Jemenkrieg-Mosaik 443 - Yemen War Mosaic 443

Yemen Press Reader 443: 11. August 2018: Saudischer Luftangriff auf Schulbus und Markt tötet 51 Menschen – Der Friedensplan von UN-Sondergesandter Griffith ...

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... Bellingcat: Untersuchung des Angriffs vom 2. August auf Hodeidah – Eine Ärztin aus dem jemen spricht – USA, Jemen, Saudi Arabien und Iran – und mehr

August, 11, 2018: Saudi air raid at school bus, market kills 51 – The peace plan of UN special envoy Griffith – Bellingcat: The August 2 raid at Hodeidah reexamined – A Yemeni doctor speaking – The US, Yemen, Saudi Arabia and Iran – and more

Wegen des großen Umfangs wird der Beitrag diesmal geteilt. cp1-4 und cp7 in Jemenkrieg-Mosaik 443, cp5-6, 7a-18 in Jemenkrieg-Mosaik 444:

https://www.freitag.de/autoren/dklose/jemenkrieg-mosaik-444-yemen-war-mosaic-444

Due to the large size this article is divided. cp1-4, cp7 in Yemen War Mosaic 443, cp5-6, 7a-18 in Yemen War Mosaic 444:

https://www.freitag.de/autoren/dklose/jemenkrieg-mosaik-444-yemen-war-mosaic-444

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

cp1c Am wichtigsten: Saudischer Luftangriff auf Schulbus / Most important: Saudi air raid at school bus

cp2 Allgemein / General

cp2a Allgemein: Saudische Blockade / General: Saudi blockade

cp3 Humanitäre Lage / Humanitarian situation

cp4 Flüchtlinge / Refugees

cp5 Nordjemen und Huthis / Northern Yemen and Houthis

cp6 Südjemen und Hadi-Regierung / Southern Yemen and Hadi-government

cp7 UNO und Friedensgespräche / UN and peace talks

cp7a Saudi-Arabien und Iran / Saudi Arabia and Iran

cp8 Saudi-Arabien / Saudi Arabia

cp8a Saudisch-Kanadischer Streit / Saudi-Canadian feud

cp9 USA

cp10 Großbritannien / Great Britain

cp11 Deutschland / Germany

cp12 Andere Länder / Other countries

cp12a Katar-Krise / Qatar crisis

cp13a Waffenhandel / Arms Trade

cp13b Wirtschaft / Economy

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

Eingebetteter Medieninhalt

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

Neue Artikel / New articles

(* B H K P)

Jemen: So profitiert der Westen vom Bürgerkrieg

Ein Luftschlag im Jemen trifft einen Schulbus. 40 Kinder kommen ums Leben. Doch der Krieg im Jemen schlägt kaum hohe Wellen, denn zu viele Länder profitieren.

https://www.nau.ch/nachrichten/nau-erklaert/2018/08/11/jemen-so-profitiert-der-westen-vom-burgerkrieg-65392414

(* B H K P)

Yemen's war explained in 4 key points

Yemen is in the midst of a humanitarian catastrophe, yet after three years of intense fighting, it has been dubbed "the forgotten war." DW looks at the key points in understanding the crisis.

https://www.dw.com/en/yemens-war-explained-in-4-key-points/a-40056866

My comment: The role of US, UK is underreported here.

(* B H K P)

The forgotten war spawning a terrible humanitarian crisis

The conflict that has given birth to the world's worst humanitarian crisis is one you're likely to have heard little about. More than three years of war in Yemen - already long the poorest country in the Arab world - has made it a place where the spectre of famine stalks the land with more than 22 million people, three-quarters of the population, in desperate need of assistance. Some 50,000 children perished due to hunger and related causes last year alone, according to Save the Children.

Yemen is also home to the world's largest cholera epidemic for more than 50 years - around a million people have contracted the disease.

Very conservative estimates put the death toll from the conflict at 10,000, with others putting the total number of fatalities as high as 50,000.

But Yemen's tragedy remains little known, its conflict rarely making headlines, partly due to the difficulties of reporting from there.

https://www.independent.ie/world-news/middle-east/the-forgotten-war-spawning-a-terrible-humanitarian-crisis-37205399.html

(* B H K P)

Yemen: around 10,000 dead and a humanitarian crisis

The war in Yemen has since March 2015 left around 10,000 people dead, the vast majority civilians, and caused the world's worst humanitarian crisis, according to the United Nations.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/wires/afp/article-6048255/Yemen-10-000-dead-humanitarian-crisis.html

My comment: Overview. – The figure counting 10,000 civilian victims is much too low. Many victims never had been counted. This figure by the UN had not been changed since 18 month at least. – This figure does not take into account those who die das an effect of the Saudi coalition blockade. Take 150,000 – this would fit better.

cp1 Am wichtigsten / Most important

Eingebetteter Medieninhalt

(** A P)

Griffiths to Asharq Al-Awsat: Saudi Arabia Has Legitimate Right to Secure its Borders

United Nations special envoy to Yemen Martin Griffiths realizes that several doubts cloud the Iran-backed Houthis’ political pledges. Any Yemeni opponent of the group agrees with these doubts and believes that the Houthis do not even know the meaning of peace, citing the nearly 15 years of wars waged in their country.
Griffiths, however, said that he received pledges from the militias and will leave it up to the September 6 consultations in Geneva to reveal exactly what these pledges mean to them.
The third UN envoy to Yemen in seven years told Asharq Al-Awsat that his ultimate goal from the consultations was to reach a signed agreement on forming a national unity government and making security arrangements.
In a series of emails to Asharq Al-Awsat, he explained that the General People’s Congress (GPC) and southerners must be part of the political process in Yemen. Griffiths expressed his disappointment over how some people use the media to make polarizing statements. His duty, he explained, was to find a middle ground between the rival parties. This is the role of a mediator, not a negotiator, he clarified. The solution will come from the Yemenis themselves, not the mediator or anyone else. He said that he, along with the UN, were there to help the parties reach this solution.
The envoy reiterated statements he had made at the UN Security Council in which he said that the Yemenis have to live with people they do not like, meaning that condemnations against them should stop. Building peace means that each side needed to respect the other and their different views, instead of denouncing and condemning them. It is important to reach an agreement on using the media to build alliances instead of condemning enemies, Griffiths said, while adding that he seeks to build hope and goodwill among the Yemenis.
He also explained that he tries not to speak ill of any of the warring sides because they are all needed for the solution to the conflict. He revealed that some sides urge him to condemn this side or that, but he always refuses. He instead highlighted what he called one of his best assets: His ability to listen. By listening, he elaborated, he will be able to find common ground, not causes for division, among the parties.

The main goal, he remarked, was to reach an agreement between the Yemeni government and the Houthis on several central issues that would stop the war and lead to a national unity government that brings together all sides. This will demand a signed agreement by all concerned parties. The deal must include the establishment of a political transition period and a unity government based on Security Council resolution 2216. It will also demand security arrangements whereby all armed groups would withdraw from their locations and lay down their weapons.

Resolution 2216 calls for comprehensive political dialogue, stressed Griffiths. This includes bringing in the Yemeni woman to take part in the consultations because of the important role she can play in finding middle ground and prioritizing peace.
The people of the South should also be part of this process, he added, noting that the situation there had changed. They should be part of the future of Yemen and not be ignored.
The political parties, specifically the GPC, should also be part of this process. Most of the parties are represented in the Yemeni government or among the Houthis, but not all of them. Options must be available to find a way to include them in the peace process, said Griffiths.
He hoped that a swift settlement based on all previous rounds of negotiations can be reached.

https://aawsat.com/english/home/article/1359991/griffiths-asharq-al-awsat-saudi-arabia-has-legitimate-right-secure-its-borders

also by https://www.reuters.com/article/us-yemen-security/u-n-envoy-says-yemen-talks-to-focus-on-transition-disarmament-newspaper-idUSKBN1KW06E

My comment: By a Saudi news site. - Interesting and sound. And quite far away from the position of the Saudi coalition and the Hadi government thinking they have the right of being superior to all other parties. Griffith is bound and limited by the biased UN resolution 2216, but it looks whether he tries to make the best of it. - The headline just refres to a minor point.

(** A K)

Töteten deutsche Waffen 55 Menschen?

Am 2. August 2018 tötete ein Angriff auf ein Krankenhaus und einen Fischmarkt in der Hafenstadt Hodeidah (Jemen) 55 Menschen.

Mehr als 120 Menschen wurden verletzt.

Zunächst ging man von einem Luftangriff aus. Doch jetzt fand das Recherche-Kollektiv Bellingcat heraus: Der Angriff geschah wahrscheinlich mit deutschen Mörser-Waffen!

„Die Heckflossen und die ungewöhnliche Anzahl von Lüftungsöffnungen haben deutliche Ähnlichkeiten mit anderen Mörsermunitions-Produkten, die von Rheinmetall hergestellt wurden“, sagt Waffenexperte Nick Waters von Bellingcat zu BILD. Zugleich räumt er ein: Zu einhundert Prozent sicher könne man dies jedoch nur sagen, wenn jemand den Angriff selbst gefilmt hätte.

ABER: Die Indizien von Bellingcat passen mit BILD-Recherchen zusammen, die den Verdacht erhärten.

Die südafrikanische Rheinmetall Denel Munition, an der die deutsche Rheinmetall Waffe Munition GmbH die Mehrheit von 51 Prozent hält, lieferte 2013 Mörser im Wert von 50 Millionen Euro an die Vereinigten Arabischen Emirate.

Diese Munition sei „speziell für die modernen Waffenanlagen eines mobilen 120-mm-Mörsersystems entwickelt“, heißt es in der Produktbeschreibung von Rheinmetall. Auch das Mörsersystem vom Typ RG-31 MMS/AGRAB verkaufte die südafrikanische Konzern-Tochter an die Vereinigten Arabischen Emirate dutzendfach. Und genau dieses Mörsersystem wurde bereits mehrfach im Einsatz im Jemen gefilmt.

Zum Zeitpunkt des Angriffs auf die Hafengegend Hodeidahs, in der sich auch das betroffene Krankenhaus befand, waren Bodeneinheiten der von den Vereinigten Arabischen Emiraten und Saudi-Arabien geführten Koalition bis zum Flughafen der Stadt vorgerückt. Dieser liegt etwa vier Kilometer südöstlich und damit innerhalb der acht Kilometer Reichweite der Mörser des deutschen Herstellers.

https://www.bild.de/politik/ausland/politik-ausland/angriff-auf-krankenhaus-im-jemen-toeteten-deutsche-waffen-55-menschen-56626680.bild.html

(** A K)

Who Attacked the Hodeidah Hospital? Examining Allegations the Saudi Coalition Bombed a Hospital in Yemen

Summary

The 2nd August attack on Hodeidah was likely a mortar strike

The direction of origin of the attack was from the south

Munition fragments appear to share characteristics with munitions manufactured by Rheinmetall Denel Munition

On Thursday, 2nd August several explosions rocked the Houthi-held city of Hodeidah. The locations of these explosions were reported to be the harbour used for fishing boats and within the vicinity of the al-Thawra Hospital. Since the incident near the hospital happened immediately after the incident at the harbour, it appeared that casualties and first responders were being deliberately targeted. Scores of people were killed and wounded in the attack.

Initial blame was placed on an airstrike by the Saudi-led Coalition

However, images and video purporting to be from the scene of the attack on the hospital appear to indicate that this was not an airstrike, but rather a mortar attack. This article will verify and analyse the open source information associated with this attack and identify lines of enquiry which may aid attribution.

Videos from the harbour

There are several video clips which have been aired by a number of outlets which show casualties and ambulances by some kind of harbour. It is possible to geolocate these videos to the vicinity of the harbour in Hodeidah

Videos and Images from the Hospital

There are several images and videos showing the scene outside the hospital where the second incident took place. It is evident that multiple casualties happened at this location, with body-parts and blood strewn around the scene.

Craters near the Hospital

A potentially vital piece of evidence is included in some of the videos and images from outside the hospital: fragmentation craters, almost certainly created by the munitions which caused so many casualties. Within these craters there appear to be remnants of those munitions.

Munitions Used

The nature of these craters, the damage seen at the harbour and the remnants of munitions found at the scene strongly indicate mortars were used, not an airstrike. Tail fins recovered from the location of the strike next to al-Thawra Hospital indicate that these munitions appear to be relatively distinct in their design. Their size strongly suggests they were of a large calibre, likely 120 mm, and the fins do not appear to be of Soviet Bloc origin. It should be noted that although Houthis do apparently field 120 mm mortars, they generally use weapons designed in the Soviet Bloc.

Mortar bombs produced by Rheinmetall Denel Munition appear to have fins with a very similar shape, and display vent holes in the distinctive 4, 5, 4, 5 pattern. However, it was not possible to positively ID a 120 mm HE round with this configuration due to augmentation charges obscuring the vent holes. It should be noted that Rheinmetall supply both Saudi Arabia and the UAE with weapon systems, including 120 mm mortar systems.

Direction of origin

We can establish the rough direction of origin of these mortars by examining the shape of one of the craters and applying an effective and proven technique.

Analysis and Conclusion

From the open sources available it is clear that most current narratives of the events of 2nd August do not tell the whole story. The damage, munition fragments and craters all indicate that this was not an airstrike. Instead, open source information points strongly towards a mortar strike.

The shape of the craters caused by this attack clearly indicate that these mortars were fired towards the city from the south, the direction from which the Coalition forces were advancing. The tail fins of munitions allegedly found within these craters indicate these mortars were likely 120 mm in calibre. Both the Houthis and the Saudi-led coalition employ 120 mm mortars, making positive attribution difficult.

The closest match to the distinctive tail fins of these mortar bombs, including the 4, 5, 4, 5 vent pattern, appear to be munitions manufactured by Rheinmetall. Rheinmetall are known to have supplied 120 mm mortars to the UAE, who are part of the Coalition, and known to be active around Hodeidah (with many photos)

https://www.bellingcat.com/news/mena/2018/08/09/attacked-hodeidah-hospital-examining-allegations-saudi-coalition-bombed-hospital-yemen/

(** B H)

British Red Cross: Yemen’s healthcare in crisis: a doctor speaks out

Dr Anisa, a doctor with British Red Cross partner the Yemen Red Crescent, speaks from a battered clinic in Sana’a, Yemen.

Once, she was a hospital specialist. The clinic was a thriving health centre for mothers and babies.

But now, Yemen is caught up in deadly conflict. Dr Anisa is now a GP working in one of the only clinics where people can get free healthcare. Patients travel for hours to see her every day.

Like many doctors in Yemen, she hasn’t been paid in two years.

But Dr Anisa keeps going: “The conflict has affected everyone, not just us. I can’t do anything else, this is my job.”

Healthcare is a victim of Yemen’s conflict

Dr Anisa and her clinic are among thousands of medical staff and facilities affected by the conflict.

More than 160 health centres and hospitals have been attacked since 2015. A lack of fuel and supplies has forced a hundred more to close.

This means that over half of Yemen’s health facilities have been destroyed or damaged.

At the same time, less than a third of the medicines that people need are available in the country.

Terrible shortages of food and clean water put people at risk of disease. Yemen only recently made it through one of the world’s worst cholera epidemics.

Unfortunately, cases are increasing again as the disease is being spread by dirty water after homes, treatment plants and sewers were hit.

And after yesterday’s attack on a bus, which killed at least 51 people, mostly children, and injured 79, doctors, hospitals and medicines are needed more than ever.

Poverty, hunger and dirty water take their toll

Back in her clinic, Dr Anisa cares for the people who are victims of the conflict’s everyday tragedies.

The Yemen Red Crescent provided health services here for decades. “I receive all kinds of patients, young, old, people with chronic diseases like diabetes to dealing with epidemics such as cholera,” Dr Anisa said.

“I have been working here for 15 years; people come here because they trust me.

“Most of our patients are very poor. They can’t buy medicine. They can’t go to private hospitals or clinics.

“Sometimes I have patients that I prescribe medication, but when they come back for a check-up the next month they haven’t been able to buy it so their condition has often deteriorated.”

“Things are difficult for me, even as a doctor”

The system relies on people like Dr Anisa who keep going to work despite the extreme challenges.

“I am just one of the Yemeni people affected by this conflict. Things are very difficult even for me, even as a doctor, not one of the poorer people.”

Dr Anisa had some savings from her years as a specialist but in the last two years, she has spent what she had saved to help her family get by.

Now she doesn’t know how they will survive. Yet every day she treats dozens of patients at the clinic.

“Others maybe go and find other work,” she said. “But when I think about that, I think: what will happen when people come here and don’t find me?

“In life we want many things – for ourselves, for our children – but we have to do what we can. The conflict has affected everyone, not just us. I can’t do anything else, this is my job.”

“What else can I do? This is humanity.”

https://reliefweb.int/report/yemen/yemen-s-healthcare-crisis-doctor-speaks-out–

(** B K P)

US complicit in air strike that murdered dozens of children in Yemen

Countless atrocities have been carried out by Washington and its local proxies over the 17 years since the launching of the “global war on terror,” a pretext invoked to justify wars of aggression aimed at solidifying the control of US imperialism over the oil-rich and strategically vital Middle East.

Entire countries, including Iraq, Libya and Syria, have been decimated, and entire cities, including Mosul and Raqqa, have been reduced to smoking rubble. The victims, the dead and maimed, number in the millions, while those driven from their homes include many tens of millions.

Still, there are specific acts of sheer brutality and contempt for human life that stand out and sum up the criminality of this entire enterprise. Such was the bombing carried out Thursday in Yemen by a Saudi warplane

Despite the ample evidence exposing him as a liar, the spokesman for the Saudi military, Colonel Turki al-Malki, issued a statement claiming that Thursday’s attack on Saada was “a legitimate military operation ... and was carried out in accordance with international humanitarian law.”

He undoubtedly feels emboldened by the knowledge that “international humanitarian law” holds no sway over Washington and its allies, with war criminals occupying the White House from one administration to the next, under both Democrats and Republicans.

The day before the massacre in Saada, Army General Joseph Votel, chief of the US Central Command, assured reporters at a Pentagon press conference that the US-backed forces of Saudi Arabia and its allies are “conducting their operations in a manner largely that is not exacerbating the horrible humanitarian situation that has taken place in Yemen.”

Who does the general think he is kidding?

Votel went on to pin the blame on the Houthis, citing their “emplacement of obstacles and other things in the city Hodeidah that are actually slowing down the movement of humanitarian aid to, desperately needed humanitarian aid to the people.”

The “obstacles” consist of the resistance of the Houthis and the population of the port city of Hodeidah to a brutal assault waged by the forces of the United Arab Emirates, backed by Saudi airpower and utilizing recruits from Al Qaeda as shock troops.

At the same Pentagon press conference, Votel suggested that the resistance of the Houthis and the bulk of the Yemeni population to Saudi Arabia’s attempt to reinstall the puppet regime of President Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi is being directed by Maj. Gen. Qasem Soleimani, the leader of Iran’s Quds Force of Iranian Revolutionary Guards.

Challenged by a reporter on whether Soleimani had actually been seen in Yemen, Votel responded, “Well, I think what I’m implying here is that the Quds Force itself is the principal actor out here who is orchestrating all of this... He bears responsibility for this.”

What the American general is “implying” is sheer nonsense, and he knows it. No evidence whatsoever has been presented of any Iranian presence whatsoever in Yemen, or of any significant military support from Tehran to the Houthis. Washington and Saudi Arabia, however, view the control of Yemen by anything other than a puppet regime under their tight control as a threat to their dominance of the region.

The general’s lies tell much more about the motives for Washington’s criminal intervention in Yemen than they do about what is actually happening in the country itself. US imperialism is slaughtering and starving Yemenis as part of its preparations for a new and far more dangerous war against Iran.

http://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2018/08/10/pers-a10.html

(** A B K P)

The U.S. Is Complicit in Child Slaughter in Yemen

“This conflict is backed by the U.S. and the U.K.,” Elbagir said, concluding her report with, “They are in full support of the Saudi-led activities in Yemen today.”

U.S. companies such as Raytheon, General Dynamics, Boeing, and Lockheed Martin have sold billions of dollars’ worth of weapons to Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and other countries in the Saudi-Emirati-led coalition which is attacking Yemen.

The U.S. military refuels Saudi and Emirati warplanes through midair exercises. And, the United States helps the Saudi coalition warmakers choose their targets.

Isa Blumi, an associate professor at Stockholm University and author of the book Destroying Yemen, has said the United States is “front and center responsible” for the Saudi coalition attacks.

Looking for a helpful way to describe U.S. support for the Saudi-Emirati operation in Yemen, journalist Samuel Oakford recently offered this comparison: “If an airstrike was a drive-by and killed someone, the U.S. provided the car, the wheels, the servicing and repair, the gun, the bullets, help with maintenance of those—and the gas.”

Why have the Saudis and Emiratis led a coalition attacking Yemen, the poorest country in the Arab peninsula, since March of 2015?

Professor Isa Blumi believes the goal is to bludgeon Yemenis into complete submission and exert control over “a gold mine” of resources, including oil reserves, natural gas, minerals, and a strategic location. Blumi notes that the war against Yemen costs the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia 200 million dollars per day, yet Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, who commented that a prolonged war is in the interests of Saudi Arabia, seems to believe the cost is worth it, considering potential future gains.

Business profits seem to also motivate U.S. weapon companies that continue benefiting from weapon sales to the Saudi-Emirati led coalition.

The United States is deeply implicated in the appalling carnage in Yemen – by Kathy Kelly

http://progressive.org/dispatches/u-s-is-complicit-in-child-slaughter-in-yemen/ = https://dissidentvoice.org/2018/08/u-s-is-complicit-in-child-slaughter-in-yemen/ = http://www.eurasiareview.com/11082018-us-is-complicit-in-child-slaughter-in-yemen-oped/

(** B K P)

America’s Secret War on Yemen

Far too few Americans seem to be asking an obvious question, why is the United States supporting the genocidal Saudi war upon Yemen? Considering that Yemen’s humanitarian crisis now exceeds every other disaster in the world, this vital question deserves an informed and serious answer incorporating the geography and history that Americans learn neither from their schools nor their media. But this produces no partisan divide.

Both Obama and Trump are presidentially co-responsible, and in the US public’s ever-breathless obsession with its own self-absorbed identity politics, who notices? So why indeed, let us finally ask after three years of mass killing and destruction, are we providing daily in-flight refueling by USAF air tankers of US-made Saudi aircraft dropping US-made bombs on starving people using targeting data provided by Americans? Why has our administration approved sales to Saudi and UAE aggressors of 120,000 precision-guided munitions from Raytheon and Boeing within a pledged $110 billion arms transaction? Big money and big profits in this, a reliable cash cow for weapons producers with no end in sight.

But since our Arms Export Control Act limits use of American weapons to “legitimate self-defense,” what massive invasions are these states anticipating? Despite token hand-wringing by the Obama and Trump administrations and Congress, and extraction of unenforced pledges by the Saudis to limit casualties, the carnage has continued unabated. But returning to the central question, why? In the online magazine New Eastern Outlook, policy investigator and analyst Phil Butler writes, “While Washington think tank evangelists try and play the tensions off as Sunni-Shiite religious friction, new oil reserves are the truth of these matters.”

We need to follow the business news to monitor the energy sector that determines much of world politics. Evidence from these sources indicates that Yemen sits above massive oil and gas reserves not yet fully explored or developed in addition to its four billion barrels of proven reserves.

OK, but Saudi Arabia has lots of oil.

Why the ruthless attack on Yemen? Saudi Arabia is rapidly bringing new rigs on line, increasing its total to 170 this year from 88 five years ago, including offshore rigs that are seven times more expensive to operate. This is a dead giveaway that the world’s biggest fields have finally peaked, as did our own in the 1970s. To survive with all their economic eggs in the oil basket and to successfully compete with Russia, Iran, and Venezuela, the Saudis need a basket reload from somewhere.

Yemeni economist Hasan al-Sanaeri reports that Riyadh also wants to build a canal across Yemen to the Arabian Sea to bypass the Hormuz Straight exiting the Persian Gulf and the Bab al-Mandab Straight into the Red Sea through which some 3½ million barrels of oil pass daily en route to Europe and North America through the Suez Canal. Both narrow straights are potential choke points in times of conflict. So what is America’s vital interest?

Couldn’t we buy oil just as easily from Yemen? Of course, but it’s not just the oil. It’s protection of the petrodollar, which is progressively yielding to alternative currencies.

The 1973 Saudi and larger 1975 OPEC agreements to denominate oil sales in dollars have kept the dollar atop the global financial system and provided the Saudi cartel a power base that was inevitably time-limited. Two of its three largest oil producers, Iran and Venezuela, have broken away from OPEC restraints.

So the answer to our question is discomforting to face. We are not peripheral in the crimes. Our fragile symbiosis underpinning the dollar is now seriously threatened, and our resource-extractive, dollar-dependent neoliberal empire needs to keep the Saudis in business at any cost to vulnerable peoples kept out of our sight by colluding media. And this answer begs other questions about our bipartisan crimes against humanity. These are questions the tabloid-saturated US public shows little willingness to ask, but until we do we will remain less citizens of a functioning democracy than passive, easily manipulated subjects of a predatory empire – by Jack Dresser

https://www.counterpunch.org/2018/08/10/americas-secret-war-on-yemen/

cp1a Am wichtigsten: Seuchen / Most important: Epidemics

(* A H)

Oral Cholera Vaccination Campaign in Yemen Falls Short

More than one-quarter million people in Yemen have been immunized against cholera. But, the three-day oral cholera vaccination campaign, held by the World Health Organization and U.N. children's fund between August 4 and 6, has fallen short of its mark by half.
The World Health Organization reports more than 3,000 local health workers have reached 266,000 people above the age of one with oral cholera vaccine. This is about half of the one-half million people WHO and partners had hoped to immunize against this deadly disease.
The three-day campaign took place in two districts of Yemen's Hudeidah city and one district in Ibb Governorate. WHO Spokesman Tarik Jasarevic said these three districts were chosen because they were assessed to be the most vulnerable to an escalation of cholera.
He said health agencies are trying to prevent a recurrence of last year's historic cholera epidemic.

https://www.voanews.com/a/oral-cholera-vaccination-campaign-in-yemen-falls-short-of-mark/4518763.html

(A H)

Photos: Vaccination teams in off-road aereas.

https://twitter.com/UNICEF_Yemen/status/1027193813230604289

cp1b Am wichtigsten: Kampf um Hodeidah / Most important: Hodeidah battle

(A K pH)

Film: the martyrdom of an elderly woman and a girl and the wounding of two children in a raid on Drehmi province Hodeidah 10-08-2018

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eS5ngj5pOZo

(A K pH)

Saudi warplanes launch 3 raids on HodeidahThe Saudi aggression fighter jets launched three air raids on Hodeidah province, an official told Saba on Saterday.
The air raids targeted Zabid district, causing big damage to the citizens' properties

http://www.sabanews.net/en/news504756.htm

(A K P)

OIC officials call on Houthi militias to pull out of Hodeida

https://www.kuna.net.kw/ArticleDetails.aspx?id=2740502&Language=en

My comment: Saudi mouthpiece supranational organisations repeating Saudi claims.

(* B H)

“I felt I was in hell” – Escalating hostilities threaten thousands of pregnant women in Yemen’s Hodeidah

Escalating violence in Hodeidah, Yemen, threatens the city’s estimated 90,000 pregnant women and girls, UNFPA has announced. Some 14,000 of these women and girls are likely to encounter pregnancy-related complications requiring emergency care, but access to health services has been severely limited by the ongoing crisis.

The only major referral hospital in the city, Al Thawra Hospital, was the site of a brutal attack last week. “I felt I was in hell because of what I saw,” said midwife Noha, who was working at the hospital’s obstetric ward when the attack took place on 2 August.

That day, I was hearing gunshots since early morning. At 5pm, we heard a very loud explosion at the hospital gate. I ran to the scene to see what was happening,” she recounted.

The carnage was horrifying, she said. “I saw people screaming and crying with high voices. I went to help them, and there I saw a scene that was as scary as the Day of Judgment.”

Despite the attack, Al Thawra continues to operate, serving as a major obstetric and neonatal facility for the city. UNFPA is supplying the hospital with reproductive health medicines and materials, and is helping to establish an additional maternity ward and operating theatre there.

UNFPA is also providing supplies and support to midwives and gynaecologists across five districts in Hodeidah.

But fear and insecurity are keeping patients from seeking urgently needed care.

https://www.unfpa.org/news/escalating-hostilities-threaten-thousands-pregnant-women-yemens-hodeidah

(* B H)

UN: 350,000 people displaced from Hudaydah since June

The United Nations said more than 350,000 people have been displaced from the strategic Red Sea port town of Hudaydah in western Yemen since June.

Deputy spokesman for the Secretary-General, Farhan Haq, said during a press conference on Monday that violent clashes have erupted in the city over the past few days, especially in the Ad Durayhimi district.

He added that emergency humanitarian assistance has already been provided to more than 90 per cent of those displaced.

https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20180808-un-350000-people-displaced-from-hudaydah-since-june/

(A K pS)

Houthis Booby-Trap Houses in Yemen’s Hodeidah to Bar Residents from Fleeing

The Iran-backed Houthi militias in Yemen have intensified their efforts to booby-trap houses in the Hodeidah province, military sources told Asharq Al-Awsat.
The militants have resorted to such criminal acts to prevent residents from fleeing and consequently impede the national army’s advance to completely liberate the West coast, they explained.
In Hodeidah’s al-Durayhimi region, the Houthis cut off water supplies from the area’s main reservoir, exacerbating the difficult conditions the civilians were already enduring, revealed official spokesman of the Yemeni army Abdo Majali.
He confirmed to Asharq Al-Awsat that the Houthis had also booby-trapped homes in the area to bar the people from heading to regions under the control of the army.

https://aawsat.com/english/home/article/1356651/houthis-booby-trap-houses-yemen%E2%80%99s-hodeidah-bar-residents-fleeing

My comment: From a Saudi source. Could anybody tell me how „Booby-Trap Houses in to Bar Residents from Fleeing“ should work?? For me this would be the best way to force residents to flee, not to bar them.

(* A H)

International Organization for Migration IOM Yemen Hudaydah Response Bulletin: 8 August 2018, Situation Report: 22 - 28 July 2018

Key Highlights

IOM initiated kitchens in four schools in Hudaydah where displaced people are currently residing. Through these kitchens and other facilities, over 20,400 hot meals have been served since the current crisis began.

Provided medical consultation to 5,798 individuals, antenatal care to 478 pregnant women, reproductive health consultation to 762 individuals,

Situation

The situation in Hudaydah continues to be unstable, with some instances of armed clashes and shelling in multiple locations in Hays district and stand-off attacks and airstrikes reported in other districts

https://reliefweb.int/report/yemen/iom-yemen-hudaydah-response-bulletin-8-august-2018-situation-report-22-28-july-2018

cp1c Am wichtigsten: Saudischer Luftangriff auf Schulbus / Most important: Saudi air raid at school bus

Preliminary remark: Once again – as they already had done so often – a Saudi coalition air raid had hit a crowded market. And again – as already had been the case in several cases – they had chosen exactly the moment (had waited for it) when a crowded vehicle passed by, thus to maximize the number of victims. Already on march 18, 2016 I had written an article about these raids and the funny propaganda stories the Saudis had told afterwards (https://www.freitag.de/autoren/dklose/luftangriff-im-jemen-und-propaganda ; in German). Oh, now it seems to be a funny „legitimate military action“ and Houthis „using children as human shields“ story. And, in the now it is turning even more absurd: Saudis tell they had targeted the „planners“ of Houthi missile shelling – on a crowded market and school children! – And always keep in mind that there are the US and UK precise targeting advisers in the Saudi aerial command room. They know their business very well – as this latest attack is showing again.

UN-Sicherheitsrat / UN security Council: Look at cp7

Photos:

http://www.newnewss.net/new-horrible-massacre-committed-by-the-us-ksa-jets-leave-127-dead-and-injured-in-yemens-saada/

https://twitter.com/narrabyee/status/1027464214355615745

https://twitter.com/narrabyee/status/1027470384722051073

https://twitter.com/narrabyee/status/1027482284507709441

https://twitter.com/narrabyee/status/1027490282827382784

https://twitter.com/narrabyee/status/1027490565905113088

https://twitter.com/narrabyee/status/1027490760495718401

https://twitter.com/Fatikr/status/1027497138853498880

https://twitter.com/narrabyee/status/1027519592116232192

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10156523491118373&set=pcb.10156523493638373&type=3&theater = https://www.facebook.com/ziraii/posts/10156523493638373

http://en.abna24.com/news/middle-east/saudi-airsrike-on-civilian-bus-in-yemen-kills-39-people-mostly-children-video-graphics_904793.html

http://nymag.com/daily/intelligencer/2018/08/u-s-backed-coalition-bombs-school-bus-in-yemen.html

https://twitter.com/Fatikr/status/1027588138896707585

https://twitter.com/HussainBukhaiti/status/1027657529055215616

http://geopoliticsalert.com/saudi-attack-school-bus

https://twitter.com/AhmadAlgohbary/status/1027661921816903681 (father with son)

https://twitter.com/AhmadAlgohbary/status/1027594187322130433

https://twitter.com/A7medJa7af/status/1027849691432734723

https://twitter.com/abo_raghad20112/status/1027573236983320577

https://us.cnn.com/2018/08/10/middleeast/yemen-airstrike-father-intl/index.html

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=1874391422621522&set=p.1874391422621522&type=3&theater = https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=1811650975581571&set=a.103653093048043.7771.100002100572787&type=3&theater

https://twitter.com/AhmadAlgohbary/status/1027927963164180480

https://twitter.com/SaadAbedine/status/1028222505134088192 and https://twitter.com/SaadAbedine/status/1028223960846979072 (burial of children)

Some of the victims, in memory:

https://www.facebook.com/LivingInYemenOnTheEdge/photos/a.961595153893515.1073741828.961126490607048/1867959359923752/?type=3&theater

https://www.facebook.com/LivingInYemenOnTheEdge/posts/1867915989928089

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=1064425087066020&set=a.447747612067107.1073741829.100004956156385&type=3

https://twitter.com/AhmadAlgohbary/status/1027649619247935488

https://twitter.com/AhmadAlgohbary/status/1027581725310889986

https://twitter.com/Fatikr/status/1028008960505376770

https://twitter.com/Fatikr/status/1027979398044155904

https://twitter.com/AhmadAlgohbary/status/1028032532661628928

Films:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=37ufZn3DhlU&bpctr=1533883870 (Al Masirah, 9:24)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ANNUlOG00ig = http://en.abna24.com/news/middle-east/saudi-airsrike-on-civilian-bus-in-yemen-kills-39-people-mostly-children-video-graphics_904793.html = https://twitter.com/HussainBukhaiti/status/1027734846100123648 = https://www.facebook.com/yemen.crisis/videos/vb.442414652591443/1129425897223645/?type=2&theater (Almasirah, 1:59)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9nHAyLWbjsA (Al Masirah, 3:37)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y9lbOuKhHK8 (Al Masirah, 3:35)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X4UpqLwXoeE (Al Masirah, 5:15)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yiKTcZISw0k (Al Masirah, 3:01)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c1KRx0W3Lc8 (Al Masirah, 3:47)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rIRQsN_15GA (Al Masirah, 2:49)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C-Wiawd2LOQ (Al Masirah, 1:31)

https://twitter.com/MintPressNews/status/1027712461879877636 (Mint Press)

https://twitter.com/WalkerBragman/status/1027616963776794624 = https://www.facebook.com/Classy.Yemeni/posts/1361779877285523 = https://www.facebook.com/100014105538708/posts/451649358648578/ (father finding his dead son)

https://www.facebook.com/Classy.Yemeni/posts/1361335557329955

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2018/08/calls-probe-yemen-school-bus-attack-180811103335112.html = https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VmLhfBkJ4rM (Aljazeera)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EKGUWwA7_Uo (Aljazeera)

https://edition.cnn.com/videos/tv/2018/08/09/lead-jake-tapper-reports-live-yemen.cnn (CNN)

https://us.cnn.com/2018/08/10/middleeast/yemen-airstrike-father-intl/index.html (CNN)

https://twitter.com/BBCArabic/status/1027600490245365762 (BBC)

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-45128367 (BBC)

https://twitter.com/AhmadAlgohbary/status/1027545975500492801 (0:25)

https://twitter.com/AhmadAlgohbary/status/1027575387331682304 (2.20)

https://twitter.com/AhmadAlgohbary/status/1027594187322130433 (1:40)

https://twitter.com/AhmadAlgohbary/status/1027654983028748290 (1.28)

(** A K)

Photos of #US bomb used by #Saudi #UAE strike on school bus 51 killed inc 40children Pentagon said 9th August: doesn’t know if US-made bombs killed kids in Yemen “We may never know if the munition [used] was one that the US sold to them,” Now we know its #USA made MK82

https://twitter.com/HussainBukhaiti/status/1028195599575863296

https://twitter.com/narrabyee/status/1028194549166952450

(* A K)

Film: A video has emerged of the school bus student on same day it was struck by #Saudi #UAE strike using #US made bomb type MK82(c previous tweet4bomb fragments) The video shows the kids laughing, joking&playing inside the bus, before #USA made bomb burned them to death

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VmFfG8QCZ9Y = https://twitter.com/HussainBukhaiti/status/1028268929595187201

and

Picture of the children in the mosque before being targeted by Saudi airstrikes on a school bus yesterday n Dhahian area of #Saada in northern #Yemen

https://twitter.com/Fatikr/status/1028005633889591297

(* A K P)

The coalition, which has been fighting Yemen's rebels since 2015, claimed the bus was carrying "Huthi combatants".

It initially said the coalition had carried out a "legitimate military action", targeting a bus in response to a deadly missile attack on Saudi Arabia on Wednesday by Huthi rebels.

https://www.afp.com/en/news/205/un-security-council-calls-probe-yemen-bus-attack-doc-18891r11

My comment: Oh yeaaa, the evidence cleary shows this!! Insane.

(** A K)

Yemen's parents search through the dead for their children after strike

For one Yemeni father, any hope that his son was alive was crushed when he spotted a body in the back of a pickup, the corpse partially covered by a blue tarpaulin.

"Is this Yousif? Is this Yousif?" he cries as he grabs at the side of the vehicle and begins to shake it: "Oh my God!"

Pain is etched across his face as the reality sinks in.

"Oh Yousif, oh Yousif," he wails, his voice rising to a scream.

In a second video, another father describes his desperate search for his son among the dead and injured.

"I didn't see him," he says. "I looked among the bodies and the injured. I didn't see him."

His hand trembling while on the phone, he tries to find out what clothes his son was wearing the day before -- so he can pass the information on to others helping in the hunt for his missing boy.

The videos capture snapshots of the horrific scenes that have played out in northern Yemen after a Saudi-led coalition airstrike hit a school bus Thursday. Eyewitnesses have verified what is depicted in the videos, which came from media controlled by the Houthi rebels.

The strike was the worst attack on children since Yemen's brutal war escalated in 2015, UNICEF said Friday.

No joint funeral for security reasons

A joint funeral for the children was ruled out Friday, said Hasan AlHomran, an office manager to Houthi leader Abdul-Malik al-Houthi, citing security concerns (film, photos)

https://us.cnn.com/2018/08/10/middleeast/yemen-airstrike-father-intl/index.html

(A H K)

After knowing the fate of his child, "Mohamed" who was killed in the air raids of the #US-#Saudi aggression yesterday in the school bus, Haji "Abdullah" today went to the crime scene in the Market of Dahyan, #Saada to look for his son's educational books. (photos)

https://www.facebook.com/LivingInYemenOnTheEdge/posts/1869344696451885

(** A K pH)

Film: 10 Children remain missing

Father of Ahmed, “I only found my child’s bag & belongings. I searched even the bits & pieces of children sliced flesh in hospitals .. didn’t find him. His mother & little bro have not slept for the past 24 hours & never stopped crying for Ahmed!” (Almasirah, 3.27)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S1fvrKtFlEI = https://www.facebook.com/mohamad.alshami.90857/videos/115619622710595/

(** A K)

Health Minister: Victims of School Bus Massacre Reached 131, 96 Children

The Minister of Health and Population, Dr. Taha al-Mutawakil, said on Friday that the number of martyrs of the US-Saudi Aggression massacre of Dahyan, which was committed on Thursday, reached 51, including 40 children, and 79 injured, including 56 children, stressing that there is an American-Israeli cover for this massacre.

The minister said in a press conference held, at the scene of the massacre, that the non-final toll of the massacre reached 131 killed and injured and others are missing among the victims, because of the scattered remains of victims to the roofs of houses and neighboring places around the scene of the crime.

https://english.almasirah.net/details.php?es_id=2157&cat_id=1

and

(** A K)

The latest details of #Dahyan market massacres committed by Saudi/UAE aggression in #Yemen 51 martyrs as follows: 26 Children ages 5-13 years 2 Youngs 15&16 years 8 youths aged over 20 years 15 unidentified ages because their bodies turned to pieces & haven't been identified yet

https://twitter.com/B4Zaman/status/1027697587577597952

[Names of victims, in Arabic]

https://twitter.com/alia_alsha/status/1027702048396136449 = https://twitter.com/AhmadAlgohbary/status/1027990551944196097

(** A K)

Luftangriff auf Schulbus: Mindestens 47 Tote im Jemen

Ein Luftangriff auf einen Schulbus im Jemen hat dem von Rebellen kontrollierten Gesundheitsministerium zufolge mindestens 47 Menschen getötet. Viele der Toten und der mehr als 77 Verletzten des Bombardements am Donnerstag nördlich der Hauptstadt Sanaa seien Kinder und Teenager, sagte Sprecher Jussef al-Hadri der Deutschen Presse-Agentur. Das Rote Kreuz spricht von mindestens 29 getöteten Kindern.

Anwohner sagten, der Bus habe Kinder in eine Sommerschule fahren sollen. Das Internationale Komitee des Roten Kreuzes sprach in einem Tweet von Dutzenden Toten sowie Verletzten, die in einem Krankenhaus behandelt würden.

https://www.merkur.de/politik/luftangriff-auf-schulbus-mindestens-47-tote-im-jemen-zr-10105535.html

(** A K)

Blutüberströmte Kinder: Verstörendes Video zeigt Folgen des Busangriffs im Jemen

Ein schockierendes Video, das benommene und blutüberströmte kleine Kinder zeigt, hat eine düstere Wahrheit des Angriffs auf einen Schulbus vom Donnerstag im Nordjemen enthüllt, bei dem 50 Menschen ums Leben kamen.

In dem Video wird einem schockiert aussehenden Kind der Rucksack von einem Krankenhausangestellten abgenommen, während sich die Ärzte darauf vorbereiten, den Jungen zu untersuchen. Das kleine Kind sitzt blutüberströmt da, während andere um ihn herum erst in dem bereits überlaufenen medizinischen Zentrum eingeliefert werden.

https://deutsch.rt.com/kurzclips/74287-blutuberstromte-kinder-und-zerrissene-korper/

(* A K)

UNO verurteilt Angriff auf Bus mit Kindern im Jemen

Bei einem Luftangriff der von Saudi-Arabien angeführten Militärkoalition auf einen Bus mit Kindern im Jemen sind am Donnerstag mindestens 29 Minderjährige getötet worden, dutzende weitere wurden verletzt. UNO-Generalsekretär Antonio Guterres for

Nach dem Luftangriff auf einen mit Kindern besetzten Bus im Jemen fordert die UNO eine schnelle AufklärungO-Ton Geert Cappelaere, Unicef:'Unicef ist entsetzt über den Tod weiterer 29 unschuldiger Kinder. // Ich habe eine einfache Nachricht an die Kriegsparteien, die Kinder in ihren Krieg verwickeln und an die, die diesen Krieg unterstützen und an den UN-Sicherheitsrat: Stoppen Sie diesen brutalen Krieg gegen Kinder!'

https://video.tagesspiegel.de/uno-verurteilt-angriff-auf-bus-mit-kindern-im-jemen.html

(** A K)

Dutzende Tote bei Luftangriff auf Schulbus

Die von Saudi-Arabien geführte Militärkoalition hat Luftangriffe auf die Provinz Saada im Norden des Jemen zugegeben, in der am Donnerstag ein Schulbus mit Kindern getroffen wurde. Die Bombardierungen hätten den Huthi-Rebellen in der Region gegolten, sagte der Sprecher der Koalition, Turki al Malki. Es sei eine Vergeltungsaktion für einen Raketenangriff auf den Süden Saudi-Arabiens in der Nacht zuvor gewesen. Die Angriffe des Bündnisses stünden dabei im Einklang mit dem internationalen und humanitären Recht.

Bei dem verheerenden Luftangriff auf einen Schulbus im Jemen sind nach Angaben des Internationalen Komitees vom Roten Kreuz mindestens 29 Kinder getötet worden. 48 weitere Menschen, darunter 30 Kinder, seien verletzt worden. Die Huthi-Rebellen, welche die betroffene Region Sanaa kontrollieren, hatten zuvor mitgeteilt, bei dem Angriff am Donnerstagmorgen seien 39 Menschen getötet und 51 verletzt worden. Die meisten der Opfer seien Kinder gewesen, die in eine Sommerschule in der Provinz Saada im Norden des Landes fahren sollten, sagte der Sprecher des von Rebellen kontrollierten Gesundheitsministeriums, Jussef al Hadri, der Nachrichtenagentur dpa.

http://www.faz.net/aktuell/politik/ausland/dutzende-tote-bei-luftangriff-auf-schulbus-im-jemen-15729901.html

Mein Kommentar: Berichterstattung auf Deutsch: Das ist der halbseitige Einspalter (Sechstelseite) auf Seite 9 oder ähnlich. Die absurden Rechtfertigungsversuche der Saudis am Anfang. Keines der vielen Fotos, nur ein Standbild aus einem alten Reuters-Film.

(* A K P)

Saudi-Arabien will Angriff auf Schulbus untersuchen

Nach internationaler Kritik will eine von Saudi-Arabien geführte Militärkoalition den verheerenden Angriff auf einen Schulbus mit Kindern im Jemen untersuchen.

Die Umstände würden aufgearbeitet, berichtete die staatliche Nachrichtenagentur Spa unter Berufung auf eine Quelle in dem Bündnis. Ergebnisse würden so bald wie möglich veröffentlicht.

Bei dem Luftangriff in der nördlichen Provinz Saada waren am Donnerstag nach Angaben des Internationalen Komitees vom Roten Kreuz (IKRK) mindestens 51 Menschen getötet worden, 40 davon Kinder. Weitere 79 Menschen wurden demnach verletzt. Das saudi-arabische Bündnis hatte sich mit verschiedenen Versionen gerechtfertigt: Zunächst hatte es geheißen, in dem Bus hätten sich Huthi-Rebellen aufgehalten. Später sagte es, die Bomben hätten eigentlich Raketenwerfern der Aufständischen gegolten.

https://www.zvw.de/inhalt.jemen-saudi-arabien-will-angriff-auf-schulbus-untersuchen.d8c4fff4-902b-4a08-a909-426921c813f1.html

Mein Kommentar: Eine Propagandalüge nach der anderen. Dass die Saudis ihre eigenen Kriegsverbrechn untersuchen, ist ein Witz.

(* A K P)

Fünf Sicherheitsratsmitglieder fordern Dringlichkeitsitzung zu saudischen Verbrechen im Jemen

Schweden, Bolivien, die Niederlande, Peru und Polen forderten eine inoffizielle und dringende Sitzung des Weltsicherheitsrats für den heutigen Freitag, um die furchtbaren Verbrechen des saudischen Kriegsbündnisses und dessen Angriff auf einen Kinderbus im Jemen zu untersuchen.

http://parstoday.com/de/news/world-i42860-fünf_sicherheitsratsmitglieder_fordern_dringlichkeitsitzung_zu_saudischen_verbrechen_im_jemen

(* A K P)

UN-Sicherheitsrat fordert Untersuchung zu Anschlag im Jemen

Der verheerende Angriff auf einen Schulbus mit Kindern im Jemen ist international scharf kritisiert worden. Der Weltsicherheitsrat verlangt nach dem tödlichen Anschlag eine glaubhafte und transparente Aufarbeitung.

Sollte es eine nicht glaubhafte Untersuchung geben, werde der Sicherheitsrat dies selbstverständlich überprüfen, sagte die britische UN-Botschafterin Karen Pierce nach Beratungen in New York. Die nicht öffentliche Sondersitzung beantragt hatten Bolivien, die Niederlande, Peru, Polen und Schweden, allesamt nicht-ständige Mitglieder dieses höchsten UN-Gremiums (mit Fotos)

Saudi-Arabien kündigte eine eigene Untersuchung an.

https://www.dw.com/de/un-sicherheitsrat-fordert-untersuchung-zu-anschlag-im-jemen/a-45040280

(* A K P)

UN verlangen schnelle Untersuchung

UN-Generalsekretär António Guterres hat einen Luftangriff auf einen Bus mit 50 Toten im Norden Jemensverurteilt. Er forderte zudem eine „unabhängige und schnelle Untersuchung des Vorfalls“, teilte UN-Vizesprecher Farhan Haq am Donnerstag mit. Alle Konfliktparteien im Jemen seien aufgerufen, Zivilisten zu verschonen. Sie müssten zudem „ihre Pflichten nach internationalem humanitären Recht“ achten, vor allem mit Blick auf nötige Verhältnismäßigkeit und Vorsichtsmaßnahmen bei Attacken. Guterres bekräftige zudem seine Forderung nach Verhandlungen über eine politische Lösung im Jemen.

http://www.taz.de/!5527141/

(A K P)

Auswärtiges Amt zur Lage in Jemen

Es sind erschütternde Bilder und Nachrichten, die uns gestern aus Jemen erreicht haben. Der Tod so vieler Kinder und die Trauer und das Leid ihrer Familien sind zutiefst bedrückend.
Viel zu oft sind Zivilisten, und darunter Kinder, im Jemen-Konflikt von Kampfhandlungen betroffen, werden verletzt, getötet oder leiden schlimme Not. Wir rufen die Konfliktparteien auf, das humanitäre Völkerrecht unbedingt zu achten. Der Schutz von Zivilisten und ziviler Infrastruktur muss immer oberste Priorität haben; es muss alles getan werden, um zivile Opfer zu vermeiden.

Das Leid der Menschen in Jemen, das massiv ist, darf so nicht weitergehen. Es muss ein Ausweg aus dem Konflikt gefunden werden.

Der Konflikt in Jemen braucht eine politische Lösung und die Menschen schon jetzt uneingeschränkten Zugang für humanitäre Hilfe und Helfer und die Möglichkeit kommerziellen Warenverkehrs im ganzen Land.

https://www.auswaertiges-amt.de/de/newsroom/jemen/2125978

Mein Kommentar: Schwächer geht es kaum. Die Saudis werden nicht einmal erwähnt.

(** A K)

Militärkoalition gibt Angriff auf Schulbus zu

Die von Saudi-Arabien angeführte Militärkoalition hat die Verantwortung für den Luftangriff im Norden des Jemen übernommen, bei dem nach Angaben des Roten Kreuzes ein Bus mit Kindern getroffen wurde.

In einer Stellungnahme sprach die Koalition von einem "legitimen Militäreinsatz". Die Bombardements hätten den Huthi-Rebellen gegolten. Es handle sich um die Vergeltung für einen Raketenangriff auf die saudi-arabische Stadt Dschisan am Vortag, hieß es. Dabei habe es einen Toten und mehrere Verletzte gegeben.

Bei dem Angriff auf den Schulbus wurden nach Angaben des Internationalen Komitees vom Roten Kreuz (IKRK) mindestens 50 Menschen getötet, die meisten davon Kinder und Jugendliche. Das von den Huthi-Rebellen kontrollierte Gesundheitsministerium sprach von 47 Todesopfern und 77 Verletzten, darunter viele Kinder und Teenager.

Bilder, die im Internet kursierten, zeigten verkohlte Kinderleichen in einem Krankenhaus, auf Videos sind Schreie von Verletzten zu hören. Die Echtheit der Aufnahmen konnte bisher nicht bestätigt werden.

Die Nachrichtenagentur AP meldet unter Berufung auf die Angaben Stammesältester, dass der Angriff sich gegen einen belebten Markt und einen Schulbus in Dahian in der Provinz Saada gerichtet habe. Anwohner sagten, der Bus habe Kinder in eine Sommerschule fahren sollen.

https://www.tagesschau.de/ausland/schulbus-jemen-103.html

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UN verurteilen Angriff auf Schulbus

UN-Generalsekretär Antonio Guterres hat den Luftangriff auf einen Schulbus mit mindestens 50 Toten in Jemen verurteilt. Guterres verlangte eine unabhängige und schnelle Untersuchung des Angriffs der von Saudi-Arabien geführten Militärkoalition. Alle Parteien im Jemen-Konflikt müssten dafür sorgen, dass Zivilisten und zivile Objekte aus militärischen Handlungen herausgehalten werden, erklärte ein Sprecher der Vereinten Nationen am Donnerstagabend in New York.

https://www.sueddeutsche.de/politik/luftangriff-im-jemen-un-verurteilt-angriff-auf-schulbus-1.4088314

Weitere deutschsprachige Berichte:

Sie erfahren hier nicht mehr als in den Berichten oben. Was alle gemeinsam haben: Das sind 10- bis 20-Zeilen-Meldungen von Seite 9. Hätte das gleiche die syrische Armee oder die Russen gemacht (oder würde es ihnen der Westen auch nur in die Schuhe schieben wollen): Seite 1 mit 3 Spalten, Hintergrundbericht auf Seite 3, Kommentare gegen den bösen Assad auf Seite 4, den ganzen Tag als eine der esrten Meldungen stündlich, halbstündlich in den Nachrichten, „Brennpunkt“ nach der Tagesschau, Medien und Politik fordern unisono deutliche Konsequenzen… - Was auch auffällt: Bei fast allen diesen Berichten ist die Hälfte des Textes immer dieselbe Erklärung der grundsätzlichen Fakten über den Jemenkrieg – die Medien berichten so selten über den Jemen, dass man den Lesern das jedes mal wieder von Adam und Eva an erklären muss. – Und: Ausgerechnet „Bild“ stellt das Ganze wenigstens in einen größeren Zusammenhang – blendet dabei aber völlig aus, dass es gerade unsere Verbindung mit den USA ist, die die Deutschen hier zu Mittätern macht. Denn die Verbindung mit den USA ist für Springer-Medien sakrosankt.

https://www.bild.de/politik/ausland/politik-ausland/43-tote-bei-luftangriff-auf-schulbus-im-jemen-warum-werden-die-saudis-trotzdem-v-56608734.bild.html

https://www.tagesschau.de/ausland/schulbus-jemen-101.html

https://www.n-tv.de/politik/Saudi-Koalition-bombardiert-Schulbus-article20564978.html

https://www.focus.de/politik/ausland/im-jemen-dutzende-tote-und-verletzte-bei-anschlag-auf-bus-mit-kindern_id_9389489.html

https://www.sueddeutsche.de/politik/jemen-schulbus-luftangriff-1.4087162

https://www.t-online.de/nachrichten/ausland/krisen/id_84253864/luftangriff-auf-schulbus-im-jemen-50-tote-und-viele-verletzte.html

https://www.tagesspiegel.de/weltspiegel/krieg-im-nahen-osten-dutzende-tote-bei-luftangriff-auf-schulbus-im-jemen/22897244.html

https://www.zdf.de/nachrichten/heute/dutzende-tote-bei-angriff-auf-bus-mit-kindern-im-jemen-100.html

https://www.deutschlandfunk.de/toedlicher-angriff-auf-schulbus-krieg-im-jemen-die-welt.720.de.html?dram:article_id=425105

https://www.nzz.ch/international/saudischer-luftangriff-in-jemen-trifft-schulkinder-ld.1410237

https://derstandard.at/2000085043242/39-Tote-bei-Luftangriff-auf-Schulbus-im-Jemen

Als Satire:

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Glorreiche Luftwaffe Saudi-Arabiens besiegt jemenitischen Schulbus

Heldenhafte Piloten der saudischen Streitkräfte haben einen entscheidenden Sieg im Kampf gegen jemenitische Schulkinder errungen. Bei einem Luftangriff in Dahian in der Provinz Saada gelang es, mehrere Dutzend der als hochgefährlich geltenden Kinder auszuschalten.
Insgesamt konnte Saudi-Arabien bei dem Angriff mindestens 43 vornehmlich minderjährige Menschen töten, die in einem Ausbildungslager für Zivilisten lesen, schreiben und rechnen lernen sollten.
Es ist nicht der erste militärische Erfolg des wichtigen NATO-Verbündeten und Empfängers deutscher Waffenexporte: Seit dem Eingreifen Saudi-Arabiens in den jemenitischen Bürgerkriegs im Jahre 2015 gelangen dem Königreich immer wieder vernichtende Schläge gegen Hochzeiten, Krankenhäuser und Märkte. Insgesamt konnten bislang mehr als 10.000 Zivilisten besiegt werden.
Die mutigen Piloten sollen nun vom saudi-arabischen Kronprinzen Mohammed bin Salman eine Tapferkeitsmedaille erhalten, sobald dieser die Zeit findet. Er befindet sich gerade mitten in einer diplomatischen Auseinandersetzung mit Kanada, weil die Außenministerin des nordamerikanischen Landes es wagte, Saudi-Arabien Menschenrechtsverletzungen vorzuwerfen.

https://www.der-postillon.com/2018/08/saudi-arabien-jemen.html

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Death toll from airstrikes on Yemen rises to 52

Yemeni Ministry of Health announced on Thursday that death toll from Saudi-led coalition’s airstrikes on Saada province has risen to 52.

http://www.irna.ir/en/News/82996521

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Yemen rebels say Saudi coalition airstrike in north kills 50

An airstrike by the Saudi-led coalition fighting Shiite rebels hit a bus driving in a busy market in northern Yemen on Thursday, killing least 50 people including children and wounding 77, Yemen's rebel-run Al Masirah TV said citing rebel Health Ministry figures.

The Saudi-led coalition, meanwhile, said it targeted the rebels, known as Houthis, who had fired a missile at the kingdom's south on Wednesday, killing one person who was a Yemeni resident in the area.

Al Masirah TV aired dramatic images of wounded children, their clothes and schoolbags covered with blood as they lay on hospital stretchers. The International Committee of the Red Cross said on Twitter that its team at an ICRC supported hospital in Saada received the bodies of 29 children, all under 15 years old. It also received 48 wounded people, including 30 children, it said.

The attack took place in the Dahyan market in Saada province, a Houthi stronghold. The province lies along the border with Saudi Arabia. The bus was ferrying local civilians, including many children, according to Yemeni tribal leaders who spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of reprisals.

There was no breakdown in the casualties and it was not immediately clear how many of the victims were on the bus itself and how many were pedestrians in the immediate area around it. It was also unclear if there were other airstrikes in the area

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/wires/ap/article-6044105/Yemen-rebels-say-Saudi-coalition-airstrike-north-kills-50.html

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Coalition announces Yemen air raid probe, Houthis report 40 children killed

A Saudi-led coalition said on Friday it would investigate an air strike that killed dozens of children in Yemen, an apparent shift of stance on an attack Riyadh initially portrayed as a legitimate military action against its Houthi foes.

At least 40 children were killed in Thursday’s strike on a bus in northern Yemen, the armed Houthi group said, raising the toll of children killed in the raid, the latest in a series of mass casualty air strikes in Yemen’s war, from 29. Announcing the coalition probe, the Saudi Press Agency quoted an alliance official as saying: “The coalition is firmly committed to investigating all claims regarding mistakes or violations of international law, to sanction those who caused these incidents and to provide assistance to the victims.”

Houthi-run al-Masirah TV cited the group’s health minister Taha Mutawakil as saying that the estimated number of casualties stood at 51 killed including 40 children, and at least 79 people wounded, of which 56 were children.

The ICRC’s Yemen Twitter account reported the same toll on Friday, citing authorities in Saada.

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-yemen-security-un/coalition-announces-yemen-air-raid-probe-houthis-report-40-children-killed-idUSKBN1KV0N1

My comment: The saudi coalition probing itself is a bad joke. The only use of this is self-whitewashing.

(** A K pH)

Rise toll of Dhahyan' massacre victims to more than 100 killed, injured

The Saudi brutal massacre death toll rose to more than 100 killed and injured by targeting students on a bus in Dhahyan city souk in Saada province, director of emergency in Saada Health Office told Saba on Thursday.
The outcome of the martyrs by the Saudi-led coalition warplane in targeting students 'bus and Dhahyan souk rose to 43 martyrs most of them children, while injured rose to 61 including children, said Dr. Ahmed al-Akwani.
Meanwhile, the aggression warplane waged three airstrikes on the martyrs' kindergarten in the area of Fallah, causing casualties.

http://www.sabanews.net/en/news504553.htm

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'Where are my brothers?' pleads Yemen school bus attack survivor

Mohammed Jabber Awad, the governor of Saada, told Al Jazeera that the bus was carrying 30 students, but as many as 60 people may have been killed in the raid.

According to the ICRC, one of the few humanitarian institutions helping civilians in the country, all of the children who were admitted to its hospital were under the age of 15.

In unverified videos uploaded to social media, bereaved parents could be seen pleading with hospital staff for updates, as dead bodies literally began piling up, on top of each other.

In one video, a father could be seen struggling to contain his grief after he found his dead son under a heap of corpses in the boot of a Nissan pick-up truck.

In a second video, one of the children who survived the attack refused to receive medical attention until doctors updated him on the fate of his two younger brothers.

"I have two brothers, Hassan and Yehia, who are smaller than me," the boy said. "Where are my brothers? ... I don't want help until I see my brothers."

Pictures from the scene of the attack showed homes and businesses detroyed, with trails of blood on the roads and UNICEF rucksacks splattered with blood.

Hussain al-Bukhaiti, a pro-Houthi activist, told Al Jazeera that the death toll was expected to rise.

"Most of the hospitals and clinics in Saada have either been completely destroyed or are badly damaged, and most lack basic medicines. So how will they treat them?" he said.

Al Jazeera's Mohammed Adow, reporting from neighbouring Djibouti, said this latest attack would enrage Yemenis who are already aggrieved over the rising civilian death toll.

"The Saudis tend to deny these kinds of actions, which have sadly become all too common," he said. "It's all too rare for either party [the alliance or the Houthis] to take responsibility".

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2018/08/brothers-pleads-yemen-school-bus-attack-survivor-180810053229821.html

film: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EKGUWwA7_Uo

(? A K P)

Film: Watch George Galloway's opening monologue

"In the Yemen this evening 50 children have been slaughtered by the Saudi Arabian air force deploying bombs and rockets sold to them by us."
Watch George Galloway's opening monologue from the Mother of All Talk Shows

https://www.facebook.com/talkRADIOUK/videos/2247504675483293/

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In a Week of Deadly Airstrikes and Civilian Deaths, Saudi Arabia Adds School Bus and 50 Yemeni Children to the List

The bombing of the school bus, the Saleh bedouin camp, as well as a family farm were among the dozens of massive Saudi attacks targeting Yemeni civilians this week.

The late morning sun conspired with a cloudless blue sky to picturesquely frame the city of Dhahian in southern Saada province. Suddenly the serenity was broken by the loud piercing shriek of fighter jets over the quiet village, followed by a deafening explosion. When the thick black smoke finally began to dissipate, more than 20 mothers discovered a school bus carrying their children had been transformed into a hellish scene: choking dust, smoldering shops, and the charred corpses of children buried under the mangled school bus. Anguished moans and screams of grief and pain filled the air.

At a bed in the Jomhouri Hospital in Saada, four-year-old Mohammed was receiving first aid when he came to the realization that he was still alive but that more than 35 of his classmates, older and younger, lay dead in beds near him as if they were asleep. Others were lying in torn, blood-stained clothing along with school bags, fighting death in the same room.

Mohammed was one of the 80 civilians wounded on Thursday in fresh U.S.-Saudi strikes that targeted a school bus carrying children to summer camp on Dhahian’s outskirts in Yemen’s northwestern province of Saada.

It was 8:30 a.m. when the explosion shattered the day. “What did these children do to deserve this?” a 32-year-old witness to the strike asked. Abdul-Ghani Nayeb, the head of the Health Department in Saada told MintPress more than 50 were killed and over 80 others were wounded as a result of the strike. Some were shoppers and passers-by, but most were children.

The owner of a nearby restaurant, Zaid Hussein Deib, cried out, “they were not Iranian experts,” as he scrambled past overturned plastic white tables and splintered blue tiles. “They were children; they were not carrying ballistic missiles.” Deib lost two sons in the attack.

The death toll is expected to rise, as many victims of the strike remain in critical condition and hospitals struggle to cope with a lack of medical supplies as a result of a Saudi coalition-imposed siege that began in 2015.

https://www.mintpressnews.com/in-a-week-of-deadly-airstrikes-and-civilian-deaths-saudi-arabia-add-school-bus-and-50-yemeni-children-to-the-list/247377/

(** A K)

Dozens dead in Yemen as bus carrying children hit by airstrike

Red Cross says strike hit bus at market in Dahyan, in rebel-held north of country

Dozens of civilians, mostly children, have been killed and others wounded in an airstrike by the US-backed, Saudi-led coalition in Yemen that hit a bus in the rebel-held north of the country.

The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), one of the few humanitarian institutions helping civilians on the ground in the war-torn country, said a hospital it supported had received dozens of casualties after the strike at a market in Dahyan, in Sa’ada governorate.

It was not possible to confirm the death toll, but Abdul-Ghani Nayeb, a health department chief in Sa’ada, told Reuters 43 people had been killed and at least 61 injured. Houthi-controlled Almasirah television broadcast unverified footage of dead and bloodied children being transferred to a hospital.

The UN children's agency Unicef said it was "very concerned with the initial reports of children being killed”.

In a statement carried by the official Saudi press agency, the Saudi-led coalition called the strike a “legitimate military action” targeting elements responsible for a Houthi missile attack on the Saudi city of Jizan on Wednesday. “[The airstrikes] conformed to international and humanitarian laws,” the statement said. It accused the Iran-aligned Houthis of using children as human shields.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/aug/09/dozens-dead-in-yemen-as-bus-carrying-children-hit-by-airstrike-icrc

My comment: The Saudi statement is ridiculous, as so often. How a rid against a crowded market could be a „legitimate military action“? – And how aschool bus passing by a market would mean that anyone is „using children as human shields“??

(* A K)

Yemen in shock after Saudi-led strike on bus kills 29 children

An AFP photographer at the scene said the bus carrying the children had been turned into a mass of twisted metal, and that the remains of victims and their personal items were scattered across the ground.

"There are remains everywhere, we are still trying to confirm identies," Yahya Shayem, a health official in Saada, told AFP.

He could not confirm when funerals for the victims would take place

https://www.afp.com/en/news/205/yemen-shock-after-saudi-led-strike-bus-kills-29-children-doc-18891r8

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A School Bus Named Yemen

In Yemen, a school bus driver’s job description doesn’t just include coping with inclement weather, road rage, teen angst, juvenile delinquency, and surprise route inspections from supervisors.

Those are the driver’s headaches, of course. Yemeni school bus drivers might even think it’s OK to tailgate, cut off a bus or take risks around a vehicle carrying as many as 50 children. After almost four years of war and occupation, however, the school bus drivers in Yemen have also added a new description – and a new lesson - to their jobs: A billion sorries are meaningless to parents who lost their precious bundles of joy and who are waiting in an emergency room with teary-eyed inquiries about their injured children after an airstrike by Saudi warplanes that hit their local school bus.

Sadly, on Thursday, August 9, that’s exactly what happened when Saudi warplanes attacked a school bus in northern Yemen, hitting the bus just as it was passing through a crowded marketplace. At least 50 civilians were killed in the attack, mostly schoolchildren, and 77 others were wounded.

Exact splits between children and people who were shopping at the market is not yet clear. The Red Cross, however, has confirmed that “scores” of children were killed, saying that most of the victims were under the age of 10. Reporters at the scene say it’s unclear why the bus was targeted, noting that there are no military installations anywhere near the market. They say this remote area of Sa’ada province has few hospitals, and the Saudi naval blockade has left them with no medicine, so the death toll is almost certain to rise.

It doesn’t take a strategic mind to realise why the Saudi warplanes targeted a busy market and a school bus. Saudi Arabia and its regional allies, backed by the United States and some NATO members, are not fighting the resistance group of Ansarullah. They are in fact fighting a besieged population of the poorest country in the Arab world. And the Thursday incident was just the tip of the iceberg, because the Saudi-led alliance have committed far worse crimes than the Thursday attack during their four-year military campaign of terror and occupation.

And no, this is not just a human rights violation. It’s a human rights nightmare. Although UNICEF has issued a statement condemning the attack on the busload of children, saying there could be “no excuses anymore,” and that the world shouldn’t need yet “more innocent children’s lives to stop the cruel war on children in Yemen,” the United Nations Security Council whose permanent member states include Saudi allies the United States, France and the United Kingdom will do nothing to end this human rights nightmare.

It gets worse when we hear how the Saudis have tried to defend the attack.

By being ignorant, Col. Turki cannot change this basic fact.

He also cannot change the fact that the Saudis and their allies are no strangers to killing scores of Yemeni children in airstrikes with no apparent military goal, and expressing comfort in that fact.

At any rate, those who weaponize the Saudis and support their indiscriminate airstrikes are complicit in the current human rights nightmare in Yemen. The US, UK and France should hold their heads in shame because Saudi Arabia uses their bombs and warplanes to target civilian objects in Yemen. That the US, UK and France refuel planes like the ones that attacked the school bus on Thursday is also beyond dispute. http://en.farsnews.com/newstext.aspx?nn=13970519000712

My comment: from Iran – but simply true.

(* A K P)

The Aftermath of the Latest Saudi Coalition Massacre

The Saudi coalition stated that they consider the attack on the market and school bus to be a “legitimate military action,” but nothing can justify attacking a crowded marketplace and a school bus. The coalition has skipped its usual denials of responsibility and gone straight to rationalizing the massacre of schoolchildren. The coalition’s irrelevant excuse is that they were supposedly targeting missile launchers involved in attacks on Saudi territory, but that appears to be false:

But others disputed that the area of Thursday’s attack posed a military threat.

“I am really shocked because there is no military base or troops in that area,” said Muwlef. “Why would they carry out such an action?”

It has been obvious from the start of the Saudi-led intervention that the coalition ignores and flouts international law in Yemen, and this is just one of the more egregious examples of how they wantonly commit war crimes while pretending that they have done nothing wrong. The U.S. has aided and abetted them in these crimes for more than three years.

https://www.theamericanconservative.com/larison/the-aftermath-of-the-latest-saudi-coalition-massacre/

And also:

(A K P)

The Joint Forces Command of the Coalition to Restore Legitimacy in Yemen: Targeting the terrorist Houthi Militants Responsible for Launching the Ballistic Missile Yesterday on Jazan

Colonel Turki AlMalki, the Official Spokesperson of the Coalition to Restore Legitimacy in Yemen stated that the targeting today in Sa’dah Governorate is a legitimate military action, conducted in conformity with the International Humanitarian Law and its Customary Rules, to target the militants responsible for planning and targeting civilians, which resulted in killing and injuring them, last night in Jazan. “The Coalition will take all necessary measures against the terrorist, criminal acts of the terrorist Iranian-Houthi militia, such as recruiting child soldiers, throwing them in battlefields and using them as tools and covers to their terrorist acts.”

http://alriyadhdaily.com/article/f414ff88cd7748b1a474cf26bfa8d096

http://saudigazette.com.sa/article/540832/SAUDI-ARABIA/Houthi-militants-targeted-by-Coalition-force

and

(A K)

Saudi-led coalition says Saada air strikes targeted missile launchers -SPA

The Saudi-led coalition fighting the Houthi group in Yemen said its air strikes in Saada on Thursday were aimed at missile launchers used to attack Jizan industrial city in southern Saudi Arabia, a statement carried by state news agency SPA said.

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-yemen-security-coalition/saudi-led-coalition-says-saada-air-strikes-targeted-missile-launchers-spa-idUSKBN1KU1DI

and

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Coalition: Yemen strike targeted ballistic missile planners, not civilians

Rebel media outlets reported that the airstrike left a number of civilians dead

An airstrike Wednesday in northern Yemen was a “legal military action” against elements that planned attacks on Saudi Arabian towns, the spokesman for the Arab coalition told CNN news after reports that civilians had been killed.

Speaking by phone to the US-based news outlet, spokesman for the Saudi-led coalition supporting Yemen's government, Col Turki Al Maliki, insisted Thursday's attack carried out in Saada is a "legitimate military action" and is "in accordance with international humanitarian law and customs." He also accused the Houthis of recruiting children and using them in the battlefields to cover for their actions.

“The attack carried out today by the coalition in Saada was against those people responsible for the ballistic missile attack last night … the allegation [that civilians were targeted] is coming by the Houthis, and it’s still an allegation”, Col Al Maliki said.

https://www.thenational.ae/world/mena/coalition-yemen-strike-targeted-ballistic-missile-planners-not-civilians-1.758568

My comment: The problem for this propaganda statement is: The air raid did ot target a missile launcher and no „planners“ of anything, but a crowded market and a schoolbus.

And look how low Saudi coalition propaganda could go the same day of the air raid: 8-year-old Yemeni boy transported to UAE for treatment, http://wam.ae/en/details/1395302702989

(* A H K)

INGOs in Yemen condemn horrific attacks in Sa’ada

International non-government organisations (INGOs) in Yemen strongly condemn horrific Coalition airstrikes on a bus transporting school children in Yemen yesterday. This bombing follows an unacceptable trend of attacks on civilians and civilian infrastructure by parties to Yemen’s conflict. The killing of dozens of children has escalated the depravity of a war creating untold loss and destruction for people in Yemen.

The humanitarian crisis in Yemen is entirely man-made. Attacks of the kind seen in Sa’ada yesterday are killing and injuring civilians, destroying critical infrastructure and driving more Yemeni people from their homes. Yemen’s slow decline into famine and disease is not a coincidence but the product of ongoing violence with grossly unfair consequences for millions of civilians.

We appeal to all parties to this conflict to make public commitments to cease attacks on civilians.

We call for an immediate investigation into yesterday’s attacks by an independent panel of UN experts and meaningful support from members of the UN Security Council to the political process being led by the UN Special Envoy, Martin Griffiths. There is no military solution to the conflict in Yemen.

https://reliefweb.int/report/yemen/ingos-yemen-condemn-horrific-attacks-sa-ada

(A K P)

France condemns airstrike in Yemen

Yemen – Airstrike on Saada – Communiqué issued by the Ministry for Europe and Foreign Affairs

France condemns the airstrike carried out on 9 August, which hit a bus in Saada, in the northern part of Yemen, killing and injuring a significant number of people, including many children, according to local medical sources.

It supports the UN Secretary-General’s call for the opening of an investigation in order to shed light on the circumstances behind this tragedy.

France also reiterates its condemnation of the Houthi attacks against Saudi territory, which left one civilian dead and others injured during the night of 7 to 8 August, according to the coalition. It calls on all parties to strictly comply with international humanitarian law.

There is an urgent need to put an end to the conflict in Yemen.

https://uk.ambafrance.org/France-condemns-airstrike-in-Yemen

(A K P)

Russian Foreign Ministry calls for investigation into recent airstrikes in Yemen
Moscow calls for a thorough and comprehensive investigation into the recent incidents in Yemen, which killed dozens of civilians on August 2 and 9, the Russian Foreign Ministry said in a statement on Friday.
http://tass.com/politics/1016827

(A K P)

Alistair Burt: Deeply concerned by reports of yesterday’s attack in Sa’ada, Yemen, resulting in tragic deaths of so many children. Transparent investigation required. UK calls on all parties to prevent civilian casualties and to cooperate with UN to reach a lasting political solution in Yemen.

https://twitter.com/AlistairBurtUK/status/1027929047161077761

My comment: What a great hypocrisy. The british govrenment and minister Burt in special are blind supporters of the Saudi coalition and of british arms sales to Saudi coalition states. Burt himself is one of those who directly are resonsible for this and other war crimes.

Comment: Here is the UK govt propaganda line on Yemen - trying to position UK as (a) not directly involved (b) concerned about casualties and (c) seeking a political solution. The reality on all three is clearly the opposite but the corporate media has done little to show this.

https://twitter.com/markcurtis30/status/1028192332812886018

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U.S. calls on Saudi-led coalition to probe Yemen attack

The U.S. State Department called on Thursday for the Saudi-led coalition to investigate reported air strikes in Yemen that killed dozens of people, including children.

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-yemen-security-usa/u-s-calls-on-saudi-led-coalition-to-probe-yemen-attack-idUSKBN1KU2DD?

My comment: Again, by this the US wants to deflect from an independent international investigation. Giving the Saudis the possibilty of „probing“ their own war crimes, just will lead to a farce of whitewashing, as in all cases before.

Comment: Asking coalition to probe its own crimes including an airstrike which killed & injured 12s of children in #Yemen is a crime itself. Criminals never say they've killed others. Plus, this means Int'l community led by US & UK is complicit in war crimes & not serious to end war here.

https://twitter.com/FuadRajeh/status/1027943902437879809

And

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Saudi investigation of Yemen airstrike unlikely to result in penalties

The Saudi-led coalition will be investigating the strike in Yemen on Thursday that killed and injured dozens of civilians, including children, according to the Saudi-funded news outlet Al Arabiya.

Be smart: Saudi Arabian King Salman pardoned "all military men" involved in Operation Restoring Hope in Yemen last month, clearing them of "military and disciplinary penalties," so it's unlikely this will result in any repercussions. Last year, the coalition said it would investigate strikes that led to civilian casualties and ultimately cleared itself of wrongdoing.

https://www.axios.com/saudi-investigation-of-yemen-airstrike-unlikely-to-result-in-anything--7aa71365-91f9-4133-b31d-f0aefd819029.html

And

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Watch Reporters Slam US For Refusing To Condemn Saudi-US Airstrike On Yemen School Bus In Live Briefing

Just as expected, State Department spokesperson Heather Nauert refused to condemn Thursday's coalition airstrike on a school bus in Yemen, which left as many as 50 people dead and 63 injured — the vast majority of which were children.During the State Department's daily press briefing, Nauert was asked point blank by journalists, starting with the AP's Matt Lee, whether the US condemns the attack.

The whole testy exchange on Yemen is worth watching, especially as Matt Lee lays out the case for direct US complicity in the attack on the bus packed with children from the start of his question: "The Saudis obviously are the ones who conducted this, but they do that with weapons supplied by the U.S., with training supplied by the U.S., and with targeting information, targeting data, supplied by the U.S. How can something like this happen?" he said.

Watch the State Department's response here:

Unbelievably, Nauert tried to obfuscate the issue by simply saying "I can’t confirm all the details because we are not there on the ground."

Not only did Nauert refuse to say the State Department condemned the attack, but wouldn't so much as agree to simply call for an independent investigation into the incident (she called only for a Saudi-led inquiry).

Nauert drew random incredulous expressions of laughter from the press pool by the end of the segment on Yemen when she was caught struggling to acknowledge the long established fact that the US supplies "a tremendous amount of weaponry and the data for targeting to the Saudis" while simultaneously touting that Washington provides"a tremendous amount of humanitarian assistance."

This section of the exchange played out as follows:

https://www.zerohedge.com/news/2018-08-09/watch-reporters-slam-us-refusing-condemn-saudi-coalition-airstrike-yemen-school-bus and film: https://twitter.com/walid970721/status/1027698930740613120

and

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State Dept deflects questions on US-backed Saudi strike that killed dozens of children (VIDEO)

nsisting that she had no other details or information on the matter, Nauert then chided reporters at the briefing for ignoring the “devastation” in Yemen.

“You all rarely ask about the issue that has been unfolding, and the devastation that has taken place in Yemen, let’s look at some of things that have been happening in Yemen,” Nauert said to journalists. “You have the Houthi rebels, who continue to attack Saudi Arabia. They continue to do that with Iranian weapons, missiles and rockets. They continue to try to attack civilian infrastructure in Saudi Arabia, for example. And that is part of the reason why these actions are being taken.”

Nauert did not clarify what she meant by her last sentence, which seems to imply that the deadly airstrike – which hit a bus full of children – was a retaliatory measure.

https://www.rt.com/usa/435616-nauert-us-saudi-strike-yemen/

and this is transcript and full film of the press briefing: https://www.state.gov/r/pa/prs/dpb/2018/08/285051.htm#YEMEN

and

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USA: 'We don't have full details' - Nauert dodges blame for Dahyan airstrike

State Dept deflects questions on US-backed Saudi strike that killed dozens of children (VIDEO)

nsisting that she had no other details or information on the matter, Nauert then chided reporters at the briefing for ignoring the “devastation” in Yemen.

“You all rarely ask about the issue that has been unfolding, and the devastation that has taken place in Yemen, let’s look at some of things that have been happening in Yemen,” Nauert said to journalists. “You have the Houthi rebels, who continue to attack Saudi Arabia. They continue to do that with Iranian weapons, missiles and rockets. They continue to try to attack civilian infrastructure in Saudi Arabia, for example. And that is part of the reason why these actions are being taken.”

Nauert did not clarify what she meant by her last sentence, which seems to imply that the deadly airstrike – which hit a bus full of children – was a retaliatory measure.

https://www.rt.com/usa/435616-nauert-us-saudi-strike-yemen/

film by RT: https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=5&v=rtkY1bcIC4c

My comment: „retaliatory measure“ striking a school bus?? Did the kids throw chalk in the class room? – Remember how the US had reacted on the alleged gas attacks of the Syrian government against rebel territory – which even were much less evidenced and probably only had been a White Helmet propaganda scam? In that case, the US did not tell 'We don't have full details', but quickly bombed the Syrian airforce.

In Yemen, the US is just „concerned“: „Western governments aligned with the Saudis (and tons of other repressive regimes) lean hard on “concerned.” It’s a way to posture at moral leadership & do at least a little bit about abuses. Sure, “gravely concerned” is a step up“ (https://twitter.com/AkbarSAhmed/status/1026240215818612736 ). That’s it. And the US again does not ask for an international independent investigation – for deflecting from such claims and showing „concern“ without any consequences, they ask the Saudis to investigate their own war crimes (which means to whitewash them).

(A K P)

'We just bombed a school bus': Top Democratic senator slams the US for its involvement in bloody Yemen war after bus full of children hit in airstrike

Democratic Sen. Chris Murphy on Thursday slammed the US for its involvement in the bloody Yemen conflict after a Saudi-led coalition airstrike hit a school bus and killed dozens in the northern part of the country. "US bombs. US targeting. US mid air support. And we just bombed a SCHOOL BUS. The Saudi/UAE/US bombing campaign is getting more reckless, killing more civilians, and strengthening terrorists inside Yemen," he tweeted.

"We need to end this — NOW," the Connecticut senator added.

https://www.businessinsider.de/chris-murphy-yemen-war-school-bus-bombing-2018-8?r=UK&IR=T

(A K P)

US Dep. Ted Lieu: Saudi Arabia states the airstrike in Northern #Yemen was a "legitimate military operation." If the #SaudiArabia coalition targeted a school bus carrying children, or acted with reckless disregard, that would not be a legitimate military operation. That would be a war crime.

https://twitter.com/tedlieu/status/1027549831881994241

(A K P)

US complicit in Saudi crimes in Yemen: Senator Sanders

US Senator Bernie Sanders in reaction to a Saudi-led coalition airstrike on a bus carrying Yemeni children in Saada province accused the United States of be complicit in this atrocity.

'By backing the Saudi coalition's war in Yemen with weapons, aerial refueling and targeting assistance, the United States is complicit in this atrocity, ' Sanders tweeted Friday.
'No one can seriously claim that out support for this war is actually making us safer,' the US senator said in his twitter account.
Sanders' tweet came at a time that the US administration has refrained from condemning the crimes being committed by the Saudi-led coalition in Yemen.

http://www.irna.ir/en/News/82997112

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The Pentagon doesn’t know if US-made bombs killed kids in Yemen

“We may never know if the munition [used] was one that the US sold to them,” a Pentagon spokesperson said.

It’s entirely possible that the United States played a role in the Thursday bombing, but the US military doesn’t have any idea if that’s the case.

“We may never know if the munition [used] was one that the US sold to them,” Army Maj. Josh Jacques, a spokesperson for US Central Command, told me. “We don’t have a lot of people on the ground.” The military could conduct an investigation to find out if that’s the case, but it’s unclear if that probe would ever happen or how long it would take.

It’s also unclear if the US was involved in refueling planes for the attack, Jacques said, because the military doesn’t track where the coalition planes go. Another Pentagon spokespersonsaid that “US Central Command was not involved in the airstrike in Sa’ada.”

https://www.vox.com/2018/8/9/17671386/yemen-airstrikes-saudi-arabia-coalition-pentagon

My comment: I think they take this as a justification that they can sell arms to Saudi Arabia eternally.

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UN chief condemns air strike that hit school bus in northern Yemen, killing scores of children

UN Secretary-General António Guterres on Thursday condemned an air strike by pro-Yemini Government coalition forces, which killed scores of children who were on board a bus travelling through a busy market area in the northern province of Saada.

In his statement, the UN chief called "on all parties to respect their obligations under international humanitarian law, in particular the fundamental rules of distinction, proportionality and precautions in attack," emphasising that all parties must take "constant care to spare civilians and civilian objects in the conduct of military operations".

The Secretary-General called for an "independent and prompt investigation" into this incident and extended his "deepest condolences" to the families of the victims.

The Head of the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) also strongly condemned the incident and urged the warring parties and international community "to do what’s right for children and bring an end to this conflict".

“Attacks on children are absolutely unacceptable,” she said UNICEF Executive Director Henrietta Fore on Twitter. “I’m horrified by the reported airstrike on innocent children, some with UNICEF backpacks. Enough is enough.”

“How many more children will suffer or die before those who can act, do by putting a stop to this scourge?" said UNICEF's chief in a statement.

“Attacking children is the lowest any party of this conflict can go,” UNICEF Yemen Resident Representative Meritxell Relaño told UN News. “There is no justification whatsoever to attacking children.”

https://news.un.org/en/story/2018/08/1016732

https://reliefweb.int/report/yemen/unicef-chief-horrified-air-strike-hit-school-bus-northern-yemen

https://reliefweb.int/report/yemen/unconscionable-attack-children-should-be-turning-point-yemens-brutal-war-enough-enough

(A K P)

Yemen’s Houthis welcome UN call for probe into Saudi air strikes

Yemen’s Houthi group today welcomed a call by the United Nations for an independent investigation into Saudi-led coalition air strikes that killed dozens of people a day earlier, including children travelling on a bus.

https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20180810-yemens-houthis-welcome-un-call-for-probe-into-saudi-air-strikes/

(A K P)

Press briefing notes on Yemen civilian casualties

Spokesperson for the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights: Liz Throssell

We deplore Thursday’s attack in Yemen, when a coalition air strike hit a bus carrying children in Dahyan market in Saada, reportedly killing 40 people and injuring another 60.

https://www.ohchr.org/EN/NewsEvents/Pages/DisplayNews.aspx?NewsID=23439&LangID=E

https://reliefweb.int/report/yemen/press-briefing-notes-yemen-civilian-casualties

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Dozens killed, including children on a bus, in Yemen air strikes

The ICRC said on its Twitter account that its medical team at the ICRC-supported hospital in Saada had received the bodies of 29 children, all under 15 years old. The hospital also received 48 wounded people, among them 30 children.

That was the toll at just one hospital.

“Scores killed, even more injured, most under the age of 10,” Johannes Bruwer, head of the delegation for the ICRC in Yemen, said earlier in a Twitter post.

It was unclear how many of the dead in total were children and how many air strikes were carried out in the area, in northern Yemen, near the border with Saudi Arabia.

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-yemen-security/dozens-killed-including-children-on-a-bus-in-yemen-air-strikes-idUSKBN1KU12U

(** A K pH)

Saudi jets attacks bus carrying children, leave 39 civilians dead

At least 39 civilians have lost their lives and over 50 others sustained injuries as Saudi warplanes targeted a bus carrying children in Yemen’s northwestern province of Sa’ada.

The bus came under attack at a market in the Sa’ada town of Zahyn on Thursday, Yemen’s al-Masirah television network reported.

Johannes Bruwer, head of delegation for the ICRC in Yemen, also said in a tweet that most of the victims were under the age of 10. https://www.presstv.com/Detail/2018/08/09/570646/Yemen-Saudi-strikes

More reports:

http://www.itv.com/news/2018-08-09/outcry-after-air-strikes-in-northern-yemen-kills-dozens/ (with film)

https://www.commondreams.org/news/2018/08/09/we-just-bombed-school-bus-outrage-after-us-backed-saudi-coalition-slaughters (declarations of outrage)

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/08/09/world/middleeast/yemen-airstrike-school-bus-children.html

http://nymag.com/daily/intelligencer/2018/08/u-s-backed-coalition-bombs-school-bus-in-yemen.html

https://www.wsj.com/articles/calls-grow-for-investigation-of-deadly-attack-in-yemen-that-hit-school-bus-1533935919 (claims for probe)

(** A K)

Red Cross: Following an attack this morning on a bus driving children in Dahyan Market, northern Sa’ada, @ICRC_yemen- supported hospital has received dozens of dead and wounded. Under international humanitarian law, civilians must be protected during conflict.

https://twitter.com/ICRC_ye/status/1027459027540893696

(** A K)

Dozens dead, wounded in attack on Yemen bus carrying children: Red Cross

An attack on a bus carrying children in rebel-held northern Yemen on Thursday left dozens of people dead or wounded, the International Committee of the Red Cross said.

"Following an attack this morning on a bus driving children in Dahyan Market, northern Saada, (an ICRC-supported) hospital has received dozens of dead and wounded," the organisation said on Twitter without giving more details.

"Under international humanitarian law, civilians must be protected during conflict," it added.

The Huthi rebels' Al Masirah TV reported that 39 people had been killed and 51 wounded, "mostly children".

https://www.afp.com/en/news/205/dozens-dead-wounded-attack-yemen-bus-carrying-children-red-cross-doc-1886zs5

more reports:

https://www.dw.com/en/airstrike-on-yemen-school-bus-kills-dozens-of-children/a-45014844

(** A K)

Saudi raid in Yemen kills children: rebels

At least 39 people have been killed, most of them children, in an air strike by the Saudi-led coalition that hit a school bus in northern Yemen, a rebel-affiliated health official says.

Most of those killed were under 15 years old, said Youssef al-Hadri, a spokesman for the health ministry, which is controlled by the Houthi rebels. He added that 43 others were injured.

Residents said the bus had been carrying students who were heading to a summer school on Thursday when the strike hit near Dahyan market in the province of Sa'ada, which is a rebel stronghold.

https://www.sbs.com.au/news/saudi-raid-in-yemen-kills-children-rebels

(** A K)

Yemen tribal leaders: Airstrikes in country's north kill 20

Airstrikes blamed on a Saudi-led coalition fighting Shiite rebels in Yemen hit a busy market and a bus on Thursday in the country's north, killing at least 20 people, including children, Yemeni tribal leaders said on Thursday.

As many as 35 were also wounded in the attack, which took place in the Dahyan district in Saada province, a stronghold of the rebels known as Houthis, the elders said. The province lies along the border with Saudi Arabia.

The airstrikes hit pedestrians in the area of the attack and also struck a bus that was ferrying civilians, including many school children, the elders said, speaking on condition of anonymity for fear of reprisals.

https://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/yemen-tribal-leaders-airstrikes-yemens-north-kill-20-57119558

cp2 Allgemein / General

(* B K P)

Ihr Tod und unsere Waffen

Die Saudis greifen im Jemen einen Schulbus an - was folgt, ist routinierte Empörung. Dabei könnte der Westen einiges tun, um das Morden zu beenden.

Jetzt ringen wieder alle routiniert die Hände. Dabei wissen alle genau: Dieses mörderische Treiben wird nicht enden, solange man die saudische Armee wie bisher aus vollen Händen mit Waffen versorgt. Mehr als 100.000 Luftangriffe hat Riad bereits gegen den Jemen geflogen, fast 90 Prozent der Opfer sind Zivilisten. Praktisch sämtliche Waffensysteme der Saudis aber kommen aus den USA und aus Europa, die sich das glänzende Geschäft seit Jahrzehnten teilen. Ohne US-Tankflugzeuge könnten die saudischen Jets längst nicht so häufig und so lange über dem Jemen operieren. Im militärischen Einsatzzentrum von Riad assistieren amerikanische und britische Spezialisten bei der Zielsuche für die Raketen.

Das Ergebnis, angerichtet mit vom Westen gelieferten Tötungsmaschinen, haben die Vereinten Nationen unlängst beschrieben – als das „größte humanitäre Desaster der Gegenwart“ -von Martin Gehlen

http://www.fr.de/politik/meinung/kommentare/jemen-ihr-tod-und-unsere-waffen-a-1561030

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"Entsetzt über diese neue Form von Gewalt"

Der Krieg im Jemen sei die schlimmste humanitäre Katastrophe weltweit, sagte die Geschäftsführerin von Save the Children Deutschland, Susanna Krüger im Dlf. Der Anschlag auf den Schulbus sei eine neue Eskalationsstufe. Sie forderte den Westen auf, Druck auszuüben, um den Konflikt zu beenden.

Krüger: Ja, wir von Save the Children sehen eine konkrete Verschlechterung, eine konstante Verschlechterung der Lage. Wir erfahren jeden Tag, dass tatsächlich Zivilbevölkerung angegriffen wird und Kinder Opfer von dieser Kriegsführung sind. Wir erleben das vierte Jahr des Krieges, und es ist nicht auf der Agenda des Westens. Und der Angriff gestern auf den Schulbus ist eine neue, sehr unerträgliche Stufe in diesem Krieg, und wir sagen, genug ist genug, es muss jetzt endlich eine politische Lösung dieses Konflikts geben, und deswegen fordern auch wir eine unabhängige Untersuchung dieser Vorfälle. Es muss eine Verantwortlichkeit zugeschrieben werden, und es braucht eine Rückkehr an den Verhandlungstisch. Heinemann: Glauben Sie, dass eine solche Untersuchung überhaupt möglich ist, dass man die organisieren kann?

Krüger: Das kann man sehr wohl organisieren. Wir haben vor einigen Wochen gesehen, dass politischer Druck in Hodeidah zumindest für einige Tage die Kampfhandlungen beschränkt hat. Es geht, wenn der Westen und die Allianz sich zusammentun und an den Tisch gehen und politisch verhandeln. Druck ist möglich. Dieser Konflikt ist menschengemacht, und das, was wir sehen, wie die Kinder dort leiden, ist möglich zu beenden.

Krüger: Es ist die schlimmste humanitäre Katastrophe weltweit, und der Angriff auf den Schulbus gestern sollte uns allen im Westen und auch in der Allianz genau das geben, was es braucht für diese Verhandlungen. Wir müssen so etwas Schreckliches zum Anlass nehmen, um wieder an den politischen Verhandlungstisch zurückzukehren, und ich glaube, dass es eine Möglichkeit gibt. Es gibt eine Möglichkeit, diesen menschengemachten Krieg zu beenden.

Krüger: Wir können weitere Waffenembargos machen, wir können auch sagen, dass es so viel Druck geben muss, dass es nichts mehr anderes gibt als aufzuhören. Sie können auch politischen Druck ausüben, wirtschaftlichen Druck, es gibt eine ganze Reihe von diplomatischen Mitteln, die der internationalen Gemeinschaft auf jeden Fall zur Verfügung stehen, wenn diese nur angewendet werden.

https://www.deutschlandfunk.de/angriff-auf-schulbus-im-jemen-entsetzt-ueber-diese-neue.1773.de.html?dram:article_id=425128

(* B K P)

Ist die Katastrophe im Jemen ein Wendepunkt?
Jeder Konflikt hat mindestens einen Höhepunkt, ein Ereignis, das seine Geschichte in ein Davor und ein Danach teilt. Im Jemen hoffen viele Menschen, dass das jüngste Blutbad in der Provinz Saada sich als solcher Wendepunkt erweisen wirdDie Staatengemeinschaft reagierte empört, allen voran UN-Generalsekretär António Guterres, der alle Kriegsparteien dazu aufrief „ihre Verpflichtungen gemäß den internationalen Menschenrechten zu erfüllen, vor allem die grundlegenden Regeln bezüglich der Verhältnismäßigkeit und der gebotenen Vorsicht bei jedem Angriff“. Aber können Empörung und Aufmerksamkeit den lange vergessenen Jemen-Konflikt einer Lösung näher bringen?

Zwar setzen insbesondere die VAE auch Bodentruppen ein, doch gerade der Luftkrieg, so meinen Kritiker, tötet besonders viele Unschuldige, weil die Luftstreitkräfte der Koalition ihre Bomben aus besonders großer Höhe abwerfen und nicht geübt darin sind, zivile Opfer zu vermeiden. Die Saudis hielten bislang an ihrer Strategie fest. Auch diesmal wiesen sie Kritik am Bombardement in Saada zurück. Man habe keine zivilen Ziele, sondern Raketenabschussrampen angegriffen, erklärte Oberst Turki al-Malki, ein Sprecher der von Riad geführten Koalition.

Arabische Medien zitierten indes jemenitische Journalisten, die behaupteten, zum Zeitpunkt des Angriffes hätten sich am Angriffsort keine Rebellen befunden. Rund 22 Millionen Landesbewohner sind inzwischen direkt von humanitärer Hilfe abhängig. Hunderttausende erkrankten bereits an der Cholera, die jederzeit wieder ausbrechen könnte. Millionen sind von einer Hungersnot bedroht oder haben keinen Zugang zu sauberem Wasser.

Dennoch unterbindet die Welt den Krieg nicht. Staaten wie die USA, Frankreich und Großbritannien versorgen Saudi-Arabien gar mit Waffen und Munition für den Krieg. Ihre Regierungen kritisierten Riad bislang nur verhalten.

Dabei könnte ein Fortdauern des Krieges verheerende Konsequenzen für die gesamte Region haben. Wenn der Jemen vollends kollabiert, bedroht das nicht nur die Stabilität Saudi-Arabiens und des benachbarten Oman.

https://www.welt.de/politik/ausland/article180952458/Nahost-Ist-die-Katastrophe-im-Jemen-ein-Wendepunkt.html

(* B K P)

Die Welt muss den Saudis in den Arm fallen

Wenn Kinder die Zukunft sind, sieht es um die Zukunft Jemens entsetzlich aus. Die von Saudi-Arabien angeführte Koalition wütet im Land und muss aufgehalten werden.

Dort werden zahlreiche Kinder von Bomben getötet, verstümmelt, traumatisiert. Der Bürgerkrieg im ärmsten Land Arabiens, in dem etliche ausländische Mächte mitfeuern, hat Jemen zum Inferno gemacht, besonders für die Schutzbedürftigsten, die Kinder.

Acht Millionen Mädchen und Jungen sind unterernährt, das entspricht in etwa der Einwohnerzahl Österreichs. Unzählige können nicht zur Schule gehen, leiden an Cholera, leben in ständiger Angst. Die Wunden, die diesen Kindern geschlagen werden, wirken weiter. Wenn Kinder die Zukunft sind, sieht es um die Zukunft Jemens entsetzlich aus.

Der Boden wird bereitet für einen gescheiterten Staat, in dem allenfalls Terrortruppen gedeihen

https://www.sueddeutsche.de/politik/krieg-in-jemen-die-welt-muss-den-saudis-in-den-arm-fallen-1.4088636

(B K)

Film: What would you do if you see warplanes bombing your children in Washington and London and Paris? Like the Saudis always do in Yemen?

https://twitter.com/narrabyee/status/1027969166605787136

(A P)

The Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) announced that it will host a conference in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia to discuss the Yemeni political process on August 13. Hadi government Prime Minister Ahmed Obaid Bin Daghr, Secretary General of the GCC Abdul Latif Bin Rashid al Zayani, and other representatives from GCC member countries and international organizations working in Yemen will attend the conference. The UN Special Envoy to Yemen Martin Griffiths held a meeting with Yemeni public figures including activists who are opposed to the legitimacy of the Hadi government according to a source in attendance in London on August 7.[1]

https://www.criticalthreats.org/briefs/gulf-of-aden-security-review/gulf-of-aden-security-review-august-10-2018

My comment:This will be a Saudi coalition propaganda show, and nothing more.

(B K P)

Decoding of UN silence on Yemen

In the course of the more limited terrorist incidents (in terms of the number of victims) that have occurred in Western countries in recent years, we witness the sympathy and full support of so-called international organizations, including the United Nations, to the families of the victims of these incidents: One minute silence in the Security Council until a special order to track the incident! However, human rights defenders have simply passed away from the brutal mass murder of recent Yemeni students!

It is, of course, the case that the United States, Britain and France, which have contributed to the political, military and armed support of the Saudis over the last three years (since the start of the Yemeni war), have never taken the brutal actions of Mohammed bin Salman and other officials Saudi terrorist do not condemn! From the point of view of the United Nations authorities and other international institutions, the incident has not happened in Yemen, and this country is not part of the geographic map of the world!

https://en.mehrnews.com/news/136620/Decoding-of-UN-silence-on-Yemen

My comment: The article does not keep what the headline is claiming.

(* B K P)

Has Saudi Arabia gone mad?

These brutalities, which are nothing short of war crimes or crimes against humanity, are being committed and led by a country which is the homeland of Islam and houses Islam’s holiest shrines of Mecca and Medina.

Regrettably, these crimes are taking place at a time that Saudi Arabia is hosting millions of Muslims from across the world for the annual Haj pilgrimage.

Now people around the world have the right to ask: What are the differences between the Saudi-led crimes in Yemen and those committed by terrorist groups such as Daesh (ISIL) in Syria, Afghanistan, and Iraq, or the genocide done by General Ratko Mladic in Bosnia-Herzegovina from 1992 to 1995?

Before the new family takes the helm in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia was considered a place for settling disputes between Muslim states. However, that situation has completely changed and Saudi Arabia itself has turned into a criminal state and a source of problem.

Not yet stopping germinating Islamic extremism through its Wahhabi ideology, the Saudi government has unashamedly resorted to acts which have caused pains in the hearts of Muslims and non-Muslims in the world.

The hotheaded Saudi Royal family and its accomplices, mainly the UAE, have already created the world’s worst humanitarian crisis in Yemen by the war that they launched on the poor country in March 2015.

http://www.tehrantimes.com/news/426379/Has-Saudi-Arabia-gone-mad

My comment: From Iran – well, it just is this way.

(* B H K)

Scots aid worker in Yemen shares harrowing stories of 'devastating' bombings and child victims

Gillian said: “It is very clear attacks on civilians and on civilian infrastructure such as hospitals are absolutely in violation of international law.

"We are calling for an immediate and independent investigation in to this and other attacks. People need to be held to account.”

Medical staff have not been paid for almost two years and the country’s health infrastructure is on the verge of collapse, with half of its hospitals no longer functioning.

Gillian said: “It is not just the physical injuries children are having to endure but the trauma which will have a long-term impact.

“We are seeing a whole generation of children who have only known war. It is one of the worst places in the world to be a child right now.”

https://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/scottish-news/scots-aid-worker-yemen-shares-13064855

(*B K P)

Endless war: on Saudi Arabia's strike in Yemen

Riyadh has paid little attention to growing international criticism of its use of excessive force in Yemen, which plunged the country, among the poorest in West Asia, into what the United Nations calls the world’s most severe humanitarian crisis.

The Saudi-led coalition, backed by the U.S., targeted public infrastructure, killed thousands of civilians, displaced hundreds of thousands more and even laid siege to major cities, blocking food and aid supplies. With no functional government in place and the rebels fighting the Saudi invasion, Yemen’s 28 million people have been practically abandoned by the world. Saudi Arabia has not been deterred by any of this. Nor has it come under any serious international pressure to halt its catastrophic campaign. Its response to the bus bombing has been callous: it said the attack was “a legitimate military action”, and accused the rebels of using children as human shields.

The Saudis say the Houthi rebels are backed by Iran, its regional rival; also that its campaign has been on behalf of the internationally recognised government of Yemen. Curiously, Yemeni President Abdrabbuh Mansour Hadi is nowhere to be seen; he is reported to be under house arrest in Riyadh.

The military campaign has been a failure from a strategic point of view as well.

It is high time the international community paid serious attention to the voices of the battered Yemenis. The U.S. continues to support this disastrous aggression, with other leading global powers failing to do anything more than condemn rights violations. The plight of Yemenis will get progressively worse unless enough pressure is brought to bear upon Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman

https://www.thehindu.com/opinion/editorial/endless-war-on-saudi-arabias-strike-in-yemen/article24659550.ece

(* A B K P)

Film, Talk: How to stop the war in Yemen?

Saudi-UAE coalition air raids killed dozens of people, many of them children, in northern Yemen on Thursday.

Yemen is routinely called the world's worst humanitarian crisis.

But sometimes an individual event can bring that phrase starkly into focus.

That is what happened on Thursday, when a series of air raids in the northern province of Saada killed dozens of people, most of them schoolchildren.

Even by Yemen's standards, it was shocking. And it once again called attention to foreign involvement in the war.

That not only means the Saudi and Emirati forces leading the coalition fighting the Houthi rebels, but also the Western governments that sell them weapons and offer logistical support.

So, what responsibility does the wider international community bear for the war in Yemen?

Presenter: Hoda Abdel-Hamid; Guests: Simon Mabon - Researcher and lecturer at Lancaster University; Pieter Wezeman - Senior researcher at Stockholm International Peace Research Institute; Hakim Almasmari - Publisher and editor-in-chief for the Yemen Post newspaper

https://www.aljazeera.com/programmes/insidestory/2018/08/stop-war-yemen-180810183141096.html

(* A B K P)

Opinion: Cynicism as reason of state

Saudi Arabia continues to wage war in Yemen, disregarding the high number of civilian casualties. The regime also mistreats its own people. Riyadh’s conduct is extreme

It was a mistake – one of many. A spokesman for the military coalition operating in Yemen said the attack was supposed to target Houthi rebels. Obviously, they got it wrong. Instead of rebels, what they hit was a school bus full of children. This mistake, which cost so many children their lives, is symptomatic of the unscrupulousness with which the Saudi-led coalition has been waging war in Yemen for nearly three and a half years.

Day by day, Saudi Arabia and its allies are bombing this impoverished country ever deeper into misery. The ongoing attacks, deadly for the civilian population, make little impression on the political and military leadership. It continues to allow the country to be bombarded from the air, regardless of whether — as in this instance — it is in retaliation for a previous Houthi attack on Saudi territory, or whether it is completely groundless.

https://www.dw.com/en/opinion-cynicism-as-reason-of-state/a-45042277

My comment: No, it was not a “mistake”. The best you can say is that the Saudis simply do not care.

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In Yemen, 'nearly all children' at risk from war

Saudi Arabia is behind "the single biggest attack on children" during the war in Yemen, rights groups say. With no end in sight, observers are asking whether targeting children is a new feature of the brutal conflict.

But this isn't the first time children have taken the brunt of the war in Yemen. More than 6,000 children have been killed or injured since March 2015, when Saudi Arabia launched an aerial campaign targeting anti-government rebels, according to UN figures.

"It's one of the worst places to be a child," UNICEF spokeswoman Juliette Touma told DW. "It's probably safe to say that right now no place is safe for children in Yemen."

UNICEF says "nearly all children" in the country are in need of humanitarian assistance due to the conflict. Touma noted that a combination of factors play into it.

"The safety and protection of children has deteriorated because of continuous attacks, because of relentless violence against children," Touma said. "But it is also because the humanitarian situation in Yemen has become worse because of the war."

Saudis 'not interested' in sparing civilians

In the wake of the deadly attack, some observers have asked whether Saudi Arabia and its coalition of pro-government forces are intentionally targeting children. Most analysts agree that the answer isn't straightforward.

Ali al-Absi, a Yemeni political scientist based in Berlin, told DW that while the Saudi-led coalition is not likely targeting children outright, it has a history of striking areas which carry the potential for high numbers of civilian casualties.

"Saudi Arabia regards anything in Yemen as a legitimate target, including schools, markets, infrastructure, weddings and orphanages. Unfortunately, Saudi Arabia does not seem interested in sparing civilians the scourge of war," al-Absi said.

But the Yemeni scholar noted that atrocities have been committed against children on both sides of the conflict. "Even the Houthis besieged the city of Taiz and targeted civilians and children with sniper fire," he said.

'Bring the war to an end'

For children's rights advocates, more needs to be done to end hostilities against children and, more generally, against civilian populations.

"There is no military solution to this conflict," said Save the Children's Krüger. "Only a political solution can bring the war to an end and reinstate peace in Yemen."

https://www.dw.com/en/in-yemen-nearly-all-children-at-risk-from-war/a-45040298

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Yemen bus attack just the latest outrage against civilians: UN agencies

The UN Special Envoy for Yemen, Martin Griffiths, said that he was “deeply shocked by the appalling tragedy that claimed so many innocent lives”. The UN official has invited the warring parties to Geneva on 6 September in a bid to reach a political solution to the conflict – the first such discussions since 2016.

“This should urge us all to exert more efforts to end the conflict through an inclusive intra-Yemeni dialogue,” he added, stressing that he hoped all of those involved in the fighting across the country will “engage constructively in the political process, including consultations scheduled in Geneva in September.”

Briefing journalists in Geneva on Friday, UNICEF spokesperson Christophe Boulierac said that the agency believed the air strike on the school bus constituted “the single worst attack” on children since 2015. “No such number of children have been involved in one incident before,” he added. Mr. Boulierac explained that following the attack, UNICEF staff on the ground reported chaotic scenes at the hospital where victims were being treated, adding that the number of fatalities could rise.

Reiterating the UN chief’s call for Yemen’s belligerents to spare civilians, OHCHR spokesperson Liz Throssell noted that the bus attack followed a series of more minor – but deadly - incidents involving youngsters last month.

Between 26 March and 9 August 2018, OHCHR has documented 17,062 civilian casualties in Yemen; this includes 6,592 dead and 10,470 injured. The majority of these casualties – 10,471 – were as a result of air strikes carried out by the Saudi-led Coalition, it said in a statement.

https://news.un.org/en/story/2018/08/1016772

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Yemen and the drone innovation

Drones are another another area of innovation. The Houthis have deployed drones as suicide aircraft, designed to destroy the supporting radars of Patriot anti-missile defence systems used by Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates forces. Such attacks allow ballistic missiles fired by Houthis a better chance of penetrating air defences.

The weaponisation of Houthi drones, and their use as a strategic rather than tactical capability, may be a further innovation – at least, that’s if pro-Houthi media claims are to be believed. In July, pro-Houthi media released video of what it said was one of its drones dropping bomblets on Saudi and Emirati troops in the field.

Whatever the truth, in terms of maintaining the support of people in areas under their control, the information operations campaign the Houthis are waging with their drone fleet is proving effective. And once again Yemen proves, even to regional states, that its physical and human geography make it one of the hardest operating environments for invading forces.

https://www.lowyinstitute.org/the-interpreter/yemen-and-drone-innovation

My comment: The support from Iran stays a propaganda tale.

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Drone strikes on Yemen don’t make my country safer – or yours

The last thing we need is to lose innocent life to bad intelligence, yet this is what is happening, again and again, says Yemen’s minister for human rightsn the bad days, I think my job must be one of the hardest in the world. My country, Yemen, is in the midst of civil war. My government is fighting two extremist groups: Al-Qaida and the Houthis. As the minister of human rights, it is my responsibility to ensure that the fundamental rights of Yemenis, spelled out in our constitution, are protected. Four years ago, the Horaidan family were driven from their homes when Houthi rebels attacked their village. They fled to Al Jawf province, to a camp for internally displaced people. This is a government-controlled area, far from any frontline. In March of this year, eight members of the family, including a 13-year-old boy, were killed by missiles fired from American drones.

I do not make this accusation lightly. The Yemeni National Committee, the official body tasked with documenting abuses, employed a team of investigators to establish the facts of the missile strikes on 5 and 8 March. They interviewed locals and collected signed statements, categorically stating that none of the men killed had any ties to Al-Qaida.

The surviving members of the family are not seeking revenge; they just want answers and an apology. They want to know why their sons, husbands, fathers and brothers were killed, and they would like those responsible to admit their mistake. Transparency and accountability are crucial to showing the people of Yemen that our allies, such as the US, do not operate as Houthi forces or Al-Qaida do. The use of drones in Yemen is not making Yemen or the US safer. Rather, the huge increase in drone strikes last year, along with US president Donald Trump’s reported decision to weaken safeguards aimed at protecting civilians, is wreaking havoc and sowing terror. IIt is my belief that the best way to combat terrorism is to build a strong country: to invest in infrastructure and government institutions so that individuals suspected of involvement can be properly arrested and tried – by Mohamed Askar, the Yemeni minister for human rights (Hadi government)

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2018/aug/10/yemen-open-letter-drone-strikes-us

My comment: This minister normally serves as a Saudi propaganda mouthpiece. This article is different: Here he speaks as a quite independent voice – and he is right.

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Audio: Global Ethics Weekly: The Ongoing Crisis in Yemen

The world's worst humanitarian crisis is ongoing in Yemen, as the Saudi-led coalition, with the support of the U.S., continues its brutal campaign against the entrenched Houthi rebels. Waleed Alhariri, U.S. director of the Sana'a Center for Strategic Studies, details the military stalemate centered on a Red Sea port, the debate about America's role, and the prospects for peace, with a UN-led conference in Geneva scheduled for early September.

This talk contains excerpts from Alhariri's June 2017 Carnegie New Leaders Podcast, Every month, Alhariri helps to write the Sana'a Center's Yemen at the UN newsletterand this discussion focuses on many of the issues featured in the July issue.

https://www.carnegiecouncil.org/studio/multimedia/20180809-global-ethics-weekly-ongoing-crisis-yemen

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Video: Saudi-led forces kill Yemeni captives Daesh style

A recent video released by a senior Yemeni official shows Saudi-led forces executing Yemeni captives Daesh style in yet another criminal action amid the bloody Riyadh-led war on the country.

Mohammed Abdul-Salam, the spokesman for Yemen’s Houthi Ansarullah movement, published a video on his Twitter account on Thursday, showing members of the Saudi-led coalition brutally executing Yemeni captives by shooting them with heavy machine guns in an open area.

The captives were blindfolded and had their hands tied behind their backs.

Abdul-Salam said the executions bear the hallmarks of those by the Takfiri Daesh terror group, adding such Daesh-style killings show that not just the US but also Saudi and the United Arab Emirates had a hand in the creation of the world’s most notorious terrorist outfit.

https://www.presstv.com/Detail/2018/08/09/570665/Yemen-Houthi-Houthi-Ansarullah-movement-Saudi-forces-Daeshstyle-execution

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Yemen between Tehran and Geneva

The UN’s special envoy to Yemen has called for direct talks. But with Tehran upping its tug-of-war with Washington, it doesn’t appear likely that a comprehensive settlement is near

UN Special Envoy for Yemen Martin Griffiths has scheduled a meeting for “consultations” between the parties to the Yemeni conflict for 6 September. If the Yemeni government accepted the invitation, it did not do so with great enthusiasm. The government still prefers the “military solution” judging by its reactions to the invitation and previous stances in light of the shrinking scope of manoeuvrability for Houthi forces outside Sanaa and the progress pro-government forces have been making on the central and coastal fronts.

According to Yemeni sources, the government’s lack of optimism stems from its desire to regain control over Hodeida before returning to the negotiating table. Griffiths has been working in a different direction, which is to persuade the Houthis to surrender the port city, not to the government, but rather to a UN-led administration. Yemeni political analyst Abdel-Aziz Al-Majidi, in a telephone interview with Al-Ahram Weekly, adds: “The problem now is that the government believes that Griffiths is handing the Houthis more cards and that he is treating both sides as equals. It also looks like pressure is being exerted by Western powers on the coalition with regard to the military campaign on the coast. Among those applying pressure are allies of the coalition countries, such as the US.”

Yassin Said Noaman, a prominent Yemeni politician and diplomat, believes that a political settlement that would provide for a power-sharing arrangement with the Houthi “project” would be a grave mistake. “Yemen would remain a hotbed of warfare, polarisation and instability. That type of settlement would bring degradation to the nation-state project and to the Arab character, as a whole, in the region.”

Mohamed Ali Al-Houthi, president of the Supreme Revolutionary Committee, offered to halt Houthi military operations in the Red Sea for a renewable two-week period if the pro-government and coalition forces responded in kind. Instead, the coalition resumed its military operation in Hodeida, signalling that the time it had given Griffiths to work something out with the Houthis had lapsed.

The Houthis reciprocated, resuming missile fire into Saudi Arabia.

Military analyst Jamil Al-Maamari believes that the Yemeni government is currently bent on liberating Hodeida before entering into any new negotiations. Abdel-Aziz Al-Majidi fears that the human costs of such a battle would be enormous in view of the large amounts of mines and explosives that the Houthis planted during the recent interval. He therefore believes that the coalition will confine itself to liberating just the port area, but even then, the coalition would encounter not just Houthi resistance but also international pressures rallied by Griffiths.

http://weekly.ahram.org.eg/News/25151.aspx

My comment: “a political settlement that would provide for a power-sharing arrangement with the Houthi “project” would be a grave mistake“??? – Only powersharing could bring peace to Yemen- otherwise the conflict will never end, as the loosers‘ side permantently will try to overthrow a settlement which had disadvantaged them. – „Tehran upping its tug-of-war with Washington“??? This does not make any sense. Evidently, Washington is „upping its tug-of-war“ with Tehran: revoking the Nuclear deal, new sanctions, threats against Iran’s oil exports and against countries trading with Iran, regime change attempts…

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CARE und NRC klagen an: "Es landen mehr Bomben auf dem Flughafen in Sanaa als Passagiere" 16 Millionen Menschen von medizinischer Versorgung abgeschnitten

Morgen jährt sich die von der saudi-arabisch geführten Koalition erzwungenen Schließung des Flughafens in Sanaa zum zweiten Mal. Seitdem ist kein kommerzieller Luftverkehr mehr möglich und die Versorgungsengpässe werden täglich dramatischer. Deshalb fordern die internationale Hilfsorganisationen CARE und NRC, dass der Flughafen wieder dringend für den kommerziellen Luftverkehr und Krankentransporte geöffnet werden muss.
"Normalerweise gehört ein Flughafen zu einer sicheren und funktionsfähigen Infrastruktur eines Landes, über den Menschen frei ein- und ausreisen können. Der Flughafen in Sanaa ist genau das Gegenteil und für einen Großteil der jemenitischen Bevölkerung ein Symbol für Aggression und Unterdrückung geworden", sagt Johan Mooij, CARE-Länderdirektor im Jemen.
Nach Berichten des jemenitischen Gesundheitsministeriums sind seit August 2017 rund 10.000 Jemeniten gestorben, weil sie für wichtige medizinische Behandlungen nicht ins Ausland reisen konnten. Zudem gab es seit der Schließung am 9. August 2016 mindestens 56 Luftschläge auf den Flughafen. "Wir müssen es so deutlich sagen: es landen mehr Bomben als Passagiere in Sanaa", sagt Johan Mooij weiter.
"Dieser Krieg tötet nicht nur durch Waffen und Kugeln, sondern er tötet vor allem auch durch unterschiedliche Krankheiten für deren Behandlung die Menschen hier dringend ins Ausland reisen müssten, es aber nicht können", ergänzt Mohamed Abdi, Länderdirektor des NRC (Norwegian Refugee Council) im Jemen. "Millionen Jemeniten leben wie in einem Gefängnis, zwischen dem Frontverlauf und befeindeten Gruppen. So lange der Flughafen in Sanaa geschlossen bleibt, bleibt auch die Hilfe für lebenswichtige medizinische Versorgung aus", sagt Abdi.

https://www.finanznachrichten.de/nachrichten-2018-08/44490385-care-und-nrc-klagen-an-es-landen-mehr-bomben-auf-dem-flughafen-in-sanaa-als-passagiere-16-millionen-menschen-von-medizinischer-versorgung-abgeschni-007.htm

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Norwegian Refugee Council, CARE: More bombs than passengers dropped at Yemen's main airport

Sana'a International Airport has been hit with an average of one bomb every fortnight, in the two years since it has been shut to all commercial traffic.

Restrictions imposed on Yemen's airspace by the Saudi-led coalition led to the official closure of Sana'a International Airport to commercial flights on 9 August 2016. No commercial traffic has since been allowed access the airport, including to carry Yemenis who need lifesaving medical treatment abroad.

The airport has instead become the site of frequent aerial bombardments. Fifty-six coalition airstrikes have been dropped on the airport complex over the last two years, according to the Yemen Data Project, damaging critical infrastructure and threatening the safety of surrounding communities.

"An airport should be a safe and functioning piece of civilian infrastructure, allowing people to come and go freely," said Johan Mooij, Country Director for CARE in Yemen. "Instead, the airport in Sana'a has become a symbol of aggression and oppression for a very large population."

"This war is killing not only by bombs and bullets, but a plethora of illnesses for which people are being denied access to healthcare," said Mohamed Abdi, Country Director of the Norwegian Refugee Council in Yemen. "Millions of Yemenis now effectively live in an open prison between hostile borders and frontlines of war. As long as the airport is closed, so is the single safe route to lifesaving medical treatment."

https://reliefweb.int/report/yemen/more-bombs-passengers-dropped-yemens-main-airport

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IRGC Dismisses Reports Distorting Retired General’s Comments on Yemen

The Islamic Revolution Guards Corps rejected reports by some Western media outlets that have misrepresented the recent remarks by a retired IRGC general about the war in Yemen.

The statements said General Sha’bani’s recent remarks that “Lebanon’s Hezbollah and Yemen’s Ansarullah are our (Iran’s) support and the enemy is so vulnerable that that we can entangle them beyond the border” has been distorted by the enemy and by some Western officials and media outlets seeking to invent the story that Iran has told the Yemeni forces to attack Saudi military ships.

“The Yemenis and Lebanese have reached such levels of capabilities that they can decide by themselves for defending their country and national interests,” Sharif added.

https://www.tasnimnews.com/en/news/2018/08/08/1797207/irgc-dismisses-reports-distorting-retired-general-s-comments-on-yemen

referring to http://alriyadhdaily.com/article/4011c207e57f49eba279f8027fb4face and others

cp2a Saudische Blockade / Saudi blockade

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2 Billion Dollars Losses, Blocking Sana’a International Airport

Sanaa Airport Director General, Khalid Al-Shayef, revealed that the losses of Sana'a Airport from the bombing by US-Saudi aggression was about $110 millions and $ 2 billion in indirect losses. He pointed out, on the second anniversary of the closure of the airport, that the airport is the first civilian institution that was bombed and targeted by the aggression. More than 200 thousand patients are unable to travel abroad for treatment, and 800 thousand stuck at home and abroad because of the closure of the airport.

https://english.almasirah.net/details.php?es_id=2140&cat_id=1

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Film: Aerial blockade leaves devastating impacts on Yemen

Yemen’s civil Aviation Authority has called for an immediate lifting of Saudi Arabia’s ban on Sana'a International Airport. It says the ban, which has been in place for 2 years now, has prevented thousands of Yemenis from traveling abroad for treatment.

https://www.presstv.com/Detail/2018/08/09/570701/Aerial-blockade-leaves-devastating-impacts-on-Yemen

cp3 Humanitäre Lage / Humanitarian situation

Siehe / Look at cp1

(B H)

US Agency for International Development: Yemen - Complex Emergency Fact Sheet #10, Fiscal Year (FY) 2018

https://reliefweb.int/report/yemen/yemen-complex-emergency-fact-sheet-10-fiscal-year-fy-2018

Yemen ‑ Active USG Programs for Yemen Response (Last Updated 08/10/18)

https://reliefweb.int/map/yemen/yemen-active-usg-programs-yemen-response-last-updated-081018

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UN agencies announced they will resume aid shipments by sea to Aden port, southern Yemen on August 12. The UN’s Logistics Clusters, responsible for coordinating the logistics of humanitarian efforts, temporarily halted all aid shipments by sea to Yemen due to “unforeseen circumstances” on July 26. Logistics Clusters announced on August 9 that it will resume voyages between Djibouti and Aden on August 12. The Logistics Clusters announcement did not comment on shipments to al Hudaydah.[3]

https://www.criticalthreats.org/briefs/gulf-of-aden-security-review/gulf-of-aden-security-review-august-9-2018

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UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs: Yemen Humanitarian Update Covering 30 July – 9 August 2018 | Issue 23

Violence in several governorates has killed tens of civilian, including children and women, and continues to displace thousands of other people.

As of 05 August, 50,552 households have been displaced from Al Hudaydah and 47,400 households (93 per cent of caseload) have received assistance through the rapid response mechanism (RRM)

More than 1.4 million people in need of assistance live in districts with high access constraints. Food and fuel imports declined by 18 and 20 per cent, respectively, in July

https://reliefweb.int/report/yemen/yemen-humanitarian-update-covering-30-july-9-august-2018-issue-23

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Relief and Development Peer Foundation: Yemen: Monthly Situation Report No. 4 (July 2018)

RDP reached 45,766 beneficiaries disaggregated 15,179 men, 20,626 women, 4,808 boys and 5,153 girls through integrated package of Health, nutrition, WASH and Food Security Interventions in July, 2018 As of 17 July, 1,014 displaced households have been assisted through the rapid response mechanism (RRM). The figure includes 271 displaced households currently living in six public schools in Sana’a City. As schools are due to reopen in few weeks, discussions and assessments are underway to move the IDPs to the Olympic Centre dormitory in the Capital. https://reliefweb.int/report/yemen/yemen-monthly-situation-report-no-4-july-2018

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Health Minister: Dialysis and Diabetics Centers Stopping Threatens Death

Minister of Public Health and Population, Dr. Taha Al-Mutawakil, announced that the dialysis center in Al-Mahweet province has stopped providing its services to dialysis patients due to lack of dialysis solutions and a number of dialysis devices.

In his speech during the commemoration of the second anniversary of the closure of Sana'a International Airport revealed that 500 thousand diabetes patients are threatened to die because of the lack of insulin solution, and availability in the markets, in Yemen.

He pointed out that 100 thousand patients died because of the stop of medicines transferred by air, due to the closure of Sana'a Airport and the siege imposed by the aggression.
He also stressed that other centers are threatened to stop, like the dialysis center in Al-Mahwit, due to the lack of solutions or disrupted dialysis devices.

https://english.almasirah.net/details.php?es_id=2136&cat_id=1

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Photos: The crimes of the US-Saudi-UAE Coalition committed against Tihama & #Hodeidah should be enough to move the conscience of the international community if they infact have a conscience

https://www.facebook.com/gaseem.alhmdany/posts/853891234810569 = https://www.facebook.com/judith.brown.794628/posts/10156908331613641

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Audio: Warum ist die humanitäre Krise im Jemen besonders schlimm für Kinder?

8,4 Millionen Menschen sind bedroht von Hunger, etwa doppelt so viele brauchen dringend gesundheitliche Hilfe, 1,8 Millionen Kinder sind akut unterernährt. Im Jemen tobt ein verworrener Stellvertreterkrieg, der nicht enden will. Die Hilfsorganisation "Save the Children" bezeichnet die Lage als "größte humanitäre Katastrophe der Welt". Wir haben mit der Geschäftsführerin Susanna Krüger gesprochen.

https://www.hr-inforadio.de/podcast/das-thema/warum-ist-die-humanitaere-krise-im-jemen-besonders-schlimm-fuer-kinder,podcast-episode31066.html

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Regular Press Briefing by the Information Service, 7 August 2018 - Yemen

Yemen

Tarik Jasarevic of the World Health Organization, updating on what Dr. Salama said on oral cholera vaccination in three districts in Yemen last Friday,

Joel Millman of the International Organization for Migration said that yesterday, IOM and partners launched a regional migrant response plan for the Horn of Africa and Yemen William Spindler of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees said there had been another movement of 160 Somali refugees who travelled by boat from Aden on Sunday and arrived yesterday in Somalia

https://reliefweb.int/report/yemen/regular-press-briefing-information-service-7-august-2018-yemen

Remark: Look also at detailed reports.

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World Food Programme, Logistics Cluster: UNHAS Flight Schedule, September 2018

https://reliefweb.int/report/yemen/unhas-flight-schedule-september-2018

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A Story of Perseverance: Engagement in Yemen

The current civil war and political crisis in the country has created multiple obstacles for ICANNengagement from Internet disconnections to poor telecom lines. Yet despite the difficulties, we have been able to engage remotely in Yemen, and this is an example of that success.

One of the key facets of ICANN's mission to ensure the stable and secure operation of the Internet's unique identifier systems is promoting participation, representation, and engagement from people all around the world.

https://www.icann.org/news/blog/a-story-of-perseverance-engagement-in-yemen

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UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs: Yemen: Food Security and Agriculture Cluster Snapshot (January to May 2018)

A monthly average of 7.1 million people were reached with emergency food assistance through in kind, cash transfers and vouchers. In addition, approx. 871,000 individuals received livelihoods assistance including agricultural, livestock and fisheries inputs.

https://reliefweb.int/report/yemen/yemen-food-security-and-agriculture-cluster-snapshot-january-may-2018

Yemen: Health Cluster Snapshot (January to May 2018)

3.1 million people have been reached with health assistance out of 12.3 million people targeted. Ten million people live in 100 districts prioritized for cholera response. The provision of health assistance continues to be challenged by the fact that only 50 per cent of health facilities are fully functional and the non-payments of salaries to health staff.

https://reliefweb.int/report/yemen/yemen-health-cluster-snapshot-january-may-2018

Yemen: Nutrition Cluster Snapshot (January to May 2018)

Out of an estimated 5.6 million people in need of nutrition assistance, some 1.2 million people were reached with assistance. Treatment for moderate and acute malnutrition was provided to 342.000 people out of a caseload of 2.9 million people targeted.

https://reliefweb.int/report/yemen/yemen-nutrition-cluster-snapshot-january-may-2018

Yemen: Shelter/NFI/CCCM Cluster Snapshot (January to May 2018)

An estimated 3 million people in Yemen need shelter assistance. 90 per cent of the IDPs have been displaced for more than two years. 77 per cent of the IDPs are living with relatives or are renting houses while the remaining caseload live in collective centers or spontaneous settlements.

https://reliefweb.int/report/yemen/yemen-shelternficccm-cluster-snapshot-january-may-2018

cp4 Flüchtlinge / Refugees

(B H)

UN High Commissioner for Refugees: Yemen: Al Hudaydah Displacement/Response Update 03 – 09 August

https://reliefweb.int/report/yemen/yemen-al-hudaydah-displacementresponse-update-03-09-august

(B H)

East, Horn of Africa and Yemen - Displacement of Somalis: Refugees, asylum-seekers and IDPs, as of 30 June 2018

https://reliefweb.int/map/somalia/east-horn-africa-and-yemen-displacement-somalis-refugees-asylum-seekers-and-idps-30-june

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UNHCR aids return of over 2,000 Somali refugees from Yemen

Yesterday (Monday, 6 August), a boat carrying 116 Somali refugees arrived in the port of Berbera in Somalia after sailing from Aden in Yemen on Sunday. This is the latest assisted spontaneous return facilitated by UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, in cooperation with IOM and the authorities in Yemen and Somalia. With this group, the number of refugees to have returned to Somalia since the programme started in 2017 has surpassed 2,000. So far this year 1,321 Somalis (including the 116 who left on Sunday) have returned to their places of origin in Somalia.

For the past two months, weather conditions had prevented the boat from sailing. Among the refugees were female heads of households looking forward to joining their extended families, several students who are hoping to resume their educations, and a critically ill patient who travelled with his son, family members and a medic.

The Assisted Spontaneous Returns (ASR) programme was initiated in 2017 in response to demand from refugees for UNHCR help in returning home. Yemen currently hosts over 270,000 refugees, the vast majority of whom (256,363) are Somali. Some 45 per cent are hosted in the south of the country, in Kharaz refugee camp – Yemen’s only refugee camp – and in the Basateen urban settlement in Aden. Others are in various locations in the north of the country.

The ongoing conflict in Yemen has affected not just Yemenis but also refugees living among them. UNHCR and partners face significant challenges in ensuring safe living environments, adequate protection, humanitarian assistance and access to essential, life-saving services. Refugees are vulnerable to early marriage, child labour, detention and to the risks of dangerous onward movement. These circumstances have added to the urgent need for UNHCR to increase humanitarian support, mitigate risks and find lasting solutions for these people.

UNHCR has carried out information campaigns to ensure refugees are able to make voluntary and properly informed decisions about returns, especially given the current context in Yemen.

http://www.unhcr.org/news/briefing/2018/8/5b6951b14/unhcr-aids-return-2000-somali-refugees-yemen.html

cp7 UNO und Friedensgespräche / UN and peace talks

Siehe / Look at cp1

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UN Security Council meets on Yemen bus attack

The UN Security Council met behind closed doors Friday after a Saudi-led coalition attack on a bus carrying children in Yemen, diplomats said.

The meeting was requested by Bolivia, the Netherlands, Peru, Poland, and Sweden, which are all non-permanent council members.

"We have seen the images of children who died," Dutch Deputy Ambassador Lise Gregoire-van Haaren told reporters. "What is essential at this moment in time is to have a credible and independent investigation."

It remained unclear whether the council would unite and call for action. Kuwait, also a non-permanent council member, is a member of the coalition fighting Huthi rebels in Yemen.

Council statements are agreed by consensus, which means any of the 15 members can block a proposed draft demanding an investigation.

https://www.afp.com/en/news/205/un-security-council-meets-yemen-bus-attack-doc-18a0qf4

and

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UN Security Council calls for probe in Yemen bus attack

The UN Security Council on Friday called for a "credible" probe after an air strike by a Saudi-led coalition that killed at least 29 children, whose remains and clothing were left strewn across a market in northern Yemen. In New York, Britain's Ambassador Karen Pierce, whose country holds the Security Council presidency, told reporters after a closed-door meeting on Yemen that "if any investigation that is held is not credible, the council will obviously want to review that".

https://www.afp.com/en/news/205/un-security-council-calls-probe-yemen-bus-attack-doc-18891r11

My comment: What is a“Credible probe“? Evidently, there had been no consensus for an independent internatioal investigation. The US and the UK certainly inssted in a probe by the Saudi coalition itself, probing ist own war crime. Uch a „probe“ never will be „credible“.

And another report

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/aug/10/united-nations-seeks-credible-investigation-yemen-bus-airstrike-saada

(A K P)

Statement by the Special Envoy on the tragedy in Saada

I am deeply shocked by the appalling tragedy that claimed so many innocent lives today in Saada including children under the age of 15.

My heart goes out to the parents of those who were killed.

This should urge us all to exert more efforts to end the conflict through an inclusive intra-Yemeni dialogue.

I so hope that all parties will engage constructively in the political process, including consultations scheduled in Geneva in September.

https://reliefweb.int/report/yemen/statement-special-envoy-tragedy-saada

My comment: This is weak.

(* A K P)

Now is the time to stand in solidarity with the people of Yemen

On 9 August, scores of people were killed by airstrikes that struck in Majz District, Sa’ada Governorate. The majority of victims are children aged 10 to 13 years who were travelling together on a bus.

“This is horrible and completely unacceptable,” said Ms. Lise Grande, Humanitarian Coordinator in Yemen. “We feel deeply for the families of the victims. Their loss is unimaginable. To think that so many children have died and been wounded is heart-breaking”.

“The costs of this terrible war rise higher and higher,” said Ms. Grande. “Just last week, scores of people were killed in explosions on a hospital and fish market in Al Hudaydah City.”

“We have to wake up to the reality of what is happening in Yemen,” said Ms. Grande. “The numbers are staggering. 8.4 million Yemenis are suffering from acute hunger and seven million are malnourished. Another 10 million more innocent civilians will fall into pre-famine conditions by the end of the year if the war doesn’t stop.” https://reliefweb.int/report/yemen/now-time-stand-solidarity-people-yemen-enar

My comment: Be honest: „Now is the time to stand in solidarity with the people of Yemen“ is more than 1,200 days too late today.

(* B P)

Film: Yemen could become 'Syria-plus' if peace efforts fail - UN envoy

The new UN special envoy to Yemen, Martin Griffiths, is planning to invite representatives of the Saudi-backed Yemeni government and the rebel Houthi movement, which is supported by Iran, to Geneva in September to discuss a framework for negotiations.

He told the BBC’s Lyse Doucet that if the conflict is left unresolved, the international community could be looking at “Syria-plus" in the years to come.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/av/world-middle-east-45132923/yemen-could-become-syria-plus-if-peace-efforts-fail-un-envoy?intlink_from_url=&link_location=live-reporting-map

and a saudi article on this interview. http://www.arabnews.com/node/1354246/middle-east

(A P)

Office of the Special Envoy of the Secretary-General for Yemen: The special envoy and Yemeni figures discuss the resumption of the political process

The Special Envoy of the Secretary-General for Yemen, Martin Griffiths, convened a consultative meeting of 22 public Yemeni figures and women activists, in the United Kingdom on 7 August 2018.

The two-day meeting, which discussed the resumption of the political process, comes within the continuous efforts of the UN Envoy to engage in consultations with all Yemeni parties. “The main purpose of the meeting is to have the opportunity to consult with Yemeni social and political figures who possess a unique knowledge of the Yemeni society”, said the Special Envoy for Yemen, who chaired the meeting.

Griffiths underscored that a negotiated political settlement through inclusive intra-Yemeni dialogue is the only way to end the Yemeni conflict and address the ongoing humanitarian crisis.

https://reliefweb.int/report/yemen/special-envoy-and-yemeni-figures-discuss-resumption-political-process

Fortsetzung / Continued

https://www.freitag.de/autoren/dklose/jemenkrieg-mosaik-444-yemen-war-mosaic-444

Vorige / Previous:

https://www.freitag.de/autoren/dklose/jemenkrieg-mosaik-442-yemen-war-mosaic-442

Jemenkrieg-Mosaik 1-442 / Yemen War Mosaic 1-442:

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/

http://www.yemenwar.info/

und alle Liste aller Luftangriffe / and list of all air raids:

http://yemendataproject.org/data/

Dieser Beitrag gibt die Meinung des Autors wieder, nicht notwendigerweise die der Redaktion des Freitag.
Geschrieben von

Dietrich Klose

Vielfältig interessiert am aktuellen Geschehen, zur Zeit besonders: Ukraine, Russland, Jemen, Rolle der USA, Neoliberalismus, Ausbeutung der 3. Welt

Dietrich Klose

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