... Psychisches Trauma bei Kindern im Jemen – Vefall des jemenitischen Rial – und mehr
August 25, 2018: Saudi air raids kill 31, among them 22 children – Saudis own investigations of war crimes lack credibility – America's Death Trail in Yemen – Yemeni children suffer from psychological trauma – Downfall of Yemeni Rial – and more
Schwerpunkte / Key aspects
Klassifizierung / Classification
Für wen das Thema ganz neu ist / Who is new to the subject
cp1 Am wichtigsten / Most important
cp1a Am wichtigsten: Seuchen / Most important: Epidemics
cp1b Am wichtigsten: Kampf um Hodeidah / Most important: Hodeidah battle
cp1c Am wichtigsten: Saudische Luftangriffe töten 31 / Most important: Saudi air raids kill 31
cp2 Allgemein / General
cp3 Humanitäre Lage / Humanitarian situation
cp4 Flüchtlinge / Refugees
cp6 Südjemen und Hadi-Regierung / Southern Yemen and Hadi-government
cp7 UNO und Friedensgespräche / UN and peace talks
cp7a Saudi-Arabien und Iran / Saudi Arabia and Iran
cp8 Saudi-Arabien / Saudi Arabia
cp9 USA
cp10 Großbritannien / Great Britain
cp12 Andere Länder / Other countries
cp14 Terrorismus / Terrorism
cp15 Propaganda
cp16 Saudische Luftangriffe / Saudi air raids
cp17 Kriegsereignisse / Theater of War
cp18 Sonstiges / Other
Klassifizierung / Classification
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**
*
(Kein Stern / No star)
? = Keine Einschatzung / No rating
A = Aktuell / Current news
B = Hintergrund / Background
C = Chronik / Chronicle
D = Details
E = Wirtschaft / Economy
H = Humanitäre Fragen / Humanitarian questions
K = Krieg / War
P = Politik / Politics
pH = Pro-Houthi
pS = Pro-Saudi
T = Terrorismus / Terrorism
Für wen das Thema ganz neu ist / Who is new to the subject
Einführende Artikel u. Überblicke für alle, die mit den Ereignissen im Jemen noch nicht vertraut sind, hier:
Yemen War: Introductory articles, overviews, for those who are still unfamiliar with the Yemen war here:
https://www.freitag.de/autoren/dklose/jemenkrieg-einfuehrende-artikel-u-ueberblicke
cp1 Am wichtigsten / Most important
(*** B K P)
Yemen: Coalition Fails to Curb Violations
Investigations Lack Credibility, Leave Victims Without Redress
The Saudi-led coalition’s investigations into alleged war crimes in Yemen have lacked credibility and failed to provide redress to civilian victims, Human Rights Watch said in a report released today.
The 90-page report, “Hiding Behind the Coalition: Failure to Credibly Investigate and Provide Redress for Unlawful Attacks in Yemen,” analyzes the work of the coalition’s investigative body, the Joint Incidents Assessment Team (JIAT), over the past two years. Human Rights Watch found that JIAT’s work has fallen far short of international standards regarding transparency, impartiality, and independence. Established in 2016 after evidence mounted of coalition violations of the laws of war, JIAT has failed even in its limited mandate to assess “claims and accidents” during coalition military operations. It has provided deeply flawed laws-of-war analyses and reached dubious conclusions.
“For more than two years, the coalition has claimed that JIAT was credibly investigating allegedly unlawful airstrikes, but the investigators were doing little more than covering up war crimes,” said Sarah Leah Whitson, Middle East director at Human Rights Watch. “Governments selling arms to Saudi Arabia should recognize that the coalition’s sham investigations do not protect them from being complicit in serious violations in Yemen.”
JIAT’s public conclusions raise serious questions regarding its investigations and application of the laws of war. The vast majority found the coalition acted lawfully, did not carry out the reported attack, or made an “unintentional” mistake. As of July 31, 2018, JIAT recommended the coalition undertake further investigations or disciplinary action in only two of about 75 public reports.
The investigators found a September 2016 coalition attack on a water well that killed and wounded dozens of civilians to be an “unintended mistake,” yet Human Rights Watch found at least 11 bomb craters on a visit to the site.
JIAT also often appeared to find that an airstrike was lawful solely because the coalition had identified a legitimate military target – but did not appear to consider whether the attack was lawfully proportionate or if precautions taken were adequate. It downplayed damage to civilian structures, contradicting physical evidence. In 2015, the coalition repeatedly bombed a residential complex in Mokha, killing at least 65 people and wounded dozens more, yet JIAT concluded the complex was “partly affected by unintentional bombing.”
Despite the coalition’s promises, there is no clear way for civilian victims or relatives to obtain redress from coalition forces. Human Rights Watch followed up with victims of six of the dozen attacks for which JIAT had recommended assistance by July 31 – none had received any.
“I sold everything to care for the wounded from my family,” one man said. “We did not get anything – no trial of the culprits or compensation. We didn’t even get a bag of flour.”
Coalition member countries should meet their international legal obligations to investigate alleged violations and appropriately prosecute people responsible for war crimes, Human Rights Watch said. They should compensate victims of unlawful attacks and support a unified, comprehensive system for providing ex gratia (“condolence”) payments to civilians who suffer any losses from military operations.
The coalition’s continuing unlawful airstrikes and failure to adequately investigate alleged violations puts weapons’ suppliers to the coalition – including the United States, the United Kingdom, and France – at risk of complicity in future unlawful attacks. They should immediately suspend arms sales to Saudi Arabia. In September 2018, United Nations member countries should support renewing and strengthening the mandate of the Human Rights Council’s Group of Eminent Experts on Yemen. Yemen should urgently join the International Criminal Court.
While many of the coalition’s apparent laws-of-war violations show evidence of war crimes, the investigations do not suggest any effort to investigate personal criminal responsibility for unlawful airstrikes. This apparent attempt to shield parties to the conflict and individual military personnel from criminal liability itself violates the laws of war. Moreover, there is no evidence that JIAT investigated alleged abuses by coalition forces beyond unlawful airstrikes, such as mistreatment of detainees by Emirati and Emirati-backed forces.
Saudi and Emirati commanders, whose countries play key roles in coalition military operations, face possible criminal liability as a matter of command responsibility. The UN Security Council should consider imposing targeted sanctions on senior coalition commanders who share the greatest responsibility for serious repeated violations, Human Rights Watch said.
Houthi forces opposed to the coalition have also carried out frequent violations of the laws of war, including likely war crimes. Human Rights Watch has not identified concrete measures the Houthis have taken to investigate their alleged abuses or held anyone to account.
“The failure of the coalition’s investigative body to carry out credible inquiries and take appropriate action reinforces the urgency for UN Human Rights Council members to renew and strengthen the UN inquiry into violations by all parties in Yemen,” Whitson said.
https://www.hrw.org/news/2018/08/24/yemen-coalition-fails-curb-violations = https://reliefweb.int/report/yemen/hiding-behind-coalition-failure-credibly-investigate-and-provide-redress-unlawful
with film: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XGn9VvDTIBA
and report in full: https://www.hrw.org/sites/default/files/report_pdf/yemen0818_web.pdf
and appendix: https://www.hrw.org/sites/default/files/report_pdf/yemen0818_appendix.pdf
and reports on this report:
https://theferret.scot/uk-arms-sales-yemen-war-crimes/
https://www.alaraby.co.uk/english/news/2018/8/24/saudi-led-coalition-covering-up-war-crimes-in-yemen
My comment: This is a very important report. – Nobody should be astonished that in case a perpetrator is given the right to investigate himself the results will be worthless. An independent, international investigation is urgently required.
And
(** B K P)
SAUDI-LED COALITION TEAM TO INVESTIGATE CIVILIAN CASUALTIES IS “COVERING UP WAR CRIMES” IN YEMEN
The 90-page report, released Friday, digs into the Joint Incidents Assessment Team, or JIAT, a body the coalition created to investigate civilian casualty claims after the bombing campaign began in Yemen in 2015. By its own count, the assessment team has investigated 79 incidents in which airstrikes allegedly killed or wounded civilians. But the vast majority of its reports — only 75 of which Human Rights Watch could actually find — absolve the coalition of legal responsibility for the strike in question, either by claiming the coalition wasn’t responsible or by determining that the attack was an “unintentional” result of technical errors.
The report also documents 17 instances in which JIAT’s conclusions were profoundly at odds with Human Rights Watch’s own findings.
In the years after it was established, the Trump and Obama administrations pointed to JIAT as a sign that the coalition was aware that its attacks were killing civilians and that it was seeking to improve. But critics say the body is a cynical mechanism contrived to make it look as if the architects of the air war in Yemen care about reducing civilian casualties, when in fact their aims are something else entirely.
THE RESULTS OF the assessment team’s investigations are released on an ad hoc basis through Saudi state media, often under headlines like “JIAT Clears Arab Coalition From Responsibility For Many Bombings.” The Human Rights Watch report also notes that releases seem timed to defuse international pressure.
JIAT released incident results on September 12, 2017 during discussions at the UN Human Rights Council regarding the possible creation of an international investigation into violations in Yemen; Saudi diplomats and their allies then used the released JIAT results to argue against the need for an international mechanism. On March 5, 2018, JIAT released results immediately before Saudi Crown Prince and Coalition Commander Mohammed bin Salman travelled to the United Kingdom to meet with senior British officials.
Human Rights Watch determined that out of 75 JIAT investigations, only two had resulted in findings that officers may have violated the rules of engagement. In one case, the team found that the officers had done so, and in another, suggested that they might have and recommended further investigation.
In 12 cases, JIAT recommended giving some type of financial restitution to victims’ families, referring to it variously as “assistance” or “appropriate action,” though not always finding fault with the coalition. However, Human Rights Watch researchers are “unaware of any concrete steps the coalition has taken to implement a compensation process,” according to the report.
In announcing the results of JIAT’s first inquiry in 2016, Saudi state media said the commission “consists of 14 members with experience and competence in military and legal fields,” all from countries that were part of the coalition at that time. But the coalition has never produced a public list of the members, Beckerle told The Intercept. In a letter last January, Human Rights Watch asked the spokesperson for JIAT to share the names of its members, whose command they fell under, and information about their legal and military experience. The group received no response.
JIAT’s only publicly known member, legal adviser and spokesperson Mansour al-Mansour, is a military lawyer from Bahrain, where he was reportedly involved in the prosecution of hundreds of peaceful protestors in the aftermath of the so-called Arab Spring uprisings in 2011. Earlier that year, Saudi Arabia invaded Bahrain over fears that unrest there could topple the monarchy – by Alex Emmons
https://theintercept.com/2018/08/24/yemen-airstrikes-saudi-us-coalition/
and
(** B K P)
U.S.-backed coalition in Yemen accused of ‘unlawful’ conduct
Nick Schifrin talks with Human Rights Watch's Kristine Beckerle, one of the lead authors of a new report that criticizes the coalition's conduct as "unlawful."
Kristine Beckerle: And I think the big issue on the U.S.’ side is similar to what we’re pointing out in the new report, which is, basically, there’s been an incredible dearth of transparency, or, to put it more bluntly, the U.S. has been quite tight-lipped about what support they’re actually providing to the coalition.
Nick Schifrin: A State Department official I was speaking to earlier said that they have been pressing coalition partners at the highest levels to mitigate the conflict’s impact on civilian — are you seeing evidence of that? And are you seeing any results from that pressure?
Kristine Beckerle: So there’s been this narrative amongst coalition allies — and I think probably — amongst coalition states — that the coalition is — quote — “serious” about improving, working to minimize civilian casualties.
But given how little transparency there is about how the coalition actually operates, it’s very difficult for independent observers to basically check them on that claim.
But there’s two things I would point to, is that since the coalition has made these promises to minimize civilian casualties, Human Rights Watch Amnesty, the U.N., other Yemeni rights groups have repeatedly documented apparently unlawful coalition attacks in 2015, 2016, 2017, and 2018.
And, further, one of the things that coalition allies like the U.S. tend to point to is the fact that, well, the coalition is investigating, so they must be serious about working to minimize civilian casualties.
What our report does is show that those investigations are by no means a sufficient assurance to coalition allies continuing to ship weapons to Saudi Arabia, because those investigations themselves raise serious red flags about the way in which one coalition body is thinking about international law and legal obligations.
I think, to be very blunt, is that, at this point, the investigative body is serving more to shield coalition states from any real form of accountability than to credibly investigate unlawful attacks, hold anybody responsible or provide civilian victims redress.
And the reason I say that is, Human Rights Watch analyzed the work of that coalition body over the last two years. They basically cleared the coalition of legal fault in the vast majority of attacks investigated.
Their findings showed some pretty egregious, fundamental failings in terms of the ways in which they were thinking about both the facts on the ground and the laws that applied.
And I think, perhaps even more condemnatory, is that this investigative body that the U.S. continuously points to, say, for example, after the coalition once again bombs and kills kids that didn’t need to die, like the bus in Saada that was hit recently, the U.S. says, well, coalition, you should investigate.
But, listen, two years on, that coalition body has not credibly investigated. So, the question I really think is, how many more children in Yemen basically need to die, how many more buses need to be bombed, weddings bombed, before the U.S. realizes that calling on the coalition to investigate itself is by no means an adequate response to what’s going on in Yemen? (with interview in film)
https://www.pbs.org/newshour/show/u-s-backed-coalition-in-yemen-accused-of-unlawful-conduct
(** B K P)
America's Death Trail in Yemen, and the Importance of Showing Graphic Images of War
These searing images document a masterwork of unbounded cruelty for which American tax dollars supplied the medium, and which American apathy has enabled. For the last three years, the United States has been providing military and logistical support to a Saudi-led coalition of Sunni Muslim countries.
Despite their propensity to offend viewer sensibilities, these scenes are necessary for American audiences. Images have a unique power to humanize brutality—to connect terms like “civilian casualties” and “collateral” to faces across the globe belonging to people who, as it turns out, look an awful lot like us. Footage can sway public opinion and catalyze policy change by delivering us from our detachment and laying bare our egocentrism.
But today, the sense of responsibility to the public discourse that once motivated these bold editorial decisions has been largely eclipsed by a focus on advertising dollars. The news cycle is increasingly driven by ratings, clicks, shares, and likes—something MSNBC anchor Chris Hayes candidly acknowledged in a Twitter interaction on July 24 when he called climate change segments “a palpable ratings killer.” As Washington Post media reporter Paul Farhi put it in an exchange with this writer, “[j]ournalists like ‘stories.’ And readers like them even more.”
In this environment, access to political insiders (and by extension juicy scoops) has become currency. The perfect storm of incentives has given rise to a comfortable arrangement for all parties involved—advertisers, executives, sources, and anchors. To maintain balance between the different agendas, coverage is sanitized.
Gone are the days when journalists like Walter Cronkite would go on air and question whether or not the US could win the war. It’s a foregone conclusion that on a long enough timeline, victory can be ours given our superior military might. American audiences would never expect to hear anyone say that “the only rational way out” of a conflict “will be to negotiate, not as victors, but as an honorable people who lived up to their pledge to defend democracy, and did the best they could.”
As a rule, coverage today generally avoids painting American involvements abroad in too negative a light. Graphic images are used sparingly
In Hayes’ 2-minute Aug. 9 segment on the school bus bombing—the first airtime MSNBC had given Yemen in a year—no dead bodies or catastrophic injuries were shown. The next day, Hayes’ colleague, Stephanie Ruhle, followed up. Once again, the dead and the grievously wounded were left off the air. None of MSNBC’s coverage since the attack has shown the full extent of the violence.
Print outlets haven’t done any better. Reuters, Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, and The New York Times also declined to include the worst images.
Even so, without showing carnage, the coverage fundamentally fails to capture the humanity of the war and leaves the Yemeni people largely without an avenue to share their experience with the world. In response, many have turned to social media.
Western media’s general reluctance to show the full extent of the violence in Yemen is doubly frustrating for journalists living and working in the war-torn country.
Thus far, the outcry from Americans over the US’ role in the Yemen crisis has been predictably—and to an extent, intentionally—muted. The Saada school bus bombing never even trended on Twitter, nor did many take notice when the US State Department deferred to Saudi Arabia to conduct its own internal investigation into the war crime it had apparently committed – By Walker Bragman (with graphic images)
Remark: Some photos are falsely attributed.
(** B H K)
War takes heavy toll on Yemeni children's mental wellbeing
Over five million people in Yemen have been found to be psychologically affected by the war, with children among those affected.
Muhand is a seven-year-old, living in the war-devastated Taiz province. The war has changed his personality entirely, Muhand's mother said. Muhand has been hearing airstrikes, explosions and clashes in his environment, rendering him to live to a constant nightmare. He is growing up surrounded by violence and absence of peace with little or no opportunity to have access to psychological health care.
"Muhand is bedwetting during the night, and sometimes screams while sleeping. He wakes up terrified, and I hug him and tell him no worry. He returns to sleep again," said the mother.
Thousands of children like Muhand bear the brunt of the bloody war and far-fetched peace. While cases regarding malnutrition among children and child recruitment have been reported abundantly, reports on the psychological effects of war on children seem to be short. In a study conducted this year by Family Counselling and Development Foundation in Yemen, over five million people in Yemen have been found to be psychologically affected by the war. Last year, Yemen Children Relief, a local relief organisation, carried out a study finding a clear difference in the intensity of psychological symptoms among children in diverse provinces.
The study revealed that the psychological effects of war vary from one child to another, stating that 5 percent of children suffer from bedwetting, 2 percent returned to stuttering, 47 percent suffer from psychological disorders, 24 percent have difficulty in concentration and 17 percent have a bout of panic.
According to the study, children in Sanaa, Aden, Taiz and Abyan showed a high level of fear, insecurity, anxiety and anger.
Among the children targeted by the study, 31 percent of them suffered physical symptoms, including headache, chest pain, abdominal pain and exhaustion which researchers attributed to psychological distress.
Severe psychological blows
Samira Qasem, a psychologist, said that the scenes of violence in Yemen have affected the behaviour of children, leaving long-term psychological impacts on them.
"When children get exposed to violent scenes, when they face death and see blood, they suffer from severe psychological blows. The continue to imagine the horror especially if they continue to live in a conflict-stricken area," said Qasem.
Speaking to The New Arab, Qasem said that the bad experiences make children develop behavioural disorders such as severe stress, confusion, a tendency towards isolation, anxiety, fear, nightmares, bedwetting, aggressiveness and difficulty in concentration.
Qasem indicated that countless people of Yemen have experienced serious trauma and threats from armed militias, torture, airstrikes, landmines and arbitrary detention.
(** B E H P)
Saudi Economic War Triggers Yemen Currency Collapse and Worsens Plight of War-Torn Nation
The Yemeni Riyal is the backbone of the country’s economy and it is used to buy everything from spare parts to basic foodstuffs. Its continued collapse would bear unimaginable consequences for the daily life of civilians.
Last week, panic entered Yemeni local markets and houses after a plunge in the value of the Yemeni Riyal (YR) accompanied by increasing prices for basic foodstuffs. Those who still have money rushed to convert their savings to USD or buy gold, but most Yemenis now face two grim prospects: either to die by U.S.-Saudi airstrikes or to die of hunger.
The YR has lost more than half of its value relative to the U.S. dollar — the owners of exchange shops and citizens in Sana’a and Aden told MintPress that the exchange rate of the YR against one dollar amounted to about 550 YR compared to 250 YR at the beginning of the war in the country.
The YR is the backbone of the country’s economy and it is used to buy everything from spare parts to basic foodstuffs. Its continued collapse would bear unimaginable consequences for the daily life of civilians. When a currency begins to slide, it is in part fear of such a continuing collapse and downward spiral that winds up fueling that spiral — a self-fulfilling prophecy.
We hear that fear growing in the questions of ordinary Yemenis trying to deal with the economic developments.
“A month ago, I was buying 50 kilos of wheat with 7,000 YR ($12); now it costs 13,000 YR. Now how can I bring food for my children?” asked 50-year-old Abdulkhaliq al Kholani, father of seven and a civil servant employed by Red Sea Ports Corporation in Hodeida. Al Kholani then said, “If they do not die by Saudi airstrikes they will die of hunger. We do not have a choice.”
An official of Yemen’s Central Bank said that never has the YR experienced such depreciation. Fadhl Abass, a Yemen economic analyst, said to MintPress that moving the Central Bank to Aden, the cessation of oil exports, and targeting economic facilities are among the factors contributing to the collapse of Riyal.
On January 17, 2018, Saudi King Salman confirmed that a deposit of $2 billion would be paid to the Central Bank in Aden. However, the Central Bank did not receive the promised deposit from the Saudis, according to a source in the Bank, who confirmed that was among the factors weighing on the YR and causing a general collapse.
An additional factor was that the government of Yemen’s former president and a staunch ally of Riyadh in Aden, received fresh Riyal banknotes from the printers in Russia, but the Central Bank did not have the foreign currency reserves necessary to guarantee the Riyal’s value at the official exchange rate. This also was a cause of the YR’s collapse.
The Dean of the Faculty of Commerce and Economics at the University of Sana’a, Dr. Mishal Al-Rifi, said that the government of Yemen’s former president’s act of printing more than one trillion YR without a cover of foreign currencies caused the collapse of the YR against the dollar and led to a dramatic rise in prices.
In the past, Saudi-led coalition mercenaries sought to boost liquidity by printing money, but the Riyal plunged from 250 to the dollar to 350 after the first batch of newly printed notes was rolled out last year. The Riyal traded for 450 to the dollar by year’s end and this week crashed to around 550.
The governing authorities in Sana’a quickly recognized the Riyal’s collapse and moved to restabilize the currency by requesting the assistance of private banks and financial institutions, but many Yemenis see the solution in Riyadh and Washington.
Moving Bank to south Yemen is among the factors that have been weighing on the Riyal
In fact, since the relocation of the Central Bank in September 2017, with no positive economic justification, the local currency has lost more than half its value against the dollar and soaring prices have put some basic commodities out of reach for many Yemenis.
But to the Saudi-led coalition, moving the Bank was part of a longer-term strategy to capture political and economic control of Yemen, without taking into account disastrous results to civilians who live amidst the world’s worst humanitarian disaster.
The Saudi blockade — compounded by the Saudi coalition’s targeting of Hodeidah port, which is the lifeline for the majority of Yemen’s population — has sent the price of basic goods in Yemen skyrocketing.
Mohammed al Hussani, a Yemeni economist, told MintPress:
If the currency did collapse, there is no real alternative due to shortage of foreign currency, blockade and collapse of Yemen’s economy, and the absence of a functional central bank in particular.”
Imports are purchased on the international markets in dollars, which means that there is lack of the U.S. dollar in circulation in Yemen, especially as those holding large quantities of YRs are seeking the stability of the USD, creating a flight of capital from the country.
Economic strangulation as a weapon of war
The U.S.-Saudi-led coalition has used systematic economic strangulation as a weapon of war — targeting jobs, infrastructure, food markets, factories, and the provision of basic services. The coalition claims it is targeting economic sites being used for military purposes, which it therefore considers legitimate military targets.
The coalition has deliberately sought to inflict widespread damage to Yemen’s production capacity. According to a statement by the Legal Center of Rights and Development to MintPress, Saudi airstrikes targeted 14,375 civilian economic structures — including factories, commercial warehouses, food, medicine, electricity, and fuel supplies. Many of these economic facilities were forced to curtail their production, and hundreds of workers lost their livelihoods – by Ahmed AbdulKareem
MintPress News is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 International License.
https://www.mintpressnews.com/saudi-economic-war-yemen/248121/
cp1a Am wichtigsten: Seuchen / Most important: Epidemics
(* A H)
Dengue fever has killed several people in Shabwa province (Southern Yemen)
https://twitter.com/FuadRajeh/status/1033122156782256130
(* A H)
Vereinte Nationen warnen vor möglicher neuer Cholera-Epidemie im Jemen
Der Jemen kämpft weiter gegen das Wiederaufleben von Cholera. Die UN warnen vor einer dritten möglichen Welle.
Die Vereinten Nationen sind besorgt, dass es eine „dritte Welle“ der Cholera-Epidemie im Jemen geben könnte. Seit April 2017 habe es mehr als 1,1 Millionen Verdachtsfälle gegeben, sagte UN-Sprecher Stèphane Dujarric am Mittwoch. Diese Zahl nehme weiter zu. Über 2300 Todesfälle seien bislang bekannt.
(* A H)
Film: #UN: #Yemen At Risk Of Third #Cholera Wave
The number of suspected cholera cases in #Yemen is reportedly increasing, raising concerns of a possible 'third wave' of the epidemic.
https://www.facebook.com/LivingInYemenOnTheEdge/videos/2097178840543912/
cp1b Am wichtigsten: Kampf um Hodeidah / Most important: Hodeidah battle
(* A B K P)
The U.S. Must Stop Enabling Saudi Coalition War Crimes in Yemen
The Norwegian Refugee Council condemned yesterday’s airstrike on civiliansfleeing Hodeidah.
The coalition’s Hodeidah offensive is forcing residents to flee by the hundreds of thousands.
Hodeidah’s residents are caught in a nightmarish situation: if they stay, they risk bombings, starvation, and disease, and if they flee they risk all of the same things. The coalition’s blatant disregard for civilian lives puts innocent Yemenis at risk of being killed no matter where they go.
The Saudis and their allies carry out one massacre of civilians after another with impunity because they believe there is nothing they can do that will jeopardize U.S. and other Western governments’ support for their war. So far, our government has done nothing to make them doubt that assumption. It is up to members of Congress to prove them wrong.
CNN reported on the latest massacre in a new story today.
Unless it is halted now, the coalition’s Hodeidah offensive will lead to many more attacks on civilians.
(A K pH)
In Hodiedah: A civilian was injured and two cars were destroyed by two airstrikes in citizen's farm in Durihimi district
https://english.almasirah.net/details.php?es_id=2410&cat_id=1
(A K pS)
Film: A #child was killed & several others wounded, including 3 with serious injuries, by a shrapnel of a ballistic missile launched by the #Houthi militia and fell on a small village in the district of Al-Duraihemi, south of the city of #Hodeidah.
https://twitter.com/RepYemenEnglish/status/1032731743319744513
(A K pS)
Houthi militias launch ballistic missile at village in Ad Durayhimi, Yemen
The Iranian-backed Houthi militias bombed the recently-liberated village of Al Ghalifqa in Ad Durayhimi District, Hodeidah Governorate, with an Iranian-made ballistic missile.
The attack, which killed a child and injured dozens of civilians
http://wam.ae/en/details/1395302704804
My comment: The rest is blaming ther Houthis – for things the Saudi coalition is committing on a daily basis.
(A K pH)
Naval Force Carries out Operation in Saudi Depth and Achieves Objective
The Naval Force of the Army and Popular Committees carried out Thursday a special operation inside Saudi Arabia for the first time, during which a military target was hit with undisclosed weapon.
According to a military source the special operation inside the Saudi naval depth hit its target accurately.
https://english.almasirah.net/details.php?es_id=2386&cat_id=1
and
(A K pS)
Arab coalition thwarts Houthi boat bomb targeting commercial ships off Yemen
The Arab coalition said on Thursday it had foiled an attack by Houthi militants using speed boats full of explosives to target commercial vessels.
Col. Turki Al-Maliki, spokesman for the alliance, said its forces managed to thwart the boat, which was launched from the shore near the port of Hodeidah.
http://www.arabnews.com/node/1360966/middle-east
My comment: They certainly targeted Saudi coalition warships. Other claims are propaganda.
(A K pH)
Series of strikes hit Hodeidah by Saudi aggression fighter jets
The US-Saudi-led aggression coalition fighter jets waged a series of strikes on western province of Hodeidah, an official told Saba on Thursday.
The strikes hit al-Duriehmie district, leaving in heave damage to the citizens' houses
http://www.sabanews.net/en/news506045.htm
(* A K pS)
Giants destroy dangerous explosives after foiled smuggling by sea to Houthis – Video
In coordination with the UAE forces operating in the Arab Coalition Forces in the Directorate of Al-Khoukhah south of Al-Hodeidah, a large quantity of gunpowder was destroyed and seized in the waters of the Red Sea. Its way to the militias Houthi after coming from the port of Zaila Somalia.
The media center of the giant brigades that "the giants of the Coast Guard was able to control two hundred and seventy-three barrels containing the substance of gunpowder explosion during a patrol in the waters of the Red Sea and after suspicion of one of the boats and seized him to clear that the boat was carrying explosive powder that militias were trying to smuggle from the port of Zaila Somali To Hodeidah through fishermen to be used in military operations. "
He pointed out that the committee formed of the Arab Coalition forces for inspection and examination, which in turn acknowledged the destruction and burning of all the barrels that have been seized of what may cause great danger to the lives of people and citizens.
http://barakish.net/news02.aspx?cat=12&sub=23&id=551601
film: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zcsJPeuYmEA&t=2s
and
The Coast Guards of Al-Amaleqah Forces have seized a fishing boat, carrying 273 barrel of a highly-explosive gunpowder off-coast the Red Sea, as it was heading towards #Houthis, coming from #Somalia to be used by the militia in their military operations. (photos)
https://twitter.com/RepYemenEnglish/status/1032383533694631943
cp1c Am wichtigsten: Saudische Luftangriffe töten 31 / Most important: Saudi air raids kill 31
(** A K)
26 Tote nach Luftangriff auf Zivilisten im Jemen gemeldet
Zum wiederholten Male sollen bei einem Luftangriff der von Saudi-Arabien geführten Militärkoalition im Jemen etliche Zivilisten getötet worden sein. Nach Angaben aus Kreisen der Huthi-Rebellen traf eine Rakete in der westlichen Provinz Hodeida ein Fahrzeug mit flüchtenden Zivilisten und riss 26 von ihnen in den Tod, darunter 20 Kinder. Bei den anderen Opfern handele es sich um fünf Frauen und den Fahrer, sagte ein Sprecher des von den Rebellen kontrollierten Gesundheitsministeriums.
http://www.vaterland.li/region/international/tote-nach-angriff-auf-zivilisten-im-jemen;art102,343895
Mein Kommentar: „sollen … sein“. So berichten dpa und damit alle deutschsprachigen Medien gleichlautend per C+P. Und bitte nicht mehr als ein paar Zeilen, passend für Seite 9.
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Saudi led-aggression warplanes kill 26 children,women in Hodeidah
Saudi aggression warplanes killed 22 children and 4women in Al-Draihmi district of Hodeidah province, an official told Saba on Thursday.
Saudi-led aggression warplanes killed 22 children and 4 women when they targeted their car in Al-Durihimy district
http://www.sabanews.net/en/news506102.htm
Comment: If the bombs used in the attacks were not US-made, they must have been British, French or Chinese.
https://twitter.com/FuadRajeh/status/1032796820852928512
Comment: They are bloodthirsty! I thought that the previous attack by #Saudi on school bus in #Saada will be the last one, but it seems that they like killing children.
https://twitter.com/AhmadAlgohbary/status/1032664496869978112
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Yemen airstrike kills 22 children fleeing earlier bombing, rebels say
Saudi-led coalition airstrikes killed 30 people, including 22 children, in a rebel-held area in northwestern Yemen on Thursday, according to the Houthi-controlled Health Ministry.
Four families were evacuating their homes in a vehicle when the airstrikes hit, according to Houthi-owned media. Earlier coalition airstrikes on Wednesday killed four people and injured two, according to two surviving family members who preferred to remain anonymous for security reasons.
"Four people were killed in the strike before, that's why they fled. They wanted to save their lives, their children's lives. Is nowhere safe for us?" one survivor said.
"Anything that moves dies," one resident of al-Duraihmi who didn't want to be named for security reasons told CNN. The area's proximity to the strategic city of Hodeidah has turned it into a major battleground, sustaining repeated airstrikes in recent days.
https://edition.cnn.com/2018/08/24/middleeast/yemen-airstrike-kills-children-intl/index.html
Comment: It's worth noting that uncapitalized, always vague "rebels" have a voice for the first time in a CNN headline
https://www.facebook.com/LivingInYemenOnTheEdge/posts/1895143647205323
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22 children, 9 women killed in Saudi-led airstrike on Yemen's Hodeidah: Houthi media
At least 22 children and nine women were killed in a Saudi-led airstrike on a camp of internally displaced families south of Yemen's Red Sea port city of Hodeidah on Thursday, Houthi rebel-controlled Saba news agency reported.
The air attack took place in the evening and targeted the camp in al-Durayhemi district, Saba said.
http://www.xinhuanet.com/english/2018-08/24/c_137413862.htm
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Saudi-led air strikes kill 27 civilians in Yemen's Hodeidah: Health official
Dozens of members of the same extended family trying to flee air strikes in Hodeidah were killed on Thursday when their vehicle was targeted by a purported Saudi strike, killing 27, most of whom were children, according to a health official.
The deaths followed an earlier strike on Wednesday night targeting a residential neighbourhood in al-Duraihimi district in the coastal city, killing four people and wounding others.
On Thursday morning, relatives of the victims of Wednesday's air strike decided to flee the area, which has seen intense fighting.
They rented an old pick-up truck, but their vehicle was targeted while it was barely 500 metres outside the al-Koie neighbourhood, according to the head of Hodeidah's health office Abdurrahman GarAllah.
"There were 27 in the car; most of them were children and all of them were killed by the air strike, in addition to four people who were killed on Wednesday night inside their house," GarAllah said.
He added that all the casualties came from the same family; the men had already fled earlier on Thursday with the injured people and only children and women were left in the houses.
Duraihimi has been inaccessible to aid groups, prompting residents to appeal to international organisations to intervene to open a safe passage for civilians looking to escape the violence, but the district remains under siege with daily battles blocking people from leaving.
"No one can enter Duraihimi to help civilians but the ICRC and they have not entered it yet, so civilians risk their lives to flee the city or relieve wounded," GarAllah told MEE.
"It is dangerous to stay in our houses, and it is even more dangerous to flee," a civilian in Duraihimi told MEE on condition of anonymity. "In all cases the war will target us, but I prefer to stay at my home waiting for my destiny".
He added that in addition to air strikes, rockets and mortars have targeted homes and civilians in Duraihimi.
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Film: Yemen: Air raids kill dozens of children
Iranian-backed Houthi rebels say at least 31 people, including women and children, were killed in an attack on their convoy in the western province of Hodeidah.
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2018/08/yemen-air-raids-kill-dozens-children-killed-180824101107598.html = https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=537Ty8lICNk
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Film: Caught on camera, the latest massacre committed by the Saudi led Coalition on civilians, some internally displaced and trying to flee.
31 members of the family of Abdullah Dahfash were killed.
5 strikes hit houses of Dahfash and his brothers killing 4
1 man, 4 women and 22 children, displaced in the morning, killed when the airstrike hit their vehicle. (Almasirah, 4.14]
https://www.facebook.com/LivingInYemenOnTheEdge/videos/2125529384432828/ = https://www.facebook.com/mohamad.alshami.90857/videos/pcb.131755804430310/131755744430316/?type=3
https://twitter.com/AhmadAlgohbary/status/1032742888575303681
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Films by Almasirah:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KtVFCup8xKI [4:14]
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=34KKaOyYN5s [1:24] and snipet [0:39] with English subs by NBC
Photos:
https://twitter.com/AhmadAlgohbary/status/1032751373572628482
https://twitter.com/AhmadAlgohbary/status/1032741990226649088
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Two Films: Yesterday late night, the coalition raided their home, in which several families lived, killing 4 children. Families decided to leave their home - early dawn they gathered on their pick up car and drove for about 500 meters from home when the the warplanes raided their car and killed them ALL & turning their bodies to heaps of scattered flesh - 22 children, 4 women, the driver, etc. Total victims 31 so far.
https://www.facebook.com/mohamad.alshami.90857/posts/131755804430310
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Yemen death rises to 31
All from family of Abdullah Dahfash
First strikes hit houses of Dahfash &his brothers killing4
27including22 kids, 4 women displaced in the morning to be all killed by other airstrikes on their car
Dead bodies still on the scene, even ICRC not allowed!
https://www.facebook.com/LivingInYemenOnTheEdge/posts/1893753400677681
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Yemen's Houthis say 26 killed in coalition airstrikes, UAE media blame Houthis
According to the Houthi movement’s Al Massira TV, 22 children and four women died in Ad Durayhimi, which lies about 20 km (12 miles) from the Red Sea city of Hodeidah.
The United Arab Emirates’ state news agency WAM said the Houthis had launched a ballistic missile, which resulted in the death of one child and injured dozens of civilians in Ad Durayhimi.
My comment: It seems the Houthi missile attack had nothing to do with the air raids, it happened earlier. Look at cp1b.
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20+ Yemeni Women and Children Killed in Saudi Coalition Airstrike
The attack struck people fleeing from Hodeidah, the vitally important port city that the coalition has been attacking for the last few months. Coalition airstrikes have killed displaced Yemenis in and around Hodeidah in the past, and now they are killing them as they try to flee the fighting. Two weeks ago, the coalition murdered over 50 people in a crowded marketplace in Dahyan in northern Yemen, and today they have committed another massacre of dozens of innocent Yemenis who were trying to get away from the disastrous coalition offensive on Hodeidah.
Today’s attack comes less than a day after Sen. Richard Shelby (R-AL) blocked Sen. Murphy’s amendment that called for a halt to all U.S. support for the Saudi coalition. It is just the latest in a string of coalition war crimes that the U.S. has made possible through its ongoing enabling of the bombing campaign. U.S. military assistance to the coalition allows them to carry out these crimes against Yemeni civilians and makes our government complicit in these senseless killings. The Senate needs to take up Sen. Murphy’s amendment and vote to end this despicable policy.
Update: The death toll from the attack has risen to 31.
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UN agency chiefs condemn Saudi-coalition led air strike that killed dozens in western Yemen
The UN humanitarian chief, Mark Lowcock, and the head of the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF), Henrietta Fore, have condemned the deadly air strike in Hudaydah governorate, in western Yemen, that killed at least 26 children and four women on Thursday.
“This is the second time in two weeks that an air strike by the Saudi-led Coalition has resulted in dozens of civilian casualties,” said Mr. Lowcock, noting that “an additional air strike in Al Durayhimi on Thursday resulted in the death of four children”.
Echoing a recent statement by UN Secretary-General António Guterres, Mr. Lowcock, who is the UN Humanitarian Coordinator, called for an impartial, independent and prompt investigation into these most recent incidents.
“I am also deeply concerned by the proximity of attacks to humanitarian sites, including health facilities and water and sanitation infrastructure,” he stressed, adding that “the UN and its partners are doing all they can to reach people with assistance”.
Similar shock was expressed by UNICEF’s Executive Director who stated that she had hoped that the “outrage that followed the Saada attack” two weeks ago would be “a turning point in the conflict,” and that these latest attacks indicate that it was not.
Mr. Lowcok highlighted the need for improved humanitarian access and for conflict-affected civilians to have the ability to voluntarily flee the fighting to access humanitarian assistance too.
Both officials called the parties to the conflict to respect their obligations under international humanitarian law and those with influence over them – the UN Security Council and the international community – to ensure that “everything possible is done to protect civilians”, and to “end this conflict once and for all”.
https://news.un.org/en/story/2018/08/1017742
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Al-Houthi: UN Shameful Attitudes Towards Massacres in Yemen Squanders Rest of Its Respect
The head of the Supreme Revolutionary Committee, Mohamed Ali Al-Houthi, condemned on Thursday the new war crime of the US-Saudi aggression targeting displaced people in Al-Durayhimi district in Hodeidah, killing 22 children and 4 women.
"International organizations and the United Nations have squandered their shameful attitudes towards the brutal massacres against the children and the people of Yemen for the rest of their face," Mohammed Ali Al-Houthi said in a statement.
He pointed out that targeting children and civilians is a consistent policy of the countries of aggression which is proceeding according to the mechanism and systematic followed in Yemen.
https://english.almasirah.net/details.php?es_id=2400&cat_id=1
cp2 Allgemein / General
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Interactive Map of Yemen War
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Film: HRW criticism of Saudi over Yemen ‘not enough’: Analyst
An analyst believes Human Rights Watch's criticism of Saudi Arabia is not enough given the magnitude of crimes being perpetrated by Riyadh in Yemen, adding that concrete action should be taken to stop the Saudi military aggression against the impoverished Arab nation.
“This is the least that could be done by the human rights group vis-à-vis all these war crimes and all these violations that are being perpetrated by the Saudi regime and its backers and supporters – the United States and many other Arab countries, including the United Arab Emirates, and other European countries such as Britain, France and others,” Mohammad Obaid told Press TV in an interview on Friday.
“What we need here is to have a criticism that would put an end to these crimes and to these violations… So a lot more needs to be done, a lot of more movements by the free peoples of the world are needed… to put an end to these violations,” he stated.
“What we need is movement in the streets to tell all the people of the world to stand up against these governments that are hypocrite, that are claiming that they are conducting investigations in some violations while at the same time they are providing arms, weapons and political cover to all these crimes that are being perpetrated by the Saudi regime in Yemen against the people,” he added.
https://www.presstv.com/Detail/2018/08/24/572118/Yemen-Saudi-Arabia-HRW-crimes-investigation
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Saudis Move to Behead Female Activist as Facebook Censors Anti-Saudi Content
Although Saudi Arabia has killed or injured several thousand women in neighboring Yemen, beheading a female is completely unprecedented inside the Kingdom thus far.
Saudi prosecutors are seeking the death penalty for a 29-year-old woman activist for crimes such as chanting slogans at a protest. Beheading a woman is unprecedented in the kingdom. Meanwhile, Facebook has sprung into action to protect Riyadh’s back by initiating a crackdown on hundreds of accounts posting anti-Saudi content.
Ghomgham and the other four activists face charges such as chanting slogans, attempting to inflame public opinion, and providing moral support to protestors. Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International have reportedly both spoke out on Ghomgham’s behalf.
Facebook has Riyadh’s Back in the Public Relations Department
Just as news broke about five activists, Facebook initiated a crackdown on anti-Saudi accounts — which also made headlines.
In fact, it appears that the Saudi regime and their Western counterparts in the United States have adopted the “Russian interference” hysteria as a strategy in their soft war against Iran. Facebook announced on Tuesday that it had removed 652 accounts which it claimed were promoting anti-Saudi, anti-Israel, and pro-Palestinian themes.
In addition to Facebook’s sweep, Twitter deleted nearly 300 accounts while Google and YouTube also deleted at least one. Facebook claims these accounts originated inside Iran from Tehran’s government itself — just like the hyper-inflated “Russian misinformation” campaign.
A private cybersecurity firm called FireEye tipped Facebook, Twitter, and Google off to the alleged accounts. The CEO of FireEye, Kevin Mandiant, is a former US Air Force officer with an extensive background in cyber espionage.
It’s very convenient for Riyadh that FireEye informed the tech companies about these alleged misinformation accounts on the very same day the news broke about Saudi plans to behead five new activists — and their first woman nonetheless.
And with FireEye’s ties to the US military, this is not surprising at all.
Saudi Reforms: Trying Non-Violent Activists in a Secret Court
According to Human Rights Watch, the activists will face trial in a secret setting known as the Specialized Criminal Court (SCC): a tribunal designed seemingly specifically for activists speaking out against the regime. Of course, anyone who condemns the regime Riyadh considers a terrorist — both at home and abroad.
Meanwhile, Mohammed bin Salman is portrayed in the media as a poster child for liberal reforms – by Randi Nord
https://www.mintpressnews.com/saudi-arabia-behead-activist/248162/
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A radioactive scan of the Atan area after the bomb proved that there were rays produced by depleted uranium bombs (document in image, Arabic)
https://twitter.com/hameedjahaf/status/1033117823231508480
Remark: Referring to the April 20, 2015 air raid at Sanaa: https://www.dw.com/en/most-powerful-explosions-in-saudi-led-airstrike-campaign-on-yemen-target-weapons/a-18393878 and https://www.dw.com/en/dozens-reported-killed-in-air-raid-on-yemen-capital-sanaa/a-18395154
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Ill Omen: Saudis Are Still Murdering Children in Yemen
It is also clear yet again that by arming the Saudis and protecting them diplomatically at the United Nations, the United States is directly responsible for the latest massacre in Hodeidah. As a major arms seller to Saudi Arabia, the US is yet again complicit in Saudi war crimes.
The Saudis could not do it without the United States and Amnesty International agrees
All this and more highlights, yet again, the urgent need for a comprehensive embargo on all weapons that could be used by Saudi Arabia and its cronies in Yemen, and for an international investigation to bring those responsible for these war crimes to justice.
Tragic enough, the international community is apt to be disappointed as it does not appear Washington or Riyadh put much stock in human rights. Instead, all we hear is joint bombing runs against civilian objects by these foreign actors, even though it flies in the face of long-standing international standards of conduct. After all, Oxfam says: “Due to US support of the Saudis, this is a Saudi-American military campaign, not just a Saudi campaign.”
Here, the hypocrites are deliberately promoting yet another humanitarian catastrophe, just like the disaster that is Syria. The Saudi warplanes would never be grounded because Washington has no intention to withhold its support for their atrocities, much less reverse its insidious policy, which has only encouraged further attacks against civilians.
The truth is, these reckless arms sales are the main driving force behind massive humanitarian and refugee crises, not just in Yemen, but also in Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria and Libya. Documented instances by various international rights groups and aid organisations, including the UN Human Rights Council, Amnesty International, Doctors Without Borders, and Human Rights Watch confirm all this and more. They say where the Saudi-led coalition has targeted civilians, munitions have continued to flow from the United States.
At a time when even American diplomats are working round the clock to sell American weapons to Saudis and their cronies, don't expect emotive calls for an arms embargo against Saudi Arabia any time soon, much less international scrutiny for the latest atrocities in Hodeidah or the US government being held to account to what it is doing in the name of War on Terror and “humanitarian” intervention in Yemen.
That will never happen. You will never see a humanitarian policy and strategy of ending the dirty war in Washington. But you will still continue to see one thing: The US government still arming and aiding the repugnant regime of Saudi Arabia, and the Saudis and their cronies still bombing and murdering displaced Yemeni children in broad daylight and in serious violation of the United Nations Charter.
http://en.farsnews.com/newstext.aspx?nn=13970602000769
My comment: From Iran – evidently true.
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Media Silent as US Aids Saudi Arabia in Bombing Children So They Can “Build Oil Port” in Yemen
Remark: Overview.
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Norwegian Refugee Council: No justification for killing of civilians in Yemen
The Norwegian Refugee Council is appalled by recent media reports of killings of civilians by parties to the conflict in Yemen.
Statement from the Norwegian Refugee Council's acting country director in Yemen, Suze van Meegen:
"We are appalled by conflict that appears entirely ungoverned by the laws of war and astounded at the silence of the many governments enabling it. We cannot comprehend any possible moral justification for killing civilians fleeing to safety as their towns become battlegrounds.
Attacks on civilians have become a deadly trend in Yemen's war. The new media reports of civilian casualties follow recent coalition strikes on a busload of school children that killed 51 people, and over three years of ceaseless violence from both parties to the conflict on homes, markets, hospitals, schools and farms.
More than 350,000 Yemeni people have fled violence along Yemen's west coast since the beginning of June, adding to the three million displaced through the course of the war. People forced to flee are not simply numbers, they are individuals forced to leave everything they have behind in an effort to stay alive.
This war is not only a Yemeni problem, it is a global one. The multiple nations supplying intelligence, arms and logistical support to enable the violence are implicated in a conflict that has killed thousands and will not subside without conscious and meaningful action.
The UK, US, France, Iran and all others contributing to the conflict in Yemen must use their influence to bring about an immediate and permanent end to the violence. We call on the countries funding and fuelling the war to ensure that civilians and civilian infrastructure are protected from attack, and that humanitarian aid is allowed to reach those who need it."
https://reliefweb.int/report/yemen/no-justification-killing-civilians-yemen
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IRC horrified by reports of Yemeni civilians killed during anti-Houthi operations in Durayhimi City yesterday
IRC’s Yemen Country Director, Frank McManus said: “With the first round of peace negotiations in Geneva now less than two weeks away, attacks like these will undermine the potential for progress. The international community must demand action - an immediate ceasefire should be agreed upon and a full, independent investigation into these events must be undertaken. But thus far, international silence in response to violations in Yemen has been deafening and it is allowing wanton disregard to civilian life to become the new normal in conflict. We are no longer shocked by acts of cruelty.
“Attacks on civilians and civilian infrastructure are the defining characteristics of the Yemen war, but we cannot become numb to such appalling acts of cruelty. It is far past time that the international backers of this war use their influence to stop the suffering of Yemeni people. Civilians must be protected. Humanitarian assistance must reach those in need. The US, UK, and France have leverage to alleviate suffering - they must use it. Yemen, and Yemenis, cannot wait.”
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Why Yemen Suffers in Silence
Yemen is suffering a major humanitarian crisis. How did the country get to such a precarious state, and why aren’t Americans paying more attention?
Since 2011, Saudi Arabia has sought to bolster its power and authority in the Middle East, and in the Arabian Peninsula in particular.
Saudi Arabia has taken this tactic [ starting a war in Yemen] thanks to its long-term alliance with the United States, America’s long-term diplomatic tensions with Iran, and the friendship of the Trump administration in particular.
A Shattered Social Contract
Yemen has been torn by civil war after mass protests in 2011, influenced by the “Arab Spring,” led a rival faction in the Yemeni army to remove longtime President Ali Abdullah Saleh from power. Civil order broke down, and several different groups came to assume regional control around Yemen. These groups held grievances long predating 2011. Many analysts see the mountainous terrain and tribal loyalties in Yemen as factors that automatically prevent the establishment of a stable Yemeni state and citizenship.
By contrast, research fellow Erwin van Veen focuses on the specific choices of Yemeni elites that have destroyed the social contract in Yemen—and the possibility for rebuilding institutions to achieve social justice.
The more powerful Yemen Arab Republic, or North Yemen, led by President Ali Abdullah Saleh, ended up dominating politics and the economy. As van Veen argues, this led to the destruction of institutions that achieved social justice in the country, through business corruption and the unraveling of tribal legal and social mediation. These are merely local examples of the neoliberal project of crushing the welfare state and privatizing resources, which was occurring everywhere in the world at the time.
The abandonment of the social contract led to protest and insurrection from many different Yemeni groups long before 2011. In the north, the Houthi movement has taken a more militant approach.
Southern separatists have coalesced in the Hirak movement, which has mostly expressed itself through protest and civil disobedience. A much more concerning trend has been the growth of Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) in the far southeastern deserts of Yemen
Why are these internal conflicts in Yemen important enough for Saudi Arabia to commit war crimes to determine their outcome? International Relations scholar May Darwich points out that the Yemen Civil War is the largest conflict in which the Saudi army has ever been involved.
Darwich asserts, rather, that this is the latest and strongest attempt by the Saudi state to defend its regional power and, most importantly, its prestige. The balance of power in the Middle East shifted after 2011 as political regimes surrounding Saudi Arabia crumbled. The Saudi monarchs defended their interests by backing anti-regime partisans in Syria, sending in troops to put down protests by the Shiʿi population in Bahrain, and loaning billions of dollars to Egypt.
It seems likely that the rise of right-wing politics around the world, including in the Trump administration, that regularly uses language dehumanizing its opponents has made the Saudi murder of Shiʿa “others” far easier. Rather than focusing on the sensational tabloid fodder of Trump’s scandals, the newsmedia would more effectively reveal the bankruptcy of this brand of politics by reporting this crisis and stressing the humanity of its victims – by Eric Schewe
https://daily.jstor.org/why-yemen-suffers-in-silence/
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Saudi Arabia May Want The World to Focus on The Humanitarian Crisis in Yemen
It is an open secret that while Saudi Crown Prince and de-facto ruler Muhammad bin Salman’s domestic reforms remain largely popular, especially among young Saudis, the war he directed in Yemen continues to be a lingering source of national embarrassment. The trouble is there is scarcely an easy way out for Saudi Arabia.
Compounding matters for Saudi Arabia is the fact that in the area that roughly corresponds to the borders of the former South Yemen, the Southern Transitional Council has become more influential, particularly in Aden than the internationally recognised and Saudi backed government of President Abdrabbuh Mansur Hadi.
Because Saudi Arabia’s partner in Yemen, the United Arab Eremites is largely supportive of the Southern Transitional Council which favours the restoration of an independent South Yemen, Saudi Arabia is now faced with the prospect of a perpetual stalemate in the former North Yemen.
From the Saudi perspective, Riyadh is there for ‘damned if it does and damned if it doesn’t’. The fact that this lurking reality of lose-lose damnation is the result of Saudi Arabia’s own making is a strong foundation for a moral analysis of the conflict but means little in practical terms.
Against this background, it could well be that Saudi Arabia hopes to outwardly internationalise the conflict in Yemen by passively facilitating the western media promulgation of the dire humanitarian situation in the country. Under such a strategy, some sort of ceasefire could eventually take place that would allow the Saudis to slip out from under the conflict which they stirred and then be replaced by international peace keepers whose presence would largely be acceptable to Riyadh so long as they were comprised of Riyadh’s American, European and African allies rather than Iran and its allies.
Such a scenario would see Saudi Arabia outsourcing its stalemate next door to international forces who would then have to contend with organising a political settlement that Riyadh would at this stage likely accept so long as it would not give Iran a foothold in Yemen.
This is not to say that western media reporting on the horrors in Yemen is to Saudi Arabia’s liking, but since Riyadh can still exert a great deal of control over western corporate media’s editorial policy, the danger of such media coverage getting out of hand can be easily minimised.
Taken in totality, it can therefore be reasonably surmised that even if not by design, Saudi Arabia may be content by default with western media raising the humanitarian issue in Yemen – ba Adam Garrie
My comment: I do not believe this.
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Hidden Wounds of Yemen’s War
The war in Yemen has reduced the country’s people to destitution, forcing many to beg for survival.
The world pays fleeting attention to atrocities like the Aug. 9 massacre of 44 schoolchildren on a school trip in Sada province in northern Yemen in a Saudi airstrike, but as the world does not watch, the war continues to destroy the bodies and souls of Yemen’s besieged people.
About nine million Yemeni families depended for their survival on the salary family members drew from public sector jobs. The Central Bank of Yemen was key to the distribution of their salaries. The Saudis got the Central Bank relocated in September 2016 from Sana to the southern port city of Aden, where the Saudi-allied Yemeni government is based.
Around that time, humanitarian groups warned against the move, but the government headed by Abdu Rabbu Mansour Hadi promised to maintain the bank’s policy of paying employees their salaries irrespective of their location in areas of the country controlled by the Houthis or the Saudi-led coalition.
That promise is yet to be kept, with some rare exceptions. More than a million public sector employees, who supported about nine million families, were left without salaries and reduced to living on handouts.
For the past three months, the desperation has grown since the Saudi-led coalition began its offensive to capture the western port city of Hodeida, through which most of Yemen’s imports and humanitarian aid enter the country. Half of Hodeida’s 600,000 people have fled.
As the war continues, the prices keep rising, as the value of the Yemeni rial continues falling against the dollar. The exchange rate has changed from 250 Yemeni rial for a dollar before the war to 550 Yemeni rial for a dollar.
The absence of jobs has forced a huge number of people to beg on the streets. At al-Rowaishan, one of the busiest roundabouts in central Sana, people reduced to begging move briskly from vehicle to vehicle during traffic jams, seeking help – By Shuaib Almosawa
and
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Yemen’s Invisible Victims
Shuaib Almosawa reminds us of the consequences of the disastrous decision by the Hadi government to relocate Yemen’s central bank to Aden.
Humanitarian groups warned against moving the central bank because they were certain that it would exacerbate Yemen’s humanitarian crisis, and it has done exactly that. The coalition blockade makes basic necessities prohibitively expensive, the bombing campaign devastates the infrastructure, and the “legitimate” government withholds the salaries that used to support millions of people. The result is deepening poverty and starvation. The coalition offensive on Hodeidah threatens to make these already abysmal conditions even worse by cutting off the vast majority of the population from their supply of food and fuel.
Frank Giustra and Robert Malley wrote earlier this week on the use of misery as a weapon of war, and they cite the coalition’s campaign in Yemen as a prime example
Every day that the U.S. supports the war on Yemen, it is supporting the cruel collective punishment and starvation of millions of people. The millions of victims of this policy are mostly unseen and unknown to the outside world, but they are no less casualties of war than those killed by bombs and shells. It is within the power of the Saudi coalition and its Western patrons to alleviate much of Yemen’s suffering simply by halting their campaign, lifting the blockade, and resuming payments to public employees, but they have to be willing to put an end to the horrors that they have done so much to cause. There is no reason to think that the Trump administration will ever do this, but it is possible that there are enough members of Congress sickened by this indefensible policy that they will finally put a stop to it. If they don’t, the disaster engulfing Yemen will grow ever more horrible – by Daniel Larison
https://www.theamericanconservative.com/larison/yemens-invisible-victims/
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Yemen War: The Truths That Still Bother International Conscience
The Saudi regime and its cronies, which gave us Al Qaeda and ISIL, continue to trump international law and any concerns about the lives of the besieged people in Yemen.
Here's a look at some other key points and truths about the illegal war that continue to bother any conscience:
- Under the fundamental rule of international law, Saudi Arabia and its regional cronies have no right to attack Yemen. They have no authorization from the UN Security Council and they are not acting in genuine self-defense. They offer no explanation for why their aggression would comport with international law. Without UN mandate, they have no right to act as unilateral cop or in alliance with others to strike Yemen.
- It is wrong to assume that the airstrikes on Hodeidah, supported by the US government, are peripheral. They are central to the balance of power within the Arab world, to tensions within the region, and are at the core of fears in the global oil market.
- The unjustified war has antagonized the people. The bombings have resulted in a large number of civilian casualties, spurring widespread anger in targeted Hodeida and other cities.
- The campaign failed to put back Hadi in his presidential palace. That’s the nature of any illegal war. Calling it anything resembling a proxy war is silly, since the Saudis aren’t acting by proxy. They want to occupy and rule.
- Backed by the US Army, Saudi-led warplanes are bombing the civilian infrastructure with little care for civilian life on the ground. They seek to salvage the US imperial policy by turning Yemen into a failed state; reinventing language to call this proxy war against Iran; and bombing the country into submission.
http://en.farsnews.com/newstext.aspx?nn=13970531000680
Remark: From Iran.
(* B K P T)
State Terrorism
In 2016, a UN Security Council report described a pattern of ‘widespread and systematic’ attacks on civilian targets by the Saudi-led coalition; the latest report finds ‘no evidence’ that appropriate measures have since been taken to mitigate the war’s impact on civilians. Coalition air strikes are responsible for most of the thousands of civilian deaths, and the humanitarian catastrophe into which Yemen has descended is caused in large part by a coalition blockade. Amnesty International has argued that the tightening of restrictions on imports ‘could amount to collective punishment of Yemen’s civilian population, which would constitute a war crime’.
It seems reasonably clear, despite official claims to the contrary, that the coalition is attempting to terrorise and collectively punish Yemeni civilians into turning on the Houthis. It’s difficult to think of another plausible explanation for this pattern of conduct, which is now well established and has been sustained throughout by the British state.
In the discourse of British foreign relations, the terrorist is assigned the role of the evil Other, in contrast to a virtuous and decent Britain. This externalisation of terrorism obscures the fact that indiscriminate violence against civilians, including violence calculated to terrorise them into specific behaviours, has long been a significant feature of British power in the world.
Since the end of formal empire, the direct use of terror to maintain the global system that British economic and state power benefits from is more likely to be outsourced to allies. The Arab uprisings at the start of this decade were the most serious recent challenge to that system, and local elites responded with particular viciousness.
Systems of power rest on a combination of coercion and consent. Among our political class, consent is freely given, based on a shared belief that the British state is a benign and enlightened force for good in the world, although it occasionally makes regrettable errors. For those at the rougher end of the system in the global south, the rawest forms of coercion have long been required to uphold the status quo. If our opposition to terrorism is principled rather than performative, we might usefully focus our energies on exposing and ending our own complicity in these disciplinary forms of violence.
https://www.lrb.co.uk/blog/2018/08/23/david-wearing/state-terrorism-2/
(* B K P)
How the Media Keeps Americans in the Dark about the Slaughter in Yemen
Worse – the British and US mainstream media is complicit in the cover-up of yet another atrocity in Yemen, like always!
Maybe the most dangerous reality of the Trump presidency might be the media’s obsessive want to over analyze every tweet, off-hand remark, and gaff made by the current occupant of the White House, which, in turn, places television news networks at the centre of what has been a more than a 3-year long psychodrama if you count the 2016 election campaign.
The media’s obsession with this obviously unhinged and deranged US President comes at the cost of informing the American public of the horrors that are occurring in their name and with their tax dollars in countries many voters can’t even find on a map.
While CNN and a handful of other mainstream television networks carried news of the Saudi coalition missile attack on the school bus, there has been almost no follow up, leaving the public totally in the dark about the role the US played in this war crime, and in what has been described as the world’s worst humanitarian crisis.
According to FAIR, a media analysis service, the left-leaning cable news network MSNBC has not run a single segment related to the conflict in Yemen since early 2017 but ran with more than 1,300 broadcasts regarding Trump’s probable but still speculated collusion with Russia during the 2016 election.
The US media demonstrates a proclivity to report on Yemen only when an American serviceman is killed, according to FAIR, with networks devoting substantial coverage to a botched raid on January 29, which left one US soldier dead alongside dozens.
On the August 9th strike in Yemen, the British media has fared no better. The Guardian, for instance, widely considered a “bastion of liberal values and humanitarian concern,” failed to feature the killing of 40 Yemeni children among its 13 headline stories, while the Independent failed to include it among its top 8 headlines, according to Middle East Eye – by C. J. Werleman
https://ahtribune.com/world/north-africa-south-west-asia/war-on-yemen/2433-media-keeps-americans-in-the-dark.html = https://www.globalresearch.ca/how-the-media-keeps-americans-in-the-dark-about-the-slaughter-in-yemen/5651428
cp3 Humanitäre Lage / Humanitarian situation
(* B H)
A country on the brink: millions starve in war-torn Yemen
More than eight million people are on the verge of famine, 500,000 of them are children fighting for their lives. In one former al-Qaeda stronghold, doctors speak to Bel Trewabout trying to battle hunger
The tiny babies are among 500,000 children under the age of five who are so severely malnourished they are fighting for their lives. A further 1.8 million children are also starving, according to United Nations children’s agency, Unicef. The number of malnourished children increases every day.
“My husband doesn’t have a job. He works day by day to try to get money to feed his kids, but it is not regular,” Hanan, a mother of three said, clutching the skeletal bundle.
She appeared embarrassed to admit she struggles to feed her family, and talked quietly of trying to find baby milk to feed Mohamed.
“We just came in today. We can’t stop his diarrhoea,” she added, trailing off.
Abha Abdalla, director of the hospital, said it has had a flood of new cases since al-Qaeda was ousted from Mukalla by Gulf backed Yemeni forces in 2016. With the militants – and thus the battleground – corralled into the hills around central provinces like Ma’rib and Al Bayda, many families here in Hadramawt province have finally felt it safe enough to move around.
“Starvation definitely increased under al-Qaeda, because the area suffered massively from deteriorating economic conditions and a lack of aid during that period,” said Dr Abdalla, who like many women was forced to give up work and go into hiding under the previous regime.
The hospital, one of the main medical centres for women and children in the area, is struggling to treat the flood of cases because it has six beds. The centre, which has limped through three years of war, was hit by Cyclone Chapala in 2015, which destroyed the children’s ward.
“We are trying our best, but until very recently we could only take in 11 malnutrition cases a month,” she added.
Despite the challenges, there are local initiatives supported by international agencies trying to move mobile clinics around the country, according to Dr Khalil Bamatraf.
A young female medic in Mukalla, Dr Bamatraf was forced to don a niqab and work in segregated hospitals under al-Qaeda. She was repeatedly threatened by militants for being critical of the group.
Two years on, and with limited funds, she tries to access the sick and starving in the most rural areas of Hadramawt, places like Hajar and Addis al-Sharqia, where the nearest hospital can be a five-hour journey away.
Dr Bamatraf described how some families she met were so desperate for food they lived off emergency medical pouches handed out for minors.
“We had given pouches with nutrients to feed the children, but instead of feeding the children they used it as the main meal for themselves,” she told The Independent – by Bel Trew
My comment: The author is a journalist “embedded” to UAE forces. The main reasons for the humanitarian catastrophe and for the medical disaster are not made clesr at all. – The article shows that malnutrition and the downbreak of medical treatment even affect the “liberated” parts of Yemen which never had been hurt by the Saudi coalition war against the Houthis. This devaluates the UAE / Hadi government propaganda about the sort of paradise they are creating in “liberated” Southren Yemen. – It’s somewhat odd to put a lot of blame on Al Qaeda as it is done here. Public services had detoriated in the South in places like Mukallah when these places still were under Hadi government control. When Al Qaeda seized these places, in many cases public services even had improved. – In this article again in some way the intention to paint actual UAE control in a positive colour is shining through.
(* B H)
UNICEF Yemen Humanitarian Situation Report (July 2018)
The fighting that erupted in areas in and around Al Hudaydah in May 2018 has continued into July leading to the displacement of 47,230 households as at 24 July. UNICEF continues its emergency WASH response to displaced communities in al Hudaydah and surrounding areas.
Following the Oral Cholera Vaccine (OCV) vaccination campaign in south Yemen in May, UNICEF Yemen has commenced preparation of a new campaign in the north of Yemen (scheduled for August) to protect an additional 540,595 people (over 1 years of age).
UNICEF continues to enhance its resource mobilisation for the incentives of more than 143,000 teachers who have not been paid for over two years, in order to continue education in north Yemen. With the new schoolyear set to start in September, 3.7 million children may be at risk of missing out on a new school year.
Compared to June, child casualties have increased by more than 70 per cent in Taizz, Sadaa and Hajjah: the UN Country Task Force documented and verified the killing of 21 children (13 boys; 8 girls) and the maiming of 82 children (51 boys; 31 girls), as well as four attacks on schools and one attack on a hospital.
The verified cases took place mainly in Taizz, Sa’ada, Al Hudaydah and Hajjah.
https://reliefweb.int/report/yemen/unicef-yemen-humanitarian-situation-report-july-2018
(* B H)
UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs: Yemen: Maps: Different Hubs - District Access Severity as Perceived by Humanitarian Actors (as of August 2018)
(* B H)
Cancer patients: the other victims of Yemen's war
The World Health Organization (WHO) said around 35,000 people have cancer in Yemen, with about 11,000 cases diagnosed each year.
“It is very difficult to find medicines, and if you find them in the market, they’re too expensive and citizens cannot afford them,” said Mohammed Al-Emad, accompanying a relative going for treatment in the capital Sanaa.
The Saudi-led alliance has imposed stringent measures on maritime trade to Yemen in an effort to choke off arms supplies to the Houthis
The National Oncology Centre in Sanaa admits around 600 new cancer patients each month. But it received only $1 million in funding last year from state entities and international aid groups, the head of the center, Ahmed al-Ashwal, told Reuters.
The few beds available at the center are reserved for children. Other patients receive treatment intravenously, while sitting on dilapidated recliner chairs or in the waiting area.
The WHO said that prior to the conflict, the center used to receive $15 million a year from the state and that the budget was used to purchase chemotherapy medications and anti-cancer drugs for oncology centers across the country.
“Now, the National Oncology Centre is totally relying on the fund provided by international organizations, including WHO, and some charitable organizations or businessmen as the government fund has been disrupted for around two years,” it said in a statement emailed to Reuters.
The head of the Al-Amal Centre for Cancer Treatment, Yasser Abdullah Noor, said the center is struggling to provide care to its more than 5,300 patients in Hodeidah and was in danger of shutting down without government support.
“A center that provides care to thousands of patients cannot operate on donations and grants alone.”
For a picture essay, click on: reut.rs/2MKIArq
(* B H)
Film: Yemen war: More than eight million on verge of starvation
It is estimated almost 18 million people lack access to good, nutritious food and 8.4 million are on verge of famine, as they simply do not know where their next meal is coming from.
Yemen as one of "the worst humanitarian disasters in modern times".
The civil war has left millions struggling to afford basic goods.
It is estimated that 8.4 million Yemenis are on the verge of starvation, with many more eating just one small meal a day.
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2018/08/yemen-war-million-verge-starvation-180822084840002.html = https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cYmkgmm9qYc
and more films on this subject:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=axzUyM6pl6o
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yQsjM_dfU9Y&t=3s
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wfCCNREjzGY&t=4s
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=npk7tfKyXok
cp4 Flüchtlinge / Refugees
(B H)
Residents of Korea's Jeju island talk about Yemeni refugees
More than 550 Yemeni asylum seekers are on South Korea's Jeju island, and local residents have mixed feelings.
But the arrival of Yemenis, mostly from Malaysia - to which they fled from war-torn Yemen - sparked an online outcry and protests on the island, as well as the capital, Seoul.
The refugees are barred from leaving Jeju and entering mainland South Korea and are only permitted to work on farms, the sea or restaurants, often doing long hours of manual labour. Some complain of not being paid after working for more than a month.
More than 700,000 South Koreans filed an online petition urging the government to stop its visa-free policy for Yemen.
Protesters demanded the government to refuse asylum and deport the Yemenis.
A recent survey of more than 500 Jeju residents revealed almost 90 percent felt insecure about going outside since the arrival of the Yemenis.
Al Jazeera spoke to Jeju residents to see how they felt about the asylum seekers and what the Korean government's next steps should be.
(* B H)
UN High Commissioner for Refugees: For displaced Yemenis, ‘eco huts’ provide shelter from the elements
Housing built from mud, dung and grass have given shelter from rain and summer heat for thousands of families in Abs.
Since civil war erupted in Yemen in 2015, more than three million people have been driven from their homes by the conflict, with more than two million of those still displaced within the country.
The northwestern costal governorate of Hajjah is home to around a fifth of all displaced Yeminis, with most originating from other areas within the governorate. It has the highest percentage of displaced families living in pre-existing urban and rural settlements, creating a need for additional shelters.
To accomodate some of the most vulnerable, UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, is building 4,700 so-called “eco huts” in Abs, a town on the coastal plain in Hajjah Governorate.
The shelters are designed and built with the help of displaced Yemenis using traditional construction methods and materials.
“UNHCR has chosen this type of shelter because (it) is the best shelter, suitable with the environment of Abs,” says Faiz Harmal, an engineer with UNHCR.
The huts are made from mud, dung and grass. As well as keeping out the rain, the materials insulate against extreme heat and dust driven by the wind (with film)
http://www.unhcr.org/news/stories/2018/8/5b7d3cbd4/displaced-yemenis-eco-huts-provide-shelter-elements.html = https://reliefweb.int/report/yemen/displaced-yemenis-eco-huts-provide-shelter-elements
film also here: https://www.facebook.com/LivingInYemenOnTheEdge/videos/1921895181206030/
(* B H)
Domestic abuse adds to Yemeni refugee women's woes in Djibouti
NGOs and refugees say women can face economic and physical abuse, but fear speaking out due to stigma.
She adds other refugee women are abused by their husbands, but fear speaking out due to the stigma associated with domestic abuse.
"We are suffering from tradition," Hafsa says. "Before the war, we were suffering many troubles, many problems from the society itself in Yemen, the people and the pressure from traditions. The war came just to push us out to come to Djibouti, but it is the wrong place," she adds.
"We feel weak and vulnerable and attackable."
Refugees tell Al Jazeera the conditions are harsh - with limited money, food, employment or future hope - but for women, they can be even worse. Aid groups and other NGOs in the camp say women can face economic, physical and even sexual domestic abuse.
There is almost no data on gender-based violence against refugees in Djibouti. UNHCR has no recorded incidents at the camp since it was started in April 2015. The head of the agency in Djibouti said that a recent report from a senior protection officer who interviewed a female resident found there was no sexual gender-based violence except for one instance of sodomy between children.
But professionals and refugees say women must first overcome cultural stigma and fear of repercussions to report violence and abuse.
cp6 Südjemen und Hadi-Regierung / Southern Yemen and Hadi-government
(A T)
Yemeni explosives expert killed while defusing bomb in Aden
Device was planted in a busy district of Yemen's temporary capital
A bomb planted in the southern Yemeni city of Aden killed an explosives expert and severely injured four others as they were trying to defuse it on Thursday.
The bomb was planted near a restaurant in a busy area of Sheikh Othman district in north Aden, said Maj Gen Qiad Halboob, executive director of the Yemen Mines Action Centre.
(* A P)
Locals prevented the construction of four Saudi military facilities in al Mahrah governorate on August 21. Locals have been protesting Saudi Arabia’s military presence in the governorate and criticizing Saudi Arabia for not working through existing local officials. The governor of al Mahrah ordered the arrest of organizers of the anti-Saudi protests on August 22.[1]
and
(* A P)
Film: Yemenis shut down construction of Saudi military base
Locals are protesting against the base amid growing suspicions that new Saudi-funded infrastructure projects aim to boost Riyadh's tarnished image.
A community in southeast Yemen has shut down construction of a Saudi military base in the area.
It is one of a growing number of Saudi-funded infrastructure projects springing up in Yemen, which has been devastated by years of war.
But local people are sceptical of Saudi motives.
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2018/08/yemenis-shut-construction-saudi-military-base-180823102906465.html = https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sOukFrdZSw8
(A P)
Ben Brik: Muslim Brotherhood Should Be Eliminated Regardless the Costs
Sheikh Hany Ben Brik, vice president of the Southern Transitional Council, indicated that if Muslim Brotherhood remains in office, this will lead to the lose of the country and people. Then regret will do no good.
In a tweet on his official account on tweeter, Ben Brik added: “Muslim Brotherhood penetration into the states requires a real revolution without retreat or mercy according to a systematic synchronous quick plan”.
Ben Brik demanded a revolution to eliminate Muslim Brotherhood from political life especially as they managed to reach high rank positions and targeted everything. He demanded this revolution to come regardless the costs are.
https://en.smanews.org/ben-brik-muslim-brotherhood-should-be-eliminated-regardless-the-costs
Remark: Southern separatists rally against Islah Party, which is backing the Hadi government.
cp7 UNO und Friedensgespräche / UN and peace talks
(* B P)
MOVING FORWARD
The UK’s seat at the UN Security Council represents an opportunity to form the basis for negotiations between the two most prominent Yemeni parties to help end the conflict but one which has not yet been seized. Helen Lackner discusses.
The war, now well into its fourth year, is a complex convergence of struggles whose synergy has contributed to the country achieving the undesirable record of being the world’s worst humanitarian crisis.
The UK retains a major role in the Yemen conflict in different ways: it is a significant contributor of humanitarian funding. Politically, at the UN, its seat as a permanent member of the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) has entitled it to the position of pen-holder for the Yemen file. Despite stated concern about the fate of Yemenis and the disastrous humanitarian situation, the UK has not yet done the one thing which could help bring at least the international aspects of this war to an end: namely, submit a new resolution which would enable the recently appointed UN Special Envoy, a British citizen, to bring the conflicting parties to the negotiating table. As representative of the UN Secretary General, he can only act within the framework of relevant UNSC resolutions, and particularly resolution 2216. Voted on in April 2015, it both endorses the continued presidency of Abdo Rabbo Mansour Hadi (his term officially ended in 2014), and the military intervention of the Saudi-led coalition.
In practice, this means that it both justifies Saudi-led coalition actions and demands the effective surrender of the Huthi movement. This explains why Saudi Arabia rejects any change and why it is completely unacceptable to the Huthi movement who are in control of the lives – as well as suffering and death – of the majority of Yemenis.
The UK’s seat at the UNSC represents a significant opportunity to form the basis for real negotiations between the two most prominent Yemeni parties but one which has not yet been seized. Why is this? Is it to ensure continued Gulf Cooperation Council investment in Britain post-Brexit? Or continued profitable arms sales? Since the Saudi-led intervention started in March 2015, the UK has licensed more than £4.6bn in arms sales to the country, including £2.7bn of aircraft, drones and the like and £1.9bn of ammunition (grenades, bombs, missiles etc.) – by Helen Lackner
https://fabians.org.uk/moving-forward/
Comment: Our question: how could the #UK have any say in a hypothetical peace process when it is arming the Saudis to the teeth and in the Coalition's control room? Upsetting to read 'The UK retains a major role in the #Yemen conflict in different ways: it is a significant contributor of humanitarian funding. Politically, at the UN, its seat as a permanent member of the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) has entitled it to the position of pen-holder for the Yemen file'
https://twitter.com/YemenEdge/status/1033082168241729536
(* A B P)
Squandering opportunities for peace is also a war crime in Yemen
The upcoming UN peace talks present an invaluable new window for negotiating peace, writes a Yemeni journalist.
September 6th has the potential to become either a landmark date, or another disheartening marker for Yemenis.
In two weeks' time, peace talks will resume in Geneva under the auspices of the United Nations.
But the upcoming UN-sponsored peace talk - if taken seriously - could shorten the path to peace.
The UN envoy sparked a sense of optimism among many in Yemen when he announced that the solution was "available" and that the opposing sides would convene in Geneva on 6 September. His announcement revived the possibility of reaching a political solution after two years of steady demise.
Common sense dictates that it is imperative for the political rivals in Yemen to listen to the request of the UN envoy, heed his message and head to the negotiating table with good will, in order to close the chapter of war, and initiate a new one of peace and rebuilding.
Bridging the political divides between the Houthis and the internationally recognised government is a Herculean task. Given the dead end several previous peace talks have arrived at, the warring sides have lost faith in negotiations and continue to have shaky trust in the power of talks to break the stalemate.
While many 'traditional' war crimes have been committed in Yemen over the last three years, squandering any window for peace is also an unforgivable crime. The time is ripe for ceasing the genocide, poverty and displacement that have for too long gripped this war-wracked country.
After more than three years of absolute disregard for human life in Yemen, the warring parties can decide to be humane, put weapons aside and give room to creative peaceful resolutions. Just as they decided to go to war, so can they have the resolve to end it.
https://www.alaraby.co.uk/english/comment/2018/8/22/a-precious-opportunity-for-peace-in-yemen
(* A B P)
Ending Yemen’s never-ending war
Mr Griffiths has now sent formal invitations to the warring parties to attend a new round of consultations in Geneva on 6 September. They will be the first talks in two years, after two failed rounds. "The good news is, the government of Yemen wants to do this. And the Ansar Allah leadership does too," he says, using the official name of the rebel Houthi movement that took control of the capital Sanaa in 2014 and forced President Abdrabbuh Mansour Hadi to flee abroad the following year. Mr Griffiths, who took on his new role in March, is the third UN special envoy since 2011, when an Arab Spring uprising forced long-time leader Ali Abdullah Saleh to hand over power to Mr Hadi.
"There's anger and defiance," explains one official closely involved in the UN's new effort to find a negotiated solution to Yemen's appalling plight. "The Houthis have been threatening not to attend because they fear the investigation into this attack will not be credible."
"The bus attack will certainly add to pressure on Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates to move toward a negotiated end to the war," assesses Joost Hiltermann of the International Crisis Group. "But I'm not convinced that this will be decisive."
Earlier this year, Mr Griffiths' sustained shuttle diplomacy and the anguished appeals of aid agencies averted an all-out assault by pro-government forces on the vital Red Sea port of Hudaydah, and the adjacent city, currently in Houthi hands.
The bar has deliberately been set low for this next round of talks in Geneva. But some observers see rare glimmers of hope.
"There's fatigue," points out one analyst following the process closely. "Yemenis are exhausted by this conflict."
Geneva will only be talks about talks, an informal discussion only among Yemenis.
The ambition is to move gradually towards more substantive negotiations in a broad process that draws on dialogue in backchannels, shuttling between capitals, and engagement with Yemenis across civil society.
Mr Griffiths describes the goal as a "transitional political operation under a national unity government... and security arrangements for the withdrawal of all armed groups."
"Geneva will be a beginning," says Mr Griffiths. "Even a beginning is good."
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-45270225
(* B P)
Aucune grande puissance ne veut parvenir à la paix au Yémen, selon un expert
["French diplomacy has been more active in helping Saad Hariri go home than in stopping the worst humanitarian crisis in modern history!" Said Farea Al-Muslimi, president of the Sanaa Center for Strategic Studies.''
in French]
"La diplomatie française a été plus active pour aider Saad Hariri à rentrer à la maison que pour stopper la pire crise humanitaire de l'histoire moderne!", estime Farea Al-Muslimi, président du Centre d'études stratégiques de Sanaa.
Comment la France, les Européens, les Occidentaux peuvent-ils faire pression sur les belligérants ?
La diplomatie française a été plus active pour aider le Premier ministre libanais Saad Hariri (qui était retenu à Riyad, ndlr) à rentrer à la maison que pour stopper la pire crise humanitaire de l'histoire moderne !
Mais la France - tout comme l'Union européenne - peut faire quelque chose dans ce conflit. Elle apparaît neutre, même si elle ne l'est pas, est politiquement à mi-chemin entre Téhéran et Washington et possède un siège permanent au Conseil de sécurité de l'ONU, ce qui pèse beaucoup. Pourquoi les Européens devraient-ils agir ? Parce que le détroit de Bab el-Mandeb, voie de passage des pétroliers, menace d'être fermé à cause de la guerre au Yémen.
Pour l'heure, ce conflit ne suscite pas beaucoup d'intérêt parce qu'il ne génère pas de flots de réfugiés vers l'Europe. Pas encore. Mais vous pourriez finir par payer aussi le prix de cette guerre.
(A P)
Jemen: Armee lässt 19 Gefangene frei
Im Zuge eines Gefangenenaustauschs haben die jemenitische Armee und die Volkstruppen 19 Gefangene der von Saudi-Arabien geführte Kriegskoalition freigelassen.
Diese Gefangenen wurden in zwei Phasen mit jemenitischen Gefangenen in Ma'arib, im Zentrum des Landes ausgetauscht, teilten die Armee und das Volkskomitee Jemens mit.
Der Gefangenenaustausch wurde dem Bericht zufolge nach monatelangen Verhandlungen unter Vermittlung der lokalen Regierungsverantwortlichen durchgeführt.
http://parstoday.com/de/news/middle_east-i43061-jemen_armee_lässt_19_gefangene_frei
cp7a Saudi-Arabien und Iran / Saudi Arabia and Iran
(* B P)
Buch: Michael Lüders: Armageddon im Orient
Wie die Saudi-Connection den Iran ins Visier nimmt
Der Orient kommt nicht zur Ruhe. Während die Kämpfe vor allem in Syrien andauern, zeichnet sich bereits der nächste Konflikt ab: Präsident Trump und seine Verbündeten nehmen den Iran ins Visier. Dahinter steht auch ein Machtkampf zwischen Riad und Teheran. Michael Lüders schildert die Ursachen des Konflikts seit dem 18. Jahrhundert und erklärt, warum der Westen einseitig Partei ergreift. Unter Obama wurde 2015 das Atomabkommen mit dem Iran geschlossen. Doch obwohl Teheran sich erwiesenermaßen an alle Verpflichtungen hält, bricht der Konflikt jetzt erneut auf. Warum ist das so? Ist der Iran wirklich ein «Schurkenstaat»? Welche Rolle spielen die engen wirtschaftlichen Verflechtungen zwischen den USA und Saudi-Arabien, die sogenannte «Saudi-Connection»? Und gibt es tatsächlich eine religiöse Feindschaft zwischen Sunniten und Schiiten? Gewohnt anschaulich und pointiert erklärt Michael Lüders die Konflikte und macht deutlich, warum der Region ein neuer dreißigjähriger Krieg droht.
http://michael-lueders.de/armageddon-im-orient/ = https://www.chbeck.de/lueders-armageddon-orient/product/24603116
(A K P)
Iran holds supporters of Yemen aggression accountable
Iran's Foreign Ministry spokesman Bahram Qasemi categorically condemned the bombardment of Yemeni displaced women and children on Friday, saying the arms supporters of the aggressors need to be held accountable.
http://www.irna.ir/en/News/83010502
Comment: If Iran and Hezbollah condemn the daily slaughter of #Yemen-i children, the world takes it as a military support to #Ansarallah and it backfires Yemen.
This is what this war has brought: sanctification of the aggressors
https://www.facebook.com/LivingInYemenOnTheEdge/posts/1895158427203845
cp8 Saudi-Arabien / Saudi Arabia
(* B P T: Fernsehfilm am Montag Abend)
Saudi Arabien - Milliarden für Islamisten
Die USA sehen das Königreich als einen ihrer wichtigsten Verbündeten im Kampf gegen den islamistischen Terror. Doch wie glaubwürdig ist der Anti-Terror-Kampf Saudi-Arabiens? Regisseur Mike Rudin geht dieser Frage nach.
Die Dokumentation geht der Frage nach, wie glaubwürdig der Anti-Terror-Kampf Saudi-Arabiens tatsächlich ist. Das Königreich versorgt Rebellen in Syrien mit Waffen und führt einen Stellvertreterkrieg im Jemen, um den Einfluss des schiitischen Iran zurückzudrängen. Und es pumpt Milliarden nach Europa, vor allem nach Bulgarien und nach Bosnien, finanziert Moscheen, unterstützt fundamentalistische Muslime und treibt so die Islamisierung auf dem Balkan voran.
Montag, 27.08.2018, 22.45 Uhr, Wh. Di 01.55 Uhr und 04.55 Uhr
https://tv.orf.at/orf3/stories/2931900/
(B P)
#MBS controlled #Saudi Monarchy state security apparatus tortures Shia Arab protest activist Bashir AlMutlaq to death. Torture to death is now highest in the country's history due to #MBS fascist nature.
https://twitter.com/AliAlAhmed_en/status/1033055983289999360
(* B E P)
Subsidizing Basic Commodities in the Gulf Arab States: Distortive and Regressive
The Gulf Arab countries allocate a large amount of funds toward subsidies for basic commodities, which include energy, water, and various foodstuffs. These policies are counterproductive and should be phased out: They impose a large financial burden on the state at a time when fiscal responsibility is a priority; they systematically support the rich rather than the poor; they distort prices in a manner that leads to overconsumption and the adverse consequences of the overconsumption are compounded in that many of the subsidized commodities have negative effects on the environment. This paper uses economic theory to demonstrate the negative implications of subsidies.
http://www.agsiw.org/subsidizing-basic-commodities-in-the-gulf-arab-states-distortive-and-regressive/ and full study http://www.agsiw.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/Ubaydli_Subsidies_Online.pdf
Comment: Well it does seem ridiculous that wealthy people get electricity and water for free, when poor people all over the world can't afford it. The trouble is its become a sort of bribe to encourage people to follow their leaders, as they don't have a democratic option to change leaders.
https://www.facebook.com/judith.brown.794628/posts/10156946434073641
(* B E P)
Shelved Aramco IPO hits at heart of Saudi prince's reforms
Saudi Arabia’s decision to shelve what was billed as the biggest share sale ever is a major blow to the credibility of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman but there are other ways to finance reforms to strengthen the economy, bankers and investors say.
The initial public offering (IPO) of 5 percent of state-owned oil giant Saudi Aramco was a centrepiece of the crown prince’s plan to diversify the kingdom’s economy beyond oil by raising $100 billion for investment in other sectors.
The decision to shelve the IPO raises doubts about the management of the process as well as the broader reform agenda, sapping the momentum generated by Prince Mohammed’s dramatic 2030 Vision announcement in 2016 that helped propel him to power in the world’s top oil exporter.
(A E P)
Saudi Arabia to apply for $12 billion loan after Aramco IPO stalls: FT
Saudi Arabia’s sovereign fund is set to borrow up to $12 billion from international banks after IPO plans for state energy group Saudi Aramco were put on hold, the Financial Times reported, citing sources.
(* A P)
Saudi Arabia plans to execute first female political activist
Public prosecutor’s decision sets a ‘dangerous precedent’ for women activists in the kingdom, human rights watchdog says
Human rights activists are campaigning to save the life of the first woman in Saudi Arabia to be sentenced to death over her political activism.
Israa al-Ghomgham, 29, was arrested along with her husband Moussa al-Hashem in December 2015 for their roles in organising anti-government protests in eastern Qatif province in the aftermath of the Arab Spring.
In a hearing at Riyadh’s specialised criminal court earlier this month, the public prosecutor recommended Ms Ghomgham and five other defendants face beheading under anti-terrorism legislation.
Activists are now lobbying for the decision to be reversed at an appeal scheduled for October. If the recommendation is upheld, the ruling will be passed to King Salman, who usually ratifies all capital punishment in the kingdom.
(A E P)
Exclusive: Aramco listing plan halted, oil giant disbands advisors - sources
Saudi Arabia has called off both the domestic and international stock listing of state oil giant Aramco, billed as the biggest such deal in history, four senior industry sources said on Wednesday.
cp9 USA
Siehe / Look at cp1
(B K P)
Pentagon says we are helping with targeting to keep civilian casualties down. So I guess without US munitions and refueling the Saudis would have killed, oh, maybe 131, including 122 kids? If we would double munitions and enhance the fuel, deaths would fall more next time?
https://twitter.com/Doug_Bandow/status/1033034445878644736
(* B K P)
Donald Trump’s Moral Atrocity in Yemen
How many more weeks must go by before Americans start caring about the Saudi slaughter there?
But what never seems to be discussed—on the campaign trail, in the media, on Trump’s Twitter feed—is the conflict in Yemen. And even then “conflict” isn’t really the right word. More like massacre. Or genocide.
It’s a human rights catastrophe that—despite the fact that America has no quarrel with Yemen or the Yemeni people—President Trump is subsidizing. With its most recent deal to arm the Saudis costing the U.S. over a billion dollars, small government conservatives should be much more concerned about the price tag of this bloody foreign intervention. Despite a 37 percent increase in civilian deaths during the first half of 2018, the Trump administration has continued to provide the Saudi regime with arms, spare parts, maintenance, and fuel.
You’ll notice that major outlets like the New York Times covered Thursday’s tragic school bus bombing, but opted not to emphasize America’s support for the Saudi airstrikes. That’s even though the attack could have been carried out by a jet refueled by the American military (it’s been reported that the U.S. isn’t even tracking the jets it refuels).
While the Saudis are said to be responding to a takeover of Yemen’s capital, Sanaa, by the Houthis, whom they see as Iranian proxies, it’s hard to see what bombing, starving, and impoverishing Yemeni civilians has to do with pushing back Iran’s regional influence. And it’s even harder to see a moral justification for the U.S. to enable such reprehensible actions. The cost of Saudi support goes beyond mere dollars; it takes a heavy toll on our character.
It isn’t just Donald Trump (or his predecessor Barack Obama who began this support) whose character is sullied every day that the U.S. backs the Saudis. For three years now, the war that politically minded Americans have been most concerned with is the culture war.
Trump ignores his role in the destruction of Yemen, yes. But why do we let him control the conversation? How can a country maintain a realistic moral foreign policy if no one wants to discuss what’s really happening? Whose fault is it that Jeong and Jones trend on Twitter more than Yemen (or any arms deal or bus bombing) ever has?
My point isn’t exactly that we need to tone down the outrage—anger, like any emotion, has its time and place. The point is that, when I read about what’s happening in Yemen, and when I look at what’s happening to Yemen, I believe it’s the time and place – by Cory Massimino
https://www.theamericanconservative.com/articles/donald-trumps-moral-atrocity-in-yemen/
(* B K P)
The beautiful & damned: Washington’s hypocrisy exposed as children die from sanctions and missiles
Every time a Trump administration official pontificates about this or that, a TV split-screen should simultaneously show the heart-rending burial scenes of Yemeni children killed earlier this month by US-supplied Saudi warplanes.
Not just Yemen. How about children starving in North Korea from US economic sanctions? Or Syrian infants living in refugee camps, forced from their homes by US-backed militants? Or Iranian babies facing the toll of vindictive American policies?
Not just the Trump administration. Every American administration has shown the callous ability to allow the killing of children en masse, either through war or economic siege
So, when President Trump and his officials, like ambassador to the UN Nikki Haley, or his National Security Advisor John Bolton, stand in front of cameras and lecture other nations about “violations” and the “need to change behavior”, television viewers around the world would find it instructive to simultaneously keep in their mind’s eye the horror that these same American officials are responsible for in Yemen and elsewhere.
If it’s not weapons of war, then US economic sanctions are also responsible for currently killing untold numbers of children around the world.
Arguably, the United States government is liable for war crimes prosecution for its complicit role in conducting indiscriminate air strikes in Yemen, as well as for its barbaric use of an economic blockade on North Korea. The US has been finessing this barbarity with its embargo on Cuba for over 50 years. It has imposed similar sanctions currently on several other countries, including Syria and Venezuela.
Washington wants to extend its economic aggression to Iran and Russia by cutting off their ability to conduct international trade. Although Russia’s economy may be strong enough to withstand the pressure, the pernicious principle is the same: Inflicting damage on people’s livelihoods and health, especially on the most vulnerable – children.
If Trump and his officials can tearfully mourn “beautiful babies,” then where is their compassion for the children who are being killed in other countries?
Evidently, some children are “beautiful” and some are “damned,” to borrow the title of an F. Scott Fitzgerald novel. Those infants that are damned –millions of them– are the ones belonging to countries that Washington has a problem with.
The blatant moral duplicity of American rulers suggests they no longer have the authority to speak on anything. Every time they open their mouths, the images of slaughters from Yemen, or elsewhere, should be flashed on TV screens, with a public warning that a barefaced, sociopathic liar is about to pontificate – by Finian Cunningham
https://www.rt.com/op-ed/436728-yemen-north-korea-trump/
(* A K P)
Exclusive: U.S. withdraws staff from Saudi Arabia dedicated to Yemen planning
The U.S. military has withdrawn from Saudi Arabia its personnel who were coordinating with the Saudi-led air campaign in Yemen, and sharply reduced the number of staff elsewhere who were assisting in that planning, U.S. officials told Reuters.
Fewer than five U.S. service people are now assigned full-time to the “Joint Combined Planning Cell,” which was established last year to coordinate U.S. support, including air-to-air refueling of coalition jets and limited intelligence-sharing, Lieutenant Ian McConnaughey, a U.S. Navy spokesman in Bahrain, told Reuters.
That is down from a peak of about 45 staff members who were dedicated to the effort full-time in Riyadh and elsewhere, he said.
The June staff withdrawal, which U.S. officials say followed a lull in air strikes in Yemen earlier this year, reduces Washington’s day-to-day involvement in advising a campaign that has come under increasing scrutiny for causing civilian casualties. A Pentagon statement issued after Reuters disclosed the withdrawal acknowledged that the JCPC, as originally conceived, had been “largely shelved” and that ongoing support was limited, despite renewed fighting this summer.
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-yemen-security-usa-saudiarabia-idUSKCN10U1TL
as a reminder, photos: https://www.facebook.com/judith.brown.794628/posts/10156945579613641
(A P)
U.S. is committed to Canada, Saudi Arabia ties amid spat: State Dept.
U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo told Canadian Foreign Minister Chrystia Freeland that the United States was committed to its close partnerships with both Canada and Saudi Arabia, his spokeswoman said on Thursday amid a diplomatic spat between the two U.S. allies.
My comment: Might-be he is right: Ethically, the USA really is standing just in the middle between two states like Canada and Saudi Arabia…
(* A B K P)
This Is the Political Moment to Stop Supporting the Saudi War in Yemen
Washington’s fingerprints are all over this, and Americans are rightfully asking why. There’s no good answer, only a litany of reasons the United States should end our intervention in Yemen forthwith.
On the legal front, U.S. involvement in Yemen was never authorized by Congress as the Constitution demands. In fact, it was never substantively debated in Congress at all. And Congress shows no sign of revisiting this failure: This year’s National Defense Authorization Act, passed overwhelmingly by both House and Senate and signed into law by President Trump last week, will continue to subsidize the Saudi war effort through 2019. The bill’s provisions on Yemen went all but unnoticed on Capitol Hill.
From a strategic viewpoint, facilitating this war contributes nothing to American security. This has been evident from the beginning.
Yemen’s war, a local concern thousands of miles from our shores, cannot harm vital U.S. interests. If anything, Washington’s support for the coalition intervention has made Americans less safe, contributing to a power vacuum where al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, or AQAP, which is focused on 9/11-style attacks in the West, can flourish.
In the years since Austin’s revealing comment, it has become increasingly impossible to deny, in the words of Stephen Seche, a former U.S. ambassador to Yemen nominated by President George W. Bush, that foreign interference in Yemen “has made not just the region, but the world, less safe.”
“It is not the responsibility of the United States alone to resolve this crisis,” Seche continued, “but American leadership is needed to bring it to an end. We shouldn’t mistake the absence of headlines for an absence of urgency.”
The tragedy of this school bus bombing has brought the headlines, and it should bring urgency, too. The United States could help resolve this crisis if Washington were willing, but now is the time to act.
https://www.defenseone.com/ideas/2018/08/political-moment-stop-supporting-saudi-war-yemen/150742/
(* A P)
Despite Effort by Sen. Chris Murphy, GOP Rejects Call to Curb US Funding for 'Slaughter of Yemeni Kids'
Republicans objected to Senate's "big chance to slam on the brakes and stop our role in enabling the suffering in Yemen."
U.S. Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) on Wednesday denounced as "mind blowing" the decision to "continue to willingly participate in the slaughter of Yemeni kids" after Republicans objected to his amendment to the Defense Appropriation bill that would have put key restrictions on U.S. financial and othe support for the Saudi-led bombing campaign. The amendment "would cut off United States' support for the Saudi Arabia-led coalition's war in Yemen until the Secretary of Defense certified that the coalition's air campaign is not violating international law and U.S. policy related to the protection of civilians," a press statemnt from Murphy's office states.
Win Without War had called the amendment "our big chance to slam on the brakes and stop our role in enabling the suffering in Yemen." Yet Sen. Richard Shelby (R-Ala.), chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee, objected to Murphy's amendment, despite saying that "what's going on in Yemen is atrocious."
Speaking on the Senate floor next to a photo of a Yemeni community center bombed when a funeral was underway, Murphy gave a damning assessment of the catastrophe the U.S. has helped fuel. "The United States is a key player in this bombing campaign," he noted. The amendment doesn't even put a full stop on U.S. support but merely requires "the administration to certify that civilians aren't intentionally getting targeted in contravention of U.S. law before we continue to support this funding," Murphy said. "The fact of the matter is the majority of the civilian casualties are caused by the side that we are supporting," Murphy said.
"The campaign is not expediting a political end," he argued. "It is prolonging the misery and giving more opportunity for our mortal enemies there, the terrorist groups to get stronger and stronger."
"We are radicalizing a generation of Yemeni children against us and that will have implications for U.S. National security for years to come," he warned.
and speech in film: https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=63&v=w_hx1EYLKZY
other report: https://www.mintpressnews.com/gop-continues-funding-yemen-war/248132/
and
(* A P)
Republicans Block Murphy’s Antiwar Amendment on Yemen
Today Connecticut Sen. Chris Murphy attempted to introduce an amendment that would cut off all military assistance to the Saudi coalition, but the amendment was blocked from coming to the floo.
Republican leaders have done whatever they could to stymie all efforts to rein in and end U.S. military support for the Saudi coalition, and this maneuver is just the latest example of their shameful behavior. Opposing the war on Yemen is very important and necessary work, and it is imperative that more members of Congress join Sen. Murphy and the others seeking to end the war.
There is no justification for the ongoing U.S. participation in the wrecking and starving of Yemen. In addition to being illegal and unauthorized involvement in a foreign war, U.S. support for the Saudi coalition is profoundly unjust and contributes to the suffering and deprivation of millions of innocent people.
Supporters of U.S. policy in Yemen cannot honestly defend what our government is helping to do to the people of that country, and so they would rather duck the debate and block the chance to vote.
cp10 Großbritannien / Great Britain
Siehe / Look at cp7
(* B P)
Save the Children: YEMEN BUS ATTACK: WHY THE UK MUST SPEAK OUT
When I visited the country earlier this year, I met children taught in sweltering tents because their schools had been destroyed. I visited clinics where health workers were performing heroics just trying to provide the most basic healthcare. Water and sanitation facilities have been damaged – contributing to the largest cholera outbreak in recorded history – and food and fuel supplies have been strangled, pushing 8 million people to the brink of famine.
This week, the newly appointed Foreign Secretary, Jeremy Hunt described the attack as “truly awful” but also stated that Saudi Arabia is an important ally in the war against terrorism and that the UK would raise concerns in private conversations, rather than through “megaphone diplomacy”.
Condemning an attack that is a violation of international humanitarian law is not megaphone diplomacy; it is essential if we want to live in a world in which the basic rules on which the world’s most vulnerable children’s protection depends are upheld.
Through consistent condemnation of attacks on civilians – just as we have seen the UK Government do countless times in Syria and South Sudan – the UK would send a powerful signal that attacks on civilians are never acceptable and the deaths of children should never be accepted as legitimate “collateral damage”.
Last week, the FCO Minister Mark Field stated that the UK is “working so hard with its international partners to cherish and protect” the international rules-based system. This is welcome news – and was strongly reflected in the Foreign Secretary’s speech in Washington this week. But the discrepancy between these statements and the UK’s approach towards its allies involved in the conflict in Yemen is stark.
The silence from the UK on attacks like this one, and its steadfast refusal to suspend arms sales to parties to the conflict despite the clear risk that they may be used in violations of international humanitarian law, undermine this very same system and the values that we cherish. It creates a sense of impunity – enabling actors who violate the rights of children and other civilians to do so again and again.
In order for these rules to endure, there must be a line and the UK must say so – even when it is our allies that cross it.
https://blogs.savethechildren.org.uk/2018/08/yemen-bus-attack-why-the-uk-must-speak-out/
(* A E P)
Jeremy Hunt silent as Saudi Arabia plans its first execution of a female human rights activist
Saudi Arabia’s public prosecutor wants to execute five people known for their peaceful activism. One of the five is Israa al-Ghomgham – a long-standing human rights activist. She’s the first woman to face execution for defending human rights in the authoritarian Saudi Arabian regime.
International outrage is growing to prevent the executions. But so far, UK foreign secretary Jeremy Hunt seems to have remained silent on the matter. In fact, on 21 August, he even praised Britain’s “close” relationship with the Saudi regime. As the UK government continues to chase trade deals – including arms – with Saudi Arabia, meaningful action seems unlikely.
(* B E P)
Andrew Smith: Raytheon influence is an institutional problem, not just a party-political one
The Scottish Parliament must set a vital precedent across the UK by sending the message that war profiteers are not welcome in the corridors of power
THE NEWS that a Scottish Government Minister met with the world’s fourth biggest arms company, Raytheon, took many by surprise. So did the fact that the same company has been given almost £200,000 worth of grants from Scottish Enterprise.
The surprise was even greater when factoring in that Raytheon makes the Paveway missile guidance equipment that Saudi forces are using in the devastating bombardment of Yemen. In fact, much of the equipment is made in the factory that the Business Minister, Paul Wheelhouse, visited.
Public money and the levers of government should not be used to boost the profits of companies that have caused as much death and destruction as Raytheon. It is not just another engineering company - it is one of the world’s biggest arms companies.
One outcome of the party-political nature of the coverage is that it has avoided the far more serious point: that support for the arms trade is not just a party-political issue, it’s an institutional one. Arms company executives may have individual political preferences, but they will try to work with whoever is in power, and will put a great deal of resources into trying to influence politicians and governments at all levels.
All across UK politics, the influence of this network of relationships has helped to shift government priorities in favour of private commercial interests and led to the public interest becoming conflated with corporate interests. This has given arms companies a totally disproportionate voice in the corridors of power.
If arms sales to repressive regimes were to be reduced (or even better, to end) then it will need people from all parties and levels of government to work together to promote alternative employment. This isn’t only important from the perspective of declining jobs in the arms industry, but also to offer up a real alternative and the promotion of companies and sectors that are not involved in the production of weapons.
(A E P)
Yemen school-bus airstrike: Theresa May’s husband’s company has shares in firm that made bomb
Capital Group, the company that employs Theresa May’s husband, owns a large number of shares in the company that produced a bomb which killed 40 Yemeni children in a Saudi Arabian attack on a school bus.
https://www.rt.com/uk/436562-may-lockheed-martin-yemen/
cp12 Andere Länder / Other countries
(A K P)
Hezbollah slams Saudi’s latest carnage in Yemen
Lebanon’s Hezbollah resistance movement condemned the latest crime committed by the Saudi-led coalition in Yemen that led to the deaths of more than 30 civilians, mostly children, in the western province of Hudaydah.
Hezbollah in a statement expressed condolences to the Yemeni nation and leaders and families of the victims, stressing that their “pure blood will be victorious over the swords of the slayers”.
“The blood of the students (killed in the August 9 attack) in Hudaydah had not dried before the aggressive US-Saudi coalition launched another massacre in which tens of children and women lost their lives,” it deplored.
Hezbollah further referred to the world silence on the continued crimes of the Saudis against the oppressed people of Yemen and called on the international community to stand up to the brutal aggression.
Comment: Where are the other 'Muslim Brothers'? Busy helping the Coalition?
Where is the Arab League?
Where is the civil society of the Gulf?
Where is the Ulema?
Where is the world when children have become the primary war targets in #Yemen?
https://www.facebook.com/LivingInYemenOnTheEdge/posts/1895150763871278
(A P)
Russia says working on Putin visit to Saudi Arabia: agencies
Russia is preparing for President Vladimir Putin to visit Saudi Arabia after he received an invitation from Saudi King Salman, agencies cited Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Bogdanov as saying on Friday.
(* A P)
Canada PM says in diplomatic talks with Saudi Arabia
Canada’s Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said on Thursday that his government is engaging diplomatically with Saudi Arabia, but did not back down on his concerns about human rights, two weeks into a spat over Ottawa’s calls for the release of Saudi activists from detention.
“We continue to engage diplomatically with Saudi Arabia, I think it’s important to have positive relationships with countries around the world,” Trudeau told reporters after Cabinet meetings in British Columbia.
Trudeau was responding to a question on reports that Saudi Arabia’s prosecutor is seeking the death penalty against rights activists.
“At the same time - we have expressed our concern with the sentence handed down by Saudi Arabia, our concern for defending human rights and our shared values all around the world,” he added.
cp14 Terrorismus / Terrorism
(A T)
New video by #AQAP-linked media group explains #Yemen war as part of global US-led war on #Islam. Heavily critical of #UAE for helping USA, corrupting tribes, assassinating imams & buying intel. Exploits women’s protests vs security abuses. Much old footage, incl droned leaders (images)
https://twitter.com/Dr_E_Kendall/status/1032966754375557121
(* B T)
Tony Cartalucci: US-Saudis Enlist Al Qaeda For Yemen War
However, the US has failed to make a case as to what threat Iran constitutes that is equal or greater to the threat posed by Al Qaeda. It was supposedly Al Qaeda, not Iran that hijacked airliners and crashed them into the World Trade Center in New York City and the Pentagon in 2001 – tipping off a now nearly two decade-long “War on Terror.” In fact – Iran has invested blood and treasure in fighting and defeating Al Qaeda and its proxies, including the self-proclaimed “Islamic State” in both Syria and Iraq – contributing directly to both terrorist organizations’ defeat.
It would appear that if Iran is involved in Yemen, it is also clearly fighting against Al Qaeda there as well.
And while the AP investigation presents a coalition of convenience between Al Qaeda and the US-backed Saudi-led coalition – the truth is that Saudi Arabia itself is the original “Islamic State,” having sponsored the perversion and abuse of Islam via Wahhabism since its inception, the recruitment and indoctrination of extremists through a global network of madrases funded by Riyadh sine the Cold War, and the direct arming and backing of terrorist organizations including Al Qaeda as they wage war in Libya, Syria, Iraq, and Yemen.
The US for its part, also – knowingly and willingly – is aiding and abetting Al Qaeda, using them as auxiliaries to fight where US troops cannot either for political or practical reasons.
This is not merely a recent arrangement wrought from stark realism, this was a plan that has been developed over the course of at least three US presidencies – George Bush, Barack Obama, and now Donald Trump.
It was in Seymour Hersh’s 2007 New Yorker piece titled, “The Redirection Is the Administration’s new policy benefitting our enemies in the war on terrorism?” which revealed (emphasis added):
To undermine Iran, which is predominantly Shiite, the Bush Administration has decided, in effect, to reconfigure its priorities in the Middle East. In Lebanon, the Administration has coöperated with Saudi Arabia’s government, which is Sunni, in clandestine operations that are intended to weaken Hezbollah, the Shiite organization that is backed by Iran. The US has also taken part in clandestine operations aimed at Iran and its ally Syria. A by-product of these activities has been the bolstering of Sunni extremist groups that espouse a militant vision of Islam and are hostile to America and sympathetic to Al Qaeda.
Hersh’s article too made a clear link between Al Qaeda extremists, the Muslim Brotherhood and the US and Saudi sponsors preparing both for what his sources claimed was a “cataclysmic conflict.”
Thus Al Qaeda forming the backbone of the US-backed, Saudi-led war in Yemen, or Al Qaeda fighting Washington’s proxy wars in Libya or Syria is no mere coincidence or accident, or even just a recent phenomenon emerging from growing Western desperation to “contain Iran,” but part of a long-planned geopolitical gambit aimed at eliminating Washington’s competitors and establishing itself as sole hegemon over the MENA region – by Tony Cartalucci
https://thedailycoin.org/2018/08/22/tony-cartalucci-us-saudis-enlist-al-qaeda-for-yemen-war/
(B T)
Der Bombenbauer Bin Ladens ist tot – oder?
Wegen Hassan al-Asiri darf man keine Flüssigkeiten ins Flugzeug nehmen. Auf sein Konto gehen mehrere Terroranschläge. Nun soll der gefürchtete Saudi tot sein.
Nun verdichten sich die Informationen, dass er beim Angriff einer US-Drohne im Jemen in der zweiten Jahreshälfte 2017 getötet worden ist. Zuerst wurde die Information in einem UNO-Bericht publik, inzwischen bestätigten jemenitische Stammesleute aus der Provinz Marib und Regierungsmitarbeiter dies, ebenso mehrere Regierungsquellen in den USA. Dort warnten allerdings andere Geheimdienstler, die Hinweise seien nicht eindeutig. Eine Bestätigung durch al-Qaida gibt es bislang nicht.
cp15 Propaganda
(A P)
Saada Governor: Legitimate Forces Determined to Liberate All of Yemen from Houthis
Governor of Yemen’s Saada region Hadi Tarshan al-Waily stressed on Friday that the legitimate forces, backed by the Saudi-led Arab coalition, is determined to liberate the entire country from the clutches of the Iran-aligned Houthi militias, reported the Saudi Press Agency.
He told a meeting of tribal leaders from Saada, the Houthi stronghold, that the national army had captured Wadi Khab, Umm Naeera, Gharb Umm Sarouf, Jabal Tayban, Aaqabat Dhaher and Aaqabat al-Kharban from the Houthis.
He added that the legitimate forces will soon raise the national flag on top of the Miran Mountains.
Residents will soon enjoy peace, security and stability, he said.
My comment: The “governor” appointed by the Hadi government. – Saada province is the part of Yemen which had been most horribly destroyed by Saudi coalition air raids. “Residents will soon enjoy peace, security and stability“: This can be looked at in Aden.
(A P)
Yemeni Army Chief of Staff Praises Arab Coalition's Role in his Country
The chief of staff of the Yemeni national army Taher Al-Aqeeli has praised the role of the Arab coalition led by the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia in fighting Al-Houthi militia.
He told commanders of the second military area in Hadramout, east of Yemen that the citizen is the first man of security.
https://www.spa.gov.sa/viewfullstory.php?lang=en&newsid=1801289
(A P)
UAE Armed Forces serve us proudly
The Yemen mission is difficult, but our men in uniform know they are building a better future for all
For the past 40 months, an international coalition led by Saudi Arabia has been acting on foot of a series of resolutions from the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) to restore the legitimate government of President Abd Rabbo Mansour Hadi in Yemen and to end the reign of terror wrought by Al Houthi rebels and other groups such as Al Qaida and Daesh there. The Armed Forces of the UAE are playing a key role in the international coalition, working on the ground in difficult conditions to restore peace and stability to our Arab brothers, to help build a better future for Yemen.
The mission in Yemen is a taxing one, requiring no let-up in facing down the threats posed by Al Houthis. At the same time, terrorist groups such as Al Qaida and Daesh are all too ready to take advantage of any vacuum on the ground to further their murderous agendas. Added to this, a difficult and challenging humanitarian mission must also be undertaken, one that goes hand in hand with restoring and developing a lasting infrastructure. And the UAE too must ensure that the people of Yemen will be able to endure in the long-term, serviced by professional police and security forces that are now being trained and assisted by the UAE Armed Forces.
https://gulfnews.com/opinion/editorials/uae-armed-forces-serve-us-proudly-1.2269841
My comment: An UAE propaganda roundup.
(A H P)
More Saudi coalition „We are benefactors“propaganda
https://reliefweb.int/report/yemen/erc-distributes-food-parcels-ghayl-bin-yamin-yemen
https://reliefweb.int/report/yemen/erc-provides-eid-meat-people-yemens-ad-durayhimi-and-al-munthar
cp16 Saudische Luftangriffe / Saudi air raids
Siehe / Look at cp1c
(* A K pH)
Aggression’s Daily Update for Friday, August 24, 2018
The US-Saudi Aggression continued on Friday to launch raids on various Yemeni provinces and regions, killing and wounding a number of civilians and damaging public and private properties.
In Saada: A civilian was killed by an airstrike targeted his house in Al-Dhaher district.
Also in Saada US-Saudi aggression launched 6 raids on Baqem district, 5 raids on Al-Dhaher district, a raid on Al-Hajla area, two raids on Bani-Sayah area, a raid on Al-Azhoor area in Razih district and a raid on Al-Safra district. Saudi Army targeted with missiles and artillery shells different areas in Razih, Baqem, Munabeh, Shida and Al-Dhaher border districts, damaging civilians' houses and farms.
In Hodiedah: A civilian was injured and two cars were destroyed by two airstrikes in citizen's farm in Durihimi district.
In Hajja: Aggression launched 3 raids on Hairan district and over 25 raids on Haradh and Medi during past 48 hours.
https://english.almasirah.net/details.php?es_id=2410&cat_id=1
(A K pH)
Aggression’s Daily Update for Wednesday, August 22, 2018
https://english.almasirah.net/details.php?es_id=2371&cat_id=1
(A K pH)
3 Citizens Killed by US-Saudi Aggression Strikes in Hajja
On Wednesday, 3 citizens were killed and others were injured by US-Saudi aggression raids that targeted a citizens house in Abs district, in Hajja governorate.
https://english.almasirah.net/details.php?es_id=2376&cat_id=1
http://www.sabanews.net/en/news506051.htm
and as claimed by a pro-Saudi coalition source:
(A K pS)
A number of #Houthi militia fighters, including a senior leading figure, were killed in a coalition airstrike that targeted them while they were having a meeting in a house in the Bani Hasan area of Abbs district in the province of #Hajjah.
https://twitter.com/RepYemenEnglish/status/1032376735398940672
(A K pH)
More Saudi coalition air raids recorded on:
August 23:
www.sabanews.net/en/news506045.htm Hodeidah p.
August 22:
http://www.sabanews.net/en/news505988.htm Saada p.
(* B H K)
A YEMENI TRAGEDY IN THREE PHOTOS: EID AL-ADHA LAST YEAR, SAADA SCHOOL BUS MASSACRE, EID AL-ADHA THIS YEAR
The heart can only take so much. And you’ll be hard-pressed to stop yours from breaking after reading the following and taking it in. This is Zayd Hussein Tayyeb. He’s an Ansarullahi medic from the holy city of Dahyan in Yemen’s Saada. He’s saved countless lives on the northern Yemeni front, both civilians and fighters. On the left he is pictured with his younger brother Yusuf and his three sons, Ahmed, Ali and Hassan on Eid al-Adha last year. A family united. A family intact. Although the criminal, barbaric war and siege brought upon the Yemeni nation by US-UK-‘Israeli’-backed Saudi Arabia raged all around them… They stayed together and found a way to observe Islam’s second holiest celebration.
Fast forward to the present when tragedy struck. That’s the middle photo. On August 9th, the monstrous, blood-drenched House of Saud bombed a school bus full of children in Dahyan as it passed through a market back to summer camp .
As he had done so many times before, Mr. Tayyeb rushed to the scene minutes after the American-Saudi-Zionist crime to help recover the bodies of martyrs and assist with the injured in hopes of preventing anymore deaths.
Mr. Tayyeb combed through the wreckage looking for survivors and instead… Found his son. Dying inside but persevering nevertheless, he solemnly carried the child’s broken and battered frame to safety.
Then he found his other son. Then his brother, who had been chaperoning the picnic the children departed from before the Wahhabi tyrants took their lives. That he had the strength not to shatter after finding his slaughtered kin and then also continue to help other devastated parents… is proof positive that chivalry is far from dead. Indeed, chivalry’s very essence is Yemeni.
Now for the snapshot on the right–Eid al-Adha 2018. Only a father and his youngest son remain. A family in pieces. A family destroyed.
https://www.fort-russ.com/2018/08/the-war-being-hidden-from-you-yemeni-tragedy-in-3-photos/
cp17 Kriegsereignisse / Theater of War
Siehe / Look at cp1b
(A K pH)
a civilian was killed and his son was injured with missiles bombing targeted Baqem district, A civilian was killed in Ghammar district by Saudi border guard gunshot.
https://english.almasirah.net/details.php?es_id=2410&cat_id=1
(A K pS)
Four civilians were injured, including #children, all from one family, by #Houthi sniper, who was stationed at Tabah Al-Dhahb in the city of Taiz. This when residential areas in the city are subject 2 Houthi random shelling. (photos)
https://twitter.com/RepYemenEnglish/status/1032731743319744513
(* A K)
Yemen government forces move to 'cut the head off the snake' in Houthi hideout
After three days of fierce fighting, fighter says pro-government forces poised to battle Houthis on their mountainous home turf
Under the cover of Saudi-led coalition air strikes, pro-Yemeni government forces were advancing on a Houthi stronghold in northwest Yemen near the Saudi border on Thursday after recapturing “dozens of kilometres” of territory from the group.
Successfully retaking the Marran district in the Saada governorate - where Houthi leader Abdul Malik al-Houthi and other prominent members have lived in hard-to-reach mountain hideouts for decades– would be a major symbolic victory for pro-Hadi forces.
On Tuesday, as Yemenis celebrated Eid, Al-Oroobah forces, a pro-Hadi brigade, led attacks on the district from four different directions, according to the state-run Saba News Agency and 26 September, the Yemeni army website. The operation, nicknamed ‘Cut the head of the snake’, was only publicly announced on Wednesday.
and
(A K)
Hadi government forces began assaulting the village of Maran in Sa’ada governorate from four positions on August 22. Maran is the hometown of al Houthi movement leader Abdul Malik al Houthi. Hadi government sources claimed to kill numerous al Houthis and capture heavy equipment.[2]
and
(A K)
Al Houthi forces declared a state of emergency in the Maran area of Sa’ada governorate, northern Yemen, according to Saudi and Emirati news. Hadi government forces backed by the Saudi-led coalition began an offensive on villages surrounding Maran on August 22. Al Houthi forces reportedly withdrew a number of their leaders from the area.[2]
(* A K pH)
More Saudi coalition shelling recorded on:
August 22:
http://www.sabanews.net/en/news505988.htm Saada p.
cp18 Sonstiges / Other
(-)
Eid at Taiz, images
https://twitter.com/Qays2254/status/1032640170275811328
https://twitter.com/Zero_Emad/status/1032617346924507136
(* B P)
The New Arab Order
Power and Violence in Today's Middle East
n 2011, millions of citizens across the Arab world took to the streets. Popular uprisings from Tunis to Cairo promised to topple autocracies and usher in democratic reforms. For a moment, it looked as if the old Middle Eastern order was coming to an end and a new and better one was taking its place. But things quickly fell apart. Some states collapsed under the pressure and devolved into civil war; others found ways to muddle through and regain control over their societies. Seven years later, those early hopes for a fundamental, positive shift in Middle Eastern politics appear to have been profoundly misplaced.
But the upheaval did in fact create a new Arab order—just not the one most people expected. Although the Arab uprisings did not result in successful new democracies, they did reshape regional relations. The traditional great powers—Egypt, Iraq, and Syria—are now barely functional states. Wealthy and repressive Gulf countries—Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates—are thriving. The proliferation of failed and weakened states has created new opportunities for competition and intervention, favoring new actors and new capabilities. Regional dynamics are no longer determined by formal alliances and conventional conflicts between major states. Instead, power operates through influence peddling and proxy warfare.
In almost every Arab state today, foreign policy is driven by a potent mixture of perceived threats and opportunities. Fears of resurgent domestic uprisings, Iranian power, and U.S. abandonment exist alongside aspirations to take advantage of weakened states and international disarray—a dynamic that draws regional powers into destructive proxy conflicts, which sow chaos throughout the region. Any vision of the region finding a workable balance of power is a mirage: the new order is fundamentally one of disorder.
The catalog of despair in the Middle East today is difficult to fathom. The Syrian civil war has become one of the greatest human catastrophes in history, killing at least half a million civilians and displacing more than ten million. Iraq
n 2011, millions of citizens across the Arab world took to the streets. Popular uprisings from Tunis to Cairo promised to topple autocracies and usher in democratic reforms. For a moment, it looked as if the old Middle Eastern order was coming to an end and a new and better one was taking its place. But things quickly fell apart. Some states collapsed under the pressure and devolved into civil war; others found ways to muddle through and regain control over their societies. Seven years later, those early hopes for a fundamental, positive shift in Middle Eastern politics appear to have been profoundly misplaced.
But the upheaval did in fact create a new Arab order—just not the one most people expected. Although the Arab uprisings did not result in successful new democracies, they did reshape regional relations. The traditional great powers—Egypt, Iraq, and Syria—are now barely functional states. Wealthy and repressive Gulf countries—Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates—are thriving. The proliferation of failed and weakened states has created new opportunities for competition and intervention, favoring new actors and new capabilities. Regional dynamics are no longer determined by formal alliances and conventional conflicts between major states. Instead, power operates through influence peddling and proxy warfare.
In almost every Arab state today, foreign policy is driven by a potent mixture of perceived threats and opportunities. Fears of resurgent domestic uprisings, Iranian power, and U.S. abandonment exist alongside aspirations to take advantage of weakened states and international disarray—a dynamic that draws regional powers into destructive proxy conflicts, which sow chaos throughout the region. Any vision of the region finding a workable balance of power is a mirage: the new order is fundamentally one of disorder.
The catalog of despair in the Middle East today is difficult to fathom. The Syrian civil war has become one of the greatest human catastrophes in history, killing at least half a million civilians and displacing more than ten million – by Marc Lynch
https://www.foreignaffairs.com/articles/middle-east/2018-08-13/new-arab-order
Comment: This says something about the way that Yemen is marginalised by the West. It is virtually destroyed and its people are starving - most of them - or as Andrew Mitchell MP said - they are being starved. The war in Yemen is keeping the weapons manufacturers lines going in U.K. and preventing a defence sovereignty catastrophe in UK post Brexit - yet despite its significance it hardly gets a mention, except as a byword on Saudi Arabia's policies. Shame on you Marc Lynch.
https://www.facebook.com/judith.brown.794628/posts/10156945511773641
(-)
Drone photo of old #Sanaa #Yemen.
https://twitter.com/AhmadAlgohbary/status/1032317210277146625
(-)
Film: A nd still in the # Taiz, an area of life and joy, despite what has been subjected to the killing, and systematic destruction !!! Castle # Cairo, an archaeologist built more than 800 years ago and has been a military barracks since the outbreak of the war, is now opening its arms to visitors thirsting for a return to life to their city.
https://twitter.com/mohammedalqadhi/status/1032266073838632961
Vorige / Previous:
https://www.freitag.de/autoren/dklose/jemenkrieg-mosaik-448-yemen-war-mosaic-448
Jemenkrieg-Mosaik 1-448 / Yemen War Mosaic 1-448:
https://www.freitag.de/autoren/dklose oder / or http://poorworld.net/YemenWar.htm
Der saudische Luftkrieg im Bild / Saudi aerial war images:
(18 +, Nichts für Sensible!) / (18 +; Graphic!)
http://poorworld.net/YemenWar.htm
http://yemenwarcrimes.blogspot.de/
und alle Liste aller Luftangriffe / and list of all air raids:
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