Jemenkrieg-Mosaik 446 - Yemen War Mosaic 446

Yemen Press Reader 446: 16. August 2018: Kriegsopfer im Nahen Osten – Jemen: 66.000 Kinder sterben pro Jahr an vermeidbaren Krankheiten – Väter und Söhne im Jemen – Flüchtlinge in Djibouti ...

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Eingebetteter Medieninhalt

Eingebetteter Medieninhalt

... Die USA und der Jemenkrieg – US-Medien und Jemen – Berichterstattung von PBS über Jemen – und mehr

August 16, 2018: The toll of wars in the Middle East – 66,000 Yemeni children dying of preventable diseases every year – Yemeni fathers and sons –Refugees in Djibouti – The US and the Yemen war – US media and Yemen – PBS reporting on Yemen – and more

Schwerpunkte / Key aspects

Klassifizierung / Classification

Für wen das Thema ganz neu ist / Who is new to the subject

cp1 Am wichtigsten / Most important

cp1a Am wichtigsten: Seuchen / Most important: Epidemics

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

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

cp2 Allgemein / General

cp3 Humanitäre Lage / Humanitarian situation

cp4 Flüchtlinge / Refugees

cp5 Nordjemen und Huthis / Northern Yemen and Houthis

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

cp7 UNO und Friedensgespräche / UN and peace talks

cp7a Saudi-Arabien und Iran / Saudi Arabia and Iran

cp8 Saudi-Arabien / Saudi Arabia

cp8a Saudisch-Kanadischer Streit / Saudi-Canadian feud

cp9 USA

cp10 Großbritannien / Great Britain

cp12 Andere Länder / Other countries

cp13a Waffenhandel / Arms Trade

cp13b Mercenaries / Söldner

cp13c Kulturerbe / Cultural heritage

cp13d 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

cp1 Am wichtigsten / Most important

Eingebetteter Medieninhalt

(** A B H K P)

Audio: The toll of wars in the Middle East

Guests: Nasser Arrabyee, Lee Keath, Shireen Al-Adeeimi, Joshua Landis

Dozens of children were killed in a Saudi-led airstrike in Yemen last week, including a school bus full of youngsters on their way to summer camp. This attack has been called the low-point of a four-year civil war that has claimed the lives of hundreds of thousands of Yemenis. We begin today’s show discussing the humanitarian crisis in Yemen. First, we’ll hear from freelance journalist, NASSER ARRABYEE, in the capitol city of Sana’a. Then, we’ll talk to in assistant professor at Michigan State University SHIREEN AL-ADEIMI, and Associated Press reporter LEE KEATH about the fighting there. Lastly, we’ll talk about the Syrian war may be coming to an end, when we speak to JOSHUA LANDIS, director of the Center of Middle East Studies at the University of Oklahoma.

https://whyy.org/episodes/the-toll-of-wars-in-the-middle-east/

(** B H K)

UNICEF: every year in #Yemen 66,000 children under 5 years of age are dying of preventable diseases. Half of them during birth or in the first month of life and the others of diseases that are preventable such as diarrhea, pneumonia and malnutrition related causes.

https://twitter.com/RelanoMeritxell/status/1029562586856128512

Question: Does UNICEF have statistics of how many die during birth and how many die in the first months of life, out of the 66.000? Thanks.

https://twitter.com/FuadRajeh/status/1029833385626284032

(** B H K)

As War Rages, Yemen’s Fathers and Sons Face an Uncertain Future

Conflict and a devastated economy have upended the country’s typical journey to manhood.

The conflict and accompanying economic crisis have placed a strain not only on Yemen’s resources, but on its familial ties and relationships, particularly the relationships of fathers and sons. Fathers who could once easily provide for their families now struggle, and their sons are eager to take on more responsibility. Some fathers are happy to see their sons work. Others, like Yahya, would rather their sons study, even if it means losing out economically.

The Teacher

The Fisherman

The Linguist

The Caretaker, HAJJAH

Not all fathers have the space to teach their sons about ethics and behavior, to be their mentor or friend. Some are simply trying to keep their sons alive.

In a country where 22 million people—approximately 80 percent of the population—need some sort of assistance and nearly 18 million people face food insecurity, hunger and health trump traditional father-son interactions.

According to the London School of Economic's Middle East Centre, over 70 percent of Yemen’s population live in rural areas. For most of these families, even simple health care facilities are often two hours away. Children suffering from malnutrition or chronic health conditions suddenly become a burden rather than a possible contributor. Still, many fathers give up everything for the sake of their sons, even when there’s no solution to be found.

In Hajjah, a mountainous province five hours northwest of Sanaa, Rasheed al Suwaidy holds his eight-year-old son’s hand, guiding him through the cramped hallways of Jumhuri Hospital. He’s looking for someone, anyone, who can help them.

Mohammad, silent and hip-high, looks up at his father, a shy man in a borrowed camouflage jacket and a baby-blue head wrap. An acrid smell follows the boy and urine coats the front of his grey robe, causing those nearby to give him a wide berth and drawing comments about his need for a bath. Mohammad was born with a post-urethral valve, which makes urination difficult. When he was young, doctors rerouted his urethra to a fistula just beneath his belly button.

Rasheed is desperate to help his son.

“He’s been like this since birth, and they said when he turns this age they could fix him. But we don’t have the money.”

Rasheed borrowed money from neighbors to travel the eight hours from his village in the mountains. The village, Garreh, which means “explosion” in Yemeni Arabic, is four hours from even the simplest health care facility. Hajjah is under Houthi control and has been bombarded by airstrikes since the start of the conflict. In the distant province with no port, poor families are struggling to provide the basics for their children, much less raise them the way they would have before the crisis.

Sitting in front of the urologist, who tells him once again he’ll need at least 225,000 Yemeni Rial (U.S. $900) for the surgery, plus the cost of travel to the capital, Rasheed looks deflated. He wipes Mohammad’s lips—the boy had just covered his face in blue ink from a pen he’d found on the floor.

“I would do anything for my son. But I can barely afford to feed all of us. We have eight girls and three boys. We’re a poor family. It hurts me to see him like this, people shunning him because of his smell. I want him to grow up happy and have a normal life, but this is really difficult.”

Walking out of the hospital, Mohammad pushes open the hospital’s green doors for his father, looking up and reaching for his hand. Rasheed leads the way through the streets, hoping to get enough money for one more day in town, one more day to give his son a chance – by Alex Potter (with ** photos)

https://www.nationalgeographic.com/culture-exploration/2018/08/yemen-father-son-family-war-conflict/

(** B H)

Film: Yemen: The Silent War

The short documentary gives a glimpse to the lives of Yemeni refugees living in Markazi Refugee Camp.

After the war started in Yemen early 2015, more than 3 million people have been internally displace and around 180,000 people have fled the country. Thousands of Yemeni refugees have returned to Yemen preferring the uncertainty of the war over the camps' conditions. A film by Sufian Abulohom.

https://vimeo.com/277994258

(** B K P)

America Is Committing War Crimes and Doesn’t Even Know Why

The United States has spent far more time obscuring its role in the Saudi-led war in Yemen than in explaining any rationale for it.

By any reasonable assessment, the U.S. government should have stopped providing direct military support to the Saudi Arabia-led air campaign in Yemen on the day after it started.

On March 26, toward the end of a Senate Armed Services Committee hearing, Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.) asked U.S. Central Command commander Gen. Lloyd Austin what the ultimate goal of the GCC air campaign in Yemen was, and for the general to estimate its likelihood of success.

Gen. Austin answered with refreshing honesty: “I don’t currently know the specific goals and objectives of the Saudi campaign, and I would have to know that to be able to assess the likelihood of success.” Gillibrand replied, “Well, I do hope you get the information sooner than later.” In other words, the military commander responsible for overseeing the provision of support for a new air war in the Middle East did not know what the goals of the intervention were, or how he could evaluate whether it was successful. The United States had become a willing co-combatant in a war without any direction or clear end state.

Two inevitable results have followed. First, there have been a litany of war crimes.

Second, the U.S. government has responded to these crimes with silences that might seem chastened, but in truth must be classified as defiant, given the bureaucratic maneuvering undertaken to obscure the United States’ unthinking complicity both to outsiders and to itself.

Three years into Yemen’s ever-worsening humanitarian nightmare, Congress and the American people have never received a clear response to Gillibrand’s preliminary and prescient question about whether the war has ever had a strategy at all.

There is a simple reason officials from both the Obama and Trump administrations have made no public efforts to justify the material support provided to the Saudi-led intervention: It is unjustifiable. Less than a month into the U.S. role, an anonymous Pentagon official provided what is probably the most sincere answer: “If you ask why we’re backing this … the answer you’re going to get from most people—if they were being honest—is that we weren’t going to be able to stop it.” This constitutes gross strategic negligence: effectively allowing the poor decisions of Gulf monarchies to determine U.S. military policy.

The only reason that I can guess why the United States continues to arm, train, and provide essential logistical support for the air campaign in Yemen, is that this support has occurred during both Democratic and Republican administrations; as we learned in Vietnam previously and Afghanistan every day, where poor strategic decisions are made and sustained by administrations of both major political parties, there is no political advantage for the party out of power to critique current policy. The elected leaders—in the White House and on Capitol Hill—of both parties are deeply implicated and responsible for each new civilian fatality from a U.S.-made munition that makes the news. But when we are all morally stained, it is easier to echo some version of the stunning claim made by Secretary of Defense James Mattis on Sunday: “We are not engaged in the civil war. We will help to prevent, you know, the killing of innocent people.”

The United States has been directly engaged in the civil war since March 25, 2015 – by Micah Zenko

https://foreignpolicy.com/2018/08/15/america-is-committing-awful-war-crimes-and-it-doesnt-even-know-why/

and

(** B K P)

The War on Yemen and Everything That’s Wrong with U.S. Foreign Policy

Zenko was one of the earliest critics of this policy when Obama started it over three years ago, and he correctly pointed out then just how absurd it was that the U.S. was backing a war because our government supposedly couldn’t stop it from happening. Supporting the Saudi coalition’s intervention was the worst foreign policy decision Obama made as president, and continuing that policy is easily the worst and most destructive decision Trump has made since taking office. The rationalizations for this support may change over time, but they are no more compelling or credible today than they were three years ago. Whether the U.S. is “reassuring” despotic clients or resisting imaginary Iranian “expansionism,” there is no justification for what the U.S. has enabled the Saudis and their allies to do to the people of Yemen.

Our government’s support for the war on Yemen exemplifies all of what is worst in U.S. foreign policy. It began with the unthinking, automatic backing for “allies” that we aren’t actually obliged to assist, and it continued with the pathetic refusal to hold those states accountable for their numerous war crimes. The president committed the U.S. to involvement in a foreign war without Congressional debate or authorization, and the U.S. has remained illegally involved in the war ever since. The military intervention itself was a war of choice, and the U.S. then chose to support it when there was nothing requiring our government to do so. U.S. interests have been consistently subordinated to the interests of Saudi and Emirati clients to the detriment of all concerned.

The threat that the intervention was supposedly countering was grossly exaggerated in order to justify attacking a country whose people had done nothing to the intervening governments and who posed no threat to the U.S. Instead of using our government’s considerable leverage to rein in our clients after they committed war crimes, both the Obama and Trump administrations indulged these governments and helped cover for them at the U.N. for fear of losing influence – by Daniel Larison

https://www.theamericanconservative.com/larison/the-war-on-yemen-and-everything-thats-wrong-with-u-s-foreign-policy/

(** B P)

Omaorosa’s Book Tour vs. Forty More Murdered Yemeni Children

Here’s a pop current events identification quiz for U.S.A-ers:

(1) Briefly describe the dispute raging between former Black female reality television star and former White House senior staff member Omarosa Manigault-Newman (hereafter “Omarosa”) and the Donald Trump White House.

(2) Briefly describe what recently happened to at least 40 children riding in a recreational trip on a school-bus in Sa’ada, a city in northern Yemen.

Be honest, dear CounterPunch reader. You know very well that far more USAers would get a passing grade on question 1 than on question 2 (I’m thinking 47% would pass on the first question and 3% on the second). You know that that is seriously messed up because the U.S.-equipped/-funded/-assisted murder, maiming, sickening, and starving of masses of innocent civilians, including thousands of children, is a much bigger deal than Donald Trump sloppily firing “wacky Omarosa” (Trump’s characterization is not all wrong), pretending not to know about or approve her discharge, and (possibly) being caught on tape saying racist stuff. At least it would be in a remotely moral and decently informed nation with a functioning democratic culture.

Things different in the United States, an “advanced” nation where “popular culture” is relentlessly shaped by a senseless, atavistic, propagandistic, nationalist, imperialist and corporate war and entertainment media that functions like the combined embodiment of the dystopian visions of Aldous Huxley, George Orwell, Ray Bradbury, Neal Postman (author of the aptly named book Amusing Ourselves to Death) and Phillip K. Dick. A functioning democracy and a moral political culture require a functionally democratic and morally sentient media. There’s no such thing to be found in the U.S. outside the officially marginalized left organs like this and other ones (Truthdig, Black Agenda Report, Z Magazine and more) I have written for many years.

There were, to be sure, accurate accounts of the Saudi missile bus strike in the New York Times, CNN, and other major media outlets. MSNBC’s Chris Hayes even took a brief break from his network’s around the clock RussiaGate obsession to momentarily report the grisly horror in Sa’ada and to acknowledge that “our government, our public dollars, are paying to kill Yemeni children.” But such brief and halting reports are like rare pearls of carefully hedged truth [1] easily swamped by a much bigger flood of media sewage.

That’s how things go in that great complex of mass indoctrination, misinformation, distraction, diversion, and dumbing down that is American corporate and so-called mainstream media.

Distorted imperial “manufacturing consent” news coverage of the sort that can never see people on the wrong end of Uncle Sam and his allies’ gun-, bomb-, and missile-sights as “worthy victims” meriting serious concern is part of the problem. But it’s not the whole story. If you really want to see where mass consent to the U.S. imperial project – and the U.S.-UK-Saudi-Emirati crucifixion of Yemen is a classic reflection of that gory project (please seem my August 2017 Truthdig essay “The United States and the Crucifixion of Yemen”) – is most effectively manufactured, watch the movies, the nightly non-news television content, and the video games, the entertainment media where masses of U.S.-Americans are being far more than just merely entertained. When it comes to effectively propagandizing U.S-Americans on the supposed virtues of the American Empire and the purported evil of America’s enemies, and to desensitizing ordinary USAers to the monumental crimes of the U.S. empire, the major news media have nothing on movies like “The Deer Hunter,” “Top Gun,” “Iron Eagle,” “Independence Day,” “Rocky IV,” “Black Hawk Down,” “Argo,” “A Few Good Men,” “From Paris with Love,” “Captain Phillips,” “American Sniper,” “Zero Dark 30,” “Iron Man,” and “Eye in the Sky,” and nothing on television shows like “24,” “Homeland,” “Law and Order,” “NCIS,” and “FBI.” (This is just a very short list from the vast portfolio of U.S-imperialist “entertainment” media production, often with the Pentagon directly involved.) A relentless story line in this propaganda is the standard imperia and nationally narcissistic narrative: “The USA good and most of the rest of the world is bad and in need of inherently benevolent U.S. power and heroism.”

Along the way, dominant media works relentlessly to reduce its consumers to the merely personal and private. It erases the social, historical, and institutional. It inculcates the primitive level of consciousness where one can grasp something as childish as “Omarosa and Stormy Daniels were treated badly by Donald Trump” but nothing more complex beyond the individual scale than “America Good, It’s ‘Enemies’ Bad” – and certainly nothing as involved and ideologically verboten (in so-called “mainstream” U.S. media [2]) as “the American Empire and military-industrial complex is invested in the murder of children in the Middle East.” – by Paul Street

https://www.counterpunch.org/2018/08/15/omaorosas-book-tour-vs-forty-more-murdered-yemeni-children/

(** B K P)

Saudi-US Propaganda by PBS NewsHour in Houthi-held Yemen

This is what American tax-supported propaganda looks like when an organization like the PBS NewsHour wants to maintain a semblance of credibility while lying through its intimidated teeth. Yes, Yemen is one of the poorest countries in the world, long dependent on imported food and other life support. But to say “Yemen’s war” is major league deceit, and PBS surely knows the truth: that the war on Yemen is American-backed, initiated – illegally – in March 2015 by a Saudi-led coalition that includes the UAE (United Arab Emirates). The US/Saudi war is genocidal, creating famine and a cholera epidemic for military purposes. These are American and Arab war crimes that almost no one wants to acknowledge, much less confront.

The “Saudi blockade” is also a US Navy blockade. The blockade is a war crime. Starving civilians is a war crime.

The most amazing sentence is: “Markets and businesses are ruined from airstrikes.” Seems rather bland. But this is a tacit admission of more war crimes – Saudi bombing of civilian businesses, as well as civilian hospitals, weddings, and funerals. But PBS makes it sound like the airstrikes sort of come out of nowhere, like the rain. PBS omits the American culpability that makes the airstrikes possible: mid-air refueling, targeting support, intelligence sharing, and the rest.

Yes, “Millions are destitute,” and yes, this is “the world’s worst humanitarian disaster.” But an honest news organization might go on to note that the destitution and the disaster are deliberate results of the world’s most relentless war crime.

From a journalistic perspective, getting the perky blonde reporter Jane Ferguson into northern Yemen, where the Houthis have been in control since 2014, is an accomplishment of note. There has been little firsthand reporting from Houthi Yemen, where the worst war crimes have been committed and the worst suffering continues. Ferguson’s presence was certainly an opportunity for serious independent reporting. PBS didn’t allow that. Based on no persuasive evidence, PBS NewsHour host Judy Woodruff framed the report as coming from “territory held by the Iranian-backed Houthi rebels.” There is no credible evidence of meaningful Iranian support for the Houthis. To believe there is, one has to believe the Iranians are consistently getting through the US-Saudi blockade. PBS ignores such realities, as do most Washington policy-makers. Woodruff does acknowledge in her weaselly way that it’s “a brutal war that the United States is supporting through a Saudi-led coalition,” which is still a long way from the truth that it’s a genocidal bombing campaign made possible by the US.

Reporter Ferguson adds to the distraction by focusing on the poverty and suffering as if they came from nowhere.

Ferguson’s coverage of the hunger and starvation is heart-wrenching, journalism at its most moving but least informative. She frames her narrative falsely.

Treating war crimes against defenseless people as a kind of natural disaster is barren of journalistic integrity and gives the war criminals a pass when they need calling out. Ferguson goes on in her antiseptic, no-one’s-responsible manner to illustrate the killing of civilians and the destruction of civilian facilities, including a Doctors Without Borders cholera clinic.

The Houthis have also targeted civilians, throwing anyone suspected of opposing them in jail.” She has no follow-up, leaving the audience with a false moral equivalence between blowing off a child’s arm and throwing someone in jail.

The main purpose of introducing “Death to America” (with all its Iran-hostage resonance) seems propagandistic, to inflame American audiences that remain in denial about their own very real war guilt. American-supported bombing of Yemen is a fact. It is, quite literally, “Death to Yemen.” For Ferguson to call it a “strong propaganda tool” is a Big Lie in classic propaganda tradition. For PBS to broadcast this lie is to engage in propaganda. PBS and Ferguson not only blame the victim, they characterize their very real victimization as if it weren’t true but mere propaganda.

While it may well be true that “both sides” have killed or wounded civilians, there is absolutely no comparison in scale. The US-Saudi coalition comprises mass murderers; the Houthis don’t come close. “Every bomb that falls,” Ferguson should have said, is dropped by the US-Saudi side on the Houthi side. There is no doubt where the bombs come from.

In her third and last PBS segment, Ferguson foregoes any effort to explore the reality of hundreds of years of Houthi-Saudi territorial conflict. Instead, she goes to bed with US propaganda,

US support for the war in Yemen constitutes an impeachable offense for two American presidents. So do continuing drone strikes, also known as presidential assassinations. The war began because President Obama approved it and the Saudis were willing to bomb a defenseless population.

But according to Ferguson:

The Saudis and the United States say the Houthis are puppets for Tehran, a proxy form of Iranian military power right on Saudi Arabia’s doorstep.

This is real propaganda. There is no evidence that the Houthis are anyone’s puppets (which is one reason they need to be oppressed). Historically, the Houthis are an oppressed people who keep rising up again and again to re-establish their own freedom and independence. There is no credible evidence of significant Iranian presence in Yemen. PBS and Ferguson certainly present none, and neither have the US or Saudi governments. American demonization of Iran has been a fixed idea since 1979, rooted in two psychopathologies

Ferguson concludes her series with a dishonest use of journalistic balance.

Imaginary Iranians aren’t there now and they weren’t there when the Saudis attacked in 2015. No one attacked Saudi Arabia. The Saudis are not defending themselves, they are waging aggressive war.

By balancing these quotes, Ferguson creates yet another false moral equivalence. There is no meaningful equivalence between Bernie Sanders challenging the president’s right to take the country to war on his own and James Reich using a lie to defend war-making that disregards Congress.

Ferguson completes her piece with a soppy lament for civilian victims, as if no one is responsible for their suffering. That’s one last lie. There are many people responsible for the horror in Yemen today and leading the list is the US-Saudi coalition. It doesn’t take much intelligence to see that, but apparently it takes more courage than PBS has to report the obvious – by William Boardman

https://dissidentvoice.org/2018/08/saudi-us-propaganda-by-pbs-newshour-in-houthi-held-yemen/

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

(** B H K)

Hudayda on the brink: A turning point in Yemen’s war?

The port of Hudayda must be shielded from further fighting.

Coalition capture of Hudayda could precipitate a catastrophe

Saudi Arabia and the UAE, leaders of the international coalition in Yemen, argue that capturing Hudayda would increase pressure on the Houthis to sue for peace. This claim is based on questionable logic. One aspect of the argument is that capturing Hudayda would stop Iran smuggling arms to the Houthis. But it is highly unlikely that such arms pass through Hudayda. The Houthis obtained many of their weapons from the massive arsenal in the country at the beginning of the war, and have since acquired more through overland internal and cross-border trade. Few experts on the conflict argue that Iran is as significant a supplier as the coalition claims – it is likely that ballistic missiles used against Saudi and Emirati targets are now manufactured locally with copies of Iranian components.

Prolonged fighting for Hudayda would be disastrous

Proponents of an attack on Hudayda suggest that supplies to Yemen’s populous highland interior could travel through the port of Salif via the Hajja and Mahweit roads. But Salif has no facilities for importing the fuel essential for transport, water supply (through pumps), and domestic cooking. And its grain silos have only half the capacity, and its mills one-third of the capacity, of Hudayda’s. The journey through the mountains to Sanaa and other highland centres is also much longer and more difficult if it involves alternative routes from Salif rather than from Hudayda.

If the hostilities were prolonged, there would be a sharp rise in severe malnutrition and starvation in Yemen. Due to the limitations of the country’s storage facilities, stockpiles of food would run out and prices would surge unless international aid agencies secured continuous humanitarian access to populations in need.

Fuel shortages would also have devastating effects. Fuel prices have already doubled since March this year. Heightened conflict would increase transportation costs, further raising prices. Electricity generators could not function, threatening industries, health centres, and water supplies within Hudayda city and beyond.

The coalition’s early talk of a “quick, clean victory” has now evaporated. Instead, the UAE speaks of a “staged approach”. But the longer the battle, the greater the loss of livelihoods, damage to the economy, and cost of emergency interventions to stave off outright collapse – by James Firebrace

https://www.ecfr.eu/article/commentary_hudayda_on_the_brink_a_turning_point_in_yemens_war

(* B H K)

Families in and around Al-Durayhimi district in Yemen's western port city of Hodeidah have fled their homes to desert. They are living in harsh conditions: no shelter, no food and no aid agencies, locals say.

https://twitter.com/FuadRajeh/status/1029624602929061888

(* A K)

Fighting in Yemen kills 18 civilians

Yemeni officials and witnesses say heavy fighting between pro-government forces and Shiite rebels in the north and around the Red Sea port of Hodeida has killed at least 18 civilians.

They said Wednesday that forces backed by a Saudi-led coalition have been trying to seize the rebel-held district of ad-Durayhimi in Hodeida, in fighting that has killed at least 13 civilians in the past 24 hours.

They say rebel shelling has killed five people from one family in al-Sadah village, in the northern Hajjah province.

https://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/fighting-yemen-kills-18-civilians-57189711

(* A K pH)

At least 25 civilians, including women and children, were killed and injured on Tuesday, when the warplanes of the US-backed Saudi-led coalition launched airstrikes in Hodeida province, a security official said.
The airstrikes targeted houses and shops of citizens in Duriimy district.

http://www.sabanews.net/en/news505214.htm

Hodeidah local authority appeals international organizations to ambulance wounded citizensThe local authority in Hodeidah province appealed on Tusday the international and humanitarian organizations to quickly ambulance the injured civilians and to remove the bodies of martyrs from the rubble, after the massacre committed by the US-Saudi –led aggression coalition in al-Durihmy district, Hodeidah province

The source said that the warplanes of coalition prevented teams and ambulance crews from reaching the wounded and targeted all those who were trying to aid the wounded.

http://www.sabanews.net/en/news505238.htm

and

(* A K)

Saudi-UAE air raids target Yemen's Hodeidah

Saudi-UAE coalition air strikes on Yemen's Hodeidah province have killed and wounded several people, medical sources said.

A spokesperson from the Houthi-affiliated health ministry said Tuesday's attacks on the city of Duraihami killed at least 13 civilians and injured 24 others.

Doctor Youssef al-Hadri said that latest attacks hit a heavily populated area, damaging civilian infrastructure including medical facilities and mosques.

Hadri added that medics from the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) were being prevented from entering the city.

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2018/08/saudi-uae-air-raids-target-yemen-hodeidah-180814193411416.html

film: https://twitter.com/AhmadAlgohbary/status/1029785995703660544

(A K pS)

Yemen: 60 Houthis Killed in Southern Hodeidah, Rocket Launchpads Destroyed in Amran

At least 60 Iran-backed Houthis were killed in the al-Durayhimi district near Yemen’s Hodeidah city, said Yemeni military sources on Monday.
The national army also announced the arrest of 100 Houthis during the fighting in the area that was backed by Saudi-led Arab coalition air cover.
The advancing troops forced the militias to flee some of their positions in Durayhimi city, said the Amaleqa brigades’ media center. The Houthis were forced into hiding in residential neighborhoods and in civilian homes amid a collapse in their morale.
The brigades had surrounded Durayhimi’s city center and stormed the eastern part of the area, seizing several locations. Dozens of Houthis were killed in the Amaleqa’s advance.

https://aawsat.com/english/home/article/1362896/yemen-60-houthis-killed-southern-hodeidah-rocket-launchpads-destroyed-amran

My comment: This is strange: weeks ago, the UAE-backed forces had claimed that they had occupied the whole Durayhimi district.

(* A H)

Unfortunately, the ongoing war in #Yemen forced 3 million people to displace.And now #Yemen is witnessing a new wave of displacement for people in al-Durehimi area of #Hodeidah who left their own homes due to ongoing fighting (photos)

https://twitter.com/Fatikr/status/1029846536614801412

Nearly 5000 familes have left their homes in Al-Duraihemi district, south of #Hodeidah to seek a safer shelter elsewhere. This comes amid total absence of aid and relief organization. (photos9

https://twitter.com/RepYemenEnglish/status/1029786055967428608

(A H K)

Film: #Houthi militia has forced the residents of Al-Sadah village in the district of Hairan in the province of Hajjah to flee their houses, so that the militia group can use their houses as shelters to prevent the advancement of the Army Forces.

https://twitter.com/RepYemenEnglish/status/1029765011361734656

remark: As claimed by anti-Houthi twitter account. Or did they just flee from fighting or looming assault?

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

Eingebetteter Medieninhalt

Frühere Berichte / Earlier reporting: YPR 433, 435, cp1c

More photos:

https://twitter.com/narrabyee/status/1029418104223350784

More films:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y3w5qFPd_Uk (AlMasirah, 3:55) = https://twitter.com/alyamani93/status/1029420898330337286

https://twitter.com/CNN/status/1029024779511189504 (CNN)

https://www.democracynow.org/2018/8/14/40_yemeni_children_dead_by_a (Democracy Now)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aTT_uwAIl8w (AlMasirah, Lise Grande in hospital)

(** A K)

Victims of the Saudi-led US/UK backed airstrike on Dahyan school bus in Saada #Yemen 09 August 2018 (photos, names, ages)

https://twitter.com/A7medJa7af/status/1029686507106385921

https://twitter.com/A7medJa7af/status/1029686900452466689

https://twitter.com/A7medJa7af/status/1029687041032953856

https://twitter.com/A7medJa7af/status/1029687146330955776

(A K)

Do you remember the kid with the #UNICEF bag? I found him near the attack scene in Dahian area #Saada #Yemen. He is in a good health and he survived from #Saudi led coalition airstrike on his school bus. (photos)

https://twitter.com/AhmadAlgohbary/status/1029819746483613697

(** A B K P)

The Hour When Children Die—What Is Going On in Yemen?

Nearly every child in Yemen needs humanitarian assistance

Funerals in places of war and occupation are not sober affairs. They are heightened by the anger at the manner of death, but more so they are political rallies of great emotion. The children’s bodies arrived in cars wrapped in green. The coffins, wooden boxes, had a picture of each child on them. They were carried along the road to a simple graveyard. Their coffins were carried by boys from the Yemeni Scouts and Guides Association, their motto on their shirts reading kun musta’idan, or be prepared. Bomb strikes are routine. The Saudi and Emirati planes might have struck this funeral as they did in 2016, when they killed about 155 people in the al-Kubra Hall in Sanaa. Chants against Saudi Arabia rent the air. They were mingled with chants against the United States. No one in Yemen is fooled by the U.S. complicity in this war.

War Can’t Be a Clean Operation

Remorse is not available from either Saudi Arabia or the United Arab Emirates. Both governments insist that the raid was “legitimate” and that “war can’t be a clean operation unfortunately” (as UAE Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Anwar Gargash put it in Dubai). The Saudis, like the Israeli government when it arrests and kills children, said that it is the Yemenis who are “responsible for recruiting and training young children.”

There is barely remorse in the United States, from which the weapons of death go to Saudi Arabia and the UAE. It was an American-made plane that fired American-made bombs on these Yemeni children.

any war crime committed in Yemen by the Saudis and the Emiratis is a war crime committed by the governments in London and Washington, which continue to supply these monarchies with billions of dollars of deadly weaponry used to kill children on a school trip.

In a recent article, the former CIA analyst Riedel says that this war in Yemen is the “signature foreign policy initiative” of King Salman and his son the Crown Prince and Defense Minister Mohammed bin Salman. “The crown prince,” Riedel writes bluntly, “has blemished his reputation by the reckless decision to intervene in Yemen and the humanitarian catastrophe it created.” It is unlikely that Saudi Arabia, absent serious external pressure, will stop this war. The integrity of the current king and his son—and in many ways the monarchy itself—is enveloped in this war.

Pressure will not come from the U.S. government. It is happy enough to see its weapons dealers make enormous profits—the kind of “Made In America” that pleases Trump.

This is the hour when children die. This is the hour when adults fail them, the hour of bombings and impossible negotiations – by Vijay Prashad

[This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 License]

https://www.commondreams.org/views/2018/08/15/hour-when-children-die-what-going-yemen = http://www.atimes.com/the-hour-when-children-die-what-is-going-on-in-yemen/

(** A K)

44 Small Graves Stir Questions About U.S. Policy in Yemen

During a stop for snacks in the poor village of Dahyan in northern Yemen, an airstrike by the Saudi-led coalition of Arab nations hit nearby, blasting the bus into a jagged mass of twisted metal and scattering its human cargo — wounded, bleeding and dead — in the street below, according to witnesses and parents.

“My leg is bent,” cried a young boy covered in blood, examining his damaged limb. “A jet hit us,” he said in a video taken at the scene after the airstrike.

Yemeni health officials said 54 people were killed, 44 of them children, and many more were wounded.

The strike also revived questions about the coalition’s tactics and the United States’ support for the campaign.

American military leaders, exasperated by strikes that have killed civilians at markets, weddings and funerals, insist that the United States is not a party to the war. Human rights organizations say the United States cannot deny its role, given that it has sold billions of dollars in weaponry to allied coalition states, provided them with intelligence and refueled their bombers in midair.

At the same time, however, the defense contractor Raytheon has lobbied lawmakers and the State Department to allow it to sell 60,000 precision-guided munitions to Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates in deals worth billions of dollars.

Human rights groups say that they doubt the coalition would find itself at fault in any investigation.

“The Saudis aren’t learning,” said Larry L. Lewis, a former State Department official who visited Saudi Arabia five times in 2015 and 2016 to help the country’s air force improve its targeting procedures and investigations. “They’re making the same mistakes they’ve been making all along. And we are not pressing the issue. We are letting them get away with it.”

When they packed into the bus that morning, one boy, Osama al-Humran, filmed his classmates squirming in their seats with his cellphone. Many were wearing sport coats over their Yemeni gowns, dressed up for a special occasion.

The video then shows them at their next stop, a memorial and graveyard called the Garden of the Martyrs in a nearby village.

“I am filming!” Osama yells as he walks among the graves.

Two other boys stand next to a fountain and he calls out, “Come here so I can take your picture.” There, the video ends.

The bus was supposed to continue to Saada, the provincial capital, for a visit to a historic mosque. But it never made it.

The group had stopped along the way to buy juice and snacks when the bomb hit.

Ali Abdullah Hamlah, a local bakery owner, said he heard the explosion and saw a huge cloud billow from the site before seeing a young man covered in blood dragging himself away. Mr. Hamlah approached and saw the bodies of seven children scattered around.

“In some cases, only the upper bodies of the kids were found,” he said. The mangled body of one child was found on the roof of a building, propelled by the force of the blast.

Videos shot in the aftermath show the demolished bus with the lifeless bodies of two boys on the floor. Other boys are on the ground nearby. Some struggle to move. Others are dead and eviscerated, their remains mixed up in the street with the detritus from the explosion.

“It was the first time in my life that I have seen such a horrific massacre,” Mr. Hamlah said.

Among the dead was Osama, the boy who had filmed his classmates. His videos were found on his phone after the bombing, according to Yahya al-Shami, who works for the Houthis’ Al-Maseera television station, which broadcast the images. Parents of boys on the bus confirmed the day’s program and that their children were in the video.

A few days later, local security officials showed The New York Times a metal fin they said had been attached to the bomb and had been found nearby. Writing on the fin indicated it was manufactured by General Dynamics and had been attached as a guidance system on a 500-pound bomb. The Times could not confirm that the fin was from the bomb used in the strike – By Shuaib Almosawa, Ben Hubbard and Eric Schmitt

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/08/15/world/middleeast/saudi-yemen-bomb-bus-children.html

(* A K P)

The War on Yemen’s Horrible Consequences

There can be no justification for the attack on the school bus in Dahyan. A bus in a crowded market is not a military target, but it was deliberately blown up anyway. There is no doubt as to who is responsible, and there is no question that the bombing of a bus full of small children constitutes is a war crime. It also appears that the bomb that killed them was sold to a member of the coalition by the U.S., and it is more than likely that the U.S. military refueled the plane that dropped it. Our military claims that it doesn’t know what the coalition does with the weapons and refueling that they provide, but ignorance is no defense when our government has every reason to believe that our military assistance is being used to kill civilians.

This attack is just one among thousands of other attacks on civilian targets carried out by the Saudi coalition since the war began.

It is an especially egregious example of how the war on Yemen is killing the country’s children. Many tens of thousands of Yemeni children are dying each year from preventable causes because of this war, and their deaths go mostly unremarked and unnoticed in the U.S. It is horrifying that it takes the massacre of over three dozen small boys to force our media and our government to pay close attention to what U.S. policy has been making possible for more than three years, but perhaps at least now more Americans will understand the consequences of our indefensible support for this war.

The Saudi coalition clearly isn’t reducing the number of civilians that they kill in their attacks. As the Times report notes, the coalition keeps doing the same things they have been doing for years.

The Saudis and their allies must not be allowed to get away with it any longer.

https://www.theamericanconservative.com/larison/the-war-on-yemens-horrible-consequences/

(* A K P)

Human Rights Watch: Yemen Bus Attack Should Be Point of No Return

Strengthen UN Investigation into Laws-of-War Violations

This video, awful as it is, shows all too clearly the cost of Yemen’s war on civilians. But the attack also shows the callous indifference of the Western powers enthusiastically arming the coalition. How have the United States and the United Kingdom, who have sold billions in arms to Saudi Arabia since the war began in March 2015, reacted to this incident?

Have they suspended their arms sales to the coalition? They have not.

Have they demanded United Nations sanctions on coalition leaders commanding the forces responsible for repeated laws-of-war violations in Yemen? They have not.

Instead the UK government spoke of its “deep concern” about civilian deaths, while the US says it’s sufficient for the Saudi-led coalition alone to investigate the attack. This is the same coalition that has failed time and again to credibly investigate its own allegedly unlawful airstrikes and, contrary to UN and human rights groups’ findings, has repeatedly found no evidence coalition forces violated the laws of war.

If key arms suppliers are genuinely intent on minimizing civilian harm in Yemen, this horrific incident should mark the point of no return. Weapons sales to Saudi Arabia should be immediately suspended. And the UK government should say publicly that these continued apparent war crimes necessitate the renewal and strengthening of the mandate of the Group of Eminent Experts on Yemen – charged with investigating violations in the country – at the UN Human Rights Council this September.

If the deaths of so many children in a single day doesn’t stir the conscience, what will?

https://www.hrw.org/news/2018/08/14/yemen-bus-attack-should-be-point-no-return

(* A K P)

The @UN Representative in #Yemen told the media during her visit to the injured students: The saudi-led coalition prevented us from reaching the crime scene and attend the children funeral in #Dahyan district Saada province #Yemen.

https://twitter.com/B4Zaman/status/1029349643178725381

Meritxell Relano, UNICEF representative in Yemen: Impressed by the strength and courage of the injured children in Saada #Yemen. They hearing was diminished due to the effect of the explosion in their ears and the trauma they have suffered but hopefully they will recover soon. They are receiving good care at Althale Hospital (photo)

https://twitter.com/RelanoMeritxell/status/1029380346306093059

Many of the children injured have lost a sibling in this attack in Saada #Yemen. How are they going to recover from this trauma? While we are providing medical services to the children, the parents are asking us to protect them. How can we protect them of this war? (photos)

https://twitter.com/RelanoMeritxell/status/1029381712520912896

https://twitter.com/RelanoMeritxell/status/1029382354962448385

UN Representative Weeps During Visit of Injured Victims of School Buss Massacre

The United Nations Humanitarian Coordinator in Yemen, Lise Grande, visited the victims of the US-Saudi Aggression massacre of targting school bus students in Saada, and cried when she saw the victims. "It is very important for the United Nations to come here and see what is happening," Grande said during her visit.

She stressed that the entire world condemned this crime and called on the Secretary-General of the United Nations to investigate independently this incident. The humanitarian coordinator in Yemen added that she came here today to solidarity with the Saada Governor and the Head of National Commission for Humanitarian Affairs and with all those involved in this incident.

https://english.almasirah.net/details.php?es_id=2236&cat_id=1

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aTT_uwAIl8w

(A K P)

Film: UN representative in Yemen denounces massacre of Yemeni kids in Saudi strike

United Nations representatives in Yemen have slammed a recent attack by the Saudi-led coalition that killed scores of people, mostly children. Lise Grande said there can never be a justification for the tragedy. Also, U-N children’s agency representative Meritxell Relano called for an end to the war on Yemen and the massacre of Yemeni children.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=psgB00k-boc

(A P)

Yemeni Government Slams A visit Made By UN Humanitarian Coordinator For Yemen to Saada Governorate, Stronghold of Houthi Militias

The Yemeni government has slammed the United Nations' bias for the Houthi militia after its Humanitarian Coordinator for Yemen Lise Grande paid a visit to the Dahyan Directorate of Saada Governorate, the stronghold of the Houthi militias.
The government's information minister, Muammar Al-Iryani, described the step taken by the UN Official as obvious bias for the Coup militias.
He said that the last statements made by UN coordinator and her visit to the Dahyan Directorate in Saada Governorate have reaffirmed the bias of the United Nations Mission in Yemen for the Coup Militias and its reliance on misleading information provided by the Coup Militias without returning to the legitimate government, describing this act as proactive steps before the results of the fact-finding teams on various issues including the Dahyan market incident.

https://www.spa.gov.sa/viewfullstory.php?lang=en&newsid=1798118

My comment: This is by the Hadi government. This statement shows a total neglect for civilian victims of the war. These victims are only important when they had been victimized by the Houthis, the (much more) victims of the Saudi air raids shall not be looked at. – If Lise grande visits the victims in Dahyan directorate, this is no “bias for the Houthi militia”, as she visited civilian victims; it’s a “bias” for civilian victims, and this simply is her job.

(** A K)

Saudi Arabia may have used guided bomb on Yemeni school bus

The 500-pound US-made bomb fitted with a guidance kit is a very accurate weapon and this is not the first time a civilian target has been hit

The Saudi Coalition dropped a 500-pound MK-82 bomb on a Yemeni school bus, killing 54 and wounding scores of others, mostly children.

The MK-82 is an old “free fall” bomb that today is often sold with upgrade kits, making it a precision-guided munition (PGM) and thus much more accurate.

If the bomb was the old-fashioned version, hitting a civilian target could be plausibly called an accident, but a guided bomb would have given the Saudis the ability to target even a moving bus. Markings recovered at the site strongly suggest that a PGM kit was part of the bomb assembly.

In 2015 Saudi Arabia ordered 20,000 PGMs from the United States, spending nearly $1.3 billion. In the 500-pound bomb category, the order included:

4,020 GBU-12 Paveway II laser-guided bombs

8,020 MK-82 bombs, also designated BLU-111

Paveway is a kit that attaches to conventional bombs. It consists of a seeker head, forward canards and rear tail fins, plus the electronics and pneumatic controls to move the canards and fins. Paveway-equipped munitions combine a laser seeker with an inertial navigation/Global Positioning System guidance system (INS/GPS), meaning the laser can be used for the final guidance of the bomb to the target.

A look at the burned out school bus suggests that the bus was blown up either in a direct hit or very nearly a direct hit. Immediately around the blasted bus were some small shops, nothing military. Only the shell of the bus, twisted but recognizable, survived the blast.

Was the Yemeni school bus “collateral” damage, a mistake or a deliberately chosen target? We don’t know, but the Saudi comments suggest the school bus was targeted.

The use of modern weapons against civilian targets is a very complicated issue. In asymmetric warfare it is even tougher because terrorists often operate from inside schools, hospitals, apartment blocks and mosques. Occasionally, terrorists put civilians on the rooftops of buildings which they use for headquarters or for hiding missiles, as was done by Hamas in Gaza.

The difficulty of targeting the enemy while avoiding civilian casualties has led the United States to work on weapons of higher accuracy with lower chances of collateral damage. One result is the small-diameter bomb, a 250-pound bomb that has combined radar, infrared and laser target designator and INS/GPS guidance – by Stephen Bryen

http://www.atimes.com/article/saudi-arabia-may-have-used-guided-bomb-on-yemeni-school-bus//

My comment: It’s simply a fairy tale (or a blatant lie) that with any precise weapons you could lead a “clean” aerial war with precise weapons avoiding civilians. – The bus was deliberately targeted, and this makes clear the amount of blame which has to be put on the Saudi coalition. – Hitting the bus could NEVER have been a “mistake”, whoever was sitting in the bus. The bus was standing in a crowded market. This was no fighting environment, any “fighters” in the bus would have just been sitting in a bus. – Even someone being a “fighter” does NOT make him a military target when he is not fighting.

(* A K P)

U.S. general urges Saudi Arabia to investigate airstrike that killed dozens of children in Yemen

A senior general urged Saudi officials to conduct a thorough investigation into an airstrike that killed at least 40 children in Yemen, the Pentagon said Monday, an indication of U.S. concern about allied nations’ air operations against Houthi militants.

Defense Secretary Jim Mattis said Sunday that he had “dispatched a three-star general into Riyadh to look into what happened” in the strike, which hit a bus filled with children in Yemen’s northern Saada province Thursday.

The Saudi-led coalition called the strike a “legitimate military action” aimed at forces responsible for a recent missile attack on Saudi Arabia but authorized an investigation.

Defense officials described the U.S. general’s visit as a fact-finding mission and said the United States would not conduct a separate investigation.

Lt. Cmdr. Rebecca Rebarich, a Pentagon spokeswoman, said the general “adjusted his already scheduled visit to Saudi Arabia to discuss the incident with the Saudis and look into the situation.”

“He pressed the Saudis to devote the resources and oversight required to do a thorough and complete investigation and release the results to the public,” Rebarich said in a statement. She did not identify the officer.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/us-general-urges-saudi-arabia-to-investigate-airstrike-that-killed-dozens-of-children-in-yemen/2018/08/13/a2931eea-9f0f-11e8-83d2-70203b8d7b44_story.html

My comment: Oh what a farce.

(A K P)

Incredible that you thought this was an appropriate response to the murder of 40 children between the ages of 6-11 (text in image)

https://twitter.com/shireen818/status/1029733409369796609

I respect your work @mokhbersahafi, but I was sickened by your suggestion these kids were being recruited as jihadists. Would you question "what the children were doing" & consider the "other side" if 6-11 year olds anywhere else were murdered?

https://twitter.com/shireen818/status/1029431770293460992

referring to https://www.democracynow.org/2018/8/14/ap_investigation_behind_the_scenes_in

(* A K P)

Film: 40 Yemeni Children Dead by U.S.-Made Bomb? Outrage Mounts Over U.S. Role in Airstrike on School Bus

We speak with Shireen Al-Adeimi, a Yemeni scholar and activist and an Assistant Professor at Michigan State University. Her latest piece for In These Times is titled “Fine Print in Defense Bill Acknowledges U.S.-Backed War in Yemen Will Go On Indefinitely.”

SHIREENAL-ADEIMI: Well, it’s just preposterous to think that they are continuously allowed to investigate their own crimes. We’ve seen this committee that they’ve put together and the kinds of investigations they have done in the past. Remember, this is not the first massacre in Yemen.

They have essentially absolved themselves of all wrongdoing every time they have investigated themselves. And of course they would. Who would trust a criminal to investigate his or her own crimes?

And for the US to say that we’re going to send a general — well, the US is also part of this coalition that has targeted civilians since three and a half years ago, since this war started. What Yemenis need is really an independent investigation, which has been put forward in the UN twice already and has been rejected by the Saudi-led coalition and the US unfortunately has provided cover for the Saudi-led coalition at the UN

So they have already admitted that they have targeted the bus. They’ve characterized those children as missile launchers. And what is there to investigate?

We know that the Saudi-led coalition relies on the US military to refuel their jets midair. This is just one of the many services that the US provides for the Saudi-led coalition.

https://www.democracynow.org/2018/8/14/40_yemeni_children_dead_by_a = https://truthout.org/video/outrage-mounts-over-us-role-in-airstrike-on-yemeni-school-bus-carrying-children/

(* A K)

Bei dem Luftangriff auf einen Schulbus im Norden Jemens sind nach Angaben des Internationalen Komitees vom Roten Kreuz (IKRK) mehr Menschen getötet worden als bisher angenommen. Die Zahl der Todesopfer stieg laut einer Mitteilung von Dienstag auf 51, unter ihnen waren 40 Kinder. Damit bestätigte die Organisation frühere Angaben der international nicht anerkannte Rebellenregierung der Huthis im Jemen.
Die Zahl der Verletzten gab das IKRK mit 79 an, 56 von ihnen Kinder. Bei einer früheren Bilanz war das IKRK von mindestens 29 getöteten Kindern ausgegangen.

https://www.tah.de/welt/afp-news-single/zahl-der-todesopfer-bei-angriff-auf-schulbus-in-jemen-nach-oben-korrigiert.html

(* A K)

40 children killed in Yemen bus strike: new Red Cross toll

Forty children were among 51 people killed in a Saudi-led coalition air strike on a bus in rebel-held northern Yemen, the Red Cross said in a new toll Tuesday.

Fifty-six children were also among the 79 people wounded in the Thursday strike on Saada province.

The new casualty toll came after a mass funeral was held for many of the dead children on Monday at which thousands vented anger against Riyadh and Washington.

https://www.afp.com/en/news/205/40-children-killed-yemen-bus-strike-new-red-cross-toll-doc-18c8pl5

cp2 Allgemein / General

(* A K P)

Interactive Map of the Yemen War

https://yemen.liveuamap.com/

(* A K P)

Keith Vaz MP: Last week's horrific attack must refocus us on ending Yemen's forgotten war

The photograph of two year old refugee Alan Kurdi lying face down on a beach in Greece is already one of the enduring images of the 21st century. His lifeless body woke the world to the urgency of the Syrian refugee crisis and marked a turning point in several countries’ policies towards refugees.

Nearly three years on to the day of those pictures emerging, will this week’s horrific images of dozens of dead and injured children spur a shift in our approach to the conflict in Yemen? If there is any substance to the Government’s rhetoric of a ‘Global Britain’ that champions its values in foreign policy, it must.

For the United Kingdom and the rest of the world, a business as usual approach to the war in Yemen is no longer acceptable. It is unthinkable that this can be the case when the equipment used may have been made in Britain or that a member of our armed forces may have been in the same building when the target was selected. The only response by the Government to date to this atrocity has been a solitary tweet from Foreign Minister Alistair Burt, in which he “expressed concern”. This silence shames us. The contrast to strong expressions of condemnation, and calls for independent UN investigations into Houthi attempted missile attacks towards Riyadh is stark. Expressions of concern over four years have done nothing to stop Yemeni people being butchered in this man-made catastrophe.

As for the UK, it is time for us to fundamentally review the approach we have taken to Yemen so far. It is a fallacy to suggest that we are stuck in a position where we have to either abandon the Saudis or give them a blank check to conduct the war on their terms with no repercussions.

https://www.politicshome.com/news/uk/foreign-affairs/opinion/house-commons/97610/keith-vaz-mp-last-weeks-horrific-attack-must

(B K P)

Warum die Tragödie des Jemen im Westen auf Desinteresse stößt

Jetzt wird – mal wieder – die Frage laut, warum die Welt so wenig Notiz nimmt vom Schicksal des Jemen. Das Land gilt im Westen seit vielen Jahren als „failed state“, als „gescheiterter Staat“. Ein Staat jedoch, dem dieser Status anhängt, hat ein doppeltes Problem. Zunächst bildet dieses Etikett ja zumindest ein Teil der Realität ab. Auf der anderen Seite lähmt es die Hilfsbereitschaft und entzieht Aufmerksamkeit. „Gescheiterter Staat“, das klingt endgültig, für eine Wende zum Besseren verloren. Ein hoffnungsloser Fall. Doch es gibt einen weiteren Grund für das Desinteresse des Westens: Die zumeist bettelarmen Jemeniten tauchen weder in den USA noch in Europa in nennenswerter Zahl als Flüchtlinge auf. Sie sind zu Millionen innerhalb des Landes auf der Flucht.

https://www.augsburger-allgemeine.de/politik/Warum-die-Tragoedie-des-Jemen-im-Westen-auf-Desinteresse-stoesst-id51933601.html

Mein Kommentar: Recht oberflächliche westliche Propaganda. – Die Hauptursache dafür, dass der Jemenkrieg bei uns vernachlässigt wird, ist, dass Medien und Politik fest „transatlantisch“ ausgerichtet sind. Wenn die USA (oder ihre Verbündeten) die großen Kriegsverbrechen zu verantworten haben, blenden unsere Medien aus oder schieben auf einen 10-Zeiler auf Seite 9. – „Die Erzfeinde Saudi-Arabien und Iran bekriegen sich dort indirekt, aber mit großer Härte“ ist Propaganda. Iran kämpft im Jemen weder direkt noch indirekt, und die Saudis kämpfen dort nicht indirekt, sondern sehr direkt. – „Der Iran muss wissen, dass seine destruktive Rolle in Syrien und im Jemen die eigene prekäre Lage noch verschlimmern wird“: der Iran spielt im Jemen eine untergeordnete Rolle, die zu gering ist, als dass sie „destruktiv“ sein könnte. Dagegen spielt im Jemen mit Abstand die destruktivste Rolle: Saudi-Arabien, in enger Kooperation mit den USA. Und genau davon sollen wir nichts mitbekommen. Womit wir wieder am Anfang des Artikels wären.

(* B K P)

Das Wort des Propheten

Jemen: Am Golf von Aden spielt sich eine humanitäre Katastrophe ab.

Dieser Krieg gehört zu den wenigen Erbschaften aus der Regierungszeit von Vorgänger Obama, die Trump nicht verdammt, aber weitgehend aus der öffentlichen Wahrnehmung verbannen will. Obwohl des Öfteren von der humanitären Katastrophe im Jemen die Rede ist, scheint uns dieser Konflikt weniger als andere im Nahen Osten zu berühren.

Warum aber wollen die Saudis – mit diskretem, aber offensichtlichem Beistand der Vereinigten Arabischen Emirate und des Westens – die Jemeniten krank machen und aushungern? Dass man sie nicht beherrschen kann, dürfte ihnen klar sein.

Es erscheint überdies wenig glaubhaft, dass diese seit 2015 eine schwere Aggression erdulden, um dem Iran ein Einfallstor gegen das Herrscherhaus in Riad zu öffnen. Das ist auch deshalb zum Lachen, weil es bereits seit den 1990er Jahren eine starke Präsenz von US-Spezialkräften in der Region gibt, die einst die Armee des Jemen trainiert haben und jetzt mit Drohnen sowie Bomben den Saudis assistieren.

Tatsächlich geht es bei diesem Konflikt vor allem darum, die geostrategische Hoheit über den Golf von Aden zu sichern. Die Frage liegt nahe, hat sich der Westen unter anderem deshalb inzwischen hier so verhasst gemacht? Weshalb wurde ausgerechnet der Jemen zum Operationsgebiet von al-Qaida? Und was wollen die Jemeniten? Sicherlich weder ein Patronat des Iran noch ausländische Militärbasen, sondern nur Frieden und Selbstbestimmung. Augenscheinlich glauben viele, dass ihnen dabei eher die Huthi-Rebellen als die saudische Marionette Hadi von Nutzen sind.

Genaues aber wissen wir nicht. Noch keiner unserer öffentlich-rechtlichen Sender hielt es für nötig, Korrespondenten zu beauftragen, Abdelmalek el-Huthi, das Oberhaupt der Huthi, direkt zu befragen. Und da es von den zwei Millionen jemenitischen Binnenflüchtlingen keiner nach Europa schafft, fehlt auch jemand, der authentisch Zeugnis ablegen könnte.

https://www.freitag.de/autoren/sabine-kebir/das-wort-des-propheten

(* B K P)

The most dangerous place on earth

Whether Riyadh agrees to an independent investigation into this latest horrific incident, or carried out its own investigation, as in several previous incidents, will not change the inhumane, catastrophic conditions in Yemen that affect its civilian population.

The deaths of such a big number of children in one fell swoop must serve as the moment to finally push the warring parties, including the UN Security Council and the international community, to bring the conflict to an end. Saudi Arabia must also agree to immediately lift its blockade of Yemeni borders and allow urgently needed humanitarian assistance in.

At the same time heated debate continued on who was responsible for the deaths of the Yemeni children in Saada on 9 August, a UN vessel transporting 1,313 metric tons of health and nutritional supplies was being prevented from docking in Hodeida port, and another UN vessel with 25,000 tons of wheat is waiting to berth off the same coast, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said.

http://weekly.ahram.org.eg/News/25181.aspx

My comment: From Egypt. – „At the same time heated debate continued on who was responsible for the deaths of the Yemeni children in Saada on 9 August”: “heated debate”? There is no debate needed. It’s evident.

(* B K P)

Global Centre for the Responsibility to Protect: Atrocity Alert No. 118, 15 August 2018: Yemen and Cameroon

Despite a growing death toll, ongoing atrocities, and the worst humanitarian crisis in the world, the UNSC has not passed a substantive resolution on Yemen in over three years. On 9 August the Executive Director of UNICEF, Henrietta Fore, questioned whether the death of dozens of innocent children would mark a turning point in Yemen, a “moment that must finally push the warring parties, UN Security Council and international community to do what’s right for children and bring an end to this conflict.”

The conflict in Yemen requires a political solution. The UNSC should demand an immediate ceasefire and call for an independent investigation into the Sa’ada airstrike. The Council should also impose sanctions on those responsible for potential war crimes, including the targeting of civilians and civilian infrastructure. In keeping with the Arms Trade Treaty all UN member states, including the United States and United Kingdom, should immediately halt the sale of weapons to parties to the conflict who routinely violate International Humanitarian Law.

https://reliefweb.int/report/yemen/atrocity-alert-no-118-15-august-2018-yemen-and-cameroon

(* A K P)

Trump to Sanction Iranian Ship Identified in Facilitating Terror Strikes

Suspicious Iranian ship, removed from sanctions by Obama admin, seen as aiding Houthi terror attacks at sea

The Trump administration will take action against an Iranian ship that has been stationed at a key choke point in the Red Sea for months and is believed to be providing significant military aid to terrorist forces in Yemen, according to U.S. officials and military experts familiar with the situation.

An Iranian ship believed to be masked as a cargo vessel has been identified as the "mother ship" stationed in the Red Sea providing targeting information for Houthi anti-ship attacks, which have increased in recent months, including a late July attack by Iranian-backed rebels on a Saudi oil tanker.

The ship, identified as the Saviz, was delisted from U.S. sanctions by the Obama administration as part of its efforts to uphold the landmark nuclear deal with Iran, U.S. officials confirmed to the Washington Free Beacon.

"The Iranians aren't even trying to disguise the military use of the ship," said one U.S. official familiar, who was not authorized to speak on record about the situation. "You don't need classified intelligence or satellite photos of the decks to know that merchant ships simply don't act this way." "A ship like Saviz could carry [Iranian military] Qods Force command and control elements and host berthing and logistics, while controlling the activities of smaller, lower-profile craft," according to J.E. Dyer, a retired Naval intelligence officier who recently published a lengthy analysis on the ship.

https://freebeacon.com/national-security/trump-sanction-iranian-ship-identified-facilitating-terror-strikes/

My comment: This sounds like action based on own propaganda. Even if the Saviz is a war ship – what does this mean? The US themselves have several warships in the Red Sea. They would have no business there at all, not more, not less than any Iranian warship.

(B K P)

Film: To all the journalists, reporters & human rights activists in the world, listen to Yara message about the Saudi-led coalition war on #Yemen

https://twitter.com/A7medJa7af/status/893162596806918144

Comment: Western media’s fetishization of @AlabedBana compared with the total silence towards children like Yara being slaughtered in Yemen by the US/KSA/UAE axis is revealing. Western elites don’t care about either. Difference is Yara can’t be used to stir up pro-war sentiment like Bana.

https://twitter.com/dancohen3000/status/1029525339133886466

(? B K P)

MSNBC: Film, Interview: Ali Soufan: Yemen is a forgotten war

The funerals of 40 children, killed during a Saudi-led air strike, has put renewed focus on Yemen. Ali Velshi takes a closer look at what is happening there with Ali Soufan, founder of The Soufan Group, who has spent a lot of time in the war-torn country.

https://www.nbcnews.com/dateline/video/ali-soufan-yemen-is-a-forgotten-war-1298112579948?v=raila

(* B K P)

We should stop saying "US-backed Saudi military coalition" in Yemen. It's a Saudi-UAE-US military coalition. US has been in it since start: green-lighting attack, arming it, refueling warplanes, giving "intel", choosing targets, enforcing naval siege, providing diplomatic cover

https://twitter.com/aaronjmate/status/1029352385158758400

(* B K P)

Saudi Terror Bombings, US, UK, French Weapons Fuel Mass Slaughter in Yemen

The US, UK and France are complicit in years of mass slaughter and destruction throughout the region, supplying the most arms – the Saudis, Egypt and UAE the leading buyers.

Nearly half of US arms exports go to the Middle East, supplying about one-third of all arms worldwide, according to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute.

Between 2013 and 2017, arms exports to the Middle East doubled, responsible for mass slaughter and destruction in Syria, Iraq, Yemen and elsewhere.

U.S., Britain, France, and other EU nations supply 98% of weapons sold to the Saudis. Other regional countries buy most of their arms from the same sources.

America, Britain, France and other EU countries continue selling arms to the Saudi/UAE killing machine.

Britain’s Department for International Trade turned truth on its head, claiming “the UK operates one of the most robust export control regimes in the world and will continue to defend the decisions being challenged,” adding:

“We keep our defense exports under careful review to ensure they meet the rigorous standards of the Consolidated EU and National Arms Export Licensing Criteria.”

According to RT,

“UK Prime Minister Theresa May, Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt, and the Foreign Office have issued no statements on the (school bus atrocity), and ignored RT when approached for comment.”

“The prime minister’s office refused to accept a list of questions from an RT journalist, or provide an email address for other future queries.”

“Neither the PM, Foreign Secretary, or Foreign Office have provided comment to the media on the Yemen bus attack.” – by Stephen Lendman

https://www.globalresearch.ca/saudi-terror-bombings-us-uk-french-weapons-fuel-mass-slaughter-in-yemen/5650297 = https://counterinformation.wordpress.com/2018/08/12/saudi-terror-bombings-us-uk-french-weapons-fuel-mass-slaughter-in-yemen/

cp3 Humanitäre Lage / Humanitarian situation

Siehe / Look at cp1

(B H)

Fantastic work by @MahraYouth & @SMEPSYEMEN who ran workshops this week in east #Yemen's #Mahra region to train fishermen in motor maintenance. Fishing is the only source of meagre income for countless families, so extending the lives of their boat motors is a great help! (photo)

https://twitter.com/Dr_E_Kendall/status/1029738660743262208

(A B H)

Film: Food rations delivered to IDPs fled from #Hodeidah to the capital Sanaa due to ongoing fighting in the city. The project was funded by @AidingYemen and carried out by @monarelief July 29, 2018 Please donate to help families in #Yemen https://www.gofundme.com/colourofwar

https://twitter.com/monarelief/status/1029750231888539648

(B H)

Photo: Hassan, a resident of Socotra in #Yemen filling up jerrycans from the @UNICEF water truck, which is the only daily water source available in the area.

https://twitter.com/UNICEF_Yemen/status/1029711033009618944

(* B H)

Film: Yemen struggles to enforce disability rights laws amid conflict

The International Red Cross says thousands have either lost a limb or suffered some other severe injury since the war began in 2015.

About two million people in Yemen are living with some type of disability, and the International Red Cross (IRC) says thousands of people have lost a limb or suffered some other severe injury since the war began in 2015.

There are laws that protect the rights of the disabled in the country, but there are challenges to enforcing them because of the ongoing conflict.

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2018/08/yemen-struggles-enforce-disability-rights-laws-conflict-180815124830620.html = https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hqa14opGhlQ

(A H)

From Share Aid Yemen, registered NGO: today in #Sanaa, we distributed food baskets to 20 internally displaced families who have fled #Hodeidah' (photos)

https://www.facebook.com/LivingInYemenOnTheEdge/posts/1876777259041962

(A H)

Film (Arabic): A distress call from cancer patients in Yemen for the scarcity of treatment and a humanitarian disaster at stake!

https://twitter.com/dw_arabic/status/1029331353987440642

(A H)

Mohammed Hamed Al Saeedi, whose story of battling leukemia we shared in the past weeks asking for medical attention, has passed away last night, Maghreb time in #Sanaa.
To those who shared our appeal, our heartfelt thanks.
To those who believe the blockade of Yemen is a solution: may Mohammed's pain, grief and dignity battle wake you up in the middle of the night and haunt you to eternity.
Over 17.000 patients have died blocked in Yemen because of Sanaa airport forced closure and lack of medicines (photo)

https://www.facebook.com/LivingInYemenOnTheEdge/photos/a.961595153893515.1073741828.961126490607048/1875903019129386/?type=3

cp4 Flüchtlinge / Refugees

Siehe / Look at cp1

(B H)

International Organization for Migration: Yemen: Emergency Tracking Tool Report #12 - Displacement from Al Hudaydah (1 June - 7 August 2018)

From 29 July to 07 August, IOM identified an increase of 1,393 displaced households.

The largest increases being within Amanat Al Asimah, Taizz and Ibb Governorate.

https://reliefweb.int/report/yemen/yemen-emergency-tracking-tool-report-12-displacement-al-hudaydah-1-june-7-august-2018

(A H)

UN High Commissioner for Refugees: UNHCR Kharaz Refugee Camp, Yemen - Fact Sheet July 2018

Kharaz camp was opened in 2001 and remains the only refugee camp in Yemen. The vast majority of the population are Somali refugees.
The camp is located in Lahj Governorate, where average temperatures in summer exceed 40° Celsius. UNHCR maintains a Field Office in Kharaz.
Since August 2017, UNHCR has been supporting Yemeni authorities to conduct a verification exercise of refugees living in Kharaz camp.

https://reliefweb.int/report/yemen/unhcr-kharaz-refugee-camp-yemen-fact-sheet-july-2018

(A H)

UN High Commissioner for Refugees: UNHCR Ethiopia Factsheet - July 2018

https://reliefweb.int/report/ethiopia/unhcr-ethiopia-factsheet-july-2018

UNHCR Ethiopia Factsheet - July 2018

[from Yemen: 1,872 refugees in Ethiopia]

https://reliefweb.int/map/ethiopia/ethiopia-refugees-and-asylum-seekers-31-july-2018

UNHCR Ethiopia - Operational Update (July 2018)

https://reliefweb.int/report/ethiopia/unhcr-ethiopia-operational-update-july-2018

cp5 Nordjemen und Huthis / Northern Yemen and Houthis

(A P)

Iran-backed Houthi militias in Sanaa and other Yemeni areas under their control have refused to take any action in support of the legitimate government's efforts to end the devaluation of the local currency. In addition, the militias imposed new restrictions on currency trading that would further deepen the economic crisis.
The militias banned the transfer of the rial from areas of its control to areas of the legitimacy’s control, banking and traders sources told Asharq Al-Awsat. They also revealed that the militias removed the new banknotes issued by the Central Bank of Yemen in the interim capital Aden from circulation, outlawing its use.
Asharq Al-Awsat has seen a leaked document in Sanaa that includes new Houthi orders issued from its national security agency to all checkpoints on the roads leading to Aden, Marib and the rest of the areas controlled by the legitimate government.
The directives bar the transfer of any cash towards the areas of the legitimacy and instruct officials to confiscate and arrest violators.

On Monday, head of the Houthis’ Supreme Political Council, Mahdi al-Mashat, ordered officials to pay half the salaries of public servants in areas under Houthi control in an attempt to contain public anger. However, the group excluded all employees who were not subject to it and refused to work under its authority.

https://aawsat.com/english/home/article/1364001/yemeni-rial-continues-plunge-amid-public-discontent

Remark: From Saudi news site, mixed with propaganda.

(A P)

#WHO is dismayed at inappropriate use of a donated ambulance by #Houthis. This is against the spirit of the donation, and makes it harder to respond to urgent health needs. #Ambulances must always be respected and protected. We condemn any misuse of humanitarian supplies. (photo)

https://twitter.com/RepYemenEnglish/status/1029687321979969536

(A K P)

Yemen ridicules America's attempts to shirk its role in aggression against Yemen

spokesman of the National Salvation Government, Abdul Salam Jaber, ridiculed on Tuesday America's attempts to shirk its main role in leading the Saudi war coalition aggression on Yemen and its responsibility in committing war crimes against the Yemenis for nearly four years.
Jaber said in a statement to the Saba news agency that the description of the US Defense Secretary James Matisse of the war of the coalition aggression backed by his country on Yemen as " civil war " is only a failed attempt to deny its role in the aggression its criminal face and its clear involvement in the genocide and the all-out siege imposed by the coalition on the Yemeni people.
He added that the Yemeni people know that America is the source of aggression and humanitarina violations in the world and that the Saudi and Emirati regimes are nothing more than cheap tools to execute US scheme.

http://www.sabanews.net/en/news505226.htm

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

(? B P T)

Film: Security Quagmire: The Case in South of Yemen | Ali Said Al Ahmadi

This video was recorded during Al Sharq Forum's Conference "Towards New Security Arrangements For The MENA Region" - which took place in Istanbul Marriott Hotel, Istanbul. 4 - 6 May 2018

Ali Said Al Ahmadi - Member of the National Advisory Board of Yemen

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UU1-Ouwl0HY

(* B P T)

Der Kampf an der zweiten Front

In der jemenitischen Küstenstadt Mukalla ringt der Gouverneur um Normalität – damit die Terrororganisation Al Qaida nicht zurückkehrt. Hilfe kommt aus Abu Dhabi. Doch westliche Diplomaten betrachten die mit Skepsis.

Und dann ist da der Kampf gegen die internationale Terrororganisation. Der andere Krieg, der weniger umstritten ist. Emiratische Militärs zeigen sich entschlossen, ihn bis zum Ende zu führen. Auch wenn der Krieg gegen die Houthi schon beendet sein sollte. „Wir werden weitermachen, bis Al Qaida zerschlagen ist. Wir bleiben, bis die Arbeit getan ist“, sagt ein ranghoher Kommandeur der Streitkräfte. In Gouverneur Bahssani haben die einen loyalen Partner.

Bahssani war eine Schlüsselfigur beim Wiederaufbau der Streitkräfte des 2. Militärdistrikts, die mit emiratischer Unterstützung ausgerüstet und trainiert wurden.

Es ist nicht einfach, das normale Leben zurückzubringen“, sagt Gouverneur Bahssani. Er ringt um Stromversorgung, Wiederaufbau, Wirtschaftsaufschwung. Das Krankenhaus verfällt. Die Ärzte klagen über Mangel an Medikamenten, Frauen bangen um das Leben ihrer Babys, die wegen Unterernährung krank geworden sind. „Unser Budget ist klein“, klagt der Gouverneur. „Wir brauchen Hilfe.“ Bahssani hat einen Deal ausgehandelt: Die von den Houthi-Rebellen aus der Hauptstadt Sanaa vertriebene Zentralregierung überlässt ihm zwanzig Prozent der Öleinnahmen aus seiner Provinz, „neun, zehn, elf Millionen Dollar alle zwei Monate“, wie der Gouverneur sagt.

Die Führung in Abu Dhabi greift ihm nicht nur beim Aufbau von Armee und Polizei tatkräftig unter die Arme. Der zerstörte örtliche Radiosender wurde mit ihrer Hilfe wieder aufgebaut. Auf der Mauer, die den neuen Sitz umfasst, prangt das Konterfei des emiratischen Kronprinzen. Abu Dhabi fördert auch die Soldaten der Minenräumkommandos. Und außerhalb der Stadt hat das Land ein eigenes Stadtviertel für arme jemenitische Familien errichtet.

Für die Emirate sind die Islamisten ein rotes Tuch

http://www.faz.net/aktuell/politik/ausland/wie-die-stadt-mukalla-im-jemen-gegen-al-qaida-kaempft-15738154.html

Mein Kommentar: Ein Einblick in die Lage in Mukalla – durchtränkt mit Propaganda für die Emirate, die wegen ihres zweifelhaften Umgangs mit Al Qaeda ins gerede gekommen sind (siehe cp14).

und Film:

http://www.faz.net/aktuell/politik/jemen-mukalla-nach-al-qaida-15738316.html

Mein Kommentar: In HD zu sehen, wie es in Mukalla aussieht, ist interessant, der Rest ist Propaganda pur für die Emirate.

(A P)

Reform Party Militias Deploy Posts, Prevent Attendants and Siege the Location of Declaration Ceremony of Bihan Southern Transitional Council

Reform party militias in Bihan deployed in streets and established security posts to prevent attendants from Al-Alia, Osilan and Ain from participating in the launch ceremony of the southern transitional council of Bihan Al-Alia. Tens of military sets and hundreds of soldiers seiged the launch location and the house of Musaed Ali Ahmed Al-Dahouly, the great striver, in Kouz Om Nasser. SWAT Team of Bihan Security force, loyal to general director of Bihan, brigade 163 under commandership of Saleh Laksam Al-Harethi, and other troops summoned from Mareb, detained members of the organizing commission and media commission calling them very inappropriate insults that show deep envy towards anyone who refuses the project of adjoining Bihan to Mareb

https://en.smanews.org/reform-party-militias-deploy-posts-prevent-attendants-and-siege-the-location-of-declaration-ceremony-of-bihan-southern-transitional-council

and separatists’ portests:

https://en.smanews.org/leadership-of-southern-transitional-council-of-aden-condemns-and-resents-acts-of-yemeni-muslim-brotherhood-militias-in-halting-the-launch-of-the-council-in-bihan-al-alia-and-arresting-its-leaders

https://en.smanews.org/southern-transitional-council-of-bihan-al-alia-shabwa-denounces-and-resents-the-assault-of-yemeni-reform-militias-on-its-launch-event-and-promises-to-retaliate-strongly

Remark: Strife between Muslim Brotherhood “reform”) Islah party and southern separatists on the plan to join Bihan province to Marib province.

(A P)

Saudi-backed Yemeni president cuts Cairo visit short after being summoned to Riyadh

The visit of Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi, the president of the internationally backed Yemeni government, to Cairo was abruptly cut short on Wednesday after he received an urgent request to return to the Saudi Arabian capital of Riyadh, where he currently resides, according to a Yemeni source connected to the visit.

However, with the visit being cut short, the Yemeni Embassy cancelled a press conference by Yemeni Foreign Minister Khaled al-Yamani, which was scheduled for Wednesday. The embassy informed journalists and media officials that Yamani was required to accompany Hadi to Riyadh.

https://www.madamasr.com/en/2018/08/15/feature/politics/saudi-backed-yemeni-president-cuts-cairo-visit-short-after-being-summoned-to-riyadh/

Comment: Well I'm not sure what to make of this except that Hadi has to do what the Saudis tell him to do. Any clues anyone? What's missing from this story ?

https://www.facebook.com/judith.brown.794628/posts/10156923711948641?__tn__=-R

(A T)

First blood spilled today in Wadi Hadhramaut: 2 Hadhrami soldiers from Tarim city (members of UAE-trained Hadhrami Battalion) killed at checkpoint on Seiyun-Taribah road by 'unknown gunmen'.

https://twitter.com/BaFana3/status/1029759164145381377

(A P)

Yemen: Hadi Succeeds in Appealing to Saleh Supporters to Back his Leadership as GPC Chief

Yemeni President Abdrabbuh Mansur Hadi succeeded on Monday in garnering the support of a number of General People’s Congress officials that are loyal to slain former President Ali Abdullah Saleh, revealed partisan Yemeni sources to Asharq Al-Awsat.
Hadi was in Cairo on Monday where he met with a number of pro-Saleh GPC members residing in the Egyptian capital. He met with the officials on the sidelines of his official visit to the country where he held talks with President Abdul Fattah al-Sisi.

https://aawsat.com/english/home/article/1363846/yemen-hadi-succeeds-appealing-saleh-supporters-back-his-leadership-gpc-chief

My comment: GPC “leaders” in Cairo? The former ruling GPC party is divided into several factions, one is pro-Houthi at Sanaa.

(* A P)

Protests Held Denouncing Living Conditions in Aden

Angry protests continued in Aden against the practices of the government of the fugitive former Yemeni president, Hadi, as the government is unable to improve the living conditions of citizens. Women also denounced the insecurity and the phenomenon of abductions, arrests, rapes, and murders of women in the city of Aden over the past three years, in the protests.

According to the adviser to the Security Council ,Maria John, in her twitter account , the UAE in southern Yemen supports Islamic extremists led by Hani Brik and armed separatist groups against the fugitive former Yemeni president to form a pro-government government to gain Aden port, Scotara, Mayoon, and Makha.

In addition, tribal gunmen from Yafaa tribe prevented 38 oil tankers belonging to the electricity corporation run by Hadi governorate to exit from the oil port in Aden. The move came on the background of releasing the killers of Ali Yafaai a tribesman, they were released according to orders Interior minister of Hadi authorities Ahmed al-Maisry.

https://english.almasirah.net/details.php?es_id=2231&cat_id=1

(A P)

Demonstrations Wave Rises in Aden Demanding the Dismissal of Corrupt Government that Supports Terrorism

For ten day in row, demonstrations marched Mudrem Street in Al-Mualla, the last of which was on Monday afternoon. Demonstrators demanded a court trial for corrupt members of the government including Prime Minister Ahmed Ben Daghar.

https://en.smanews.org/demonstrations-wave-rises-in-aden-demanding-the-dismissal-of-corrupt-government-that-supports-terrorism

(A P)

Public Protests Against the Corrupt Government in Ahwar

Protesters expressed their anger towards poor living conditions and policy of “Hunger” practiced by this corrupt government.

https://en.smanews.org/public-protests-against-the-corrupt-government-in-ahwar

(A P)

Kidnapping Red Crescent Employee in Shabwa

The paid militants of the so-called Shaban elite, backed by UAE , kidnapped last Friday one of the staff of the Red Crescent in Shabwa province, Dr. Ali Sabri al-Awlaki, in one of its security points in the city of Azzan south of the province and took him with the car belonging to the organization to an unknown destination, a source in the Red Crescent said.

https://english.almasirah.net/details.php?es_id=2222&cat_id=1

(* A P)

Fighting between pro-government factions in Yemen kills 18

Fighting between two pro-government factions in Yemen has killed at least 18 people on both sides in the past two days, officials said Tuesday, as a U.N. delegation visited children wounded in an airstrike last week that killed dozens of civilians.

The fighting in the southwestern city of Taiz pits forces loyal to Vice President Ali Mohsen al-Ahmar against supporters of Aboul Abbas, a militia commander. Both are part of the Saudi-led coalition that has been at war with Iran-backed Houthi rebels since 2015.

https://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/fighting-pro-government-factions-yemen-kills-18-57170746

Remark by Judith Brown: This story has started to emerge recently. Abu Abbas is a Salafist leader whose militias under his control include Al Qaeda - they were funded by UAE until recently when they became designated as a terrorist group. Their allies include Islah militias - the Yemeni version of Muslim Brotherhood who include some nasty extremist Sunni militias they are funded by Saudi Arabia. They have been fighting each other for some time - they are all meant to be part of the anti-Houthi alliance.

Islah the political group was in charge if the last government of Yemen until 2015 and was considered the most corrupt in Yemen's history of corrupt leadership. They were so unpopular that the people rose against them and the Houthis took the people's side. The forces paid by UAE and Saudi Arabia have also had 'clashes' in Aden for a couple of years, and if course KSA fell out with Qatar who was expelled from the coalition - and to make matters more complicated.

Qatar supports Muslim Brotherhood. Saudi Arabia used to be opposed to Muslim brotherhood but they overcame that when Islah decided to fight against the Houthis in 2015. You don't understand it ???? Well I guess most people don't so don't worry. Just take this notion - we are supplying weapons to the Saudi led coalition. They in turn give some of those weapons to extremist Sunni militias fighting in Yemen. But then instead of fighting the Houthis they seem to spend a lot of time fighting each other.

https://www.facebook.com/judith.brown.794628

(A T)

Roadside bomb in Yemen's Aden targets provincial governor's convoy

A roadside bomb in Yemen’s southern city of Aden targeted the convoy of a Saudi-backed provincial governor but he was unhurt, witnesses said on Tuesday.

Some people were injured in the attack on Ameen Mahmood, governor of Taiz province and a member of Yemen’s internationally recognised government in exile.

“The governor was not injured, but some of the escorts were injured and taken to hospital,” an official at the governor’s office told Reuters.

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-yemen-security/roadside-bomb-in-yemens-aden-targets-provincial-governors-convoy-idUSKBN1KZ1FR

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2018/08/taiz-governor-survives-roadside-bomb-yemen-aden-180814132032228.html

cp7 UNO und Friedensgespräche / UN and peace talks

(A P)

Iran writes to UN, renews support for intra-Yemeni talks

Iran renews its support for intra-Yemeni negotiations towards the resolution of the conflict there, saying the Saudi regime and its allies should stop their deadly attacks on the impoverished Arab state and give room to peace efforts.

In a letter to the UN and its Security Council (UNSC), UN Ambassador Gholam-Ali Khoshrou said Iran is of the position that there is no military solution to Yemen’s conflict, and that a peaceful solution can only come about through an all-out national dialog under Yemeni-Yemeni leadership.

https://www.presstv.com/Detail/2018/08/15/571224/Iran-Yemen-United-Nations-letter-Khoshrou-Saudi-Arabia

(A P)

Yemen says waiting for peace talks invite, expectations low

http://www.france24.com/en/20180814-yemen-says-waiting-peace-talks-invite-expectations-low

Remark: „Yemen“ is just the Hadi government. If this government is representing 5 % of “Yemen”, this will be a high estimate.

cp7a Saudi-Arabien und Iran / Saudi Arabia and Iran

(A P)

Saudi Arabia frees three Iranian fishermen: IRNA

Saudi Arabia has freed three Iranian fishermen detained by the kingdom’s coastguard last year, Iran’s state news agency IRNA quoted an Iranian official as saying on Tuesday, following negotiations between the two regional rivals.

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-iran-saudi-fishermen/saudi-arabia-frees-three-iranian-fishermen-irna-idUSKBN1KZ0NN

cp8 Saudi-Arabien / Saudi Arabia

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Shocking news circulating that Saudi public prosecution office is calling for #DeathPenalty against female human rights defender #IsraaAlGhomgham who was arbitrarily detained in 2015 After 32 month of arbitrary detention, Israa was brought before notorious SCC terrorism court

https://twitter.com/ZenaRights/status/1029390495452209152

Confirmed the #Saudi prosecution demands death sentence for the peaceful protestor,detained since 2015, #IsraaAlGhomgham. Israa like many others hasn't committed any capital crimes. In fact, she hasn't committed any crimes but she is being punished for having free voice

https://twitter.com/alzahermm/status/1029488018304974848

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‘Saudi Dissident Dies Under Torture At Prison’

A political dissident and Muslim preacher in Saudi Arabia has reportedly died as a result of torture while in regime custody as a crackdown led by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman against Muslim preachers and intellectuals widens in the conservative oil-rich kingdom.

The rights group Prisoners of Consciousness, which is an independent non-governmental organization advocating human rights in Saudi Arabia, announced in a post on its official Twitter page on Tuesday that Sheikh Suleiman al-Doweesh had lost his life due to severe torture he was subjected to during criminal investigations.

http://www.newnewss.net/saudi-dissident-dies-under-torture-at-prison/

cp8a Saudisch-Kanadischer Streit / Saudi-Canadian feud

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How Saudi-Canada spat exposed Mohammed Bin Salman's false reform narrative

Concerned citizens in the West should push their politicians and governments to stand with Canada and join in condemning the Saudi programme of false reforms

The facade of Vision 2030

But rather than affirming Saudi Arabia’s sovereignty over its internal affairs, this overreaction has further confirmed that the “reforms” under Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman (MBS) - packaged and sold as Vision 2030 - are nothing more than a facade, unable to face the slightest criticism.

One need only to look at the hypocrisy surrounding women’s rights to see the hollow nature of reform. Despite the lifting of a driving ban on women on 24 June, Saudi authorities have imprisoned more than a dozen prominent women’s rights activists since May. Meanwhile, women exercising their newfound freedom have faced sharp reprisals: Conservatives harassed 32-year-old Salma al-Sharif and set her car on fire.

Despite such happenings, headlines and hoardings (bought and paid for by Saudi Arabia and pro-Saudi organisations) extol MBS as a force for female liberation.

In light of such PR stunts, Vision 2030 has amounted to a commercial product designed to woo Western audiences, as opposed to a set of genuine reforms.

Last week’s spat between Canada and Saudi Arabia has shed further light on this reality. The fact that the Saudi Foreign Ministry unleashed a tirade of tweets equating a simple message of solidarity with jailed activists to Canadian interference in internal Saudi affairs speaks volumes.

Liable to collapse

Saudi Arabia desperately fears losing control of the “reform” narrative it has worked to cultivate under MBS. The GAC statement represented a rebuke of the positive press the Gulf state has enjoyed over the past several months, and beyond that, the first criticism of the country’s human rights record from a major western government since MBS was appointed crown prince.

The kingdom’s PR scheme reveals that its so-called reform programme is nothing more than a sham. This is further evidenced by the Saudi government’s response to its Canadian counterpart. Vision 2030 lies on a fragile foundation and is liable to collapse.

Imagine the possibility of a domino effect: Other nations in the West could join Canada’s call and press the crown prince to follow through on the changes that he purports to be implementing. MBS would be forced to match actions with words, instead of using “reform” as a tool to cement his power at home and win favour abroad. Place yourself in the mind of the soon-to-be king, and these fears become veritable.

The troubling “whataboutism” peddled by the kingdom’s electronic foot soldiers betrays an attempt to drive attention away from the reality the GAC exposed regarding Vision 2030.

Concerned citizens in the West ought to push their politicians and governments to stand with Canada and join in condemning MBS’s false reforms.

Without such pressure, the UK, France, and others are likely to succumb and encourage their long-standing ally to capitulate to the will of a megalomaniac monarch – by Sarah Al-Otaibi

https://www.middleeasteye.net/columns/ottawa-deserves-support-spat-saudi-arabia-39160199

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Despite The Feud, Canada Remains Complicit In Saudi Arabia’s Abuses

Canada shouldn't be seen as a country daring to take the first step against Saudi Arabia, but rather as a bully's friend who said the wrong thing.

Canada has received a great deal of praise for sparking a feud with Saudi Arabia, ostensibly over human rights abuses. If Canada challenged Saudi Arabia in any meaningful way, this praise would be warranted, especially as most of the Kingdom's allies have avoided giving any much needed criticism. Unfortunately, this isn't the case.

Canada's supposedly brave stance against Saudi Arabia was a couple of lukewarm tweets from minister of foreign affairs, Chrystia Freeland, and Global Affairs Canada, calling for the Kingdom to immediately release Samar Badawi, a human rights activist, from detainment.

The only reason this feud has erupted is because Saudi Arabia claimed Canada interfered in its internal affairs, and responded with a series of harsh and wide-ranging punishments.

But don't mistake this outburst as a sign that Canada did anything meaningful. According to University of Waterloo professor, Bessma Momani, Saudi Arabia's response has nothing to do with Canada, and instead is a step to "signal to the world that interference in Saudi domestic affairs and criticism of the country will come with economic consequences."

Since Saudi Arabia's eruption, the Canadian government has followed up on their initial tweets by doing ... absolutely nothing, publicly, at least.

In the meantime, government officials have offered a few middling statements to tide Canadians over. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said, "We continue to engage diplomatically, but as I've said, Canada will always be very clear on standing up for human rights," which is sure to inspire confidence.

Earlier, Freeland said, "We are always going to speak up for human rights, we are always going to speak up for women's rights and that is not going to change."

It's at this point that Canada's response to Saudi Arabia goes from being passively cowardly, to actively harmful.

Canada shouldn't be seen as a country daring to take the first step against Saudi Arabia, but rather as a bully's friend who said the wrong thing, and got stomped out as a way of sending a message to onlookers.

This is because Canada has aided, and then justified, the worst of Saudi Arabia's abuses.

In 2014, the Conservative government made a deal to sell $15 billion worth of military vehicles to Saudi Arabia.

The deal was criticized at the time, as Saudi Arabia had previously used similar vehicles to attack protesters in Bahrain, and the Eastern Province in Saudi Arabia.

Regardless, when the Liberals came into office, they decided against cancelling the deal, as Trudeau said, "Fundamentally, this issue is a matter of principle. The principle at play here is that Canada's word needs to mean something in the international community."

The Liberals prioritized supposed business principles over human lives – by Davide Mastracci

https://www.huffingtonpost.ca/davide-mastracci/saudi-arabia-canada-arms-deal-chrystia-freeland_a_23502810/

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US university welcomes Saudi students from Canada

Portland State University opens door for Saudi students caught in political dispute to transfer

https://www.timeshighereducation.com/news/us-university-welcomes-saudi-students-canada

My comment: This means siding with the Saudis.

and satirical:

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Saudi Arabia condemns Canada’s appalling human rights record of selling arms to Saudi Arabia

In the wake of the diplomatic row over Canada’s support of political prisoners, Saudi Arabia continues to put out press releases and social media statements attacking Canada for its record on indigenous rights, women’s rights and political oppression. Its latest salvo: blasting Canada for selling arms to violent, autocratic regimes like Saudi Arabia.

“How dare Canada interfere with the domestic affairs of a sovereign state,” said spokesman for the Kingdom Salman Al-Ansari. “Especially when it is currently sending millions of dollars worth of military equipment to a regime that it knows will use the equipment to brutally crackdown on dissent and political opposition.”

“I mean, talk about hypocritical,” he added.

Sources inside the Kingdom say Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salmon is so furious over Canada’s meddling that he wasn’t able to enjoy watching the public crucifixion happening in the square. He sees the matter as an example of the ‘those who live in glass house’ parable, especially when one considers that Canada, for all its talk of human rights, is willing to send arms to a country that still crucifies people.

https://www.thebeaverton.com/2018/08/saudi-arabia-condemns-canadas-appalling-human-rights-record-of-selling-arms-to-saudi-arabia/

cp9 USA

Siehe / Look at cp1

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Trump revokes ex-CIA director John Brennan's security clearance

President Donald Trump announced Wednesday he has revoked former CIA director John Brennan's security clearance, marking an unprecedented use of a president's authority over the classification system to strike back at one of his prominent critics.

https://edition.cnn.com/2018/08/15/politics/john-brennan-security-clearance/index.html

Comment: Mattis vs Pompeo, Trump vs Brennan - it's not just parochial US shit. This Pentagon-CIA cock fight has had severe repercussions in the Saudi war on Yemen, incl the UAE's pretend victories against a now very well-bribed Al Qaeda. Whose unauthorized wet dream was this?

https://twitter.com/BaFana3/status/1029832619964489743

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REP LIEU CALLS FOR DOD IG INVESTIGATION INTO U.S. ROLE IN CIVILIAN CASUALTIES IN YEMEN

Today, Congressman Ted W. Lieu (D-Los Angeles County) sent a letter to the Department of Defense Inspector General calling for an investigation into whether U.S. personnel supporting Saudi and Emeriti coalition operations in Yemen are violating DoD regulations, the Law of Armed Conflict, the Uniform Code of Military Justice, federal statutes or international law. The letter comes after a Saudi-led airstrike hit a school bus in Yemen last week. Rep. Lieu has long called for more scrutiny into the coalition’s actions in Yemen, questioning the U.S.’s efforts to ensure Saudi and Emeriti forces are actively mitigating civilian casualties and avoiding worsening the humanitarian crisis in Yemen.

In the letter, Rep. Lieu writes:

I am deeply concerned that continued U.S. refueling, operational support functions, and weapons transfers could qualify as aiding and abetting these potential war crimes, placing our own troops and officials in serious legal jeopardy. Under customary international law, responsibility for aiding and abetting can be established on the basis of “knowing that such act had the substantial likelihood of assisting the underlying offense.” Ryan Goodman, former Special Counsel at the Department of Defense, has noted that the Department’s own regulations and judicial findings from the Guantanamo hearings also support the notion that aiding and abetting war crimes requires only knowledge that support could assist a potential crime—not direct intent on the part of the abettor to achieve the criminal result.

https://lieu.house.gov/media-center/press-releases/rep-lieu-calls-dod-investigation-uss-role-civilian-casualties-yemen

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Slaughtering School Kids in Yemen: Geneva Conventions Say US Is Complicit

If this kind of behavior in the conduct of armed conflict is not the very concept of war crime we don’t know what is. As per The Hague Conventions adopted in 1907, warring parties cannot use certain means and methods of warfare.

These war crimes can be found in both international humanitarian law and international criminal law treaties, as well as in international customary law as well.

Moreover, the 1949 Geneva Conventions have been ratified by the United States and Saudi Arabia. Many of the rules contained in these treaties have been considered as part of customary law and, as such, are binding on all those countries that have waged an illegal war on the poorest country in the Arab world.

Given what happened on August 9 in Sa’ada, Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court has jurisdiction in respect of US-backed, Saudi war crimes in particular when committed as part of a plan or policy or as part of a large-scale commission of such crimes that are specifically, deliberately and willfully designed to target school children and populated areas in Yemen.

Other breaches include destruction of property protected under the provisions of the relevant Geneva Convention, torture and inhuman treatment of Yemenis in UAE-run prisons, an illegal blockade that is willfully causing great suffering for millions of civilians in besieged cities and communities, extensive destruction and wanton appropriation of schools, hospitals and installations, and intentionally directing attacks against the civilian population.

The important part here is that the United States army has had a heavy hand in all this. The US is supporting the Saudis to commit these grave breaches of the 1949 Geneva Conventions in the knowledge that such attacks will cause incidental loss of life or injury to civilians or damage to civilian objects or widespread, long-term and severe damage to the natural environment which are clearly excessive in relation to the concrete and direct overall military advantage anticipated.

Since the illegal invasion in August of 2015, the US has further sold the Saudis precision-guided munitions; funneled tanks, planes, bombs, and targeting intelligence to Saudi defense officials; and provided material support during bombing runs. Despite increasing reports documenting repeated targeting of Yemeni civilians by Saudi warplanes, with new UN estimates that over 17,000 people have been killed, the Trump administration still intends to resupply Riyadh’s arsenal.

These actions are as reprehensible as they are illegal. Weaponizing the Saudis and the multiple, repeated airstrikes on civilians supported by the US are war crimes

http://en.farsnews.com/newstext.aspx?nn=13970524001208

My comment: From Iran, and simply true.

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America’s War on Yemen Exposed

As atrocities and scandal begin to mount regarding the US-backed Saudi-led war on the impoverished nation of Yemen, the involvement and hypocrisy of the United States and other Western backers is coming to full light.

Global condemnation of Saudi airstrikes on civilian targets has brought public attention to Washington’s role in the conflict – a role the Western media has attempted to downplay for years. It is ironic, or perhaps telling, that alternative media outlets targeted as “Russian influence” are leading coverage of Yemen’s growing humanitarian catastrophe.

In a recent press conference, US Secretary of Defense James Mattis – when asked about the US role in the Yemeni conflict in regards to Saudi atrocities – would claim:

We are not engaged in the civil war. We will help to prevent, you know, the killing of innocent people.

Yet nothing could be further from the truth.

Mattis himself would lobby US Congress earlier this year to continue US support for Saudi-led operations in Yemen.

In essence, the US is all but directly fighting the “civil war” itself.

As Mattis put it in his letter to congressional leaders Wednesday, “withdrawing US support would embolden Iran to increase its support to the Houthis, enabling further ballistic missile strikes on Saudi Arabia and threatening vital shipping lanes in the Red Sea, thereby raising the risk of a regional conflict.”

However, Mattis, his colleagues, and his predecessors have categorically failed to explain how Iran constitutes a greater threat to either US or global security than Saudi Arabia.

If Iran is indeed waging war against Saudi Arabia and its terrorist proxies in Yemen, Iraq, and Syria, the real question is – why isn’t the United States backing Tehran instead?

The obvious answer to this question reveals the crumbling moral authority of the United States as the principled facade it has used for decades falls away from its hegemony-driven agenda worldwide.

The US and its allies created the “War on Terror” and intentionally perpetuated it as a pretext to expand militarily around the globe in an attempt to preserve its post-Cold War primacy and prevent the rise of a multipolar alternative to its unipolar “international order.” It has done this not only at the cost of hundreds of thousands of human lives across the Middle East, North Africa, Eastern Europe, and Central Asia, it has done it at the cost of trillions of taxpayers’ dollars and the lives of thousands of America’s own soldiers, sailors, aviators, and Marines.

https://www.journal-neo.org/2018/08/14/americas-war-on-yemen-exposed/

(A K P)

This is how MSNBC reported on the school bus massacre:

Film: Dozens Of Children Killed In School Bus Bombing In Yemen | All In | MSNBC

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Heh1VQcvl3A

Remark: On MSNBC and Yemen, read: https://fair.org/home/action-alert-its-been-over-a-year-since-msnbc-has-mentioned-us-war-in-yemen/ and https://fair.org/home/msnbc-yemen-russia-coverage-2017/

And for MSNBC, also:

Film: How Stormy Daniels Can Help End The Yemen War | Yemen 12

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kn2GOgq2U_c

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Defense bill sets deadline for US support in Yemen war

The defense bill signed by President Trump on Monday could end the U.S. military’s refueling of Saudi warplanes in the Yemen war within weeks unless the Pentagon acts to assure Congress.

Defense Secretary Jim Mattis is required under the National Defense Authorization Act to certify to lawmakers within 30 days that Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates are taking steps to limit civilian casualties, end the conflict, and alleviate the crushing humanitarian crisis in Yemen.

Otherwise, the NDAA cuts off funding for the military refueling operations, which have drawn fire from members of Congress.

Trump signed the requirement into law just days after Mattis sent a three-star general to Riyadh to look into reports of a Saudi strike that hit a school bus and killed civilians in the northern part of Yemen.

“The horrific school bus strike in Yemen that killed 40 innocent children underscores the need for our provision that was signed into law as part of the NDAA yesterday,” Sen. Todd Young, R-Ind., said in a statement to the Washington Examiner.

“We are not engaged in the civil war. We will help to prevent, you know, the killing of innocent people. I'm very concerned about the humanitarian situation. It's, I believe, the largest cholera outbreak we've ever seen. So, we're working that,” Mattis said on Sunday.

https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/policy/defense-national-security/defense-bill-sets-deadline-for-us-support-in-yemen-war

My comment: I a normal world, this bill would guarantee a final end to refueling these operations, as there had not and will not be any “taking steps to limit civilian casualties”. But in a twisted US world, since three years, the US (and the Saudis) had claimed this would happen. – Mattis’ statement quoted here that just by some propaganda bullshit this bill would be circumvented.

And it’s even worse:

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Trump Ignores Congress’ Yemen Conditions

The president made clear in his signing statementthat he was going to ignore any limitations Congress tried to put on U.S. backing for the coalition’s war effort:

The signing statement singles out several provisions which Trump argues would restrict his control in ways he believes are needed for “military missions,” and inconsistent with his “constitutional authority as Commander in Chief.”

Trump suggested that he’d ignore all the limitations placed on the Yemen War, and objected to providing an assessment on war crimes to Congress, saying it violates executive privilege.

The attempt to put conditions on U.S. support for the war on Yemen was never likely to reduce military assistance to the coalition for the reasons I laid out here. The Secretary of State could very easily claim that the Saudis and their allies were meeting their requirements in order to continue U.S. military involvement, and nothing would change. The president’s signing statement confirms that the administration has no intention of paying attention to Congress’ conditions. Jeremy Konyndyk comments on this:

In plain English, this means the President does not see blowing up buses of Yemeni schoolchildren with US-built bombs and US-fueled planes as any reason to reconsider US support to the Saudis.– by Daniel Larison

https://www.theamericanconservative.com/larison/trump-ignores-congress-yemen-conditions/

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'Potential War Crimes': Lawmakers Demand Answers About US Role in Saudi Slaughter of Yemeni Civilians

In the wake of the U.S.-backed Saudi-led coalition's horrific bombing of a school buslast week that killed 40 Yemeni children and amid reports on Tuesday of dozens more civilian deaths after a new wave of Saudi bombings, Rep. Ted Lieu (D-Calif.) has sent a detailed letter (pdf) to the Department of Defense Inspector General demanding an investigation into whether Trump administration officials violated U.S. or international law by assisting the Saudis in their assault on Yemen.

In a letter (pdf) of her own on Tuesday, Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) called on Gen. Joseph Votel—the top commander of U.S. forces in the Middle East—to explain the U.S. military's role in the Saudi-led coalition's bombings of Yemeni civilians.

https://www.commondreams.org/news/2018/08/14/potential-war-crimes-lawmakers-demand-answers-about-us-role-saudi-slaughter-yemeni = https://www.lewrockwell.com/2018/08/no_author/potential-war-crimes-lawmakers-demand-answers-about-us-role-in-saudi-slaughter-of-yemeni-civilians/

and letter by Elizabeth Warren: https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/4757119-Sen-Elizabeth-Warren-Letter-to-Gen-Joseph-Votel.html

and

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ELIZABETH WARREN DEMANDS IN LETTER THAT U.S. MILITARY EXPLAIN ITS ROLE IN YEMEN BOMBINGS

Warren sent a letter on Tuesday to Gen. Joseph Votel, head of U.S. Central Command and top commander for U.S. forces in the Middle East, requesting that he clarify past congressional testimony about the U.S. role in the Yemen war.

Votel has previously suggested that the U.S. has little knowledge about how Saudi Arabia and the UAE use American weapons, and does not track the aircraft missions that the U.S. helps refuel. During a congressional hearing in March, Warren asked Votel whether CENTCOM tracks what aircraft do after the U.S. refuels them. He responded, “Senator, we do not.” Votel also denied knowing whether U.S.-produced munitions were used in specific strikes when the media has reported on civilian deaths.

Eric Eikenberry, an advocacy officer for the U.S.-based Yemen Peace Project, told The Intercept that the existence of an intelligence report shows that coalition airstrikes are more closely supervised than Votel had indicated. “When it comes to Yemen, the priorities of General Votel and the rest of the administration are obscene,” he wrote in an email. “We knew that the United States was providing the fuel, weapons, and intelligence for coalition strikes, and now we know that the U.S. is perfectly capable of assessing strikes on civilian targets that use U.S. munitions.”

Warren’s letter references the intelligence report in The Intercept, asking how U.S. intelligence analysts could have produced such a complete picture of the strike if, as Votel claimed, the Pentagon is doing so little to tracking the missions.

“This report appeared to indicate that one or more U.S. representatives were present in the Saudi command center at the time the strike was approved and executed,” Warren wrote. “The reported presence of U.S. advisors in a command center responsible for actively approving and directing such airstrikes, and the reported existence of at least one U.S. intelligence assessment of an airstrike acknowledging the use of U.S.-manufactured munitions, raise questions about whether the U.S. does in fact have the capability to track the origins, purpose and results of U.S.-supported airstrikes should it choose to do so.”

Warren’s letter contains a list of detailed questions about U.S. oversight of Saudi bombings, asking about the role of U.S. advisers in the targeting process, and whether U.S. military officers are present in coalition command centers overseeing operations. The letter also asks whether the Pentagon conducts “after action assessments or … intelligence reports summarizing coalition airstrikes in Yemen, such as the one reported by The Intercept.” The letter asks the Defense Department to “provide unclassified answers … to the extent possible” and requests copies of the intelligence reports.

https://theintercept.com/2018/08/14/elizabeth-warren-yemen-bombing-us-military/

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The deafening silence on the Saudi strike on a school bus of kids

The issue is not just this recent “horrific” attack, said Daniel Balson, Amnesty International’s director of advocacy for Europe and Central Asia. “It’s the Saudi-led coalition’s unwillingness to investigate or to make any effort to prevent its bombardment from striking Yemeni civilians throughout the course of the war.”

He told ThinkProgress that Amnesty International has documented at least 36 airstrikes that appear to have violated international law, “including some that may have amounted to war crimes.”

UN Secretary-General António Guterres swiftly called for an independent probe into last week’s strike.

Not President Donald Trump, however. He has been tweeting prolifically about everything from unflattering claims made about him in a tell-all book by a former staffer to the FBI’s probe into Russia’s meddling in the 2016 elections. On Tuesday, he tweeted about an attack in London that injured three people.

Still, he has had nothing to say about Yemen’s slain children.

The last time Trump even mentioned Yemen in a tweet was in February of 2017, when he was railing against the number of Muslims refugees entering the United States.

Under both Obama and Trump, the United States defended Saudi Arabia against a probe by the U.N Human Rights Council on Saudi conduct in Yemen.

Balson points out that the U.S. role in Saudi’s campaign in Yemen is behind the White House’s silence on this. After all, President Trump was very vocal about Syrian children killed in a chemical attack in April.

https://thinkprogress.org/for-some-reason-trump-has-nothing-to-say-about-the-saudi-strike-that-killed-40-yemeni-children-b7c32482fb51/

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America's silence makes it complicit in Saudi bombing of Yemeni children

The decision to work with Saudi Arabia and condone its brutality did not begin with the Trump administration. A long string of American presidents has been deferential to this oppressive regime because it is seen as a source of stability in the Middle East, and because it is sometimes willing to do dirty work in America's broader interests.

But the Trump government is especially sympathetic to the Saudis, even at the expense of our closest allies. It says a lot when you're throwing your lot in with Saudi Arabia over Canada.

This despicable embrace of the Saudis should be a bigger scandal than it is. But the administration is benefiting from its own self-induced chaos and dysfunction. American journalists and the public are so focused on our domestic disorder that they pay ever less attention to conflicts abroad.

Our expectations have also adjusted steadily downward. It's disgusting that Pompeo didn't push the Saudis on their recent slaughter of children, but is it surprising?

Never mind that those Saudi Arabia internal investigations typically result in clearing them of any wrongdoing, and that the US government supplies many of the weapons used to kill thousands in a war-ravaged, starving country.

Saudi Arabia is an unapologetic violator of human rights, within its own borders and outside of them.

Our narrowed view pushes crucial global issues to the periphery, and that the worst of American foreign policy is increasingly ignored. Journalists are doing their damndest to tell these stories and to press the powerful for accountability.

https://edition.cnn.com/2018/08/14/opinions/mike-pompeo-saudi-bombing-of-yemen-children-filipovic/index.html

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State Department says Pompeo did discuss Yemen strike with Saudi prince

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo did discuss the recent Saudi-led airstrike in Yemen in a Monday call with a Saudi prince, an agency official said, after a State Department readout failed to note that aspect of the conversation.

In a readout of Pompeo's conversation with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, the top US diplomat made no mention of last week's Saudi-led airstrike on a school bus in Yemen that killed dozens of children, many under the age of 10.

https://edition.cnn.com/2018/08/14/politics/pompeo-yemen-saudi-strike-call/index.html

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Former chief of staff to Colin Powell: Trump is sitting with devil by working with Saudi Arabia

Former chief of staff to Ret. Gen. Colin Powell, Lawrence Wilkerson, said on Tuesday that President Trump is sitting with the devil by working with Saudi Arabia, referring to the country as "the greatest state sponsor of terrorism in the world."

“Donald Trump has apparently made a decision to sit with the devil," Wilkerson told Hill.TV's Krystal Ball and Buck Sexton on "Rising."

"You can say there are two devils, Tehran and Riyadh, but look what Tehran supports, for example, in the realm of terrorism: Hezbollah and Hamas. Both irate against Israel, not against any global targets or against the United States. What does Saudi Arabia support and what is Saudi Arabia doing right now in Yemen, with al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula in Yemen? Probably the strongest and most capable element of al Qaeda left in the world," he continued.

"[Ayman] Zawahiri is probably there or close by," he added, referring to al Qaeda's current leader. "They’re helping them. They’re leaving them with their arms. They’re paying them. Anytime al Qaeda will help Saudi Arabia against the Houthi rebels, al Qaeda is welcomed into Saudi arms."

http://thehill.com/hilltv/rising/400673-former-powell-chief-of-staff-trump-is-sitting-with-devil-by-working-with-saudi

cp10 Großbritannien / Great Britain

(* B E P)

Looking for a new post-Brexit export opportunity?

Whilst uncertainty still surrounds Brexit, now is the time to investigate and consider new markets which will provide the UK with significant opportunities.

So where should you consider?

Saudi Arabia may not be the first country that springs to mind, however this rapidly diversifying country is currently embracing Vision 2030, a government plan to diversify the economy from its reliance on oil. The reforms Vision 2030 is bringing is resulting in a country that offers excellent opportunities to UK Plc in all sectors. It is a wealthy country and under its new, energetic and dynamic leadership of Crown Prince Muhammad bin Salman it is forging ahead with a progressive agenda which entails spending vast sums of money across virtually every sector.

Within the last 12 months, ambitious plans have been announced to build a vast holiday resort on the Red Sea coast which has the backing of Virgin’s Sir Richard Branson, and Neom a vast transnational city and economic zone near the border of Jordan and Egypt. Women, as has been widely publicised, are now able to drive and are being appointed to prominent positions. Cinema’s, sport, tourist visas and plans for a Six Flags park in Riyadh are bringing entertainment to the Kingdom.

Saudi’s appreciate the British and the way we do business. We have a long-standing relationship that we should be capitalising on at this time.

https://londonlovesbusiness.com/looking-for-a-new-post-brexit-export-opportunity/

My comment: Disgusting.

(A K P)

Seven leading NGOs have written to the UK Foreign Secretary expressing their grave concern following horrific airstrike on a school bus in the Saada, Yemen

While we recognise the government’s ongoing efforts to urge allies to comply with international humanitarian law and welcome the government’s support for the UN Special Envoy’s peace plan, as a both a world leader on civilian protection and current Chair of the UN Security Council, the lack of an official statement from the UK government on yesterday’s attack is deeply discouraging. Currently, parties to the conflict believe they can continue to commit violations of international law with impunity. For Yemeni civilians, the silence is deadly.

We call on the Government to unequivocally condemn the airstrike on the school bus and support calls being made by the UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres to establish an immediate independent investigation into the attack.

https://reliefweb.int/report/yemen/seven-leading-ngos-have-written-uk-foreign-secretary-expressing-their-grave-concern

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BBC staff get into a humiliating row with Owen Jones over the broadcaster’s ‘deception’

Three BBC staffers have absolutely humiliated themselves trying to defend the broadcaster’s latest “deception”.

Guardian journalist Owen Jones called out the British media for its failure to give the UK’s role in Saudi Arabia’s war on Yemen “the scrutiny and prominence it deserves”. And following some pushback from BBCjournalists in particular, Jones then turned his focus onto the public service broadcaster’s reporting.

The row that broke out after that shows how indefensible the BBC‘s position is.

The BBC‘s coverage, and that of other outlets, has been woefully lacking in adequately informing the public about the UK’s support. But Jones’s decision to highlight that fact led to a number of counter-arguments from BBC staffers.

The broadcaster’s senior foreign news producer, Nicola Careem, tweeted

Tantrums

In the face of Jones’s criticism, these staffers went on the defensive. They tried to prove how wrong he was rather than vowing to do better. But Jones is right on this – the British media has done the public a disservice by whitewashing its country’s role in this catastrophic war.

The sooner the media – particularly the BBC as a public service broadcaster – corrects that, rather than defending the indefensible, the better.

https://www.thecanary.co/trending/2018/08/13/bbc-staff-get-into-a-humiliating-row-with-owen-jones-over-the-broadcasters-deception/

(* B K P)

The Tory Government must rethink its appalling policy towards arms and Yemen

The UK Government must now seriously address the recent conclusions of a cross-party committee on export licences which appears to recommend that our current mercenary foreign policy be examined to, at the very least, look critically at a moral or ethical dimension to our international trade.

Failure to respond to these conclusions and allow the promotion of destruction in Yemen to continue unabated would be complicit, callous and unacceptable.

Should that be the case then we must return to the anger and human outrage embedded in the lyrics of Masters of War: "Even Jesus would never forgive what you do."

http://www.heraldscotland.com/opinion/16416642.the-tory-government-must-rethink-its-appalling-policy-towards-arms-and-yemen/

cp12 Andere Länder / Other countries

(B P)

Guarding Yemeni interests

The visit of President Abd Rabbo Mansour Hadi to Cairo underscores the future role Egypt may play in Yemen

One of President Hadi’s goals appears to have been to convince Egypt to play a larger role in the Yemeni crisis. Egypt contributes logistically to the Saudi-led coalition to restore the legitimate government in Yemen but is not directly involved militarily. Egypt’s concerns are primarily focused on the Red Sea and Bab Al-Mandeb, the southern entrance to the Suez Canal.

But what impact can bilateral Egyptian-Yemeni agreements and protocols have while the conflict still flares?

“I believe there has been an official request asking Egypt to play a larger role in Yemen and to end competition on the ground over the reconstruction process,” said Mohamed Al-Mikhlafi, former minister for legal affairs in the Yemeni government.

“Egypt is a party acceptable to both Arab states and to the Yemeni people,” he said. Al-Mikhlafi noted that “Aden was liberated two years ago yet has seen no improvement in services or the restoration of institutions.”

http://weekly.ahram.org.eg/News/25233.aspx

My comment: Very official, yawn. “Guarding Yemeni interests“????.

(B K P)

Quella solidarietà interessata che fa tanto male alle campagne per i diritti umani

La maggior parte dei crimini di guerra sono stati compiuti dalla coalizione a guida saudita, che bombarda ogni giorno e ogni notte senza fare distinzione tra obiettivi militari e civili: scuole, ospedali, mercati, moschee, abitazioni private, banchetti nuziali e, per l’appunto, autobus che trasportano bambini.

A terra, i militari degli Emirati arabi uniti controllano centri segreti di detenzione e gestiscono corpi speciali di sicurezza come se fossero guardie private.

In questi giorni anche i “social” stanno scoprendo lo Yemen. Ci sarebbe di che rallegrarsi se questo inedito slancio solidale non avesse via via rivelato il vero obiettivo: le Ong e il mondo “buonista” e “radical-chic”.

Ecco una minima sintesi dei tweet pubblicati in questi giorni, sottoposti a editing rispetto ai testi originali:

E a proposito di forniture di armi, che i due precedenti governi italiani Renzi e Gentiloni hanno autorizzato a tutto spiano, avrà il governo Conte il coraggio di dire basta?

http://lepersoneeladignita.corriere.it/2018/08/15/quella-solidarieta-interessata-che-fa-tanto-male-alle-campagne-per-i-diritti-umani/?refresh_ce-cp

(* A K P)

Malaysia fordert Abbruch jeglicher Zusammenarbeit mit Saudi-Arabien bei Krieg gegen Jemen

Der malaysische Ministerpräsident hat den Abbruch jeglicher Zusammenarbeit seines Landes mit Saudi-Arabien beim Krieg gegen den Jemen gefordert.

Mahathir Mohamad fügte am Dienstag hinzu, Malaysia möchte nicht in die kriegssüchtige Jemenpolitik und die Anti-Katar-Politik Saudi-Arabiens mithineingezogen werden.

Der Verteidigungsminister des Landes sagte diesbezüglich, dass sein Ministerium und das Außenministerium dabei seien, das Programm für den Abzug malaysischer Soldaten aus Saudi-Arabien und deren Rückkehr in die Heimat zu erstellen.

Malaysische Soldaten wurden von der Vorgängerregierung von Najib Razak 2016 nach Saudi-Arabien geschickt um am Krieg gegen den Jemen teilzunehmen.

http://parstoday.com/de/news/middle_east-i42933-malaysia_fordert_abbruch_jeglicher_zusammenarbeit_mit_saudi_arabien_bei_krieg_gegen_jemen

(* A H P)

Israel: State told to release 300,000 unpublished files on missing Yemenite children

Justice Minister Shaked orders police documents be produced; calls on two health and welfare organizations to publish any material they have

Justice Minister Ayelet Shaked on Sunday instructed the Israel State Archives to release some 300,000 unpublished files relating to the children of Yemenite immigrants, whose disappearance after their arrival in Israel over half a century ago has been at the center of a lingering controversy.

Since the 1950s, more than 1,000 families — mostly immigrants from Yemen, but also dozens from the Balkans, North Africa, and other Middle Eastern countries — have alleged their children were systematically kidnapped from Israeli hospitals and put up for adoption, sometimes abroad, in what is known as the Yemenite children affair.

https://www.timesofisrael.com/state-told-to-release-300000-unpublished-files-on-missing-yemenite-children/

cp13a Waffenhandel / Arms trade

(** B K P)

Tomgram: William Hartung, Gunrunning USA

Now, as TomDispatch regular William Hartung reports, Donald Trump and his administration are determined to make this a truly all-American planet by putting real effort into spreading such deadly small arms far and wide. Hey, think of it this way: in the weeks after Apple hit the headlines with a trillion-dollar market valuation, the Trump administration has the hope of hitting the trillion-firearm mark in civilian hands globally. Now that would be an accomplishment! What a boost for our global identity! USA! USA! Tom

Donald Trump, Gunrunner for Hire
The NRA and the Gun Industry in the Global Stratosphere

American weapons makers have dominated the global arms trade for decades. In any given year, they’ve accounted for somewhere between one-third and more than one-half the value of all international weapons sales. It’s hard to imagine things getting much worse -- or better, if you happen to be an arms trader -- but they could, and soon, if a new Trump rule on firearms exports goes through.

But let’s hold off a moment on that and assess just how bad it’s gotten before even worse hits the fan. Until recently, the Trump administration had focused its arms sales policies on the promotion of big-ticket items like fighter planes, tanks, and missile defense systems around the world. Trump himself has loudly touted U.S. weapons systems just about every time he’s had the chance

A recent presidential export policy directive, in fact, specifically instructsAmerican diplomats to put special effort into promoting arms sales, effectively turning them into agents for the country’s largest weapons makers.

Fueling death and destruction, however, turns out not to be a particularly effective job creator. Such military spending actually generates significantly fewer jobs per dollar than almost any other kind of investment. In addition, many of those jobs will actually be located overseas, thanks to production-sharing deals with weapons-purchasing countries like Italy, Japan, Saudi Arabia, South Korea, Turkey, the United Arab Emirates, and other U.S. allies. To cite an example, one of the goals of Saudi Arabia’s economic reform plan -- unveiled in 2017 -- is to ensure that, by 2030, half the value of the kingdom’s arms purchases will be produced in Saudi Arabia. U.S. firms have scrambled to comply, setting up affiliates in the Saudi capital, Riyadh, and in the case of Lockheed Martin’s Sikorsky unit, agreeing to begin assemblingmilitary helicopters there. McClatchy news service summed up the situation in this headline: “Trump’s Historic Arms Deal Is a Likely Jobs Creator -- In Saudi Arabia.”

For most Americans, there should be serious questions about the economic benefits of overseas arms sales, but if you’re a weapons maker looking to pump up sales and profits, the Trump approach has already been a smashing success. According to the head of the Pentagon’s arms sales division, known euphemistically as the Defense Security Cooperation Agency, the Department of Defense has brokered agreements for sales of major systems worth $46 billion in the first six months of 2018, more than the $41 billion in deals made during all of 2017.

And that, it seems, is just the beginning.

Slow Motion Weapons of Mass Destruction

Yes, those massive sales of tanks, helicopters, and fighter aircraft are indeed a grim wonder of the modern world and never receive the attention they truly deserve. However, a potentially deadlier aspect of the U.S. weapons trade receives even less attention than the sale of big-ticket items: the export of firearms, ammunition, and related equipment. Global arms control advocates have termed such small arms and light weaponry -- rifles, automatic and semi-automatic weapons, and handguns -- “slow motion weapons of mass destruction” because they’re the weapons of choice in the majority of the 40 armed conflicts now underway around the world. They and they alone have been responsible for nearly half of the roughly 200,000 violent deaths by weapon that have been occurring annually both in and outside of official war zones.

In a political climate dominated by an erratic president in the pocket of the NRA and a Congress with large numbers of members under the sway of the gun lobby, however, only a strong, persistent public outcry might make a difference.

In the meantime, welcome to the world of American gunrunning and start thinking of Donald Trump as our very own gunrunner-in-chief – by William D. Hartung

http://www.tomdispatch.com/blog/176457/tomgram%3A_william_hartung%2C_gunrunning_usa/ = https://www.opednews.com/articles/Tomgram-William-Hartung--by-Tom-Engelhardt-Guns_NRA-180814-259.html

(* A K P)

El Gobierno dice que revisará las ventas de armamento a Arabia Saudí después de los ataques sobre Yemen

[#Spain/Government: we will review arms sales to Saudi Arabia after the attacks on Yemen
In 2017, the Spanish industry exported defense materials amounting to more than 361 mln euros members of the Saudi led Coalition]

España exportó material de defensa en 2017 por más de 361 millones de euros a los países de la coalición internacional liderada por Arabia Saudí y que participa en la guerra de Yemen

El Gobierno ha anunciado que revisará las condiciones de venta de armamento y otro material de defensa a los países de la coalición que lidera Arabia Saudí tras el ataque aéreo perpetrado la pasada semana en Yemen en el que resultaron muertas decenas de personas, la mayoría de ellas niños.

https://www.eldiario.es/internacional/Gobierno-armamento-Arabia-Saudi-Yemen_0_803519698.html

(A K)

Rätselhaftes Kriegsgerät mit russischem Waffenturm im Jemen aufgetaucht – VIDEO

Eine Panzermaschine mit einem 8x8-Fahrwerk und einem Kampfmodul vom russischen Schützenpanzer des Typs BMP-3 wurde in einer Militärkolonne der Vereinigten Arabischen Emirate im Jemen gesichtet. Das Kriegsgerät wurde in einer TV-Reportage von „Sky News“ über die Offensive der Koalition gezeigt.

https://de.sputniknews.com/videos/20180814321948246-jemen-raetselhafte-kriegsgeraet/

cp13b Mercenaries / Söldner

(A P)

#Sudan: a group of writers, journalists and intellectuals have launched a campaign calling for the withdrawal of Sudanese soldiers from the war in #Yemen, considered "a disgrace" in front of the world and history

https://www.facebook.com/LivingInYemenOnTheEdge/posts/1876789159040772

(A P)

New element in the Qatar vs UAE/Saudi proxy war in #Yemen (what the media calls the Saudi vs Iran proxy war) : Doha recruiting 10,000 southern Yemenis for service in #Qatar military. Salary: A whopping 5 times more than what #UAE pays. Plus Qatari nationality as a bonus. (image)

https://twitter.com/BaFana3/status/1029750073050193920

cp13c Kulturerbe / Cultural heritage

(* B K)

»Im Zweifel nimmt Saudi-Arabien keine Rücksicht«

Der Krieg im Jemen ist nicht nur eine humanitäre Katastrophe, sondern zerstört auch das kulturelle Erbe des Landes. Iris Gerlach, Leiterin der Außenstelle Sanaa am Deutschen Archäologischen Institut, über Antikenschutz in Kriegszeiten.

Gerlach: Moscheen, Dammanlagen, Museen oder Heiligengräber – sämtliche historische Bauten des Jemen sind, sofern nicht bereits zerstört, in großer Gefahr. 2015 setzte die UNESCO die Altstädte von Sanaa, Zabid und Schibam auf die Rote Liste der gefährdeten Weltkulturerbestätten. Außerdem listet die jemenitische Antikenbehörde 85 Dörfer, Städte oder Monumente auf, die betroffen sind. Das ist allerdings ein sehr lückenhaftes Bild – die Dunkelziffer der tatsächlichen Zerstörung liegt weitaus höher.

Nun tobt im Land ein Krieg, in dem Bombardements und Bodenkämpfe nicht nur unsagbares Leid hervorrufen, sondern auch ganze Landstriche verwüsten. Zudem sind die kulturerhaltenden Maßnahmen der Behörden auf ein Minimum beschränkt – die Mitarbeiter der jemenitischen Antiken- und Denkmalbehörden erhalten seit zwei Jahren keine Gehälter mehr. Außerdem können viele Schäden im Land nicht wissenschaftlich dokumentiert werden, da die Reise zu Fundplätzen – auch für unsere jemenitischen Kollegen – oft schlichtweg zu gefährlich ist.

Im Land ist es uns zurzeit nicht möglich, kulturerhaltende Maßnahmen durchzuführen. Allerdings stehen wir in täglichem Kontakt mit der jemenitischen Antikenbehörde. Deren Mitarbeiter schicken uns Handyfotos, die wir auswerten, archivieren und an die UNESCO weiterleiten.

Das Deutsche Archäologische Institut und internationale Fachkollegen schickten 2015 über die UNESCO eine Liste mit Koordinaten zu archäologischen Fundstätten nach Saudi-Arabien. Riad nahm das Dokument zur Kenntnis, meinte aber, dass man im Zweifelsfall keine Rücksicht darauf nehmen könne. So wurden beispielweise das Museum in Dhamar mit mehr als 12.500 Fundstücken oder die mehr als 2000 Jahre alte Nakrah-Tempelanlage in Baraqish inzwischen dem Erdboden gleichgemacht. Die Luftangriffe der saudisch-geführten Militärallianz sind schätzungsweise für 70 Prozent der Zerstörung verantwortlich.

https://magazin.zenith.me/de/kultur/der-krieg-im-jemen-und-das-bedrohte-kulturerbe-des-landes

(* B K)

Yemen's ancient architecture threatened by war

Yemen’s three-year war has taken a heavy toll on Sanaa’s historic Old City, a dense warren of mosques, bath houses and 6,000 mud brick houses, which date from before the 11th century.

Part of the Old City, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, has been razed by bombing. Now only rubble and straggly palm trees remain, where unique tower houses once stood.

“Many buildings have been badly damaged and are only skeletons now,” Umat al-Razzak, manager of traditional housing, told Reuters.

Resident Abu Hani-Elaifa said he remembers clearly the night in September 2015 — the year that a Saudi-led coalition intervened in Yemen’s war — when his neighborhood was hit.

“I was standing outside my house. There were warplanes overhead and then they hit this house while the family was having dinner,” he told Reuters, pointing to the rubble which still lies there.

UNESCO said it is assessing the impact of the conflict on the Old City and other sites in Yemen, but it was too early to quantify the extent of the damage.

“Unfortunately, it is not a situation unique to Sanaa, as heritage has been affected in all parts of the country,” Director of the World Heritage Centre, Mechtild Roessler, said in a statement to Reuters.

The organization listed the al-Qasimi area in Sanaa, the Old City of Saadah and Marib Dam, the archaeological city of Baraqish, Al Qahirah citadel in Taiz and Hadramout’s ancient tombs as being severely damaged. It said the 9th century mosque of Bani Matar and Dhamar Museum have been completely destroyed.

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-yemen-security-old-city/yemens-ancient-architecture-threatened-by-war-idUSKBN1KZ1TE

and film: https://uk.reuters.com/video/2018/08/15/fears-yemens-heritage-will-be-turned-to?videoId=454884831&videoChannel=118261 = https://sg.news.yahoo.com/fears-yemens-heritage-turned-rubble-145809620.html

cp13d Wirtschaft / Economy

(* A E P)

Yemeni Rial Continues to Plunge amid Public Discontent

The Central Bank in Aden recently announced that it will directly intervene to save the local currency and restore stability through the injection of hard currency to the market. However, it was not effective as the dollar reached about 570 rials on Tuesday, its highest rate yet.
Several angry protests erupted in Aden and some areas under the legitimacy control against high prices and the exchange rate, while government salaries remain unchanged, witnesses told Asharq Al-Awsat.
Meanwhile, Yemeni Prime Minister Ahmed Obeid Bin Daghr proposed several steps that would put an end to the continued devaluation of the rial.
Speaking at a Yemeni-Gulf conference in Riyadh on Monday, he announced government plans to take two urgent measures to save the currency from further collapse and prevent a social, political and humanitarian crisis. He explained to the conference that the procedures will include managing liberated areas to ensure all transactions are done with the Central Bank rather than currency traders.
He also proposed to arrange expatriate funds to be transferred through the Central Bank and the National Bank as was the practice years ago.

The rapid depreciation of the rial during the past two weeks led to an unprecedented rise, reaching 30 and 40 percent, in the prices of commodities, including rice, wheat, milk and fuel.

https://aawsat.com/english/home/article/1364001/yemeni-rial-continues-plunge-amid-public-discontent

My comment: Blaming the Houthis for the plunge of the currency (this is how this article starts) is propaganda. – It’s the destruction of the economy by the war, stupid. And all “measures” by a powerless puppet government will not change this.

(A E P)
The Central Bank of Yemen (CBK) announced today the issuance of a new currency of 200 riyals in accordance with the Bank's Law No. (14) for the year 2000 and its amendments, specifically Article (24). (image)

https://twitter.com/NokhbaHadramout/status/1029712552157237250

Remark: Hadi’s separate Central Bank at Aden. Face value: Ca. US$ 0.40.

(* B E H)

UN Children's Fund: Yemen Joint Market Monitoring Initiative (July 2018)

The Yemen Joint Market Monitoring Initiative (JMMI) was launched by REACH in collaboration with the Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) Cluster and Cash and Market Working Group (CMWG) to support humanitarian actors with the objective of harmonizing price monitoring among all cash actors in Yemen. The JMMI incorporates information on market systems including price levels and supply chains. The basket of goods to be assessed comprises eight non-food items (NFIs), including fuel, water and hygiene products, reflecting the programmatic areas of the WASH Cluster.

At the time of data collection, the port of Al Hudaydah remained open, supplying vendors in north west Yemen, with price levels for fuel remaining stable among vendor KIs in the region.

In Aden, fuel vendor KIs reported that petrol and diesel were only available on the parallel market, in contrast to June where fuel prices and restocking times were among the lowest of all governorates assessed. In addition, restocking times among fuel vendor KIs in Al Dhale’e, supplied primarily by Aden, were the highest of all governorates, having increased by 7 days.

Fuel supply routes between Marib and the north west of the country have not reopened, following a halt in supply in the week of the 18th June, although Marib remained the primary supply point for fuel vendor KIs in Al Jawf and Al Bayda.

https://reliefweb.int/report/yemen/yemen-joint-market-monitoring-initiative-july-2018

(B E H)

Film: “I decided to sell my shop” Abdo, a #Smallbusiness owner from #Hodeidah said. Hopeless & unable to pay-off his loans, support his #family & afford daily expenses, he was about to do so. See what next, thx to timely intervention of #YECRPby @WorldBank @SFDYemen & @YMNnetwork

https://twitter.com/UNDPYEMEN/status/1026026302967619584

cp14 Terrorismus / Terrorism

Siehe / Look at cp6

(* B P T)

Film: AP Investigation: Behind the Scenes in Yemen, U.S.-Backed Saudi Coalition Is Working with al-Qaeda

The U.S.-backed Saudi-led coalition in Yemen has repeatedly cut secret deals with al-Qaeda, even paying its fighters to retreat from towns or join the coalition, a bombshell Associated Press investigation has revealed. The AP probe accuses the United States of being aligned with al-Qaeda in the fight against Yemen’s Houthi rebels, despite claiming to be fighting the extremist group in the region. One senior tribal leader told the AP, “Al-Qaeda wasn’t defeated. It didn’t fight in the first place.” We speak with Maggie Michael, one of the three reporters for the Associated Press who broke the story, headlined “U.S. Allies Spin Deals with al-Qaida in War on Rebels.”

Maggie Michael: We worked on examining the Emirati campaign against terrorism in southern Yemen repeatedly over the past year since 2016. Emiratis, along with the Pentagon, declared victories after victories against Al Qaeda, liberating cities from the group without really telling us how this happened. We looked closely into different areas, basically Hadhramaut, Abyan and Shabwah, and in the three of these provinces, we found through tribal mediators, officials, witnesses, residents, that there was no actual fight on the ground.

What happened is the Qaeda militants pulled out days and months and weeks before the campaign started. They pulled out, leaving the city without any fight, and then the Emiratis deployed their forces and then they declared victory. The Pentagon joins and says, “We have helped and assisted the Emiratis with a small force on the ground to defeat Al Qaeda.”

AMYGOODMAN: The Washington Times reports Pentagon officials denied YOU.S.-supported allies bribed or recruited al Qaeda members in Yemen. Pentagon spokesman Colonel Rob Manning said, “That is patently false. We do not pay al Qaeda, we kill al Qaeda.” Maggie Michael?

MAGGIEMICHAEL: Yes. I mean, this is the line of the United States along with the Emiratis. Yesterday also the Emirati officials held a press conference denying that they had any agreements or deals with Al Qaeda. But on the ground, we had so many witnesses and people who were involved in these meetings, including the tribal mediator who was involved in a meeting between the Emiratis and the Qaeda where they agreed on paying money in order for the group to withdraw from Shabwah. The denials don’t really add—don’t give more information, just general denials.

https://www.democracynow.org/2018/8/14/ap_investigation_behind_the_scenes_in

Comment: Incredible that you thought this was an appropriate response to the murder of 40 children between the ages of 6-11 (text in image)

https://twitter.com/shireen818/status/1029733409369796609

I respect your work @mokhbersahafi, but I was sickened by your suggestion these kids were being recruited as jihadists. Would you question "what the children were doing" & consider the "other side" if 6-11 year olds anywhere else were murdered?

https://twitter.com/shireen818/status/1029431770293460992

(A T)

#AlQaeda in #Yemen still aspires to international attacks. #AQAP-linked group publishes 1st in new series "Why Are We Fighting #America?". Upholds 9/11 attacks as ultimate achievement. Calls 9/11 "natural". Asks "Did the world expect anything less?" Vows follow up. (image)

https://twitter.com/Dr_E_Kendall/status/1029819804146970625

(* B T)

Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) maintains more influence in Yemen than the Islamic State in Iraq and al Sham(ISIS), according to a UN report. The report on ISIS and al Qaeda by the UN’s Analytical Support and Sanctions Monitoring team also stated that AQAP maintains a strong organizational and leadership structure, which will likely increase the threat from AQAP over time. This strength may also encourage ISIS supporters to join AQAP, further weakening ISIS in Yemen. ISIS in Yemen reportedly commands only 250 to 500 members while AQAP commands 6,000 to 7,000 militants. The UN report stated that AQAP seeks to build a reputation for “humanitarianism and governance” in Yemen, whereas ISIS’s “extreme ideology and brutality” discourages Yemeni recruits.[2]

https://www.criticalthreats.org/briefs/gulf-of-aden-security-review/gulf-of-aden-security-review-august-15-2018 referring to http://undocs.org/S/2018/705

and

Interesting tidbit from recent UN report, #ISIS in #Somalia receives limited support from #IslamicState in #Yemen. Though #ISIL in Yemen is very small also.

https://twitter.com/MaherFarrukh/status/1029749227700797440

(* B T)

Terrorists are Tightening Their Grip on Yemen

Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula is not fragmenting and weakening—it's actually getting stronger.

The Associated Press investigation, which appears to have been based on extensive in-country interviews, paints a picture of AQAP as an organization that remains as formidable as it is capable. This stands in contrast to the assessment being put forward by the UAE, Saudi Arabia, and some Yemen analysts who argue that AQAP is a fragmented organization that has been greatly weakened by coalition backed counterinsurgency operations in southern Yemen.

This view of AQAP as a weak and fragmented organization may reflect a misunderstanding of AQAP’s strategy in Yemen. Rather than being weak and fragmented, AQAP is drawing on the lessons that it has learned from the past six years of failures and successes. Chief among these is that it is adopting a more pragmatic strategy that embraces a decentralized or nodal structure. Such a move away from centralization could easily be mistaken for fragmentation. However, it is more likely that AQAP is merely adapting to and taking advantage of the ever-shifting contours of Yemen’s three-year-old war.

The leadership of AQAP recognized early on that enmeshing itself within local communities was key to expanding its influence and guaranteeing its long-term survival. It has, at least on some level, been doing this since its inception.

AQAP has learned from its own mistakes and it has also learned from the mistakes of Al Qaeda central.

The seizure of Sana’a, the Yemeni capital, by the Houthis in September 2014 and their subsequent offensive in which they briefly and brutally occupied Aden and other parts of southern Yemen was a shot in the arm for AQAP. The Houthi offensive and the resulting Saudi and Emirati led incursion, dubbed “Operation Decisive Storm,” which began in March 2015, provided AQAP with the perfect environment in which to test new approaches and strategies that in many respects mirror those of the Taliban.

In the same month that Saudi Arabia, the UAE, and their coalition partners launched Operation Decisive Storm, AQAP seized the port of Mukalla, Yemen’s fifth largest city.

It is on the frontlines of the battle with the Houthis that AQAP has really found its footing. In many fiercely contested areas like the city of Taiz and the governorate of al-Bayda, AQAP’s operatives and foot soldiers are deeply involved in the fight against the Houthis where they are valued for their discipline and fighting skills.

AQAP’s strategy has shifted from one that was ambitious, uncompromising, vocal, and, at least to some degree, global in its outlook, to one that is intensely local, relatively quiet, and pragmatic – by Michael Horton

https://nationalinterest.org/feature/terrorists-are-tightening-their-grip-yemen-28842

(* B P T)

US official says UAE paid Yemen tribes to push al-Qaida out

A senior U.S. official says the United Arab Emirates paid money to tribal leaders in Yemen to rout al-Qaida from its strongholds.

Wednesday’s remarks followed an Associated Press investigation outlining how Emirati forces cut secret deals with the militants to get them to abandon territory.

The official says money “has exchanged hands” and that it often went to “sheikhs in areas that have collaborated or allowed al-Qaida to exist.”

He didn’t elaborate on how much was paid, but says the Emiratis’ payments to tribal sheikhs allowed them to “ally themselves to the Emiratis.”

https://apnews.com/2c623f4e86894ce991c2996d6043968a

Comment: This American arrow hits deep into Abu Dhabi.

https://twitter.com/BaFana3/status/1029788468707254272

What I want to know is this: While lying to us about its "military victories" over AQAP #Yemen, how many hundreds of millions of dollars has the UAE - with the tacit knowledge of the US government & military - paid to Al Qaeda & AQ-friendly Yemeni tribal hosts?

https://twitter.com/BaFana3/status/1029830565883772929

The UAE & Saudi Arabia have been sticky slimed by @AP's recent investigative reports, embarrassingly exposed as making payments to Al Qaeda terrorists in Yemen, and even recruiting them as militia fighters. One word: #JASTA (look at text in image)

https://twitter.com/BaFana3/status/1029987991572369409

(* B P T)

Inside the UAE’s war on al-Qaeda in Yemen

One Week in Yemen: The Emirati military says it is winning the battle against al-Qaeda in Yemen but some question their methods

The Gulf coalition and the recognised Yemeni government control the city but face hidden threats from supporters of the Iran-backed Houthis rebels and al-Qaeda’s most lethal franchise al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP), that once controlled a western district of the city.

The UAE military leadership say it is their job and their “highest priority” to crush AQAP, as the only member of the Gulf Coalition Council to have previous counter-terror experience from their time in Afghanistan.

In rare interviews with top UAE commanders in both Abu Dhabi and Yemen, the Gulf state has vowed to stay put in Yemen until AQAP’s central command has been beaten. Even if it means remaining embroiled in the country’s conflict long past the end of the war with the Houthis.

The UAE says since the Gulf intervention in 2015 it has trained a force of 60,000 Yemeni soldiers, made up of tribesmen, former security forces and militiamen, half of which are leading the counter-terror battle in Yemen.

It says under the military guidance of the UAE, these troops have now reduced AQAP’s geographical control to just a string of villages and its fighting force in south Yemen to just 200 men that are doing little else but “surviving coalition strikes”.

Brigadier Ali, a senior Emirati task force commander, echoed that even if the Houthi war ends the UAE will continue to fight the “global enemy” of al-Qaeda.

“We will eventually cleanse Yemen of all terror outfits,” he added.

But despite these successes, the UAE’s counter-terror operation has come under fire.

A recent investigation published by the Associated Press quoting tribal leaders, military security and government officials in the area, claimed militants were guaranteed a safe route out and allowed to keep weapons and cash looted from the city, up to $100m by some estimates.

Emirati commanders dismissed the accusations as “untrue and illogical”. They said there had been “isolated cases of surrender” from small groups but no major reconciliation agreements. They added that allowing fighters to leave with loot, would contradict their primary objectives: depriving AQAP of its financial strength.

That all said it is clear that AQAP’s presence in Yemen has been severely compromised. The UAE said that the number of attacks by AQAP in Yemen has fallen by over 93 per cent in the past three years. They added that around 1000 core AQAP fighters have been killed since 2015, including most of the group’s most-wanted leaders.

The Emiratis meanwhile are determined to keep reducing AQAP’s footprint in Yemen with their 30,000-strong force of Yemeni soldiers. Having recently cleared the whole of the south-central province of Shabwah, where much of the AQAP leadership hails from, they said Wadi Hadramawt and Marib is next on the cards.

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/middle-east/uae-yemen-civil-war-al-qaeda-aden-dar-saad-gulf-saudi-arabia-conflict-a8492021.html

My comment: This article sounds like a try to greatly whitewash the UAE from the allegation of making deals with Al Qaeda in Yemen. Read the AP article here: https://apnews.com/f38788a561d74ca78c77cb43612d50da and also https://www.democracynow.org/2018/8/14/ap_investigation_behind_the_scenes_in

(B T)

#AlQaeda activity in #Yemen persists but low impact & infrequent: #AQAP claims it fired artillery & medium weapons at Houthi positions in Dhi Madahi, al-Bayda' at dawn y'day. AQAP has claimed 3 more attacks in August so far, all targeting #UAE-backed Security Belt Forces in Abyan

https://twitter.com/Dr_E_Kendall/status/1029326080413507584

cp15 Propaganda

(A P)

Exclusive: Houthis Exploit Poverty-Struck Children as Cannon Fodder

Yemeni local activists have recently been baffled by an overwhelming silence of human rights organizations on Houthi recruitment of minors. Over 4,500 accounts of child soldiers lodged onto battlefronts have been made.
In the governorate of Marib, officials and the general public agree infrastructure damage pales in comparison to the size of harm done by militias inciting and recruiting poverty-driven children with hate speech.
Rehabilitating child soldiers has proven to be the most difficult challenge faced by the internationally-recognized Yemeni government headed by Abdrabbuh Mansur Hadi.

https://aawsat.com/english/home/article/1364036/exclusive-houthis-exploit-poverty-struck-children-cannon-fodder

My comment: The story of Houthi child soldiers is nothing new, this article does not contribute any new information. There simply is one propaganda purpose: to deflect from the Saudi coalition’s school bus massacre from August 9, by blaming the Houthis as violators of children. Well, better recruit them than just bombing and killing them. And: All Yemeni warring parties had recruited children (the Houthis the most, this is true), the UAE even recruiting child soldiers from Africa for the Yemen war: https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20180807-international-campaign-abu-dhabi-uses-african-children-to-fight-in-yemen/

(A P)

Arab League voices support for 'legitimate' Yemen gov't

Arab League Secretary-General Ahmed Aboul-Gheit on Tuesday pledged to continue defending the legitimate government in Yemen.

Aboul-Gheit made the remarks at a meeting with Yemeni President Abdrabbuh Mansur Hadi at the league’s headquarters in Cairo, where the latter is currently on a two-day official visit.

“Yemen's security is a key element of the Arab national security system,” a league statement quoted Aboul-Gheit as saying.

Condemning what he described as “Iranian interference” in Yemen, Aboul-Gheit said that Iran still poses a “serious threat” to Red Sea shipping.

https://www.aa.com.tr/en/middle-east/arab-league-voices-support-for-legitimate-yemen-govt/1231326

My comment: Saudi-led supranational organizations as Saudi propaganda mouthpieces.

(A P)

Yemen war: Saudi Arabia forced to act, says Riyadh’s envoy to New Delhi

In response to “Endless War”, the editorial published in The Hindu on August 11, Saudi Arabia’s Ambassador to India, His Excellency Saud Al Sati, writes:

I am writing to present certain facts that may not have been taken into consideration while writing the editorial. It is important to understand that the Saudi Arabia-led military coalition is providing military assistance to Yemen based on an official request from its internationally recognised government headed by President Hadi to counter the violence of the Houthi terrorist groups. The UN Security Council, in its Resolution 2216, imposed an arms embargo on Houthi terrorists and categorically placed the onus on the rebels to end any provocations or threats to neighbouring States, release all political prisoners and end the recruitment of children.

The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia did not want a war in Yemen but was forced to after the coup by the Houthi militia against the legitimate and internationally recognised government and UN-supported peace process.

https://www.thehindu.com/news/national/yemen-war-saudi-arabia-forced-to-act-says-riyadhs-envoy-to-new-delhi/article24693172.ece

My comment: A Saudi propaganda roundup.

(A P)

The momentum of weakening Al Qaeda in Yemen must be seized

Resolution of Houthi conflict will be key to curbing extremism in Yemen and beyond

The news that the UAE’s counter-terrorism strategy is weakening Al Qaeda’s grip in Yemen is to be celebrated, by the region and the wider world. But as the date for UN-backed peace talks with Yemen’s Houthi rebels fast approaches it comes as a timely reminder that the future stability of the country faces a range of threats from multiple actors.

That is why Dr Anwar Gargash, UAE Minister of State for Foreign Affairs, has chosen this moment to highlight the impressive progress that has been made against Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP), which has held territory in the east of Yemen since the Houthi insurgency erupted in 2014. The Houthis and AQAP, each pursuing their own agenda, are no allies and have each exploited the instability caused by the other group to spark chaos.

That means the Saudi-led coalition working to restore the internationally recognised Yemeni government has been obliged to conduct operations on multiple fronts. But there is a dangerous symbiosis. The instability created by the Houthis has fostered the sort of power vacuum in which militant groups like AQAP thrive. Resolution of the Houthi conflict, therefore, will be key to the long-term suppression of terrorism in Yemen and beyond.

https://www.thenational.ae/opinion/editorial/the-momentum-of-weakening-al-qaeda-in-yemen-must-be-seized-1.760031

My comment: Blaming the Houthis for the rise of Al Qaeda in Yemen – while the Houthis had fought Al Qaeda more keenly than all others in Yemen. – For Al Qaeda and the Saudi coalition, read https://apnews.com/f38788a561d74ca78c77cb43612d50da

(A P)

UAE works to eliminate security threats in Yemen - in pictures

Training local police and funding a mine clearance training centre among the initiatives

"We will not allow a strategic transformation to happen in the region in Iran’s interest, through the Houthi militias controlling Yemen," UAE Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Dr Anwar Gargash said earlier this week.

The UAE continues to work on the ground with Yemenis to help eliminate the Houthi threat.

In pictures taken this month in the southeastern city of Mukalla, UAE-trained cadets of the Yemeni police can be seen marching at their graduation, the first such ceremony since the port city was retaken. The police force has also been provided with a fleet of vehicles by the UAE.

Landmines remains a significant obstacle to the country's future. Specialists estimated earlier this month that they have destroyed tens of thousands of rebel landmines. Such clearance operations continue daily. These photographs show instruction being given at a mine clearance training facility funded by the UAE armed forces.

Military and security support continues to be backed by humanitarian aid delivered to hospitals and by reconstruction efforts in Aden and elsewhere. Mr Hadi announced eight new infrastructure projects in the southern city earlier this month.

https://www.thenational.ae/world/mena/uae-works-to-eliminate-security-threats-in-yemen-in-pictures-1.759902#15

(A P)

Yemen's Little Wars and Opportunistic Arrangements

The American war on Islamist terrorists and the Islamist terrorists' civil war amongst themselves flicker beneath the larger clash between the Saudi coalition and Iran's Houthi rebels.

The United Arab Emirates, a Sunni Muslim Arab nation and Saudi Arabia's primary ally in Yemen, is publicly incensed at the "deals with al-Qaida" accusation. A senior Emirati officer said the terror group is a regional and global threat and the UAE is "determined" to destroy AQAP.

If there was an opportunistic arrangement between coalition forces and local AQAP fighters, it sounds like the deal was very local, and extremely short-lived.

https://townhall.com/columnists/austinbay/2018/08/15/yemens-little-wars-and-opportunistic-arrangements-n2509887 = http://www.sunjournal.com/yemens-little-wars-and-opportunistic-arrangements/

My comment: Speaks a lot, really has to say only a little, look s like an attempt to downsize the UAE-Al Qaeda connections.

Comment: It is a messy, terrible article which serves the purpose to somehow condone #UAE's deals with #AQ as 'shortlived'.
The journalist has no clue whatsoever on #Yemen's reality: ie 'Iran-backed Houthi rebel confederation'.
Confederation?

https://www.facebook.com/LivingInYemenOnTheEdge/posts/1882067238512964

(A P)

More Saudi coalition „We are benefactors“ propaganda

https://www.albawaba.com/business/saudi-arabia-pledges-60-million-month-support-power-plants-yemen-1173278

cp16 Saudische Luftangriffe / Saudi air raids

Siehe / Look at cp1c

(* A K pH)

Saudi coalition air raids day by day

August 14: https://www.facebook.com/lcrdye/photos/pb.551288185021551.-2207520000.1534355150./1111857425631288/?type=3

August 13: https://www.facebook.com/lcrdye/photos/pb.551288185021551.-2207520000.1534355150./1111854208964943/?type=3

August 12: https://www.facebook.com/lcrdye/photos/pb.551288185021551.-2207520000.1534334236./1111866542297043/?type=3

(* A K pH)

Aggression’s Daily Update for Wednesday, August 15th, 2018

In Hajja governorate, 6 citizens, members of the same family, were killed and another citizen was injured by US-Saudi Aggression Navel warships that targeted Al-Sada village. The heavy strikes on the village caused mass evacuations of residents.

In Sa'ada, the US-Saudi Aggression launched 15 raids on citizens' properties in Baqim district, while Shida, Baqim and Razih border districts were targeted by saudi missiles and artillery shells, damaging homes and properties of the citizens.

In Al-Jawf, the aggression aircraft launched a raid on Almasloob district. While in Jizan, the aggression launched more than 30 raids in an attempt to support its mercenaries during a failed creep east Al dokhan and launched a raid on Tawilq.

https://english.almasirah.net/details.php?es_id=2255&cat_id=1

(* A K pH)

Aggression’s Daily Update for Tuesday, August 14th, 2018

In Hodiedah: 13 civilians were killed and 24 others were injured following a continues bombing, targeting civilians' houses, mosques, buildings and health centers, preventing ambulances from entering or leaving the city.
In Sa'ada: The aggression also launched two raids on Shida district and five others on Baqem district targeting civilians' properties.
In Hajja: The Aggression launched three raids on Al-Mazraq area in Haradh border district.

https://english.almasirah.net/details.php?es_id=2235&cat_id=1

(* A K pH)

At least 25 civilians, including women and children, were killed and injured on Tuesday, when the warplanes of the US-backed Saudi-led coalition launched airstrikes in Hodeida province, a security official said.
The airstrikes targeted houses and shops of citizens in Duriimy district.

http://www.sabanews.net/en/news505214.htm

Hodeidah local authority appeals international organizations to ambulance wounded citizens

The local authority in Hodeidah province appealed on Tusday the international and humanitarian organizations to quickly ambulance the injured civilians and to remove the bodies of martyrs from the rubble, after the massacre committed by the US-Saudi –led aggression coalition in al-Durihmy district, Hodeidah province

The source said that the warplanes of coalition prevented teams and ambulance crews from reaching the wounded and targeted all those who were trying to aid the wounded.

http://www.sabanews.net/en/news505238.htm

and

(* A K)

Saudi-UAE air raids target Yemen's Hodeidah

Saudi-UAE coalition air strikes on Yemen's Hodeidah province have killed and wounded several people, medical sources said.

A spokesperson from the Houthi-affiliated health ministry said Tuesday's attacks on the city of Duraihami killed at least 13 civilians and injured 24 others.

Doctor Youssef al-Hadri said that latest attacks hit a heavily populated area, damaging civilian infrastructure including medical facilities and mosques.

Hadri added that medics from the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) were being prevented from entering the city.

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2018/08/saudi-uae-air-raids-target-yemen-hodeidah-180814193411416.html

film: https://twitter.com/AhmadAlgohbary/status/1029785995703660544

(A K pH)

Two Saudi-led airstrikes hit Hodeidah

Warplanes of US-backed, Saudi-led aggression coalition waged two air raids on al-Haly district of Hodeidah province, A security official told Saba on Tuesday .

The strikes targeted al-Jabana area in the district

http://www.sabanews.net/en/news505096.htm

(A K pH)

8 civilians killed, injured in US Saudi airstrike, artillery, missile shelling on Saada

Two civilians were killed and four injured including children in US-backed Saudi-led coalition airstrike on Baqim district, said the official on Monday.

http://www.sabanews.net/en/news505106.htm

(* A K pH)

More Saudi coalition air strikes recorded on:

August 15:

http://www.sabanews.net/en/news505207.htm Hajjah p.

cp17 Kriegsereignisse / Theater of War

(* A K pH)

5 civillians killed in shelling of Saudi-led battleships on Hajjah

Five citizens were killed, including several women and children, when battleships of the US-backed Saudi-led aggression coalition hit Hajjah province, a security official told Saba on Wednesday

http://www.sabanews.net/en/news505240.htm

and

(* A K pH)

Saudi warships strike northwestern Yemeni village, six civilians dead

At least six civilians have lost their lives when Saudi military vessels deployed in the Red Sea launched a barrage of missiles at a residential area in Yemen’s northwestern province of Hajjah as the Riyadh regime continues with its atrocious military campaign against its crisis-hit southern neighbor.

Local sources, speaking on condition of anonymity, told Yemen’s Arabic-language al-Masirah television network that the warships fired the projectiles at al-Sadah village in the Hayran district of the province on Wednesday afternoon.

The sources added that there were women and children among the fallen victims.

https://www.presstv.com/Detail/2018/08/15/571268/Saudi-warships-strike-northwestern-Yemeni-village-six-civilians-dead

Photos: https://twitter.com/HussainBukhaiti/status/1030065798017105920

http://www.21sept.com/65053/

Film: https://twitter.com/narrabyee/status/1029794241978007552

My comment: This attack clearly shows to which degree the Saudi coalition turned the Red Sea to a war zone. - This is the real threat against international commercial shipping there. These victims in a coastal village had nothing to do with war, they were attacked by saudi battle ships. Saudi coalition and Hadi government and US propaganda lament Houthi assaults against ships in the Red Sea while the reason behind such Houthi attacks evidently are assaults and threats by Saudi war ships like this one here. - And now, the US propaganda even laments an Iranian ship in the Red Sea. This is just odd.

(A K pH)

In Sa'ada: US-Saudi aggression targeted Al-Ghaor area with over 50 missiles, also aggression targeted Shida and Baqem border districts with missiles and artillery shells.

https://english.almasirah.net/details.php?es_id=2235&cat_id=1

(A K pH)

two children were injured when renewed Saudi artillery and missile attacks on populated villages in Razih district.

http://www.sabanews.net/en/news505106.htm

(A K pH)

Saudi missile shelling kills civilian in Saada A civilian was killed in Saudi missile and artillery shelling, which targeted citizens' houses and shops of Razih district in Saada province, a security
official told Saba.
The Saudi enemy shelled the citizens' houses and shops in separate areas in Razih border district, killing one citizen and damaged shops of citizens, said the official on Monday.
Meanwhile, populated villages in shada and Manbah border districts, were hit by Saudi missile and artillery shelling targeted the citizen's farms and public roads.

http://www.sabanews.net/en/news505100.htm

cp18 Sonstiges / Other

(A)

Pictures of yesterday's sandstorm on #Marib.
Reports of a second sandstorm approaching the city in this very moment

https://www.facebook.com/LivingInYemenOnTheEdge/posts/1876149025771452

(* B H)

Größer sein als die Furcht

Im Jemen habe ich den Krieg erlebt. Gefürchtet habe ich mich nie, die Angst kam später. Heute weiß ich: Man muss sie zulassen, aber sich von ihr nicht beirren lassen.

Ich erinnere mich an die Angst, die vom Volk Besitz ergreift, wenn es die Flugzeuge mit den Bomben nahen hört. Wie die Angst die Mütter im Griff hat, die um ihre Kinder fürchten. Wie sie zu einer alltäglichen Angelegenheit wird, mit der man klarkommen muss. Wie junge Männer und Frauen schnell heiraten, weil sie fürchten, dass der Tod ihnen zuvorkommen wird, ihnen den Genuss nehmen wird, die Liebe kennenzulernen. Die Angst ist überall, in den Häusern, den Schulen, Krankenhäusern, Straßen und, am schlimmsten, in den Herzen. Die Angst vor dem Hunger treibt viele Männer und sogar Kinder dazu, am Krieg teilzunehmen, zu kämpfen, zu töten. Noch mehr als vor dem eigenen Tod haben die Menschen Angst, diejenigen zu verlieren, die sie lieben; davor, sie nicht beschützen zu können.

Als die Saudis den Krieg begannen, bombardierten sie die Berge, um die Waffen zu zerstören, und das war das Ende der Beziehungen der Menschen zu den Bergen. Die Häuser und Schulen und Krankenhäuser in ihrer Nähe wurden evakuiert, man hörte auf, auf Berge zu klettern oder auch nur mit dem Auto dorthin zu fahren. Wir alle empfanden die Berge als einen Fluch. Als eine Falle, aus der kein Entkommen war, als ein mörderisches Gefängnis.

Am Ende meines Ausflugs nach Bayern war ich so weit, erkennen zu können, dass der Satz "Wir, das Volk, sind größer als die Angst" doch wahr ist. Denn es liegt an uns, wie wir mit ihr umgehen, wir können wählen, ob wir uns von ihr beherrschen lassen oder uns für den Mut entscheiden.

https://www.zeit.de/kultur/2018-08/angst-flucht-tod-we-the-people-10nach8/komplettansicht

Vorige / Previous:

https://www.freitag.de/autoren/dklose/jemenkrieg-mosaik-445-yemen-war-mosaic-445

Jemenkrieg-Mosaik 1-445 / Yemen War Mosaic 1-445:

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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