichtet auf die Verbrämungen mit „Menschenrechte“, „Demokratie“, „Werte“.
(** A B P)
US tries to bully the world into attacking Iran
America’s conduct towards Iran demonstrates just how much of a bully the US government is, that anything short of bending 100 percent to America’s agenda will eventually result in punishment and war.
Newly appointed US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, known as an anti-Iran hawk, began the week by giving a frightening speech at the conservative Heritage Foundation, threatening Iran with the “strongest sanctions in history”' if it doesn’t capitulate to US demands. The 12 “basic requirements” Pompeo laid out, which verge on the absurd, went far beyond requiring Iran to refrain from developing nuclear weapons, which it was already doing. Among the conditions were that Iran withdraws its forces and support from groups across the Middle East that the US doesn’t like, including in Syria, Iraq, Lebanon, and Yemen.
That is never going to happen. Unlike the US, Iran is a part of the Middle East. It has every right to engage with its neighbors, certainly more of a right than the US, a country that is on the other side of the world yet constantly meddles in Middle Eastern affairs to secure its interests.
It’s also important to emphasize the difference between Iranian and American actions in the region. For the last several years, the US and its regional allies backed an armed rebellion in Syria made up of a collection of Salafi Jihadist groups in an effort to collapse the Syrian state.
In other words, the US made a huge mess in Syria and Iraq and Iran played a crucial role in cleaning up that mess in both countries through its support for the Syrian government and its backing of the Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF) in Iraq that were integral to the defeat of ISIS. Yet the US has the audacity to portray Iran as a destructive force in the region, when in reality it is the US and its allies that play the most disastrous role in bringing chaos to the Middle East with regime-change wars and support for Gulf monarchies, like Saudi Arabia, that spread extremism.
As for the Iran nuclear deal, it’s equally important to note that it is the US which is violating the deal against a compliant Iran, demonstrating that the price of honoring a treaty with the US is economic sanctions and potential war. That’s the message the Trump administration is sending to the world.
Depicting Iran as a menace
Part of the US strategy, which is basically the Bolton strategy for regime change in Iran that was written up for the White House last year, is to cast Iran as a menace that is puppeteering chaos across the Middle East.
Though much of the mainstream Western press claims to be opposed to Trump, when it comes to war, they often echo the administration’s talking points or participate in perpetuating false narratives that are essential to the administration’s case for war, especially with regard to Iran.
Haley’s depiction of Iran would not be possible without a US press that perpetuates the anti-Iran narrative. The New York Times has been especially vital to this endeavor, as Robert Wright laid out in a devastating critique at The Intercept. But the paper of record isn’t alone.
The repeated references to Iranians when talking about Hezbollah is pure propaganda. Hezbollah is a Lebanese political and armed group that is part of the Lebanese government, has a popular grassroots base of support in Lebanon and is made up of Lebanese citizens.
Looming war
An hour after Trump announced the US exit from the Iran nuclear deal, Israel bombed Syria, killing several Iranians as well as other Syrian government forces.
What happens next
In a region plagued by chaos, Iran is one of the more stable countries, and in comparison to its neighbors, which are mostly monarchies, it is one of the more democratic, combining Islamic theocracy with elements of democracy. It is by no means a flawless country, but it doesn’t deserve economic isolation and war.
Thus far, Iran and its allies have maintained extreme restraint, refusing to be drawn into a war with Israel. But if Israel continues its provocations, which looks certain to intensify, Iran will have no choice but to react, at which point the US will be ready to join its regional allies in what could be an even more devastating regional war than the last. That doesn’t mean war is inevitable, but the US pulling out of the Iran nuclear deal made it far more likely – by Rania Khalek
https://www.rt.com/op-ed/427541-iran-trump-war-sanctions/
(** B K P)
Mike Pompeo’s 12-Step Plan for Disaster With Iran
History is not America’s friend when it comes to Iran, a fact that resonated in every fiber of Pompeo’s bombastic speech. In setting the conditions that must be met before the United States would consider engaging in negotiations for a “new deal,” Pompeo only further underscored how detached the Trump administration is from reality when it comes to Iran and its role in Middle East affairs. The 12-step plan outlined by Pompeo as representing the preconditions for any meaningful U.S.-Iranian engagement are little more than a road map toward disaster. What follows is a point-by-point breakdown of each of these conditions, put into context.
Iran must end its proliferation of ballistic missiles and halt further launching or development of nuclear-capable missile systems.
The irony of the world’s greatest proliferator of military weapons—including long-range strike aircraft and bunker-busting munitions sold to Iran’s regional foes, Israel and Saudi Arabia—calling on Iran to stop exporting ballistic missiles to its allies is mind-numbing. The United States, through a made-for-television exposé fronted by U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations, Nikki Haley, has accused Iran of supplying ballistic missiles to Houthi rebels in Yemen that have been used to launch retaliatory attacks against Saudi Arabia, which has been using its American-supplied air force to pulverize Houthi civilian targets. Iran has not shipped any completed missiles to the Houthis, but rather provided kits that enabled the Houthi to upgrade Russian-made SCUD missiles to fly longer ranges.
Iran must end its military support of the Houthi militia.
This demand ignores the history of the Houthi movement and Saudi Arabia’s long history of intervention and interference in the internal affairs of Yemen. The Houthi movement is not the creation of Iran (indeed, it is derived from a branch of Shi’a ideology looked down on by Iran), but rather a reflection of indigenous Yemeni opposition to Saudi Arabian encroachments on Yemeni sovereignty. Meaningful Iranian military support for the Houthis began only after the initiation of Saudi-led military operations against Yemen in 2015. Any effort to terminate this support, void of a corresponding cessation of Saudi Arabian and United Arab Emirati military operations inside Yemen, and a comprehensive peace agreement reflective of Houthi concerns and desires, is a non-starter.
Like most of Pompeo’s Iran policy, the call for Iran to end its support of the Houthi is reflective of the subordinate role Pompeo has given legitimate U.S. national security interests, which should embrace a peaceful resolution of the Yemen conflict, in spite of the regional ambitions of Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.
Iran must end its threatening behavior against its neighbors (Israel, Saudi Arabia, UAE), its threats against shipping, and cease its cyberattacks.
Iran is currently involved in a tense standoff with Israel in Syria and is actively opposed to what it deems to be malign action on the part of Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates in Yemen and elsewhere. Iranian supported proxies face off against the United States in Afghanistan and Syria.
Indeed, if any party is to blame for the failure to diplomatically engage in the aftermath of the signing of the JCPOA, it is the United States and the very allies it accuses Iran of plotting against.
“The length of the list,” Mike Pompeo noted, “is simply a scope of the malign behavior of Iran. We didn’t create the list, they did.” This statement, however, is as disingenuous as it is wrong. In every one of his 12 points, the newly minted secretary of state seeks to put the Iranian cart before the American horse. The fact is, there is an American historical precursor action for every contemporary Iranian reaction. To ignore this reality is to court disaster. Demanding that Iran unilaterally surrender to American demands, which are detached from reality is little more than a prescription for war, a policy objective that John Bolton, President Trump’s new national security adviser, has made no secret of embracing in times past.
The tragedy is that the U.S.-Iranian march toward war initiated by Pompeo’s bombastic speech was inherently avoidable—Iran was willing to put many of the concerns outlined in Pompeo’s address up for negotiation so long as the JCPOA remained intact. With the United States out of that agreement, and the JCPOA itself on life support in the face of promised U.S. economic sanctions, there is no longer any hope for meaningful negotiations between the United States and Iran – by Scott Ritter
https://www.truthdig.com/articles/mike-pompeos-12-step-plan-for-disaster-with-iran/
read also https://www.csis.org/analysis/demanding-all-and-getting-nothing-secretary-pompeos-speech-iran
(** B P)
The Saudi Lobby’s Scheme to Destroy the Iran Deal
They gave Obama their tepid approval, then poured millions into a three-year campaign to kill it—and won.
Saudi Arabia—had been orchestrating a quieter but equally effective lobbying and public relations push to dismantle the deal. The Saudis’ arguments were used just as much, if not more, by Trump in justifying his decision for the U.S. to walk away from a carefully crafted agreement that even some of his own military leaders had acknowledged was working.
The Saudi lobby’s push began long before the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) was formally announced on July 14, 2015. In fact, Saudi lobbyists had been working behind the scenes in the U.S. for years to ensure that the Kingdom’s concerns were incorporated into any deal Washington would agree to with Iran—if there was to be a deal at all.
In total, the Christian Science Monitor found that Saudi Arabia spent $11 million dollars on Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA)-registered firms in 2015, and “much of this spending relates to Iran.” They were also assembling former policymakers like Senator Norm Coleman, whose FARA disclosure mentions his work on “limiting Iranian nuclear capability.” More recently, Coleman penned an op-ed in The Hill applauding Trump for leaving the deal without disclosing that he was being paid by the Saudi government.
Despite their strong opposition to any deal with Iran, however, many of the Saudis’ concerns were ultimately addressed by the JCPOA
But Saudi support for the deal was tepid and ephemeral at best. While publicly supporting it, the Saudis and their lobbyists in D.C. were quietly working to undermine it. Their arguments largely centered on two points: that the funds freed up by the deal would underwrite Iran’s continued support for terrorist groups, and that the deal would do nothing to halt Iran’s ballistic missile program.
While more than two dozen D.C. lobbying and public relations firms working for Saudi interests have registered under FARA since the U.S. agreed to the Iran deal, none has been more aggressively pushing these anti-Iran talking points than the MSLGroup (which acquired long-serving Saudi client Qorvis Communications in 2014).
With these talking points in hand, the Saudis saw an opportunity in the election of the neophyte Donald Trump to up the ante on Iran, and they invested heavily in courting him.
Why did the Saudis want the U.S. to abandon the Iran deal? A New York Timesanalysis identified what is probably the primary reason—a fear that the deal would be the first step towards a U.S. rapprochement with Iran that would undermine the Saudi regime’s power in the region in general and its campaign against Iran in particular.
The potential for a Mideast nuclear arms race is yet another example of the disastrous consequences of Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s reckless foreign policy, which includes everything from his regime’s brutal, counterproductive intervention in Yemen, to the Saudi-led effort to impose a blockade on Qatar, to its promotion of regime change in Iran—preferably carried out by the United States.
I n the wake of the U.S. pullout from the Iran deal, we can expect the Saudi lobby, working in concert with administration allies ranging from Jared Kushner to newly appointed national security advisor John Bolton, to double down in its efforts to promote these ill-advised, dangerous directions for U.S. foreign policy in the region. Countering Riyadh’s blatant influence peddling should be part of an expanded effort to distance the United States from its increasingly risky, counterproductive relationship with Saudi Arabia. If Mohammed bin Salman’s aggressive policies—and Saudi advocacy for them in Washington—continue, Riyadh is one “friend” the United States should consider doing without - By WILLIAM D. HARTUNG AND BEN FREEMAN •
http://www.theamericanconservative.com/articles/the-saudi-lobbys-scheme-to-destroy-the-iran-deal/
cp1a Am wichtigsten: Seuchen / Most important: Epidemics
(* A H)
World Health Organization: 94 deaths in Yemen with Diphtheria
World Health Organization said that it recorded 94 deaths with diphtheria since the last October 2017.
The WHO tweeted at their official account of Yemen office, about 1800 suspected cases with Diphtheria since the same date.
Those cases have been detected and recorded in 20 of 23 governorates and in 196 of 333 directorates and Sanaa, Ibb and Hodeida are the most affected with the disease.
http://almasdaronline.com/article/99130
(* A H)
WHO along with the national authorities, @UNICEF and the @WorldBank has recently conducted a second round of mass vaccination campaign against #diphtheria in 39 priority districts targeting 2.69 million children from 6 weeks to 15 years of age.
https://twitter.com/WHOYemen/status/1000089779218808832
(* A H)
UNICEF plane carrying vaccines arrives at Sanaa airport
A United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) cargo plane carrying more than seven million doses of diphtheria and routine polio vaccine arrived at Sanaa International Airport on Wednesday.
The director of vaccine management in the immunization program, Taha al-Aqari told Saba that the shipment provided by UNICEF contains four million and 700 thousand doses of Td special vaccine for the campaign of diphtheria for the age group from 5 years to 15 years and two million and one hundred thousand doses of pentagram vaccine Of the diphtheria campaign for the age group from 6 weeks to 5 years.
http://www.sabanews.net/en/news497039.htm
My comment: The anti-Houthi propaganda claim that the Houthis would block vaccination seems tob e baseless.
(B H)
UN Children's Fund, WASH Cluster: WASH Cholera Response: Jan - April 2018
https://reliefweb.int/report/yemen/wash-cholera-response-jan-april-2018
cp2 Allgemein / General
(* B H K)
Kidnapper und Skorpione: Eine Woche im Bürgerkrieg in Jemen
Kaum ein Land der Welt dürfte sich zurzeit in einem chaotischeren Zustand befinden als Jemen. Dort vorsichtig zu sein, raten einem sogar Leute, die nach Afghanistan auf Hochzeitsreise gehen – von Christoph Zürcher (mit Fotos) (mit Gratis-Anmeldung)
https://nzzas.nzz.ch/gesellschaft/kidnapper-skorpione-eine-woche-im-buergerkrieg-im-jemen-ld.1388387
und
(? B H K)
Audio: Wie unser Reporter Christoph Zürcher den Bürgerkrieg in Jemen erlebte
In Aden fallen immer wieder Schüsse. Wie unser Reporter vor Ort mit seiner Angst umging und was er im Bürgerkriegsland erlebte, erzählt er im Audio-Beitrag.
(* B K P)
Israel ha atacado Yemen con sus cazabombarderos F-35
[#Israel's F-35 used in the war on #Yemen according to 'Israel Hayom' paper]
Las fuerzas aéreas del régimen israelí han usado sus aviones de guerra estadounidenses F-35 en dos frentes distintos de Oriente Medio, siendo probablemente uno de ellos el de Yemen, agredido desde hace tres años por Arabia Saudí, informa el diario israelí ‘Israel Hayom’.
El diario israelí publicó el jueves en su versión árabe, Israel Al-Youm, que la razón principal de la implicación de Israel en la agresión saudí a Yemen podría ser el acercamiento de Israel a Arabia Saudí y el aumento de la cooperación bilateral entre ambos en los últimos años.
Según el rotativo, si Israel sospecha que Yemen pueda disponer de un arma capaz de cambiar el “equilibrio” de fuerzas de la guerra, es posible que participe efectivamente en los ataques de Riad al país más pobre del mundo árabe.
El diario predice, en este contexto, que las relaciones entre el régimen de Tel Aviv y Riad conducirá a un ataque israelí al pueblo yemení.
Esta publicación sale a la luz después de que el comandante de las fuerzas aéreas israelíes, Amikam Norkin, anunciara el martes sin dar más detalles que Israel ha utilizado sus cazabombarderos F-35 en dos frentes distintos de Oriente Medio.
https://www.hispantv.com/noticias/oriente-medio/378105/israel-ataca-yemen-f35-arabia-saudita
(* B H K P)
U.N.: Another 10 Million Yemenis At Risk of Starving to Death by Year’s End
The Saudi coalition blockade of Yemen continues to starve the civilian population of essential food and fuel. The U.N. warns that an additional 10 million Yemenis could be brought to the brink of famine beyond the eight and a half million already there.
The Saudi coalition bears the largest share of responsibility for Yemen’s humanitarian catastrophe. They are the ones impeding the delivery of commercial goods and aid, and they have it within their power to alleviate the worst effects of the crisis if they would lift the blockade. If the coalition presses ahead with an assault on Hodeidah, the crisis is certain to worsen and those additional 10 million people will be driven into famine that much sooner.
The coalition governments are also the ones engaged in a deliberate and systematic campaign of attacking the country’s food production and distribution. Just the other day, coalition planes bombed a group of mango farmers with horrific results
These are deliberate coalition attacks on civilians made possible by our government’s support, and they happen on a regular basis. The claim that U.S. assistance to the coalition reduces civilian casualties is false, and it is obvious after more than three years of the bombing campaign that the only thing U.S. support has done is make it that much easier for the Saudi coalition to slaughter Yemeni civilians with impunity. That assistance must end, and the U.S. must demand the lifting of the blockade. If the administration does not do these things, it will be responsible for the continued enabling of the killing of countless Yemenis through bombing and starvation – by Daniel Larison
(* B H K)
Helferin im Jemen prangert an: Welt vergisst „größte humanitäre Katastrophe“
Susanna Krüger, die Geschäftsführerin von Save the Children Deutschland, wählt im Gespräch mit FOCUS Online drastische Worte: Es handele sich um die „größte humanitäre Katastrophe der Welt, und kaum jemand spricht darüber“.
Sie war rund eine Woche im Jemen unterwegs und hat sich verschiedene Hilfsprojekte der Organisation angeschaut. In den 17 vom Auswärtigen Amt finanzierten Gesundheitszentren des Landes werden unterernährte Kinder behandelt und Schutzimpfungen vorgenommen. Laut Krüger seien Millionen Kinder akut mangelernährt. Auch grundlegende medizinische Untersuchungen werden in den Kliniken vorgenommen.
Die Hilfsorganisation unterhält auch mehrere temporäre Schulen im Jemen. In diesen werden die vor dem Krieg geflüchteten Kinder unterrichtet. Sie wissen um die Bedeutung von Bildung, so Krüger. Die größte Sorge der Kinder sei, „dass im Ramadan die Schulen schließen, die Kinder wollen lernen“, sagt Krüger.
Außerdem hat sie mit dem stellvertretenden Entwicklungsminister des separatistischen Nordjemen gesprochen. Dieser beklage die Untätigkeit des Auslands und habe ihr gesagt: „Der Westen interessiert sich nicht für uns, von hier aus kommen ja keine Flüchtlinge nach Europa.“
und
(* B H)
Film: Save the Children im Jemen
"Ich habe eben zwei Kinder in den Armen gehalten, die fast gar nichts mehr wiegen." – Unsere Geschäftsführerin Susanna Krüger hat im Jemen Projekte von Save the Children besucht und mit unseren Mitarbeitern vor Ort gesprochen, die trotz der dramatischen Lage alles daran setzen, um den Kindern zu helfen. Wir bitten euch: Vergesst die Menschen im Jemen nicht und unterstützt unsere Arbeit mit einer Spende, denn Hilfe wird weiterhin dringend benötigt.
https://www.facebook.com/savethechildrenDE/videos/10155746316835889/
https://www.savethechildren.de/unterstuetzen/nothilfe/jemen/
(* A B H K)
The looming battle that could deepen the world’s worst humanitarian crisis
Battles on Yemen’s west coast near the port city of Hodeidah, a crucial import hub for humanitarian supplies, have recently intensified as Saudi- and Emirati-led coalition troops push up the coast. The violence has displaced around 100,000 people in recent months, according to the UN.
“People who fled the fighting told us they were terrified by the air strikes of the Saudi Arabia-led coalition as well as the ground attacks by Houthi forces and that all sides caused civilian deaths and injuries,” says Racha Mouawieh, Yemen researcher with Amnesty International.
Pro-Saudi and Emirati news outlets have highlighted progress against the Houthis on various battlefronts, including south of Hodeidah.
So far, the fighting has avoided densely populated areas on the west coast. But, says Ms. Mouawieh, “the displacement and range of violations witnessed by civilians who fled from the southern part of the governorate is a glimpse of what potentially lies in store... if the fighting encroaches on the heavily populated port city of Hodeidah.”
Despite restrictions imposed by the Saudi-led coalition, the port, she adds, remains “a crucial access point for food and fuel imports and international aid”.
“The coalition rationale may be that ramping up the military pressure will force the Houthis to negotiate and place the coalition in a stronger negotiating position,” Dr. Kendall adds. “However, past experience dictates otherwise. Whenever military intervention escalates, the Houthis have tended to entrench and become more, not less, intransigent.”
(* B K P)
US Role in Yemen: What You Need to Know About UAE’s Torture Prisons
The Trump administration's involvement in Saudi-led war on Yemen has already cost thousands of civilian lives and a country in ruins. The negative consequences of this illegal military occupation and torture program should cost the US government more.
History has proven that the United States has deliberately become entrenched in this illegal conflict by design. America is already involved through its decades-old alliance with Saudi Arabia and through current support for the campaign in Yemen with both weapons and tactical back-up. The US has garnered some responsibility for the outcome of the terrible events there and it is incumbent on the United Nations to prevent the further breakdown of order in an already unstable region by acting quickly to curb the unnecessary bloodshed through advocation of the peace plan and the immediate end to sales of weapons to the Saudis.
Nor is that all. The House of Representatives has just voted to force a public accounting of the current US role in torture prisons across Southern Yemen. That this should be done by the United Nations – and not the US – through an independent international group of investigators is beyond dispute. What’s certain is that no US accounting or investigation will ever lead to holding someone to account at the Pentagon or the White House for the widespread torture program in Yemen.
As reported by Western media outlets, there is a network of 18 clandestine prisons across South Yemen that are run by the United Arab Emirates – Washington’s primary ally in Yemen war – or by proxy forces controlled by the UAE. Their investigation suggests that nearly 2,000 Yemenis are in these prisons where severe torture techniques are the norm, including a “grill” in which “the victim is tied to a spit like a roast and spun in a circle of fire”.
Under International Law, it is unacceptable for the US personnel to be involved in the Saudi-led war on Yemen, much less in UAE’s torture program or rely on an allied country to use torture on behalf of the US. This is not what the American officials say they are there for. This is something the UN needs to put an end to. The UN should require an independent report about the findings of what role the UAE, Saudi Arabia and the US have in these torture prisons, and hold them to account. The UN will also pass a resolution to condemn these regimes.
For more than three years, the US has been supporting the war on Yemen led by Saudi Arabia and the UAE. Washington’s enthusiasm over the UAE’s so-called counterterrorism role has led US officials to turn a blind eye to much of its activity in South Yemen. The UAE is a colonizing force in the country and has supported extremist militias responsible for violence against Yemeni activists and civilians.
There is plenty of evidence of war crimes and crimes against humanity as well, and under the circumstances, the International Criminal Court should be dispatched to hold the belligerents accountable for their international crimes. To ensure these cases are fully investigated by the International Criminal Court, the UN should also use other tools at its disposal to help in collecting and preserving evidence of crimes committed by the US, Saudi Arabia and the UAE inside Yemen.
http://en.farsnews.com/newstext.aspx?nn=13970304000739
Remark: From Iran, and seriously true. – But, Iran itself is torturing – and the US also is.
(* B K P)
Expertin: Für Frieden im Jemen Waffenexporte an Saudi-Arabien stoppen
[This interview with me in the Austrian press (in German) explains how the #Yemen war has, in many ways, been counter-productive. Although the headline focuses on stopping arms exports to #Saudi, it's obviously not that simple, so do read on...]
Die Islamwissenschafterin Elisabeth Kendall hat die EU und den Westen dazu aufgerufen, Saudi-Arabien keine Waffen mehr zu verkaufen, um den Krieg im Jemen zu beenden. Ein Verkaufsstopp würde „Druck auf die von Saudi-Arabien geführte Koalition ausüben, über ein Entgegenkommen nachzudenken“, sagte sie am Dienstag im APA-Interview in Wien.
In Bezug auf die Jemen-Krise sei die Haltung des Westens „himmelschreiend widersprüchlich“, erklärte die Oxforder Wissenschafterin, die sich anlässlich eines Vortrages im Wiener Bruno Kreisky Forum in Österreich aufhielt. „Auf der einen Seite verurteilen sie die entsetzliche humanitäre Situation, auf der anderen Seite machen sie Millionen - besonders Großbritannien und die USA - indem sie den Waffen an Regime verkaufen, die gegen zivile Ziele verwendet werden - absichtlich oder unabsichtlich“, berichtete sie. Die EU-Länder sollten sich geschlossen an die Empfehlung des EU-Parlaments halten, Saudi-Arabien keine Waffen zu verkaufen.
Einen Frieden im Jemen auszuarbeiten ist für Kendall schwierig, weil es mittlerweile viele Konfliktparteien gebe. Neben der Koalition und den Houthis hätten sich mehrere Unabhängigkeitsbewegungen gebildet, die alle gut bewaffnet seien.
Die beste Chance sieht sie darin, Mechanismen zur Inklusion der jungen Bevölkerung zu schaffen. „Es bringt nichts, nur mit denselben alten Eliten zu sprechen (...), man kann nicht immer weiter mit den selben Familien arbeiten“, sagte sie. In einem Land, wo „48 Prozent der Bevölkerung unter 18 Jahre alt“ sei, sei das „nicht akzeptabel“. „Die wollen diese alten Dinosaurier nicht“, fuhr sie fort. „Das führt zu einer starken Debatte für eine dezentralisierte Regierung, (...) einer Art Bundesmodell, das besser und fairer ist, als eines, das von vierzehn Personen an einem Tisch verhandelt wird, ohne nach der Meinung der Bevölkerung zu fragen“, erklärte Kendall.
(A)
Hisham Al-Omeisy: Dear Twitter tribe, I'm fine. Promise to respond to messages soon. Don't want to talk about past events or politics. Thanks to you and a presidential amnesty from Sumad (may he RIP), leaving it all behind to focus on wellbeing & happiness of my kids, and completing my MA studies. (photo)
https://twitter.com/omeisy/status/999751017167310849
Remark: He had been arrested by the Houthis for several months. And he had been silenced.
(* B K P)
Yemen's main port in crosshairs of Saudi-led offensive
Hodeida port, Yemen's largest entry point for aid, is now in the crosshairs of the Saudi-led coalition which is intent on cutting off the Huthi rebels from alleged Iranian arms shipments.
It is the main conduit for humanitarian aid on which millions depend, as Yemen teeters on the brink of famine.
But for neighbouring Saudi Arabia, Hodeida is seen as the entry point for rebel weaponry -- which it accuses regional rival Tehran of supplying.
On Tuesday, a spokesman for the Saudi-led coalition blamed the Shiite rebels for a "deliberate" attack on a Turkish ship loaded with wheat shipments.
The United Arab Emirates -- a key member of the Saudi-led alliance -- on Wednesday said its military had destroyed two rebel boats, "which had threatened a commercial oil tanker in the Red Sea".
The coalition points to incidents like these to support allegations the Huthis are using Hodeida as a strategic military outpost and entry point for ballistic missiles.
The United Nations has warned that any operation aimed at seizing Hodeida itself would disrupt the entry of aid shipments to Yemen, 70 percent of which flow through the rebel-held port.
But since May, the United Arab Emirates has taken the initiative to ramp up the coastal offensive, with the stated goal of taking Hodeida.
Remark: Overview article on the situation at Hodeidah. – Anti-Houthi propaganda is flourishing and finds its way into western media reports.
And
(* B K P)
THE OFFENSIVE ON HODEIDAH
Increased fighting and intense airstrikes throughout areas of southern Hodeidah governorate have taken a major toll on civilian populations
Since 1 April 2018, airstrikes have reportedly killed at least 46 civilians and wounded countless others in Hodeidah.
The UN estimates that clashes in #Yemen’s western coast have already displaced 100,000 people in recent months (Amnesty International, 17 May 2018)
As anti-Houthi forces continue to advance toward the port city of Hodeidah, international organizations have warned of an impending crisis
https://www.acleddata.com/2018/05/22/the-offensive-on-hodeidah/
(* B H P)
We apologize to Aisha and all the 400.000 children on the brink of famine in #Yemen: you do not comply with Facebook standards
Yesterday we published the picture of Little Aisha before the treatment which saved her from malnutrition and her, now.
Facebook has informed us that the picture does not comply with their norms, has taken off the picture and told us they might shut our page if we do not comply with 'community standards'
As a page we never share graphic pictures: we either blur them or seek alternatives. But there is no alternative to famine
My comment: Shame on Facebook.
(B P)
Yemen’s divisions were never fully healed
28 years after the north and south merged, the challenges of bringing the country under one govt remain as great
Fatima Abo Al-Asrar, senior analyst at the Arabia Foundation think tank in Washington, said there is no indication that the government of Yemen is working to improve relations or solve the southern crisis.
“So far, the government of Yemen has directly clashed with southern leadership that called for secession,” she said. “The government fails to understand the pulse of the street and fails to realize that it is the only culprit standing in the face of prosperity.”
However, Al-Asrar says that the country is already divided. “There is no one unified Yemen anymore. Northerners find it difficult to step foot in the south. It’s unity on paper only, but not in the hearts and minds of people.”
http://www.arabnews.com/node/1308661/middle-east
My comment: A Saudi news site, and an article citing the well-known propaganda junk, but also critics against the Hadi government.
(A K P)
Iranian Missiles and Ending the War in Yemen
Many observers will likely see the sanctions as part of the Trump administration’s desire to isolate and punish Iran after withdrawing from the JCPOA earlier this month. That may be true. But it is also true that the war in Yemen will continue as long as Iran is smuggling missiles into the country, providing a crucial weapon for the Houthi forces fighting the Saudi-led coalition. Cutting off this supply of missiles is vital to isolating the Houthis and forcing them to negotiate.
For the past two years, along with four colleagues, I have been monitoring the targeted sanctions program in Yemen for the UN Security Council. During that time we produced four reports on the war – two public and two private – along with several case studies, totaling well over 1,000 pages. But our conclusions can be broken down into three simple points: all sides have violated international humanitarian law, sanctions are not working, and there is no military solution to the conflict.
A diplomatic solution is possible but only if the two main parties to the conflict – the Saudi Arabian-led coalition and the Houthis – agree to negotiate in good faith. So far, that has not happened - by Gregory D. Johnsen
https://www.justsecurity.org/56846/iranian-missiles-war-yemen/
My comment: Following the standard propaganda narrative. The Houthi missile attacks – whether the missiles had been supplied by Iran or not – should be so important that they are the reason which could prolong the war. There up to now had been ca. 120 of these missile attacks, with absolutely no military effect, as nearly all failed or were intercepted. – Quite opposite to that there had been at least 17,000 saudi coalition air raids causing most horrible effects. – And even if thewe missiles should have been delivered by Iran (what is more than doubtful, look at cp1), comparing 120 to 17,000 means that the Western arms supplier to the Saudi coalition would have sent 140 times more war-prolonging deadly arms to this theater of war. -And western propaganda really dares to blame Iran for the Yemen war!!!!
cp2a Saudische Blockade / Saudi blockade
(* B H K)
War inflicts $ 941 mln losses on Yemeni Red Sea Ports Corporation
Yemeni Red Sea Ports Corporation revealed the size of the losses it has suffered since the beginning of Saudi-led coalition war on Yemen, which amounted to over 941.7 million dollars.
"The Corporation's losses since the beginning of the aggression until May, 2017 amounted to 621 million dollars, while the losses in this year amounted to more than 320.7 million dollars," said Yahya Sharaf al-Din, deputy chairman of the Red Sea Ports Corporation, at a press conference held on Saturday.
Over the past three years of the aggression war, the port of Hodeidah lost 60 per cent of its operational capacity, which caused paralyzing its work, Sharaf al-Din said.
The coalition imposed a further siege on the Yemeni people by holding relief vessels, oil tankers and commercial ships and preventing them from entering the port, he added.
http://www.sabanews.net/en/news497303.htm
(* A H P)
UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs: Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator, Mark Lowcock, Statement on the situation in Yemen, 24 May 2018
I am extremely concerned by recent developments in Yemen. Over the past few weeks we have seen an escalation in conflict, growing restrictions on humanitarian action and a reduction in essential commercial imports. These factors are compounding the world’s worst humanitarian crisis at a time when millions of Yemenis face acute food insecurity and a possible resurgence of cholera or watery diarrhoea.
More than 22 million people in Yemen need humanitarian assistance or protection. Some 8.4 million people are severely food insecure and at risk of starvation.
Humanitarian agencies face increasing restrictions on their work imposed by authorities in northern areas. Humanitarian staff are being detained and intimidated and visas are being delayed and denied.
Programmes and missions are being interfered with in ways which contradict humanitarian principles.
While aid imports have held up recently, commercial food and fuel imports remain well short of pre-blockade averages. I am particularly concerned about the recent decline of commercial food imports through the Red Sea ports. Pressure on the currency and a liquidity crisis in the Yemeni banking system make imports less viable for traders. Confidence among commercial shipping companies has eroded due to delays, including as a result of inspections undertaken by the Saudi-led Coalition after these vessels have been cleared by UNVIM. Some companies tell us they fear that ports could again close as they did for several weeks in late 2017,
I call on the Government of Yemen, with the support of the Coalition, to take active steps to boost commercial imports of food, fuel and humanitarian supplies through all Yemen’s ports. I also call on the Government of Yemen to take steps to ensure that all public servants receive their salaries wherever they are in Yemen.
Comment: An aseptic 'Years of conflict' and forgetting to explain how the UN Security Council Resolution 2216 is helping the Coalition to further kill #Yemen-is
https://www.facebook.com/LivingInYemenOnTheEdge/posts/1754336961285993
(* A H P)
GCAA appeals to UN, int'l orgs to lift ban on Sanaa Airport
The General Civil Aviation Authority (GCAA) on Wednesday appealed to the United Nations, Human Rights Council, and international organizations to move quickly to lift the ban on Sanaa International Airport to save lives of thousands of patients.
A statement issued by the GCAA denounced misleading statements of Saudi-led aggression coalition about conducting humanitarian flights to and from Sanaa Airport.
"These statements came to ease international organizations' demands for reopening the Sanaa Airport immediately, which considered its closure a crime," the statement said.
The continued closure of Sanaa Airport for normal flights since August 9, 2016, until today is a flagrant violation of all relevant international treaties and conventions, the statement added.
http://www.sabanews.net/en/news497017.htm
cp3 Humanitäre Lage / Humanitarian situation
(* B H)
FAO’s response in Yemen - Briefing note
Yemen is facing the world’s largest food security crisis. Ongoing conflict, now entering its fourth year, has led to a severe economic decline and collapsed essential services, taking an enormous toll on the population and exacerbating existing vulnerabilities. The expansion of the conflict has also led to large-scale displacement and high rates of malnutrition.
The agriculture sector is among the worst hit by the current crisis and local food production has been severely compromised. The absence of veterinary services, coupled with scarcity and the high cost of drugs and animal feed has contributed to poor production. The country’s low food self-sufficiency has been worsened by the conflict, which has disrupted economic activities, led to the suspension of safety net programmes and the implementation of import restrictions.
Agriculture must be an integral part of the humanitarian response to prevent Yemen’s dire food security situation from worsening. FAO’s programmes in Yemen aim to save livelihoods through the provision of supplies, knowledge and training to support the most vulnerable Yemeni communities to enhance their resilience and improve their food security and nutrition.
To achieve lasting impact on food security and nutrition and to restore and strengthen the agricultural livelihoods of vulnerable families, FAO has developed two plans to guide its response over the next three years.
http://www.fao.org/emergencies/resources/documents/resources-detail/en/c/1128164/
(* A H)
WFP Ship carrying aid arrives at Hodeidah port
A ship belonging to the World Food Program (WFP) arrived on Saturday morning at the port of Hodeidah, local officials in Hodeidah said.
"The ship carries 581 containers of aid, which considered the largest relief shipment to reach the port of Hodeidah since the start of the war," the official said.
http://www.sabanews.net/en/news497301.htm
(B H)
Film: "Stop the war so we can live in peace!" Very confidently,10 year-old Elias Al-Amery shared his appeal to stop the war in #Yemen
https://twitter.com/UNICEF_Yemen/status/999636958841360384
(B H)
Film: Kinderbräute im Jemen
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K1YwxqzJ3IA
(B H)
For Yemen girl with crippling illness, half a brain is better than a full one
Three years after severe seizures were brought on by a rare neurological disease, Rasmussen’s Encephalitis, Hamed is now making a remarkable recovery — following a drastic six-hour surgery at Fortis Hospital on April 14, wherein the right side of her brain was “disconnected”.
Remark: An unfortunate title for a story of hope.
(B H)
SEMC: some state employees are now begging on #Yemen streets. Rival governments, the one backed by the Saudi-led coalition and the government of the Houthi militants, have not paid salaries, mostly in the Houthi-run regions, since September 2016.
https://twitter.com/FuadRajeh/status/999338696972349443
(* B H)
Monthly Market Monitoring Bulletin (April 2018)
Imported food commodities: Nationally, the monthly average retail prices of almost all monitored imported basic food commodities continued with increasing price trend. Price of 1 kg wheat grains had the highest increase of 2.7% followed by vegetable cooking oil (average price of both imported and locally processed ) by 2.5% and by 1.6% for rice (average price of both Basmati and Non-Basmati) compared to March prices. Comparing the current prices with the corresponding month last year (April 2017), the prices have increased significantly. Wheat grains recorded the highest price increase by 45% followed by 41% for rice, 27% for cooking oil by 25% for wheat flour and 10% for sugar.
Locally produced Crops: Nationally, the local cereal variety prices followed the same price trends of the previous month (March 2018).
Food and Non-food Supply and Availability:
Fuel Commodities: The national average price of both Diesel and Petrol decreased slightly between 3 and 5% respectively compared to March.
Food Imports: During the period (January- March 2018), an estimated (1,101,693 MT) of various food items.
The available importation data indicate that the proportion of food imports through Hodeidah and Assalief seaports has declined to 52% (a drop of 11%) compared to period between Jan-Oct 2017. The reduction is because of restriction in offloading certain food commodities imposed on the two ports since November 2017, which is yet to be fully lifted. For instance, since January, there was zero imports of cooking oil and milk products through the two ports.
https://reliefweb.int/report/yemen/monthly-market-monitoring-bulletin-april-2018
(* A H)
Map: Yemen: Access Constraints as of 22 May 2018
https://reliefweb.int/map/yemen/yemen-access-constraints-22-may-2018
(A H)
Three planes, two of the United Nations and carrying medical and humanitarian aid, arrived at Sanaa International Airport on Wednesday (May 23rd) 2018.
The third plane of the International Red Cross carried Yemeni Red Cross staff
(* B H)
MSF warn of increasingly grave health crisis in war torn Yemen
In Yemen, bombing and transport costs are increasingly aggravating the health emergency and preventing people from accessing medical care. The alarm is launched by the humanitarian workers of Doctors Without Borders (MSF), who say the worst situation isin the north-west, where in the last six months the Saudi-led international coalition (and the Emirates) has intensified attacks against the Houthi Shiite rebels. The population, MSF experts warn in a report sent to AsiaNews, is today more than ever "exposed" to the "trauma" deriving from the conflict.
The denunciation of a rapidly deteriorating situation comes from the Haydan hospitals and the Saada governorate. According to the latest data concerning the war elaborated by Yemen Data Project, almost 17 thousand air strikes have pelted the country over the past three years, with an average of 15 per day.
In the Saada governorate alone, 541 raids were recorded in December, with a 67% increase compared to the previous month. The civil victims are worrying: in fact, at least one in three raids hit non-military sites. These include public infrastructure, markets, homes and civilian vehicles. Roads are an easy target for bombs and the incessant series of attacks make travel difficult.
The Haydan hospital lies near the front. It was reopened in March of last year after having been destroyed by a bombing in 2015. There MSF has treated about 7 thousand people, of which 44% are children under five and 41% women. Every day the structure receives an average of 60 people; children are hospitalized for respiratory infections, dysentery and anaemia.
cp4 Flüchtlinge / Refugees
(* B H)
Film: Yemeni IDPs situation in Hudaydah refugee camps
In Yemen, more people are being forced to flee their homes and reside in safer areas as Saudi Arabia’s deadly war on its neighbor continues. Press TV’s correspondent Mohammad al-Attab visited one of the refugee camps in the province of Hudaydah and filed this report.
http://www.presstv.com/Detail/2018/05/25/562890/Yemen-Hudaydah-refugee-camps
(* B H)
One Moment that Changed Hundreds of Lives
It was summer and very hot in the small village of Moza’a on the coast of Al Makaah in Yemen. Temperatures were as high as 40 degrees. Thirty-three years old Nasser Dassen and his wife, two children, mother and two sisters did not see the sunshine though.
They were hiding in a small room underneath their basement. Air crafts were hovering in the sky. Their house was shaking vigorously. Air crafts and battleships were bombing their village and surroundings continuously, and everything seemed like it was crumbling around them.
Nasser was terrified, but he knew he needed to be strong for his family. Nasser was walking across the room and his brain kept going round and round in circles, trying to find a way to flee the village.
At 2:30 in the afternoon, Nasser and his family fled from their house. They could not take anything with them and only left with the clothes they were wearing.
They walked for five hours, then they managed to get into a car. They had to pay 35,000 Yemeni Rial (US$100). They headed to the city of Al-Makaah, where everyone was heading as it was the closest and the safest place to go.
They stayed in one of the many tents in which thousands of other displaced people from the village had already found refuge. The pain and sadness was written in everyone’s faces.
Each one of them had a different story of how they fled the village. Some lost their family members, some lost their houses. All of them were shocked at how quickly one moment could change their entire lives.
Nasser’s story is a common one for families who live in the city of Al Makaah in Yemen. When the war started, Al Mouza’a moved to the frontline for airstrikes and ground fighting. Most of its residents departed and the village is now abandoned. Many lost their savings, houses, family members and their livelihoods and now have to depend on aid.
http://www.yemenextra.net/2018/05/26/one-moment-that-changed-hundreds-of-lives/
(* B H)
Film: Watch the outcomes of #Saudi led coalition war on #Yemen in Abs area #Haja. Heartbreaking.
https://twitter.com/AhmadAlgohbary/status/1000128246887960576
(A H)
International Organization for Migration: IOM Yemen Weekly Situation Report 13 May - 19 May 2018
22.2 million People are in need of humanitarian assistance, 2 million People are internally displaced, 2.2 million People are aimed to be supported by IOM
https://reliefweb.int/report/yemen/iom-yemen-weekly-situation-report-13-may-19-may-2018
(A H)
Map: Somalia: Arrivals from Yemen at 30 April 2018
https://reliefweb.int/map/somalia/somalia-arrivals-yemen-30-april-2018
Somalia: Refugees, asylum-seekers and returnees at 30 April 2018
https://reliefweb.int/map/somalia/somalia-refugees-asylum-seekers-and-returnees-30-april-2018
(* A H)
The fighting has displaced more than 1,260 families into Abyan, Lahj and Aden governorates.
https://twitter.com/YemenSource/status/999475635000135681
Local authorities in Al Hudaydah have reported that hundreds of families have fled ongoing military operations in Altuhayat District. An estimated 705 displaced families have arrived in Zabid
https://twitter.com/YemenSource/status/999476121006739457
cp5 Nordjemen und Huthis / Northern Yemen and Houthis
(A E H)
People in the capital #Sanaa did not lose hope and they will be able now to sell their products to support themselves financially, today they have opened a shop for only Local products. (photo)
https://twitter.com/AhmadAlgohbary/status/1000497055268245504
(A P)
PM calls on businessmen, wealthy to help insolvent prisoners
Prime Minister Dr. Abdulaziz bin Habtoor called on businessmen and wealthy people to help insolvent prisoners, especially during days of the holy month of Ramadan.
http://www.sabanews.net/en/news497098.htm
My comment: What about an anesty for political prisoners?
(A)
Ibb…Land dispute kills one and injures others
One man got killed and many others injured in a clash between tribesmen at Ibb-Center of Yemen due to a land dispute.
A local source said one man got killed and others injured in an armed clash between tribesmen supported by Houthis militia at “Wars” near “Ayqarah – Qahza”- West Ibb.
http://almasdaronline.com/article/99074
(A P)
Football Tournament starts on Martyr President al-Sammad's Cup
http://www.sabanews.net/en/news496972.htm
(A P)
Health minister calls Int'l Orgs to reveal coalition crimes in Yemen
http://www.sabanews.net/en/news497024.htm
cp6 Südjemen und Hadi-Regierung / Southern Yemen and Hadi-government
(A T)
Second explosion rocks Lawder, the second in 12 hours
A local source told Al-Sahwa Net that an explosive device planted near a car station exploded as a member of the Security Belt tried to dismantle it. The soldier suffered moderate injuries.
https://www.alsahwa-yemen.net/en/p-18781
(* B P)
UAE's Abu Ghraib in #South_Yemen: a detainee tells how UAE troops tortured him like US and UK troops tortured Iraqis inside Abu Ghraib after toppling Saddam.
https://twitter.com/FuadRajeh/status/1000011244512993280
referring to
(* B P)
UAE Replicas of “Abu Ghrib and Guantanamo “in Yemen
“we have no value in these prisons, we don’t know what is our crimes and why we are being tortured and our dignity violated in this way. they were torturing us by shifts and I was waiting for them to get fatigued by torturing me, so they stop”.
By those words, a Yemeni prisoner in on of the prisons at the command of the coalition in Alburiqa – Aden described the way he has been treated by the UAE soldiers in charge of interrogations and torturing the prisoners there.
Almasdaronline listen to some of those prisoners after they are being released and told us terrifying stories makes death looks a better option as they described it.
This report talks about the environment of the prisons under UAE control or the other armed militia and supported by it, and about what is going inside, and we will the stories as it has been told.
Main UAE prison and branches managed by representatives
the prison inside the coalition command headquarters at Alburiqa- Aden is the main prison run by UAE interrogators and soldiers and guarded by mercenaries from deferent nationalities, the other prisons are managed by other military or security formations allied to UAE as Security belt formations and Aden security and all those under the direct supervision of UAE.
There is no particular procedure to deal with incarcerated prisoners or the suspects other than what the UAE soldiers decide , some of them transferred immediately to the command prison and some of them temporarily arrested and tortured at “Shallal “, “Abu alyamamah” and anti-tourism prisons and eventually transferred to the main prison along with their confessions which taken from them at the first phase.
Depending on the crowdedness inside the cells of the coalition prison and the mood of the UAE interrogators which may takes few weeks to months they send the suspects after that to temporary prison and they call for another group to be brought from the other prisons, and sometimes they call back the ones in the temporary prisons to re-interrogate them.
At all times no suspects of terrorism can be released without a prior permission from the UAE authorities in Aden and this is confirmed by the Yemeni officials statements , the last was the minister of interior Ahmed Almysari who stated that the prisons are under UAE authorities and his ministry has no authority on those prisons what so ever.
According to the released prisoner’s statements, they have been tortured physically and psychologically in the few early days to prepare them for confession and usually the prisoner asked them about what they want him to confess with and in many cases they tell the prisoner what to say to be documented in written or as video confession.
http://almasdaronline.com/article/99107 = http://almasdaronlineapp.com/article/99094
Remark: More at cp1, cp9.
(A P)
The government in exile approves a series of interventions to 'improve the lives of people in#Socotra'.
(A P)
Film: #Yemen's Aden Port employees spray paint graffiti on Aden container terminal's walls calling for the #UAE occupation of Aden city to end
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n_v-iJrtFmY
https://twitter.com/BaFana3/status/999768232092422145
(A)
Court sentences killer of college dean to capital punishment
https://www.alsahwa-yemen.net/en/p-18697
(* A P)
Yemen appoints new minister of foreign affairs: SABA
Yemeni President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi has appointed Khaled al-Yamani as foreign minister, replacing Abdel-Malek al-Mekhlafi, according to a statement posted on Thursday by state news agency SABA.
Mekhlafi will become an adviser to the president, the statement said. Yemeni ambassador to the United States Ahmed Awadh bin Mubarak will take up Yamani’s position as Yemen’s representative to the United Nations while also remaining in his current role.
My comment: Ministers need to be approved by parliament; none of Hadi’s actual ministers had been. And Hadi’s term had ended on February 27, 2015.
(* A P)
AE, Qatari Forces Clash in Yemen
Heavy clashes between the UAE and Qatari forces in Taiz province in Southern Yemen still continue as the two sides attacked each other with heavy and semi-heavy weapons.
The Arabic-language al-Mayadeen news channel quoted the local and medical officials in Yemen as saying on Tuesday that the clashes between the UAE and Qatari forces started on Monday night, killing several fighters of
The reason behind the clashes has not been revealed yet but local media in Taiz said that they erupted after armed assailants' attack which wounded the Governor of Taiz Mo'ein al-Dahbali and killed his bodyguard.
Clashes between the UAE and Qatari forces have also killed two forces and wounded another one linked with the fugitive Yemeni President, Mansour Hadi.
http://en.farsnews.com/newstext.aspx?nn=13970302000365
My comment: From Iran. – Qatari forces in Yemen now?? This would be strange. Qatar had left the “Saudi coalition” in Yemen.
(A P)
Bin Daghr, US Ambassador Discuss Iranian Interference in Yemen
Yemen’s Prime Minister Ahmed Obeid bin Daghr condemned the Iranian regime’s continued support of the Houthi militias with ballistic missiles and praised the US firm stance against Tehran’s intervention in the region.
He also reiterated his government’s commitment to supporting international efforts to achieve peace in his country.
Bin Daghr’s remarks came during his meeting with US Ambassador Matthew Tueller
My comment: Working at the propaganda narrative.
cp7 UNO und Friedensgespräche / UN and peace talks
(A P)
New Yemeni Foreign Minister Says Houthis Agree to Join Settlement Process
Yemen's Houthi movement has agreed to participate in a reconciliation process and accepted UN-backed peace proposals, Yemeni Foreign Minister Khaled Hussein Alyemany, who had become the foreign minister earlier in the week, told Saturday the Asharq Al-Awsat newspaper.
"I believe that the rebels are in a complicated situation now and they have agreed to work with the settlement proposals," Alyemany told Al Arabiya.
The minister added that the Houthis had expressed readiness to withdraw from the cities under their control and to lay down arms. The Houthis had not commented on the statement of Alyemany yet.
https://sputniknews.com/middleeast/201805261064840188-yemeni-minister-settlement-houthi/ and https://english.alarabiya.net/en/News/gulf/2018/05/26/Yemen-s-FM-Houthi-accept-a-political-backed-UN-process.html
My comment: I am in doubt.
(* B H K P)
#Yemen, Women Peace and Security
It went unnoticed, but this is the #UN Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women and Concluding observations on the combined third and fourth periodic reports on Saudi Arabia.
The whole document is in the link.
We highlight the part concerning women and girls in #Yemen affected by Saudi Arabia's war on the country (text in image)
http://tbinternet.ohchr.org/_layouts/treatybodyexternal/SessionDetails1.aspx?SessionID=1157&Lang=en
Remark: I could not find it, dozens of links there.
cp8 Saudi-Arabien / Saudi Arabia
(* B P)
Citizens, residents deprived of Haj and Umrah for second year
It is the second year that Qataris and residents of Qatar are deprived by Saudi authorities from performing Haj and Umrah as a kind of exploiting them for political purposes.
The National Human Rights Committee (NHRC) has recorded until last April about 165 complaints of violating the right of practice of religious rites, according to report aired by Al Jazeera.
The Compensation Claims Committee has transferred more than 6,000 complaints from individuals and companies affected by the ongoing blockade on Qatar to international law firms.
It has a large number of complaints related to the violations of right to religious practice, and the economic and emotional effects the violations have left.
Remark: From Qatar. – The Saudis miuse the Haj (Pilgrimage) to Mekka for their political purposes.
(* A E P)
Saudi Arabia to exclude German firms from government tenders: Spiegel
Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman has ordered that no more government contracts be awarded to German companies, in a sign of continued irritation over Berlin’s foreign policy in the Middle East, German magazine Der Spiegel reported on Friday.
Citing no sources, it said the move was likely to hit major companies such as Siemens (SIEGn.DE), Bayer (BAYGn.DE) and Boehringer Ingelheim as well as carmaker Daimler (DAIGn.DE).
Relations between Germany and Saudi Arabia have been strained, and Saudi Arabia last year summoned its ambassador in Germany home for consultations over comments by then-Foreign Minister Sigmar Gabriel about the political crisis in Lebanon.
(A E P)
Saudi minister Falih says Aramco IPO likely in 2019
Saudi Arabia is most likely to hold the initial public offering (IPO) of oil giant Aramco in 2019, Energy Minister Khalid al-Falih said on Friday, confirming a delay from the initial plan to list the company this year.
(A P)
Saudi Arabia makes new arrest in crackdown on activists
Saudi Arabia arrested prominent rights campaigner Mohammed al-Bajadi, Amnesty International said on Friday, as part of a crackdown mostly targeting advocates of women’s rights in the conservative kingdom.
Four activists have been released but up to seven others remain in detention.
and
(A P)
Amnesty International: Saudi Arabia: Another activist arrested as crackdown continues
Responding to the arrest of prominent human rights defender Mohammed al-Bajadi in Saudi Arabia today, Samah Hadid, Amnesty International’s Middle East Director of Campaigns, said:
“This new arrest is yet another ominous development in the relentless crackdown on human rights activists in Saudi Arabia.
“Mohammed al-Bajadi is a tireless campaigner for human rights who, along with all those detained in the recent crackdown, has only been targeted because of his important work.
“Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman continues to promote his ‘reforms’ to the international public, while silencing anyone at home who dares to question his policies. It is time for this rank hypocrisy to stop.
(A P)
Saudi Arabia frees four women's rights activists, associates say
Saudi Arabia has released four women’s rights activists who were among a group arrested last week, a month before a ban on women driving is set to end, fellow activists and Amnesty International said on Thursday.
The terms of release for Aisha al-Manea, Hassa al-Sheikh, Madeha Alajroush - who have been campaigning since 1990 to lift the driving ban - and young activist Wala’a al-Shubbar were unclear. Their names had not appeared in local media reports that denounced some of the other detainees as traitors.
(A P)
Saudi woman held for blogging about women’s rights
Reporters Without Borders (RSF) calls for the immediate release of the prominent Saudi women’s rights blogger Eman al Nafjan, who has been held incommunicado for the past week on suspicion of being a threat to security and stability, and has still not been allowed access to a lawyer.
“We condemn the hypocrisy and double talk of the Saudi authorities, who claim to be opening up the country while in fact gagging critics by jailing them or forcing them to flee abroad,” RSF said. “Eman al Nafjan and the other women’s rights defenders have no place in detention and should be freed without delay.”
https://rsf.org/en/news/saudi-woman-held-blogging-about-womens-rights
(* A P)
Saudis toughen crackdown, blunting good publicity over letting women drive
An international uproar over the arrests now threatens to drown out the accolades that Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman had previously won for announcing the rule change.
But supporters and critics of the crown prince said Wednesday that he appeared determined to portray the change as a royal gift to Saudi women rather than any concession to domestic or international pressure.
"That sort of change has to be seen as emanating from the government itself rather than the West," said Ali Shihabi, founder of the Washington-based Arabia Foundation and a supporter of the crown prince. He argued that the activists had failed to appreciate the balancing act the crown prince faced in checking the power of the clerical hierarchy and its conservative supporters, who opposed allowing women to drive.
"These activists got carried away with being celebrated in the West as 'the activists driving change' and so on," he said. "It all sounds nice and sexy in New York and London and Paris, but in reality it is deadly.
(* A P)
Amnesty International: Saudi Arabia: Several prominent women’s rights defenders detained in ‘extremely worrying development’
Responding to reports that several prominent women’s rights defenders in Saudi Arabia have been detained this week, Samah Hadid, Amnesty International’s Middle East Director of Campaigns, said: “This is an extremely worrying development for women human rights defenders in Saudi Arabia.
“The Saudi Arabian authorities’ endless harassment of women’s rights defenders is entirely unjustifiable.
“Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman has presented himself as a ‘reformer’, but his promises of reform seem entirely superficial as the repression of human rights activists continues unabated.
“Saudi Arabia cannot continue to publicly proclaim support for women’s rights and other reforms, while targeting women human rights defenders and activists for peacefully exercising their rights to freedom of expression, association and assembly.
“We are calling for the immediate and unconditional release of all activists that may still be detained solely for their human rights work.”
Remark: Earlier reporting YPR 415, cp8.
And
(*A P)
Washington Post: Saudi Arabia takes a wrong turn on women’s freedom
So why are the advocates of a basic liberty that MBS has embraced being arrested and vilified in the Saudi press and online? The answer is not entirely clear. It could be that he is responding to a backlash from traditional elements at home. Or it could be that the crown prince is determined not to permit any real flowering of freedom. He wants to rule without so much as a whisper of criticism. This has been his record in office so far and was certainly the suffocating practice of the monarchy in the past.
Is MBS trying to use prisons to silence Hathloul and other women, to prevent them from making further demands? – by Editorial Board
Comment: unelected, hereditary dictator locks up seven women's rights advocates, all WaPo can muster is mild chiding. No calls for MBS to "step down". No calls for international condemnation. No calls for US to "do something".
https://twitter.com/adamjohnsonNYC/status/999135791233290240
cp9 USA
Siehe / Look at cp1
(A H P)
Yemeni girl with cerebral palsy lands in U.S. for help despite Trump travel ban
An 11-year-old Yemeni girl with cerebral palsy landed in New York on Saturday after originally being denied an exemption from President Trump's travel ban.
Shaema Alomari had become a cause célèbre among opponents of the ban against travelers from five predominantly Muslim countries — Iran, Libya, Somalia, Syria and Yemen. After a battle seeking entry into the U.S. for medical treatment, her family was granted a waiver.
My comment: And thousands will stay outside.
(* B K P)
Trump Drones On: How Unpiloted Aircraft Expand the War on Terror
They are like the camel’s nose, lifting a corner of the tent. Don’t be fooled, though. It won’t take long until the whole animal is sitting inside, sipping your tea and eating your sweets. In countries around the world -- in the Middle East, Asia Minor, Central Asia, Africa, even the Philippines -- the appearance of U.S. drones in the sky (and on the ground) is often Washington’s equivalent of the camel’s nose entering a new theater of operations in this country’s forever war against “terror.” Sometimes, however, the drones are more like the camel's tail, arriving after less visible U.S. military forces have been in an area for a while. Between pulling out of the Iran agreement and moving the U.S. embassy in Israel to Jerusalem, Trump has made it clear that -- despite his base’s chants of “Nobel! Nobel!” -- he has no interest whatsoever in peace. It looks like the future of the still spreading war on terror under Trump is as clear as MUX - By Rebecca Gordon
http://www.tomdispatch.com/blog/176427/
(A P)
Rep. Ro Khanna: Some members of Congress defend our involvement in Yemen’s civil war by saying that we are simply helping our allies. Does anyone really believe in good faith that Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates share our values?
https://twitter.com/RoKhanna/status/999636886292520961
(* A P)
Senate Foreign Relations Committee Passes Young Yemen Legislation to Address World’s Largest Humanitarian Crisis
Today, the Senate Foreign Relations Committee passed bipartisan legislation on Yemen introduced by U.S. Senators Todd Young [and others]. The legislation seeks to end the civil war in Yemen, protect civilians, and address the world’s largest humanitarian disaster—where eight million people are at risk of famine. The Committee passed the legislation on a bipartisan vote of 14-7.
The legislation requires the Secretary of State to certify that the Government of Saudi Arabia is undertaking:
1) Efforts to end the civil war.
2) Measures to increase access for Yemenis to food, fuel, and medicine.
3) Steps to reduce unnecessary delays in humanitarian shipments.
4) Actions to reduce the risk of harm to civilians.
If the Secretary of State cannot make these repeated, written, and unclassified certifications, the legislation would prohibit the U.S. refueling of Saudi coalition aircraft conducting missions exclusively focused on the civil war.
https://www.young.senate.gov/newsroom/press-releases/senate-foreign-relations-committee-passes-young-yemen-legislation-to-address-worlds-largest-humanitarian-crisis and document in image here https://twitter.com/MaherFarrukh/status/1000138229205688321
My comment: This amendment is a tiger without teeth – it had been launched to pull oxygen away from Bernie Sanders’ tougher bill, which failed. Nothing really will happen.
(* A P)
HOUSE VOTES TO MANDATE INVESTIGATION OF U.S. INVOLVEMENT IN YEMEN’S SECRET TORTURE PRISONS
The House of Representatives on Thursday voted to force a public accounting of the current U.S. role in torture prisons across the south of Yemen.
Earlier this week, the House Rules Committee advanced an amendment by California Democratic Reps. Ro Khanna and Barbara Lee that would require the Department of Defense to investigate whether U.S. allies in Yemen were involved in torturing detainees and if U.S. personnel had any role in the interrogations. The measure was adopted unanimously on the floor by a voice vote on Thursday.
An investigation by the Associated Press last year revealed a network of 18 clandestine prisons across south Yemen that are run by the United Arab Emirates – the U.S.’s primary ally in fighting Al Qaeda in Yemen – or by Yemeni forces controlled by the UAE. The investigation found that nearly 2,000 Yemenis had been disappeared into prisons where severe torture techniques were the norm
The Khanna amendment would require the Defense Department to investigate allegations of torture and the U.S. role in them, and submit an unclassified report to Congress within 120 days.
The Trump administration has previously been reluctant to discuss the U.S. role in the prisons. https://theintercept.com/2018/05/24/yemen-war-uae-torture-ro-khanna/
And
(* A P)
US lawmakers call Pentagon to probe torture allegations in Yemen
House of Representatives votes to require defence secretary to determine whether US troops were involved in torture.
The House of Representatives in the United States has voted to require the country's defence secretary to probe whether US troops resorted to torture as part of their interrogation of prisoners in Yemen.
The measure, which was adopted on Thursday unanimously on the floor by a voice vote, calls on Pentagon chief Jim to Mattis to look into whether US military personnel or any of the country's allies were involved in torturing detainees.
The amendment was sponsored by Ro Khanna, a Democrat of California.
Al Jazeera's Rob Reynolds, reporting from Washington DC, said it is still unclear whether the measure will be included in the final defence bill.
"This legislation passed by the house is part of a much larger defence department budget bill. It would have to go to the Senate and then be sent to President Donald Trump for his signature for it to become law."
(* A P)
USA kündigen “stärkste Sanktionen der Geschichte” an
In seiner ersten großen Rede als US-Außenminister attackiert Mike Pompeo Iran frontal: Die Vereinigten Staaten würden das Regime in Teheran bestrafen wie nie zuvor.
Die USA haben den Atomdeal mit Iran Anfang des Monats einseitig aufgekündigt – und wollen nach den Worten von Außenminister Mike Pompeo nun einen “beispiellosen finanziellen Druck” auf die Regierung in Teheran ausüben. Washington werde “die stärksten Sanktionen der Geschichte” verhängen, sagte Pompeo in einer Rede vor der konservativen Heritage Stiftung.
Mit diesen Maßnahmen solle die Dominanz Irans im Nahen Osten reduziert werden. Die jüngst wieder eingesetzten Sanktionen gegen Teheran seien erst der Anfang, sagte Pompeo. Der Stachel der Sanktionen werde sehr schmerzhaft sein.
Unter dem Schirm des Atomdeals habe Iran Stellvertreterkriege im Nahen Osten geführt, so Pompeo. Bis heute lüge Iran über seine wahren Absichten. Das Land sei der größte Finanzier von Terrorismus.
“Iran darf niemals den Nahen Osten dominieren”
In dem Nuklearabkommen von 2015, das US-Präsident Donald Trump aufgekündigt hat, verpflichtet sich die internationale Gemeinschaft, Sanktionen gegen die Islamische Republik aufzuheben. Im Gegenzug soll ausgeschlossen werden, dass Iran Atomwaffen entwickelt.
“Iran darf niemals einen Freibrief haben, um den Nahen Osten zu dominieren”, sagte Pompeo. Die USA wollten weiter mit Verbündeten in der Region zusammenarbeiten, um Iran zurückzudrängen. Neben Israel zählt auch die saudische Monarchie zu den engsten Verbündeten der Vereinigten Staaten.
“Wir werden uns unermüdlich für das iranische Volk einsetzen”, betonte Pompeo. Die USA wollten die Proteste gegen die Regierung in Teheran unterstützen. “Wir müssen sicherstellen, dass Iran niemals einen Weg zu einer Atomwaffe hat”, sagte Pompeo weiter. Teheran müsse Inspektoren im ganzen Land unbegrenzten Zugang zu Atomanlagen gewähren.
http://www.spiegel.de/politik/ausland/iran-mike-pompeo-kuendigt-staerkste-sanktionen-der-geschichte-an-a-1208811.html
Anmerkung WM: Die USA wollen Iran bestrafen. Wofür denn? Weil die iranische Regierung nicht nach der Pfeife Washingtons tanzt! Und: „Iran darf niemals den Nahen Osten dominieren“. Nein, natürlich nicht. Diese Rolle haben die USA für sich und ihre Verbündeten Israel und Saudi-Arabien reserviert. Und weiter: „wir werden uns unermüdlich für das iranische Volk einsetzen.“ Na, da wird sich das iranische Volk aber freuen. Es kann ein Lied von der Freundschaft mit den USA singen. Der „Einsatz der USA für das iranische Volk“ begann bereits 1953 als die CIA Mossadegh stürzte und das Schah-Regime einsetzte um sich die iranischen Ölquellen zu sichern, die Mossadegh verstaatlicht hatte. Später, nach der iranischen Revolution, Ende der siebziger und Anfang der achtziger Jahre unterstützte die USA den Kriegsgegner Irak im äußerst blutigen „ersten Golfkrieg“. An diesen Krieg erinnert der Blutbrunnen in Teheran, dessen Wasser rot gefärbt ist, um an die Verstorbenen in diesem Krieg zu erinnern.
https://www.nachdenkseiten.de/?p=44076#h06
(A P)
Rep. Ro Khanna: Proud my amendment requiring a report on our nation’s alleged involvement in the assistance of torture of Yemeni prisoners was accepted in the Defense bill. Torture is a morally and strategically bad policy, and the US shouldn't participate in any form.
https://twitter.com/RepRoKhanna/status/999344778209832965
(A P)
Senate Foreign Relations Committee passed legislation requiring Secretary of State to certify #SaudiArabia is engaging in good faith in negotiations to end the #Yemen conflict, taking measures to alleviate the humanitarian crisis & reduce risk to civilians from military actions (text in image)
https://twitter.com/MaherFarrukh/status/999412197724950528
My comment: Well, the Saudis obviously do not.
(* A P)
Promoters of Saudi Prince as Feminist Reformer Are Silent on His Crackdown on Women
Two of the biggest media corners that helped sell bin Salman as a feminist reformer during the trip and the months leading up to it—the New York Times opinion pages and CBS News’ 60 Minutes—have not published any follow-up commentary on bin Salman’s recent crackdown on women’s rights campaigners (Independent, 5/22/18). Let’s review their past coverage.
The New York Times editorial, while not quite as overtly sycophantic as Friedman and O’Donnell, still broadly painted the ruler as a “bold” and “brash” “reformer.”
Since the mass arrests of women’s group’s on Saturday, the Times news section has run several AP stories (5/18/18, 5/22/18) on the crackdown and one original report (5/18/18), but the typically scoldy editorial board hasn’t issued a condemnation of the arrests. They did, however, take time to condemn in maximalist terms the “violent regime” of Venezuela (5/21/18), insisting on “getting rid” of recently re-elected president Nicolas Maduro.
Nor did MBS’s biggest court stenographer, Thomas Friedman, find room in his latest column in his latest column (5/22/18) to note the crackdown.
Given Times opinion page editor James Bennet was clear his paper was axiomatically “pro-capitalism” (3/1/18), one wonders whether he views Latin American socialists as uniquely worthy of condemnation, whereas Middle East petrol dictatorships that invest in American corporations and hosts glossy tech conferences deserve nuance and mild “reform” childing. We have to “get rid of” the former, and the latter simply need “guidance” from the US—their respective human rights records a total non-factor.
US allies’ crackdown on dissent is never in urgent need of clear moral condemnation; it’s simply a hiccup on the never-ending road to “reform.” https://fair.org/home/promoters-of-saudi-prince-as-feminist-reformer-are-silent-on-his-crackdown-on-women/
My comment: Western media biased hypocrisy, day by day.
(* A K P)
Pentagon Is Speeding Up Arms Exports to Saudi Arabia, Other Allies
A recent law allows one-size-fits-most-allies contracts, the U.S. military’s head weapons buyer explains.
The Pentagon is speeding up U.S. weapons deliveries to allied militaries such as Saudi Arabia, Romania, Japan, and South Korea through new “pilot authorities” that change how it can design and execute contracts.
“We have a whole variety of specific programs where we are focused on applying these authorities: Patriot Missiles for Romania; Global Hawk for Japan, THAAD [high-altitude air defense missiles] for Saudi Arabia, and TOW [vehicle-launched missiles] for multiple foreign military sales partners,” Ellen Lord, defense undersecretary for acquisition and sustainment, said Wednesday.
These new authorities will allow the Pentagon to shave “years” off the time it takes to deliver weapons to friendly militaries, Lord said at the annual SOFIC event here.
(A K P)
U.S. Backing for Saudi War in Yemen Draws Congressional Concern
Lawmakers could try to derail planned weapons sale to kingdom if administration doesn’t take steps to address their reservations
The Trump administration’s plan to sell more weapons to Saudi Arabia is running into new resistance in Congress, where lawmakers are raising concerns about the kingdom’s use of U.S.-made missiles that could threaten the deal.
Lawmakers from both parties say the U.S. hasn’t done enough to ensure that the missiles aren’t used by Saudi pilots to kill civilians in Yemen, and some want the administration to impose more conditions on Saudi Arabia’s use of the weapons before they support the proposal, according to people familiar with the discussions.
Defense contractors, including Raytheon Co. , are aiming to sell about $2 billion worth of precision-guided missiles and other weapons to Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates
But human-rights groups, U.S. lawmakers and some within Mr. Trump’s administration said Saudi Arabia hasn’t done enough to allay their concerns.
“U.S. support for the Saudi-led coalition has had just devastating consequences since the conflict began three years ago,” said Sen. Chris Murphy, (D., Conn.), one of the leading congressional critics of Saudi Arabia’s war in Yemen. “Despite repeated pledges by the Saudis that they are going to take steps to minimize the harm to civilians that comes with the bombs supplied to them by the U.S., the situation just gets worse,” Mr. Murphy said Tuesday at a conference in Washington on global arms trading.
Comment: Congress can only halt a president’s push for arms sales by passing legislation to block a deal. Lawmakers have never passed such measure.
https://www.facebook.com/LivingInYemenOnTheEdge/posts/1751325161587173
(A K P)
Pompeo says precision-guided missiles, as in Yemen, cut risks to civilians
U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said on Wednesday that foreign sales of precision-guided missiles, such as sales to Saudi Arabia, which has been criticized for killing civilians during its campaign in Yemen, can help to reduce civilian deaths.
“It is this administration’s judgment that providing precision-guided munitions actually decreases the risk,” he told a congressional hearing.
My comment: We already had been told this before, and many civilians had been killed in the meantime. Perverse, and far from all reality in the Yemen war.
Comment: This really is a joke. In December to January 97% of civilians killed in Yemen were killed by coalition aerial attacks. Has this man read the UN report by the panel of experts on Yemen? In it they stated that as precision missiles were used the intended targets were civilians - they had not surrendered their civilian status - and if there were military targets nearby then proportionality such as is required in international humanitarian law was not taken account of. Lies, lies, lies.
https://www.facebook.com/judith.brown.794628/posts/10156704013083641
Comment: So now the Saudi led coalition can “precisely” target civilians instead of indiscriminately targeting civilians, as if the old bombs have a mind of their own
https://www.facebook.com/LivingInYemenOnTheEdge/posts/1752093191510370
(A K P)
US Military reviews possible civilian casualties in Yemen, Somalia
Two US military regional combatant commands, CENTCOM and AFRICOM, acknowledged reports of civilian casualties and are reviewing separate recent operations following allegations of civilian deaths.
Comment: Well they won't incriminate themselves. They never do.
https://www.facebook.com/judith.brown.794628/posts/10156704005783641
cp10 Großbritannien / Great Britain
(* A P)
UK Parliamentary Group Releases Report Warning of “Iran’s Hand” in Yemen’s Civil War
The All Party Parliamentary Group on Yemen in the British Parliament on Wednesday released their annual report on the situation in the war-stricken country, warning, for the first time, of “Iran’s hand in the civil war (…) and its attempt to project power on the Arabian Peninsula.”
Comment: Now I was in Parliament at the launch of this document and have a copy in front of me. It is called Yemen The Continuing Tragedy and it describes many facets of the war. For example it states that in December 2017 and January 2018'the coalition air strikes caused 97% of civilian deaths. It describes the embargo stopping foods and goods getting into Yemen. And it describes the Iranian involvement. This propaganda picks out the bits that it wants to publicise and ignores the rest.
https://www.facebook.com/judith.brown.794628/posts/10156706897783641
cp11 Deutschland / Germany
(* A K P)
Eurofighter für Katar - Deutschland macht mit
Katar hat Eurofighter-Kampfjets bei einer britischen Firma bestellt, an deren Produktion auch Deutschland beteiligt ist. Dabei schließt der Koalitionsvertrag solche Waffenlieferungen explizit aus.
Eigentlich ist der Koalitionsvertrag in diesem Punkt auch ziemlich eindeutig: "Wir werden ab sofort keine Ausfuhren an Länder genehmigen, solange diese unmittelbar am Jemen-Krieg beteiligt sind", heißt es da. Das schließt auch das Emirat Katar ein. Dennoch wird der Golfstaat 24 Eurofighter-Kampfjets von der britischen Rüstungsschmiede BAe-Systems bekommen - ein Geschäft mit einem Volumen von fast sechs Milliarden Euro. Und Deutschland ist am Bau des Kampfflugzeuges beteiligt.
Ohne die Komponenten, die in der Bundesrepublik produziert werden, kann der Jet nicht montiert werden. Könnte Deutschland den Export der Maschinen an ein Land, das in den Jemen-Krieg verwickelt ist, also verhindern?
https://www.tagesschau.de/inland/eurofighter-katar-101.html und auch https://www.jungewelt.de/artikel/333134.beihilfe-zum-mord.html
(A K P)
Film: Eine Frage [an Hugo Maas]: "Welche Länder sind am Jemen-Krieg beteiligt?"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hhzcEJ0lCpE
cp12 Andere Länder / Other countries
Siehe cp1 (Emirate) / Look at cp1 (Emirates)
(A K P)
UAE minister: We will stay in Yemen even after political solution
UAE Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Anwar Gargash said the Saudi-led coalition forces will remain in Yemen even after a political solution has been found to the civil war in order to protect the new Yemeni state.
Speaking to America’s Defence One site, the minister said: “Any Yemeni state that will emerge will in the beginning be a weak state, and will be harassed if we do not address terrorism.”
“I think this is a golden opportunity for us to decimate Al-Qaeda. We have huge success in various areas against Al-Qaeda,” he added.
My comment: of course, as they want to play the role of overlords forever.
(A P)
France to host Yemen humanitarian conference
French President Emmanuel Macron and Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman confirmed that Paris will host an international conference on the humanitarian crisis in Yemen at the end of June in a phone call on Tuesday.
The two men agreed the conference would take place during bin Salman's visit to Paris in April and confirmed that it will take place at the end of next month during their conversation Tuesday.
http://en.rfi.fr/20180523-france-host-yemen-humanitarian-conference/
My comment: Just as a little in-between among some more arms dales, I suppose. Such a conference would be a PR success for Saudi Arabia wth France playing the role of the useful idiot. – And, if Salman had phoned with Macron, this would be a sign that he still is alive (on rumours that he had been killed, YPR 413, 414, cp8).
Comment: More whitewashing of the Saudi human rights violations.
https://www.facebook.com/judith.brown.794628/posts/10156704016083641
And
(A P)
France, Saudi to hold Yemen humanitarian conference end June
„We are currently working on how to organise this conference with our various partners, Yemen and the United Nations,” France’s foreign ministry spokeswoman Agnes von der Muhll told reporters in a daily briefing on Wednesday.
“This conference should take stock of humanitarian needs, evaluate the assistance provided and the response mechanisms which need to be improved and define humanitarian actions to improve the situation of civilian populations.”
Von der Muhll declined to say whether Paris intended to invite representatives of the Iran-aligned Houthis, who control more than 70 percent of Yemen, including the capital Sanaa.
“This work, which we want to be collective, can help to recreate the conditions for a resumption of political discussions under the auspices of the United nations,” Von der Muhll said in a statement on Tuesday.
(A P)
Ventes d'armes françaises : soutenez l'enquête parlementaire
C’est la rentrée parlementaire ! Vous avez 15 jours pour demander l'ouverture d'une commission d’enquête parlementaire sur les ventes d’armes françaises aux pays engagés dans le conflit au Yémen.
La France vend des armes à l’Arabie saoudite et aux Émirats arabes unis, alors que ces pays participent à l’offensive meurtrière en cours au Yémen et qu’il existe un risque que ces armes soient utilisées pour commettre des violations graves du droit international humanitaire.
Le 20 mars dernier, un cabinet d’avocat que nous avions mandaté a publié une étude juridique mettant en cause la légalité des ventes d’armes de la France à la coalition saoudienne.
https://www.amnesty.fr/actions/armes-francaises?utm_medium=reseaux-sociaux
cp13a Waffenhandel / Arms trade
(* B K P)
L’observatoire des armements
[Podcast on French arms sales fueling the war on #Yemen]
Ce jeudi, c’est Tony de L’observatoire des armements qui est avec nous pour nous parler de cet observatoire. Il nous montrera ses actions d’information sur les armements dont la France est un des principaux fournisseurs sur les scènes de conflit dans le monde entier.
https://blogs.radiocanut.org/grainsdesable/
(* B K P)
España bate su récord de exportación de armamento con 4.346 millones
[#Spain's arms sales: it's record time.
Saudi Arabia increased its purchases by 133% and is the first client outside the EU and NATO zone]
Arabia Saudí, que aumenta sus compras un 133%, mejor cliente fuera de la UE y la OTAN
Fuera de este mercado, ligado a grandes programas multinacionales, Arabia Saudí sustituyó el año pasado a Egipto como primer cliente del armamento español, con 270,2 millones por un avión de transporte, repuestos para aeronaves, aviones no tripulados, granadas de mortero, munición de artillería, etc.
https://politica.elpais.com/politica/2018/05/14/actualidad/1526317522_421856.html
cp13b Mercenaries / Söldner
(A K P)
Sudan’s ruling party asserts continued participation in Yemen war
Sudan’s ruling National Congress Party (NCP) has approved the continued participation of Sudanese troops in the Saudi-led coalition fighting the Iran-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen.
Speaking to the state-run Radio Omdurman on Saturday, NCP political secretary Abdel-Rahman al-Khidir said his party has reached its decision after making a comprehensive and objective assessment for the various aspects of Sudan’s participation in the Saudi-led coalition.
He pointed out that the decision to participate in the alliance was based on a strategic, not emotional view, saying Sudan is part of a large coalition.
http://www.sudantribune.com/spip.php?article65488
and
(A K P)
Sudanese troops will remain in Yemen, al-Bashir
Sudanese President Omer al-Bashir Wednesday stated that the Sudanese troops would continue to fight Iran-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen despite the tough economic situation his country is experiencing.
Al-Bashir received Saudi Assistant Minister of Defence Mohammad Abdullah Alayeesh who briefed him about the military developments in the war waged by the Saudi-led alliance against the Houthi rebels in Yemen.
In a statement released after the meeting, the presidency said al-Bashir reassured the visiting Saudi official that the difficult economic situation would not dissuade Sudan from playing its role in restoring legitimacy in Yemen.
The Sudanese president further pointed to Sudan’s declared position to "defend the land of the Two Holy Mosques’’.
http://www.sudantribune.com/spip.php?article65467
My comment: Bashir needs Saudi money and support.
And
(A K P)
Sudan says committed to Yemen military campaign, weeks after signaling doubts
Sudan has at least 3,000 ground troops and several fighter jets fighting in Yemen as part of the Saudi-led alliance. Dozens of Sudanese soldiers have been killed
cp13c Wirtschaft / Economy
(* A E P)
Houthis looted millions of Riyals from banks and exchangers
An official of one of the exchanging companies said Houthis looted millions of riyals from their companies in Sanaa and their branches at Hodeida, Mahweet, Ibb, Dhamar, Hajja and Alhoban in Taiz with the excuse of dealing with new currency edition made by the legitimate government.
According to officials asked not to mention their names as security precaution said, Houthis authorities confiscated millions of the new edition of 500 and 1000 Yemeni Riyals bills from the exchanging branches and have been transferred to the national security headquarter.
An Admin in one of the exchanging companies said, the money has been transferred to national security headquarter but we know that they are going to loot it, they have done it before, they are robbing us, and we might close our business as an objection to such attitude.
Houthis militia is executing raids on exchanging companies and banks and confiscated large amounts of money by force and closed some of them including Alkuraimi exchange at Khawlan street in Sanaa and many other employees at those companies has been arrested in an attempt to prevent the new edition transactions.
Houthis militia has announced at the end of last February that any transactions made by the new edition of 500 – 1000 bills are prohibited which was printed by the central bank in Aden by the legitimate government.
Houthis government waned all the authorities under its command to deal or trade with this new edition bills and they said this comes to protect the national currency since the new edition print is enhancing the inflation and deuteration of the national economy according to the news agency under their control.
The central bank in Aden announced at the 10th of last February issuing a new bill edition of 1000 bill and started to trade with it starting from 25th of the same month and prior to that issuing the 5oo new bills.
http://almasdaronline.com/article/99095
Remark: By anti-Houthi, pro-Saudi backed Hadi government source.
cp14 Terrorismus / Terrorism
(? B T)
Film: Al Qaeda in Yemen and The Interrogator
https://video.kqed.org/video/frontline-al-qaeda-yemen-and-interrogator/
(A T)
A media group called the “al Badr Media Foundation” announced its establishment in support of al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) on Telegram and Twitter on May 23. The group stated its goal of refuting anti-AQAP messaging, spreading al Qaeda’s message to younger individuals, and promoting security.[2]
(A T)
Islamic State Mourns a Saudi Jihadist in Yemen
https://kyleorton1991.wordpress.com/2018/05/26/islamic-state-mourns-a-saudi-jihadist-in-yemen/
(A T)
#IslamicState in #Yemen issues 2 more martyr mugshots after gallery of 14 "martyrs" in last week's film. Implies #ISIL is still fighting actively in al-Bayda'. (photos)
https://twitter.com/Dr_E_Kendall/status/999330663944851456
cp15 Propaganda
Siehe / Look at cp1
(A P)
Two Political Lies Told to the World by the Escape Legitimacy
Two political lies told to the world by the escape legitimacy. The first lie is “The Shiite Tide” while the second is “The National Sovereignty”. The third, fourth and fifth lies are on the way.
The Yemeni legitimacy lied about national sovereignty. UAE uncovered this lie through the humanitarian deeds for facing the consequences of the cyclone that hit Socotra. When the cyclone came to the island, the so-called national sovereignty disappeared.
http://en.smanews.org/two-political-lies-told-to-the-world-by-the-escape-legitimacy
Remark: Propaganda by UAE-backed southern separatists.
(A P)
Yemen FM: No peace before Houthi disarmament
There cannot be peace in Yemen unless Houthi militias abandon their arms, said the country’s newly appointed Foreign Minister Khalid Al-Yamani.
The internationally recognized government will not allow Iran, which backs the Houthis, to maintain a foothold in Yemen or interfere in its internal affairs, he added.
“This terrorist regime” in Tehran, “which supplies terrorist militias all over the world, is close to collapse as a result of international and popular pressure by the Iranian people, who are suffering as their terrorist state spends billions here and there for a foolish expansionist idea,” Al-Yamani said.
“The modern and civilized world that respects international law cannot accept the existence of a state sponsor of terrorism and all subversive and terrorist militias in the region,” he added.
http://www.arabnews.com/node/1309741/saudi-arabia
and
(A P)
Yemen FM to Asharq Al-Awsat: Houthis Must Not Bank on Iran because it is Collapsing
Yamani, 58, will now head to the Saudi capital Riyadh on Monday to be sworn in before President Abdrabbuh Mansur Hadi. He will officially assume his duties on Tuesday, succeeding Dr. Abdulmalek al-Mekhlafi, Hadi’s current aide.
His main task will be to underline to the world and permanent members of the UN Security Council the severity of the “Iranian-Houthi nightmare that is plaguing Yemen.”
“Now in its fourth year, I believe that Yemen has truly been destroyed by these militias. This demands us all as Yemenis and brothers to take steps that would end the crisis and war and defeat this Iranian project in Yemen,” he declared.
Yamani told Asharq Al-Awsat that he will primarily focus on the “main cause”, which are the negotiations and efforts exerted by UN special envoy to Yemen Martin Griffiths.
“We are working around the clock with his office to allow him to present his ideas on June 7 after holding consultations with the Yemeni government,” he added.
“We cannot, however, discuss any political arrangements before the Houthis lay down their rockets and heavy and medium weapons,” stressed Yamani. “The coup must end.”
“The weapons that are assaulting the Yemeni people and infrastructure and Saudi territories and civilian infrastructure must be laid down. This issue is not up for negotiation or dialogue,” he continued.
The militias must also withdraw from regions they have occupied. Political discussions will take their course as soon as this happens, he explained.
My comment: New minister, old stories. – The Hadi government laims disarmament oft he Houthis as precondition for peace, that means they claim capitulation of their enemy, thus they are not willing for peace at all. Biased resolution 2216 had fully favoured the saudi overnment and their Yemeni puppets, thus they cling to it. – Blaming Iran as „terrorist state“ spending billions for terrorism is odd – especially by a Saudi puppet.
Comment: I gravely doubt Saudi Arabia will ever agree to any form of Yemen peace talks with the Houthis. Basically, Riyadh is still insisting that the Houthis surrender. And get slaughtered, thereafter.
https://twitter.com/BaFana3/status/1000141130774843394
(A P)
Houthi Massacre in Marib as Legitimacy Vows to Pursue Perpetrators
At least five civilians were killed and 22 injured when Houthi militias launched a Katyusha rocket at a popular market in the city of Marib east of the Yemeni capital Sanaa.
Information Minister Muammar al-Iryani strongly condemned the attack, saying it would not go unpunished, while the Ministry of Human Rights denounced the crime and said that no statutes of limitations will be applied.
Iryani described the attack as a "heinous crime" against innocent civilians, saying it reveals the state of confusion the Houthis are going through after their successive defeats on various battlefronts.
"The attack will not go unpunished, and those responsible for it and all the crimes committed by the militias against the citizens will be held accountable in the near future," he vowed.
He called on the international community to condemn "the continuous Houthi crimes against the Yemeni people.”
My comment: Hadi government’s outrage, on a Saudi website. Taking into account the Saudi air raids and how the Hadi goverment is praising them, this is bizarre. – A statement oft he Houthi government at cp17 below.
(A P)
Saudi Arabia: we are very cautious in picking our targets in Yemen
The Saudi delegate to the United Nation “Abdullah Almaalami” said in his speech about Yemen, the Iranian Militia is practicing systematic killing in many countries in the region and they are the reason of the Yemeni people tragedy.
“it is funny that the Iranian delegates talk about the misery of Yemeni people while they are the cause of this misery,” he said.
Almaalami talked about the procedures followed by the coalition in picking targets and protect civilians in Yemen “ the military targets detection goes through several phases starting from picking the target and assure that it is a military target from many sources to avoid civilian causalities and every target considered a civilian until proved otherwise”.
http://almasdaronline.com/article/99075
My comment: Iran „the cause of this [Yemen’s] misery“, this is really bizarre, when it’s the Saudis who daily bomb Yemen. – „we are very cautious in picking our targets in Yemen“, well we can see this for more than 3 years now. Your last target: mango pickers.
(* A K)
Saudi-led coalition foils Houthi attacks on Red Sea ships, Saudi and UAE media say
A Saudi-led military coalition foiled attacks by explosives-laden speedboats deployed by Yemen’s Iran-aligned Houthi movement against commercial vessels, including an oil tanker, in the Red Sea, Saudi and Emirati state media said on Wednesday.
United Arab Emirates (UAE) state news agency WAM reported that UAE coalition forces had destroyed two boats “which were threatening a commercial oil tanker” in the Red Sea. Two other Houthi boats escaped, it added.
Later Saudi state news channel al-Ekhbariya said that remote-controlled speedboats rigged with explosives had tried to attack three commercial vessels being escorted by two coalition warships, but that coalition forces had foiled the attack and destroyed three speedboats.
My comment: This seems to be a typical Saudi propaganda story, most probably fully invented. There is just this statement, nothing more is coming. No more information at all. No more details on the ships. No confirmations by the shipping companies. Not testimonals by no one. No photos. Just: Nothing. This propagandashould justify the Saudi coalition’s assault against Hodeidah and its harbour. – The same probably will be the case oft he Turkish vessel which had been hit by a missile, for which the Saudi coalition is blaming the Houthis as well. Why they should have attacked a vessel bringing wheat to a Houthi-held port?
and
(* A K pS)
UAE forces sink two Houthi ships off Yemen coast
Two other boats that threatened tankers passing through the Bab El Mandeb managed to escape
The UAE Armed Forces, part of the Saudi-led Arab coalition, have destroyed two boats used by Iran-backed Houthi rebels that were posing a threat to commercial oil tankers along Yemen's Red Sea coast.
Two other boats managed to escape the coalition forces naval fleet, according to UAE state news agency, Wam.
The Houthis' naval forces have been patrolling the coastal waters between Hodeidah and Sanaa since overthrowing the internationally recognised government in 2015.
There was no mention of whether the tanker had been damaged in the incident, which was also reported by Saudi-owned broadcaster Al Arabiya television.
A renewed Arab Coalition-backed push to capture Hodeidah, Yemen’s largest port city, has diminished the rebels' positions surrounding the northeastern city.
https://www.thenational.ae/world/mena/uae-forces-sink-two-houthi-ships-off-yemen-coast-1.733311
My comment: Sanaa coastal waters??? Sanaa is lying far away from the coast.
(* B K)
Ship carrying wheat to Yemen hit by missile: EU navy force
A Turkish vessel carrying wheat to Yemen this month was hit by a rocket or missile and more attacks on merchant ships are likely due to a spillover of the conflict, a senior European naval official said on Wednesday.
The Turkish flagged Ince Inebolu bulk carrier was damaged by an explosion on May 10, some 70 miles off the Red Sea port of Salif where it was due to deliver a 50,000 tonne cargo of Russian wheat.
“The assessment at the moment is it was almost certainly non-state Yemen based actors firing a land-based missile or rocket at the vessel,” Major Tom Mobbs, head of intelligence and security with the European Union’s counter piracy mission EU Navfor, told Reuters.
“It has sharpened the focus in our mind with this happening.”
Comment: No one in #Yemen would even dream of attacking a wheat/humanitarian ship.
https://www.facebook.com/LivingInYemenOnTheEdge/posts/1751869274866095
and
(* A K P)
U.S. alarmed by strike on Turkish ship delivering wheat to Yemen
The United States said on Friday it was “alarmed” by a Houthi missile strike on a Turkish vessel carrying wheat to Yemen this month and urged the Shi’ite group to work with the United Nations to alleviate Yemenis suffering.
The White House said in a statement the United States was alarmed by the strike and cited reports that the Houthis attempted another attack against an oil tanker in the Red Sea.
“This proves yet again that missile proliferation in Yemen is a real threat to all countries and underscores the need to fully enforce United Nations Security Council Resolution 2216” calling for an end to violence in Yemen.
My comment: It stik seems doubtful why the Houthis should have attacked a vessel bringing wheat o a Houthi-held port. Blaming this incident tot he Houthis, perfectly fits into the saudi propaganda scheme – which willingly is accepted, spread and further used by the West.
(A K )
Why Ankara is quiet about an attack on a Turkish ship off Yemen
Turkey made its first statementregarding the incident on May 25, two weeks later, saying “None of a total of 23 Turkish crew onboard were injured and the ship was hit by a missile.” However, there was no explanation for who perpetrated the incident.
https://ahvalnews.com/navy/why-ankara-quiet-about-attack-turkish-ship-yemen
and also http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/no-casualties-in-turkish-ship-attacked-in-yemen-ankara-says-132399
(A P)
More Saudi /UAE „We are benefactors“ propaganda
http://alriyadhdaily.com/article/f5025f81c9c54953b2fb6e31fd4311d5
cp16 Saudische Luftangriffe / Saudi air raids
Siehe / Look at cp1
(* A K pH)
Saudi coalition air raids day by day:
(* A K pH)
Report: 17 killed, injured in 61 caution air strikes on several provinces
Over 17 citizens were killed and injured when the Saudi-led coalition warplanes waged 46 air raids on several provinces the past 24 hours, a military official told Saba.
In the capital of Sanaa, four citizens were killed and 11 injured in two air strikes of coalition on the Yemeni gas company.
In Saada, six civilians were killed and wounded in 15 coalition air strikes on and Kotaf and Majz districts.
http://www.sabanews.net/en/news497299.htm
(* A K pH)
Jemen: Saudische Koalition greift Ölunternehmen in Sanaa an – Tote und Verletzte
Fünf Menschen sind bei Luftschlägen der Saudi-geführten Koalition gegen die jemenitische Hauptstadt Sanaa ums Leben gekommen. Dies teilte eine Quelle in den Sicherheitskräften des Jemen am Samstag mit.
Laut der Quelle versetzten Flugzeuge der Koalition zwei Luftschläge gegen ein Gebäude eines Ölunternehmens im südlichen Teil der jemenitischen Hauptstadt, weswegen ein Brand im Gebäude entstand. Dabei seien fünf Menschen, darunter eine Frau, ums Leben gekommen. Zwölf weitere seien verletzt worden. Es gebe Kinder unter den Verletzten.
https://de.sputniknews.com/panorama/20180526320886863-jemen-sanaa-saudi-arabien-luftschlaege-opfer/ und https://derstandard.at/2000080496027/Vier-Menschen-bei-Luftangriff-in-Jemens-Hauptstadt-Sanaa-getoetet
Bemerkung: Es war eine Tankstelle, Fotos, Filme s. unten.
(* A KpH)
4 civilians killed, 11 injured in 2 airstrikes on Yemen’s Oil company building in Sanaa
Four civilians, including a woman, were killed and 11 injured, including children, in an initial toll of two US-backed Saudi-led aggression coalition airstrikes which hit Saturday the capital Sanaa, an official told Saba News Agency.
The airstrikes targeted the Oil company building in southern Steen Street.
The official said that a huge fire was broke out in the oil company station, causing heavy damage to the station and civilians’ cars who were passing by the station.
http://www.sabanews.net/en/news497244.htm
http://www.sabanews.net/en/news497291.htm
films:
https://www.facebook.com/lamees55/videos/vb.100000336692385/1858892127465326/?type=2&theater
https://www.facebook.com/LivingInYemenOnTheEdge/videos/1755652444487778/ = https://twitter.com/HussainBukhaiti/status/1000418527491354624
https://www.facebook.com/SaudiArabia.war.crimes.against.Yemen/videos/1817425395220113/ = https://twitter.com/HussainBukhaiti/status/1000514582715265025
photos:
https://twitter.com/NRC_Egeland/status/1001070677812826113
https://www.facebook.com/LivingInYemenOnTheEdge/posts/1755732164479806
https://www.facebook.com/LivingInYemenOnTheEdge/posts/1755732164479806 = https://www.facebook.com/SaudiArabia.war.crimes.against.Yemen/posts/1817407388555247 = https://twitter.com/HussainBukhaiti/status/1000509580143718401
https://twitter.com/narrabyee/status/1000432705119637504
https://twitter.com/A7medJa7af/status/1000440489802371072
https://twitter.com/HussainBukhaiti/status/1003386310327926784
(A K pH)
8 Saudi-led airstrikes hit communications networks in Hodeidah
Eight of the US-backed Saudi-led coalition airstrikes on Saturday were waged on Hodeidah province, an official told Saba News Agency.
The eight airstrikes hit the communications networks in Salif city
http://www.sabanews.net/en/news497238.htm
(A K pH)
2 women killed in Saudi-led airstrike on Yemen’s Amran
At least two women were killed and a woman injured in an initial toll when an airstrike of US-backed Saudi-led coalition hit Hamran province on Saturday, an official told Saba News Agency.
The airstrike targeted Ablah area of Harf-Sufian district.
http://www.sabanews.net/en/news497232.htm
(* A K pH)
3 children killed, 18 civilians injured in Saudi-led airstrike on Yemen's Saada
At least three children were killed and 18 civilians were injured when the US-backed Saudi-led coalition on Saturday launched an airstrike on Saada province, a security official told Saba News Agency.
The airstrike targeted a market in Saada city, the official addad.
The coalition also waged an airstrike on Hamazat road near of Saada city.
http://www.sabanews.net/en/news497234.htm
photos: https://www.facebook.com/SaudiArabia.war.crimes.against.Yemen/posts/1817413975221255 = https://twitter.com/HussainBukhaiti/status/1000423543941758977
https://twitter.com/HussainBukhaiti/status/1000427057514450951 = https://twitter.com/AhmadAlgohbary/status/1000468219910606849
https://twitter.com/AhmadAlgohbary/status/1000491348405964805
https://twitter.com/narrabyee/status/1000693158706114560
https://twitter.com/narrabyee/status/1000690826563997697
film: https://www.facebook.com/SaudiArabia.war.crimes.against.Yemen/videos/1817416651887654/
(A K pH)
civilian killed, in Saudi-led airstrike on Hodeidah
A civilian was killed when the US-backed Saudi-led coalition on Saturday launched an airstrikes on Hodaidah province, an official told Saba news Agency.
The civilian was killed in the airstrike which targeted Sawiq village of Tuhaita district
http://www.sabanews.net/en/news497206.htm
(* A K)
Wadi Khoura, Shabwah: Just before iftar time today, a 19 year old Yemeni riding a motorcycle got exploded to bloody dead bits by a U.S. drone missile. Not a known AQAP member.
https://twitter.com/BaFana3/status/1000116537104195584
(A K pH)
Aggression warplane destroys number of fishers boats in Hodeidah
The US- backed Saudi-led aggression coalition warplanes waged four airstrikes on fishers center on Bajil district in Hodeidah province, causing to the destroying of number of the boats, an official told Saba on Saturday.
http://www.sabanews.net/en/news497203.htm
(* A K pH)
Sieben Tote bei jüngstem saudischen Luftangriff auf Jemen
Laut dem jemenitischen Nachrichtenportal "Al-Maasira" wurden bei einem saudischen Luftangriff auf die Stadt "Majz" in der Provinz Saada sechs Zivilisten getötet und vier weitere verletzt.
Laut dem Bericht wurden bei einem weiteren saudischen Luftangriff auf ein Wohnhaus in der Region "Al-Barah" in der Provinz Taiz ein Zivilist getötet und einige weitere verletzt.
(A K pH)
2 civilians killed in Saudi-led airstrike on Hodeidah
Two civilians were killed when warplane of the US-backed Saudi-led coalition aggression on Friday launched a strike on Hodeidah province, an official told Saba News Agency.
The airstrike hit a main road in Zabid district
http://www.sabanews.net/en/news497140.htm
(A K pH)
Civilian killed in Saudi-led airstrike on Taiz
A civilian was killed and another injured when the US-Backed Saudi-led aggression coalition airstrike on Friday hit Taiz province, an official Saba News Agency.
The coalition airstrike targeted a civilian’s homes in Barh area of Maqbanah district.
http://www.sabanews.net/en/news497123.htm
(A K)
#Saudi led coalition has targeted Harad town in #Haja city with 46 airstrikes today.
https://twitter.com/AhmadAlgohbary/status/999795262628474880
(* A K pH)
5 civilians killed in Saudi-led airstrike on Saada
At least five civilians, including a woman, were killed in an airstrike waged by Saudi-led aggression coalition warplanes on Majaz district of Saada province overnight, a security official told Saba on Friday.
The air raid targeted nomads in Majaz district, killing five people, in an initial toll, and injuring another.
http://www.sabanews.net/en/news497104.htm
Photos: https://www.facebook.com/SaudiArabia.war.crimes.against.Yemen/posts/1816697428626243
https://twitter.com/narrabyee/status/999897763843198976
https://twitter.com/A_mtrz/status/999801926920429568
(*A K pH)
6 civilians killed in Saudi-led airstrike targets Hodiedah
At least six civilians were killed, three were injured and others missed when the US-backed Saudi-led aggression coalition launched on Wednesday an airstrike on Hodiedah province, an official told Saba News Agency.
The air strike targeted a Mango farm in Meyah area of Bait-Faqih district.
http://www.sabanews.net/en/news496980.htm
photos, names of victims: https://www.facebook.com/SaudiArabia.war.crimes.against.Yemen/posts/1816240015338651
https://www.facebook.com/SaudiArabia.war.crimes.against.Yemen/posts/1816238545338798
https://www.facebook.com/SaudiArabia.war.crimes.against.Yemen/posts/1817007661928553
All victims were picking mango fruits It's the season now
https://twitter.com/narrabyee/status/999371828106878981
(* A K pH)
More Saudi colition air raids reported on:
May 26:
http://www.sabanews.net/en/news497280.htm Hajjah p.
http://www.sabanews.net/en/news497300.htm Saada p.
http://www.sabanews.net/en/news497205.htm Saada p.
http://www.sabanews.net/en/news497207.htm Amran p.
May 25:
http://www.sabanews.net/en/news497119.htm Hodeidah p.
May 24:
http://www.sabanews.net/en/news497109.htm Saada p.
May 23:
http://www.sabanews.net/en/news497022.htm Hodeidah p.
http://www.sabanews.net/en/news496948.htm Hodeidah and Saada p.
(B K)
Hohe Opferzahlen: Saudi-Arabien bombardiert Fischer im Jemen
Saudi-Arabien hat seine Luftangriffe an der Westküste Jemens intensiviert. Bei dem jüngsten Angriff am Montag hatten saudische Kampfflugzeuge eine Versammlung von Fischern im Hafen von Hudaydah ins Visier genommen und hinterließen eine hohe Zahl von Opfern.
PressTV-Reporter Mohammed al-Attab sprach vor Ort mit Anwohnern. Diese gaben an, dass es sich dabei nicht um den ersten Angriff dieser Art handle und Saudi-Arabien gezielt jemenitische Fischer angreife.
Viele Fischer seien durch die Angriffe gestorben oder verletzt und könnten ihre Familien und ihre Region nicht mehr mit Nahrung versorgen. „Ein Kriegsverbrechen, das sofort beendet werden muss“, sagte einer der Befragten.
https://www.gegenfrage.com/saudi-arabien-bombardiert-fischer-im-jemen/
Bemerkung: Das ist schon länger her.
(* A K)
Film, a reminder: Harrowing footage from #Yemen ‘s war. How an airstrike by the #Saudi coalition turned a wedding celebration into a bloodbath and destroyed the lives of this 5-year-old boy and many other families.
https://twitter.com/DRovera/status/999530434353614848
Film, a reminder: Mental & psychological distress, Sameeh, the child who lost his father & 3 of his family, in a Wedding, which was raided by the US-Saudi warplanes a couple of weeks back. The kid spend the whole night clinching to his father's dead body before he could let go.
https://www.facebook.com/mohamad.shami.33/videos/10155839821147217/
cp17 Kriegsereignisse / Theater of War
(A K pS)
Hundreds of young people have voluntarily joined the training camps of the Army Forces in the Western Coast in order to fight the #Houthi militia. This comes as the Army Forces continues to repeatedly defeat the rebel group in that front. (photos)
https://twitter.com/RepYemenEnglish/status/1000559632266547201
(A K pH)
Saada prov.: artillery and missile shelling targeted several areas of Razih border district.
http://www.sabanews.net/en/news497234.htm
and
(* A K pH)
3 civilians killed in Saudi bombing on Saada
At least three citizens, including a child, were killed on Saturday in a Saudi missile and artillery bombing on the border district of Ghamr in Saada province, a security official told Saba.
The Saudi bombardment targeted separate areas in the district.
http://www.sabanews.net/en/news497275.htm
film: https://www.facebook.com/SaudiArabia.war.crimes.against.Yemen/videos/1817419505220702/
(* A K pH)
Yemen military drone launches airstrikes on Saudi Abha airport
A military drone of the Yemeni army on Saturday waged several airstrikes on Saudi Abha airport in the Saudi border Asir province, an army official told Saba. The air strikes forced the Saudi airport to cease air navigating traffic from and into the airport, said the official.
The Yemeni army has recently developed dozens of combat drones, using some in the combat against the US-backed Saudi-led aggression coalition targets.
http://www.sabanews.net/en/news497230.htm
and
(* A K pH)
Yemeni reprisal attacks: Drones target Saudi airport' in Asir, flights canceled
The Yemeni army says its military drones have bombarded a Saudi airport in the kingdom’s southwestern province of Asir for the second time in more than a month, forcing the authorities to suspend all flights to and from the regional airport.
Yemen’s Arabic-language al-Masirah television network, citing an unnamed official in the air defense unit of the army, said on Saturday that Yemeni drones had targeted Abha International Airport with several airstrikes earlier in the day, inflicting damage upon it.
The official further said the Yemeni army would increase such retaliatory attacks against Saudi bases and facilities in near future.
The report added that in the wake of the airstrikes, Saudi authorities published pictures of the prince of Asir inspecting the damage at the airport.
This as the Saudi-led coalition attacking Yemen said it had foiled an attempted "terrorist" attack by an unmanned drone near Abha airport, Saudi-owned Al Arabiya TV reported.
http://www.presstv.com/Detail/2018/05/26/562973/Yemen-Saudi-Asir-drone-Abha-International-Airport
Remark: „Yemeni army“ = Part of the Yemeni army associated to the Houthis.
And
(* A K pS)
JFC of the Coalition “Coalition to Restore Legitimacy in Yemen”: Surveilling and Destroying a UAV Headed to Abha
The official spokesman of the Coalition “Coalition to Restore Legitimacy in Yemen” Col. Turki Al Malki stated that at (13:45), the Air Defense unit assigned to Abha International Airport detected an Unidentified Flying Object headed to the airport. The unit dealt with the threat and destroyed it according to the Rules of Engagement.
Col. Al Malki clarified that through inspections of the wreckage carried out by specialists in the Coalition’s Joint Forces, it was found to be that the wreckage was a terrorist Iranian-Houthi militia UAV with Iranian specs of Iranian UAV “Ababil”, that was attempting an attack on the civilian airport which is protected under the International Humanitarian Law.
Col. Al Malki indicated that there was minimal damage caused by the UAV’s destruction, and thankfully, no injuries.
https://www.spa.gov.sa/viewfullstory.php?lang=en&newsid=1770131
My comment: If targeting a „civilian airport“ should be „protected under the International Humanitarian Law“, why the Saudi coalition ahd attacked Sanaa and Hodeidah air ports so often now? They started their aerial war by an attack against Sanaa airport, hitting private residential houses.
(A K pH)
Civilian injured in Saudi missile shelling on Saada
A civilian was injured when missile shelling of the US-backed Saudi-led aggression coalition on Friday targeted Saada province, a security official told Saba on Saturday.
The shelling targeted several areas of Razih border district
Furthermore, artillery and missile shelling targeted several areas of Monabeh border district, damaging residents’ farms and properties
http://www.sabanews.net/en/news497205.htm
(* A K pS)
Yemeni forces advance towards rebel-held Hodeidah
Yemeni forces have advanced to within 50 kilometres of the strategic Hodeidah port in a large-scale offensive on the country's western coast.
Houthi rebels were left in "an unprecedented state of confusion, panic and major collapse" as a result of the surprise military operation, UAE state media WAM reported.
UAE forces operating within the Saudi-led Arab Coalition provided supporte to the Yemeni National Army, and the Tihama Resistance Forces and Giant Brigades, which were advancing towards the Al Jah area in the Bayt al-Faqih District.
The advancing forces seized large quantities of weapons, ammunition, military equipment and vehicles after rebels fled from Al Mugris in the Tahita District, it was reported.
A Yemeni military source said coalition air support had been critical in liberating a number of strategic areas.
https://www.thenational.ae/world/mena/yemeni-forces-advance-towards-rebel-held-hodeidah-1.734181
Film: https://twitter.com/RepYemenEnglish/status/1000492549012905985
Maps: https://twitter.com/RepYemenEnglish/status/1000489563465375744
My comment: by Emirati media. „Yemeni forces“ = exiled president Hadi’s army and militia.
(* A K pS)
Dozens of Houthi fighters killed in coalition advance
The offensive south of the port city of Hodeidah follows the start of a major operation earlier this month
The Arab coalition in Yemen killed dozens of Houthi fighters during a major advance along several fronts south of the port city of Hodeidah on the Red Sea, the Wam news agency reported Friday.
The coalition penetrated the front lines of the rebels creating panic leading to the capture of an unspecified number of Houthi fighters and the killing of one of its commanders, Wam reported.
It said that fleeing Houthi fighters were selling weapons to secure their escape following a series of victories for the coalition.
The offensive followed the start of a major military operation in the region earlier this month. More than 70 Houthi fighters were killed in the Hodeidah province on Thursday as government troops backed by the UAE Armed Forces cut off a rebel supply line.
Early Friday, jets from the Arab Coalition supporting the government launched air strikes at Houthi reinforcements heading towards the strategically important Zabeed district, a military source in Al Tuhaiyta told The National. The strikes destroyed several Houthi military vehicles trying to approach Zabeed through the desert, the source said
Coalition troops seized the main rebel supply route between Al Tuhaiyta and Zabeed districts.
https://www.thenational.ae/world/gcc/dozens-of-houthi-fighters-killed-in-coalition-advance-1.733945
while the Houthi side reports:
(* A K pH)
120 Saudi-paid mercenaries dead, hundreds wounded in west coast battles
At least 120 of Saudi-paid mercenaries were killed and hundreds wounded when the army and popular forces repelled their wide-scale infiltration in the west coast front, a source at the Ministry of Defense told Saba.
The two-days infiltration, which was backed by an air and sea cover, ended with the escape of the mercenaries, who suffered heavy losses in life and equipment, the source said.
He added that the army forces destroyed more than five various military vehicles and seized military equipment left by the mercenaries.
http://www.sabanews.net/en/news497191.htm
(A K pS)
Plans to advance toward Sana'a on the making, tribal sources say
Al-Sharq al-Awsat newspaper has quoted tribal sources in the areas surrounding Sana'a as saying that a military plan is being devised in coordination with the army to advance directly toward the Houthi-held Yemeni capital, Sana'a.
The plan is being put in place as military supplies are being dispatched to the warfront of Nehm, the sources said.
The sources added that the army on the fronts of Nehm, Tihama, and Saada would step up their advance simulatenously in a concerted action to retake the cities that the rebels control including Sana'a.
https://www.alsahwa-yemen.net/en/p-18721
My comment: As claimed by Saudi and Islah Party affiliated media. Anyway, an assault at sanaa andfighting for Sanaa would lead to a humanitarian disaster.
(* A K pH)
Army Rocketry force fires ballistic missile toward Najran
Rocketry force of the Yemen army and popular committees on Friday fired a ballistic missile toward a military camp in southern Saudi province of Najran, the Yemeni army said in statement obtained by Saba.
The missile, H-Bader-1, targeted newly published military camp in the east if Bir-Askar .
http://www.sabanews.net/en/news497120.htm
(* A K pS)
Coalition Forces Command "Coalition for Supporting the Legitimacy in Yemen" Royal Saudi Air Defense Forces Destroy Ballistic Missile Fired By Iran's Al-Houthi Terrorist Militia towards KSA
The official spokesman of the Coalition Forces Command "Coalition for Supporting the Legitimacy in Yemen" Colonel Turki Al-Malki stated that at 12:39 am, the Royal Saudi Air Defense Forces of the coalition (RSADF) detected the launch of a ballistic missile launched by Iran's Al-Houthi militia from within Yemeni territories (Omran Province) towards the Kingdom's territories.
He explained that the missile, which was targeting the city (Najran), was deliberately launched to target civilian and populated areas. The RSADF succeeded in intercepting and destroying it, which resulted in the scattering of the missile's fragments over the residential areas without causing any injuries.
https://www.spa.gov.sa/viewfullstory.php?lang=en&newsid=1769718
My comment: My comment: It is obvious that Houthi missiles are directed at military targets – Saudi „Copy and Paste“ claimes of „was fired with the intent to target civilian and populated areas“ is bizarre looking at Saudi air raids on Yemen.
(A K pS)
Yemeni army close to controlling Haradh
The Yemeni army is edging closer to controlling the city of Haradh in the northern province of Hajjah, military and local sources say.
The army is currently besieging the hilltop military sites of the Houthi rebels around the city and once the tops fall to the army's control the city will be easily retaken.
https://www.alsahwa-yemen.net/en/p-18698
Arab Coalition says customs port of Haradh will be open in days
The spokesman for the Arab Coalition forces backing the Yemeni government, Col. Turki al-Maliki said that the customs port of Haradh in the northern province of Hajj will be opened back again within days.
The city of Haradh is partly controlled by the Yemeni army and partly by the rebels but the army is currently locked in clashes with the rebels to assert its total control.
https://www.alsahwa-yemen.net/en/p-18695
My comment: As claimed by Saudi-backed pro-Hadi media. Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harad_District
(* A K pH)
Official statement from the Ministry of Defense in #Sanaa on the explosion occurred in #Marib which claimed the lives of 5 and wounded scores and was attributed to Houthis
'The explosion that occurred in the center of the city of Marib yesterday is due to the detonation of an explosive device as a result of the conflict between mercenaries of the aggression alliance in the province which witnessed a few days ago clashes directly in the government complex.
The military source reiterates that the army and the popular committees have not targeted the city of Marib, populated centres, neither in the past nor now.
The army and the popular committees do not commit acts of treachery nor target civilians, even in enemy's territory.'
Remark: By the Houthi-hold Sanaa government. Sources related to the Saudi-backed Hadi government had reported of a Houthi attack kiling 5 (or even 7) at Marib. Houthi-related sources had reported of clashes among the pro-Hadi militia before. (look at YPR 415,cp17 and cp6).
(* A K)
Saudi-Arabien fängt erneut Rakete aus dem Jemen ab
Die saudiarabische Luftabwehr hat erneut eine Rakete aus dem Nachbarland Jemen abgefangen. Das Geschoss sei von den schiitischen Huthi-Rebellen abgefeuert und über der Stadt Dschisan im Süden Saudi-Arabiens zerstört worden, teilte ein saudiarabischer Militärsprecher am Donnerstag mit. Trümmer der Rakete trafen demnach bewohnte Gebiete, verletzt oder getötet wurde aber niemand. Die Huthi-Rebellen erklärten über ihren Fernsehsender Al-Masirah, das Ziel der Rakete vom Typ Badr 1 sei der Hafen von Dschisan gewesen.
https://www.zeit.de/news/2018-05/24/saudi-arabien-saudi-arabien-faengt-erneut-rakete-aus-dem-jemen-ab-24122202 = https://www.jungewelt.de/artikel/333028.saudi-arabien-f%C3%A4ngt-rakete-aus-jemen-ab.html
(* A K pH)
Ballistic missile hits Jizan
The Yemeni army and popular forces fired on Thursday a ballistic missile ,Badr 1, towards Jizan province, a military official told Saba.
http://www.sabanews.net/en/news497034.htm
and
(* A K)
Yemen troops fire BALLISTIC MISSILE at Saudi Arabia as Middle East tensions RISE
Katyusha rockets were fired towards groups of Saudi soldiers and their militias in the Najran and Jizan regions, according to a military official who spoke to the Yemen Press Agency.
The attack targeted two camps in the al-Aqabah mountains and al-Atar in Jizan and other camps in the al-Buqa desert.
Military air defences reportedly downed the ballistic missile fired by Houthi rebels.
and
(* A K)
Saudi Arabia shoots down Houthi missile from Yemen over Jazan
This is the second time this week the Houthi rebels target the southern city
Saudi Arabia’s air defence shot down a ballistic missile fired by the Houthi rebels from Yemen’s Saada governorate towards the kingdom, the Arab coalition said on Thursday.
“At exactly 1.58am, the coalition noted a ballistic missile launched by the Houthi militia that belongs to Iran,” said coalition spokesman Turki Al Malki in a statement carried by the Saudi Press Agency (SPA).
“It was headed towards the city of Jazan and was fired with the intent to target civilian and populated areas.
My comment: It is obvious that Houthi missiles are directed at military targets – Saudi „Copy and Paste“ claimes of „was fired with the intent to target civilian and populated areas“ is bizarre looking at Saudi air raids on Yemen.
(A K)
Suspected al Houthi forces detonated an improvised explosive device (IED) near al Hima port in Tuhayta district, southwestern al Hudaydah governorate on May 22. The IED attack killed three civilians. Emirati-backed forces seized al Hima port from al Houthi forces as part of an offensive to seize control of southern al Hudaydah on May 13.[4]
https://www.criticalthreats.org/briefs/gulf-of-aden-security-review/gulf-of-aden-security-review-may-23-2018 referring at http://almasdaronline.com/article/99054
cp18 Sonstiges / Other
(A)
Social media activists said this is happening in Dhale province in Yemen. Killing endangered leopards and going on social media to display that as fun or victory. International organizations should intervene because our government can't protect people, let alone animals. (photos)
https://twitter.com/FuadRajeh/status/999243878573268992
Remark: Told to have been committed by Hadi militia.
(* B T)
Piracy incidents double off coast of East Africa in 2017: study
The number of piracy incidents doubled off the coast of East Africa in 2017 compared to 2016, an international maritime body said in its latest report released on Monday.
This indicates that Somali criminal networks are still capable of sophisticated attacks, according to the report by One Earth Future (OEF)'s Oceans Beyond Piracy program.
The report calls for new approach to combat maritime threats as the total number of piracy/armed robbery attacks against foreign vessels increased to 54 in 2017 compared to 27 in 2016.
http://www.xinhuanet.com/english/2018-05/22/c_137197824.htm
cp18a Cyclone Mekunu
(* A)
Film: Tote bei tropischem Wirbelsturm
Ein tropischer Wirbelsturm hat den Süden der Arabischen Halbinsel erfasst. In Oman starben mindestens zwei Menschen. Bei Salalah wurde ein beliebter Touristenstrand von dem Zyklon erfasst.
https://www.zdf.de/nachrichten/heute-sendungen/videos/oman-tote-bei-tropischem-wirbelstrum-100.html
(* A)
Tote und Vermisste in Oman und Jemen
Ein heftiger Wirbelsturm hat den Süden der Arabischen Halbinsel getroffen. In Oman und im Jemen kamen mehrere Menschen ums Leben, nach Vermissten wird noch gesucht.
https://www.tagesschau.de/ausland/zyklon-oman-jemen-101.html
(A H)
First UAE relief plane loaded with 40 tonnes of humanitarian and food aid arrives in Socotra
(* A)
Powerful cyclone strikes Oman, Yemen; 5 dead, 30 missing
A cyclone more powerful than any previously recorded in southern Oman slammed into the Gulf country and neighboring Yemen on Saturday, deluging a major city with nearly three years’ worth of rainfall in single day.
Yemeni officials also reported damage in the country’s far east, along the border with Oman. Rageh Bakrit, the governor of al-Mahra province, said on his official Twitter account late Friday that strong winds had blown down houses and taken out communication lines and water services. He said there were no fatalities in the province.
https://apnews.com/18dc5701e56941f68be1e1914a5d89a1
(*A )
Governor of #mahra: cyclone #Mekunu brought down water, telecom and power services and destroyed houses
https://twitter.com/saeedalBatati/status/1000097836510294016
(* A)
Zyklon Mekunu erfasst Freitagabend arabische Halbinsel
Aktuell wandert Zyklon Mekunu über das Arabische Meer nordwärts. Das Ungetüm wird voraussichtlich in den Nachmittags- und Abendstunden MESZ des Freitags die arabische Halbinsel im Bereich der Grenze zwischen dem Jemen und dem Oman erfassen.
Derzeit pflügt Wirbelsturm Mekunu das Arabische Meer um und zieht mit rund 11 km/h nach Norden. Immerhin wird der Zyklon während des Freitags schwächer, Windgeschwindigkeiten von 170 km/h und Böen bis 200 km/h zu Tagesbeginn lassen bis zum Eintreffen auf Land in den späten Nachmittagsstunden um rund 35 km/h nach. Damit nimmt auch die damit einhergehende Wellenhöhe von rund 10 Metern auf rund 7 Meter ab. Das Hauptaugenmerk muss aber auch hier wieder auf die zu erwartenden enormen Regenmengen fallen, die das Ungeheuer im Gepäck hat.
Aller Voraussicht nach trifft Mekunu zwischen Freitagnachmittag und Freitagabend MESZ im Bereich der Grenzregion zwischen dem Jemen und dem Oman auf Land.
https://www.wetter.net/wetter-news/zyklon-mekunu-erfasst-freitagabend-arabische-halbinsel und auch http://wetterkanal.kachelmannwetter.com/zyklon-mekunu-trifft-auf-oman/
Film: http://tvthek.orf.at/profile/ZIB-800/12288249/ZIB-800/13977840/Zyklon-im-Jemen/14305575
(A)
Film: #Yemen Reconstruction Team, #KSA Forces, and the local authority in #Socotra Island continue to open the blocked roads on the island. This came in conjunction with the continued evacuation and relief operations that target the affected people.
https://twitter.com/RepYemenEnglish/status/999806718774161408
and pro-Saudi tweets emphasizing Saudi support:
https://twitter.com/MbKS15/status/1000164647352389633
https://twitter.com/MbKS15/status/999813768711495680
(** A)
40 missing after cyclone batters Yemen island
About 40 people are missing after Cyclone Mekunu battered the island of Socotra, off the coast of Yemen, officials said.
The missing included Yemeni, Indian and Sudanese nationals.
The officials said more than 230 families had been relocated to shelter in sturdier buildings and other areas, including further inland and in the island’s mountains.
Officials said heavy rain is pummelling Yemen’s eastern-most province of al-Mahra, on the border with Oman.
Cyclone Mekunu will be “extremely severe” when it crashes into the Arabian Peninsula this weekend, meteorologists warned as the eye of the storm headed towards the coast of Oman.
The cyclone is expected to make landfall early on Saturday near Salalah, Oman’s third-largest city and home to 200,000 people near the sultanate’s border with war-ravaged Yemen.
http://www.itv.com/news/2018-05-25/40-missing-after-cyclone-batters-yemen-island/ and also https://www.voanews.com/a/oman-braces-for-cyclone-mekunu/4409424.html and https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/middle-east/cyclone-mekunu-yemen-socotra-island-dead-missing-winds-flooding-a8369781.html (with film) and https://www.accuweather.com/en/weather-news/oman-yemen-on-alert-for-strengthening-cyclone-mekunu-state-of-emergency-declared-in-socotra/70005018(with film) and https://reliefweb.int/report/yemen/yemen-cyclone-mekunu-flash-update-1-25-may-2018
photos: https://twitter.com/narrabyee/status/999726334459998209
https://twitter.com/AhmadAlgohbary/status/999771829895094272
https://twitter.com/mohammedalqadhi/status/999818061921292289
films: https://twitter.com/mohammedalqadhi/status/999818061921292289
https://twitter.com/BaFana3/status/1000138975980507137
https://twitter.com/MrAlyafai/status/999945310666412032 (Oman)
https://twitter.com/AhmadAlgohbary/status/1000110058435416066 (Oman)
https://twitter.com/AhmadAlgohbary/status/1000125259947835392 (Oman)
(** A)
Five people dead, 40 missing in Yemen's Socotra after cyclone
Five people were killed and at least 40 missing on the Yemeni island of Socotra on Friday as Cyclone Mekunu pummeled the area before making its way to the Arabian Peninsula’s southern coast.
The dead were four Yemenis and one Indian national, residents and medical sources told Reuters, while the missing included Yemenis, Indians and Sudanese.
Among those missing were three local sailors lost when their ship capsized off the coast of the island.
The storm flooded Socotra’s villages and capsized boats, leaving much of the island without access to communications.
(** A)
Mindestens 17 Vermisste durch Tropensturm auf jemenitischer Insel Socotra
Der erste Tropensturm der diesjährigen Saison im Indischen Ozean hat die Insel Socotra vor der Küsten Jemens getroffen. Mindestens 17 Menschen gelten als vermisst, wie die Behörden am Mittwoch mitteilten. "Mekunu" brachte starken Regen.
Die amtliche jemenitische Nachrichtenagentur Saba berichtete unter Berufung auf Gouverneur Ramsi Mahrus von zwei gekenterten Booten und drei Fahrzeugen, die von Erdrutschen mitgerissen wurden. Die Zeitung "The National" aus den Vereinigten Arabischen Emirate schrieb von drei Schiffen, die vom Radar verschwunden seien. Rund 150 Familien mussten nach Angaben eines Behördenvertreters aus ihren Häusern in Sicherheit gebracht werden.
(* A )
Oman, Yemen - MEKUNU Update (GDACS, JTWC, IMD, RSMC, Media) (ECHO Daily Flash of 24 May 2018)
Tropical Cyclone MEKUNU continued moving north-west over the Southwest Arabian Sea, strengthening. Its centre passed east of Socotra island (Yemen) and on 24 May at 0.00 UTC, it was located 440 km south-east of Salalah city (Oman) with maximum sustained winds of 148 km/h.
Over the next 24 hours, it is forecast to continue moving northwestwards toward northeastern Yemen and southwestern Oman, strengthening.
(** A)
17 missing as cyclone pummels Yemen's Socotra island
Seventeen people were missing and hundreds of others evacuated from their homes Thursday after a cyclone hit Socotra, with Yemen's government declaring the island a "disaster province".
The missing people had been in two boats that sunk and three vehicles swept away by floods, said Ramzy Mahrous, governor of Socotra, an island paradise 350 kilometres (220 miles) off Yemen in the Arabian Sea.
Mahrous said Socotra could not handle relief efforts on its own, with the number of missing expected to rise.
"The coastal areas were submerged by floods causing heavy damage to homes," with more than 10 villages in Socotra's south and east cut off, Mahrous told AFP.
Four people on one of the sunken boats were rescued while three of the missing had vehicles swept away by flooding, said Fisheries Minister Fahad Kafin.
Around 150 families were evacuated to government facilities after downpours flooded houses and streets, trapping people in their homes, he told AFP.
https://www.afp.com/en/news/2265/17-missing-cyclone-pummels-yemens-socotra-island-doc-15a4u76 and also https://us.cnn.com/2018/05/25/middleeast/yemen-oman-cyclone-mekunu-wxc-intl/index.html (photos)
(** A)
Cyclone hits Yemeni island Socotra, 19 missing
Cars and boats have been swept away as heavy rains and strong winds prompted a state of emergency on the UNESCO world heritage site.
Mekunu's sustained winds reached 155kph with gusts reaching 175kph.
Yemen's pro-government SABA news agency reported that 19 people were missing after two ships capsised in the storm and three vehicles washed away. It said Yemen's government, exiled in Saudi Arabia, had declared Socotra a "disaster" zone after the storm.
Soaking wet residents attempted to find shelter from the storm, which brought heavy rain, flooding and mudslides.
Mohammed al-Arqabi, a resident of the island who works as a local journalist, described the situation as "very bad," saying "the water level has greatly increased, and floods are everywhere ... washing away cars".
"More than 200 families have been displaced from their homes in the suburbs of Hadibu and areas close to the northern coast," he said. "Two Indian cargo ships have gone missing, losing five of their crew members."
(** A)
Tropical storm hits Yemen's Socotra, state of emergency declared
Yemen declared a state of emergency on Socotra on Thursday after a tropical storm flooded several villages and capsized boats on the island and left at least 17 people missing, government officials said.
The island “requires urgent aid to help people stranded in their villages or those who reside in the mountains”, government spokesman Rajeh Badi told the state news agency SABA.
He said 17 people were missing after two boats capsized and three cars were washed away by floods. Another official said more than 200 families had been evacuated from their villages.
Badi urged a Saudi-led military coalition and international organizations to provide urgent aid to the island.
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-yemen-security-cyclone/tropical-storm-hits-yemens-socotra-state-of-emergency-declared-idUSKCN1IP14Y and also https://www.alaraby.co.uk/english/news/2018/5/24/yemenis-missing-at-sea-as-cyclone-pounds-socotra
photos: https://www.facebook.com/exploringsocotra/posts/1146596682146672
film: http://m.hourpress.net/news-88029.htm = https://twitter.com/hournews_net/status/999426862467207171
(** A)
#URGENT APPEAL FROM #SOCOTRA
As a result of the cyclone #Macono off the Northern and Southern coasts of the island of #Socotra, the number of missing persons increased to seventeen so far.
Disruption of the communication network with most of the island areas and the flow of floods are closing the roads.
The resources available to the local authorities in the #Socotra Archipelago are insufficient to cope with the effects of the Maconoa storm. We appeal to the #UNESCO and all the supporters to intervene urgently in rescue, shelter and tracing operations. (photos)
https://www.facebook.com/alahajjali/posts/10211627827997962 = https://www.facebook.com/LivingInYemenOnTheEdge/posts/1752091461510543
The cyclone has caused severe flooding and damage to houses, bringing with it strong winds and thunderstorms.
“The situation is extremely critical,” said the former governor of the island, Salem Abdullah Al Socotri.
“The roads are flooded, and we cannot get out of [the northern coastal town] of Hadibu to see what is going on in other areas of the island. Also, the strong winds have intercepted telecommunications, so we are almost isolated.”
(* A)
Update zum Sturm MEKUNU vor Jemen/Oman
Wie schon angekündigt verstärkt sich auf dem Arabischen Meer der Tropensturm MEKUNU, der inzwischen nach Satellitenbildanalysen mittlere Windgeschwindigkeiten bis etwa 110 km/h mit noch deutlich stärkeren Böen aufweist. Und er wird immer stärker. Die aktuellsten Satellitenbilder zeigen im Zentrum des Sturms sogar ein Auge, was auf eine noch höhere Intensität hindeutet. Als starker Zyklon kann der Sturm zum Wochenende auf die Arabische Halbinsel treffen, wahrscheinlich im Grenzbereich der beiden Staaten Jemen und Oman.
http://wetterkanal.kachelmannwetter.com/update-zum-sturm-mekunu-vor-jemenoman/
(* A)
Mekunu intensifies in Arabian Sea
Very severe Cyclonic Storm Mekunu has formed in the Arabian Sea and is intensifiying on a path towards Oman and Yemen, It follows less than a week after cyclone Sagar, which caused flash floods and casualties in Yemen, Somalia and Djibouti. Meteorological services are issuing regular warnings in an effort to keep loss of life and property to a minimum.
WMO’s Regional Specialized Meteorological Centre(RSMC) New Delhi, operated by the India Meteorological Department, forecasts that Mekunu will intensify further as it moves north-northwestwards. It is expected to cross the South Oman and Southeast Yemen coasts and make landfall near the port town of Salalah (Oman) on 26 May as a very severe cyclonic storm with maximum sustained wind speed of 150-160 kilometers per hour gusting to 180 km/h. This is the equivalent of a category 2 hurricane on the Saffir Simpson scale.
https://reliefweb.int/report/yemen/mekunu-intensifies-arabian-sea and map https://reliefweb.int/map/yemen/tropical-cyclone-mekunu-warning-n5-may-23-2018-915-am
Vorige / Previous:
https://www.freitag.de/autoren/dklose/jemenkrieg-mosaik-415-yemen-war-mosaic-415
Jemenkrieg-Mosaik 1-415 / Yemen War Mosaic 1-415:
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
http://yemenwarcrimes.blogspot.de/
und alle Liste aller Luftangriffe / and list of all air raids:
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