... US-geführter Völkermord und Zerstörung – Saudi Arabien deportiert Jemeniten – Rivialitäten in der Provinz Mahrah – Killer-Söldner der Emirate in Südjemen – und mehr
Oct. 20, 2018: Yemeni children speaking – Saudi coalition air raids in September – Medical care collapsed – Saudi blockade – Hunger as weapon of war – US-led genocide and destruction – Saudi Arabia deporting Yemenis – Rivalries in eastern Mahrah province – UAE’s killer mercenaries in Southern Yemen – and more
Schwerpunkte / Key aspects
Klassifizierung / Classification
Für wen das Thema ganz neu ist / Who is new to the subject
cp1 Am wichtigsten / Most important
cp1b Am wichtigsten: Kampf um Hodeidah / Most important: Hodeidah battle
cp2 Allgemein / General
cp2a Allgemein: Saudische Blockade / General: Saudi blockade
cp3 Humanitäre Lage / Humanitarian situation
cp4 Flüchtlinge / Refugees
cp5 Nordjemen und Huthis / Northern Yemen and Houthis
cp6 Südjemen und Hadi-Regierung / Southern Yemen and Hadi-government
cp7 UNO und Friedensgespräche / UN and peace talks
cp7a Saudi-Arabien und Iran / Saudi Arabia and Iran
cp7b Jemen und Khashoggi / Yemen and Khashoggi
cp8 Saudi-Arabien / Saudi Arabia
cp9 USA
cp10 Großbritannien / Great Britain
cp11 Deutschland / Germany
cp12 Andere Länder / Other countries
cp12a Katar-Krise / Qatar crisis
cp13a Waffenhandel / Arms Trade
cp13b Mercenaries / Söldner
cp13c Wirtschaft / Economy
cp14 Terrorismus / Terrorism
cp15 Propaganda
cp16 Saudische Luftangriffe / Saudi air raids
cp17 Kriegsereignisse / Theater of War
cp18 Sonstiges / Other
Klassifizierung / Classification
***
**
*
(Kein Stern / No star)
? = Keine Einschatzung / No rating
A = Aktuell / Current news
B = Hintergrund / Background
C = Chronik / Chronicle
D = Details
E = Wirtschaft / Economy
H = Humanitäre Fragen / Humanitarian questions
K = Krieg / War
P = Politik / Politics
pH = Pro-Houthi
pS = Pro-Saudi
T = Terrorismus / Terrorism
Für wen das Thema ganz neu ist / Who is new to the subject
Einführende Artikel u. Überblicke für alle, die mit den Ereignissen im Jemen noch nicht vertraut sind, hier:
Yemen War: Introductory articles, overviews, for those who are still unfamiliar with the Yemen war here:
https://www.freitag.de/autoren/dklose/jemenkrieg-einfuehrende-artikel-u-ueberblicke
cp1 Am wichtigsten / Most important
Verschwinden und Ermordung von Jamal Khashoggi / Disappearance and murder of Jamal Khashoggi:
Medienschau 3a, b / Media review 3a , b
https://www.freitag.de/autoren/dklose/saudi-dissident-khashoggi-medienschau-3a
https://www.freitag.de/autoren/dklose/saudi-dissident-khashoggi-medienschau-3b
(** B H K)
UNICEF: VOM LEBEN IM KRIEGSGEBIET UND DER SEHNSUCHT NACH FRIEDEN
Kind sein im Jemen im Jahr 2018: Das bedeutet Gewalt und Zerstörung mitanzusehen, Hunger zu spüren, sich permanent bedroht zu fühlen. Egal wo die Mädchen und Jungen sich aufhalten – nirgendwo sind sie sicher.
UNICEF hat Kindern im Bürgerkriegsland Jemen die Frage „Was bedeutet Frieden für dich?“ gestellt. Die Mädchen und Jungen haben geantwortet und uns ihre ganz persönliche Vision eines friedlichen Jemen geschildert. Ihre Antworten sind eindringlich, manchmal traurig und haben mich sehr berührt.
Ala’a träumt vom Frieden
Ala’as ruhige, freundliche Stimme steht in starkem Gegensatz zu dem, was sie sagt. Zeichentrickfilme zu schauen statt Menschen sterben zu sehen – das ist ihre Vorstellung von Frieden. Und dann sagt sie etwas, das mich jedes Mal beim Anschauen wieder richtig durchschüttelt: „Frieden bedeutet, dass ich keine Angst habe, entführt zu werden, wenn ich alleine das Haus verlasse.“
Mohammed über seinen Alltag im Bürgerkrieg
Auch Mohammed leidet unter den extremen Einschränkungen, die der Krieg mit sich gebracht hat. Er sehnt sich danach, sich wieder frei in seiner Heimat bewegen zu können – einfach gehen zu können, wohin er möchte. Momentan ist er davon weit entfernt. Aber wenn man ihm zuhört, dann spürt man, dass er trotz der trostlosen aktuellen Situation eines nicht verloren hat: seine Hoffnung. „Ich hoffe, der Krieg hört bald auf“, wünscht er sich für die Zukunft.
Masha’el hat Angst
Ein Wort fällt immer wieder in den Videos der Kinder: Angst. Der Alltag der Mädchen und Jungen im Bürgerkriegsland Jemen ist von diesem Gefühl stark geprägt. Sie habe immer Angst, erzählt auch Masha’el. Ihre Sehnsucht nach Frieden ist umso stärker. Masha’el hat schon jetzt einen genauen Plan, was sie dann tun möchte: Sie träumt davon, Pilotin zu werden.
Sawsan erinnert sich an ihr früheres Leben
Sawsan ist eins der vielen Kinder im Jemen, die sich noch genau erinnern, wie das Leben früher war – vor dem Krieg, der alles zerstört hat. Damals ist sie noch zur Schule gegangen, und ihr Vater hatte Arbeit. Jetzt wünscht sie sich vor allem eines: Sicherheit.
Die Kinder im Jemen haben sich die Situation, in der sie aufwachsen, nicht ausgesucht. Täglich spüren sie, wie bedroht und verletzlich ihr Leben gerade ist. Sie haben keine Schuld an diesem Krieg. Sie interessieren sich nicht dafür, wer von den Erwachsenen auf welcher politischen Seite steht. Das Einzige, was sie interessiert, ist, endlich wieder frei zu sein und in Sicherheit spielen und aufwachsen zu können.
Die Krise im Jemen ist nach wie vor eine riesige Herausforderung. Ala’a, Mohammed und alle anderen Kinder im Jemen haben es verdient, ihr Leben ohne Angst leben zu können. „Wir alle müssen dem Frieden eine Chance geben. Der Frieden ist der einzige mögliche Weg“, bringt es die UNICEF-Exekutiv-Direktorin Henrietta H. Fore auf den Punkt. Solange die Kinder im Jemen in Gefahr sind und uns brauchen, bleiben wir an ihrer Seite.
Möchten Sie unsere Nothilfe-Arbeit unterstützen? Jede Spende ist wertvoll und hilft den Mädchen und Jungen im Jemen!
https://www.unicef.de/informieren/aktuelles/blog/kinderstimmen-jemen/176582 mit Links zu allen Filmen
(** B K)
Yemen Data Project Air Raids Summary for September 2018
Significant rise in air raids on civilian targets
The month of September saw a notable rise in Saudi coalition non-military targeting
Almost half (48%) of all Saudi-led coalition air raids* in Yemen in September hit civilian targets, nearly three times the number (19%) that targeted military sites. This continues the trend seen since the launch of the Saudi coalition's Operation Golden Arrow against pro-Houthi forces in Al-Hudaydah in June. Of the 154 air raids in September where the target could be identified over 70% (110) targeted non-military sites.**
Similar figures were recorded in July with 43% targeting non-military, 19% military. In August 39% targeted non-military sites and 18% military. This marks a significant change to the overall pattern of air raids since the start of the air campaign where almost one third of all targets (32%) have been non-military, 35% military with 33% classified as unknown. In 33% of air raids in September the target was recorded as unknown.
A rise in non-military targeting may be an indication of increased fighting taking place in urban areas resulting in the possible change of use of buildings and/or escalated targeting of civilian sites. The dataset lists target category and subcategory for each incident, where information on the target is available. When listing permanent structures the target category refers to the original use of the target e.g. a school hit by an air raid is referred to as a school building with no further assessment made on its use at the time of the air raid, or any possible change of use over the course of the conflict.
Saudi-led coalition air raids fell in September to 231 from 249 in August.
The number of air raids in September was 45% below the monthly average of air raids per month since the air campaign began in March 2015.
While the number of monthly strikes remains well below average for the 3.5 year-long air campaign, Sa'ada and Al-Hudaydah governorates have become the focus of the bombing with more than 76% of strikes in September targeting these two governorates.
Air raids targeted 10 of Yemen's 22 governorates in September.
https://us16.campaign-archive.com/?u=1912a1b11cab332fa977d3a6a&id=25158e3173
(** B H)
Médecins Sans Frontières: “Some pregnant women and sick children arrive so late, we can’t save them”
Gisela Vallès is medical team leader at the Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) hospital in Abs, the capital of the district of the same name in northern Yemen.
Increased fighting in the region in recent weeks is causing new waves of displacement.
In this interview, Gisela explains the challenges and obstacles her team face in providing assistance to the displaced groups and host communities.
How is the conflict affecting people in the district of Abs?
The MSF hospital in Abs is currently receiving war wounded every day. Between August and September we treated 362 injured people, more than 40 per cent of all the wounded we have treated at this facility in 2018.
Many are civilians caught in the crossfire of airstrikes and missiles. The intensification of the fighting about 50 kilometres north of Abs, in the area of Beni Hassan, close to the border with Saudi Arabia, has caused a massive new wave of displacement.
Since August, about 20,000 people have relocated to other parts of the region, joining several thousand others who fled earlier fighting. It is difficult to trace them because there are no formal camps for internally displaced people (IDPs).
They are scattered across a very large area. Sometimes there are groups of IDPs living under basic plastic sheets that they buy or that are donated to them. Other times they are mixed with local communities. In any case, they all live in very precarious conditions.
Do they have access to health services?
The majority do not have access to health services because, after several years of conflict, there are few health centres open in Abs district. Many are no longer functional or are open for only a few hours a day, with just a nurse or a small staff. Those working in the health centres have not received salaries for more than two years and work without adequate medical supplies.
The health system can’t respond to the needs of the IDPs and, at the same time, we are severely restricted in the assistance we can offer in the places that are absorbing new displaced communities. In September, our mobile team was only able to go out to the periphery of Abs seven times during the month, despite being prepared to leave every day.
In addition to this, in recent weeks the Yemeni currency, the Ryial, has lost a lot of value, while inflation has risen, causing fuel and transportation costs to increase. This had made it unaffordable for many people to reach the hospital in Abs. It is important that the few medical organisations that are supporting the Ministry of Health on the ground gain more access to address the needs of vulnerable displaced communities.
What are the consequences of this situation?
https://www.msf.org/yemen-some-pregnant-women-and-sick-children-arrive-so-late-we-cant-save-them = https://reliefweb.int/report/yemen/some-pregnant-women-and-sick-children-arrive-so-late-we-can-t-save-them
(** B H K P)
How the Saudis Turned the Yemen War Into a Humanitarian Crisis
Why is there so much hunger?
Yemen relies heavily on imports for its food supplies. The country grows only about 5 percent of the wheat it consumes. That’s because freshwater for crops is scarce, and farmers increasingly have turned to cultivating the more profitable qat, a narcotic leaf that 90 percent of Yemeni men chew on a daily basis. The Saudi-led coalition has disrupted food and other supplies coming into Yemen by imposing a naval blockade on ports in the Houthi-controlled north, notably Hodeidah and Salif, which normally handle about 80 percent of imports. Coalition ships have held up vessels bound for the ports for significant periods or diverted them to other countries. At timesthey’ve stopped all traffic.
So food is in short supply?
To some extent. Commercial imports fell 30 percent from May to August. But elevated prices are as much of a challenge. The Houthis contribute to the problem by extracting payments on goods that are trucked through the areas they control. A sharp depreciation of the national currency has pushed prices higher still. Civil servants, who with their families make up about a quarter of the population, have received no pay or intermittent pay since August 2016. The 2.3 million people in Yemen who’ve been driven from their homes by the war are especially cash-strapped. Many have had to sell their possessions to meet their most basic needs.
Why is disease such a threat?
Yemen was hit by the worst epidemic of cholera ever recorded starting in April 2017. More than 1.2 million people have been sickened and about 2,500 have died. A third wave of infections began to accelerate this summer. Cholera, an acute diarrheal disease, is bred by poor sanitation and a lack of clean water, conditions created when wastewater treatment plants reduced operations because of fuel shortages caused by import disruptions. The infection is normally easily treated by replacing lost fluids, but that requires clean water.
Is the blockade legal?
The UNHCR’s investigation concluded that there are “reasonable grounds” to conclude that it violates the proportionality rule of international humanitarian law. Under that convention, a blockade is illegitimate if its impact on civilians is disproportionate to its military benefits. The investigators reported that searches of ships by the blockading forces had turned up no weapons. For these reasons, the advocacy group Human Rights Watch earlier called on the UN Security Council to impose travel bans and asset freezes on coalition leaders, including the Saudi crown prince and defense minister, Mohammed bin Salman.
How does the coalition justify the blockade?
(** B H K)
Der Hunger als Kriegswaffe
Was derzeit in Jemen abläuft, erinnert an den Dreissigjährigen Krieg von 1618 bis 1648 in Europa. Hunger ist nach wie vor die „beste Waffe“. Besseres wurde offenbar nicht gelernt.
Der Süden dominiert durch die VAE
Die Währung zerfällt in beiden Landesteilen
Beide Teile des dicht bewohnten Jemens leiden unter Inflation. Sie geht zurück auf den Zusammenbruch des jemenitischen Rials, der Währung, in der jene Jemeniten bezahlt werden, die noch eine Arbeitsstelle besitzen. Der Rial hat seit Beginn der Bombardierungen unter saudischer Führung, Ende März 2015, die Hälfte seines Wertes verloren. Die Löhne, soweit sie überhaupt ausbezahlt werden, haben sich in ihrer Höhe nicht verändert.
Es gibt keinerlei Rationierung in Jemen. Die Läden sind voller Lebensmittel. Doch die grössten Teile der Bevölkerung haben kein Geld, um sie zu kaufen. Geld haben nur noch die Betreiber der Kriegswirtschaft und die Kämpfer auf beiden Seiten, deren Heere von diesen Kriegsgewinnern versorgt werden.
Geldentwertung bringt Teuerung
Die lebenswichtigen Importe nehmen ab
Zu dieser das ganze Land durch den Währungszerfall betreffenden Teuerung kommen im Norden und Westen, wo die Huthis herrschen und wo drei Viertel der Bevölkerung leben, die Folgen der Kämpfe um Hodeida hinzu. Sie bewirken, dass die Importgüter aus dem bisherigen Haupthafen Jemens nur noch spärlich nach Sanaa und in die von den Huthis gehaltenen Landesteile fliessen. Weizen war einer der wichtigsten Importe, für ein Land, das sich weitgehend von Brot ernährt.
An den beiden Strassen, die Hodeida mit Sanaa verbinden, finden Kämpfe statt, und sie stehen ausserdem unter dem Druck der saudischen Bombenangriffe.
Trinkwasser unerschwinglich
Die Benzinknappheit in Sanaa ist so kritisch geworden, dass der Brennstoff auf dem Bazar in Glasflaschen angeboten wird. Mit der Benzinknappheit hängt der Trinkwassermangel zusammen, weil das Trinkwasser in der Hauptstadt und in anderen Ansiedlungen auf dem Hochplateau aus tief liegenden Wasser tragenden Schichten hochgepumpt werden muss. Das Trinkwasser muss man bezahlen. Ein Grossteil der Jemeniten vermag dies nicht und trinkt daher verschmutztes Wasser, das sie an der Oberfläche vorfinden. Die zu befürchtenden Folgen sind ein Wiederaufleben der Cholera-Epidemie
Zusammenbruch der medizinischen Versorgung
Katastrophe „völlig durch Menschenhand“
Der Vorsitzende des norwegischen Hilfswerks für Flüchtlinge (Norwegian Refugee Council), das in Jemen sehr aktiv ist, Jan Egeland, hob hervor, dass die jemenitische Hungerkatastrophe die erste von allen sei, die nicht auf Naturkatastrophen zurückgehe, sondern „völlig durch Menschenhand“ herbeigeführt werde. „So, wie der Krieg geführt wird“, sagte er, „hat er das Ziel, die Zivilbevölkerung systematisch abzuwürgen, indem er immer weniger Nahrung für sie zugänglich und erschwinglich macht. Alle Konfliktparteien haben Blut an den Händen, und sie drohen zur Zeit eine Hungersnot auszulösen, die Millionen treffen wird.“
Aushungern von Millionen
Natürlich hat es auch in der Vergangenheit Belagerungen von Städten und Festungen gegeben, bei denen der Versuch, die Verteidiger auszuhungern, eine entscheidende Rolle gespielt hat. Doch um ein ganzes Land von 29,3 Millionen flächendeckend in Hungersnot zu stürzen, braucht es die Zustände und Lebensbedingungen der modernen Zeit. Dazu gehören: Abhängigkeit einer ganzen Nation von Lebensmittel- und Brennstoff-Importen einerseits und auf der Gegenseite moderne Waffen, die es vermögen, die landwirtschaftliche Produktion und das Transportwesen einer ganzen Nation dermaßen zu schädigen, dass die Überlebenschancen der Mehrheit der Bevölkerung schrittweise auf den Nullpunkt reduziert werden.
Die Kämpfer – am wenigsten bedroht – Von Arnold Hottinger
https://www.journal21.ch/der-hunger-als-kriegswaffe
(** B H K)
As Saudi Confirms Khashoggi’s Murder, Will We Stop Its Murder in Yemen?
Hours after this segment was recorded, the Saudi government confirmed the murder of Jamal Khashoggi. But there is ongoing silence over the US-backed Saudi war on Yemen, which has killed tens of thousands and is threatening a historic famine. We speak to Dr. Martha Mundy of the London School of Economics, author of a new report that accuses of Saudi of a deliberate campaign “to destroy food production and distribution” in Yemen.
MARTHA MUNDY: We see with the Ministry of Agriculture a pattern for the first year and half of the war, which is backed also by the runs of the Yemen Data Project. They corroborate each other. And that shows that while in the first months of the war- that is to say from March through early August 2015- it was indeed an essentially military strategy to defeat the, at that point, the Saleh- and let’s call them Sana’a-based, Saleh and the Houthi forces. And when that didn’t work, from the second half of August, and particularly in September and October, one noticed, although it began earlier in June in Sa’dah province; that is, the far North Province where the Houthis stemmed from.
But in September and October the coalition bombing went wild in the rural areas, quite across the country, but with great focus on the wider area around Sana’a and Sa’dah. And to a lesser extent the coastal plain, which is called the Tehama, which has three administrative parts to it. And that that was the first evidence that one bumped into of real targeting of rural food production; it includes roads, markets, farms. Animal farms, chicken farms. But also all these state extension services that supported agriculture.
So based on that, and then charting- it slows down. There is a period of negotiation in spring of 2016. But in spite of that damage to- which is doubled, of course, by attacks on factories; particularly down in the Tehama and around Sana’a, which were food and water processing factories. And that’s well documented by journalists, because often they were in Sana’a, but also by the Yemen Data Project material.
But when in the autumn of 2016- by the autumn of 2016, surrender had still not been achieved, in spite of the massive destruction, then an economic war was essentially launched. And there, again, it is not often discussed the role of the UK and the USA in maintaining the silence. And I could talk much more about the flow of information from Yemen in the run up to the war, during the early part of the war, and to today, because the international organizations that were so important to the generation of information about Yemen for the first year and a half of the war and until it was declared that they could return as humanitarian organizations, they they basically shut down their support to any of the Yemeni ministries in generation of information about damage. The only great exception was the ILO, that worked with the center statistical office of Yemen in a report that came out in early 2016.
AARON MATE: Dr. Mundy, just to clarify here, who shut down the support for these organizations? It was Western governments?
MARTHA MUNDY: It was Western governments who withdrew their personnel from the embassies. And there was an order that went out. I asked the regional head of FAO, the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the UN, in a meeting. It’s mentioned in the report exactly when it was; in 2016, I think. I asked him why they ceased their support for what are really technical matters, we agree, for agriculture. And he said it was a political decision.
https://therealnews.com/stories/as-saudi-confirms-khashoggis-murder-will-we-stop-its-murder-in-yemen and film: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lhYpeB_KR2k
(** B K P)
The US-Led Genocide and Destruction of Yemen
“Only God can save our children”, say Yemeni fathers and mothers as they can do nothing but watch their children die, try to comfort them in their final agonizing hours, and pray for God to spare them from death. The fathers and mothers watch and pray, as one by another their children die from cholera, dehydration and starvation.
Where is God? He cannot get through the total US blockade of Yemen to save the children. A cholera epidemic is a man-made disaster. Since 2015 the cholera epidemic has been spread by biological warfare against Yemen. US bombs dropped by Saudi pilots destroyed Yemen’s public water and sewage systems. The parts, chemicals and fuel to operate Yemen’s water purification and sewage plants are blockaded. Potable water, cholera vaccine, and even individual water purification tablets cannot get in.
The sewage from non-working treatment plants overflows into streams that run onto agricultural land, thus contaminating vegetables before they go to market. Sewage flows into the cities, residential areas and the refugee camps. Flies swarm over the sewage and spread cholera everywhere. The International Committee of the Red Cross, the Red Crescent, and Doctors Without Borders; hospitals, clinics and disaster relief organizations, and human rights workers have been deliberately bombed.
The US dominated United Nations adds a fig leaf of legality to the blockade, and a one-sided weapons embargo against Yemen. To ask why there is no UN arms embargo against Saudi Arabia is, of course, a rhetorical question.
The UN wrings its hands about a humanitarian crisis, and the worst cholera epidemic in human history. The UN does nothing to stop the US-led Saudi genocide and destruction of Yemen, and it puts out knowingly phony underreported numbers of the civilian deaths. The UN is not an honest broker.
The former US ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley threw a temper tantrum when the UN dared to even voice mild criticism against the US, when it moved its embassy to Jerusalem. She spoke of the UN “disrespecting” the US, and she threatened financial retaliation against the UN and countries that voted contrary to US wishes.
President Donald Trump cut funding to humanitarian UN agencies, did not try to stop Israel from gunning down thousands of unarmed Palestinians, withdrew the US from the UN Human Rights Council, and thumbed his nose at the UN International Court of Justice. Trump’s national security adviser John Bolton said that the US plans on withdrawing from more treaties that are the foundation of international law.
The US dominated United Nations adds a fig leaf of legality to the blockade, and a one-sided weapons embargo against Yemen. To ask why there is no UN arms embargo against Saudi Arabia is, of course, a rhetorical question.
In other words, Bolton is confirming that the US is a rouge state; it makes a mockery of the United Nations. From the beginning of the Bush-era War on Terror, the US showed contempt for the Geneva Conventions.
Since 2015 the US has been protecting the Bush family’s investments in Yemen, global corporations, neoliberalism and the vision of a New World Order. The people of Yemen have been starch opponents of neoliberalism and like their old world order. They rebelled against the 33 year rule of Ali Abdullah Saleh for selling out Yemen to neoliberalism, and then the people rebelled against the interim government of Hadi for his fire-sale privatization scheming with the neoliberal empire.
The US beneficiaries of neoliberalism were not happy when their benefactor Hadi was deposed by the Houthi Movement. Nor was Saudi Arabia, which had been trying to exploit Yemen for decades. The vultures of the other GCC countries started circling Yemen in the hope of picking at its corpse too.
The US is providing the GCC with the Shock and Awe to kill the prey, and the US does not care if it kills 22 million people in the process of looting Yemen. It is the US that is providing the bombs. The Saudi-led coalition of the GCC is just the delivery boys.
To summarize, there is no civil war in Yemen. Iran is made the scapegoat for a US-led illegal war of aggression. Saudi Arabia and its coalition of Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) are headquartered in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. The GCC is made up of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Oman, and the United Arab Emirates. They are all monarchies. The US hopes to walk off with Yemen’s main prizes, and the KSA, UAE and Qatar are already fighting each other over the crumbs. The lives of 22 million Yemeni people are hanging by a thread, because of a US blockade of food, water and medicine. The US is the cause of the worst cholera epidemic in history. It is biological warfare and genocide – by David William Pear
https://countercurrents.org/2018/10/15/the-us-led-genocide-and-destruction-of-yemen/
(** B H P)
Another Front in Saudi War: Kingdom Deports Yemeni Workers to Face Starvation at “Home”
Eight out of the 10 Yemenis expelled from Saudi Arabia who were interviewed for this story told MintPress that they were beaten, deprived of food, had their personal property stolen, or faced sexual and physical abuse.
Al-Za`ali is one of more than 700,000 Yemenis who, along with their families, are struggling to survive after recently being expelled from the Saudi Kingdom. Last year, Saudi Arabia, under Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, rolled out a new “Saudization” policy in which Yemenis were forced to pay residency fees or face deportation, pricing out millions who came to the Kingdom from neighboring states seeking a better life in the wealthy Gulf monarchy. Many of them were born in Saudi Arabia, the children or grandchildren of migrants from Yemen. Unable to secure Saudi citizenship, owing to a policy that reserves citizenship for those of Saudi descent, most were unable to attend school and were denied any form of government aid, including healthcare. Experts estimate that at least two million Yemenis remain in Saudi Arabia and are at risk of deportation.
Saudi authorities say that Yemenis make up the majority of migrants in Saudi Arabia — around 77 percent, followed by Ethiopians at 22 percent. On March 29, 2017, Saudi officials set a three-month deadline Saudi residents of Yemeni descent to leave the Kingdom or risk fines and other legal measures, a policy that echoes Israel’s controversial policy towards migrants and refugees, which has drawn the ire of activists and human-rights groups alike. At 100 Saudi riyals a month, or $27 U.S. dollars, the fees are often out of reach for migrant workers. By the time fees reach 400 riyals in 2020, few will be able to afford them.
Saudi Arabia imposes restrictions on certain jobs, allowing only those of Saudi descent to hold them.
As with many Saudi residents of Yemeni descent, the combined effect of fees and the “Saudization” policy has forced Ba Mutlaq — along with his sons, who have been in Saudi Arabia since their grandfathers migrated — to move to Yemen. They have nothing in Yemen save an old family home that lies in ruin. “They [Saudi officials] steal our money to compensate their losses in the war,” Ba Mutlaq said.
Last November, Saudi authorities launched a campaign against Yemenis in the Kingdom in which 19 Saudi ministries participated. At the onset of the campaign, Saudi authorities reported that approximately 100,000 Yemenis were deported; 70,000 were referred to their embassies or consulates to issue them with travel documents, which were rarely granted by Saudi authorities; and about 70,000 were forced to book flights out of the Kingdom.
The impact of deportation is profound
While Saudi Arabia’s role in the scorched-earth campaign that has decimated Yemen since 2015 is finally beginning to make headlines, its economic war against the country is often overlooked. Utilizing a cadre of devastating strategies — including a land, sea and air blockade; the destruction of infrastructure; the devaluing of currency through carefully-planned economic policy; and preventing Yemen from developing its natural wealth — the Saudi-led and U.S.-backed coalition has brought the country to the brink of total collapse. Now, with an influx of new residents seeking a share of the war-torn country’s meager resources, Yemen, already plagued by famine and rampant poverty, faces an even more dire situation.
When he was employed in Saudi Arabia, Ali al-Za`ali was sending home about two-thirds of his monthly salary, 2,000 Saudi riyals ($530 USD), back to his family in Yemen. “Even then, with the local economy deteriorated and with the blockade, it just wasn’t enough for my family,” he told MintPress. The breadwinner for three families, al-Za`ali now struggles to secure even the basic staples needed for a single meal.
Millions of families in Yemen once relied on remittances from family members living in Saudi Arabia. According to surveys by the International Organization for Migration (IOM), three-quarters of those recently expelled from Saudi Arabia were sending money back to family in Yemen. Today, they find themselves in a country they are often unfamiliar with, suffering comprehensive economic collapse with no source of income, so fragile that in coming months the UN expects two in five Yemenis, around 12 million people, to face the worst famine in 100 years.
At least 3 million of Yemen’s 25 million citizens are estimated to work abroad, more than half of them in Saudi Arabia, the country that has spearheaded the destruction of their homeland. Remittances once contributed $2 billion annually to Yemen’s economy. Today, that economy is being deprived of one of its last remaining lifelines amidst an already staggering currency collapse.
Deportation process rife with sexual and physical abuse
Ali al-Za`ali recounted his experience, no less disturbing for being so common:
The police grabbed me while I was at the supermarket shop in north Jeddah. First, they took me to jail and put me in a small overcrowded cell filled only with Yemenis. When I got there two guards kicked me and beat me with a wire cable while they were hurling insults about my father and my country.”
Saudi media reported that more than 12,000 Yemenis — 10,371 men and 2,078 women — are currently being held in detention centers across the Kingdom.
During the deportation process, they are often subject to physical and psychological abuse including beatings, rape and reportedly even the theft of their organs. The abuse often comes not just from authorities but at the hands of their sponsors (Kafeel) who enjoy vast legal rights over those they employ.
Yemeni lawyer and jurist Taha Abu Talib told MintPress:
Saudi employers have inordinate power over expats outside of the law and with little accountability. The workers have no options because they need their initial employer’s approval to change jobs. The worker system means they have to face abuse or work under the table illegally.”
Eight out of the ten Yemenis expelled from Saudi Arabia who were interviewed for this story told MintPress that they were beaten, deprived of food, had their personal property stolen, or faced sexual and physical abuse.
Looting the deportees
Amar Haddi was expelled from Saudi Arabia last month. He was planning to open a store in Yemen like the one he once ran in the Saudi province of Jizan. Those plans were short-lived as Saudi authorities confiscated his store in Jizan when Haddi failed to sell it before the three-month deadline imposed by Saudi authorities. Today he lives in Hodeida — a city lying in ruin thanks to a seemingly endless barrage of Saudi coalition airstrikes — where food is scarce, outbreaks of disease plague residents, and work is nearly impossible to find.
Saudi Arabia claimed that it warned those marked for deportation that they would have to pay fines ranging from 15,000 to 100,000 riyals if they failed to validate their residency status or leave the country within 90 days. “I offered my shop for sale, but no one came; a three-month period just wasn’t enough,” Haddi told MintPress.
From civilian to mercenary
Saudi Arabia did give the now jobless masses of Yemeni deportees one option for employment: forgo training and become mercenaries for the coalition waging a bloody war against their homeland. Offering few options save starvation, Saudi Arabia capitalized on the deportees’ desperation by turning former shopkeepers into soldiers tasked with protecting Saudi troops in Jizan, Asir, and Najran from attacks by Yemen’s military. Saudi Arabia’s regular forces, equipped with the latest U.S.-supplied weapons, tend to stay far from the front lines – by Ahmed Abdulkareem
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Yemen’s Other Proxy Struggle
In Mahrah Governorate, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates are working to curtail Omani influence.
As the Yemeni conflict grinds on, much of the country’s population has been affected by the violence. A notable exception is Mahrah Governorate, located along Yemen’s border with Oman. There, a more low-key struggle is taking place. In November 2017, the Saudi-led coalition deployed military forces and took over the governorate’s facilities, amid ongoing tensions between Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) on one side, and Oman on the other.
Saudi and Emirati tensions with Oman have increased in recent years, because Oman has adopted political positions not consistent with Saudi-UAE policies in the region, particularly relating to Qatar and Iran.
The Saudi and Emirati rivalry with Oman is particularly sharp in Mahrah.
Because of Oman’s shared traditions with Mahrah, the sultanate believes it is important to maintain strong ties with the governorate.
According to tribal sources in Mahrah, “The growing Omani impact on Mahrah’s tribes pushed the Saudi-led coalition to take action, and was one of the main reasons why Saudi Arabia sent military reinforcements to the area.”
Since Saudi forces entered Mahrah, they have taken control of the governorate’s vital facilities, including Al-Ghaydah’s airport, Nishtun port, and the Sarfit and Shehen crossings with Oman.
By February 2017, the demands on the inhabitants of Mahrah were becoming more onerous. Saudi forces prevented them from fishing in many coastal areas, while around 100 items were banned from entering Mahrah from Oman.
These developments have raised concerns among Mahrah’s population. In April 2018, thousands began an open protest in Al-Ghaydah, demanding that Saudi forces leave the governorate’s facilities and institutions and hand them over to the local authorities. Prominent figures even described the Saudis as an “occupying force” who were looking to take over the resources of the governorate.
The two-month sit-in ended in July with an agreement between the protesters and Yemeni government representatives that the Saudis would withdraw from Mahrah’s facilities and institutions in favor of local authorities. However, according to protest leaders the agreement was never implemented.
Leaks about Saudi intentions in Mahrah further contributed to the public discontent. In August 2018, a letter was published in several media outlets addressed to Mohammed al-Jaber, Saudi Arabia’s ambassador to Yemen, from a Saudi company called Huta Marine. The company thanked Jaber for his trust as he had requested that it prepare a proposal for the construction of an oil port in the district of Nishtun. The facility would be the terminal of a Saudi pipeline that begins in the Saudi governorate of Kharkhir, in Najran.
There is also a plan to build a channel from the Persian Gulf to the Arabian Sea through Mahrah. The objective is to create an alternative outlet for Saudi oil exports to the Strait of Hormuz, which is vulnerable to obstruction by Iran. For the inhabitants of Mahrah, such projects suggest that there is much more to the Saudi presence in the governorate than countering smuggling and terrorist activities, as coalition spokesman have insisted in the past.
These developments have raised concerns among Mahrah’s population. The events in Mahrah are another chapter in the proxy conflicts taking place in Yemen. Oman is active in the governorate and will not accept that the Saudis and Emiratis remain on the Omani border with Yemen. On the other side, the Saudi-led coalition is trying to reduce Omani influence in Mahrah. Those paying the highest price for this rivalry are the inhabitants of Mahrah themselves.
https://carnegie-mec.org/diwan/77526
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VAE im Jemen: "Vielleicht bin ich ein Monster" – US-Unternehmen für Todeskommando angeheuert
Ein exklusiver Bericht deckte nun auf, dass die Vereinigten Arabischen Emirate (VAE) über ein US-Unternehmen ehemalige US-Elitesoldaten anheuerten, um im Jemen gezielte Tötungen durchzuführen. Weder die VAE noch Washington wollen etwas von dem Programm wissen.
Ein exklusiver Bericht der Nachrichtenseite BuzzFeedNews bringt nun etwas mehr Licht in die Sache. Demnach heuerten die VAE ehemalige US-Spezialkräfte an, etwa der Green Berets und Navy Seals, um in ihrem Auftrag ihr tödliches Handwerk im Jemenkrieg fortzusetzen. Als Söldner der Emirate war es nun über Monate ihr Auftrag, hochrangige Islamisten - oder zumindest Entscheidungsträger, die den Emiraten als Kriegspartei ein Dorn im Auge waren - zu beseitigen.
Eines ihrer Ziele war etwa Anssaf Ali Mayo, demnach der regionale Kopf der islamistischen Partei Al-Islah (Jemenitische Versammlung für Reform). Nach Ansicht der Emirate handelt es sich dabei um den jemenitischen Ableger der Muslimbruderschaft. Sowohl Saudi-Arabien als auch die Vereinigten Arabischen Emirate stufen diese als Terrorgruppe ein. Doch was Al-Islah anbelangt, scheiden sich die Geister bei der Frage, inwieweit es sich bei diesen tatsächlich um Terroristen handelt, auch wenn es sich bei einem erheblichen Teil der Parteigänger um mutmaßlich äußerst konservative Gläubige handelt.
Im Jahr 2011 wurde ein Mitglied der Partei, nämlich die für viele Jemeniten auch als "Mutter der Revolution" bekannte Tawakkul Karman, gar als erste Frau aus dem arabischen Raum mit dem Friedensnobelpreis ausgezeichnet. Auch deshalb argumentieren zahlreiche Beobachter und Experten, dass es sich bei Al-Islah nicht um Terrorkumpane der Muslimbrüder, sondern um eine legitime politische Partei handele, die jedoch nicht auf Linie mit den außenpolitischen Ambitionen Abu Dhabis ist.
Um Anssaf Ali Mayo zu beseitigen, sah der Plan der US-Söldner vor, eine Bombe am Eingang des Al-Islah-Hauptquartiers zu befestigen und so im Idealfall "jeden in diesem Büro töten" zu können, wie zwei Teilnehmer an der Operation schilderten. Doch der ursprüngliche Plan schlug fehl.
Bei dem Attentat handelte es sich um den ersten von mehreren ungeklärten Auftragsmorden, denen mehrere Dutzend der Köpfe von Al-Islah zum Opfer fielen.
Wie sich nun herausstellte, wurde der Söldner-Deal über ein Unternehmen im US-Bundesstaat Delaware abgewickelt, die Spear Operations Group. Für die Emirate wickelte der ebenso dubiose wie berüchtigte Palästinenser Mohammed Dahlan den Deal ein.
Golan erläutert, dass er sein Geschäftsmodell nach dem Vorbild von Israels zielgerichtetem Tötungsprogramm entwickelt habe. Und er argumentiert, dass es Terroristen gäbe, die derart gefährlich seien, dass ein Attentat immer noch die beste Lösung darstelle.
Es war Golan, der das Tötungskommando gegen Mayo im Jemen persönlich leitete. Bis Ende 2015 stellten er und sein Kompagnon Gilmore für die Operation im Jemen ein Team aus einem Dutzend Männer zusammen - drei von ihnen demnach ehemalige US-Elitesoldaten, die meisten anderen ehemalige französische Fremdenlegionäre.
Nach Angaben von Golan hätten er und sein Team für eine Reihe von Tötungen hochrangiger Personen verantwortlich gezeichnet, ohne jedoch genauere Details preiszugeben. Seiner Ansicht nach habe das Geschäftsmodell Vorbildcharakter für die US-Regierung.
In der Tat ist der Trend zur Privatisierung des Kriegs auf Basis von externen militärischen Dienstleistern nicht zu leugnen. Daher ist es nach Expertenansicht auch eher unwahrscheinlich, dass die entsprechenden US-Behörden nicht über das privatwirtschaftlich organisierte Tötungsprogramm zumindest informiert waren – dies zudem in einem Krieg, in dem Goliath in seinem wütenden Kampf gegen den David Jemen auf volle US-Unterstützung vertrauen kann.
Hinzu gesellt sich die Tatsache, dass einer der beteiligten Söldner demnach für das CIA-Äquivalent der militärischen Spezialeinheiten tätig war.
Die legislativen Bestimmungen für militärische Dienstleister wie die Spear Operations Group sind schwammig. Ob diese durch ihre Operationen im Ausland US-Gesetze verletzen, bleibt unklar definiert. Es ist offiziell illegal, im Ausland mit dem Ziel, jemanden zu töten, "(sich) zu verschwören, zu kidnappen und zu verstümmeln". Solche Unternehmen, die ausländischen Staaten militärische Dienstleistungen zur Verfügung stellen, müssen beim State Department vorstellig werden. Doch dieses hat nach eigenen Angaben noch nie einem Unternehmen die Befugnis erteilt, anderen Ländern Kampfeinheiten oder Söldner zur Verfügung zu stellen.
Hingegen bewegen sich Söldner in den USA nicht in der Illegalität. Und es ist - neben einigen Ausnahmen - legal, im Militär einer anderen Regierung als der eigenen zu dienen, sei es aus Idealismus oder aufgrund des Solds.
Das Golan-Tötungskommando offenbart somit ein zentrales Problem für gewinnorientierte Mordprogramme und die damit einhergehenden militärischen Dienstleistungen: die Asuwahl der Ziele. Geschäftsführer Golan besteht darauf, dass durch sein Team nur Terroristen getötet worden seien, die vor der Eliminierung von der Regierung der VAE, einem Verbündeten der USA, als solche identifiziert worden seien. Aber wer ist ein Terrorist und wer ein - wenn auch eventuell unliebsamer - Politiker? Wann handelt es sich um eine neue Form der Kriegsführung und wann lediglich um einen klassischen Auftragsmord? Wer ist für den Tod eines unschuldigen Zivilisten verantwortlich zu machen? Wer also das Recht beansprucht, darüber zu entscheiden, ob jemand am Leben bleibt und wer stirbt - nicht nur in Kriegen wie dem im Jemen - wird wohl bis auf Weiteres unbeantwortet bleiben. Wohl auch deswegen wird das private Geschäft mit dem Tod mutmaßlich weiter florieren.
https://deutsch.rt.com/der-nahe-osten/77806-jemen-vielleicht-bin-ich-monster/
Remark: The original report by Buzzfeed in English is here: https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/aramroston/mercenaries-assassination-us-yemen-uae-spear-golan-dahlan
und
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Israelischer Killer, arabische Auftraggeber
Die Vereinigten Arabischen Emirate fürchten die Muslimbrüder. Um Muslimbrüder in Jemen zu töten, heuern sie amerikanische Söldner an. Deren Chef ist ein Israeli.
Am 29. Dezember 2015 versucht ein Team von Söldnern in der jemenitischen Hafenstadt Aden Anssaf Ali Mayo, den Chef der islamistischen politischen Partei al-Islah, umzubringen.
Nicht alle Räuberpistolen sind Humbug, und die gut recherchierte Story, die das amerikanische Medienunternehmen «Buzzfeed» dieser Tage verbreitet hat, verdient Interesse. Dies weniger wegen des spektakulären Ablaufs der Aktion in Aden selber als wegen ihres diffizilen politischen Hintergrunds. Ausgeführt wurde die Operation von dafür angeheuerten amerikanischen Söldnern der Spear Operations Group mit Sitz in Delaware, gegründet von Abraham Golan, einem ungarischstämmigen Israeli. Auftraggeber waren die Vereinigten Arabischen Emirate, und abgewickelt wurde das Geschäft über den Politiker Mohammed Dahlan, einen gebürtigen Palästinenser. Ein Israeli, der im Sold von Arabern Araber umbringt: Es ist noch lange nicht das einzige Paradoxon in dieser Geschichte.
Warum wollten die Emirate Mayo und seine Gefolgsleute töten? Der grosse Feind der Emirate und Saudiarabiens in Jemen sind die Huthi, nicht die Partei al-Islah. Ganz im Gegenteil. Die Saudi und die Emirate hatten lange Seite an Seite mit den Islamisten in Jemen gekämpft und Mitte 2015 gemeinsam mit der Islah-Partei den Hafen und die Umgebung von Aden erobert. Doch al-Islah gilt den Emiraten eben auch als der jemenitische Ableger der Muslimbrüder, und es gibt kein Land, in dem die Muslimbrüder derart verhasst sind wie in den Emiraten.
Die Emirate geben sich zwar gerne «modern», cool und weltoffen, aber im Grunde verdeckt der Lack der schönen Konsumwelt nur die fehlende demokratische Tiefe. Und genau wie die stockkonservativen, ultrareligiösen und zutiefst antimodernen Wahhabiten fürchten auch die Herrscher in Abu Dhabi die Muslimbrüder mit ihrem «politischen Islam», der sich aufs Volk stützt, auf die Armen und die «Strasse» und der nicht das Geringste gegen eine wenig demokratische Legitimation hat. Katar hingegen unterstützt die Muslimbrüder.
Dass die Emirate in Jemen seit Jahren mit Killerkommandos agieren, ist bekannt. Die Herren in Abu Dhabi haben den sogenannten Security Belt gegründet, einen Truppenverband, in dem strenge Salafisten den Ton angeben. Ebenso bekannt ist, dass die Amerikaner all dies wissen und es mehr oder wenig achselzuckend hinnehmen. Seit der Wahl Trumps ist die Toleranz für dieses Verhalten in der muslimischen Welt noch angestiegen.
Was dennoch erstaunt, ist die Bereitschaft Abu Dhabis, die Interessen Riads in diesem Fall rüde zu verletzen. Sicher, auch Saudiarabien hasst die Muslimbrüder. Doch zur Partei al-Islah haben die Machthaber in Riad in der 20-jährigen Herrschaftszeit Ali Abdullah Salehs stets ein gutes, ans Klientelistische grenzendes Verhältnis gepflegt, und die Saudi wussten den Beistand der islamistischen Partei im jemenitischen Bürgerkrieg sehr zu schätzen – von Ulrich Schmid
https://www.nzz.ch/international/israelischer-killer-arabische-auftraggeber-ld.1429406
Weiterer Bericht auf Deutsch: https://nex24.news/2018/10/bericht-palaestinenser-dahlan-heuert-fuer-toetung-jemenitischen-fuehrers-israelischen-soeldner-an/
Remark: English article: https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/aramroston/mercenaries-assassination-us-yemen-uae-spear-golan-dahlan
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'Very dangerous': UAE assassination campaign in Yemen leaves coalition exposed
Members of Saudi ally al-Islah lash out at the Emiratis after revelations that American mercenaries were hired to kill its leaders
They're supposed to be on the same side.
Since 2015, al-Islah, the Yemeni branch of the Muslim Brotherhood, and the United Arab Emirates have been fighting against Houthi rebels in an attempt to prop up the internationally recognised government of President Abd Rabbuh Mansour Hadi.
But on Tuesday, Buzzfeed revealed that the Emiratis had hired a team of American and Israeli mercenaries to assassinate members of the Islahi leadership - enraging the influential party and exposing the UAE's presence in Yemen to fierce criticism.
It has also placed Saudi Arabia, which leads an anti-Houthi coalition and is closely allied to both the Islahis and Emiratis, in a deeply uncomfortable position.
"Although the announced aim of the Emirates in Yemen is to support the legitimate government, it fights legitimacy with all its might," Issa Qadhi, a member of al-Islah in Taiz, told MEE.
Instead of prioritising the defeat of the Iran-allied Houthi rebels, Qadhi said, "the UAE made the annihilation of the al-Islah party the first aim of its presence in Yemen".
"The UAE is willing to destroy the whole country and bring mercenaries from around the world to annihilate al-Islah," he added.
Abu Dhabi has long considered the Muslim Brotherhood an enemy, as has Saudi Arabia. However, Riyadh has decades-long ties with al-Islah, with the party an effective client throughout Ali Abdullah Saleh's 20-year rule of a united Yemen.
Together, the Saudis, Emiratis and Islahis were instrumental in seizing Aden and the surrounding area from the Houthi rebels, and gaining a strategic foothold in the country in mid-2015.
Since then, however, the UAE-Islah relationship has soured considerably, and in October 2017 clashes broke out in the southern city of Aden between Islahis and Emirati proxy militias.
Even before the assassination revelations, the Emiratis and Saudis were feeling the heat in southern Yemen. Protests against their presence in the country and the worsening state of Yemen's economy have erupted in key cities Aden and Taiz.
Now the Emiratis risk seeing that anger and distrust turned up a notch, especially amidst the Islahis.
Abdulla Shoraai, an Islah member, accused the UAE of “looting” Yemeni wealth and of using its fight against Muslim Brotherhood groups as a pretext to control Yemeni seaports and airports. "All that is only the tip of the iceberg," he told MEE.
https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/yemen-islah-members-react-outrage-uae-mercenary-report-1628186504
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UAE mercenaries in Aden provoke Yemeni outrage and claims to sue Abu Dhabi
The report, published on Tuesday by the US news website Buzzfeed, sparked great resentment in the middle of the Yemenis, after the cover was uncovered for the repeated assassinations that have taken place in Aden, the interim capital of the country, over the past three years.
The investigation gave the Yemenis a little, including the capture of more than 400 victims--according to unofficial estimates--they were killed by assassination incidents--in Aden from the control of the UAE, after the Houthis were defeated from the city in mid-June 2015.
Of the 400 victims, about 45 were assassinated, all influential personalities with a political and social weight and presence, including leaders of the Islah party.
According to a statistic obtained by the source online, the party and its cadres were subjected to 25 assassinations, attempted assassinations, arrests and incursions into houses and premises.
The incidents were highlighted by two bombings that targeted the Islah headquarters in Crater, one of them with a car bomb following the bombing of the headquarters gate by gunmen aboard two armored vehicles (December 29, 2015) aimed at assassinating the Chairman of the Islah party in Aden.
The leaders of the party classified this as the incident comes in the context of the influence race and the state of unrest in the city, before the investigation of the "Buzzfeed" site reveals the details of the incident, which was found to be an attack by American mercenaries hired by the UAE.
"For Yemen, and for the safety of its sons, this incident must not go unnoticed, it is the responsibility of the Government, the Arab coalition or, more accurately, the Saudi neighbor to investigate and hold accountable those responsible," said journalist Abdallah Doubla, who witnessed the incident in an article "Al-Masdar online".
"This process, which was one of the first operations in Aden after liberation, was the key to knowing all the crimes that took place in that period and beyond, including the terrorist operation that claimed the Governor Jafar Saad, imams and preachers in Aden," he said.
The information sparked a state of outrage against the UAE, and the political activist in the reform, Mazen Aqlan, questioned the "hiring of a team of assassinations of foreign mercenaries to carry out dozens of assassinations, does it come within the objectives of the coalition's intervention in Yemen?" President Hadi and his Government are directly concerned and more than anyone in finding an urgent answer to this question.
The President of the SAM Organization for Rights and freedoms, lawyer Tawfiq al-Humaidi, said that "what the United States website revealed with American mercenaries to spread death by assassinations in Aden, was expected through the frequency of testimonies of many detainees and the presence of investigators and foreign officers of different nationalities in The prisons where they disappeared, they practiced terrible torture against the detainees. "
"Is it time to count and open the case file about the blood that was unjustly shed?" he asked.
The journalist Majid bin Carrot had to hold the perpetrators accountable and bring lawsuits from the victims against the defendants according to the data, saying that it "contains heinous crimes that must be denounced and demanded to be investigated".
Until now, there has been no official reaction from the Islah party or other parties, and the government remains silent.
This silence was criticized by the Executive Director of the Organization «Mowatana» Abdul Rashid al-Faqih.
A number of activists on the networking sites have begun to link the investigation to the Gulf conflict between Qatar and the UAE to escape the scandal, including supporters of the UAE-backed Southern Transitional Council.
http://almasdaronline.com/articles/159720
Mehr / More: cp13b
cp1b Am wichtigsten: Kampf um Hodeidah / Most important: Hodeidah battle
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Yemeni army recover large cache of Houthi militia armament
Yemen’s national army has announced several combing operations in sites where Houthi militias have been defeated, one of which was in the Hali directorate east of Hodeidah.
A statement from the Giants Brigades in the Yemeni army, said that forces affiliated to their brigades carried out combing operations in a large number of farms adjacent to the area of Al-Hali, where Houthi militia was located.
The statement added that during the operation, army forces found of a large cache of 120-caliber mortar shells and other shells that the Houthis had hidden in sewage pipes of several military sites where they were positioned.
http://www.arabnews.com/node/1390436/middle-east
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5 citizens killed, injured by coalition airstrikes in Hodeidah
Five civilians were killed and wounded when the US- backed Saudi aggression fighter jets waged two air raids in the western coast, a local official told Saba on Thursday.
The coalition targeted two air raids in 7Yoluw area.
http://www.sabanews.net/en/news511743.htm
three civilians were killed and two others were injured by two airstrikes on Hodiedah city. Also a civilian was killed by targeting a mosque in Al-Marawa'a by three airstrikes.
https://english.almasirah.net/details.php?es_id=3312&cat_id=1
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Three civilians and more than 20 Houthi gunmen killed in al-Hodeidah by coalition air raid
Three civilians were killed in a raid by coalition fighter jets early Friday morning at Yard in the western Yemeni city of Hodeidah.
The Coalition fighters targeted a Yard near a hotel in the neighborhood of July 7 in the east of the city, causing the fall of three construction workers who were inside, the correspondent of AL Masdar Online said.
The source received the names of the construction workers who landed in the air raid (Ahmed Abdel-Qaher, Samer Ali al-Khar’am, Majid Ali Qaid).
On the other hand, coalition fighters launched a raid on a rally of Houthi fighters on the ring line in al-Marw’ah, east of Hodeidah. According to eyewitnesses, more than 20 Houthi gunmen fell while gathering in preparation to attack legitimate government forces and the coalition in the vicinity of the city of Hodeidah.
http://almasdaronline.com/articles/159790
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Yemeni forces repel Houthi offensive on Kilo 16, killing 70 rebels
Militia fighters tried to reopen the supply route between Sanaa and Hodeidah
Yemeni pro-government forces killed at least 70 fighters affiliated with the Iran-backed Houthi rebels on Wednesday after they launched a large-scale offensive to reopen a supply route between the capital Sanaa and the Red Sea port city of Hodeidah.
The target of the offensive was Kilo 16, east of Hodeidah, which links the two cities. The rebels lost the key transport link in September when Al Amalikah forces, part of a pro-government brigade, recaptured it as they pushed towards Hodeidah.
The rebels launched the offensive from the Kilo 10 area east of Hodeidah.
“They were accompanied by heavy weaponry, two tanks, a number of mobile artillery, but they were crashed by the aircrafts of the Arab Coalition, which launched several strikes destroying their heavy equipment,” Colonel Al Mahjami, the spokesperson of the Al Amalikah brigade, told The National.
The defending forces chased the Houthi fighters and carried out strikes against them, besieging the fighters from three directions and killing scores as a result, he said.
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UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs: Yemen: Al Hudaydah Update Situation Report No. 13, Reporting period: 3 - 15 October 2018
Situation Overview
ESCALATED ARMED CONFLICT IN AL HUDAYDAH GOVERNORATE
Armed conflict has intensified in Al Hudaydah Governorate. An increase in airstrikes, naval and ground shelling has resulted in scores of civilian casualties as well as damage to civilian infrastructure in several districts and in Al Hudaydah City. No changes are reported in areas of control or along major frontlines. Due to the ongoing fighting, overland access to Al Hudaydah remains limited to the northern entrance as the route via Kilo 16 to the east of the city remains inaccessible.
Humanitarian situation
Conditions remain difficult for civilians in Al Hudaydah City. Electricity is only available from expensive private providers. Humanitarian partners report that most health facilities are operating at reduced levels, though 11 in Al Hudaydah and one in Hajjah Governorates have suspended services due to ongoing military operations.
Renal and diabetic patients are at particular risk because of the care and medicines they require. Access to reproductive health services has deteriorated.
Non-payment of monthly salaries is driving more doctors and essential medical staff to leave their positions at public health facilities in Al Hudaydah City. The only two oncologists at the Almal Cancer Treatment Centre have left.
School admissions in Al Hudaydah City for 2018 to 2019 have been extended to mid-October due to the low number of pupils registered since the start of September. Most public schools in the city are open, but many families are reluctant to send their children to school because of the security situation. Non-payment of salaries and displacement of teachers to areas outside the city has further affected the education system.
(A K pH)
Oct. 17: In Hodeidah, the US-Saudi Aerial Aggression launched 6 raids on houses in the mountainous area of Tahita district.
https://english.almasirah.net/details.php?es_id=3301&cat_id=1
cp2 Allgemein / General
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Interactive Map of Yemen War
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Film: Cover up behind the UN Security Council Resolution 2216 to cover up the use of starvation as a war tool for #Yemen Prepared by Arabian Rights Watch Association (ARWA) @arwa_rights
https://twitter.com/YemenEdge/status/1053322447855013888
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Remembering the Dahyan School Bus Massacre in Yemen
The massacre was just a little over two months ago. At the time, it was one of the few stories of Saudi coalition atrocities that had captured the attention of the wider world, but that quickly faded. The coalition conducted one of their sham “investigations” and outrageously never apologized for killing the children on the bus. Instead, the coalition maintained that the bus had been a “legitimate” target all along, but they said it should not have been targeted in the market. They went so far as to say that there were no children on the bus. Contrary to Saudi coalition lies, the boys were out on a field trip and had nothing to do with the war. Their bus is one of the dozens of civilian vehicles that the coalition has attacked this year alone. There is no possible justification for targeting a bus filled with children at any time.
The school bus massacre is just one of thousands of war crimes that the Saudi coalition has committed against Yemeni civilians, but it stands out as one of the cruelest and most senseless of all of them
A U.S.-made weapon killed these children, and it was a U.S.-backed Saudi coalition pilot who targeted them. Our government continues to arm and refuel the planes that regularly carry out attacks on civilian targets in Yemen, and that support makes attacks like this one possible. If the U.S. pulled the plug on military assistance to the coalition, it would be practically impossible for them to continue their bombing campaign, and that could give Yemen a chance at the peace that has been denied to Yemenis for years. Congress must halt all U.S. support for the war on Yemen as quickly as possible before there are any more Dahyans (photos)
https://www.theamericanconservative.com/larison/remembering-the-dahyan-school-bus-massacre-in-yemen/
(* B K P)
Catastrophe in Yemen: the Elephant in the Room
This is not to suggest that the Saudi-led coalition alone is responsible for Yemen’s crisis. On the contrary, all serious investigations accuse both parties of war crimes. However, whereas the Houthi rebels are an isolated force, with reported support from Iran, Saudi Arabia has deep ties to many Western countries and the lion’s share of Saudi defence equipment comes from North America and Europe. Pointedly the US has been providing assistance in logistics, intelligence and military training to the coalition while providing refuelling for the very planes that bomb civilians. US military advisers are actively involved in the Yemen campaign operating from Riyadh.
This is precisely the reason that, amidst reports of gross violations of international humanitarian law and of violations and abuses of human rights in Yemen—including those involving grave violations against children with complete impunity—Saudis’ Western allies continue to exercise a selective and biased human rights agenda when it comes to disassociating themselves from and condemning the extermination in Yemen. As a result of petrol-dollar led international diplomacy and politics, belligerents are emboldened to carry on regardless of appeals to halt this man-made catastrophe. A leaked UN report reveals that members of the bombing campaign against Yemen are hiding behind the broad “coalition” name, effectively shielding themselves from accountability of violating international law.
It has been a matter of extreme regret that there has not been an independent international investigation into violations and abuses of international human rights law and international humanitarian law in Yemen from the start of the current conflict despite demands by national, regional, and international civil society organisations, the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, and the Security Council Panel of Experts on Yemen since 2015.
https://www.islam21c.com/politics/catastrophe-in-yemen-the-elephant-in-the-room/
(* B K P)
Britain's War in Yemen
Yemen is not just one political issue among many, it’s an emergency. And it should be a leading priority for the British left because the British state is playing a leading, enabling role in causing the disaster. When Yemeni civilians are killed it is often by British-supplied bombs and missiles dropped from British-built planes flown by British-trained pilots, and with maintenance provided on the ground by British technicians. These planes comprise around half of the Royal Saudi Air Force’s combat jets, with the United States supplying the remainder.
To empower people in the UK to engage more with this issue, it may be helpful to set out a brief account of the background to the war and the UK’s involvement. Suggestions for further reading are listed at the end of the article.
https://newsocialist.org.uk/britains-war-in-yemen/
(* B K P)
There Is No Proxy War in Yemen
Those in the Western media too busy to be bothered trying to understand the complexities, intricacies and nuances of the Middle East often resort to concluding nearly all conflicts there are some kind of "proxy war" between Saudi Arabia and Iran.
This is usually out of ignorance, reducing disputes to the lowest common dominator of Sunnis versus Shiites or to that between their two most prominent patron states. Often though there is deliberate obfuscation; there must be justification for a US ally to cause regional mayhem on the pretext of containing an enemy. The easiest and most convenient scapegoat has been Iran and efforts to contain its alleged expansionism by Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and of course, Israel, go unchecked.
One of the most devastating and tragic episodes occurring in the Middle East today is in Yemen. But this is not a de facto proxy war its bankrollers hope we have all grown too weary of hearing to investigate further.
Despite the constant disclaimers by a lazy media, there is no proxy war in Yemen.
The war which has ravaged the Arab world’s poorest country since March 2015 is a Saudi-led, unilateral onslaught which has so devastated the nation, its economy, infrastructure and social services that malnutrition has become widespread and cholera epidemic.
Ostensibly, the Saudi-UAE military campaign was to oust Houthi-led rebels who unseated the deeply unpopular Saudi-backed puppet-president Abdu Rabbu Mansour Hadi in January 2015
Branding the Houthis as "Iranian-backed Shiite rebels" as is now routine, makes for easy and convenient categorization of who the "bad guys" are in Western and Gulf media. But this is disingenuous.
More significantly, other than voicing solidarity with the Houthis, there has been no substantive evidence of Iranian military intervention or that of affiliated parties in Yemen. On the contrary, and starkly so, it has been the Saudi and Emirati governments’ inhumane bombing campaign which has been the most glaring example of foreign interference in the internal affairs of another country.
Yemen is not a sectarian conflict or one of proxies, but a war stemming from the fallout of removing yet another Saudi-backed ruler from power – by Rannie Amiri
https://original.antiwar.com/rannie-amiri/2018/10/18/there-is-no-proxy-war-in-yemen/
cp2a Saudische Blockade / Saudi blockade
Siehe / Look at cp1
cp3 Humanitäre Lage / Humanitarian situation
Siehe / Look at cp1
(B H)
Sorrowful Days in Yemen is Still Unchanged
War is still raging in Hodeidah, Yemen. According to UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), an innocent civilian was killed and others were wounded when an IDP camp was shelled on October 6. Recently, according to the latest humanitarian report covering September 28 to October 6 2018, the UN mentioned that the cholera cases in Yemen surge up to 10,000 reported case each week, not to mention that the value of Yemeni Riyal that has depreciated sharply, affecting the food security in the country. Currently, 52 percent of total Yemeni population live only on 1.90 US Dollar every day.
ACT delivered qurbani meat from Indonesians in an effort to bring happiness to Yemenis suffering from starvatuin. The meat was distributed to a number of IDP camps such as Al Raqa Camp in Bani Al-Hareith District, and Shamlan Camp in Moain District that holds thousands of IDPs from various war-affected regions.
The qurbani meat from Indonesia benefitted 2,800 recipients in these two camps. More than 85 percent of their inhabitants are children. The war had forced them to leave their homes to evacuate in faraway places. The unsanitary condition in the camps has also threatened the lives of the IDPs as they become prone to diseases like cholera and diphtheria.
Apart from distributing meat to the IDPs in Yemen, ACT also supplied basic necessities for Yemeni IDPs. Throughout July 2018, hundreds of humanitarian packages consisting of food, kitchen utensils, sleeping mats and blankets were distributed to IDPs in Sana’a.
https://act.id/en/news/detail/sorrowful-days-in-yemen-is-still-unchanged
(B H)
Film: Breaking the mold: woman mediator challenges gender norms in Yemen
Born and raised in one of Yemen's most conservative communities, Wafa has opened the door for the participation of women in peacebuilding.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gdDv4BBj-1c
(B H)
Sana'a.. A young man living on a tree. Received lot of donations
In the vicinity of his shope, the tree-a plant belonging to the Moraceae platoon and often cultivated to decorate the streets-30 street south of the capital Sana'a, and that tree was a reason to change the life of al-Hubaishi
A week ago, activists on social media traded a visible section climbing the tree, which had no other home after having lost its grocery store and home because of the poverty and war raging in the country since the beginning of 2015.
Ahmed al- Hubaishi, who hails from Ibb province, found himself forced to sleep on the street, but a tree in the middle of the street was a haven for him after he climbed up and made a small room for his groceries, and provided him with a light solar panel. The Hubaishi closed openings with cloth lids.
For months, Ahmed al- Hubaishi has been climbing the tree to reach his shelter, telling the Al Jazeera “the housing was a different experience, but the rain and car noise were bothering me."
But an amateur young man filmed his life on the tree, his story was spread on social media and a number of media outlets, and after that he received donations
http://almasdaronline.com/articles/159793
(A H)
@monarelief's team has just arrived in the capital Sana'a after a 2-day food aid distribution in Aslam and Bani Quis areas of #Hajjeh. Our team today delivered 130 food packages in Bani Quis area based on a fund by Humanity First in Germany (photos)
https://twitter.com/Fatikr/status/1053420257031917568
Today's also @monarelief's team in Bani Quis area of Hajjeh provided tens of children suffering from malnutrition baby milk based on @monareliefye's online fundraising campaign (photos)
https://twitter.com/Fatikr/status/1053421933948256256
(B H P)
Film: The #US-#UK-#Saudi-#UAE aggression sought to impoverish millions of Yemenis by not paying the salaries of state employees and pensioners' entitlements since two years ago.
https://www.facebook.com/LivingInYemenOnTheEdge/videos/1002522209919394
(B H)
US Agency for International Development: Yemen - Complex Emergency Fact Sheet #1, Fiscal Year (FY) 2019
Highlights
- Ongoing insecurity in Al Hudaydah limits humanitarian access, results in civilian casualties and infrastructure damage
- Deteriorating economic conditions contribute to worsening household vulnerability, civil unrest in Aden
- Tropical Cyclone Luban makes landfall in southeastern Yemen, results in at least three deaths
https://reliefweb.int/report/yemen/yemen-complex-emergency-fact-sheet-1-fiscal-year-fy-2019
Yemen ‑ Active USG Programs for Yemen Response (Last Updated 10/19/18)
https://reliefweb.int/map/yemen/yemen-active-usg-programs-yemen-response-last-updated-101918
(* A H)
Yemen Cyclone Survivors in Dire Need of Aid
The U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) reports thousands of people hit by a devastating cyclone on the southeastern coast of Yemen earlier this week are in need of emergency aid.
Tropical Cyclone Luban made landfall on Sunday, ushering in three days of heavy rainfall and flooding. Local authorities report three people have lost their lives and more than 100 have been injured.
A United Nations Rapid Response team, which has carried out an initial assessment of the affected area, has found extensive damage to property and livelihoods. It is particularly concerned that continuing rains in Al Mahara, the most affected governorate, could trigger more flooding, further worsening conditions for the survivors.
OCHA spokesman Jens Laerke says people in more than 3,000 households have been made homeless by the cyclone and subsequent flooding. He says it is likely the number of known displaced persons will increase once the Rapid Response team is able to carry out a more comprehensive assessment of the disaster area.
“The flood damage is still preventing road access to many affected people in several coastal districts. And the main bridge that connects Al Maharah governorate and Hadramaut governorate has been seriously damaged. Humanitarian partners are working on finding alternative access roads from Al Mukalla west of the worst affected area,” he said.
Laerke says members of some 550 households are being sheltered temporarily in schools, and a mobile clinic has been set up. He says Saudi Arabia has sent two planes with 440 food baskets and more food is being sent on trucks from across the Saudi border.
https://www.voanews.com/a/thousands-of-cyclone-survivors-in-yemen-in-dire-need-of-aid/4620828.html
(* B H)
UN: 400,000 children at risk of dying from severe malnutrition in Yemen
Yemen has been broken by nearly four years of war and is close to total collapse, with UNICEF urging the world to take action.
The United Nations has told Sky News that Yemen is heading "into the abyss" - and is urging the international community to end the war before it is too late.
UNICEF - the United Nations Children's Fund - says as many as 400,000 children are at risk of dying from severe malnutrition and nearly 2.5 million need medical treatment because they are not getting enough to eat.
UNICEF's representative in Yemen, Meritxell Relano, says the consequences could be unthinkable if a political solution is not found.
She added: "It's definitely totally preventable and actually the cause of this near famine or pre-famine situation in which we are is obviously the war.
"If the conflict continues this country is going into the abyss further and further."
In some areas, that point has already been reached.
We visited a number of refugee camps in Aslem in northern Yemen - and what we found was truly shocking 8with film)
(* B H)
Das stille Sterben des Jemen
Seit Jahren wird der Jemen in einem Krieg zermalmt. Nun steigen die Preise für Lebensmittel rasant. Organisationen warnen deshalb: Fast die Hälfte der Bevölkerung stehe an der Schwelle zur Hungersnot.
Den Geschmack von frischem Gemüse, von Fleisch und Obst - viele Menschen im Jemen erinnern sich wohl kaum mehr daran. Zwar mangelt es auf den Märkten nicht an Nahrungsmitteln; es sind jedoch die Preise, die sich ein Großteil der Bevölkerung nicht mehr leisten kann.
"Es ist alles teurer geworden", schreibt Mirella Hodeib vom Internationalen Roten Kreuz in Sanaa auf Anfrage der Deutschen Welle. Hodeib darf in Sanaa nicht mehr auf die Straße, seit eine Arbeitskollegin im April erschossen wurde. "Meine jemenitischen Kollegen erzählen allerdings, dass Reis, Bohnen, Eier und Öl exorbitant im Preis gestiegen sind", so Hodeib, die nun seit über einem Jahr im Jemen arbeitet.
Laut der britischen Tageszeitung "Guardian" sind die bisher veranschlagten UN-Hilfsleistungen unter den neuen Umständen nicht mehr ausreichend. "Zehntausende Familien, die sich vor einigen Wochen mit Mühe noch etwas kaufen konnten, können sich nicht mehr selbst ernähren", zitiert die Zeitung Lisa Grande, die ständige UN-Koordinatorin im Jemen. Man sei mit Hunderttausenden, vielleicht Millionen Menschen konfrontiert, deren Überleben nicht mehr sicher sei, so Grande.
Auch Herve Verhoosel, der Sprecher des UN-Ernährungsprogramms, rechnet damit, dass weitere dreieinhalb Millionen Menschen ohne Unterstützung an der Schwelle zu "Hungersnot-ähnlichen-Zuständen" stünden, so Verhoosel vor zwei Tagen in Genf. Die UN brauche deshalb mehr Geld. Die schwierige Sicherheitssituation verhindere außerdem, dass Hilfslieferungen auch wirklich zu den Menschen kommen könnten.
Kämpfer statt Ärzte und Lehrer
Vor dem Krieg war der Staat der größte Arbeitsgeber. Doch nun fließen kaum noch Gehälter. Außerdem liegt die Privatwirtschaft am Boden. Laut dem Internationalen Währungsfonds hat sich das Bruttoinlandsprodukt pro Kopf im Vergleich zu 2014 mehr als halbiert. Schon vor dem Konflikt war der Jemen eines der ärmsten Länder der Welt.
https://www.dw.com/de/organisationen-warnen-vor-ausweitung-der-hungerkrise-im-jemen/a-45942788
(* B H)
Addressing Child Malnutrition in Yemen: Muneera's story
“We had lost hope,” said Muneera’s father. “As her health deteriorated and her body weakened, we worried that she could not last much longer.” Six months short of her fourth birthday, Muneera was suffering the effects of malnutrition, which had put her life in danger. Though she lived near Yemen’s capital, Sana’a, Muneera’s family did not have the resources to take her for medical care. Like thousands of other children in Yemen, the deteriorating conditions due to ongoing instability had led to malnutrition.
Fortunately, a mobile medical team was able to reach her. The team was able to provide therapeutic feeding to help Muneera overcome the effects of malnutrition, and her life is no longer in danger.
“I have been without a job for a long time because of the war,” Muneera’s father explained, “and I cannot provide enough food for my family.” If the medical team at the health facility in Al-Hayma had not visited his family, he was sure that he would have lost his daughter.
Muneera began undergoing treatment on June 1, 2018 at one of the mobile clinics supported by the EHNP.
http://blogs.worldbank.org/arabvoices/child-malnutrition-yemen-muneeras-story
(* B H)
UN Children's Fund: In Yemen, millions of children could soon be without food or water as economic crisis deepens and Hudaydah violence drags on
Statement by UNICEF Executive Director Henrietta Fore
"Millions of desperate children and families across Yemen could soon be without food, clean water or sanitation services because of the deepening economic crisis and unrelenting violence in the port city of Hudaydah. The confluence of these two factors is likely to make the horrific reality facing children and families even worse as more and more war-weary people face the very real prospect of death and disease.
"The cost of food, fuel and water supplies has skyrocketed as the value of the national currency has plummeted.
"Water and sewage treatment services are at risk of collapse because of soaring fuel prices - meaning many of these same children and families may also be without access to safe water and sanitation. This in turn could lead to disease outbreaks and increased malnutrition - both of which, in combination with food insecurity, raise the risk of famine. An estimated 1.2 million more people will soon be in acute need of basic water and sanitation assistance, and the number is expected to climb in the coming days.
Families who can no longer afford basic food items could soon join the 18.5 million people who are already food insecure - a number projected to rise by 3.5 million, including nearly 1.8 million children.
"These conditions, devastating in their own right, are compounded by the situation in Hudaydah where violence threatens to kill children and choke off an essential supply chain of fuel and humanitarian aid that sustains 28 million Yemenis.
"If the port is attacked, damaged or blocked, an estimated 4 million more children will become food insecure throughout the country.
"The only way out of Yemen's nightmare is to establish peace through a comprehensive political resolution
https://reliefweb.int/report/yemen/yemen-millions-children-could-soon-be-without-food-or-water-economic-crisis-deepens-and = https://reliefweb.int/report/yemen/yemen-millions-children-could-soon-be-without-food-or-water-economic-crisis-deepens-and
(* B H)
Hunger im Jemen: „Keinen Bissen Brot für die Kinder“
Im Jemen droht die weltweit größte Hungersnot seit 100 Jahren. Das befürchtet das Welternährungsprogramm (WFP) der Vereinten Nationen (UN). „Zwei Drittel der Jemeniten sind auf Überlebenshilfe angewiesen. Das sind 18 Millionen Menschen, fast die Hälfte steht kurz vor dem Hungertod“, warnt David Beasley, der Chef des WFP, in diesem Interview mit dem „Tagesspiegel“.
Familien wissen nicht, woher sie die nächste Mahlzeit nehmen sollen. Die Preise für Lebensmittel sind so schnell und so extrem gestiegen, dass sich viele keine Nahrung mehr leisten können. Ein Kilo Reis hat Anfang des Jahres 550 Rial gekostet. Jetzt sind 900 Rial (rund 3 Euro) dafür zu bezahlen.
„Wir können nichts mehr kaufen“, sagt Najat (45). Die Lehrerin ist Mutter von drei Kindern. Wie ihr Mann hat sie seit zwei Jahren kein Gehalt mehr bekommen. Nur der älteste Sohn verdient noch Geld. „Alles lastet auf ihm“, sagt Najat.
Wazeerah (38) sieht keinen Ausweg aus der Krise. „Ich habe kein Einkommen und kann für die sieben Leute in meiner Familie nicht einmal für einen Tag Brot kaufen“, sagt sie. „Wir sind vollkommen auf die Unterstützung von Hilfsorganisationen angewiesen, damit wir nicht verhungern.“
Bitte spenden Sie für die Nothilfe!
https://www.care.at/news/news/hunger-im-jemen-wir-haben-keinen-bissen-brot-fuer-die-kinder/
(A H)
@monarelief's team has just arrived in #Hajjeh in its way to Aslam area, where we will deliver food aid baskets to 550 hungery families there Our project was funded by @SzkolydlaPokoju Humanity First in Germany,Kuwaiti donors & @monareliefye's online fundraising (photos)
https://twitter.com/Fatikr/status/1052317092530204674
@monarelief's team has just finished distributing 420 food aid baskets in Aslam area of Hajjeh, where families eating leaves of trees. Inshallah our team will deliver tomorrow food baskets to 130 families in Bani Quis area. More pictures will be sent later (photos)
https://twitter.com/Fatikr/status/1052953841203904514
(B H)
UK Aid provides critical injection of funds to WFP Yemen
The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) welcomes a new £25 million (US$33 million) contribution from the United Kingdom to support more than 1.2 million people in Yemen, amid mounting fears of a potential famine in the country.
WFP will use the funds to roll out a cash-based transfer programme in southern Yemen and to support over 800,000 very hungry people with food vouchers for one month.
https://reliefweb.int/report/yemen/uk-aid-provides-critical-injection-funds-wfp-yemen
My comment: The UK made ca. 150 times more by arms sales to Saudi Arabia, look at cp10.
(B H)
Yemen crisis: millions facing famine
End the war
Trócaire response
Trócaire has been working with Islamic Relief Worldwide (IRW) to provide emergency water, sanitation and hygiene programmes.
Trócaire has provided €300,000 to respond to the crisis. This funding provides 1,500 families with safe drinking water and improved hygiene.
Access within Yemen is severely limited and the security situation is precarious. As such, Trócaire does not have a direct presence there, nor do any of our sister Caritas agencies. By partnering with Islamic Relief, we can still provide life-saving care to people in Yemen.
https://reliefweb.int/report/yemen/yemen-crisis-millions-facing-famine
(* B H)
Hospitals in Bengaluru give Yemeni victims a leg-up
Yemeni war victims seeking affordable and quality healthcare
cp4 Flüchtlinge / Refugees
(* A H)
Over 20,000 newly displaced people in northern Yemen
An international relief agency says that a new wave of displaced persons has hit a northern Yemeni city after fighting surged between forces backed by the Saudi-led coalition and their rival Houthi rebels.
Doctors Without Borders also said Wednesday that in the northern Yemeni city of Abs the agency treated over 360 civilians wounded in the cross-fire in August and September. The number amounts to nearly 40 percent of all the wounded in 2018.
The influx of nearly 20,000 newly displaced people is a result of intense battles raging in a district close to the Yemen-Saudi Arabia border called Bani Hassan, around 50 kilometers (31 miles) from Abs, the agency said.
The agency said those who make it to Abs arrive "too late for us to save their lives."
(B H)
Cross-Border Movements Somalia September 2018
https://reliefweb.int/map/somalia/cross-border-movements-somalia-september-2018
cp5 Nordjemen und Huthis / Northern Yemen and Houthis
(A P)
FM Denies Any Role for Saudi Arabia in Releasing French Citizen
An official source at the Yemeni Ministry of Foreign Affairs expressed his surprise at what was published by some Saudi media that it has a role in mediating the release of the French citizen who entered the Yemeni territorial waters illegally.
Saba News quoted the official as saying that the Frenchman was released under the mediation and good offices of Oman, stressing that the political leadership in Sana'a responded to these endeavors in recognition of the brotherly positions of Oman led by Sultan Qaboos bin Said.
The official denied any role in the mediation process by the aggressor country of Saudi Arabia, unless it considers stopping the illegal closure of the airspace of Yemen for the landing of the French plane at Sana’a International Airport and taking off from it a role in the mediation.
https://english.almasirah.net/details.php?es_id=3308&cat_id=1
cp6 Südjemen und Hadi-Regierung / Southern Yemen and Hadi-government
Siehe / Look at cp1, cp13b
(A P)
Armed conflict between armed militias to seize the Sheraton Hotel in Aden
An armed conflict broke out on Thursday between armed militias to take control of the Sheritoun Hotel in Goldmoor district of the Directorate of Tawahi in Aden.
The dispute erupted between armed groups affiliated with the Hazem Salman battalion led by Qassim al-Gohari and armed groups affiliated with the leadership of the transitional council.
The newspaper "Aden al-Ghad" learned that armed groups affiliated with the transition tried on Thursday to control the hotel, but armed groups followed by the battalion of packages confronted and forced to withdraw.
The conflict comes amid mounting public interest by armed militias in Aden, the last being control of the Bay of Elephant resort next to the Sheriton.
http://adengad.net/news/343371/
Remark: “affiliated with the transition“, i. e. separatists.
(* A H P)
Chaos of militants inside al-Thawra hospital in Taiz and attacks on employees explode protests and partial strike
Members of two military brigades in Taiz, military police and 170 brigade, protect the city's central General Thawrah Hospital, but have not put an end to the hospital's entrance of military and civilian militants, and put an end to the chaos within it, especially assaulting doctors and nurses.
Today, doctors, nurses and administrative staff of the Al-Thawra General Hospital, Taiz, staged a vigil, coinciding with a partial strike to protest the repeated attacks and threats to which they are constantly being subjected by the city's military and security forces.
"The medical and administrative staff of the hospital have taken a decision on the partial strike to protest the security chaos inside the hospital and the attack on doctors and nurses," said the participants of the vigil to “Al-Masdar online ".
The head of the Revolutionary Hospital Authority Dr. Ahmed Abdullah Mohamed An’am in a statement to "Al-Masdar online " that what is going on is a mess and is unbearable and intolerable, and not recognized in the systems and traditions of hospitals in the world, and we may be the only hospital in the world where militants roam in it and deal With doctors and inmates in this way.
http://almasdaronline.com/articles/159722
(* A P)
A demonstration against the presence of Saudi forces in Al-Ghaidah
The city of Al-Ghaidha, the center of the country's eastern province, witnessed a night demonstration demanding the expulsion of what they called the "Saudi occupation" of the city, after their recent accusation of refusing to rescue the stranded people from the storm "Luban".
Since last Sunday, a cyclonic storm has caused the influx of floods, killing two and injuring more than 70 others.
The demonstration went from the city's main market to the Ghaidha airport, where the Saudi forces are stationed, before the local guard intervenes and fires in the air to disperse the demonstrators.
But the demonstrators insisted on reaching the main gate, which was theirs.
They lifted slogans demanding the expulsion of Saudi forces, like "no coalition after today. Oh Mahry wake up » and «out out , Salman.. out out colonisation».
http://almasdaronline.com/articles/159739
(A P)
"Dhameer" Rights Foundation calls on the "Shabwaniah elite" to release its Secretary general
“Dhameer” Foundation for Rights and Freedoms in the southeastern province of Shabwah called on the "elite" forces to quickly release their secretary general, Nasser al-Assi, three days after his arrest.
In its statement, the foundation stressed that abductions and enforced disappearances are among the most prominent violations of human rights, calling for condemnation of such acts, which undermine the work of the rights institutions in the province.
The Shabwanyah elite forces backed by the UAE kidnapped the Secretary-General of the Dhameer Foundation for Rights and Freedoms, Nasser Ahmed al-Assi, from the center of Ataq city on Monday evening, without reasons.
http://almasdaronline.com/articles/159728
(A T)
Gunmen attack government bank in al-Dale’a
The sources told Al-Masdar online, that the gunmen who came on a camouflaged car, shot at the bank guard headquarters and tried to break into the main gate, but the guards fought with them and repelled them.
http://almasdaronline.com/articles/159740
(A P)
«Moeen Abdulmalik» Sworn in as new head of government
Moeen Abdul Malik was sworn in by President Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi in the Saudi capital of Riyadh, a new head of government, succeeding Ahmed Ben Dagher, on Thursday.
According to the state news agency Saba, following the swearing-in, President Hadi has put the new Minister of government in front of a number of priorities and tasks to work on its solution, foremost of which is to focus on the economic situation and the provision of services to citizens.
http://almasdaronline.com/articles/159761
My comment: Keep in mind: At Riyadh, Saudi symbol behind him.
(A K P)
Yemen Official Urges World to Condemn Houthi-Planted Mines
Yemeni Minister of Information Muammar Al-Iryani warned on Wednesday against Houthi militias arbitrarily planting mines in populated areas, and called for the international community to condemn such human rights violations.
My comment: He certainly would not ask to condemn the Saudi coalition air raids: Thus, this statement is propaganda.
(* A P)
Al-Gaadi: Maintaining the Government, including its Appointed Prime Minister Means Maintaining the Corrupt System and it Should Be Dismissed
Fadl Al-Gaadi, member of the presidency of the southern Transitional Council indicated that corruption in the Yemeni legitimacy government didn’t end, and will never do as long as its members are still in office. He added that maintaining government ministers, including the appointed prime minister, means maintaining the corrupt system. Al-Gaadi asserted the importance of enforcing the first paragraph of the last statement of the southern transitional council that demanded the dismissal of this corrupt government and forming a technocrat micro-government to run the country.
My comment: Southern separatists still accuse the Hadi government of corruption. And they are right.
And, furthermore, something like this almost is daily news for Southern Yemen now:
(A P)
Clashes in Aden between security forces and elements of " Mualla resistance " In order to seize the house merchant
On Wednesday, armed clashes erupted between security forces and other elements of the "Southern Resistance" in Al-Mualla city in Aden province in southern Yemen.
Local sources told "Al Masdar online" that the clashes occurred near Al Mualla Port and the hotel "AL Dhaif ", between gunmen belonging to " Al-Mualla Resistance ", on Monday afternoon.
The sources said the two sides were fighting to seize the house of a merchant from the northern regions.
It was not Known until the moment if any of both sides killed or injured during the clashes.
http://almasdaronline.com/articles/159707
cp7 UNO und Friedensgespräche / UN and peace talks
(A H P)
UN delegation discusses possible opening of United Nations office in Taiz
A delegation from the Office of the UN envoy to Yemen, Martin Griffiths, arrived in the southwestern city of Taiz on Thursday to discuss ways to cooperate in providing civil and humanitarian services in the province.
The delegation discussed the possibility of opening a United Nations office in the province with the first Vice-governor of Taiz.
http://almasdaronline.com/articles/159756
(A P)
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov announced on October 18 that LOCATIONRussia...Russia is committed to supporting UN-led efforts to find a political solution to the Yemen crisis. Lavrov added that Russia will help bring all parties of the conflict to negotiations without preconditions. He also that stated Russia has coordinated with the Saudi-led coalition to deliver humanitarian aid to Yemen and confirmed that aid will continue.[1]
cp7b Khashoggi und Jemen / Khashoggi and Yemen
(* B P)
Can the terrible death of Jamal Khashoggi help end the Yemen war?
There is a link between the disappearance and murder of the Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi and the terrible war in Yemen that after more than four years continues to grind on relentlessly. The link is the Saudi crown prince Mohammed bin Salman.
When MBS, as he is known, decided to launch a war against Yemen’s rebel Houthis together with the Abu Dhabi crown prince Mohammed Bin Zayed, he assumed that with massive air power he could bomb the Houthis into submission within a few weeks. A quick win would burnish his reputation as a warrior prince in the mould of his grandfather, the great Ibn Saud, founder of the modern kingdom of Saudi Arabia.
It was a heinous and fundamental misjudgement but this arrogant young man, still only 33, refuses to admit his blunder.
Yet even with all these unforced errors and strategic blunders Mohammed Bin Salman, aided and abetted by the Trump administration, was still able to project the moderniser image. He was looking forward to another glittering Riyadh conference, “Davos in the Desert” the second annual Future Investments Initiative. The first which happened just ahead of last’s year’s Ritz Carlton arrests had been an enormous success.
And then came the disappearance and brutal murder of Jamal Khashoggi. Finally the world recoiled in horror. Major sponsors and powerful politicians and corporate leaders have pulled out of Davos in the Desert. It is a political and financial catastrophe for MBS and a personal humiliation.
I began this column by writing of the linkage between Yemen and Khashoggi’s killing. His death has galvanized governments on both sides of the Atlantic and finally serious questions are being asked about British and American involvement in that war – by Bill Law
https://gulfhouse.org/posts/3255/
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COMMENT: Why Khashoggi & Not Yemen?
What happened to Jamal Khashoggi, except for obvious personal reasons, is not important and who did it is not important and who ordered it to be done is not important.
What has happened to about 50,000 people in Yemen, including the 10,000 killed is important, who did it is important and who ordered the three years of massacre since 2015 is important.
And that is the simplicity of the paradox that is the global, or at least Western reaction to what happened to Khashoggi in the Saudi consulate in Istanbul.
Of course, many Western countries support the Crown Prince or, at the very least, say nothing. Why? Apart from the arms contracts (the US has just signed one worth $350bn over ten years and the UK is the second biggest arms exporter to Saudi Arabia), there are two other main reasons why governments generally look away.
Saudi Arabia is fighting a constant war against Iran and Iran is an enemy (spreading terrorism etc) of many Western governments and, Saudi Arabia’s intelligence operation constantly feeds MI6, etc.
So back to the paradox. Why are governments making so much fuss about Jamal Khashoggi’s apparent murder?
Just one man.
Why not a word about the war in Yemen? Could be, in the UK’s example, that the British personal advising the Saudis on training programmes and target acquisition has something to do with it. Perhaps it is to do with defence contracts.
The hopelessness of present international relations is that we chose to support Hawking’s paradox about disappearing truth and play the shock-horror game in Istanbul and condemn 50,000 men, women and children and the ten million in starvation into the black hole that is Yemen.
https://www.forces.net/news/world/comment-why-khashoggi-not-yemen
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Kashoggi, Yemen and the War on Journalism
It is heart warming to see media coverage of such a brazen and brutal act. At the very least it draws attention to the “fake news” that Saudi Arabia is undergoing reform. The litany of abuses since the premature crowning of MBS shows how Saudi Arabia is run by a deformed, not a reformed, regime. Think about it.
The premeditated killing of Kashoggi deserves all the media attention it can get. But for the sake of the values that Kashoggi died defending, as a journalist critical of abuse in his own country, a similar spotlight needs to be placed on the ongoing Saudi/Emirati war in Yemen, which has created a desperate humanitarian crisis in which Yemenis are killed everyday.
Statistics do matter and they are easily ignored. Most of the media still refer to the number of casualties in this war at 10,000, an estimate made by the UN over two years ago, but the true figure is much higher and no doubt far more than 50,000.The number of Yemenis facing starvation is almost half of the total population and the greatest burden will fall on children. This is not a new story.
For much of the war in Yemen the press has been silent, only occasionally mentioning it and hardly ever as a major story unless there is an obvious American connection that cannot be hidden. Western journalists have had a hard time getting access to the war zone, but that is only part of the problem. The Saudis hired PR firms that make it extremely difficult for journalists to report the atrocities in the war.
The death of a journalist, especially in a war zone, is an attempt to suppress the truth about brutality. The murder of Kashoggi should warrant media attention, but what about the Yemeni journalists who have lost their lives due to all sides in the war?
If there is any lasting lesson to be learned from the death of Koshoggi, it is the urgent need to counter the politically motivated war on journalism by unmasking all the attempts to deny oppression that suppresses the free press.
https://www.juancole.com/2018/10/kashoggi-yemen-journalism.html
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The mother of all Saudi crimes is Yemen, not the disappearance of Khashoggi
The Jamal Khashoggi case has rightly generated international backlash against Saudi Arabia - the type of reaction that the deaths and starvation in Yemen were, unfortunately, unable to muster.
Considering what the Saudi government has done over the last few years, the level of cruelty and barbarism is nothing new, and happens on a daily basis elsewhere: Yemen.
For that reason, it is not wrong to say that, symbolically, Khashoggi has been tortured and killed thousands of times in Yemen by the Saudi regime. And in the very same way, it appears that Saudi Arabia will face no consequences for its crimes.
Why should a despotic government fear any consequences for a single murder when it can get away with mass murder everyday?
The regime knows very well about its might and power, and how other players—especially the West—are dependent on it.
The rottenness of this very world becomes more than clear if we think about the United States, the mightiest empire on earth, which is not interested in reconsidering its relationship with the Saudi regime.
Instead, Trump and his fellows just want to continue selling American weaponsto Riyadh, so that the carnage in Yemen, the poorest Arab country, can continue as usual.
For that reason, Trump's administration is even willing to accept the Saudi narrative of events that says that Khashoggi was killed "by mistake" while he was interrogated.
Truthfully, this is the worst kind of 'newspeak' that you can hear these days.
The United States shares much of the blame for bringing us to where we are today. Apart from the fact that the White House is the most significant backer and funder of the Saudi regime, it also helped shaped a narrative that has been adapted by many brutal regimes all over the world; the narrative of the so-called War on Terror – by Emran Feroz
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How One Journalist’s Death Provoked a Backlash That Thousands Dead in Yemen Did Not
Perhaps most unforeseen of all, the breakdown [of US-Saudi relations] centers not on the deaths, particularly of children, in Yemen, but on a single — if shocking — death, of a Saudi dissident journalist, Jamal Khashoggi.
Practically overnight, longtime American supporters of the alliance are disavowing it. American businesses are pulling back from the kingdom. Even Washington think tanks, among the most pro-Saudi institutions in the United States, are sending back Saudi money.
Why now? Why this? It is a surprise, underscoring the unpredictability of today’s world. And yet it also reveals many of the most enduring truths of alliance politics, group psychology and perceptions of morality.
Though few saw this coming — perhaps most of all, Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, who is accused of involvement in Mr. Khashoggi’s death — it may come to seem obvious in retrospect.
Tragedies and Statistics
Any reporter who has covered a humanitarian disaster should understand what Stalin is once reported to have said to a fellow Soviet official: The death of one person is a tragedy, but the death of one million is a statistic.
But a single death can be understood in the more relatable terms of, say, a grieving father or a desperate spouse. Or a murdered journalist, like Mr. Khashoggi.
Psychologists have repeatedly found that people experience a greater emotional reaction to one death than to many, even if the circumstances are identical. Perversely, the more victims, the less sympathy that people feel.
The effect even has a name: collapse of compassion. It’s not that we can’t care about a million deaths, psychologists believe. Rather, we fear being overwhelmed and switch off our own emotions in pre-emptive self-defense.
For years, Saudi leaders may have unknowingly benefited from this effect
Understanding those events on an intellectual level is difficult enough. But understanding them on an emotional level may simply be beyond us.
The murder of Mr. Khashoggi is different. It is relatable, particularly to the men and women running American foreign policy.
Here is an educated, globe-traveling journalist, the type of person many might have as a friend or spouse. His columns for The Washington Post made him an unofficial member of the intellectual elite, a club of which many Washingtonians consider themselves members.
If dramas of individual suffering, like that of Aylan Kurdi, are easier to sympathize with than large-scale tragedies, then perhaps the story of a single wrathful act, like the murder of Mr. Khashoggi, can more readily spark outrage than years of Saudi crackdowns and interventions.
But why this tipping point? Research by the sociologist Ari Adut suggests it may come down to a dynamic called common knowledge: A group becomes much likelier to act against a transgressor when each individual member knows that every other member knows about the transgression. This creates a perceived social pressure to act.
It is perhaps why, for instance, society looked the other way for years on sexual assault accusations involving Bill Cosby, then suddenly didn’t. The accusations were known, but it was not until a viral stand-up routine made them common knowledge that Mr. Cosby faced consequences.
Saudi Arabia’s past behaviors were hardly unknown. But there was never common understanding on how to receive them.
The country may have been undercutting American policy and values, but it tended to do so on issues that made for polarizing topics in Washington.
As a result, debate on the alliance tended to polarize.
But there is less to debate about the murder of a journalist – by Max Fisher
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/10/17/world/middleeast/jamal-khashoggi-saudi-arabia.html
My comment: Ok, but this is only half the story. – The other half is not our psychology and our “collapse of compassion”, but it is the mainstream media intentionally reporting not at all or in a very twisted way. It’s the intention NOT to let the public know what really happens – because they follow an agenda supporting US imperialism (US “interests”).
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Why is Saudi Arabia under fire over Jamal Khashoggi, but not Yemen?
The alleged killing of the royal court insider turned journalist Jamal Khashoggi has rightly triggered a diplomatic crisis for Saudi Arabia, but it would appear it has not jeopardised any of the multibillion-dollar arms deals between the US, Britain and the House of Saud.
Many journalists working on the story, business people pulling out of Saudi conferences and politicians preparing diplomatic responses knew Khashoggi personally. He was a fixture of the thinktank circuit and a habitué of elite London and Washington parties. His former colleagues feel genuine empathy for Khashoggi over his apparently grisly end, because it requires little imagination for them to put themselves in his shoes.
Yet these influencers appear to have a blind spot for the more routine victims of unchecked Saudi aggression. Unlike Khashoggi, the thousands of Yemeni civilians who have been blown up by the Saudi royal air force do not write for the Washington Post.
Reports of an airstrike claiming the lives of at least 20 members of a wedding party, or 40 children killed when a Saudi bomb hit their school bus, may prompt a story in a national newspaper and perhaps a handwringing statement expressing “concern” by a foreign minister.
But real political action does not follow.
The deaths are instead explained away. Saudi Arabia is fighting for the legitimate government of Yemen. Ancient sectarian strife is causing the conflict. Saudi is acting in self-defence. “Our coalition,” as Conservative MP Crispin Blunt put it, is “trying to do the job of the international community”.
These talking points, at best fallacious, are often designed to whitewash the internalisation of a war in which Britain – through its ongoing supply of arms, technicians and military personnel – is an active participant.
The violence enacted by Saudi Arabia on the people of Yemen springs from the same source as the violence allegedly used against Khashoggi in the Turkish embassy. Both are colossal, tragic, strategic errors involving the deployment of unimaginable violence in a vain attempt to cow the imagined enemies of the Kingdom.
If the alleged assassination of one man can unify the world against Saudi aggression, why not the preventable deaths of hundreds of thousands of Yemenis? Over the coming months we should keep in mind what an international pursuit of justice for the victims of criminal violence can achieve– by Lloyd Russell-Moyle, Labour MP
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The Khashoggi case shows that the UK’s alliance with Saudi Arabia serves neither our interests nor our values
It might be odd, even unfair, for the fate of one man to have an impact when the displacement of millions and the deaths of tens of thousands have not. Nonetheless. the scandal over the disappearance – and alleged murder – of Jamal Khashoggi, the Saudi Arabian journalist, in Istanbul has so far dented the regime more than any of the blowback over its actions in Yemen. Indeed, it’s turning into a pressing row which may yet force the UK to belatedly re-evaluate its relationship with the Kingdom.
The obvious reason for Khashoggi gaining more attention than the anonymous masses who have died in Yemen is that he is a journalist. Few things interest the media more than news about their own industry, and few things outrage them more than an attack upon one of their own. Saudi Arabia has arrested, beaten, disappeared and killed all sorts of people whom it finds inconvenient, including women who want to drive cars and people who want to discuss religion freely, but in (at best) kidnapping a journalist it appears to have made a serious miscalculation about what it can get away with without consequences.
The price of that misjudgement is only starting to be felt. People who might have accepted the Crown Prince’s PR about reform and liberalisation at face value are now adopting a more sceptical standpoint.
The [British] Foreign Secretary cautioned that “friendships depend on shared values”, and yet it has been clear for many years – indeed, from the outset of the relationship almost a century ago – that Saudi Arabia and the UK have essentially no such values in common.
Instead, the relationship has always been justified on the grounds of shared interests, which are not the same thing as shared values.
The Western governments – particularly the US and UK – on which the House of Saud relies as supportive allies now face a major challenge to their already troubled policy.
Whichever you prize more, on front after front – the spread of Islamist extremism globally and in the UK; the harm done by association to our country’s standing and moral authority around the world; the humanitarian disasters in Yemen and elsewhere; and now the kidnapping or murder of journalists – our alliance with Saudi Arabia offends against both our values and our interests. That was clear before Khashoggi disappeared, and it is even clearer now – by Mark Wallace
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Jamal Khashoggi's case has captured the world’s attention, but we shouldn’t lose sight of Saudi Arabia’s role in Yemen
It may be that Khashoggi's disappearance becomes a defining moment in UK-Saudi relations. But perhaps this defining moment should have come sooner
But while the world is rightly outraged by this case, we must not overlook the country’s role in a tragedy playing out on a far greater scale: the war in Yemen, which the head of the UN has called the “world’s worst man-made disaster”.
It may be that the disappearance of Jamal Khashoggi becomes a defining moment in UK-Saudi relations, in particular if the allegations are proven to be true.
But perhaps this defining moment should have come sooner. The devastation of Yemen by Saudi Arabia and its allies has been taking place for three and half years now, and with tens of thousands dead and millions displaced from their homes and at risk of starvation, maybe we are already long past the point at which the UK should have reconsidered its relationship with Saudi Arabia.
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How The Khashoggi Scandal Looks When You’ve Been Bombed And Starved By Saudi Arabia For Years
The journalist’s disappearance triggered a massive global backlash against Saudi Arabia. Its bloody war in Yemen never has.
Global media and international decision-makers, right up to the president of the United States, have spent more than a week talking about what happened to missing Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi and what it means for human rights and Saudi Arabia’s long-standing foreign relationships. Radhya Almutawakel has stayed focused on her own work in Yemen: carefully documenting how Saudi actions there have claimed thousands of lives, often with the aid of American weapons.
“We can’t deny that there is a sourness inside all of us, that Yemenis have been dying for years, thousands of them, and millions starving, and the reaction is not as strong as in this case,” she told HuffPost.
The advocates’ work has only sporadically made top headlines around the world ― an irony that’s now commemorated in headlines like “How One Journalist’s Death Provoked a Backlash That Thousands Dead in Yemen Did Not.”
Better late than never, from Almutawakel’s point of view. The discrepancy in attention is sad, she said, and as a fellow critic of the Saudi regime, she feels more vulnerable seeing how far Riyadh now appears willing to go to silence dissent, potentially with international acquiescence.
But the episode has also helped her see something else: that for all its wealth and international influence, its alliances with the world’s richest countries and its massive tools of repression, Saudi Arabia is not untouchable. The world can pressure the kingdom, and it cannot act with total impunity.
“Saudi Arabia is finally facing consequences for one of its crimes, which is targeting Khashoggi,” Almutawakel said. She thinks that’s in part because the kingdom has increasingly frustrated world powers with behavior like that in Yemen: “The file of violations of Saudi Arabia is getting bigger and bigger.”
As American leaders start to speak of a fundamental shift in the relationship that’s let the Saudis pummel her country, Almutawakel has a list of requests ready ― some ways in which Riyadh could be forced to improve Yemen’s situation almost immediately.
“It’s never too late,” Almutawakel said. “The world has proved they can do a lot.”
https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/jamal-khashoggi-saudi-arabia-yemen_us_5bc7a461e4b0a8f17ee8e950
cp8 Saudi-Arabien / Saudi Arabia
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Why King Salman Must Replace M.B.S.
To save its reputation and avoid becoming a pariah state in the aftermath of the Khashoggi murder, Saudi Arabia should replace its crown prince.
Thanks to the actions of the impetuous Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman — from the brutal war in Yemen to picking a fight with Canada to, most recently, the apparent murder of the journalist Jamal Khashoggi — Saudi Arabia is at risk of becoming a pariah state. The royal court in Riyadh — including King Salman bin Abdulaziz — surely realizes that this situation cannot continue.
If they are smart they will take decisive action. First, King Salman needs to remove Prince Mohammed from his post, admit responsibility for the assassination of Mr. Khashoggi, and face consequences. Later, if Saudi Arabia truly wants to become a respected member of the international community, the government should take steps toward becoming a constitutional monarchy.
The idea that King Salman would replace his son, also known as M.B.S., with a less boisterous and erratic crown prince might appear unrealistic — but it has precedents. If it is the will of the king, dismissing a crown prince is not very difficult or controversial. King Salman already sacked two crown princes when he became king in 2015.
King Salman and the other moderate figures in the royal family don’t necessarily need to besiege the palace, but they could find a more peaceful way to push M.B.S. out.
There are several eligible candidates to replace the disastrous Prince Mohammed.
Although a long shot, if King Salman does replace M.B.S., he must transform the absolute Saudi monarchy into a constitutional monarchy with an elected government and parliament, who approve the appointment of future kings and crown princes. That alone will prevent the emergence of a new M.B.S.-like figure who could amass all the power and threaten the interests of the kingdom.
Saudi Arabia has had the time and the money to transform itself into a modern state that respects basic human rights and freedoms, but it has avoided that path. In the past, citizens and some royals have sought rudimentary forms of political representation but calls for constitutional monarchy have landed its proponents in prison. There is little hope of change.
King Salman will never voluntarily push for such a change without serious pressure from inside and outside the country. Given the support he has from the West, especially President Trump, most Western governments might be happy to see another abbreviation emerge as the new face of the kingdom to absorb the global outrage over Jamal Khashoggi’s disappearance and murder – By Madawi al-Rasheed
My comment: She is Saudi – the next candidate for Mr. Bone Saw?
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The enduring myth of the young Arab reformer
In the Middle East, westerners routinely confuse youth with a commitment to change
It is an enduring myth. As the era of the stubborn old Arab autocrat fades, the young son with a modern outlook rises. The people, who have no say in the matter, hope that the son will improve on the father. Western governments convince themselves that he will and set out to help him succeed. Over the past decade, western policy towards the Middle East has relied, time and again, on the myth of the young Arab reformer. He has appeared under different names: Syria’s Bashar al-Assad (son of longtime ruler Hafez), Libya’s Seif al-Islam (son of Muammer Gaddafi), Egypt’s Gamal Mubarak (son of Hosni, the former president), and, most recently, Saudi Arabia’s Mohammed bin Salman (son of King Salman). With varying degrees of enthusiasm, they have all been promoted and feted in western capitals. Invariably, they have proved as repressive as their predecessors, and sometimes more brutal. That appears to be the case with Saudi Arabia’s 33-year-old Prince Mohammed.
What drives the myth of the young Arab reformer? Partly it is a belief that in an undemocratic Middle East, continuity is valued, and change is too risky (a western attitude that has been reinforced by the chaos that followed the Arab spring). It is also the appeal of new rulers who talk about economic reforms, even as they perpetuate systems that lack transparency and accountability. There is usually no basis for western wishful thinking. True, youth brings more energy. But inexperience can channel that energy in the wrong direction. Inexperience is compounded by insecurity: the sons’ need to consolidate their power leads them to sideline old advisers. They rule with narrower power bases and fall back on paranoid instincts.
https://www.ft.com/content/1ca1a9a4-d142-11e8-a9f2-7574db66bcd5
cp9 USA
Siehe / Look at cp1
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Khashoggi’s Murder and Saudi War Crimes in Yemen Were Facilitated by US
The alleged torture, dismemberment and killing of Saudi citizen and US permanent resident Jamal Khashoggi in the Saudi embassy in Istanbul has triggered justifiable outrage throughout the United States and around the world. But amid the outcry over Khashoggi’s death, many media and public figures still fail to acknowledge the war crimes Saudi Arabia is committing in Yemen with US assistance.
Six days after Khashoggi’s disappearance, New York Times columnist Thomas L. Friedman made the astounding claim, “If Jamal has been abducted and murdered by agents of the Saudi government … [i]t would be an unfathomable violation of norms of human decency, worse not in numbers but in principle than even the Yemen war.”
Friedman’s attempt to minimize the enormity of the carnage, including over 6,000 civilian casualties and the world’s worst humanitarian crisis,resulting from three years of war in Yemen is not uncommon.
Saudi-US War Crimes Committed in Yemen
Trump Administration Lies to Congress About Attempts to Minimize Civilian Casualties
Pushback From Congress on US Assistance to Saudi Arabia
Comment: Where on earth did she get the casualty figures for Yemen ? She says 6,000 dead. That would be laughable if it was not so serious. An average of 5 bombs a day are dropped in civilian targets and this has continued for 3.5 years. That makes almost 6,500 bombs on civilian targets and 13,000 on military targets. Some of these targets are full of families with multiple casualties. Additionally the Saudis are stopping food and medicine entering the country - the WHO report of 2016 said one quarter of roads throughout Yemen and one half of electricity, water and sewage plant were destroyed and a severe embargo has prevented food entering Yemen whilst research clearly shows that food facilities have been targeted - including farms, supply routes, warehouses, trucks transporting food, markets, and shops. This has caused outbreaks of disease - made worse as medical equipments and medicines are restricted from entering Yemen. Is is surprising that people especially children are dying in thousands every week from disease and starvation.
https://www.facebook.com/judith.brown.794628/posts/10157086820523641
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US to Train Saudi Arabia Prison Officials
The State Department is actively seeking U.S. contractors to aid Saudi Arabian prison officials, according to federal procurement records reviewed by TYT.
The assistance will come in the form of a training program, carried out by an American contractor, regarding management of incarcerated women, according to the documents. Human-rights observers have noted a recent spike in the number of female political prisoners there, and the treatment of women has been a long-standing issue in a nation that has been faulted for a range of human-rights abuses.
The new training program is being started at a time when President Donald Trump is drawing criticism for the US relationship with the Saudis.
It’s not clear from the State Department documents whether Pompeo authorized or even knows about the new Saudi prison training plans.
Among the documents is a request for proposals (RFP), titled “SAUDI ARABIA WOMEN’S CORRECTIONS ACADEMY TRAINING PROJECT” and marked “procurement sensitive.” The RFP details the State Department’s plans to aid the kingdom in the management of its prisons.
The deadline for contractors to submit proposals for the project is October 29th of this year. The period of performance is one year, and includes options for up to two additional years of performance.
While contractors are required to be U.S. citizens, much of the work will take place in Saudi Arabia — though not all. The documents also detail plans to fly Saudi prison officials to the U.S. in order to train them here.
Throughout the documents, the State Department is careful to stress its concern for human rights: “Saudi Arabia’s Ministry of Interior (MOI)’s General Directorate on Prisons (GDP) seeks to advance a bilateral project with the goal of developing a women corrections academy training that graduates GDP staff that are prepared for work in a modern correctional setting that conforms to internationally-accepted best correctional practices and human rights standards.”
Regardless of the conditions, human-rights observers say that Saudi Arabia’s prisons are filled with detainees who should not be there.
“All of the colleagues that I have there [in Saudi prisons] were convicted under trials for speech crimes,” said Adam Coogle, a Middle East researcher for Human Rights Watch. “The system contains people who shouldn’t be in jail.”
Although it can be difficult to ascertain information about Saudi Arabia’s prisons — there is no independent monitoring, Coogle says — his team has managed to gain some insights from a network of sources within the prison system. The picture they paint is not a pretty one, especially with respect to intelligence prisons.
“People are often held in these facilities pre-trial and put in solitary confinement and are mistreated with a view towards coercing confessions that are later used in court to convict the person. We have lots of accounts of that,” Coogle said.
According to the documents reviewed by TYT, U.S. contractors are to train Saudi prison officials in various areas, including “Prisoner Classification and Intake, Prisoner Transportation and Escort, Prison Intelligence Unit Operations/Security Threat Groups, and Emergency Management and Emergency Response Teams (ERT).”
https://tyt.com/stories/4vZLCHuQrYE4uKagy0oyMA/55ye8Kw8dGs0yc0sYQu82a
and procurement records: https://www.fbo.gov/index.php?s=opportunity&mode=form&id=6dbc621c7b1ebc49187fe1a92bab4f81&tab=core&_cview=0
My comment: Oh God. This really sounds unbelievable, but it’s fact. This is rogue states’ cooperation on its closest level.
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Trump’s Record of Failure in the Middle East
Ten months ago, I responded to the claim that Trump’s foreign policy in the Middle East had been “moderately successful” and argued that it was just the opposite.
Since I wrote that, the Trump administration has …
In this same period of time, conditions in Yemen have deteriorated significantly.
There is obviously no improvement in Saudi coalition targeting, and there isn’t going to be any. U.S. support for the war does not make the Saudi coalition less likely to kill civilians because they intentionally make a regular habit of attacking civilian targets. The Trump administration’s determination to keep U.S. support for the coalition flowing despite ample evidence of deliberate attacks on civilians ensures that more Yemeni civilians will die. That is the cost of the administration’s lies to Congress about Yemen.
After watching twenty months of Trump’s foreign policy in the Middle East, we have to conclude that it has needlessly escalated conflicts, inflicted collective punishment on tens of millions of people for no good reason, damaged U.S. interests and our national reputation, and made our government complicit in numerous war crimes and crimes against humanity.
https://www.theamericanconservative.com/larison/trumps-record-of-failure-in-the-middle-east
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Washington Think Tanks Still Divided On Whether To Return Saudi Donations Over Journalist's Disappearance
The Middle East Institute, a prominent Washington think tank, said it would no longer seek donations from Saudi Arabia, but the Center for Strategic and International Studies said it was undecided
The Center for Strategic and International Studies, one of Washington’s most prominent think tanks on international affairs, still has not decided whether to return funding from Saudi Arabia in the wake of the disappearance and likely murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi.
But another influential research center, the Middle East Institute, said it would stop taking Saudi donations "pending the outcome of the investigation" into Khashoggi's disappearance.
CSIS's hesitance to reject a Saudi grant and the Middle East Institute's decision to stop receiving Saudi donations are further signs of the split roiling Washington, as officials here search for ways to respond to Khashoggi’s probable death.
“It’s a new grant and it’s all still being processed,” said CSIS spokesperson H. Andrew Schwartz. He said CSIS is following the Khashoggi story closely and hasn’t made any decisions. Aramco, the Saudi oil company, is listed as a corporate donor on the think tank’s website.
The Middle East Institute provided another example of the conflict, issuing a statement on Monday that called "on the authorities of Saudi Arabia, Turkey and the United States to act swiftly to bring out the truth about what happened to Mr. Kashoggi," but made no mention of Saudi money financing the institute's activities.
But in response to questions from BuzzFeed News about the status of Saudi funding, the institute said in an email, "The Board of Governors has decided to decline any funding from the Saudi government and to keep the matter under active review pending the outcome of the investigation into the case of Mr. Jamal Khashoggi."
Saudi money is a mainstay of activities at many Washington think tanks, whose researchers and associates provide a wide range of information to news reporters, members of Congress, and others, often without much in the way of public discussion about what influence the donations from foreign entities might have on the research.
Some centers said they would not be affected by the Khashoggi case.
“It's hard to disaggregate Saudi and Emirati funding," said Doug Ollivant, a senior fellow focused on the Middle East at New America, a nonpartisan think tank. "It's not clear to me if that's just because their goals are so similar or because they really are coordinating.”
Indeed, the United Arab Emirates gave $20 million to the Middle East Institute between 2016 and 2017, and UAE Ambassador to the US Yousef Al Otaiba has been a major proponent of Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. The Atlantic Council wrote in an email to BuzzFeed News that it has not taken money from the Saudi government, individuals, or companies in the past five years, but lists the United Arab Emirates as having donated over one million in the 2017 fiscal year.
The role of donors’ money in influencing what the research centers produce has been a subject of debate for years
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Obama’s First National Security Adviser Now Works for the Saudis
We know how much Trumpland loves the Saudis. Turns out that some in Obama World are fans of the kingdom’s cash, too
A company helmed by Jim Jones, then-President Barack Obama’s first National Security Adviser, has a contract with the Saudi government to advise on industrial matters, The Daily Beast has learned. Jones’ company, Jones Group International, had, until March of this year, a second contract with the kingdom related to Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman’s military overhaul. It’s another sign of the deep reach of Saudi money into the Washington elite.
A spokesperson for Ironhand Security, a subsidiary of Jones’ firm Jones Group International, confirmed the existence of the contracts—one in place, one expired—to The Daily Beast.
“Ironhand Security had a contract with the Saudi government to provide advice on its military transformation efforts, a key component of the 2030 vision and reform agenda strongly supported by the United States,” the spokesperson said. “This was particularly important given the significance of the military-to-military relationship.”
That contract ended in March of this year, according to the spokesperson. A second contract between Ironhand and the kingdom, signed in January and set to expire in several weeks, involves “advisory services on the development of a domestic industrial base.”
(* A K P)
US Not to Change Logistical Support for Saudi-led Operations in Yemen
The United States has no plans to change its logistical support for Saudi-led military operations in Yemen, US Air Force Special Operations Command chief Lt. Gen. Brad Webb said at a press briefing.
"I see nothing on the horizon that may change this focus at this point," Webb said on Wednesday, when asked about possible changes in future logistical support for Riyadh's operations in Yemen.
https://sputniknews.com/middleeast/201810181068983323-usa-yemen-operation/
(* A K P)
Film: Message from Bernie Sanders: Stop Supporting the War in Yemen
The recent disappearance and likely assassination of Jamal Khashoggi only underscores how urgent it has become for the United States to redefine our relationship with Saudi Arabia and end our support for the war in Yemen.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CGyirF_U_kA
(A K P)
Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Joe Dunford meets with #SaudiArabia Chief of the General Staff Gen. Fayyad Al-Ruwayli in Washington D.C., Oct. 17 (photo)
https://twitter.com/MbKS15/status/1052793424921784321
(* B P)
Film: Does Saudi Arabia Own Donald Trump?
Mehdi Hasan examines Trump’s history of doing deals with Saudi royals and reminds us how the former reality TV star even bragged about his financial ties to the kingdom during the election campaign.
https://twitter.com/mehdirhasan/status/1052306497785475072
(A K P)
Sen. Jack Reed: US should cut refueling support to Saudi warplanes in Yemen
The U.S. military should end its refueling support of Saudi Arabia warplanes in Yemen no matter where an investigation into the kingdom’s suspected murder of a Washington-based journalist leads, Sen. Jack Reed, D-R.I., said Wednesday.
Reed, the top Democrat on the Armed Services Committee, said the support has not allowed the U.S. to influence the Saudis as they wage a four-year-old war and face allegations of targeting civilians amid a crushing humanitarian crisis in the Middle Eastern country.
The military’s support of aerial refueling, logistics, and munitions to Saudi Arabia and reports of airstrikes killing scores of civilians was stoking bipartisan outrage on Capitol Hill before Washington Post contributor Jamal Khashoggi disappeared after entering a Saudi consulate and was allegedly killed and dismembered, according to Turkish authorities.
“With respect to Yemen regardless what is determined about Khashoggi, I think we should terminate the aerial refueling,” Reed said during a breakfast with defense reporters. “I don’t think it provides any controls over their behavior and I think what it does is involve us in activities and actions that we can’t control and have no knowledge of, and that’s not a good position for us to be.”
cp10 Großbritannien / Great Britain
(* B P)
MPs on the Saudi gravy train revealed: Brutal regime blamed for journalist Jamal Khashoggi's death TRIPLES its hospitality and gifts lavished on British politicians to 'buy influence and power in Westminster’
Crisis-torn Saudi Arabia has been lavishing hundreds of thousands of pounds on British MPs, the Mail can reveal.
The kingdom – under fire over the suspected state-sponsored murder of a journalist – has been pouring cash into a charm offensive.
In just two years it has tripled the amount of money spent on MPs to pay for luxury hotels, business-class flights and magnificent feasts.
Campaigners say 38 MPs who got freebies over the past five years are ‘accessories’ to a cynical bid to brush up the oil-rich Gulf nation’s tarnished image.
In 2016, British parliamentarians accepted £35,062 of junkets, gifts and other benefits from the authoritarian regime. But this year the figure is more than three times higher at £106,418 – and it is only October. The total since 2015 has been put at £208,000.
The Saudi authorities are not lavishing hospitality on MPs because they want to promote “dialogue”, it is because they want to buy influence and power in Westminster.’
Saudi Arabia lavishes more treats on British MPs than all the other Gulf states put together, the Mail’s analysis shows.
(* B P)
Dozens of MPs flown to Riyadh in Saudi charm offensive
Saudi Arabia has spent hundreds of thousands of pounds paying for British MPs to visit the country.
FactCheck found that at least 33 MPs have been on Saudi-funded trips to the Kingdom, since its troops entered Yemen in 2015. On most occasions, all expenses were covered.
In total, British MPs have accepted more than £208,000 worth of trips since 2015.
Getting MPs to visit appears to be a growing priority for Saudi Arabia. Over the last five years, increasing numbers of MPs have gone – and the amount being spent on each person has gone up.
Since the intervention in Yemen, Saudi representatives have also given government ministers expensive gifts – including gold-plated, diamond-encrusted bookends, a silver horse ornament, and food hampers worth up to £350 each. The gifts were accepted, but not taken personally by ministers.
While he was Foreign Secretary, Philip Hammond was also gifted a £1,950 watch, from a Saudi sheikh. He accepted the gift in his capacity as a constituency MP, rather than as Foreign Secretary – meaning he would be allowed to keep it.
Separately, Conservative MP Rehman Chishti, was even paid £46,000 of Saudi money over 23 months – working as an adviser for a Riyadh-based organisation set up by the Saudi royal family.
https://www.channel4.com/news/factcheck/dozens-of-mps-flown-to-riyadh-in-saudi-charm-offensive
(B P)
When Bin Salman visited UK in March only 54 MPs (9%) – and no Conservatives - signed the motion opposing his visit while the Foreign Secretary wrote this ridiculous article. UK political class is wrong on just about every major UK foreign policy issue.
https://twitter.com/markcurtis30/status/1052959797493096448
referring to https://www.parliament.uk/edm/2017-19/865
(A P)
Film: Jeremy Corbyn: The UK Government’s response to the abominable tragedy of Jamal Khashoggi has been shamefully slow. The Saudi government must be challenged over its abuse of the human rights of its own people and the people of Yemen. We should immediately suspend arms supplies to Saudi Arabia.
https://twitter.com/jeremycorbyn/status/1052621795667468288
(* A B P)
The Tories’ horrific hypocrisy on Yemen is being called out in spectacular fashion
Indeed, almost two years to the day, the British Tory government promised to submit a ceasefire resolution to the United Nationsregarding the conflict. However, after pressure from the Saudis, the UK government backed down.
And now, to add insult to catastrophic injuries, since this failed pledge, the British government have significantly ramped up their support for the Saudi-led intervention.
Not only is Britain now selling a record amount of weapons to the Saudis for use in the conflict, the UK army is literally training the very Saudi pilots who are currently dropping British-made bombs on innocent Yemeni civilians.
Despite supposedly superior British military training, Saudi Arabia’s record in the conflict has been utterly horrific, with The United Nations accusing them of multiple counts of war crimes.
With the Saudi’s despicable tactics clearly contributing hugely to the impending famine in Yemen, it is little wonder that Britain’s support for the intervention is becoming increasingly hard to justify.
Yet, despite supplying the Saudis with weapons and training, and despite breaking a promise to demand a ceasefire that would have prevented this unfolding humanitarian disaster, the Tories are trying to play the good guy.
The Department for International Development boasted on Twitter how they were supposedly providing “lifesaving help for millions of Yemeni children at growing risk of famine“:
And the Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt joined in with this hideously hypocritical and deeply offensive duplicitousness, quoting DFID’s tweet and writing:
“Amongst other news raging we must not forget the heart-breaking famine in Yemen – the UK has a special responsibility as Yemen pen-holder on the security council.”
However, the Tories’ latest weasel words were rightly met with an absolutely blistering barrage of criticism
(* A B P)
Sorry, Jeremy Hunt – sending aid to Yemen doesn’t make up for our arms sales to Saudi Arabia
Hunt’s support for the Yemen aid effort is deeply at odds with the UK’s continuing role as armourer to the Saudi coalition
Few would disagree with Jeremy Hunt that the famine in Yemen is “heart-breaking”, as he wrote in a recent tweet. But what can be done to end it, and what does the Foreign Secretary mean when he talks about the UK’s “special responsibility” towards the country as a “pen holder” at the UN Security Council?
Being a “pen holder” is UN jargon for the member of the Security Council with the job of initiating debate, resolutions and statements on a particular country at a given time. It just means the UK is supposed to be moving things forward at the UN on Yemen. But, as Mr Hunt knows, there’s an awful lot more to the UK’s “special responsibility” toward Yemen than this.
Given that the UK is a major supplier of the arms currently being used in Yemen to devastating effect by the Saudi Arabia-led military coalition, the UK is in the deeply strange position of supposedly leading efforts to alleviate a humanitarian disaster that its own weapons are contributing to. Here are a few of the key points.
https://inews.co.uk/opinion/comment/yemen-jeremy-hunt-saudi-arabia-aid/
cp11 Deutschland / Germany
(* B K P)
Fragwürdige Antwort auf Rüstungsdeals mit Saudi-Arabien
Die erst im März gebildete Bundesregierung hat, wie sie auf eine Anfrage des Bundestagsabgeordneten Omid Nouripour (Grüne) einräumt, bis 30. September Waffenexporte nach Saudi Arabien im Wert von 416 Mio. Euro genehmigt. Zwar steht im Koalitionsvertrag etwas davon dass Waffenexporte an die Allianz der Staaten, die im Jemen-Krieg beteiligt sind, nicht erteilt werden sollen; doch da gibt es eine Ausnahmeklausel, wenn bereits eine Vorgenehmigung vorliegt. Diese dürfte dann meist von der vorigen Regierung stammen, die die gleichen Parteien trugen und die ebenfalls Enthaltsamkeit bei Rüstungsexporten auf ihre Fahnen geschrieben hatte. Doch es gibt noch mehr Probleme mit der Antwort:
- Nouripour hat vor kurzem eine ähnliche Anfrage gestellt. Dabei kamen für den Zeitraum von der Vereidigung der Bundesregierung am 14. März bis zum 23. September Genehmigungen von "nur" 251 Mio. Euro zusammen. Also wurden, wenn alle Angaben stimmen, in einer Woche Genehmigungen für weitere 160 Mio. Euro erteilt. Das obwohl es bereits nach den ersten Zahlen in der SPD öffentlich brodelte.
https://rdl.de/beitrag/fragw-rdige-antwort-auf-r-stungsdeals-mit-saudi-arabien
(* B K P)
Trotz Jemen-Krieg: Saudi-Arabien zweitbester Kunde der deutschen Rüstungsindustrie
Die Große Koalition hat eigentlich vereinbart, keine Waffen an Parteien im Jemen-Krieg zu liefern. Dennoch belaufen sich die Waffendeals zwischen Berlin und Riad auf hunderte Millionen Euro – Saudi-Arabien ist gar der zweitbeste Kunde der deutschen Rüstungsindustrie im laufenden Jahr.
Wegen einer Ausnahmeklausel im Koalitionsvertrag geschieht dies jedoch trotzdem – und zwar in großem Umfang.
Wie aus einer Antwort des Wirtschaftsministeriums auf eine Anfrage des Grünen-Abgeordneten Omid Nouripour hervorgeht, erteilte die Bundesregierung bis zum 30. September Exportgenehmigungen im Wert von 416,4 Millionen Euro für Saudi-Arabien.
Damit ist Riad der zweitbeste Kunde der deutschen Rüstungsindustrie im laufenden Jahr.
https://de.sputniknews.com/politik/20181019322681344-jemen-saudi-arabien-waffen-lieferung/
(A P)
Saudi Arabia foreign minister meets German ambassador in fresh sign of thaw
Saudi Arabia’s Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir met with German Ambassador Joerg Ranau on Thursday, state news agency SPA said on Thursday, in another sign the countries are turning the page on a diplomatic spat.
(A K P)
Prälat Jüsten: Bundesregierung mitverantwortlich für Leid im Jemen
Angesichts andauernder Rüstungsexporte nach Saudi-Arabien, in die Vereinigten Arabischen Emirate und nach Jordanien erhebt die Gemeinsamen Konferenz Kirche und Entwicklung (GKKE) massive Vorwürfe gegen die Bundesregierung.
Die große Koalition mache sich "zunehmend mitverantwortlich für die humanitäre Katastrophe im Jemen", erklärte der katholische GKKE-Vorsitzende, Prälat Karl Jüsten, am Donnerstag in Berlin. Er verwies auf den Koalitionsvertrag, in dem Union und SPD erklärt haben, keine Ausfuhren mehr an Staaten zu genehmigen, die unmittelbar am Jemen-Krieg beteiligt sind.
Jüsten betonte, die Genehmigung weiterer Waffenexporte, darunter Artillerie-Ortungssysteme für gepanzerte Fahrzeuge, Panzerabwehrraketen sowie Gefechts- und Zielsuchköpfe für Flugabwehrsysteme, schade der Glaubwürdigkeit der Regierung. Allzu offensichtlich würden derzeit humanitäre Belange allen Beteuerungen zum Hohn gegenüber industriellen Interessen nachrangig behandelt.
cp12 Andere Länder / Other countries
(A P)
Hezbollah leader calls on Saudi Arabia to end war in Yemen
The leader of Lebanon’s Hezbollah has called on Saudi Arabia to make a “courageous” decision and end the fighting in Yemen, saying the alleged killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi in Turkey has tarnished the kingdom’s image to an unprecedented degree.
Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah said in a speech in Beirut Friday that “the international cover” for the war in Yemen has begun to collapse.
“Saudi Arabia’s image worldwide is the worst in its history,” Nasrallah said, referring to the Khashoggi case.
https://apnews.com/fd03dcf52d704fa188a86f7d062cd5c7
(A P)
Female Prisoners Launch Hunger Strike in Bahrain over Inhumane Treatment
https://english.almasirah.net/details.php?es_id=3298&cat_id=2
cp13a Waffenhandel / Arms trade
Siehe / Look at cp10, cp11
cp13b Mercenaries / Söldner
Siehe cp1 (in Deutsch)
(* B P)
Film by RonPaulLibertyReport: Why Did An American Hit Squad Kill Politicians In Yemen?
The United Arab Emirates hired a US-based private military contractor company run by an Israeli-American to provide American military-trained special forces to assassinate members of a Yemeni political party. What's wrong with this picture?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tc5ss5dwE-M
(* B P)
After UAE 'Murder Squad' Revelations, How Many More Private US Hit Teams Are Under Gulf Regimes?
Now that the world is finally waking up to the truly ruthless and murderous machinations of America's favorite "oil and gas" Gulf autocratic sheikdoms, especially in light of the newly emerged grisly details of journalist Jamal Khashoggi's death and dismemberment by a Saudi assassination squad, we must ask: are the new BuzzFeed UAE 'kill team' revelations but the tip of the iceberg? Surely there are more such ex-Special Forces groups flush with Gulf cash and patronage out there with a license to kill? The stunning details of the BuzzFeed investigation suggest so — this may not be an uncommon phenomenon.
Green Beret, Navy SEAL, and CIA paramilitary veterans were hired under the aegis of Spear Operations Group to become what BuzzFeed describes as the private "murder squad" for the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and its de facto ruler, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan (MBZ).
Starting in 2015 the UAE sent a group of about a dozen mostly American private contractors to Yemen to conduct targeted killings of prominent clerics and political figures who had run afoul crown prince MBZ in the war-torn country, where the Emirati military has played a lead role in the ongoing Saudi coalition bombing campaign.
One question that remains is: who knows how many other private assassination squads that are running around the region offing the political enemies of deep-pocketed Gulf monarchs continue to operate?
https://www.zerohedge.com/news/2018-10-16/uae-hired-its-own-us-death-squad-yemen-assassination-spree
referring to this Buzzfeed article: https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/aramroston/mercenaries-assassination-us-yemen-uae-spear-golan-dahlan
(* B P)
The UAE Hired Former U.S. Soldiers to Kill Leaders in Yemen. Is This the Future of War?
We speak with journalist Aram Roston, who broke the story.
JUAN GONZÁLEZ: Well, what is the Spear Operations Group? And is it conceivable that the American military establishment or the CIA was not aware that this was going on?
ARAM ROSTON: Experts we talked to said it was simply inconceivable that they wouldn’t have known. Remember, the UAE—the military of the UAE was trained by the United States. It’s a close ally of the United States. The United States supports—gives it intelligence. The United States fuels their planes, arms them. And, I mean, they’re viewed, in many ways, as a client state or proxy in many ways. People believe there’s no way that a country like this could have hired an American company, staffed by American former soldiers, incorporated—in a company incorporated in America, without the United States government knowing about it.
AMY GOODMAN: So they were trying to get the head of the al-Islah party. This is the party of Tawakkul Karman, who was sitting here a few years ago, right at the time the Nobel Peace Prize—the Nobel committee announced she was winning the Nobel Peace Prize. UAE can call them terrorists. UAE can hire a mercenary firm, the State Department would approve, to attack anyone they consider unfriendly to them?
ARAM ROSTON: It’s a very complex issue, because I don’t—there’s no evidence the State Department permitted this to happen. We looked at the law. The law about mercenaries is far more complex than most people realize
AMY GOODMAN: What he said to you was quite stunning. Just to quote Golan, he said, “Maybe I’m a monster. Maybe I should be in jail. Maybe I’m a bad guy. But I’m right.”
ARAM ROSTON: He was saying, in part—the reason he was willing to talk to me, in part, is he seems to want the United States to have a targeted assassination program along the lines of the one that Israel not so secretly has. His argument—and, in fact, of course, the U.S. already does have some targeted assassination programs, right? The United States launches drone attacks frequently. And his argument is this is a better method of warfare, that targeted assassinations, if done properly and transparently, are a better—are less indiscriminate, say, than bombing, or are better than, say, you know, these signature strikes that the U.S. launches, where they simply bomb individuals when their conduct seems to the United States intelligence agencies to match that of a terrorist organizer. We’re all familiar with it with the signature strike program. And that’s his argument. I’m not saying whether it’s a credible argument, but it’s what he’s sort of—it’s what he’s sort of pitching. The U.S. has, as we know, toyed with assassination in the past.
AMY GOODMAN: “Toyed with.”
ARAM ROSTON: Maybe it’s a euphemism.
AMY GOODMAN: And again, we have to talk about the fact that you’re talking about an investigation you did, the assassination of leaders in Yemen, that was under the Obama administration. He says—Abraham Golan—”I just want there to be a debate.” If you can talk about the actual assassination attempt that you detail in the piece of the al-Islah leader?
ARAM ROSTON: So, Anssaf Ali Mayo was the leader in Aden of al-Islah. He was not a hidden character. He was not viewed by the world as a terrorist. He was quoted in The Washington Post in a story about the effects of U.S. drones. And he objected to U.S. drone attacks in Yemen, saying that they turn the tribes against the United States. He was not—certainly publicly, not supporting al-Qaeda. He was quoted in the Financial Times. He was not a—in other words, he was, in many ways, a public figure.
AMY GOODMAN: And what happened?
ARAM ROSTON: In the end, Anssaf Ali Mayo was not seen for some time. His social media presence subsided. Golan and Gilmore believed—they thought they had successfully killed him. In fact, he is back. He’s now recently met with the U.N. representative for Yemen. We saw—we showed a picture, that was in the newspaper, of him. He’s alive. What they did do is they did a lot of damage to the front of the building. But according to one person I spoke to who says he was in the building, a member of al-Islah, they didn’t kill people in the building. So it was a failed mission, in essence.
AMY GOODMAN: And finally, you’re talking about this all happening in the context of the U.S.-backed, Saudi-UAE-led coalition that is bombing Yemen into the worst humanitarian crisis in the world. More than a million people have cholera. The infrastructure of the country has been destroyed. Children are being killed every week. The U.N. is warning this is a complete catastrophe, Aram, as we wrap up.
ARAM ROSTON: Yeah. Yes, the U.S.—and we believe, in many ways, the U.S.—U.S. individuals and veterans are far more involved than we knew before.
https://www.democracynow.org/2018/10/17/investigation_as_us_backed_war_in
https://www.democracynow.org/2018/10/18/the_uae_hired_us_former_soldiers
(B P)
From Aden to the prisons of Serbia.. U.S. soldier participates in UAE mercenaries to carry out assassinations in Yemen
US Navy SEAL reservist Daniel Corbett has been held in prison in Serbia for eight months while under investigation for possession of an illegal handgun.
In July, his criminal lawyer was gunned down in Belgrade in a gangland-style hit that remains unsolved. It is not known if the lawyer’s killing is related to Corbett’s case.
BuzzFeed News has learned that Corbett also worked in war-torn Yemen for several months in 2016.
http://almasdaronline.com/articles/159753
cp13c Wirtschaft / Economy
(* B E)
Rethinking Yemen’s Economy – A Track II Initiative
This two-year project is an initiative to identify Yemen’s economic, humanitarian, social and development priorities in light of the ongoing conflict in Yemen, and to prepare for the post-conflict recovery period. It aims to build consensus in crucial policy areas through engaging and promoting informed Yemeni voices in the public discourse. The aim is to ensure successful economic, humanitarian, social and development interventions in the conflict and post-conflict periods in Yemen, which will address the needs and rights of the Yemeni people and put the country on a path toward sustainable peace and development. The project is implemented by CARPO in partnership with DeepRoot Consulting and the Sana’a Center for Strategic Studies (SCSS). It is funded by the European Union and the Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands to Yemen.
Project duration: March 2017 – February 2019
Project partners:
Sana’a Center for Strategic Studies (SCSS)
Get more information on this project through our One-pager or Two-pager.
Generating New Employment Opportunities in Yemen
This brief brings forward crucial recommendations to address Yemen’s worsening economic and humanitarian crises. These recommendations result from the third Development Champions Forum, which took place in Amman, Jordan, between 14–16 July 2018 as part of the “Rethinking Yemen’s Economy” initiative. Amongst others, the Development Champions recommend that policy makers seek to create jobs by investing in sectors that have historically been neglected in favor of oil and gas activities. This includes investing in agriculture, developing the fishing industry, expanding mining operations, and linking reconstruction efforts to the local construction sector. In the medium term, policy makers should look to new initiatives, such as constructing a free zone on the Yemen-Saudi border.
Download the brief in English or Arabic
Private Sector Engagement in Post-Conflict Yemen
This brief, which is based on a more extensive White Paper, assesses the factors weighing on private sector development in Yemen. It lays out the impacts of the 2011 uprising in Yemen, the ensuing political crisis and the current conflict on the economy and the private sector. Following this, recommendations are offered to both the Yemeni government and international stakeholders regarding steps that can be taken to revive and develop the private sector post conflict.
Download the brief in English or Arabic
Download the White Paper in English or Arabic
Challenges for Yemen’s Local Governance Amid Conflict
The Brief deals with the role of local councils in Yemen and analyses their current situation. In the absence of central state authority and despite all the challenges they face, these councils remain important instruments for coordinating humanitarian relief efforts and local-level conflict mediation. Local councils are among the best-equipped and best-established institutions to support a shift away from the previous centralized model. Thus the Brief concludes that it is imperative that local, regional and international actors seek not merely to keep local governance structures from collapse but to enhance the capacities of local councils in post-conflict scenarios.
Download in English or Arabic
Download the White Paper in English or Arabic
An open letter regarding Hudaydah
This is an open letter addressing the alarming situation in Hudaydah by Yemeni development champions who regularly convene in the framework of our Rethinking Yemen’s Economy project, which is implemented in cooperation with Sanaa Center for Strategic Studies and DeepRoot Consultung.
The full text can be read here
An Institutional Framework for Post-Conflict Reconstruction in Yemen
Download in English or Arabic
Download the White Paper in English or Arabic
Increasing the Effectiveness of the Humanitarian Response in Yemen
This brief brings forward recommendations to enhance the effectiveness of the humanitarian response in Yemen. These recommendations result from the second Development Champions Forum, which took place in Amman, Jordan, between 14–16 January 2018 as part of the “Rethinking Yemen’s Economy” initiative. Among the key topics of discussion among the Development Champions were the need for international humanitarian actors to increase their coordination with local authorities, civil society actors, and the Yemeni private sector; the importance of decentralizing the humanitarian response; and the importance of prioritizing assistance to the most vulnerable members of Yemeni society.
International Organizations and the Yemeni Private Sector
Restoring Central Bank Capacity and Stabilizing the Rial
Adressing Yemen’s Most Critical Challenges. Practical Short-term Recommendations
This brief summarizes the short-term recommendations to address Yemen’s current most critical challenges in development and economy which resulted from the first Development Champions Forum. This Forum took place in Amman, Jordan, between April 29 and May 1, 2017 as part of the “Rethinking Yemen’s Economy” initiative. The challenges addressed in this brief were identified within three main, if overlapping, categories: the food security crisis, the problems faced by the banking industry, and the collapse of basic service delivery.
https://carpo-bonn.org/en/rethinking-yemens-economy/
(* B E P)
"Al-Masdar Online " publishes the text of a research paper on the effects of the "war economy " on the Yemeni state
" Al-Masdar Online ", Published a research paper prepared by Dr. Abdul-Qawi Radman, professor of financial management, Taiz University, talks about the effects of the "war economy " on the Yemeni state.
In his paper, Radman refers to the form and methods of the war economy in Yemen from one province to another, explaining that the provinces controlled by the de facto Government [Houthi government at Sanaa] allowed the absence of professional security actors and the abduction of State institutions to serve the goals of certain people or orientations to the formation and development of markets Legitimate, thriving smuggling sector.
He also pointed out that the regions of the south and east where the security belts militias run from the so-called Southern Transitional council backed by the coalition countries and a weak and fictitious presence of the legitimate Government, which contributed to the high rates of human smuggling on the coasts and the random fishing of fish and attacks Repeated on private and public property the level of smuggling of fuel and weapons to the northern governorates has risen and gangs have emerged to protect this trend.
The research paper explained that Marib expressed itself by building an economy based on its oil and gas wealth by supplying all purchases to its central bank branch, and the growth of a new economic sector for this city and its surrounding neighboring governorates such as Jawf and part of Shabwah and al Baydha, extension to control the port of the crossing The only artery that corresponds to the relative weight is the Hodeidah port.
Al-Masdar online “Publishes the research paper:
http://almasdaronline.com/articles/159726
(A E)
As new prime minister was sworn in today, Yemeni rial renewed its fall against the dollar. It is trading at 750 per US dollar.
https://twitter.com/FuadRajeh/status/1052888526445010944
(B E)
#Yemen ‘s resilient private sector presently accounts for over 70% of total economic activity. As public sector retreats, private sector comes in to fill the void (infographic)
https://twitter.com/eryaniar/status/1052915404136427520
cp14 Terrorismus / Terrorism
(A T)
Alleged ISIS Wilayat al Bayda defectors claimed that Taiz governorate is a major recruiting area for ISIS, according to an unofficial AQAP-affiliated Telegram post. They also claimed that ISIS bans its members from traveling abroad and tortures anyone who attempts to defect. At least four militants have left ISIS since late August 2018, according to the Telegram post.[2]
(* B T)
Al-Qaeda thrives in Yemen despite US counterterrorism campaign
America's battle against al-Qaeda in Yemen is contradictory if its coalition allies foster and aid the faction
The Arab Spring and the 2015 Saudi-led war allowed AQAP to exploit the chaos, going from a fringe group of just a few hundred members, to a major force with an estimated 6000-8000 fighters by 2018.
As the coalition pushed the Houthis from parts of Yemen in 2015, AQAP seized swathes of territory following the vacuum, including Yemen's fifth largest city al-Mukalla (which it withdrew from in 2016 after cutting deals with the UAE).
Washington has been concerned about international threats posed by AQAP, who have been linked to various attacks on American soil.
While America has carried out operations against AQAP since 2009, they have surged during the Yemen war, especially under the Trump administration, with 131 reported airstrikes in 2017, increasing from 44 in 2016.
Fuad Rajeh, a Yemeni journalist, however says that even if the US claims of killing AQAP leaders are true, the faction cannot be completely defeated without "sincere efforts from the Yemeni army."
"America should instead provide necessary support to the Yemeni army, instead of bombing. No foreign country should come to directly fight terrorism in our country," he told The New Arab.
Rajeh also suggests that AQAP has merely been able to relocate across different parts of Yemen instead of being defeated.
Nabil Al-Bukhari, a Yemeni researcher based in Istanbul, also told The New Arab that America's anti-extremism in Yemen has been a failure, as it has focused more on military means to ending terrorism, which has in turn created more chaos and given extremists more room to flourish.
"Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) has been a beneficiary of the [Yemen] war. As long as the war continues, AQAP will find plenty of ungoverned space to thrive in and plenty of angry Yemeni recruits," said former CIA official Bruce Reidel.
Furthermore, the United States has given impunity and military support to Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, whose policies in Yemen have allowed al-Qaeda to thrive, including secretly supporting the faction – undermining any US efforts to defeat AQAP.
The UAE have supported Salafi militias with friendly or non-hostile ties to AQAP.
The Associated Press also reported in August that the coalition had "cut deals" with AQAP, giving them cash to withdraw.
In some cases, AQAP fighters have simply joined the coalition.
Fuad Rajeh argues that if such coalition support to al-Qaeda continues, it could lead to the long-term presence of extremism.
As the United States has sold tens of billions of dollars' worth of weapons to Saudi Arabia since the war began, it shows America in another contradictory move is complicit in the destruction of the Yemeni state.
This and Saudi Arabia's bombing campaign disintegrates the Yemeni state, allowing AQAP to flourish.
"Only ending the Yemen conflict and strengthening the democratic transition can they prevent the rise of extremism, which has been allowed to flourish because of the states America has backed," added al-Bukhari.
The USA can help push for a peaceful solution to the conflict, while halting military support for Riyadh's coalition, if it is sincere about defeating extremism in Yemen.
(A T)
Defector testimonies on pro-#alQaeda wires (if true) reveal insights into #IslamicState in #Yemen: Taiz is a major source of recruits for ISY (based in al-Bayda') ISY operates prisons & torture ISY bans leave & transfer abroad Min 4 escaped since late Aug & dozens more want to
https://twitter.com/Dr_E_Kendall/status/1052908272167133184
(A T)
USA setzen fünf Millionen Dollar Kopfgeld auf Dschihadisten aus
Die USA haben ein millionenschweres Kopfgeld auf ein führendes Mitglied des Terrornetzwerks Al-Kaida ausgesetzt. Das State Department in Washington erklärte am Donnerstag, es biete jedem fünf Millionen Dollar (4,4 Millionen Euro), der die Behörden zu Chalid Batarfi führen oder zu seiner Festnahme beitragen könne. Zudem verdoppelten die USA das Kopfgeld auf den mutmaßlichen Emir Al-Kaidas auf der arabischen Halbinsel, Kasim al-Rimi, auf zehn Millionen Dollar.
(A T)
US offers reward for information on 2 senior AQAP leaders
The State Department announced today that it is offering rewards of $5 and $10 million for information concerning two Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) leaders. Both jihadists attended al Qaeda training camps in pre-9/11 Afghanistan before relocating to Yemen, where they eventually assumed leadership positions. They are openly loyal to al Qaeda’s overall emir, Ayman al Zawahiri.
cp15 Propaganda
(A P)
Yemen’s Vice President: Iran sponsors terrorism project in region
Yemeni Vice President General Ali Mohsen Saleh said that Iran is supporting and sponsoring terrorism and sabotaging projects in the region through the Houthi militias, which caused suffering for the Yemenis and targeted neighboring countries.
During his meeting with the Governor of Saada province Hadi Tarshan, the Yemeni Vice President asserted that the political leadership and the Arab coalition supporting the legitimacy in Yemen, will continue efforts to eliminate the Houthi coup militias.
My comment: The man with close ties to AQAP labels his enemies as “terrorists”. LOL.
(A P)
Massive relief and rescue operation led by the #Saudi Joint Forces in Al Mahrah governorate of #Yemen after the devastating tropical Cyclone #Luban (thread with photos, films)
https://twitter.com/MbKS15/status/1052932179796340736
Remark: On the Saudis in Mahrah, look at cp1.
(A P)
Yemen: Houthis Openly Plant Naval Mines
Yemeni politicians and observers consider Houthis' admission to manufacturing naval mines a direct challenge to the international community, a flagrant threat to the Red Sea shipping routes, and a further proof of the Iranian involvement in providing military-technical support to Houthis as well as smuggling weapons to them.
Houthi media recently broadcast clear footage of alleged militia-made naval mines to confirm the group's explicit recognition of its capabilities to plant mines, despite previous denials.
Observers believe Houthis are unlikely to have the ability to manufacture any quality weapons without Iranian expertise or the help of Lebanese Hezbollah. However, others consider that the militias’ behavior is the result of their recent defeats on the west coast.
https://aawsat.com/english/home/article/1431531/yemen-houthis-openly-plant-naval-mines
My comment: Well, as the Saudi / UAE navies openly attack the Houthi-held Yemeni coastline, shelling settlements from the seaside… This is the real “flagrant threat to the Red Sea shipping routes”.
(A P)
Yemen on brink of famine as aid agencies struggle to deliver relief
Houthi rebels are using a policy of deliberate starvation and coercion, Yemeni officials say
Millions of people in Yemen are on the brink of famine as aid agencies struggle to find ways to ensure relief reaches those in need, despite assistance from the UAE and Saudi Arabia.
Houthi militias are accused of blocking vital aid from entering vulnerable cities as the country experiences one the worst humanitarian crisis in the world, Hamza Al Kamali, a member of the Yemeni government delegation to Geneva, told The National.
"The rebels are using a policy of deliberate starvation and coercion in areas such as Taiz and the port of Hodeida. This is the underlining problem of the catastrophe," Mr Al Kamali said.
The Yemeni official said that the militias are not providing any services to the public in areas that are under their control. Instead, they are pressuring the international community and the Arab Coalition to become a legitimate faction in the government.
Areas that the Yemeni government are not in control of remains a sticking point in the crisis, Mr Al Kamali said.
(A P)
OPINION: PROXY CONFLICT BETWEEN IRAN & SAUDI ARABIA — THE BACKDROP OF YEMEN’S HUMANITARIAN CRISIS
Although the tragedy in Yemen is largely the result of an Iran-sponsored rebellion in Yemen, it is now being described by the U.N. as the “greatest humanitarian crisis in the world,” with the United States even being charged an enabler of a coalition that willfully bombs civilians.
But the advocates promoting this view ignore several inconvenient facts.
First, the Gulf coalition is allied with the internationally recognized government of Yemen and seeks only to reinstate it. Opposing them are Houthi rebel terrorists supported by Iranian money, logistics and weapons, including increasingly sophisticated ballistic missiles and mines.
Second, the elected government of Yemen and its allies have regained 3/4 of Yemen territory and are on the verge of recapturing Hodeidah, the country’s major seaport through which Iran supplies weapons to the Houthi. That recapture could happen soon and if successful it will mark the beginning of the end of the Houthi rebellion, and hopefully with it the humanitarian crisis in Yemen.
The most embarrassing fact missing from the anti-coalition narrative is the nature, means and objectives of the Iran-Houthi alliance.
And we have endured Iranian terror attacks against our Marines in Lebanon, our USAF personnel in Khobar Towers, and our citizens on 9/11 at the World Trade Center. Do we want to gamble that Yemen under Iranian control will be any different? – by Peter Huessy, director for strategic deterrent studies at the Mitchell Institute for Aerospace Studies.
https://dailycaller.com/2018/10/17/iran-saudi-arabia-yemen-crisis-oil/
My comment: A more primitive propaganda might-be could not imagined. Might-be the most absurd (here: to justify US support for Saudi Arabia) is the last paragraph quoted above.
(A P)
More Saudi / UAE “We are benefactors” propaganda
http://www.arabnews.com/node/1389741/saudi-arabia
cp16 Saudische Luftangriffe / Saudi air raids
Siehe / Look at cp1
(* A K pH)
Saudi coalition aerial war day by day
Oct. 16: https://www.facebook.com/lcrdye/photos/pb.551288185021551.-2207520000.1539832058./1158261717657525
(* A K pH)
5 citizens killed, injured by coalition airstrikes in Hodeidah
Five civilians were killed and wounded when the US- backed Saudi aggression fighter jets waged two air raids in the western coast, a local official told Saba on Thursday.
The coalition targeted two air raids in 7Yoluw area.
http://www.sabanews.net/en/news511743.htm
three civilians were killed and two others were injured by two airstrikes on Hodiedah city. Also a civilian was killed by targeting a mosque in Al-Marawa'a by three airstrikes.
https://english.almasirah.net/details.php?es_id=3312&cat_id=1
and
(* A K pS)
Three civilians and more than 20 Houthi gunmen killed in al-Hodeidah by coalition air raid
Three civilians were killed in a raid by coalition fighter jets early Friday morning at Yard in the western Yemeni city of Hodeidah.
The Coalition fighters targeted a Yard near a hotel in the neighborhood of July 7 in the east of the city, causing the fall of three construction workers who were inside, the correspondent of AL Masdar Online said.
The source received the names of the construction workers who landed in the air raid (Ahmed Abdel-Qaher, Samer Ali al-Khar’am, Majid Ali Qaid).
On the other hand, coalition fighters launched a raid on a rally of Houthi fighters on the ring line in al-Marw’ah, east of Hodeidah. According to eyewitnesses, more than 20 Houthi gunmen fell while gathering in preparation to attack legitimate government forces and the coalition in the vicinity of the city of Hodeidah.
http://almasdaronline.com/articles/159790
(A K pH)
Oct. 17: In Hodeidah, the US-Saudi Aerial Aggression launched 6 raids on houses in the mountainous area of Tahita district.
https://english.almasirah.net/details.php?es_id=3301&cat_id=1
(A K pH)
More Saudi coalition air raids recorded on:
Oct. 17: https://english.almasirah.net/details.php?es_id=3299&cat_id=1 Saada p.
(B K pH)
Film: the suffering of farmers in Saada Governorate 18-10-2018
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CfTnaXg6QUg
cp17 Kriegsereignisse / Theater of War
(A K pH)
Oct. 19: in Sa'ada, populated villages, were targeted by Saudi missiles and artillery shells damaging civilians' properties.
https://english.almasirah.net/details.php?es_id=3326&cat_id=1
(* B K)
Yemen Missile War Update: October 4- 18
Between October 4 and October 18, Houthi forces fired at least one ballistic missile targeting Najran . Pro-Houthi media reported another eight missile launches targeting the Saudi provinces of Asir, Najran, Marib, and Hodeidah, and Sana’a in Yemen, but these could not be corroborated by Coalition or independent reports.
Below is a summary of each confirmed missile event during the October 4 to October 18 period:
https://missilethreat.csis.org/yemen-missile-war-update-october-4-18/
(A K pH)
Ballistic missile hits Saudi-paid mercenaries' troops near Najran
The missile force of the army and popular committees launched on Thursday a ballistic missile on the Saudi-paid mercenaries troops near Najran, a military official told Saba.
The missile force targeted with Badr-1 ballistic missile the mercenaries troops in al-Boqe'a near Najran
http://www.sabanews.net/en/news511679.htm
(A K pH)
A citizen injured by aggression target in Saada
A citizen was injured when the missiles and artillery of Saudi-led aggression targeted al-Taher directorate, a security official told Saba on Thuresday.
The artillery also, causing large losses in properties of the citizens.
http://www.sabanews.net/en/news511744.htm
(A K pH)
In Saada, four citizens were injured in Razih and Shida border districts by Saudi missiles and artillery shells..
Populated villages of Razih, Shida, al-zaher and Baqim border districts were hit by Saudi missiles and artillery shills, causing damage to homes and citizens' properties
A citizen was shot by US-Saudi mercenary sniper, in Taiz governorate.
https://english.almasirah.net/details.php?es_id=3301&cat_id=1
film (Razih, Shida): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=906Lw0DRCLo
Three citizens were injured, on Wednesday, due to Saudi missiles and artillery shills targeting Sa'ada.
Two citizens were injured by Saudi missiles and artillery shells which targeted Populated areas in Shida districts, while another citizen was injured in Razih district.
https://english.almasirah.net/details.php?es_id=3299&cat_id=1
(A K pH)
Film: Umm Abdel Hamid wounded by shell invaders and her child killed by hypocrites 17-10-2018
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1-uJQapOSLw
(A K pS)
Joint Yemeni Forces Lay Siege to 100 Houthis in Durahmi, Hodeidah
The Saudi-led Arab Coalition confirmed Yemeni pro-government resistance forces have laid siege over 100 Houthis in Durahmi village in Hodeidah province before any reinforcements reached their outpost. It added that most reinforcements being sent to the coastal province are being destroyed before reaching militia bastions.
cp18 Sonstiges / Other
(A H)
Government and local movements to restore life to Al-Mahrah after being exposed to a hurricane “Luban "
Limited government movements to restore life to al-Mahra province, east of Yemen, continued after being hit by a hurricane "Luban ", which caused the destruction of dozens of houses and the destruction of roads.
http://almasdaronline.com/articles/159719
(* A H)
Tropical cyclone Luban killed six people in al Mahrah governorate, eastern Yemen on October 18. The King Salman Humanitarian Aid and Relief center delivered humanitarian aid to al Ghaydah airport in al Mahrah governorate on October 17.[5]
(* A H)
Yemen: Cyclone Luban Flash Update #2 (17 October 2018)
Thousands of people have been displaced by Tropical Cyclone “Luban” that made landfall on the coast of Yemen on 14 October. Three people are confirmed dead, 14 missing and more than 100 injured according to the Al Maharah Emergency Operations Room.
The cyclone lost strength and has been downgraded to a Tropical Depression as of 15 October. In the last three days, several districts have been flooded following heavy rains, causing a significant number of houses to collapse.
Al Maharah is the most seriously affected governorate with heavy to medium rains still falling in northern areas of Man’ar, Sayhut, Al Masilah and Qishn districts. Continuing rains might trigger further flooding towards coastal areas.
https://reliefweb.int/report/yemen/yemen-cyclone-luban-flash-update-2-17-october-2018
Vorige / Previous:
https://www.freitag.de/autoren/dklose/jemenkrieg-mosaik-469-yemen-war-mosaic-469
Jemenkrieg-Mosaik 1-469 / Yemen War Mosaic 1-469:
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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