June 6, 2018: US drone killing, Trump style – Hodeidah: Looming assault, causing humanitarian catastrophe; Pending: More US interference; Magical thinking behind an attack at Hodeidah – 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
cp1b Am wichtigsten: Kampf um Hodeidah / Most important: Hodeidah battle
cp2 Allgemein / General
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
cp12a Katar-Krise / Qatar crisis
cp13 Waffenhandel / Arms Trade
cp14 Terrorismus / Terrorism
cp15 Propaganda
cp16 Saudische Luftangriffe / Saudi air raids
cp17 Kriegsereignisse / Theater of War
cp18 Sonstiges / Other
Klassifizierung / Classification
***
**
*
(Kein Stern / No star)
? = 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 K P)
Targeted Killing, Donald Trump Style
The administration is bombing people all over the planet, under looser rules and in the shadows.
While these two surprise attacks by suspected al-Qaeda and ISIS fighters on the ground raised important questions about America’s military presence in countries where we haven’t declared war, as usual the queries and public outrage failed to illuminate the iceberg beneath the surface. U.S. military activity—in particular, airstrikes and raids in the Middle East and Africa, not to mention Afghanistan—has not only accelerated under the Trump administration, but targeted killing campaigns are reportedly operating under fewer constraints and with less transparency than even under the notoriously secretive Obama administration.
In short, there’s a lot of kinetic action going on that the American public doesn’t know about—at least until something awful happens or officials are forced to show their cards, and even then, they will be holding most of the deck under the table.
Earlier this year, investigative journalist Nick Turse, who U.S. African Command blacklisted after claiming he was not “legitimate,” reported that the U.S. has Special Forces operating in 149 countries on the planet—a 150 percent increase over the George W. Bush years. But what about the skies? Of this we have only troubling glimpses. According to the Bureau of Investigative Journalism, the Trump administration launched over 160 strikes in Yemen and Somalia in 2017—that’s 100 percent and 30 percent more, respectively, than the drone-loving Obama administration launched the year before. The attacks in Afghanistan as of January 1 were reaching the same levels as the 2009-2010 “surge,” and we all know how well that’s working out.
Since January, the Bureau has reported 27 lethal strikes in Yemen, 14 in Somalia,and upwards of 50 strikes in Afghanistan during the same time period.
The worst of it all is, after three administrations setting, executing, and accelerating targeted killing programs of this nature, there has never been a real conversation about whether or not they work. Imagine that: tens of thousands of airstrikes, thousands of lives lost, and no honest assessment of the success, or blowback, whatever it might be. Official Washington likes to debate what “CT policy” should be, but not surprisingly, no one ever suggests that the idea of targeted killing should be reexamined entirely.
“We’ve been doing it, and keep on doing it without taking that step back to ask whether it’s effective, not just because we are spending billions of dollars, and Americans have lost their lives and all sorts of other people have lost their lives as well,” said Siemion, “But that there is a possibility it’s counterproductive and we are paying this very high price for something that is actually making the threat worse.”
Considering Trump, who has issued notoriously tone-deaf statements about targeting terrorists’ families and wondering aloud why a drone operator “waited”before dropping a bomb on a Syrian target, there’s not much hope such an examination will come soon. “So by default,” lamented Siemion, “everything’s on autopilot.” – by Kelley Beaucar Vlahos
http://www.theamericanconservative.com/articles/targeted-killing-donald-trump-style/
cp1a Am wichtigsten: Seuchen / Most important: Epidemics
(* B H)
WHO: Cholera ‘continues to threaten millions’ in Yemen
The fight against cholera in Yemen is “far from over”, the World Health Organisation (WHO) said yesterday, and that the epidemic “continues to threaten million..”
“The rainy season runs from mid-April to the end of August, which will further increase the risk of transmission,” the UN agency said in a statement on its official website.
Cholera continues to be a threat for “millions” in the war-torn country, especially women, children and the elderly, according to WHO’s statement.
“Efforts are now being coordinated to save the lives of vulnerable population groups and get Yemen rid of this water borne but preventable disease.”
The UN agency’s representative in Yemen, Nevio Zagaria, said that a third wave of the epidemic is expected, which necessitates the adoption of public health methods against it.
https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20180606-who-cholera-continues-to-threaten-millions-in-yemen/
(* B H)
World Health Organization: Amidst the devastation of war in Yemen, efforts are under way to control cholera
In the room next door lies Baraa, just four months old. Her emaciated body battles severe acute malnutrition compounded with cholera.
Even getting to the hospital was a struggle, as Baraa’s family barely has enough money to pay for transportation and medication. “The conflict here caused my husband to lose his job. He can no longer provide for us. We have to borrow money,” said Baraa’s mother.
Amidst the chaos and devastation of the prolonged conflict in Yemen, tens of thousands of families here are facing similar circumstances. Poor communities are hit the hardest. As people here struggle to survive and get enough to eat, they also face the double burden of lacking clean water and sanitation. This leaves them susceptible to cholera, a deadly disease that is all the more tragic because it is preventable.
Measures are now being taken to mitigate further spread of the disease. As a part of a broader integrated response plan supported by the World Health Organization (WHO), UNICEF and the World Bank partnership, an oral cholera vaccination (OCV) campaign was launched on May 6th 2018 and was fully supported by the national health authorities in cooperation with WHO and UNICEF. It is the first time this has been done in Yemen.
Almost 275,000 doses of OCV were administered in May across 5 priority districts in Aden. Nearly 70% of the target population successfully received OCV.
Further OCV campaigns are planned for other priority areas across Yemen. Prevention and control measures are imperative to slow and ultimately contain the outbreak from spreading further.
“As the third wave of cholera looms upon armed conflict-ridden Yemen, the uptake of this crucial public health tool is a vital and substantial prevention measure in the fight against this epidemic. In addition to conducting vaccination campaigns, an integrated comprehensive cholera outbreak response operational plan has been developed in cooperation with the health authorities and collaboration with health partners to implement activities regarding early detection, referral, case investigation and management, water and sanitation, health education, promotion and food hygiene,” said Dr Nevio Zagaria, WHO Representative in Yemen.
The fight is far from over.
(* A H)
Yemen: Cholera Attack Rate (%) Population (From 27 April - 30 May 2018)
(* A H)
Yemen: Cholera Suspected Cases (From 27 April - 30 May 2018)
https://reliefweb.int/map/yemen/yemen-cholera-suspected-cases-27-april-30-may-2018
cp1b Am wichtigsten: Kampf um Hodeidah / Most important: Hodeidah battle
Siehe cp7 (UN-Friedensgespräche) / Look at cp7 (UN peace talks)
(** A B H K)
Die Schlacht um Jemens Nadelöhr
Im Jemen steht der Kampf um den wichtigsten Hafen des Landes bevor. Die Gefechte dürften die Versorgung der Millionen bedürftigen Menschen im Bürgerkriegsland noch schwieriger machen.
Hudaida ist das Nadelöhr, durch das die spärliche humanitäre Hilfe in den Jemengelangt. Rund 80 Prozent der Hilfslieferungen in das Bürgerkriegsland passieren den Hafen am Roten Meer. Doch nun droht diese Versorgungslinie gekappt zu werden, denn es steht eine folgenreiche Schlacht um die wichtigste und größte Hafenstadt des Landes bevor.
Doch nun sind Anti-Huthi-Truppen von Süden bis auf wenige Kilometer auf Hudaida vorgerückt. Augenzeugen berichten von schweren Gefechten am Rande des Flughafens, der wenige Kilometer südlich des Stadtzentrums liegt.
Der eigentliche Kampf um die Stadt wird in den nächsten Tagen beginnen, seit vergangenem Mittwoch starben in den Vororten nach Angaben von Medizinern mindestens 110 Menschen. Schon jetzt ist rund jeder vierte der 400.000 Einwohner aus Hudaida geflüchtet. Hilfsorganisationen rechnen damit, dass in den nächsten Tagen 200.000 weitere vertrieben werden könnten. Durch die Kämpfe droht der Hafen auf absehbare Zeit außer Betrieb gesetzt zu werden. Für die 18 Millionen Jemeniten, die auf Hilfe aus dem Ausland angewiesen sind, bedeutet das eine drohende Katastrophe.
Zwar hat die von Saudi-Arabien angeführte Militärkoalition angekündigt, sie werde alles unternehmen, um Zivilisten und die zivile Infrastruktur in Hudaida zu schonen, doch die Huthis werden die Stadt um jeden Preis verteidigen.
Die Truppen, die jetzt kurz vor Hudaida stehen, kämpften bis vor einem halben Jahr noch an der Seite der Huthis. Sie stehen unter dem Befehl von Tareq al-Saleh - dem Neffen des einstigen Langzeitpräsidenten Ali Abdullah Saleh.
Doch noch wichtiger ist die Kontrolle über den Küstenstreifen für die VAE. Für die Häfen in Dubai und Abu Dhabi ist die Sicherung der Seewege durch den Golf von Aden und das Bab al-Mandab, das das Arabische mit dem Roten Meer verbindet, von größter Bedeutung. Denn diese Route nehmen Schiffe aus Europa.
Die Schlacht um Hudaida droht daher, die humanitäre Lage im Jemen weiter zu verschärfen, ein Ende des Krieges und des Machtkampfes im Jemen ist aber weiter nicht in Sicht.
http://www.spiegel.de/politik/ausland/jemen-die-schlacht-um-das-nadeloehr-hudaida-a-1210751.html = https://www.watson.ch/international/naher%20osten/210434957-die-schlacht-um-hudaida-im-jemen-droht-eine-jahrhundert-katastrophe und Fotos: http://www.spiegel.de/fotostrecke/jemen-angriff-auf-hudaida-fotostrecke-161210.html
Mein Kommentar: Tareq Salehs Republikanische Garde ist nur rein Teil der bunt zusammengewürfelten Truppe, die nach Hodeidah vorgerückt ist. Es gibt weiterhin reguläre Armeeangehörige, verschiedene südjemenitische Milizen mit engen Kontakten zu den Separatisten, Söldner bzw. Nach Jemen abkommandierte Soldaten aus dem Sudan, Truppen der VAR, neugebildete Milizen aus Bewohnern der Westküste, und wahrscheinlich ist auch Al Kaida mit von der Partie.
(** B K P)
The Magical Thinking Behind An Attack On Hudaydah
Over the last several days, the Wall Street Journal and The Washington Post have independently reported that the Trump administration is softening on a potential United Arab Emirates-led assault on Hudaydah, Yemen’s largest port and a major logistics hub for the international response to the world’s worst humanitarian crisis.
To justify the U.S. volte face, anonymous officials are internally promoting a distressingly cavalier line of reasoning:
“We have folks who are frustrated and ready to say: ‘Let’s do this. We’ve been flirting with this for a long time. Something needs to change the dynamic, and if we help the Emiratis do it better, this could be good,’” the senior U.S. official said.
The logic of “this could be good” has been informed, in part, by the steady pressure of its allies in the Saudi-led coalition supplemented by arguments from their supporters in DC. These arguments sing the expected paeans to UAE military capacity and downplay the immediate costs of any attack. More importantly, they promote a magical strategic thinking, in which a successful recapturing of the port, no matter how bloody or drawn out, will lead directly to Houthi rebel capitulation, a negotiated peace, and a significant easing of the humanitarian crisis.
The steps between “attack Hudaydah” and “peace,” however, are less than clear. Moreover, this magical thinking fails to grapple not only with the offensive’s extraordinary immediate risks but its long-term strategic pitfalls as well.
Speaking to Defense One in late May, UAE Foreign Minister Anwar Gargash stated that the Houthi rebels are “softening” and that “the military pressure is designed to change the calculus and bring a political solution. We aren’t looking for a total military victory.” Similarly, the Washington Institute for Near East Policy and the Arabia Foundation have released analyses to buttress this point, arguing that Hudaydah’s loss could cripple the rebels—already weakened by the December 2017 killing of former president and ally-of-convenience Ali Abdullah Saleh—and force their leaders to the table.
The loss of Hudaydah would certainly tighten belts since it’s the largest of a series of customs collection points that have garnered the Houthis as much as $30 million per month. But it’s not at all clear that the Houthis couldn’t survive from other revenue sources
Murkier still is the extent to which Hudaydah’s loss will represent a territorial or psychological defeat sharp enough to foment internal dissent and force them to negotiate on the coalition’s terms. The Houthi core is still a mountain-based insurgency, and the loss of the coastal plain still leaves them in control of much of Yemen’s highlands.
Given Houthi control of Sana’a and their military advantage in the mountains, Houthi entrenchment in the highlands, which the coalition still has yet to significantly crack, is likely to continue. Furthermore, the execution of this assault at a time when the Houthis have dipped a toe into the peace process by maintaining open lines of communicationwith new UN Special Envoy Martin Griffiths could permanently sour the insular group on any further international negotiations. In that case, a cure-all Hudaydah offensive in 2018 could easily become a cure-all Sana’a offensive in 2019 or 2020, with famine and rising casualty counts filling headlines in the intervening months.
The Washington Institute’s analysis argues that any humanitarian shortfall stemming from the assault will be offset by the benefits of coalition port management. According to this analysis, Houthi corruption and bellicosity, and not the coalition’s late 2017 blockade and ongoing holds and secondary inspections of commercial vessels, are primarily responsible for the port’s current underperformance. Although the Houthis are hardly desirable port authorities, this argument assumes both that the coalition can manage Hudaydah port well and that there will be much left to manage after an attack. Both assumptions are questionable.
If past is prologue, then Hudaydah is in for lackluster coalition management. Aden port, even two-and-a-half years after its liberation from Houthi forces, is hamstrung by needless access barriers.
The coalition is likely to replicate these restrictions at Hudaydah, knowing full well that most imported goods will be subject to Houthi customs collections on their way to Sana’a. Substituting Houthi rent-seeking with coalition mismanagement may prove to be a wash.
Ultimately, an attack on Hudaydah is not a strategically savvy push for peace, but another bid to win the conflict decisively—against an opponent that has the pretense of a government but the survival outlook of a radical, long-term insurgency. The Houthis, outnumbered but committed to defending their hold on the city, are in a position to lose the battle on their terms by contributing to a bloodbath, exhausting their enemies, and withdrawing to fight again –by Eric Eikenberry, director of policy & advocacy at the Yemen Peace Project
https://lobelog.com/the-magical-thinking-behind-an-attack-on-hudaydah/
(B H K)
Who told media the population of Hodeidah is 600K? Hodeidah used to be Yemen's 2nd most populous province with around 3 million. How many has war displaced? 100K, 200K, 500K or 1 million? Don't forget nearly 23 million out of Yemenis live in Houthi-run regions including Hodeidah
https://twitter.com/FuadRajeh/status/1004386752881143810
(* A K P)
#Yemen press is reporting leaflet drops by coalition planes over #Hodeidah yesterday. If true, implies battle is imminent, may be messy, & civilians at risk. Leaflets tell citizens -Rise up against Houthis as coalition forces enter -Help coalition by avoiding key Houthi locations (images)
https://twitter.com/Dr_E_Kendall/status/1004263823145160705
(* A K P)
Imp. Alert : The orphanage in Sana'a sends a call for distress and clarification because of the direct incitement, lying and deceit that Muammar Al-Iryani @ERYANIM made against the orphanage through a tweet on his official Twitter account.
https://twitter.com/A7medJa7af/status/1004166510867353602
The orphanage in Sana'a sends a call for distress and clarification because of the direct incitement, lying and deceit perpetrated by the mercenary Muammar al-Iryani, "the Minister of Information in the Government of Hadi" against the house through a filthy tirade on Twitter.
https://twitter.com/A7medJa7af/status/1004164295628861445
Remark: Iryani had claimed that the Houthis had sent 200 orphans as fighters to the battlefields in Hodeidah province, look at YPR 418, cp1b.
(A K P)
Yemen’s Army Spokesman: The Only Way to Save Mercenaries on The West Coast is to Surrender or Withdraw
The official spokesman of the armed forces Brigadier General, Sharaf Luqman, said on Monday that the military operations in the West Coast are conducted with high combat experience, reinforced by extensive training, material capabilities, sophisticated weaponry and a military doctrine saturated with patriotism, pointing out that “the only way to mercenaries to survive is to surrender or withdraw.”
“The battle has not and will not be in their favor, as the media claimed. The offensive strategy of the Army and Popular Committees is based on deliberate plans to exhaust the enemy,” said Luqman, calling who is being seduced by people from the southern provinces to withdraw, “you are being taken to death camps in the West Coast,” he added.
My comment: By the Houthi-associated part of the Yemeni army. – This statement is far from realism.
(** A H K P)
Residents of Yemeni port city prepare for an invasion
News over the weekend that the Trump administration was considering expanding the US role in the Yemen war may have been premature.
A National Security Council spokesperson on Monday denied reports that the White House was weighing whether to directly assist a possible Saudi-led coalition invasion of Yemen's Red Sea port of Hodeidah.
“Reports of a meeting today were erroneous," the spokeperson told The World. "The White House does not issue statements about internal policy deliberations.”
The denial adds to confusion over a military campaign, well in progress, to drive Houthi insurgents from Hodeidah.
People began fleeing rural areas of Hodeidah, a region larger than Connecticut, earlier this year as fighting forces approached from the north and south. Now as the war has reached to within a few miles of Hodeidah City and its deep-water port, residents are making plans to leave, or they are stocking up on food and fuel to survive a siege.
"We buy new things like wheat, sugar, and salt and oil," said Hanadi, a Yemeni aid worker who spoke to The World via WhatsApp Monday. (She asked that we only use her first name because of security concerns.) She's taking her lead from friends who survived the siege of another Yemeni port city, Aden, in 2015. "There wasn't enough food," says Hanadi. "They couldn't eat for two days." Municipal services such as water and electricity were interrupted in Aden.
"So we are providing our home [in Hodeidah] with light, with wheat, sugar, salt — everything that we need."
Supplies and services aren't the only concerns. Hanadi says ethnic divisions in Hodeidah are aggravated by the approach of government forces. "We don't talk with our neighbors about the security situation," she says, "because most of them are Houthis."
"The very rapid advance to Hodeidah was indeed much easier than expected," said Michael Knights, a security analyst at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, a conservative think tank. "Had the coalition exploited into the port and city immediately, they might already have many facilities in their hands. However, instead they paused for political reasons. This has given the Houthis the space to recover from shock and reinforce and deploy new minefields. This is a shame."
Houthi security in Hodeidah City has tightened, says Hanadi, following airstrikes by Saudi-led coalition planes over the weekend. "People feel scar[ed]," she says, "and we see that military vehicles [have] covered all the street[s]."
Hodeidah businessman Abu Yeslam, who also asked that we not use his real name, says residents have mixed feelings about the advance of government troops on their city.
"They were happy," Yeslam says. "At the same time, they are afraid because [with militias] approaching and liberating Hodeidah city from Houthis, [there] might be a very strong conflict."
Hanadi has heard similar concerns. "My family says that we have to move, because the news is very bad and most people travel to their villages," she says. "Our neighbors here travel [south] to Aden. Many of them we see travel [north] to Sanaa, [including] my uncles and my cousins. All of them travel because they feel that that is a scary moment in Hodeidah." – by Stephen Snyder
https://www.pri.org/stories/2018-06-05/residents-yemeni-port-city-prepare-invasion
(* A K P)
U.S. warns United Arab Emirates against assault on Yemeni port Hodeidah
The United States has warned its close ally the United Arab Emirates not to launch an assault on Yemen’s port city of Hodeidah, which United Nations experts fear could precipitate a new humanitarian crisis, U.S. officials said on Tuesday.
The warning was issued as Emirati-backed Yemeni forces moved within 6 miles (10 km) of the Red Sea port, a lifeline for humanitarian supplies for the country’s war-wracked populace. The port is controlled by Yemen’s Houthi movement.
U.N. officials have warned that an assault on Hodeidah, which has a population of about 600,000, would cause a humanitarian calamity. A U.N. contingency plan projects that in the worst-case scenario of a prolonged siege, tens of thousands could die.
“In terms of an operation on Hodeidah, we’ve been quite clear that we want to engage on the political track,” a Western official said on condition of anonymity, adding that U.N. envoy for Yemen Martin Griffiths “now has the best chance of anyone in quite some time of getting it moving.”
“This is a point that we’ve made at the top level,” the official added. “The Saudis and Emiratis have made clear that they would not move without a joint understanding from their friends and partners of what the next steps are - what the day after will be - if there were an assault on Hodeidah.”
U.S. officials met at the White House on Tuesday to discuss the crisis, two sources with knowledge of the meeting said. It was unclear whether any decisions were reached.
and
(* A K P)
United States warns UAE not to assault Yemen port city of Hodeidah
A spokesperson for the White House National Security Council said Washington opposed any effort by the Emirates and Yemeni troops it backs to seize the city.
"The United States has been clear and consistent that we will not support actions that destroy key infrastructure or that are likely to exacerbate the dire humanitarian situation that has expanded in this stalemated conflict," said the spokesperson, who was not authorised to speak publicly about the matter and asked not to be named.
"We expect all parties to abide by the Law of Armed Conflict and avoid targeting civilians or commercial infrastructure," the spokesperson said.
(* A B K)
2018 Red Sea Coast Offensive
An Emirati-backed Yemeni offensive has secured the main coastal road to al Hudaydah. Yemeni forces, including the National Resistance Forces commanded by Tariq Saleh, Giants Brigade commanded by southern Salafis, Tihama Resistance forces, and Saudi-led coalition forces, advanced roughly 30 miles north between May 24 and 28 seizing populated areas along the road. These forces are consolidating their positions and amassing in al Darayhimi district along the coast south of al Hudaydah city to prepare for the next phase of the operation. Al Houthi forces blocked advances inland toward a parallel road near al Zabid and al Husseiniya cities and are reinforcing positions in Bayt al Faqiah district, southeast of al Hudaydah city. They counterattacked in al Darayhimi and in al Tuhayta districts on June 1 and 2 and are blocking an advance north from Hays city toward al Jarahi city. UN Special Envoy to Yemen Martin Griffiths, who will present his plan to the UN Security Council on June 18, had warned that a military recapture of al Hudaydah city would spoil efforts to resume political negotiations. Griffiths proposedplacing the port under UN supervision as an alternative to a Saudi-led coalition offensive during a June 2 meeting with al Houthi officials in Sana’a. UN and international aid agencies warn that damage to or closure of al Hudaydah port will exacerbate Yemen’s humanitarian crisis.
It is not clear whether or when the assault on al Hudaydah city and port will begin (with exact timeline) – by Maker Farukh
https://www.criticalthreats.org/analysis/2018-red-sea-coast-offensive
(* A K)
#Yemen: #Hudaydah port still operating normally but vulnerable to closure if fighting encroaches. Traffic would likely be diverted to #Aden - Risk Intelligence System (MaRisk+PortRisk) https://new.riskintelligence.eu
https://twitter.com/riskstaff/status/1003992363465768960
(A K pH)
Yemeni Forces' Missile Strike Kills Dozens of UAE-Backed Gunmen in Western Yemen
http://en.farsnews.com/newstext.aspx?nn=13970315000433
Remark: As claimed by the Houthis.
(* A K)
Yemeni forces make new gains in Hodeida advance: coalition
Yemeni government forces are only around nine kilometres (six miles) from Hodeida, the Saudi-led military coalition said Monday, announcing fresh gains in their advance on the strategic rebel-held port city.
The coalition-backed forces are closing in on the Red Sea port, the main conduit for humanitarian supplies into a country where millions of people are in dire need of food aid.
"The Yemeni army backed by coalition forces are nine kilometres from Hodeida," coalition spokesman Turki al-Maliki told reporters in Riyadh.
(A K pS)
Military Brigades of the National Resistance led by Brig. Tariq Saleh have finalized the recruitment of a new batch of fighters from the districts of the Western Coast, preparing them to join the fighting fronts against the #Houthis. (photo)
https://twitter.com/RepYemenEnglish/status/1004126102988771328
My comment: Be aware of the simple bias of anti-Houthi propaganda: If Houthis recruit fighters, that’s bad and a sign of their brutale rule. If we do, it’s good and heroic.
(A K pS)
Film: The #Houthi militia has left weapons and other military equipment after they escaped a number of their sites on the Western Coast Front, and all of those weapons were taken by the Joint Forces as spoils of war.
https://twitter.com/RepYemenEnglish/status/1004122634114818059
(A K pS)
The Moral Guidance Department of al-Amaleqah Forces have conducts awareness sessions and campaigns to rehabilitate tens of #Houthi prisoners who were arrested during the past couple of days in the battles of the Western Front. (photos)
https://twitter.com/RepYemenEnglish/status/1003759714277232645
https://twitter.com/RepYemenEnglish/status/1004133352373448704
(* A K P)
Despite U.S. warnings, Yemeni forces backed by UAE advance toward crucial port
Yemeni forces backed by the United Arab Emirates have rapidly advanced to less than 10 miles from the rebel-held seaport of Hodeida, threatening to attack despite U.S. and United Nations warnings against undermining hoped-for peace talks and exacerbating Yemen’s humanitarian crisis.
“It’s a very fluid situation,” a senior U.S. official said after talks in Riyadh, the Saudi Arabian capital, last week with Emirati and Saudi officials. “We have really advised them to proceed with extreme caution, not to make a move on the city or the port for all sorts of reasons.”
“We’re trying to stay the Emirati hand right now,” the official said.
U.N. envoy Martin Griffiths, after discussions with all parties over the past several weeks, plans to present a new peace proposal on Friday to resolve the conflict
The UAE has not asked for additional American military support to bolster a Hodeida offensive, according to U.S. and Emirati officials. U.S. defense officials said there are no plans to reduce current levels of assistance, which includes intelligence and aerial refueling for Saudi and Emirati warplanes.
Emirati ground forces are about nine miles from Hodeida, and the UAE government told U.S. officials that they will not move forward. At the same time, however, the UAE says it has no control over the Yemeni government forces that it has trained and assisted.
The UAE has “coordinated with the U.S., with the [U.N.] envoy. Everyone is in line with [the] strategy,” said a senior Arab official who spoke on the condition of anonymity, on both name and country. “No one is being surprised.”
Part of that strategy involves pressuring the Houthis into accepting new peace negotiations; the UAE has also proposed turning the port over to international control.
The U.S. official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss private diplomatic talks, said the Emiratis “reaffirmed” last week that their forces “are not planning at this time” to participate in a Hodeida offensive but that “the situation could change . . . if there is an attack on them or some sort of provocation from inside the city meant to draw them in.”
The official said the Emiratis are “the key players there,” despite claims that they have no control. If the rebels unilaterally attack approaching Yemeni forces, “we might very well ask Hadi and the Emiratis to intervene.” – by Karen DeYoung and Missy Ryan
(* A K)
Are Yemeni Forces and the Saudi-UAE Coalition Ready to Protect Civilians in Port Assault?
A key consideration for any such operation, supported by the U.S. or not, should be whether the forces have prepared sufficiently so they can take all feasible measures to reduce civilian harm and ensure humanitarian access across Yemen, as they are obligated to do under international humanitarian law?
Contacts on the ground have told us that landmines have been planted by the Houthis in the outskirts of the city and on the highway, which are deterring civilians from leaving Hodeidah. Planting landmines is a common tactic of the Houthis to slow advancing forces, but with deadly consequences for civilians trying to flee areas of fighting.
The offensive on Hodeidah is being carried out by disparate forces with different command-and-control structures rather than a unified command under the Yemeni government. That has serious implications for civilian protection, because of the difficulty of ensuring all fighters adhere to any standards that might be established.
The forces include the National Resistance, a group of fighters loyal to Yemen’s ex-president, Ali Abdullah Saleh, who was killed in December; the Tihama Resistance, whose fighters are recruited from the Red Sea costal area and are loyal to Yemeni President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi; and the Giant Brigades, an elite unit backed by the UAE and formed of southern Yemeni fighters who are leading the offensive. Advancing ground forces are supported by air strikes conducted by the Saudi-led coalition.
Necessary planning to reduce civilian harm would require the coalition and the Yemeni government to ensure forces are trained to fight in populated areas, to avoid using weapons with wide area effect such artillery and multiple barrel rockets in such areas, and agreeing on precautionary measures to minimize civilian harm and property beforeoperations begin in the city.
Comprehensive preparation to account for civilian protection also includes coordinating with humanitarian aid providers to offer food, shelter and medical assistance to those who remain in the city and to those who flee.
At this time, there are more questions than answers about protection for civilians.
My comment: It is an illusion (and deflection of reality by everyone who leads a war and wants to downplay its effects) that a war or battle could be committed without great harm to civilians. – And, as this article shows, for Hodeidah the conditions to avoid greater harm to civilians is zero.
Comment: Has the war on #Yemen ever shown any moment of care towards civilians? The #Hodeidah offensive would not even be considered if Yemeni lives mattered
https://twitter.com/Bilquis100/status/1003706554355351552
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Jemen: VAE und Saudi-Arabien wollen mehr US-Unterstützung
Die Einnahme der Hafenstadt Al-Hudaida im Jemen steht auf der saudi-arabischen Kriegsagenda als enorm wichtiges Etappenziel. Seit Monaten ist immer wieder die Rede davon, dass der Entscheidungs-Kampf um Al-Hudaida bevorsteht.
Vergangene Woche berichtete Reuters, dass mit der saudi-arabischen Koalition verbundene Kräfte nur etwa 20 Kilometer von der Hafenstadt, die von den Huthis kontrolliert wird, entfernt seien. Das dramatische Bild dazu liefert Jan Egeland von der Norwegischen Flüchtlingshilfe:
„Die Bodentruppen der Koalition sind nun an der Schwelle zu dieser zur Festung ausgebauten und verminten Hafenstadt. Tausende Zivilisten fliehen aus den Randzonen von Al-Hudaida, das nun zur Kampfzone wird. Dort darf es keinen Krieg geben. Das wäre wie ein Krieg in Antwerpen oder in Rotterdam. Das ist vergleichbar.“
Laut den Quellen des WSJ-Journalisten Dion Nissenbaum wollen die Vereinigten Arabischen Emirate direkte militärische Unterstützung der USA für den Angriff, erst dann würde man entsprechende militärische Schritte einleiten: "the Saudis and the UAE will not act until they receive U.S. support", zitiert The Hill aus dem Artikel des Wall Street Journals.
Als materielle Unterstützung wird im WSJ-Artikel der Einsatz von Überwachungsdrohnen genannt, Außenminister Pompeo soll um eine schnelle Einschätzung gebeten haben. Die Regierung in Washington erwäge noch. "Wir haben große Bedenken", heißt es von einem hochrangigen Regierungsvertreter. Man sei nicht überzeugt davon, dass die Koalition einen Angriff auf die Stadt durchführen könnte, der "sauber" ausfallen würde und katastrophale Zwischenfälle vermeiden kann.
Daran ist unschwer abzulesen, dass es den Vereinigten Arabischen Emiraten und Saudi-Arabien um mehr geht als um eine bloße militärisch-technische Unterstützung. Man will eine echte Rückendeckung für den Angriff durch die USA.
(* B K P)
The U.S. Must Oppose a Saudi Coalition Attack on Hodeidah
U.S. support for the war on Yemen has been a disgrace for the last three years. Increasing that support to enable coalition forces to attack Hodeidah would be the worst thing our government could do in Yemen right now. Instead of entertaining requests for increased military assistance, our government needs to be withdrawing all support. Coalition governments need to believe that the U.S. won’t tolerate an attack on Hodeidah, and just by considering this the administration is giving them reason to think that they can go ahead with the attack on their own.
The report’s language is misleading in a few ways. First, the coalition wants to seize the port to tighten the stranglehold they have on Yemen’s civilian population. If they were interested in ensuring the delivery of aid, they would not be blockading the country and impeding the flow of goods and aid into Yemen. Seizing the port is a death sentence for countless Yemeni civilians who would starve and die from other preventable causes as a result. If they attack Hodeidah, the Saudi coalition wouldn’t be “retaking” the port, since they are foreign governments intervening in Yemen and never controlled the port in the first place.
If the coalition attacks the port, it will not be for “humanitarian aid,” since the attack will cut off the vast majority of the population from their access to commercial goods and humanitarian aid. Aid groups are warning against doing this because of the likely disastrous effects it would have on a civilian population already ravaged by famine and disease – by Daniel Larison
Comment: A good summary of the situation at Hodeida. Note the port of Aden captured by the coalition nearly three years ago still has no major reconstruction, is still very unstable, has widespread poverty and food insecurity, and no jobs. So what on earth will change if the coalition take the port of Hodeida. As this report says, if they wanted to improve the life of Yemenis they could have just let aid into the port but they chose not to do so - even bombing the cranes that offload ships delivering commercial goods and humanitarian aid. As for direct American assistance it may indeed speed the coalition take over of the port but it will massively increase resistance to the coalition and leave Hodeida with more instability.
https://www.facebook.com/judith.brown.794628/posts/10156734398338641
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Aid Groups Issue Grave Warnings as US Considers Major Escalation of Military Role in Yemen
"The push for Hodeidah is likely to exacerbate an already catastrophic security situation in Yemen," Francois Moreillon, head of the International Committee of the Red Cross delegation in Yemen, told the Journal in response to the White House's reported plan.
Amid reports that Saudi-backed forces are now just miles away from Hodeidah after taking over a nearby town, Norway Refugee Council chief Jan Egeland additionally warned that an attack on the port city "would destroy the lifeline to millions."
Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.)—one of the few lawmakers from either side of the aisle to speak out forcefully against U.S. complicity in the Saudi-led assault on Yemen—ridiculed the Trump administration's apparent consideration of a plan that could further devastate a nation in which millions are already on the brink of famine.
(* A K P)
Rep. Chris Murphy: Trump Foreign Policy 101: U.S.: “Saudis, don’t invade Hodeidah. Terrible idea. Tons of civilians will die.” Saudis: “We’re doing it.” U.S.: “Please don’t. Could be catastrophic.” Saudis: “We’re doing it anyway.” U.S.: “Yea? Ok. Maybe we’ll help.”
https://twitter.com/ChrisMurphyCT/status/1003483913577205760
(* A K P)
U.S. Weighs Expanding Military Role in Yemen War
United Arab Emirates seeks direct U.S. help to capture Red Sea port from Iran-backed Houthi fighters
The Trump administration is weighing an appeal from the United Arab Emirates for direct U.S. support to seize Yemen’s main port for humanitarian aid from Iranian-backed Houthi fighters, according to U.S. officials, a move they worry could have catastrophic effects on the country.
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has asked for a quick assessment of the UAE’s plea for assistance such as surveillance drone flights to help a Saudi-led coalition retake Hodeidah, which currently serves as a vital lifeline for the country’s 29 million residents, U.S. officials said.
U.A.E. and Saudi Arabian officials have assured the U.S. that they won’t try to seize the Red Sea port until they get backing from Washington, American officials said. But there is growing concern in the Trump administration that fighting around the city could spiral out of control and force Washington’s hand. Yemeni fighters backed by the coalition are battling Houthis near the city.
“We continue to have a lot of concerns about a Hodeidah operation,” said one senior U.S. official. “We are not 100% comfortable that, even if the coalition did launch an attack, that they would be able to do it cleanly and avoid a catastrophic incident.”
The U.S. and the Saudi-led coalition have agreed that U.A.E. forces overseeing military operations won’t enter the port in the near-term so that the United Nations’ new special envoy on Yemen, Martin Griffiths, can try to jump start moribund diplomatic efforts to end the fighting, according to one Arab official.
But there is broad concern that Yemeni forces aligned with the Saudi-led coalition will act on their own.
Top Yemen specialists in the U.S. administration are expected to meet on Monday to discuss what to do. Saudi Arabia and the U.A.E., which provides the main military backing for the Yemeni forces working to take Hodeidah, have long sought U.S. support for the operation.
https://www.wsj.com/articles/u-s-weighs-expanding-military-role-in-yemen-war-1528064393 and https://twitter.com/DionNissenbaum/status/1003403776890425345 and also https://www.zerohedge.com/news/2018-06-04/us-debating-whether-expand-military-presence-yemen
Comment: US had 2 Hodeidah invasion plans on the shelf last year. One with US ground troops, one without.
The Votel plan with US troops, the Mattis plan without. Trump was supposed to decide. Cooler heads prevailed. Then.
https://twitter.com/StephenProducer/status/1003439709031419904
Comment: It will be stupid if the US send ground troops to Hodaida, Houthi will be happy for that even if he loses Hodaida. "You see! I told you that it's the US who is behind this war" this is wt he would say to Yemenis, and it will be an endless war.
https://twitter.com/jaguarofYemen/status/1003446373021298688
and
(* A K P)
US mulling direct military assistance to help seize key Yemen port: report
The U.S. is considering giving direct military support to the United Arab Emirates (UAE) in an effort to capture a key port in Yemen from Houthi rebels, according to The Wall Street Journal.
and
(* A K P)
‘Looming disaster’: Saudi coalition seeks US aid to capture Yemen port & last humanitarian lifeline
The Saudi-led coalition is reportedly seeking direct US support to recapture the port city of Hodeidah in Yemen. The battle for the humanitarian lifeline would spell disaster for the locals, human rights agencies warn.
According to anonymous US officials familiar with the issue, the United Arab Emirates approached Washington with the request. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo is now waiting for a "quick assessment" of the UAE's plea, which seeks US intelligence capabilities, mainly drone overflights, to help a Saudi-led coalition retake Hodeidah. Washington's potential involvement has excited a number of US officials and has left others worried about the potential consequences of such an operation. While the US is weighing its options, the UAE and Saudi Arabian officials have allegedly assured the US that they will stay clear of the port.
Recapturing Hodeidah and its port is crucial for Saudi Arabia.
With an imminent threat hanging over the city now, numerous human rights groups warn that the battle to retake Hodeidah would spell humanitarian disaster.
https://www.rt.com/news/428615-yemen-hodeidah-looming-disaster/ and by Press TV Iran: http://www.presstv.com/Detail/2018/06/04/563852/US-UAE-call-Yemen-port and by WSWS: http://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2018/06/05/yeme-j05.html
(A H K)
Oxfam: Yemen fighting near Hudaydah port threatens to cut lifeline to millions
Escalation of fighting around Yemen’s port city of Hudaydah threatens to cut off essential supplies to millions of people who are already one step away from famine, international agency Oxfam warned today.
The fighting has already forced hundreds of families to flee their homes.
Oxfam's Country Director in Yemen, Muhsin Siddiquey said: "Yemen is already the world's worst humanitarian crisis and is steadily slipping towards famine. If this vital route for supplying food, fuel and medicine is blocked, the result will be more hunger, more people without health care and more families burying their loved ones.
“There has been far too much destruction, disease and death. The international community needs to put pressure on warring parties to end the fighting and return to peace negotiations.”
https://reliefweb.int/report/yemen/yemen-fighting-near-hudaydah-port-threatens-cut-lifeline-millions
(A K pS)
Military reinforcements belonging to the Joint Forces have arrived to the Western Coast Front to start the battle of liberating #Hodeidah from #Houthi militia. (photos)
https://twitter.com/RepYemenEnglish/status/1003644611930284033
(A K pS)
The #Houthis are forcing the affiliates of the Installations' Security , belonging to the Interior Ministry, to move to fight on the Western Coast Front, as dozens of them have pledged to join the Joint Forces upon their arrival to #Hodeidah.
https://twitter.com/RepYemenEnglish/status/1003752769516433409
(A K pH)
Film: Yemeni tribesmen mobilize to defend Hudaydah from Saudi-backed mercenaries
Yemeni tribesmen have mobilized to prevent Saudi-backed mercenaries from taking control of the country’s western coastline. The move comes after militants stepped up their ground offensive in the western coastal area.
http://www.presstv.com/Detail/2018/06/03/563816/Yemeni-tribesmen-Hudaydah-Saudibacked-mercenaries
(* A K)
Militants attacked a UN aid vessel 38 miles from al Hudaydah port on June 3. Militants on a skiff fired at a boat used by the World Food Program and attempted to board it after the boat finished a delivery to the port. Al Houthi news claimed theLOCATIONSaudi ArabiaTHE KINGDOM OF SAUDI ARABIA IS A COUNTRY ON THE ARABIAN PENI...Saudi-led coalition was responsible for the attack, though the UN did not confirm this claim. Coalition officials have not commented on the incident.[2]
and
(* A K)
UN aid ship attacked 60km off Hodeidah port, #Yemen : Shipowner confirms VOS Theia chartered to @WFP was attacked by pirates in the Red Sea. Gunmen on 3 skiffs, exchange of gunfire with onboard security guards, but no injuries or damage.
https://twitter.com/BaFana3/status/1003999504792805376
and
(* A K pH)
UN aid boat comes under suspected Saudi attack off Yemen
A United Nations vessel delivering humanitarian aid to the Yemeni port of Hudaydah has come under a suspected Saudi attack.
Yemen’s Red Sea Ports Corporation said on Monday that the vessel used by the UN’s World Food Programme (WFP) was attacked after delivering a shipment at Hudaydah, a port in western Yemen which is controlled by the ruling Houthi Ansarullah movement and is under a blockade by Saudi Arabia and its allies fighting the Houthis.
“The vessel traffic office received a distress call from the VOS THEIA at 1730 (1430 GMT) on Sunday, June 3, 2018 about a fire in the vessel resulting from an external attack,” said the Port Corporation in a statement, although it would not elaborate on who might have launched the attack.
The statement added that the ship was waiting in anchorage for permission to leave when it came under attack.
http://www.presstv.com/Detail/2018/06/04/563932/Yemen-Hudaidah-attack-Saudis-UN-aid
and
(* A K)
U.N. aid chief confirms 'incident' with boat off Yemeni port
The United Nations aid chief told Reuters on Monday that there had been an “incident” with a U.N. ship being boarded by unknown forces off the Yemeni port of Hodeidah at the weekend, but it was over and the vessel had departed.
Mark Lowcock, U.N. emergency relief coordinator, was asked about reports of the boarding off Hodeihah, held by the Iran-allied Houthi movement. He said: “... there was an incident. We don’t know who’s responsible, we’re investigating and the incident is over.”
and this is how the report had been changed some hours later:
(* A K)
U.N. aid boat attacked off Yemen: port authority
Unidentified forces attacked a U.N. aid vessel off the main Yemeni port of Hodeidah at the weekend and started a fire in the engine room, port authorities said on Monday.
The United Nations aid chief, Mark Lowcock, confirmed there had been an incident but said it was now over and everyone was safe, without elaborating.
The vessel used by the U.N. World Food Programme (WFP) was attacked after delivering a shipment at Hodeidah, Yemen’s Red Sea Ports Corporation said. The port is held by the Iranian-aligned armed Houthi movement which has taken large parts of the country in a three-year-old war.
A WFP spokeswoman said an unidentified armed group “abroad a skiff had opened fire and attempted to take over” the vessel that was some 60 km (38 miles)) off the coast of Hodeidah.
“Both the crew and the vessel are safe, with no injuries or obvious damage to the vessel,” spokeswoman Bettina Luescher said in a statement sent to Reuters.
The ship was waiting in anchorage for permission to leave from a Saudi-led military coalition, the Ports Corporation added. The coalition is fighting the Houthis and controls the nearby Zubair island.
“The vessel traffic office received a distress call from the VOS THEIA at 1730 (1430 GMT) on Sunday, June 3, 2018 about a fire in the vessel resulting from an external attack,” the Port Corporation said in a statement.
“There was an incident,” Lowcock told Reuters in Geneva. “We don’t know who’s responsible. We’re investigating and the incident is over.”
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-yemen-security-un/u-n-aid-chief-confirms-incident-with-boat-off-yemeni-port-idUSKCN1J01VI while a pro-Houthi news site taking this report makes the headline: UN Aid Boat Under Saudi Attack off Hodeida Port, http://www.newnewss.net/un-aid-boat-under-saudi-attack-off-hodeida-port/
Comment: The Coalition navy targeted a UN boat after it had left the port and the #UNcalls it 'incident'.
Over 16.000 Yemenis have died as a result of airstrikes on #Yemen: will the UN expect us to call them incidents?
https://www.facebook.com/LivingInYemenOnTheEdge/posts/1765465236839832
My comment to comment: The UN is biased in favour of the Saudis, just touching them with gloves. Look where the money is – and who is backed by the US.
And
(* A K P)
Aggression's Naval warships target UN boat in Hodeidah port
Naval warships of the US-backed Saudi-led aggression coalition on Monday targeted a United Nations boat after it has left the port of Hodeidah province, an official at the port told Saba News Agency.
The coalition warships intercepted the UN boat after it was being shot and then it was taken to an unknown destination.
http://www.sabanews.net/en/news498086.htm
and
(* A K)
UN-Chartered Vessel Attacked off Yemen
A spokesperson for the World Food Programme (WFP) told Reuters that the VOS Theia had recently completed a delivery of 80 tons of food and 55 tons of medical supplies to Hodeidah, and she was waiting at an anchorage about 30 nm off the coast of Yemen. At 1730 hours, unidentified personnel in a skiff approached the Theia and opened fire. They attempted to take control of the ship, but onboard security personnel repelled them in an exchange of gunfire. “Both the crew and the vessel are safe, with no injuries or obvious damage to the vessel,” the WFP spokesperson said in a statement.
While the attackers were not identified, previous strikes on merchant shipping off Yemen have been attributed to Houthi rebels
https://maritime-executive.com/article/un-chartered-vessel-attacked-off-yemen#gs.88bVFSw
(A K)
MAP UPDATE: SAUDI-LED FORCES FAIL TO REACH HUDAYDAH AFTER THEIR ATTACK REPELLED BY HOUTHIS
My comment: I think the conclusions of the text are wrong. The coalition had stopped in front of Hodeidah because they still do not want to risk an assault, not because of Houthi successes.
(A K pS)
In an Expression of Gratitude, Citizens of Al-Hodeida Celebrate Victory with the Southern Flag Side by Side with the Yemeni Flag
In celebration of liberating Al-Hodeida from Al-Houthi Iranian militias, citizens of Al-Hodeida raised the Southern Flag side by side with the Yemeni Flag in appreciation of the epic sacrifices and heroic deeds of the southern Giants brigades, Tehama resistance troops and national resistance troops, with backup and support of the Arab Coalition under commandership of Saudi Arabia, during the battels of liberating Al-Hodeida and restoring legitimacy.
Citizens of Al-Hodeida showed their gratitude by rising the Southern flag in a clear expression of their joy by this victory and as a clear reference to the heroic role of southern troops in achieving it.
My comment: Southern separatists’ militia are taking part in the Hodeidah offensive. And this is how their propaganda looks like. Hodeidah never was part of Southern Yemen.
(A K pS)
The Joint Forces have seized large quantities of #explosives, #landmines and anti-navy's #missiles in the areas that were controlled by the #Houthis after they fled their sites in the Western Coast front during Saturday's battles. (photos)
https://twitter.com/RepYemenEnglish/status/1003400636132667397
(A K pS)
Houthis kill a woman and coalition captures some of them at west coast
A woman was killed yesterday( Sunday) by Houthis fire at “Almaghras” in Tahita directorate south Hodeida (west Yemen) according to eyewitnesses.
Almasdaronline reporter and according to the witnesses, an armed Houthis opened fire upon a civilians house randomly to terrify them and to force them to displace from there which led to the kill of a woman injured at the at the neck and back.
Locals said Houthis forced most of the “aljirab”, “Almaghrasi” and Alsoweeq” villages citizens to leave their homes after threatening them by shooting upon.
Houthis have changed most of citizens houses into military locations and fortifications and the plant dozens of landmines around houses and all the roads lead toward “Almaghras”.
On the other side government forces(Giant brigade) captured dozens of Houthis militia at the west coast during the past few hours and seized control over a missile storage.
http://almasdaronline.com/article/99330
(A K pS)
#Houthi fighters were captured and held as prisoners by the Joint Forces during the battles in the areas of al-Duraihmi, al-Tahita and al-Husseiniyah, south of the port city of #Hodeidah. (photo)
https://twitter.com/RepYemenEnglish/status/1003397556750168064 and also http://almasdaronline.com/article/99330
(A K pH)
Al-Junaid: Hodeidah Battle is a lossing bet of coalition
Deputy Prime Minister for Services Affairs, Mahmoud al-Junaid, confirmed that the aggression could not break the will of the Yemeni people in three years.
In a meeting of the Executive Office in Hodeidah, Al-Junaid praised the role of Hodeidah’s sons in confronting the aggression and providing the fronts with money, men and weapons, considering this battle is of all the Yemeni people.
Al-Junaid said that the attempts of aggression media to create false victories were failed.
http://www.sabanews.net/en/news498062.htm
(* B H K)
Film: Humanitarian crisis feared as Yemen fighting approaches strategic port
Fears are growing that the humanitarian crisis in Yemen will deepen as fighting closes in on the strategic port of Hodeidah.
(* A K pS)
Joint Yemeni Resistance combing plantations in Al Hodeidah, locating large caches of Houthis' weaponry
The Joint Yemeni Resistance Forces have managed to comb plantations in Al Hosaynia, Tahita and Dorihemi areas, in the Governorate of Al Hodeidah, where they located large caches of heavy weaponry left by Houthi militias before they had fled their bastions in the targeted regions.
The Yemeni forces managed as well to remove hundreds of mines and military booby traps involving explosives planted by the rebels in the same regions.
In the meantime, the Arab Coalition Forces raided Houthi militias’ concentrations in Al Tahita, eastern Al Faza, and Al Mashra’i areas on the Red Sea Coast, killing 23 rebels
http://wam.ae/en/details/1395302692710
cp2 Allgemein / General
(A B K P)
Ansarallah réserve de nouvelles surprises aux agresseurs saoudiens (Al-Houthi)
Les plans israéliens pour un transit de l'énergie via la mer Rouge est un secret de polichinelle. Beaucoup de sources ont aussi conformé la participation massive des chasseurs israéliens dans des raids meurtriers contre les villes et villages yéménites. Ce qu'on sait moins, c'est en revanche la présence des navires israéliens sur la côte ouest du Yémen, non loin de Hudaydah. Alors que le tandem Israël/USA est venu en aide à la coalition pro-Riyad sur la côte ouest du Yémen, le président du Comité révolutionnaire du Yémen a déclaré qu'Ansarallah promet de nouvelles surprises à la coalition d'agression.
Dans un entretien exclusif avec l’IRIB, le président du Comité révolutionnaire du Yémen Mohammed Ali al-Houthi a déclaré que l’armée et Ansarallah du Yémen avaient toujours des cartes à jouer contre l'Arabie saoudite et ses alliés. http://www.presstv.com/DetailFr/2018/06/06/564084/Ymen-les-navires-israliens-sur-la-cte-ouest
(* B K P)
The Yemeni Holocaust
We often ask, what would we do if there was another Holocaust? Surely we would do something? Surely, at least, we would not be complicit?
Not sure how many of those who face starvation will starve to death, rather than simply sit on the edge of death, but millions of lives are at risk, this is deliberate, it is happening in slow motion, and the rest of the world is doing nothing.
Well, if they aren’t helping the mass murder, like America (and America was helping under Obama, so no, this isn’t a partisan issue.)
America could stop Saudi Arabia cold if it wanted to; and it certainly could at least not participate.
Not that the US needs to go to war; the simple credible threat of sanctions would bring Saudi Arabia to its knees. Nor does the US, post shale oil, need Saudi Arabia’s oil, but the Saudis, in any case, are no longer in a position to not sell. Their own society would implode in months.
Europe could do this too: SWIFT is located in Europe and subject to European law. Apparently Iran’s non-existent nuclear weapons program, which Netanyahu has stated was 5 years from a nuclear bomb since the early nineties, was worth Europeans forcing SWIFT to cut them off (SWIFT objected), but not millions of Yemeni deaths.
Since Europe = Germany (no, don’t pretend, if Germany wants it, it happens), that means the Germans, having done the Holocaust are now sitting aside when they could stop millions of deaths, and doing nothing.
Lovely.
Well, I guess we’ll just watch.
And no, Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince is not a good guy even if he has decided to let Saudi women drive.
The only bright lining on all this is that Saudi Arabia will be in civil war itself by 2030, I suspect.
Couldn’t happen to a nicer country – by Ian Welsh
http://www.ianwelsh.net/the-yemeni-holocaust/
My comment: What happens in Yemen is horrible, and the West must be blamed – but comparing to Holocaust is always difficult.
(A P)
Houthis refuse GPC representation in any coming talks
The UN special envoy for Yemen Martin Griffiths recently discussed in Sana'a with a Houthi-steered group that claims to represent the General People's Congress (GPC) party Griffiths' preparations for bringing Yemeni stakeholders to talks to resolve the Houthi armed insurgency.
The group refused the participation of another faction of "GPC" members exiled by Houthis under a brutal campaign that erupted late last year after Ali Abdullah Saleh's loyalist GPC faction declared discontinuing the rebellion and switching sides in the government's favor.
https://www.alsahwa-yemen.net/en/p-19065
Remark: The former GPC had divided into several factions (one pro-Houthi, one pro-Saudi Hadi government, and a third one) all claiming just they would represent the party.
(A H P)
Turkey renews support Yemeni government
The Turkish government renewed its support for the Yemeni government and people, saying that it will implement a number of relief aid projects in a number of provinces.
In a meeting with the the Chairman of the Higher Committee for Relief Abdulraqib Fatah, the Turkish ambassador to Yemen, Levent Eller, reiterated his country's support for the government and Yemeni people on all levels.
https://www.alsahwa-yemen.net/en/p-19061
and
(A H P)
#Turkey opens field hospital in Taiz #Yemen ....
https://twitter.com/tkarasik/status/1004160016696397824 referring to http://www.turkpress.co/node/49895
Comment: Exactly what Yemen needs right now: Turkey joins in.
https://twitter.com/BaFana3/status/1004164393825898501
(A B K)
More Saudi Airstrikes on Yemen’s Infrastructure Heighten Humanitarian Crisis
Ten of thousands of civilians in and around the major Yemeni port city of Hodeidah have been displaced by the volley of airstrikes, which threaten to completely sever Yemen’s ties to the outside world, deepening a humanitarian catastrophe that is already the worst in the world.
The Saudi-led coalition last week escalated its airstrikes on the biggest city in western Yemen — a region known as Hodeida, which is the lone remaining supply line for the millions of Yemenis in the north who rely on foreign aid for food, fuel, medicine, and other necessities.
The Hodeida attacks coincide with Saturday attacks in the northwestern province of Sa’ada and residential areas of the city of Sana’a
https://www.mintpressnews.com/saudi-airstrikes-yemen-humanitarian-crisis/243282/
(* B H K P)
Yemen: The Forgotten War
The humanitarian crisis in Yemen is now considered the worst in the world. Saudi Arabia and its coalition’s war in the poor Arab nation has resulted in widespread famine, illness and death.
- Yemen’s geographic location contributes to its strategic importance. The country’s location on the Red Sea gives it control over the shipping of almost a third of the world’s oil.
- Iran has become a significant player in the Yemen conflict largely as a means of bleeding and humiliating Saudi Arabia in the context of its existential regional proxy war against the Saudis.
- The worsening catastrophe in Yemen may result in a global security crisis, as the country further devolves into sectarianism and violent groups gain even stronger footholds.
http://www.soufangroup.com/intelbrief-yemen-the-forgotten-war/
My comment: Overstressing the role of Iran, once again.
(* B H K)
Film: Antonia Rados über das unvorstellbare Leid im Jemen: "Musste selten etwas Schlimmeres mitansehen"
(A P)
Zusammenarbeit zwischen Jemen und Saudi-Arabien
Eine Delegation aus Jemen hat zum ersten Mal seit Ausbruch der Zusammenstöße im Jahre 2014, Saudi-Arabien besucht.
Die Delegation der Partei Allgemeiner Volkskongress im Jemen des früheren Staatspräsidenten Ali Abdullah Saleh traf in Riyad ein. Die Delegation wird vom früheren Außenminister Abubekir al-Kurbi geleitet.
Ziel des Besuchs der Delegation aus Jemen ist eine enge Zusammenarbeit im Kampf gegen die Huthi.
http://www.trt.net.tr/deutsch/welt/2018/06/05/zusammenarbeit-zwischen-jemen-und-saudi-arabien-986108
Mein Kommentar: Das ist nur die pro-saudische Faktion der in mehrere Teile gespaltenen früheren Regierungspartei GPC.
(A P)
Yemen ex-president Saleh’s party in Saudi for talks
A delegation representing Yemen’s General People’s Congress party, which was founded by late president Ali Abdullah Saleh, has headed to Riyadh to meet with Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman, the New Khaleej reported.
The visit comes after Saleh’s son, Ahmed Ali Abdullah Saleh, led extended talks between the Saudi leadership and the party, according to the news site which cited Yemeni news website Al-Mashhad Al-Yemeni.
https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20180604-yemen-ex-president-salehs-party-in-saudi-for-talks/ and https://www.criticalthreats.org/briefs/gulf-of-aden-security-review/gulf-of-aden-security-review-june-5-2018 and https://twitter.com/RepYemenEnglish/status/1004132399444316161
Comment: This just is the pro-Saudi faction of GPC.
(A K P)
French activists call for prosecuting Saudi, UAE at ICC
A panel of French human rights experts and researchers have called for a lawsuit to be brought before the International Criminal Court (ICC) against those responsible for bombing and killing hundreds of civilians in Yemen.
During a conference organised by the International Alliance for Defence of Rights and Freedoms (AIDL) in Paris, the experts denounced the Emirati and Saudi ambitions in the Yemeni island of Socotra.
researcher at the National Research Center Frank Mermi said the UAE and Saudi Arabia are using humanitarian aid in Yemen and Socotra to cover up their military presence and control the state agencies.
https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20180604-french-activists-call-for-prosecuting-saudi-uae-at-icc/
(A K P)
Interactive Map of Yemen
(* B H K)
Heartbreaking video of children under war in #Yemen.
https://twitter.com/AhmadAlgohbary/status/1003455050604310534
(A K P)
My point of view: #Saudi Threatens #Iran, then it bombs #Yemen. #Israel threatens #Iran, then it bombs #Gaza. #America threatens #Iran, then it bombs #Syria. #ISIS threatens #Iran, then Suicide attacks in #Egypt. #UAE threatens #Iran, then it occupies #Yemen Islands.
https://twitter.com/AhmadAlgohbary/status/1003461304278020096
(* B K P)
What Is Really Going on in Yemen?
Washington and Riyadh claim that the Saudi-led and US-backed war on Yemen is all about containing Iran and its Shiite proxy forces. But is that really the case?
There are a group of people in the United States and Saudi Arabia plus media lackeys that want us to believe this line. They want us to look at their war crimes and indiscriminate airstrikes against civilian population in Yemen, and see how great and amazing this war really is, and how “it is serving a humane and common purpose”.
Things have gotten out of hand lately, so much so that the warmongers no longer shy away from publicly announcing that they are selling and using cluster bombs and other types of munitions and starvation methods against the poorest nation in the Middle East in broad daylight and in breach of International Law.
The use of US-made bombs, including clusters, responsible for most of the civilian deaths in Yemen, including children, is condemnable under International Law.
The American officials also don't mind any backlash from the international community for their complicity in Saudi crimes. There is always colonial operatives, powerful lobby groups, petrodollar cash, and Security Council veto power to keep any UN criticism or resolution at bay.
Perhaps that says why the UN refuses to publicly condemn the Saudi use of cluster bombs, let alone place a complete arms embargo on Riyadh and its partners. Simply put, this will never happen. The United States and its partners have the upper hand at the UN with final say in almost everything. As a consequence, the custom of dropping bombs to target civilians has taken away the sense of it, and the course of the UN has taken away the shame of it.
It has become impossible to ignore, but the current conflict in Yemen is not at all a proxy war between Iran and Saudi Arabia. It is flat out aggression that doesn’t comfort with International Law. It is dark, it has no good in it, and the world community should stop looking at it like Riyadh and Washington.
http://en.farsnews.com/newstext.aspx?nn=13970313001204 = http://www.newnewss.net/what-is-really-going-on-in-yemen/
(B P)
After accusing #Yemen General Tareq Saleh yesterday of being behind the murders of protesters in Sanaa's Change Square in 2011, ex US ambassador @j_feierstein abruptly changes his mind today, and now accuses Gen Yahya Saleh. It is not clear yet who he will accuse tomorrow.
https://twitter.com/BaFana3/status/1003343957160579074 referring to https://twitter.com/j_feierstein/status/1003313805986795521
and
Problem: The allegation has NEVER been that Yemen's CSF soldiers under the command of General Yahya Saleh shot the protesters, as this 2013 @hrw report details
https://twitter.com/BaFana3/status/1003364514518241280 referring to https://www.hrw.org/news/2013/02/12/yemen-political-interference-massacre-probe
(? B H K P)
Audio: Notes From An Invisible War
Children describing the sounds that bombs make as they fall. Streets covered with rotting garbage. Doctors and nurses who have gone months without pay, at hospitals struggling to care for an influx of cholera patients and malnourished infants.
In Yemen, two-plus years of airstrikes by a coalition being led by Saudi Arabia and receiving weapons and tactical assistance from the United States, have led to what the United Nations has called the “largest humanitarian crisis” in the world. FRONTLINE filmmaker Martin Smith and his team witnessed chaos on a rare trip inside the country, a peek inside a largely invisible war. Few foreign journalists are given permission to enter Yemen.
“People are not seeing what’s going on. We’re talking thousands of civilian dead,” said Smith.
The reporting for this story was done as part of an upcoming FRONTLINE special on the rivalry between Saudi Arabia and Iran. Airing in 2018, the documentary will trace the roots of the Sunni-Shia divide, and explore how a proxy war between the two countries is devastating the Middle East.
https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/frontline/podcast/dispatch/notes-from-an-invisible-war/
cp3 Humanitäre Lage / Humanitarian situation
(B H)
UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs: Yemen Humanitarian Update Covering 29 May - 4 June 2018 | Issue 18
The inter-cluster assessment team completes its mission to Nowgd area in Socotra
The humanitarian community prepares for a possible increase in displacement along the western coast
The number of vessels that discharged cargo at Red Sea Ports has increased by 55 per cent in May compared to previous month
https://reliefweb.int/report/yemen/yemen-humanitarian-update-covering-29-may-4-june-2018-issue-18
(* A H)
Reports: ICRC on Wednesay decided to suspend its activities in Yemen after it received threats from unknown gunmen.
https://twitter.com/FuadRajeh/status/1004340279208546304
(* A H)
UN buys 105,000 tonnes of wheat for starving Yemen
United Nations (UN) aid agency has recently purchased a total 105,000 tonnes of milling wheat to be shipped to Yemen, European traders said on Wednesday.
The wheat is expected to be sourced from the Black Sea region, most likely Romania.
It will be shipped in several consignments between June and August.
Comment: Well is it enough ? Millions are starving - thousands are dying. The UN only reaches a proportion of the population, and many slip through the net.
https://www.facebook.com/judith.brown.794628/posts/10156740282913641
My comment: It’s about 3.7 kg for every Yemeni.
(B H)
Film: # Ramadan in Taiz .. Mkhlomat sisters lost home and the breadwinner
Lost family parents and home, leaving only three sisters, living in one room.
To help you can communicate through the following numbers:
00967773242013; 00967770746769; Or e-mail the following: ramadan2018@skynewsarabia.com
https://twitter.com/skynewsarabia/status/1004291553576259584
(A H)
Video of a brave man helped a trapped woman in the street as flood waters gush past her during heavy rain in Alrawda area #Sanaa #Yemen.
https://twitter.com/AhmadAlgohbary/status/1004148998041686016
(A H)
Film: Can I have your attention?
In front of her is her family’s livelihood tool ,a weighing scale.
She said"No one works from my family&I'm working 2 feed my family"
The women asked her"Where is your Dad?"
She said"he is sick in #Sanaa &ppl r no longer checking 4 their weights.
https://twitter.com/AhmadAlgohbary/status/1004109500922585089
(B H)
Yemen: Passengers Transport Overview - Djibouti - Aden - Djibouti, May 2018
(* A H)
Safeguarding health during storm season: preparedness and emergency response in the Gulf of Aden
The heaviest rain and flooding in Yemen hit the island of Socotra and southern coasts starting on 19 May. The storm displaced over 1000 households there, destroyed large parts of food stocks, complicated access to clean drinking-water, and damaged health facilities, in addition to killing 10 people at sea and in traffic accidents. The island community also faces an increased risk of waterborne diseases.
WHO Yemen swiftly deployed 2 field coordinators, in addition to the one already on the island. In addition, around 30 metric tons of essential medicines and medical supplies arrived in Socotra Airport on 31 May, including trauma kits, burn dressing kits, various types of antibiotics and intravenous fluids, malaria kits, and surgical supply kits. Additionally, local partners’ emergency mobile teams receive WHO’s support. On 29 May, the sub-national health cluster coordinator joined a UN mission to Socotra, to assess the damage, needs and ongoing response.
(A H)
KUNA : Kuwait dispatches third aircraft to Yemen's Socotra
Kuwait has sent the third plane carrying humanitarian aid to the hurricane-hit Yemeni Socotra Island in order to ..
https://www.kuna.net.kw/ArticleDetails.aspx?id=2730381&Language=en
Comment: Remembering that #Kuwait, just before the war, was the first Gulf country to invest in #Socotra with the 'Socotra Hotel' (three floors, 106 rooms, a meeting room, six royal suites, two swimming pools, a breakwater, a restaurant, a coffee shop)
https://www.facebook.com/LivingInYemenOnTheEdge/posts/1766408070078882
(A H)
Ahmed Al Harthy, Director of your.abilities.orgNGO sharing some pictures of the amazing work the NGO is doing on the side of both patients and staff of the Cancer Children Centre in #Sanaa.
YRRF in partnership with @yourabilities and @Baladna organizations furnished and painted an activity room at the center and provided supplies for the children.
https://www.facebook.com/LivingInYemenOnTheEdge/posts/1766506516735704
(* B H)
Honoured for her passion and continuous efforts, Fatemah, the Insider Mediator
In March 2017, Fatima was awarded the Women’s International Day Prize, bestowed by the Youth Leadership Development Foundation and sponsored by UN Women, in recognition of her efforts on dispute resolution and contribution to maintain social peace in Lawdar District, Abyan Governorate. She was one of the trainees who completed the Dialogue Design and Facilitation, and Conflict Transformation for Insider Mediators training developed that targeted 56 insider mediator in Abyan, and implemented by the Search for Common Ground (SFCC), an implementing partner of UNDP under the Enhanced Rural Resilience in Yemen (ERRY) Programme. Fatima has expressed her happiness because of the recogniation that she has received in Women’s International Day.
The Enhanced Rural Resilience in Yemen (ERRY) Programme, funded by the European Union, is committed to equip the communities with the necessary skills and tools to raise awareness of local sources of tension and conflict in rural areas, and empower local communities to establish sustainable system for both short- and long-term conflict management across four governorates in Yemen, namely Abyan, Lahj, Hajjah and Hudaydah.
(A H)
Under the slogan 'Hand Protects, Hand Builds', on the occasion of holy Ramadan, Bonyan Development Foundation (B.D.F) inaugurates a food baskets distribution for the most vulnerable and needy families in the West Coast of Durahmi Directorate, #Hodeidah province. (photos)
https://www.facebook.com/LivingInYemenOnTheEdge/posts/1766092140110475
(B H)
One Human Family-One World-Yemen
We are collecting funds to help the children of Yemen. During Ramadan it is fundamental to give to the poor. These children live in a country that is in the worst humanitarian crisis in the world! These families need food,medicine and health care. Right now there are over 22 million people who are starving! Many are IDP’s(Internally Displaced Persons).
Poverty, Disease and Hunger, a terrifying triangle looms over thousands of civilian families in Yemen because of the war imposed on them and they could not avoid it. Their fate was not in their own control till to change it. Thus, Yemeni families are suffering from hunger, disease, killing and displacement. Children who are orphaned, other deprived of education, while others suffer from hunger and disease. It is the world's greatest humanitarian crisis. Terrifying triangle take them away, poverty take hitting their bodies and their children, which the war blind their eyes from education, while the disease spread on their remaining bodies that have a life. Every families suffering from that, they are not able to get rid but we have to save life. Humanitarian crisis ball in Yemen increasing daily as a snow's ball.
Thank you to all of our donors who helped YOUR ABILITIES ORGANIZATION since March 2015. We recently provided GoFundMe with the banking paper tail showing that all of your donations are reaching YOUR ABILITIES ORG in Yemen. My hope is that families will find it in their heart to continue helping the great YOUR ABILITIES continued to deliver aid to the families. No amount is too small or too great, it makes a big difference and a good impact.
By giving a generous amount of only 28$, you are helping feed an entire family containing of six person for one month, or providing a tablet of medicine or enroll a student in a school.
https://www.gofundme.com/One-human-family-one-world-Yemen
(A H)
To improve access to primary health care services for vulnerable population in #Yemen, WHO has delivered 5 full-equipped mobile clinics to #Lahj, #Abyan, #Shabwah, #Marib and #Taizz governorates (photos)
https://twitter.com/WHOYemen/status/1003364307634188289
(B H)
89,789 benefiting from the medical services of the Foundation in the governorates of Sana'a, Amran, Ibb and Al Jawf
Health facilities supported by the National Foundation for Development and Humanitarian Response continue to provide services to beneficiaries in Sana'a, Amran, Ibb and Al Jawf governorates as part of the emergency medical services project funded by the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA).
The director of the health and nutrition program in the institution, Dr. Abdul Wahab Zainah, said that 89,789 people benefited from the health services provided by the medical teams in 12 health facilities in the departments of Bani Matar, Kharf, Siani and Matmon, since the launch of the project activities o in August 2017.
(B H)
National Foundation for Development and Humanitarian Response: Treatment of patients in their homes (Out-reach activity)
The population of more than 24 villages - distributed on the slopes of the mountains in Al-Rojom district in Al-Mahweet governorate – are suffering from a lack of health services. The population’s need for health services and children’s need for vaccinations are very high and keep increasing on a daily basis, yet there are no health facilities easily accessible to the population. Furthermore, the harsh road conditions and distances between villages prohibit people’s access to Thahban Health Center, the nearest health center to the district. This means that these populations face major obstacles to access primary health care and vaccination for women and children.
For this reason, the National Foundation for Development and Humanitarian Response (NFDHR) has introduced outreach activities within their health interventions project, which targets the eight most priority districts in Al-Mahweet Governorate. Still, the nature of the rugged mountainous areas surrounding the Thahban Health Center has caused equally difficult obstacles for the medical team to reach the targeted villages.
Between March and April,2018 the medical team carried out 9 visits to 32 villages and provided health services to 692 patients, including 74 men, 298 women, 174 boys and 146 girls.
https://reliefweb.int/report/yemen/treatment-patients-their-homes-out-reach-activity
(A H)
Bonyan Development Foundation distributed 690 food baskets
to those in need in #Kamran island, Hodeidah province, to alleviate the suffering of those in need in the month of Ramadan (photos)
https://www.facebook.com/LivingInYemenOnTheEdge/posts/1764687670250922
Bonyan Development Foundation worked also round the clock to distribute 500 food baskets in Nihm directorate, Sanaa governorate, responding to the needs of the most vulnerable families in the area affected by the aggression (photos)
https://www.facebook.com/LivingInYemenOnTheEdge/posts/1764691360250553
(* B H)
World Health Organization: Yemen: Health Cluster Bulletin, April 2018
Health Cluster partners continue to provide health services by supporting 1,753 Health Facilities (16 Governorate Hospitals, 95 District Hospitals, 50 General Hospitals, 19 Specialized Hospitals, 456 Health Centers and 1,117 Health Units). The Health Cluster partners also support the GHO and DHO through paying incentives to health staff as well as administration / logistics support to local health authorities.
https://reliefweb.int/report/yemen/yemen-health-cluster-bulletin-april-2018
(B H)
United Nations Population Fund: Yemen: GBV-Subcluster Dashboard - Analysis of Indicator Data, Reporting period: April 2018
(B H)
Film: Aisha, means the girl who is hoped to live long. Aisha of #Hodeidah #Yemen is being treated for severe acute malnutrition. She is recovering today. We wish her & all children of Yemen a long & happy life.
https://twitter.com/UNICEF_Yemen/status/1003292697417932800
cp4 Flüchtlinge / Refugees
Siehe / Look at cp11
(B H)
WFP Djibouti Country Brief, April 2018
Djibouti is hosting approximately 26,300 refugees from Somalia, Yemen, Eritrea and Ethiopia, of which 21,100 reside in camps. WFP provided assistance to all registered refugees and asylum seekers living in Ali Addeh, Holl Holl and Markazi camps in form of general distributions, nutrition support, take home rations for school girls to encourage school attendance, and a cash transfer component as part of the general distribution.
Cash transfers have contributed to the diversification of refugees’ diet, increase in purchasing power and enhancement of local markets.
https://reliefweb.int/report/djibouti/wfp-djibouti-country-brief-april-2018
(B H)
UNHCR Somalia: Refugees and Asylum-seekers Statistical Report - 31 May 2018
(* A H)
UN Migration Agency Completes Movement of 233 Ethiopian Migrants Out of Yemen
An IOM chartered sea vessel arrived early this morning (05/06) in Djibouti carrying 132 Ethiopian migrants bringing the total migrants evacuated since last week to 233. The IOM vessel departed the port city of Hudaydah which has been experiencing violent clashes over the past week, making the logisitics of the movements extremely difficult. The IOM vessel was held for inspection by the parties controlling the sea movements for several hours.
IOM in Djibouti is currently receiving the migrants at the IOM reception centre and providing humanitarian assistance, medical support as well as looking at options for onward transportation to Ethiopia. IOM is working closely with both Ethiopian and Djibouti Governments to provide maximum support to the migrants.
The boat left with 132 passengers, 86 Ethiopian males, eight boys, 36 female and two girls. The majority of the migrants were held in a Sana’a holding facility, while some had been staying with host families supported by IOM.
http://www.iom.int/news/un-migration-agency-completes-movement-233-ethiopian-migrants-out-yemen
(* B H)
Film: IDPs in Yemen lives in a harsh conditions. A short documentary film about suffering with english translation.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g3trZVDtYwY
(B H)
Der Koch und die Bomben
Einmal Jemen und zurück: Eine somalische Familie flüchtete in ihre unsichere Heimat zurück und denkt an Europa (nur im Abo)
https://www.neues-deutschland.de/artikel/1090103.krieg-in-jemen-der-koch-und-die-bomben.html
cp5 Nordjemen und Huthis / Northern Yemen and Houthis
(A P)
Houthis kidnapped the head of General public congress branch in Rymah
Houthis militia kiddnaped Yesterday(Monday) Mohammed Abdu Murad the head of general public congress branch in Rymah governorate.
A local source said, an armed militia kidnapped Murad and took him to an unknown place and they said they have their orders to do that with no mention of the saucer of those orders.
This comes after months of assigning Mohammed as a deputy of Rymeah governor as a reward for him and his party in recruiting dozens of fighters from the governorate and sending them to fronts.
http://almasdaronline.com/article/99354
(A K P)
We will do our best to keep the 2018 as the ballistic year as martyr President wanted it to be, said the Yemeni President Mahadi Mashat in a meeting withbmilitary commanders in Sanaa. Mashat referred to a previous promise made by his predecessor departed President Samad. (photo)
https://twitter.com/narrabyee/status/1003621827787227136
(A)
At war's doorstep, Yemen's equestrians ride high
In a rare respite from the country's grim reality, 180 equestrians donned their riding breeches and walked their horses out onto a plot of land in the heart of a city controlled by the Huthis, the Iranian-backed rebels locked in war with the government and its Saudi-led allies.
"It was impossible to host the championship at the Sanaa Riding Club. It's just too exposed to planes," Najib al-Adri, vice president of Yemen's Riding Federation, told AFP.
(A)
Thunderstorms trigger flooding in Yemen
Torrential rain has caused flooding in Yemen's capital Sanaa, making some roads impassable for motorists.
Thunderstorms hit Sanaa on Friday afternoon and again on Saturday afternoon, an unexpected occurrence in the city, as June is predominantly a dry month.
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2018/06/thunderstorms-trigger-flooding-yemen-180603092741089.html
(A P)
The authority of the #Houthis has prevented Fa'eqa al-Sayyad, a leading figure in the General People's Congress Party (GPC) from meeting the #UN Envoy for Yemen, Martin Griffiths, who is currently visiting #Sanaa, accord to political sources.
https://twitter.com/RepYemenEnglish/status/1003403346143842305
(A P)
Security services arrests criminal cell working for coalition in Bayda
The cell members were monitoring targets and sending coordinates to the invasion and occupation forces, as well as misleading some citizens and recruiting them to join the coalition camps, according to the security official.
http://www.sabanews.net/en/news498051.htm
cp6 Südjemen und Hadi-Regierung / Southern Yemen and Hadi-government
(A T)
Yemen's intelligence officer kidnapped by gunmen in Aden
Yasser AlBujiri, an officer of the Political Security, was kidnapped by an unknown armed group while heading toward his house, the local police source said on condition of anonymity.
http://www.xinhuanet.com/english/2018-06/06/c_137234933.htm
(A)
#mukalla today- heavy rains triggered flash floods that ruined already crumbling infrastructures (photo)
https://twitter.com/saeedalBatati/status/1004345402601033731
(A P)
Yemen’s president assures support for UN panel efforts
Yemen’s President Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi affirmed support for the panel of experts created by the United Nations Security Committee that’s aiming to resolve the Yemen crisis, Saudi state-news channel Al-Ekhbariya reported.
The Yemeni president, during his meeting on Tuesday with the Chairman of the group of experts, said that the government will work to facilitate the work of the panel and investigate the violations carried out by the Houthi militia.
http://www.arabnews.com/node/1316916/middle-east
My comment: I think he will not seriously. Or will he inform them about the Saudi air strikes?
(A)
A soldier from the Security belt killed by Armed men in Aden
http://almasdaronline.com/article/99357
(A P)
General Ben Brik: Southern Talks in Abu Dhabi Discussed Fateful Issues Defining “the Political and Administrative of the South” According to Public Will
My comment: Southern separatists working for their case.
(A P)
Governor of Hadhramaut: War Created a New Reality and the Southern Cause Will be Strongly Discussed on the Table
General Farag Al-Ba Hasani, governor of Hadhramaut and commander of the second military zone, said: ” This war created a new reality and it is no longer possible to return to old concepts nor old regimen”.
In post on his official page on face book, Al-Ba Hasani said: “The southern cause will be discussed strongly on the table and everyone will listen as this is the permanent solution for the future. Ignoring or marginalizing the southern cause will never serve the future stability of Yemen”.
My comment: Even a governor as a high representative of his government (the Hadi government in this case) speaking in favour of separatism.
(* A P)
An Emirati force fires upon prayers and captures two leaders in Southern movement in Hadhramaut
An Emirati force captured Yesterday (Sunday) two leaders in Southern movement in Hadhramaut and stormed Saber mosque at “Shaheer” area after the Taraweeh prayer and arrested the leader Ahmed Saeed Dahdah in middle of heavy shooting.
Press sources said soldiers of A UAE forces arrested the leader in the southern movement and the leader of the “Hadhramaut free youth gathering” Salim aljabal bin Alshaibah.
Alshaibah arrest came after his calls to public demonstrations against the deterioration of the services in the governorate.
On another incident, the sources said a UAE force stormed Saber Mosque and arrested the leader of Southern Movement Ahmed Dahdah named “Alkafo”.
The sources said the force assaulted him and beats him up and accused him of publishing anti-coalition posts on his Facebook wall and held them responsible for the deuteriation.
People tried to free the Dahdah from the force but the soldiers opened fire upon them and took him to an unknown place.
The resources added the UAE forces arrested around 10 people protested a few days ago for the same reason.
http://almasdaronline.com/article/99339
and fitting to this:
(A P)
In a meeting with UN officials, key southern #Yemen Harak leader Hassan Baoum condemns the #UAE military role in Hadhramaut as an outright occupation which aims to enslave southerners to serve the UAE's own purposes. (photo)
https://twitter.com/BaFana3/status/1003761621674741765
Remark: Hirak is the other southern separatist group. It is strictly anti-UAE.
(A P)
Legitimacy-Brotherhood Media Attacks Joint Troops of the West Coast from a Hotel Room!!
A Temeni official and Muslim Brotherhood member launched a harsh attack on joint troops of the west coast front that include Southern Giants Brigades, Tehama Resistance and National Resistance. Deputy of Ministry of Media and Muslim Brotherhood leader, Abdu Maghlas, described joint troops of the west coast fighting in Al-Hodeida as militias. Last Thursday, Maghlas said: “We should differentiate between resistance and militias. Resistance fights under the national flag while militias fight under party, tribal, sectarian or regional flags”.
My comment: Strife between the southern separatists and their militia fighting under the Southern flag on one side, and the Hadi government and it’s allied Islah Party (Muslim Brotherhood) on the other, again and again.
And also:
(A P)
A Photo of the West Coast Provokes Reform Party Angry and Furious Responses
A photo taken in the west coast provoked angry and furious responses of the Reform party – political arm of Muslim Brotherhood in Yemen – and his activists. The photo showed Al-Hodeida citizens with soldiers of Southern Giants Brigades rising the Southern flag and put social media in flames.
http://en.smanews.org/a-photo-of-the-west-coast-provokes-reform-party-angry-and-furious-responses
(A P)
Al-Muiasery Apologizes to UAE and Holds Reform Party Responsible for Media Intimidation
Ahmed Al-Muiasery, Yemeni minister of internal affairs praised the efforts of UAE in supporting security systems in the liberated territories and restoring security and stability to them. He also praised the unlimited support provided by UAE in all other fields. In addition, he asserted that relations between the two countries are eternal and supported with blood and Arabism relations. He added that recent misunderstanding was due to media intimidation initiated by media tools of the reform party who, according to Al-Muiasery, is in control of decision making in Yemeni legitimacy. In his dialogue with several officials of UAE ministry of internal affairs, Al-Muiasery said: “Reform party hijacked official media tools of the state, blocked our vision and led to to misunderstand the situation. This is serious as it is unreasonable to let a political party to be the sole source of decisions and future of a whole nation.
My comment: Hadi’s interior minister had criticized the Emirates (YPR 418, 417, 416, cp9). After having visited the UAE, he sounds like brainwashed, now praising the UAE and blaming his own government.
(A P)
Joint forces deployed in Taiz to start a security campaign against extremists
Government joint forces (security and army) start a major security campaign today (Sunday) at Taiz city (southwest Yemen) against armed extremists in many areas.
A press statement issued by the security authority” the joint campaign deployed at city streets upon the governor instructions and the head of the security committee.
The campaign targeting armed extremists accused of crimes, murders, assassinations, and executions in Taize city recently and restoring security.
http://almasdaronline.com/article/99327 and https://www.criticalthreats.org/briefs/gulf-of-aden-security-review/gulf-of-aden-security-review-june-5-2018
(A P)
Demonstrations in Taiz claiming authorities to resume the security campaign
Dozens of protesters of Taiz city (southwest Yemen) went in a demonstration against the collapsed security situation and increasing of Assassinations in the city under the government forces and formations allied to it.
The protesters raised signs in the demonstration calling to reactivate the role of the security committee at the city and the suspended campaign against the militia and extremists during the past weeks, the demonstrations came by a call from an initiation called(with government for the society) and was at Jamal street – midtown under the rain.
http://almasdaronline.com/article/99317
(A T)
After hours of assassination attempt of a local official, armed men kidnaps a solider In Taiz
http://almasdaronline.com/article/99316
(A)
Bus driver killed by a soldier in Taiz
https://www.alsahwa-yemen.net/en/p-19012
(A T)
Armed attack targets Aden power plant, render seven generators dysfunctional
Unknown gunmen fired a barrage of bullets at dawn on Sunday at a power station in the interim capital Aden, south of the country.
Local sources told Al Sahwa website that an armed group fired on the Khowr Maksr Power Station, which rendered seven generators out of service.
The sources added that the armed group aimed their bullets at the radiators of the generators, which led to the generators' dysfunction .
The province of Aden has seen frequent fire shooting at power facilities recently, as the hours of power outage increased over the past days.
https://www.alsahwa-yemen.net/en/p-19011
(A P)
Preparation Commission of Southern Victory and the Day of Appreciation for Arab Coalition Events Confirms the Celebration Program
(A P)
Commander of Lahj Security Belt Appreciates UAE Support
Galal Al-Rubei, commander of Lahj security belt troops, appreciated the help and support provided by UAE to security efforts aiming to establish public security and stability in the southern governorates.
http://en.smanews.org/commander-of-lahj-security-belt-appreciates-uae-support
My comment: Reports like this one demonstrate how southern separatists and their militia more and more get puppets of the UAE.
cp7 UNO und Friedensgespräche / UN and peace talks
(* A K P)
Uno beunruhigt über Kämpfe bei wichtigem Hafen im Jemen
Der Uno-Vermittler für das Bürgerkriegsland Jemen, Martin Griffith, hat sich besorgt über Kämpfe nahe der strategisch wichtigen Hafenstadt Hudaida gezeigt. Sollte der Zugang in das Land über Hudaida unmöglich werden, droht dem Norden des Landes der komplette Kollaps.
"Ich habe von vielen Experten gehört, dass sie grosse Angst vor einem Angriff auf Hudaida und den damit verbundenen schweren und vermeidbaren humanitären Folgen haben", sagte Griffith nach einem viertägigen Besuch in der Hauptstadt Sanaa. Er habe Sorgen angesichts der negativen Auswirkungen für den Friedensprozess in dem Land.
Vergangenes Jahr hatte die jemenitische Regierung vorgeschlagen, dass die Vereinten Nationen die Verwaltung des Hafens von Hudaida übernehmen sollten, was die Rebellen ablehnten. Berichten zufolge will auch Uno-Vermittler Griffith nun eine ähnliche Zusage von den Huthis, um die Region um Hudaida - zu der auch ein zweiter Hafen beim Ort Salif gehört - vor Kämpfen zu schützen.
https://www.luzernerzeitung.ch/newsticker/international/uno-beunruhigt-uber-kampfe-bei-wichtigem-hafen-im-jemen-ld.1026569 = https://www.blick.ch/news/ausland/jemen-uno-beunruhigt-ueber-kaempfe-bei-wichtigem-hafen-im-jemen-id8461222.html
(* A P)
Yemeni Government Accuses Houthis of Impeding UN Peace Efforts
Yemen’s government accused on Wednesday Iran-aligned Houthi militias of foiling peace efforts by UN envoy Martin Griffiths after Sanaa-based top insurgents outlined near-impossible conditions for resuming negotiations and handing over the port city of Hodeidah to government monitoring.
Houthi council chairman Mehdi al-Mashat, when meeting Griffiths, presented conditions for coupists returning to talks, among which was the complete cessation of Arab Coalition air strikes in exchange for stopping the rocket fire on Saudi territory, sources in Sanaa with knowledge of the matter told Asharq Al-Awsat.
More so, Mashat demanded that the internationally-recognized government based in Aden pay public sector employees working in Houthi control areas and lift the air and sea embargo imposed on Houthi-controlled passages known for arms trafficking to militiamen.
As for Hodeidah, Houthis refused to hand over the strategic Red Sea port government control, but agreed, according to sources, the presence of UN staffers overseeing the administration in exchange for the survival of security control of the group.
On the other hand, the Yemeni government led by President Abdrabbuh Mansur Hadi confirmed its rejection of listed conditions.
My comment: Of course, as the Hadi government does not want peace but submission. A ceasefire must be the first precondition for any peace talks; how the Hadi government could reject this?
And
(A P)
Yemeni government rejects Houthis terms and says they looted 3.45 billion last year
The Yemeni government spokesman Rajeh Badi said to “The Middle East” newspaper “what Houthis have mentioned about salaries of government employees is their responsibility since they refused to deposit the ports incomes into the central bank”
He indicated that Houthis gained 864 billion riyals (3.45 billion USD) and those incomes were not deposited in the central bank, and this amount can cover the salaries of employees for a full year.
He added, in 2016 Houthis looted around 498 billion Yemeni Riyals and they transferred it to what they call Military efforts fund.
http://almasdaronline.com/article/99389
My comment: By the Hadi government. This is somewhat odd. Why the Houthi-affiliated Sanaa government should pay its revenues to the Central Bank of the Hadi government. Also keep in mind that the hadi government had established this central bank as a rival to the Central Bank which had existed and still exists at Sanaa? This does not make sense. Yes, the Houthi-run Sanaa government has used its revenues mainly for military purposes, by this neglecting the payment of the state employees. But the hadi government did quite the same; in the South as well, many state employees had not been payed for more than a year. – Blaming the Houthis for “looting” the revenues is senseless; this implies that the Hadi government claims to be the only legitimate Yemeni government. And this definitely not is the case.
(A K P)
Hours after UN envoy left Sanaa after productive meetings with Houthis, Houthis fired a ballistic missile at a Saudi oil terminal. In what appeared to be response to the attack, Saudi-led coalition launched 6 air raids on Sanaa. Local media said raids targeted residential areas
https://twitter.com/FuadRajeh/status/1004151023139807232
Remark: Look at cp16, cp17.
(* A P)
#Yemen Govt preconceptions: Gulf Initiative, 2013 dialog outcomes & UN resolutions must be basis for solution. Houthi preconditions: reopen Sanaa airport, pay salaries of employees, stop raids, lift blockade & apologise for killing Al-Samad. I dont know why UN envoy is optimistic
https://twitter.com/FuadRajeh/status/1004346143881515008
(* A P)
The UN envoy to Yemen leaves Sanaa after encouraging meetings with Houthis
Griffith said in a press conference at Sanaa airport prior to his departure “I had encouraging meetings with Ansar Allah leaders(Houthis) and general public congress party regarding the vision toward peace process am going to present to the international security council during this month”
He added “ the reactions from Houthis and the government were encouraging during the past few weeks,” he said.
I hope we can push toward peace he said.
And added “one day without peace lead to the loss of more innocent Yemenis”
“ some of the things which are important to discuss is the humanitarian issues and the closure of Sanaa Airport, and he encourages all parties to reopen the airport for the commercial flights.
He also expressed his concerns about the humanitarian consequences of the attack on Hodeida by government forces and he said this will affect the humanitarian situation as well as the political process.
We are working to push the political negotiations ahead and revive the political talks
http://almasdaronline.com/article/99358
and
(* A P)
Office of the Special Envoy of the Secretary-General for Yemen: UN Envoy for Yemen leaves Sana'a determined to advance the peace process
I am pleased to have visited Sana’a again. I had very productive meetings with senior leaders of Ansarallah and the General People’s Congress on my vision for the peace process which I will discuss with the Security Council later this month. I am encouraged by the reactions I received during this trip and during my meetings with the Government of Yemen and regional players over the last few weeks.
I am determined to advance the peace process because every day that goes by innocent Yemenis die. There are many urgent issues in Yemen that must be addressed, including the humanitarian situation and the continued closure of Sana’a airport to commercial flights. I urge the parties to work towards opening the airport to commercial traffic.
I have heard from many experts of their grave anxiety about an attack on Hodaidah and the significant and avoidable humanitarian consequences that would ensue. I am also concerned about the impact of such an attack on the political process.
We are working hard to get moving on the political process and aim to restart negotiations in the near future. In this regard I urge the Yemeni parties to create a conducive environment to restart the political process and de-escalate violence. I will discuss this with the security council when I brief them in two weeks.
https://reliefweb.int/report/yemen/un-envoy-yemen-leaves-sanaa-determined-advance-peace-process-enar
(* A P)
Houthis Demands coalition full withdrawal to accept peace plan
Houthis stipulate withdrawal of Arabic coalition forces from the Sothern governorates and west coast so they accept the peace plan provided by the UN envoy to Yemen.
This came after the meeting gathered whats called the president of the High political council Mahdi AlMashat and the UN envoy to Yemen Martin Griffith in Sanaa according to “Saba” news agency controlled by Houthis.
Al Mashat emphasis on that any paper provided on negotiation table should include full evacuation of Yemen from foreign forces or presence, and to make the Charters of the United nations related to National sovereignty of the countries are the base for any political talks and negotiation in Yemen”
He added his movement will accept the peace upon those announced terms.
http://almasdaronline.com/article/99346
(A P)
Prime Minister Meets UN Envoy to Yemen
Yemen Prime Minister, Abdul Aziz Saleh Bin Habtour, on Monday met with the Special Envoy of the Secretary-General of the United Nations to Yemen, Martin Griffith, and the accompanying delegation in capital Sanaa.
http://sabanews.net/en/news498102.htm
Remark: Sanaa government.
(* A P)
Yemeni Foreign minister: Government is ready to accept Houthis in the future political life
The Yemeni foreign minister Khalid AlYamani Said (Monday) that the Yemeni government is ready to accept future Houthis political participation within the peace plan.
AlYamani said to Al-Arabiya channel, the Yemeni government support the UN envoy to Yemen Efforts to achieve a political settlement in Yemen and restore peace according to the three references.
Hi indicated that the progression of the military forces on the ground aiming to pressure Houthis to stop the war and push them back to the negotiation table, ending the coup and restoring the state institutions.
http://almasdaronline.com/article/99350
Remark: Hadi government.
(A P)
UN envoy 'very concerned' by fight for key Yemen port
The UN envoy for Yemen said Tuesday he was "very concerned" over fighting for the rebel-held port of Hodeida, as government forces close in on the main gateway for aid into the war-torn country.
"Apart from the avoidable humanitarian consequences of such a battle, I am also very concerned about the impact (on) chances of a political settlement of this conflict," Martin Griffiths told reporters in the capital Sanaa.
"We are working very hard, focusing every day on moving forward in the political process," he said.
"My aim is to restart negotiations which have not taken place for a very long time -- for too long -- and I want that to restart in the very near future."
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/wires/afp/article-5807709/UN-envoy-concerned-fight-key-Yemen-port.html
Comment: Well it's one thing being concerned Mr Griffiths. It's another thing when your boss is providing weapons and support that enable the war on Hodeida to be prosecuted. Let's hope these positive talks can halt this debacle and the Yemeni people can get back to surviving in difficult circumstances which most of them have had to do for all of their lives till now, but never more than in the last three years.
https://www.facebook.com/judith.brown.794628/posts/10156740268438641
(* A P)
UN Special Envoy to Yemen Martin Griffiths met with al Houthi officials in Sana’a city to discusses the Yemeni peace process on June 2 and 3. Griffiths also attempted to revive a proposal to have the UN administer al Hudaydah port in order to avoid a coalition-backed offensive on the city, according to Yemeni and Saudi sources. Saudi-led coalition Spokesman Turiq al Maliki rejected the proposal on June 4 and emphasized the port will be transferred to the internationally recognized Abdu Rabbu Mansour Hadi government after coalition-backed forces size al Hudaydah.[3]
referring to
(* A P)
The position of the coalition on the Houthis' request for Hodeidah
Spokesman for the Arab Coalition, Colonel Turki al-Maliki, on Sunday, the position of the coalition on the request of the Houthis around Hodeidah.
"We reject the offer of the Huthis to the UN envoy to Yemen to hand over Hodeidah to the United Nations Hodeidah," Maliki, spokesman for the Arab alliance, told AFP.
"It will be handed over to the legitimate government and has already been launched since the days of military operations expanded to impose full control over all areas of Hodeidah."
Comment: The previous UN Envoy to #Yemen also proposed about a year ago, wonder if the #Saudi-led coalition would still consider this. Some Yemeni sources reported the coalition already rejected the idea but there has not been any official confirmation of that claim.
https://twitter.com/MaherFarrukh/status/1003801455868960768
My comment: This even would mean that the Saudis being in a stronger position now drop their own former demand. And it means that they refuse any peaceful solution for Hodeidah, just insisting on a military assault.
(A P)
President welcomes UN efforts for peace, calling for lifting siege on Yemen
President of the Supreme Political Council Mahdi al-Mashat on Monday welcomed efforts exerted by Special Envoy of the UN Secretary-General to Yemen, Martin Griffith, calling for lifting the siege on Yemen.
During his meeting with the UN envoy, the president stressed that any papers presented at the negotiating table should provide for ending the foreign presence in Yemen.
The president underlined that the UN charters and international laws regarding the respect for sovereignty and independence of countries should be starting points for any political process and negotiations in Yemen.
http://www.sabanews.net/en/news498140.htm and photos https://twitter.com/narrabyee/status/1003873938999578624
Remark: Saada government.
(* A P)
UN envoy seeks deal to avert Saudi-led assault on Yemeni port
Last-ditch efforts are under way by the UN to persuade the Saudi-led coalition in Yemen not to launch a deadly assault on the Houthi-controlled port of Hodeida and to allow time for a deal to be agreed to preserve the port’s role in distributing humanitarian aid.
Yemeni forces backed by Riyadh claimed on Sunday to have already taken control of the tourist resorts in Nukhaila, in Duraihimi province, just west of Hodeida, setting up the possibility of a prolonged siege that could slow or block humanitarian supplies heading out of the port to millions in need across the country.
Saudi sources claimed the UN special envoy for Yemen, Martin Griffiths, was in the Houthi-controlled capital, Sana’a, to discuss the possibility of international control of the port.
Downing Street said Theresa May had spoken to the Saudi crown prince Mohammmed bin Salman on Saturday and both sides welcomed Griffiths’ efforts to negotiate a settlement.
The UK government is believed not to support an attack on Hodeida, but ministers have not explicitly warned the Saudis off.
(* A P)
UN envoy to Yemen in talks with Houthis to cede Hodeidah port: Sources
The UN Yemen mediator is in talks with the Houthi movement to hand over control of Hodeidah port to the United Nations in an attempt to avert a possible assault on the city by a Saudi-led coalition, Yemeni political sources said.
Martin Griffiths arrived in the Houthi-held capital Sanaa on Saturday as coalition-backed troops moved to within 10 km (6.21 miles) of the Red Sea port, long a key target in the war, according to local military officials, who said the advance had paused in the last few days.
“He (Griffiths) comes with a proposal for the Houthis to place Hodeidah port under UN supervision,” said a senior Yemeni politician close to the internationally recognized government of President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi, who is in exile.
A source close to the Iran-aligned Houthi movement confirmed that the proposal was being discussed as did a second source close to Hadi’s government.
http://www.arabnews.com/node/1315646/middle-east
Remark: As claimed by Saudi media. – This idea was a Saudi idea, the Houthis always had rejected it. Western media do not confirm:
(A P)
UN envoy in talks with Yemen's Huthis on fate of key port
"The special envoy is discussing with the parties the steps they could take to de-escalate tension, including on Hodeida," said Dujarric, who did not provide details.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/wires/afp/article-5805257/UN-envoy-talks-Yemens-Huthis-fate-key-port.html
(A P)
Houthi leader demands the UN to pay the salaries
Mohammed Ali Alhouthi the leader in Houthis militia asked the UN envoy to Yemen Martin Griffith to pay the Salaries of government employees during his second visit to Sanaa, the Employees didn’t receive their salaries for the past Consecutive 19 months.
The head of the revolutionary committees tweeted on his account “for the Envoy he should be informed that salaries are the first step”
He added “ in case if he did not release the salaries like his ancestor Ismail Weld AL sheik I wish from anyone meets him to inform him that this comes first if he has any credibility”
http://almasdaronline.com/article/99310
and Saudi propaganda chooses the headline: Houthis Threaten to Foil Griffiths’ Mission in Yemen, https://aawsat.com/english/home/article/1289541/houthis-threaten-foil-griffiths%E2%80%99-mission-yemen
(A P)
Foreign Minister meets UN envoy
Foreign Minister, Hisham Sharaf, and Deputy Foreign Minister, Hussein al-Azzi on Sunday met with the special envoy of The United Nations Secretary-General's envoy to Yemen, Martin Griffith in capital Sanaa.
During the meeting, Sharaf explained that the Supreme Political Council and the Government of National Salvation informed the Special Envoy, during his first visit, of their support to reach a peaceful political settlement to stop the aggression.
He Confirmed that the countries of aggression have obstructed any peace efforts through the practice of all forms of international humanitarian law and human rights conventions’ violations, including the assassination of the President Saleh al-Sammad and the recent military escalation in the West Coast.
http://www.sabanews.net/en/news498017.htm
Remark: At Sanaa, Sanaa government.
cp7a Saudi-Arabien und Iran / Saudi Arabia and Iran
(* A P)
Saudi-Arabien gestattet Iranern die Wallfahrt nach Mekka
Trotz aller Konflikte zwischen dem Iran und Saudi-Arabien dürfen iranische Pilger auch in diesem Jahre an der muslimischen Pilgerreise Hadsch (Haj) nach Mekka teilnehmen. "Wir haben diesbezüglich mit den Saudis gute Verhandlungen geführt und bereits auch Vereinbarungen getroffen", sagte Kulturminister Abbas Salehi der Nachrichtenagentur Tasnim am Sonntag.
Die Pilgerreise von rund 85.000 Iranern solle am 7. oder 8. Juli beginnen.
cp8 Saudi-Arabien / Saudi Arabia
(* A P)
Saudi Arabia Detains 17 People in Sweeping Crackdown
Saudi Arabia says it has arrested 17 people in a sweeping crackdown, which has mostly targeted female human rights campaigners.
Last month, the kingdom nabbed 11 people, including high-profile female activists, blaming them for anti-establishment activities. On Saturday, the authorities said the number of those arrested had reached 17.
They did not specify whether the new detainees were activists, only saying that they had promoted insecurity in the kingdom.
According to a statement by the Public Prosecutor’s Office and carried by the official Saudi Press Agency, eight of the detainees have been temporarily released.
http://www.presstv.com/Detail/2018/06/03/563727/Saudi-Arabia-arrests-human-rights-activists = http://www.newnewss.net/saudi-arabia-detains-17-people-in-sweeping-crackdown/
(* B P)
Saudi Arabia’s once-powerful conservatives silenced by reforms and repression
Saudi Arabia’s most conservative Islamists are reeling from a loss of influence that has left them confused about their place in a country where they once wielded much clout.
Long a swaggering force, these conservatives now tiptoe on social media outlets like Twitter. In mosques and at community gatherings, they reluctantly criticize recent changes they stridently oppose, like the easing of social boundaries between men and women.
The architect of their turmoil is Mohammed bin Salman, Saudi Arabia’s young and hard-charging crown prince His vows to modernize the country have included curbing the influence of the conservatives known as Salafists
His ambition has put Mohammed in conflict with a powerful Salafist network, which constitutes the most coherent political force outside of Saudi Arabia’s ruling family, analysts say. To keep them quiet, Mohammed has used both intimidation and accommodation.
But critics say there are also signs that Mohammed is accommodating the hard-liners, pointing to the state’s recent arrest and public shaming of some of Saudi Arabia’s most prominent women’s right advocates. And some of the Salafists the authorities have arrested could have helped with the state’s fight against intolerance and extremism. Under Mohammed, the Saudi authorities are “trying to strike a balance between liberals and conservatives as they’ve always done,” said Stephane Lacroix, a professor of political science at Sciences Po in Paris. But now, the methods are “much more brutal” than under previous Saudi rulers, he said. “It is what I’d call a balance of fear.”
Several Salafists said they thought the arrests last September were intended to send a message that Mohammed’s changes are not open to negotiation or critique. “They made a lesson of them to the others,” said the 50-year-old Salafist in Riyadh. “Don’t talk too much – By Kareem Fahim
cp9 USA
Siehe / Look at cp1
(* B P)
Sie wollen den Krieg
Die Verfolgung geostrategischer Machtinteressen schafft keinen Frieden, sondern Krieg. Maßgebliche US-Politiker fordern einen Regime Change im Iran… Es gilt das Recht des Stärkeren.
Die USA treiben die globale Eskalation zum Krieg voran. Ihr verlässlichster Verbündeter im Nahen Osten ist Israel. Als gäbe es kein Völkerrecht und keine UN-Charta, treiben beide die Spirale politischer Drohungen und militärischer Angriffe voran. Man vergleiche die Präambel und die ersten Artikel der Charta der Vereinten Nationen von 1945 mit der Realität im Nahen und Mittleren Osten: Der Gegensatz könnte krasser nicht sein. Stehen US-Präsident Donald Trump und der israelische Ministerpräsident Benjamin Netanjahu zusammen mit ihren Ministern und Sicherheitsberatern Mike Pompeo, John Bolton oder Avigdor Lieberman über dem Völkerrecht? Sind Menschenrechte für sie eine lästige Nebensächlichkeit? Beobachter warnen, diese Extremisten betrieben eine Politik, die ungewollt zum Krieg führen könne. Sie irren: Die Genannten wollen den Krieg.
Der gemeinsame Feind der beiden Mächte im Zusammenwirken mit Saudi-Arabien ist der Staat Iran….
(…) Die Lage im Nahen Osten ist so brisant, dass jede weitere Eskalationsstufe zu einem Flächenbrand, zu einem Krieg in der ganzen Region führen kann.
(…) Die Großmächte und ihre jeweiligen Verbündeten kennen keine Menschenrechte, längst ist ihnen das Völkerrecht oder die UN-Charta ein lästiges Papier, das man rasch und schmerzlos in die Tonne treten kann. Die Völker werden zu kleinen Schachfiguren auf dem Spielbrett der großen Player. Menschenleben zählen nur insofern, als sie den eigenen Interessen dienen.
http://www.ossietzky.net/10-2018&textfile=4365
(B K P)
Stay Out of Yemen
The Houthis are not America's enemy; the enemy is Iran, which declared war on us in 1979 and pursues a variety of strategies to wear us down while it pursues its illicit nuclear and ballistic missile programs.
Expanding the American role in Yemen would serve Iran's strategic interests rather than our own.
If the United States wants to stop Iran, Yemen is not the best place to do it. Iran, after all, has nothing much to lose there since, even in the unlikely case that the Houthis are finally defeated (which will be costly), it won't matter in the big picture.
Forget the Houthis.
https://www.americanthinker.com/articles/2018/06/stay_out_of_yemen.html
My comment: A strange mixture of common sense (Leave Yemen, this is the wrong place for fighting Iran) and US anti-Iranian paranoia.
(* B K P)
Pentagon Official: we have a special force unit in Yemen to support the coalition
An official at United state ministry of Defense (Pentagon) revealed a special American unit presence in Yemen to support the coalition against Houthis.
“Alhurrah” channel said according to the official who preferred not to mention his name, he did not confirm if the force will participate in Hodeida operation which about to be launched by the Arabic coalition led by Saudi Arabia.
The source also did not mention the location of the force for security reasons.
http://almasdaronline.com/article/99378
My comment: Listen, listen!!
(A P)
Yemeni Prime Minister Meets with US Ambassador
Yemeni Prime Minister Dr. Ahmed Obaid bin Dughr met here today with US Ambassador to Yemen Matthew Toler.
During the meeting, they discussed bilateral relations and the reviewed their country's points of view on a number of issues and developments of mutual concern, as well as developments at the national scene, including international efforts to achieve peace.
The meeting underscored the danger of the Iranian role in the region and the importance of putting an end to its interference and flagrant violations of UN Security Council Resolution 2216 and its continuing provision for the Houthi militias with ballistic missiles targeting the Kingdom of saudi Arabia and threatening the international navigation.
The Yemeni Prime Minister expressed the appreciation of the Yemeni government and people for the American perception of the destructive role of Iran in destabilizing the region and the world and its direct contribution to prolonging the war in Yemen by providing qualitative various support for the Al-Huthi militias.
https://www.spa.gov.sa/viewfullstory.php?lang=en&newsid=1773627
My comment: US ambassador Tueller is much more influencial than the post of ambassador to a small Third-World-Country would suggest. He is one of the main US manipulators for the support of the Saudi coalition and already had played a horrible role in this conflict: https://theintercept.com/2017/12/13/yemen-war-peace-talks-matthew-tueller/
(B K P)
America's arms sales paradox — the price of self-sufficiency
It is worth examining the strategic context in which Saudi military power is being exercised and their reliance on U.S. support?
In 1990, Iraq invaded Kuwait and began threatening Saudi Arabia. Possessing a majority of the world's oil but lacking means to defend it, Riyadh enlisted the aid of the United States to repel the Iraqis and secure their country from imminent invasion. After all, a stable supply of Middle East oil was necessary to keep the global economy humming — thus, it was in the strategic interest of the west to intervene.
Following that Gulf War, the Saudis began purchasing U.S. military hardware in the hopes that it would lessen the need for American military presence, protection, and diplomatic finger-wagging. Concurrently, it is in America's interest to avoid the mass deployment of troops across the globe for the sake of other countries’ security — it's unsustainable.
So how to achieve this mutually beneficial goal? Practice. Piles of money do not equal instant operational proficiency. Unfortunately, continued U.S. presence coupled with Saudi Arabian predilection for outsourcing tasks hinders self-sufficiency. Thus, the inflexible symbiosis persists.
It is in America’s interest for the Saudi's to share the burden of regional security and provide for their own defense — they therefore need equipment and practice. However, if we sell them armaments and then chastise the Saudis for using them, we push them to remain a paper tiger and dependent on U.S. military protection. After all, implicit in the sale of arms to allies is that if they can defend themselves, we won’t have to.
Some argue that the U.S. shouldn't subsidize the disaster in Yemen by virtue of providing arms to the Saudis because America will be exposed to blowback in the form of increased animosity toward the U.S. However, if the U.S. stopped selling arms and our adversaries filled the void, would international ire shift away from the U.S.? Would our adversaries care if that ire shifted to them? Wouldn’t the U.S. lose market share as adversaries reach parity with us from a technological perspective? – by Greg Archetto, former foreign affairs officer at Bureau of Political Military Affairs at State
My comment: A strange article, but certainly typical of how US looks at the world. It is taken for granted that the US interfers everywhere on this planet, and the effects on the people abroad are not even worth to be spoken about.
(* B P)
Why policymakers should stop listening when it comes to Saudi Arabia and Israel
Whether you believe US foreign policy under Trump exemplifies an "emergent strategy model", in which the Trump administration is learning on its feet, or, as Occam's Razor would suggest, that luck has so far prevented catastrophe, one clear trend has emerged; US opposition to Iran has drawn Israel and Saudi Arabia deeper into one another's orbit, with US policymakers tending to invoke national security over humanitarian concerns in their approach to the region.
Since backing out of the Iran nuclear deal against the advice of analysts and the persuasion of European allies, the Trump administration has doubled down on its partnership with Saudi Arabia, presently the United States' largest customer of foreign military sales with more than $114 billion in active deals.
Delivering the keynote address at the Arms Trade Forum hosted by the Stimson Center in Washington, DC, on Tuesday May 22, Senator Murphy spoke of the challenge he has faced "trying to rewrite some of the history" [of the region] for his colleagues in the Senate - "a difficult proposition given our longstanding alliance" [with Saudi Arabia].
Murphy described US arms sales in the region as akin to "exporting our national gun violence epidemic across the world". The point was salient, as the National Rifle Association played a key role in lobbying against US participation in the Arms Trade Treaty, designed to regulate trade for the promotion of peace. Although the United States remains a signatory, the US Senate has never approved the treaty for ratification.
Murphy also expressed concern that incoming Secretary of State Mike Pompeo views the world similarly to his predecessor, Rex Tillerson, "through a military lens," and lamented that there could be a "rapid uptick in sales to GCC partners in the region at a time when the region needs no more arms".
It is significant that Murphy couched his appeals in the language of national security, arguing that more weapons flowing into the region could yield greater instability. This argument is often reversed as a reason the United States should engage in arms proliferation. In either case, national security arguments carry more weight than those based on humanitarian principles alone.
As Senator Murphy put it, the conflict in Yemen amounts to a "proxy war the US doesn't have a fight in".
https://www.alaraby.co.uk/english/comment/2018/6/4/public-relations-in-the-trump-era
(* B K P)
Grieving dad: U.S. drone killed my son in Yemen, and Trump has yet to offer apology
An American drone killed my son Mohammed Saleh al-Manthari. One day in March, without warning, it appeared in the sky and killed him.
I have not been told why. He was never charged with nor convicted of a crime. No one has apologized to us or sought to repair the damage caused by my son's killing. Now, I wonder whether the U.S. government even cares about the harm it is causing in Yemen.
President Trump refused to comply with an order requiring him to report the deaths of my family to Congress. Instead, he said the requirement to publish the numbers of civilians killed in U.S. counterterrorism operations was "under review" and any report wouldn't be delivered until June 1, at the earliest.
My question to the President is: Will my son be included in your report to Congress? You may not think he matters, but I and others do. And every time you justify his killing, it is like you kill him all over again.
On March 29, my son and several others were driving toward the city of Al Samw'ah, in Al Bayda Governorate in Yemen, to pick up an elder to act as a witness in a land sale in a nearby village. At approximately 2 p.m., a U.S. drone opened fire on their vehicle. Three people were killed, including my son. Two others were injured. One of them later succumbed to his injuries.
The U.S. military claimed responsibility for the attack. It alleged that the strike killed four terrorists. This is untrue.
My son was not a member of Al Qaeda. He was a simple person, a family man. After serving in Yemen's military, he became a night guard for a local gas station. He was a law-abiding citizen who never thought ill of the United States. In fact, he rarely thought of the U.S. at all.
http://almasdaronline.com/article/99336
(* B P)
America’s Enemies, Who’s On the List?
Prospects and Perspectives
For almost 2 decades, the US pursued a list of ‘enemy countries’ to confront, attack, weaken and overthrow.
This imperial quest to overthrow ‘enemy countries’ operated at various levels of intensity, depending on two considerations: the level of priority and the degree of vulnerability for a ‘regime change’ operation.
The criteria for determining an ‘enemy country’ and its place on the list of priority targets in the US quest for greater global dominance, as well as its vulnerability to a ‘successfully’ regime change will be the focus of this essay.
We will conclude by discussing the realistic perspectives of future imperial options.
Prioritizing US Adversaries
Imperial strategists consider military, economic and political criteria in identifying high priority adversaries.
The following are high on the US ‘enemy list’:
5) Iran, because of its oil resources, political independence and geo-political alliances in the Middle East, challenge US, Israeli and Saudi Arabia domination of the region and present an independent alternative.
6) Syria, because of its strategic position in the Middle East, its secular nationalist ruling party and its alliances with Iran, Palestine, Iraq and Russia, is a counterweight to US-Israeli plans to balkanize the Middle East into warring ethno-tribal states.
US Middle-level Adversaries :
2) Lebanon, because of its strategic location on the Mediterranean and the coalition government’s power sharing arrangement with the political party, Hezbollah, which is increasingly influential in Lebanese civil society in part because of its militia’s proven capacity to protect Lebanese national sovereignty by expelling the invading Israeli army and helping to defeat the ISIS/al Queda mercenaries in neighboring Syria.
3) Yemen, because of its independent, nationalist Houthi-led movement opposed to the Saudi-imposed puppet government as well as its relations with Iran.
Priority Adversaries, Low Vulnerability and Unreal ExpectationsYemen, Cuba, Lebanon, Bolivia and Syria are not nations capable of shaping global political and economic alignments. The most the US can secure in these vulnerable countries are destructive regime changes with massive loss of life, infrastructure and millions of desperate refugees . . . but at great political cost, with prolonged instability and with severe economic losses.
Yemen
The US can push for a total Saudi Royal victory over the starving, cholera-stricken people of Yemen. But who benefits? Saudi Arabia is in the midst of a palace upheaval and has no ability to exercise hegemony, despite hundreds of billions of dollars of US/NATO arms, trainers and bases. Colonial occupations are costly and yield few, if any, economic benefits, especially from a poor, geographically isolated devastated nation like Yemen.
Conclusion
A brief examination of Washington’s ‘list of enemies’ reveals that the limited chances of success even among vulnerable targets. Clearly, in this evolving world power configuration, US money and markets will not alter the power equation.
US allies, like Saudi Arabia, spend enormous amounts of money attacking a devastated nation, but they destroy markets while losing wars. Powerful adversaries, like China, Russia and Iran, are not vulnerable and offer the Pentagon few prospects of military conquest in the foreseeable future.
https://www.globalresearch.ca/americas-enemies-whos-on-the-list/5619763
(A P T)
Just catching up on US CentCom releases re. #Yemen. US conducted 17 counter-terrorism airstrikes from mid-Feb to mid-May 2018 across 4 governorates: "al Bayda, Hadramawt, Zamakh and Shabwah". Zamakh? Where/What is Zamakh governorate? This doesn't bode well for US intel... (document)
https://twitter.com/Dr_E_Kendall/status/1004005817220325376 referring to http://www.centcom.mil/MEDIA/PRESS-RELEASES/Press-Release-View/Article/1523709/centcom-updates-counterterrorism-strikes-in-yemen/
(* B P)
Saudi Government Gave Obama Aides “Suitcases Full of Jewels”
Saudi Arabia gave White House aides jewellery worth hundreds of thousands of dollars in large suitcases, according to Ben Rhodes, former speechwriter and deputy national security adviser in the Obama administration.
In his memoir The World As It Is, published on Tuesday, Rhodes recounts a trip to Saudi Arabia in June 2009 soon after Barack Obama became president.
He says on arrival he and other US officials were taken to housing units in a compound owned by the monarchy in the desert.
“When I opened the door to my unit, I found a large suitcase,” Rhodes recounts. “Inside were jewels.”
“We all got suitcases full of jewels,” the former aide told the Guardian newspaper.
“We all gave them to the state protocol office who handles gifts. You have the option to buy the gifts, but given the price – I don’t remember what it was but it was tens of thousands, I believe – no one kept them that I recall.”
Eleven other White House officials were given gift sets by the Saudi government.
The president and his wife, Michelle, were not spared expensive gifts either.
The then Saudi king, Abdullah, gave the Obamas and their daughters almost $190,000 worth of gifts.
A diamond and ruby jewellery set given to Michelle Obama was valued at $132,000 alone.
http://www.middleeasteye.net/news/saudi-government-gave-obama-aides-suitcases-full-jewels-says-ex-official-816843061 = http://theantimedia.com/saudi-government-gave-obama-aides-suitcases-jewels/
cp10 Großbritannien / Great Britain
(A P)
Saudi Crown Prince discusses Yemen developments with UK PM May in phone call
In a phone call between Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and Britain’s Prime Minister Theresa May on Saturday, both parties agreed that the only way for the Yemeni situation to be resolved is through a political solution.
They discussed the humanitarian situation in Yemen and agreed the importance of doing everything they could to ease the suffering of Yemenis.
https://english.alarabiya.net/en/News/gulf/2018/06/03/Saudi-Crown-Prince-discusses-Yemen-developments-with-UK-PM-May-in-phone-call-.html and also https://www.energyvoice.com/oilandgas/middle-east/173244/may-talks-yemen-oil-and-iran-with-saudi-leader/
My comment: This is really a bad joke.
(A K P)
Fife children’s science festival criticised for partnering with US arms firm linked to alleged war crimes in Yemen
The multinational arms company Raytheon is a supporter of Fife Science Festival and has run stalls at festival events over the last two weekends.
The festival organisers say they are “proud” to have Raytheon on board despite campaigners claiming the firm’s weapons, some made in Scotland, have been linked to alleged war crimes.
In Yemen’s war, Paveway IV missiles have been widely used by the Royal Saudi Air Force against Houthi rebels while there have been scores of war crime allegations after the bombs hit civilian sites.
Mark Kaye, a conflict adviser with Save The Children who has visited Yemen, accused Raytheon of hypocrisy.
cp11 Deutschland / Germany
(B H)
Aus dem Leben eines Flüchtlings
Hassan ist vor drei Jahren aus dem Jemen geflüchtet. Mit funky sprach er über seine Flucht, das Ankommen in Deutschland und die vielen Veränderungen in seinem Leben.
https://funky.de/hamburger-abendblatt/2018/06/05/aus-dem-leben-eines-fluechtlings/
cp12 Andere Länder / Other countries
(A P)
UAE climbs 12 spots in world peace rankings
Emirates making progress to become 45th most peaceful country, global index reports
The UAE has climbed 12 spots to rank as the 45th most-peaceful country of 163 states and territories worldwide, according to the Global Peace Index being released in London on Wednesday.
The improved standing in the 12th annual report
https://gulfnews.com/news/uae/society/uae-climbs-12-spots-in-world-peace-rankings-1.2232277
My comment: By UAE media. Rank 45 is not so pretty. And looking abroad, to the warfare in Yemen, is omitted. Yemen itself is rank 158.
(* B K P)
Israel Is Now Helping Saudi Arabia Develop Nuclear Weapons
The Israeli government has begun selling the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia information on how to develop nuclear weapons, according to a senior official at the Israeli military organization iHLS (Israel’s Homeland Security). Ami Dor-on, a senior nuclear commentator at the organization — which is partially funded by U.S. weapons-giant Raytheon – came forward because of his concern over the emerging nuclear arms race in the region. The cooperation between the two countries in helping the Saudis to develop a nuclear weapons program is just the latest sign of their warming relationship, with Israel recently calling the Saudi crown prince “a partner of Israel.”
While Dor-On, speaking to news outlet Arabi21, did not elaborate on the details of the information being exchanged, he stated that the sharing of this information was likely to be just the beginning of Israeli involvement in a future Saudi nuclear weapons program, which would likely see Israel “take the initiative to develop Saudi Arabia’s effort to acquire nuclear weapons” as a result of “the growing Saudi-Israeli relations.”
Dor-On additionally expressed his concern over the Saudis’ acquiring of nuclear weapons and a wider nuclear arms race in the region, stating that “this information should shock us as we see the world is changing for the worse, following the race for the possession of nuclear weapons that pass right over our heads in the Middle East.”
http://theantimedia.com/israel-helping-saudi-arabia-nuclear-weapons/
(* A P)
Aid groups want Macron's assurances on Yemen meet co-chaired by Saudis
Almost 30 aid groups wrote to French President Emmanuel Macron on Monday evening threatening to shun a conference on Yemen co-chaired by Saudi Arabia, one of the warring parties, unless France as host ensured its aims were purely humanitarian, not political.
France earlier confirmed that the gathering of countries and international organizations would take place on June 27 in Paris to address the “urgent humanitarian situation”.
“We are concerned about the credibility of a humanitarian event on Yemen co-hosted by Saudi Arabia, one of the parties to the conflict,” said the letter, seen by Reuters, from 27 aid groups including Oxfam, Christian Aid and the Norwegian Refugee Council.
They said they would not support the meeting unless France, as the convener, ensured “all parties to the conflict participate and engage in good faith, guided by the sole objective of alleviating the suffering of Yemenis”.
My comment: This will be a mainly political event. Macron wants to show himself as man of action, and the Saudi crown prince gets a wonderful PR event as part of the Saudi propaganda campaign to show Saudi Arabia as humanitarian benefactor to deflect from Saudi war crimes in Yemen.
And, more clear:
(* A P)
Macron accused of having ‘ULTERIOR MOTIVE’ at ‘humanitarian’ conference on Yemen
SEVERAL aid groups accused French President Emmanuel Macron of having an ulterior motive for holding, along with Saudi Arabia, an international conference on Yemen and threatened in a letter to shun the event unless France ensured its aims were purely humanitarian, not political.
The 27 aid groups, including Oxfam, Christian Aid and the Norwegian Refugee Council, said in the letter: "We are concerned about the credibility of a humanitarian event on Yemen co-hosted by Saudi Arabia, one of the parties to the conflict.”
They said they would not support the conference unless France, as the host, ensured "all parties to the conflict participate and engage in good faith, guided by the sole objective of alleviating the suffering of Yemenis".
And this is the statement in full:
(* A H K P)
27 Yemeni and international NGOs set out expectations before Paris humanitarian conference on Yemen
Dear President Macron,
First, we urge you to reiterate throughout the conference that only an inclusive political solution can fully address the humanitarian crisis in Yemen. Any initiatives to improve the humanitarian situation must be consistent with ongoing international efforts. For this reason, it is imperative that the conference is organised in close liaison with the United Nations and its Special Envoy Martin Griffiths, and with other key international actors.
Second, we are concerned about the credibility of a humanitarian event on Yemen co-hosted by Saudi Arabia, one of the parties to the conflict. It is France’s responsibility, as the convener, to ensure that the conference adheres to humanitarian principles and that all parties to the conflict participate and engage in good faith, guided by the sole objective of alleviating the suffering of Yemenis.
Third, we urge you to ensure that a diverse group of Yemeni civil society representatives, including women and youth, are meaningfully included in the conference and that the conference is a safe space for their full and equal participation. Any international gathering to address the needs of Yemen’s people must include their voices at its heart.
Fourth, it is absolutely imperative that the conference emphasises the right of civilians in Yemen to protection and makes reference to the outrageous violations of international humanitarian and human rights law committed by all parties to the conflict. We are particularly concerned about the prospect of an imminent attack on Hodeidah port that would have a disastrous impact on civilians throughout the country.
As host of the conference, France should lead by example and, pursuant of France’s international commitments, we urge you to suspend the transfer of any French military equipment at risk of being used against civilians in Yemen.
Finally, to reinforce current international efforts, the conference should demand that key stakeholders enforce the UN Security Council’s Presidential Statement of 15 March 2018, and seek to secure the delivery of the following actions:
Guarantees that Yemen’s ports will be kept functioning and protected from further attacks, including Hodeidah port, which is a critical lifeline for millions of Yemenis;
(A P)
Mahathir Mohammed :the Yemeni community in Malaysia will remain respected and honored by the Malaysian people
http://almasdaronline.com/article/99338
(* A P)
Iran schließt Begrenzung seines Raketenprogramms aus
Mit Blick auf Forderungen, der Iran solle sich aus Konflikten wie im Jemen und Syrien heraushalten, sagte Khamenei: "Wir werden weiterhin unterdrückte Nationen unterstützen." Der Iran habe nicht die Absicht, seinen Einfluss im Nahen Osten zurückzunehmen. Khamenei rief die arabische Jugend auf, sich gegen den Druck der USA zur Wehr zu setzen. "Junge Araber, ihr solltet handeln und die Initiative ergreifen, um eure eigene Zukunft zu kontrollieren", sagte Khamenei. "Einige Staaten in der Region agieren, als wären ihre eigenen Völker ihr Feind."
https://kurier.at/politik/ausland/iran-schliesst-begrenzung-seines-raketenprogramms-aus/400045718
cp12a Katar-Krise / Qatar crisis
(* B P)
Qatar Won the Saudi Blockade
A Saudi-led coalition wanted to permanently ostracize its rival. One year later, Qatar has more influence in the West than ever.
The anti-Qatar quartet failed in its mission of forcing Qatar to accept its 13 demands, which included shutting down Al Jazeera and other media outlets said to be funded by Doha, and to cease support for various regional Islamist groups, ostensibly both Sunni and Shiite. The Qataris were also accused of what its critics labeled as treacherous support for the Houthis, a party of the Yemen war against which Doha was fighting.
But the demands were clearly designed to be too much for Doha to immediately accept.
http://foreignpolicy.com/2018/06/04/qatar-won-the-saudi-blockade/
(A P)
Qatar accuses Saudis of reckless behavior after military threat report
Qatar accused its giant neighbor Saudi Arabia of reckless behavior after a newspaper report that Riyadh had threatened military action if Doha installed a Russian air defense system.
Qatar’s foreign minister told Al Jazeera he did not think the Saudi threat - reportedly made in a letter to France - was serious. But he accused Riyadh of using the letter to try and create a “disturbance” in a region already rocked by a year-long stand-off between Doha and other powers.
Remark: Earlier reporting YPR 418, cp12a.
cp13 Waffenhandel / Arms trade
(* B E K P)
UK Missed Chance To Stop Suspect Bosnian Bullet Deal – Analysis
The UK failed to tell Bosnia of its suspicions about a consignment of bullets bound for Saudi Arabia, which has a habit of diverting arms to proxies in Syria and Yemen.
The UK suspected that almost 30 million Bosnian-made bullets sold to Saudi Arabia would end up in the wrong hands, but failed to warn Sarajevo before the shipment had flown, Balkan Investigative Reporting Network can reveal.
The deal was brought to the UK’s attention because two British-based brokers had requested – and were eventually refused – licences to mediate the Bosnia-Saudi deal.
The UK refusal came in March 2016 after around 14 months of deliberation, when it was already too late to halt the shipment. Such applications are usually decided within 20 working days.
Asked why the UK might have refused the licence, Isbister told BIRN that the “most obvious explanation is that the UK would be fearing diversion to non-state actors that Saudi Arabia – and the US – is supporting in current Middle Eastern conflicts”.
Some of the bullets ordered by the Saudi authorities were not widely used by its forces, but extremely popular on the battlefields of Syria and Yemen. They included 15 million bullets for AK-47 style weapons.
Another 10 million 5.56×45mm bullets in the order are NATO standard and can be used by Saudi forces, but they are also compatible with Bulgarian AR-M9 rifles which were supplied to Yemeni soldiers by Saudi-ally UAE in 2015, according to weapons expert Jeremy Binnie from the London-based Jane’s Defence Weekly.
In mid-2015, a video surfaced that appeared to show ammunition airdropped by the Saudi-led military coalition in Yemen, including mortar shells clearly marked as made in a Serbian state-owned factory [see box] in 2012.
Sarajevo continues to export ammunition to Riyadh. In 2016, it approved 52 million euros of arms export licences for Saudi Arabia, according to the government’s yearly report of issued licences.
Bosnia’s Ministry of Foreign Trade told BIRN it was hardly alone in selling weapons to Riyadh. “A significant number of EU countries approve the export of goods from the Common List of Weapons and Military Equipment to Saudi Arabia.”
http://www.eurasiareview.com/06062018-uk-missed-chance-to-stop-suspect-bosnian-bullet-deal-analysis/ = http://www.balkaninsight.com/en/article/uk-missed-chance-to-stop-suspect-bosnian-bullet-deal-06-04-2018
and all the documents used in the investigation at BIRN’s online library on the Balkan Countries arming the Saudis here: http://birnsource.com/en/folder/261
(B K)
On sale, from my favourite gun dealer in #Yemen : "Property of US Government" military issue M16A1 5.56mm fully automatic assault rifle. (photo)
https://twitter.com/BaFana3/status/1003712244373508096
My comment: Yemen is flooded with weapons , coming from all thinkable sources. It’s odd to think the Houthis would rely on imports from Iran.
cp14 Terrorismus / Terrorism
(* B T)
Exclusive: CENTCOM reveals scope of Yemen air campaign
In a major move toward transparency, US Central Command (CENTCOM) provided details to FDD’s Long War Journal on US air strikes against Al Qaeda’s branch in Yemen. Since early 2017, the military previously provided little information on the Yemen air campaign, typically providing only an aggregate number and limited detail on high-value target strikes.
In an email to LWJ, CENTCOM’s Major Josh T. Jacques disclosed the dates and locations of the last four months of strikes in Yemen. The information revealed that since the beginning of 2018, the US campaign against Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) in Yemen has focused on three governorates: Hadramout (eight strikes), Al Bayda (eight), and Shabwa (two), demonstrating the eastern reach of the terrorist group.
Last year’s publicized strikes were concentrated in the central governorates of Al Bayda and Marib.
Location of US air strikes against AQAP from March through May 2018: …
CENTCOM has not yet disclosed the locations of nine additional strikes against AQAP and one more against the Islamic State; all 10 took place in Jan.
The US military has stepped up its counterterrorism campaign against al Qaeda’s branch in Yemen as well as the Islamic State since President Trump took office in 2017.
https://www.longwarjournal.org/archives/2018/06/yemen-details.php
Remark: For an attack in March, look at cp9.
Remarks: Hey, these 2 small yellow dots in Yemen's mostly AQAP/ISIS-free Saada & Sanaa governorates are very strange. What did @CENTCOM hit? Houthis?
https://twitter.com/BaFana3/status/1004404011917889538
Hi @BaFana3. All three strikes in Saada and Sanaa targeted AQAP. In Oct. 2012, the US targeted two compounds in Saada, killing four AQAP fighters, including two Saudis.
https://twitter.com/angutowski/status/1004445436889976833 referring to https://www.longwarjournal.org/archives/2012/10/us_drones_kill_4_aqa_1.php
(A T)
Latest #AlQaeda claim in #Yemen (6 Houthis killed/hurt by bomb 4pm Sunday in Tayyab, al-Bayda') shows weakness more than strength: -It's #AQAP's only formal claim in June so far -Pro-AQAP wires posted other claims over w/e which AQAP has not picked up, so implies fragmentation
https://twitter.com/Dr_E_Kendall/status/1003920462408282113
(A T)
#IslamicState in #Yemen announces another "martyr" Abu Sa'd al-Ta'izzi. Killed on Houthi battlefront in al-Bayda'. Ta'iz is a rich #ISIS recruitment ground. Judging by names of ISIS fighters killed in 2018, Ta'iz ranks as the top source.
https://twitter.com/Dr_E_Kendall/status/1003207476043542528
cp15 Propaganda
(A P)
Islah leader responds to Houthi conspiracy warning to the party
A leader in the Yemeni Congregation for Reform (Islah) party said that that the Houthi militia is the instrument of conspiracy against Yemen.
Appealing to Islah to join the Houthis' rebellion against the government and Arab states, Houthi leader Mohammed al-Bokheiti tried, in a facebook post, to stoke the Islah fears of a conspiracy against it. The Deputy Head of the Media Department of Islah, Adnan al-Odeini said the Houthi militia is "itself the conspiracy and the sharp knife that was stopped short of ripping the body of the nation."
https://www.alsahwa-yemen.net/en/p-19063
(A P)
Liberation Battle of Hodeidah game changer to obliterate Iranian presence in Yemen
The ongoing battle to liberate the strategic city and port of Al Hodeidah is of a crucial importance as it will change the balance of power on ground in favour of the Arab Coalition fighting on behalf of the internationally recognised government in Yemen.
Regaining the strategic city means that the Iran-backed rebels will be deprived of a main gateway where they smuggle in weapons and threaten the shipping movement on Yemen’s Red Sea Coast, as well as a major passage to the capital Sana'a.
In this brief report, the Emirates News Agency (WAM) sheds light on the strategic importance of the Hodeidah’s liberation battle, which comes amid successive and outright triumphs by the Yemenis against their coup perpetrators.
All indictors on ground prove in no uncertain way that the Arab Coalition and the joint Yemeni Resistance Forces are steadily advancing toward the strategic city which means an imminent end of the coup scheme orchestrated by the Iran-aligned Houthis who are sustaining successive losses at the hands of the Yemeni Army backed by the UAE Armed Forces operating within the Arab Coalition fighting on behalf of legitimacy in Yemen.
http://wam.ae/en/details/1395302693134
(A P)
Asharq Al-Awsat Tours Mukalla Jail as Officials Slam Qatar for Secret Detention Centers Rumors
Director of the Mukalla central prison in the Hadramaut region, Hassan Baalawi, accused Qatar of fabricating claims that secret detention centers were set up in liberated regions in Yemen.
He told Asharq Al-Awsat that Qatar paid individuals to promote such a “lie.”
Doha sought to create confusion and tarnish the image of stability that was established in Hadramaut and other areas that were liberated from the Iran-backed Houthi militias, he added.
He added that the doors of Mukalla’s central prison will be opened to anyone seeking to inspect the conditions of the inmates.
My comment: There is a lot of reporting on UAE and UAE-backed militias’ torture prisons in Yemen (last report: look at YPR 418, cp1). It’s quite absurd to blame Qatar for having invented this. The earliest reports were by western media (AP), the newest is by pro-Hadi government Yemeni media. – It will be no problem to show everything in Mukalla prison: The torture prisons are elsewhere.
Comment: Cushy. #Yemen : In Hadhramaut province capital Al Mukalla's central prison, 200 Al Qaeda prisoners are granted weekly family visits, and AQ militants below 18 are given free classes to complete their education
https://twitter.com/BaFana3/status/1004001776100626432
(A H P)
UAE continues to provide Yemen with humanitarian, development support: Yemeni Ambassador
Fahad Saeed Al Minhali, Yemeni Ambassador to the UAE, stated that the UAE’s humanitarian and development giving in Yemen is continuing and started decades ago when the late Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan established its foundations.
In a statement to the Emirates News Agency, WAM, on Zayed Humanitarian Work Day, he praised the UAE’s humanitarian role in Yemen and highlighted the fact that the value of humanitarian aid provided to his country between April 2015 and April 2018 totalled AED13.82 billion (US$3.76 billion) and included six key sectors, which include education, health, relief, infrastructure and housing, and was praised locally and globally. He added that the UAE also provided US$500 million to support the humanitarian response plan of the United Nations, UN, in Yemen for 2018.
He said that these statistics reflect the UAE’s leadership and its desire to support the Yemeni people while confirming the strong and historic ties between the two countries, in light of the objectives of the Arab Coalition, led by Saudi Arabia and with the effective participation of the UAE.
(A P)
Iran Using Yemen As Ballistic Missile Testing Ground
Missile defense experts have suggested that Iran is using Yemen as a battleground to prove its missile ... (subscribers only)
http://aviationweek.com/awindefense/iran-using-yemen-ballistic-missile-testing-ground
(A P)
Col. Al-Malki: Houthi militias suffer from complete isolation and difficulty of recruiting new soldiers
The official spokesman of the Arab Coalition in Support of Legitimacy in Yemen Colonel Turki Al-Malki said that the coalition is carrying out comprehensive humanitarian operations in Yemen, citing the efforts being exerted to restore hope in support of legitimacy inside Yemen and noting that the Houthi intervention and threats to the regional and international security and targeting its military capabilities will be faced with Coalition's support operations for the Yemeni national army to eliminate such threats.
He drew the attention to the illegal and non-human practices of the Houthi militias in Yemen, citing the forcible recruitment of children, and attacks on orphans public homes.
Reports available indicate that there are 200 children killed in action due to being recruited by the Houthis and using them as human shields, noting that the rate of those who surrendered amounted to nearly 70%.
The spokesman confirmed that work is underway to repair the Turkish vessel, attacked by the Houthis, and keep the wheat consignment on board prior to sending it to Al-Hodeida port.
Saudi ambassador to Yemen said his recent visit to Maareb and Al-Mahra governorates in Yemen were upon instructions of the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud and HRH the Crown Prince to construct a regional airport and launch a number of developmental projects there.
https://www.spa.gov.sa/viewfullstory.php?lang=en&newsid=1773294 and also https://www.thenational.ae/world/mena/houthis-using-children-as-human-shields-in-yemen-s-al-hodeidah-arab-coalition-says-1.736953
(A P)
Sanaa must be seen to, however long the journey
Hodeidah is about to be liberated from the Houthis. This is what news reports from the city indicate. The Saudi kingdom and its allies could have finalized the war in Yemen and restored legitimacy there within few days or say months but rushing victory would have costed a huge price of human and property losses on both sides.
Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman noted this early in one of his interviews. This is in addition to the fact that the real enemy, i.e. the Persian mullahs, would only suffer a little from these losses in case victory is rushed because it fights via its proxy, the Houthis.
Therefore, patience has been relatively the best and most peaceful option. The signs of victory loom in the horizon as liberating Hodeidah is a pivotal phase in finalizing the war and cutting supplies to the rebels.
When Hodeidah is liberated, liberating the capital Sanaa will only be a matter of time as the Houthis only represent a small number on the map of political and ideological powers. If the mullahs’ republic hadn’t supported them with money and arms, the Houthis would not have been able to attract other opportunist powers which fought along their side despite the ideological and other radical differences between them.
I am certain that the Houthis’ collapse and that clipping their wings will have positive effects towards ending many problems that have worried the Gulf people especially the Saudis for long decades.
The Saudis, in all their categories, agree that we did not choose the war in Yemen and that we only engaged in it only when we had to and after we felt that Iran is targeting us and has ambitions in our territories, especially in the two holy cities. This is why confronting Iran was inevitable and an existential matter no matter what the cost is. The only option we had was the confrontation.
Therefore, Operation Decisive Storm was the only choice which may be painful and costly but it will lead to ending this suffering on our southern borders once and for all.
My comment: A really LOL propaganda article.
(A P)
More Saudi / UAE “We are benefactors” propaganda
https://www.spa.gov.sa/viewfullstory.php?lang=en&newsid=1773870
http://www.arabnews.com/node/1316331/saudi-arabia
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qR8e_nXoV0o
cp16 Saudische Luftangriffe / Saudi air raids
(* A K pH)
Saudi coalition air raids day by day:
(A K pH)
Aggression warplanes launch 3 strikes on Yemen’s capital Sanaa
Warplanes of US-backed Saudi-led aggression coalition launched on Tuesday three strikes on the capital Sanaa, an official told Saba News Agency.
The warplanes waged two strikes on eastern Juraf area, nearby Moaed hospital, and an airstrike on residential neighborhood in Hadda area, behind Gondol supermarket.
http://www.sabanews.net/en/news498243.htm
and
(* A K)
Saudi-led airstrikes hit Yemen's capital after UN envoy left
Saudi-led coalition launched a series of airstrikes on the Yemeni capital on Tuesday evening, hours after UN special envoy Martin Griffiths left the rebel-held Sanaa following three days of talks.
The airstrikes hit the densely populated neighborhood of al-Jiraf, north of Sanaa, and Hadda in the south of the capital, according to Houthi-controlled Saba news agency and residents.
Ambulances could be heard in the streets as the targeted quarters were cordoned off by Houthi-controlled police forces.
There were no official reports yet of casualties among the residents, as officials said a building near a school was hit in Hadda and two other buildings were bombed in al-Jiraf.
But residents in social media reported many casualties among civilians.
Analyst Adel al-Assar of Sanaa-based daily Althawra newspaper said "the airstrikes are a sign of no deal."
http://www.xinhuanet.com/english/2018-06/06/c_137232938.htm
photos: https://www.facebook.com/SaudiArabia.war.crimes.against.Yemen/posts/1821262701503049
https://twitter.com/narrabyee/status/1004363676449738752
and
(A K)
Update: 9 civilians injured in Saudi-led airstrikes on Sanaa
At least nine civilians were wounded on Tuesday eveneing in the six Saudi-led aggression coalition airstrikes on Jiraf neighborhood and Hadda area in the capital Sanaa, an official told Saba News Agency on Wednesday.
In Jiraf neighborhood, five civilians were injured in three airstrikes while four civilians, including two women, in the others three airstrikes on Hadda area, said the official.
The official added that the airstrikes of aggression targeted the facility of Dhakwan’s company and a civilian’s behind Gondol supermarket, resulted in a major fire in the company and badly damaged to buildings and houses of civilians.
http://www.sabanews.net/en/news498270.htm
and as reported by anti-Houzhi media: http://almasdaronline.com/article/99380
and witnesses from the time of the raids:
(A K)
The family were in their village on a vacation, they were not in the house, they only scared children and caused damage to other houses in the neighborhood.
Update: 9 men and 3 women were injured while they were walking in the neighborhood in Aljiraf area #Sanaa
https://twitter.com/AhmadAlgohbary/status/1004094005758525457
and
(A K)
3 massive explosions rocking central Sana’a just now. Despite #Ramadan
Now gunshots and ambulance sirens. Very dire situation in Sana’a tonight
Audio: Taken from our terrace at 21:04 this evening. Three years of this and counting. #Yemen
https://twitter.com/Shabia_M/status/1004062783812534272
and
(A K pH)
Hello everyone we are under bombardment now Huge airstrike 9:00PM and Saudi-led coalition jets still hovering over Sanaa (photos, film in thread)
https://twitter.com/A7medJa7af/status/1004062059573768194
https://twitter.com/RAlmutawakel/status/1004071673769938944
(A K pS)
Arab Coalition targets Houthi reinforcements in the Marran, west of Saada
The Arab Coalition aircraft launched several air raids on the positions and reinforcements of the coupist Houthi militia north and west of Saada province, resulting in killing and injuring of militants and destruction of their military equipment.
https://www.alsahwa-yemen.net/en/p-19064
(A K pS)
Arab Coalition fighter jets destroy Houthi positions in Yemen's Al Mesharie, Al Jarahi, Al Tahita, Al Hussainya and Zubaid
The Arab Coalition forces in the Red Sea Coast of Yemen, have launched aerial strikes against the Iranian-backed Houthi militias east of Al Mesharie, Al Jarahi, Al Tahita, Al Hussainya and Zubaid, destroying their positions.
http://wam.ae/en/details/1395302693157
(A K pS)
Killing of Houthi Chief Commander Deals Blow to Insurgents
A senior Houthi militia leader has been killed in an airstrike by the Saudi led Arab coalition in Yemen's Hodeidah, dealing a severe blow to the insurgency.
Commander-in-Chief Mohammed Abdulkarim al-Ghammari was killed by an airstrike launched by the Coalition Supporting Legitimacy in Yemen against the 5th Military Region in the port city of Hodeidah.
https://aawsat.com/english/home/article/1290576/killing-houthi-chief-commander-deals-blow-insurgents
(A K pH)
#Saada: 2 airstrikes.
The Coalition waged two strikes on Saada province targeting a water digger in Aal-Ammar area of Safraa district, Saada province
film: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2ZNsL9lS8TQ
(A K pH)
Civilian killed in Saudi-led airstrike on Hajjah
A civilian was killed and another injured on Monday in a Saudi-led airstrike which hit Hajjah province, an official told Saba News Agency. The airstrike hit a main road in Abs district
http://www.sabanews.net/en/news498093.htm
(A K pH)
3 Saudi-led airstrikes hit Hodeidah
The US-backed Saudi-led coalition aggression on Monday launched three airstrikes on Hodeidah province, an official told Saba News Agency. The airstrikes hit Shamiri Crusher in Bajel district
http://www.sabanews.net/en/news498091.htm
and by the other side:
(* A K pS)
Four airstrikes on Houthis locations at Bajel – Hodeida
Arabic coalition led by Saudi Arabia launched today (Monday) 4 airstrikes on Houthis locations at “Bajel” Directorate at Hodeida (west Yemen).
Eyewitnesses said to “almassdaronline” the airstrikes targeted a building at “Kasarat Alshamiri” were Houthis militia localized there.
And they indicated that the attack resulted in causalities among them
http://almasdaronline.com/article/99329
(* A K pS)
Arab Coalition's fighter jets and artillery backed by UAE Armed Forces target Houthi locations in Tahita, Al-Barrah and Al-Madman districts, killing 30 militias
Backed by the UAE Armed Forces, the fighter jets and artillery of the Saudi -led Arab Coalition in Yemen have targeted Iranian-backed Houthi militias' locations and assemblies in the Tahita, Al-Barrah and Al-Madman districts which resulted in the destruction of their military reinforcements and equipment and the killing of a number of militias amid large collapse and the fleeing of their elements from the battlefronts to the mountains.
Thirty members of the Houthi militia were killed in air raids of the Arab Coalition fighter jets and in clashes with the Yemeni Resistance Forces in the Red Sea Coast, bringing the death toll of the militias in the past 24 hours to more than 100.
http://wam.ae/en/details/1395302692629
(* A K pH)
9 civilians killed in Saudi-led airstrike on Saada
civilians were killed and others injured, including children and women, in Saudi-led aggression coalition airstrike on Sunday hit their home on Saada province, an official told Saba News Agency.
The airstrike targeted their home in Esha area of Baqem district.
http://www.sabanews.net/en/news497988.htm
and
(* A K pH)
Saudi aerial assault leaves nine civilians dead in northwestern Yemen
Saudi fighter jets conducted an aerial assault against a house in the Baqim district of the province on Saturday afternoon, leaving nine people dead and several others injured, an unnamed local source told Yemen’s Arabic-language al-Masirah television network.
The source added that there were women and children among the fallen victims.
Film: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jlgt3ZaUI-0&bpctr=1528278014 = https://twitter.com/Al_razhy/status/1003387173914148875
Photos from film: https://twitter.com/dietrich_klose/status/1004293220988276736
(* A K pH)
More Saudi coalition air raids recorded on:
June 6:
http://www.sabanews.net/en/news498283.htm Taiz p.
http://www.sabanews.net/en/news498271.htm Saada p.
June 5:
http://www.sabanews.net/en/news498179.htm Saada p.
http://www.sabanews.net/en/news498184.htm Amran p.
June 4:
http://www.sabanews.net/en/news498159.htm Hodeidah p.
http://www.sabanews.net/en/news498161.htm Saada p.
June 3:
http://www.sabanews.net/en/news498097.htm Saada p.
http://www.sabanews.net/en/news498003.htm Hodeidah p.
(B K pS)
Photos: 26 May Their mum Belqees & her brother Nasser killed by #Saudi #UAE double tap strikes on petrol station in #Sanaa they were on mini bus heading back home 40mins before sunset "iftar time" (when you break fasting) in #ramadan
https://twitter.com/HussainBukhaiti/status/1003386310327926784
cp17 Kriegsereignisse / Theater of War
Siehe / Look at cp1b
(A K pS)
Saudi girl wounded by Houthi projectiles shrapnel
A Saudi teenager was injured by shrapnel from military projectiles fired by the Houthi militias from Yemeni territories towards the southern province of Dhahran.
http://wam.ae/en/details/1395302693190
Comment: One girl receives injuries from a Houthi missile. I'm not saying this is not an issue, but surely the bigger issue here is that thousands of Yemeni children are killed or disabled from Saudi actions every month, either from missiles, starvation or disease caused by this dreadful war but there fate is ignored by the media.
https://www.facebook.com/judith.brown.794628/posts/10156740289008641
(A K pH)
Saada prov.: artillery and missile shells were fired toward several areas of Shada border district.
http://www.sabanews.net/en/news498271.htm
(* A K pS)
Coalition Forces Command: RSADF Destroy A Ballistic Missile Fired By Iran-backed Al-Houthi Terrorist Militias on Saudi Arabia
The official spokesman of the Coalition Forces Command ''Coalition for Supporting the Legitimacy in Yemen'' Colonel Turki Al-Malki stated that at 04:11 a.m. at dawn today, the Royal Saudi Air Defense Forces (RSADF) intercepted a ballistic missile launched by Iran-backed Al-Houthi militias from Yemeni territories towards the Kingdom's territories.
He explained that the missile, which was targeting the city of Yanbu was deliberately launched to target civilian and populated areas, where the RSADF succeeded in intercepting and destroying it without causing any injuries.
http://alriyadhdaily.com/article/c85ee7bf65c24989980ad96bd3c91756
My comment: Including saudi Copy and Paste propaganda.
and
(* A K pH)
Film: After 10 months, Yemeni missiles forces targeted Yanbu again.
The Yemeni longe range-missile traveled more than 1,100 km inside KSA.
https://twitter.com/HussamSanabani/status/1003820848258666498
and on map: https://twitter.com/BaFana3/status/1003914518077075456
(A K pS)
VIDEO: EOD unit of the #Saudi Naval SSG operating in #Hajjah governorate supports the #Yemeni naval units during their routine patrol missions to clear #Midi coast from sea-mines planted previously by the #Houthi
https://twitter.com/MbKS15/status/1003758428077150208
(A K pH)
Saada prov.: artillery and missile shells were fired toward several areas of Baqem district
http://www.sabanews.net/en/news498179.htm
(A K pH)
Saudi missile and artillery shelling targeted sevearl areas in Razih border district, causing heavy gamage to civilians' properties.
http://www.sabanews.net/en/news498161.htm
(A K pS)
Houthi sniper kills two civilians and injures another in Taiz
A civilian and a child were killed today afternoon (Sunday) by the fire of a Houthi sniper at “Zaid Almoshki” neighborhood east Taiz.
A military source said to Almasdaronline , a Houthi sniper positioned at the central forces headquarter fired upon Ali Abdu Qaied , a 5 years old child and a third person.
The sniper killed Qaied and the child instantly while the third person received serious injuries.
http://almasdaronline.com/article/99320 and https://twitter.com/RepYemenEnglish/status/1003432039952080896 (photo)
(A K pS)
VIDEO: #RSLF AH-64 Apache attack helicopter providing air cover for the #JointForces operating in #Saada governorate.
https://twitter.com/MbKS15/status/1003441904757985281
cp18 Sonstiges / Other
(* A)
The International Meteorological Organization warned of the arrival of a new storm heading towards the coast of #Yemen and known as Hurricane Rowanu.
It is expected to hit the coast of #Socotra, head to the southern coasts and reach the Sultanate of Oman and the neighbouring coasts.
(* A)
Tropical Cyclone Mekunu-18, Socotra Island, Yemen: Preliminary and Rapid Analysis of Samha island, Socotra Governorate (Yemen), using satellite data acquired on 04 June 2018
UNOSAT has performed a rapid satellite based analysis and assessment to illustrate the impact in the wake of Tropical Cyclone Mekunu-18 over Samha Island, Socotra Governorate, Yemen using a Pleiades image acquired on 04 June 2018.
Main findings
- Analyses of main settlement of Samha island did not show extensive damage as of 04 June 2018,
- About 50 Structures were identified on the image and few of them were identified having potential minor damage,
- Evidences of recent water flow in wadis were observed,
- A potential flash floods may have occured but no evidences of important damage,
- No major landslides observed,
- This is a preliminary analysis and has not yet been validated in the field. Please send ground feedback to UNITAR – UNOSAT.
Vorige / Previous:
https://www.freitag.de/autoren/dklose/jemenkrieg-mosaik-418-yemen-war-mosaic-418
Jemenkrieg-Mosaik 1-418 / Yemen War Mosaic 1-418:
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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