... Huthis blockieren humanitäre Hilfe – Landminen der Huthis – Interview Mohammed Ali Al-Houthi – Schwieriger Frieden – Lobbyarbeit der Emirate in den USA – Medea Benjamin über US-saudische Beziehungen – Hodeidah: UN-Delegation eingetroffen, Waffenstillstand wird gebrochen – und mehr
Dec. 26, 2018: Yemen war: an imperialistic US war (in German) – Yemen War is a genocide – US support for Saudi aerial war – The US covering Saudi war crimes – Houthis blocking humanitarian aid – Houthi land mines – Mohammed Ali Al-Houthi interview – Peace is difficult (In German) – Emirati lobbying in the US – Medea Benjamin on US-Saudi relations – Hodeidah: UN delegation has arrived, ceasefire is violated – and more
Schwerpunkte / Key aspects
Klassifizierung / Classification
Für wen das Thema ganz neu ist / Who is new to the subject
cp1 Am wichtigsten / Most important
cp1a Am wichtigsten: Seuchen / Most important: Epidemics
cp1b1 Am wichtigsten: Kampf um Hodeidah: Deutsch/ Most important: Hodeidah battle: German
cp1b2 Am wichtigsten: Kampf um Hodeidah: Englisch / Most important: Hodeidah battle: English
cp2 Allgemein / General
cp2a Allgemein: Saudische Blockade / General: Saudi blockade
cp3 Humanitäre Lage / Humanitarian situation
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
cp8 Saudi-Arabien / Saudi Arabia
cp8a Jamal Khashoggi
cp9 USA
cp10 Großbritannien / Great Britain
cp11 Deutschland / Germany
cp12 Andere Länder / Other countries
cp13a Waffenhandel / Arms sales
cp13b Kulturerbe / Cultural heritage
cp15 Propaganda
cp16 Saudische Luftangriffe / Saudi air raids
cp17 Kriegsereignisse / Theater of War
cp18 Sonstiges / Other
Klassifizierung / Classification
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(Kein Stern / No star)
? = Keine Einschatzung / No rating
A = Aktuell / Current news
B = Hintergrund / Background
C = Chronik / Chronicle
D = Details
E = Wirtschaft / Economy
H = Humanitäre Fragen / Humanitarian questions
K = Krieg / War
P = Politik / Politics
pH = Pro-Houthi
pS = Pro-Saudi
T = Terrorismus / Terrorism
Für wen das Thema ganz neu ist / Who is new to the subject
Einführende Artikel u. Überblicke für alle, die mit den Ereignissen im Jemen noch nicht vertraut sind, hier:
Yemen War: Introductory articles, overviews, for those who are still unfamiliar with the Yemen war here:
https://www.freitag.de/autoren/dklose/jemenkrieg-einfuehrende-artikel-u-ueberblicke
Neue Artikel / New articles
(* B H)
Why is it so hard for people in Yemen to get food?
Watch this 1-minute explainer from our Yemen Campaign Manager, Dina Elmamoun.
https://www.facebook.com/oxfamireland/videos/2790275041212474/
(* B H)
Film: Situation der Kinder im Jemen
https://www.facebook.com/UNICEFdeutschland/videos/situation-der-kinder-im-jemen/516135665566958/
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Film: Pregnant women in Yemen are among the most vulnerable, they travel long and risky journeys when in labor to reach a functional health facilities. Learn more in this video and share to raise their voices
https://twitter.com/msf_yemen/status/1077202603380015106
cp1 Am wichtigsten / Most important
(** B K P)
Der Jemenkrieg und die Medien
Worum ging es beim Jemenkrieg, und wie lässt sich die Medienberichterstattung darüber erklären?
Die Gründe für den Jemenkrieg erscheinen rätselhaft. Analysten diskutierten etwa maritime Routen, religiöse Spannungen, die Iran-Frage oder vermutete Erdölvorkommen.
All dies sind relevante Aspekte, doch in der Gesamtsicht dürfte es sich auch beim Jemenkrieg – wie schon in Syrien und Libyen – um einen imperialen Krieg gehandelt haben (Szenario E).
Kein Geringerer als der damalige stellvertretende Nationale Sicherheitsberater und spätere CIA-Direktor John O. Brennan erklärte 2012 in einem einstündigen Vortrag vor dem amerikanischen Council on Foreign Relations, wie die USA den Jemen in mehrjähriger Arbeit zu einem verbündeten Klientelstaat aufgebaut haben, und warum dies von »anhaltender strategischer Bedeutung« ist.
Der militärische Erfolg der Houthi-Bewegung machte diese Arbeit schon 2015 zunichte, und darauf mussten die USA als Hegemonialmacht reagieren. Sie entsandten jedoch keine eigenen Truppen, sondern ließen das saudische Klientelregime und seine Partner die Angriffe fliegen.
Es handelte sich beim Jemenkrieg aus geostrategischer Sicht deshalb nicht – wie oftmals dargestellt – um einen »saudischen Krieg«, sondern um einen genuin amerikanischen.
Dies erklärt zugleich, weshalb westliche Medien über den Jemenkrieg kaum berichteten – oder nur verzerrt, etwa indem – nach US-Vorgabe – eine angebliche Einmischung Irans behauptet wurde.
https://swprs.org/jemenkrieg-und-medien/ mit Verweis auf https://swprs.org/logik-imperialer-kriege/
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US Complicity in Saudi Arabia’s Genocide in Yemen Spans Obama and Trump
“As a genocide scholar, I believe that under international law, the U.S. shares responsibility with the coalition for genocide in Yemen.”
As a scholar of genocide and human rights, I believe the destruction brought about by these attacks combined with the blockade amounts to genocide.
Based on my research, to be published in an upcoming issue of Third World Quarterly, I believe the coalition would not be capable of committing this crime without the material and logistical support of both the Obama and Trump administrations.
Because of these religious differences, it would be easy to recast what is largely a political conflict in Yemen as a sectarian one.
That characterization fits Saudi and U.S. assertions that the Houthis are controlled by Shiite Iran, a claim that has not gone uncontested. Both the Saudis and the U.S. are hostile to Iran, so U.S. support of Saudia Arabia in Yemen represents what U.S. administrations have said are strategic interests in the region.
Based on the information available to it using open sources, YDP reports that two-thirds of the coalition’s bombing attacks have been against non-military and unknown targets. The coalition isn’t accidentally attacking civilians and civilian infrastructure – it’s doing it deliberately.
That’s evident from the kind – and volume – of civilian targets documented. They include places that are generally protected against attack even under the lax rules of international humanitarian law: Residential areas, vehicles, marketplaces and mosques as well as boats, social gatherings and camps for internally displaced persons.
How to make a crisis
The attacks aren’t the only way the coalition is creating a massive humanitarian crisis.
The air and naval blockade, in effect since March 2015, “is essentially using the threat of starvation as a bargaining tool and an instrument of war,” according to the U.N. panel of experts on Yemen.
The blockade stops and inspects vessels seeking entry to Yemen’s ports. That allows the coalition to regulate and restrict Yemenis’ access to food, fuel, medical supplies and humanitarian aid.
In his analysis of the blockade’s legality, Dutch military scholar Martin Fink writes that the blockade means “massive time delays and uncertainty on what products would be allowed to enter.”
The US contribution
The coalition’s genocide in Yemen would not be possible without the complicity of the U.S. This has been a bipartisan presidential effort, covering both the Obama and Trump administrations.
Shared responsibility for genocide
As a genocide scholar, I believe that under international law, the U.S. shares responsibility with the coalition for genocide in Yemen.
What does this mean? It means that the U.S. must cease and desist all activities that facilitate genocide in Yemen. This would include stopping all sales of weapons and ending logistical support for coalition action.
In an ideal world, one in which all states are equally subjects before international law, the U.S. would also seek an advisory opinion from the International Court of Justice regarding what restitution it owes the people of Yemen for its role in the coalition’s genocide.
Similarly, the U.S. would request an International Criminal Court investigation into individual culpability of U.S. officials in both the Obama and Trump administrations for their role in facilitating the crimes committed in Yemen.
Of course, this is not an ideal world – by Jeff Bachman (with infographics)
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Arms Sales to Saudis Leave American Fingerprints on Yemen’s Carnage
When a Saudi F-15 warplane takes off from King Khalid air base in southern Saudi Arabia for a bombing run over Yemen, it is not just the plane and the bombs that are American.
American mechanics service the jet and carry out repairs on the ground. American technicians upgrade the targeting software and other classified technology, which Saudis are not allowed to touch. The pilot has likely been trained by the United States Air Force.
And at a flight operations room in the capital, Riyadh, Saudi commanders sit near American military officials who provide intelligence and tactical advice, mainly aimed at stopping the Saudis from killing Yemeni civilians.
American fingerprints are all over the air war in Yemen.
In Washington, that toll has stoked impassioned debate about the pitfalls of America’s alliance with Saudi Arabia under Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, who relies on American support to keep his warplanes in the air.
For American officials, the stalled war has become a strategic and moral quagmire. It has upended the assumptions behind the decades-old policy of selling powerful weapons to a wealthy ally that, until recently, rarely used them. It has raised questions about complicity in possible war crimes. And the civilian toll has posed a troubling dilemma: how to support Saudi allies while keeping the war’s excesses at arm’s length.
American efforts to advise the Saudis on how to protect civilians often came to naught. The Saudis whitewashed an American-sponsored initiative to investigate errant airstrikes and often ignored a voluminous no-strike list.
“In the end, we concluded that they were just not willing to listen,” said Tom Malinowski, a former assistant secretary of state and an incoming member of Congress from New Jersey. “They were given specific coordinates of targets that should not be struck and they continued to strike them. That struck me as a willful disregard of advice they were getting.”
Yet American military support for the airstrikes continued.
Nearly 100 American military personnel are advising or assisting the coalition war effort, although fewer than 35 are based in Saudi Arabia.
For decades, the United States sold tens of billions of dollars in arms to Saudi Arabia on an unspoken premise: that they would rarely be used.
The Saudis amassed the world’s third-largest fleet of F-15 jets, after the United States and Israel, but their pilots almost never saw action.
“There was a belief that these countries wouldn’t end up using this equipment, and we were just selling them expensive paperweights,” said Andrew Miller, a former State Department official now with the Project on Middle East Democracy.
Then came Prince Mohammed bin Salman.
American military officials posted to the coalition war room in Riyadh noticed that inexperienced Saudi pilots flew at high altitudes to avoid enemy fire, military officials said. The tactic reduced the risk to the pilots but transferred it to civilians, who were exposed to less accurate bombings.
Coalition planners misidentified targets and their pilots struck them at the wrong time — destroying a vehicle as it passed through a crowded bazaar, for instance, instead of waiting until it reached an open road.
At times, coalition officers subverted their own chain of command. In one instance, a devastating strike that killed 155 people in a funeral hall was ordered by a junior officer who countermanded an order from a more senior officer, a State Department official said.
The Americans offered help. The State Department financed an investigative body to review errant airstrikes and propose corrective action. Pentagon lawyers trained Saudi officers in the laws of war.
Under American law, customers of American weapons must follow the laws of armed conflict or future sales may be blocked, said Ryan Goodman, a former Defense Department attorney who teaches law at New York University.
Applying Leverage
Obfuscation and impunity continue to characterize the coalition’s airstrike campaign. The coalition rarely identifies which country carries out an airstrike, although the vast majority are Saudi and Emirati, officials say.
Daniel L. Byman, a professor at Georgetown University’s School of Foreign Service, said that a more robust policy toward Saudi airstrikes would not just be good for Yemeni civilians — it would also help the Saudis.
“The United States needs to use its power to promote peace and stability in Yemen,” Mr. Byman said. “And it needs to protect its allies from themselves.” – By Declan Walsh and Eric Schmitt
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/12/25/world/middleeast/yemen-us-saudi-civilian-war.html
My comment: The extent of US support for the Saudi coalition air raids is clearly told here. – But, it’s evident that this article also tries to modify and to partially whitewash the US. The real villain of this story evidently is Saudi Arabia. The Saudis do not care, when the US is taking all efforts to determine and to teach the Saudis to lead their war sparing civilians, but these Saudi villains do not care. But, this is one main lie of all US wars: You cannot lead an aerial war and in the same time spare civilians. You just can get one. The US who claim to be more human than the Saudis as they would spare civilians in aerial wars by themselves have killed scores of civilians in aerial attacks in Afghanistan, in Iraq and Syria. Please do not tell us any lies of more “human” US aerial wars and US aerial war techniques. This is a blatant lie.
The other illusion (or: lie) is the claim that you could sell arms to anybody and be sure that these arms will not be used. “There was a belief that these countries wouldn’t end up using this equipment, and we were just selling them expensive paperweights,” this is bullshit. Arms are no “paperweights”, and they cannot serve any other function than warfare.
“The Americans offered help”: Simply spare us from shit like this.
And, also underrated here: The political covering and support the Saudi coalition had received from the US, on the international stage. Just read here:
(** B P)
The U.S. Keeps Covering for Saudi Crimes in Yemen
The U.N. Security Council finally agreed to a new resolution on Yemen last week, but only after the U.S. used its threat of veto to strip out language on humanitarian access and war crimes.
Our Yemen policy continues to be as despicable as ever. The U.S. is still shielding the Saudi coalition from the consequences of its crimes in Yemen, and the administration keeps acting as the coalition’s lawyer instead of acting in the American interest. The administration had earlier blocked consideration of a resolution calling for a ceasefire because the Saudis and Emiratis didn’t want one. Now it is using its veto to take out language from the resolution that the Saudis and Emiratis don’t like. It makes sense that the coalition governments would object to language guaranteeing humanitarian deliveries, since they have been the chief obstacles to the delivery of humanitarian goods into the country. Because of the many thousands of war crimes that coalition forces have committed in Yemen, they are naturally going to be opposed to holding war criminals accountable.
The U.S. is still sponsoring and defending despotic governments guilty of numerous war crimes and the crime of mass starvation. The fact that the U.S. wanted language warning about famine removed from the resolution is a tacit admission of our government’s shared responsibility for creating the famine. Taking out references to credible investigations into war crimes is the sort of thing one would expect from the government that has aided and abetted these crimes for more than three and a half years. Each day that the administration’s support for this war goes on the U.S. remains a participant and accomplice in these awful crimes – by Daniel Larison
https://www.theamericanconservative.com/larison/the-u-s-keeps-covering-for-saudi-crimes-in-yemen/
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UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs: Yemen: Humanitarian Access Snapshot (October - November 2018)
Administrative access incidents remain most acute in insecure environments. In October-November, approximately 86 per cent of 73 reported incidents were administrative in nature. Of these, more than half were concentrated in 13 districts with active military operations in the governorates of Sa’ada, Al Hudaydah, Sana’a, Al Dhale’e and Al Jawf.
In November, the Humanitarian Country Team (HCT) agreed to realign areas of responsibility for each operational Hub in Yemen. The new coverage strategy is designed to enhance partners’ ability to reach people in need, including in conflict-affected areas, in an efficient and timely manner.
Restrictions on freedom of movement remain the most pervasive reported access challenge. In October-November, humanitarian partners encountered blockages on 49 occasions across 22 districts in seven governorates. Organizations face such restrictions in areas under the Government of Yemen and de facto authorities.
More than 30 humanitarian missions were delayed or cancelled after mid-October, when new clearance procedures were issued in Sana’a. At least 65 UN and NGO staff were due to participate in the missions in Sa’ada, Hajjah, Al Hudaydah, Sana’a, Dhamar and Ibb.
Humanitarian partners continue to engage with local authorities about the new procedures to avoid further operational delays.
https://reliefweb.int/report/yemen/yemen-humanitarian-access-snapshot-october-november-2018
(** B K)
Land mines will be hidden killer in Yemen decades after war
They lurk under shifting desert sands, amid the debris of urban roadsides and inside abandoned schools, some set to go off at the lightest touch.
Land mines scattered by Yemen's Houthi rebels are largely unmapped and will remain a threat even if the latest push for peace succeeds in halting the conflict, those involved in their eradication say.
While the Houthis' use of Scud and other retrofitted ballistic missiles has drawn attention for striking deep inside Saudi Arabia, their widespread use of mines represents a risk for generations to come in the Arab world's poorest country.
"Mines today exist in every single area of Yemen," Ousama al-Gosaibi, the program manager for the Saudi-funded Masam demining project, told The Associated Press during a trip to the southern city of Aden organized by the Saudi military. "It's not being used as a defensive (or) offensive mechanism. It's being used to terrorize the local population across Yemen."
A Houthi official acknowledged the rebels widely use mines, but said Saudi-led airstrikes have left behind ordinance that is just as deadly.
Mines planted by the Houthis, some resembling a model previously displayed in Iran, also have been found in the Red Sea, according to a 2018 U.N. experts report. Those mines "represent a hazard for commercial shipping and sea lines of communication that could remain for as long as six to 10 years," the report warned.
Saudi Arabia has alleged as many as 1 million mines may have been laid by the Houthis. Al-Gosaibi described Yemen as being the most-mined nation since World War II, based on his group's estimate of the mines laid by the rebels. Saudi officials have released pictures showing fields of deactivated land mines.
International groups dealing with land mines have been hesitant to estimate the scale of the crisis, given the limited information they have. Yemen is also littered with mines from previous conflicts.
"It's going to take years," al-Gosaibi said. "You cannot rebuild Yemen without addressing the mine issue. It's us on the ground first before rebuilding starts."
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/wires/ap/article-6526311/Land-mines-hidden-killer-Yemen-decades-war.html
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Mohammed al-Houthi: We want a united and democratic Yemen
A high ranking member of the rebel movement speaks to Al Jazeera about the Houthis' endgame in Yemen.
Al Jazeera spoke to Mohammed Ali al-Houthi, the head of the Houthi rebels' Supreme Revolutionary Committee, about the ceasefire in Hodeidah, his movements' relationship with Tehran, and the Houthis' endgame in Yemen.
Al Jazeera: Why did you accept the UN plan for Hodeidah which meant your forces would relinquish control of the port and leave the city?
Mohammed Ali al-Houthi: What is being said is incorrect since it was never agreed to relinquish control of the port of Hodeidah as the question claims.
Instead, there will be a natural level of monitoring in the normal framework of the port, just like you have with the monitoring of any election. The evidence for this is that there will be a [UN] coordination committee that will be doing the monitoring, and that role will in no way mean a violation of sovereignty as some people claim.
Moreover, this comes in the specific role set by the Sweden agreement, and this agreement is to resolve the conflict, and as the text of the agreement stated, this will apply in Hodeidah only.
Al Jazeera: Did your withdrawal stem from the losses your forces sustained in the days leading up to the talks, or because you knew your forces would lose should fighting continue?
Al-Houthi: Our role today is to talk about peace, not otherwise.
We consider war to be a bad choice, but it was imposed on us. Even the Security Council is now talking about peace and that the first and only option for Yemen is peace.
We have put forward initiatives for peace, such as stopping the firing of missiles and flying unmanned aircraft, all to prove to the world that we are willing to engage in peace, but also, do not fear war.
As for Hodeidah, our forces were there on an exceptional basis, and that is not how the governorate of Hodeidah should be.
We were in Hodeidah before the aggression (Saudi-UAE coalition) attacked it. Therefore, the redeployment of forces is to resolve the conflict.
Al Jazeera: Would this new government be democratic, chosen through free and fair elections? Or will this lead to a Houthi-controlled Yemen?
Al-Houthi: I think that the government during the transition will be consensual because post-war Yemen will need consensus to allow it to prepare for elections.
We welcome the holding of serious elections that can reshape the House of Representatives and other electoral boards in the Republic of Yemen.
Al Jazeera: Your movement has been accused of gross human rights violations, including the torture and killings of your political opponents, human rights activists, and opposition fighters. You said you would carry out an investigation into these allegations, where are you on this investigation?
Al-Houthi: First in principle, as you said, they are allegations.
Secondly, we have called on the Political Council and the Yemeni government to investigate these allegations. A number of committees will meet, and we hope that it has achieved a great deal in alleged illegal practices during the investigations.
There are media outlets that have debunked some of the allegations and lies, such as the accusations of torturing a doctor from Ibb. Some media outlets discovered after investigation and verification, that he is a mentally ill person. You can look into it, yourselves.
Like that, there are many cases that are fabricated and accompanied by a media frenzy while in fact, they are false and incorrect allegations.
However, we have called on the government to investigate the rest of the allegations they are talking about.
My comment: His viewpoints on Hodeidah and on Human rights violations are bizarre, friendly spoken.
(** B P)
Jemen: überfälliges Lebenszeichen - aber nur ein erster Schritt
Mit der Vereinbarung in Schweden und einer verabschiedeten UN-Resolution gibt es zum ersten Mal seit Ausbruch des Krieges ernsthafte Versuche, ihn zu lösen. Doch diese stehen noch an ihrem Anfang – und werden enorme Herausforderungen überwinden müssen, um den Jemen in Richtung Frieden zu bewegen.
Darüber hinaus liegt der Durchbruch der Stockholm-Vereinbarung in seiner indirekten politischen Dimension: Die Tatsache, dass Regierung und Houthis eine Einigung erzielten, so unpolitisch diese auch sein mag, ist ein enormer Erfolg für die Vermittlungsversuche der UN-Mission um Martin Griffiths, die seit März 2018 darauf hingearbeitet hat. Sie belebt einen an sich gestorbenen Dialog und die UN als Mediator.
Erosion und Fragmentierung
Obwohl es nie eine zentrale Staatsgewalt gab, die den Jemen eigenständig kontrollierte, und Herrscher für ihren Machterhalt seit jeher auf Stämme zurückgreifen mussten, hat der Bürgerkrieg das Land in einer Art zerrissen, dass selbst das vagste Konzept von Autoritätkaum noch gültig ist.
Ihre größten Widersacher, die Houthi-Rebellen, saßen zwar am Verhandlungstisch in Schweden, doch sollte das nicht darüber hinwegtäuschen, dass sich im Krieg mehrere Akteure gegenüberstehen und nicht nur Houthis und Regierung. Diese komplexe Gemengelage muss ein Friedensprozess berücksichtigen, um erfolgreich zu sein, was allerdings aufgrund der Vielzahl der Akteure eine schwierige Aufgabe ist
Während zumindest Regierung und Houthis die 1990 vollzogene Einigung Nord- und Südjemens bekräftigen, wünschen sich mehrere der Süd-Milizen die Abspaltung, was zu der kontroversen Situation führt, dass sie in offiziellen Gesprächen von einer Regierung vertreten werden, die sie nicht akzeptieren und bereits bekämpften. Das war einer der Gründe, warum die Waffenruhe in al-Houdeida in den ersten Tagen nach ihrer Ankündigung gebrochen wurde: Es sind nicht Regierungssoldaten, die die Offensive um die Hafenstadt anführen, sondern einzelne Milizen, von denen nicht klar ist, auf welche Befehle sie eigentlich hören, auch wenn die Kämpfe nun gestoppt wurden.
Fehlendes Vertrauen
Das Problem der multiplen Autoritäten im Land wird dadurch verstärkt, dass alle jemenitischen Akteure von außen unterstützt werden
Denn im Kern des heutigen Krieges stehen die Massenprotestevon 2011, die zum Rücktritt des amtierenden Präsidenten Ali Abdullah Saleh führten. Es war allerdings keine Reaktion auf die Forderungen der Menschen nach Demokratie und Reformen, sondern wurde hauptsächlich von Saudi-Arabien eingefädelt und berücksichtigte nur die Interessen der Eliten, die Armee, Stämme und Wirtschaft dominierten.
Hinter dem Griff zu den Waffen stand sowohl für die Houthis, als auch für die Milizen im Süden die Überzeugung, so die strukturellen Dysfunktionalitäten im Land lösen zu können – zumindest für den eigenen Vorteil. Ein Frieden muss daher nicht nur die Interessen all jener Milizen und die der breiten Bevölkerung berücksichtigen und zusammenbringen, sondern insbesondere das Vertrauen in einen zuvor gescheiterten politischen Prozess herstellen. Zudem braucht er Vorschläge, um eben jene Probleme, die den Jemen seit Jahrzehnten plagen, gegen den Widerstand der Eliten und vor allem der bewaffneten Akteure zu lösen. Eine Mammutaufgabe.
Sollten die UN-Beobachter von einer Miliz aufgehalten oder beschossen werden, oder Kämpfe in al-Houdeida neu aufflammen, wird es nahezu unvorstellbar werden, Jemens Krieg noch diplomatisch zu beenden und dadurch den Staat zu retten. Wahrscheinlich wäre dann eine Art Somalia-Szenario, mit dutzenden Milizen, die einzelne Territorien beherrschen. Martin Griffiths ist immerhin schon der dritte UN-Gesandte seit 2011, während keine Seite stark genug ist, die anderen zu besiegen. Die Folgen eines Scheiterns wären daher fatal. Ein Houthi-Politiker drückte es gegenüber einem Journalisten so aus: Es ist ein Krieg des Knochenbrechens - entweder wir brechen sie oder sie uns – Von Parham Kouloubandi
https://www.alsharq.de/blog/jemen-ueberfaelliges-lebenszeichen-aber-nur-ein-erster-schritt
(** B P)
The Other Gulf State That Is Manipulating U.S. Mideast Policy
Saudi Arabia is not the only country cozying up to the Trump Administration and seeking to manipulate U.S. foreign policy. There is another key player in this ongoing struggle for influence, one that is closely linked to Saudi Arabia—the United Arab Emirates.
Both Saudi Arabia and the UAE have friendly ties with the U.S. government, safeguarded by political contributions and the promise of high-priced arms deals. And much like Saudi Arabia, the UAE’s campaign for influence, largely centered on public relations, has permeated Washington. According to documents filed with the Department of Justice, firms registered under the UAE spent nearly $20 million lobbying on behalf of Emirati interests in 2017 alone.
Propagating a narrative that demonizes Qatar, supports the war in Yemen, and portrays Emirati leadership as a progressive U.S. ally lies at the crux of the UAE’S crusade to capture Washington. Although Saudi Arabia’s efforts to influence U.S. policy have become more apparent in the aftermath of the Khashoggi tragedy, it is crucial that we examine the UAE lobby as well—because they are often working hand-in-hand with the Saudis.
Political Influence
In order to push their agenda, the UAE has employed vast swaths of lobbyists and designed an intensive PR campaign, with the UAE’s ambassador Yousef Al Otaiba acting as its principle architect. For years, Otaiba has cultivated a prominent reputation in Washington and has closely aligned himself with the current administration, specifically President Trump’s senior advisor (and son in-law) Jared Kushner.
Since their meeting over a year ago, Kushner has become Otaiba’s mainline to the White House, both men keeping in consistent contact with one another. Jodi Kantor of the New York Times aptly describes their relationship as that of a student and teacher, “with Mr. Kushner playing the student, asking Mr. Otaiba for his impressions of shifting forces in the Middle East, Syria, Iran, extremism, relationships.”
What’s more, these backroom talks and informal counsel are not exclusive to Otaiba and Kushner.
It appears that the UAE has spent millions and is willing to spend millions more to exercise every avenue of influence, demonstrating that their efforts to steer foreign policy are not confined to the White House. The UAE has used extravagant fundraising events and substantive donations to think tanks and other institutions as successful bargaining chips to gain political influence, as well.
Think Tanks
According to a report by the New York Times, as a part of their $12.7 million PR campaign, Nader and Broidy have given large sums to Washington research institutes on behalf of the UAE.
An examination of the UAE’s reported political activity indicates that firms lobbying for the Emiratis consistently contacted think tanks, including the Atlantic Council (which receives funding from the UAE), Foundation for Defense of Democracies, American Enterprise Institute, and the Center for American Progress.
As of last year, the UAE donated approximately $20 million to the Middle East Institute to augment policies toward Qatar.
Academia
The UAE has also exerted its influence in the United States through academia. There have been numerous reports of the UAE making large donations to a number of American universities.
UAE in Yemen
The U.S./UAE military relationship has received little to no attention in Congress, the media, or the public.
Public Relations
The UAE wishes to demonstrate to the United States and the world that it is adapting to the liberal world order and is trying to contribute to a better future. Donating millions to international aid and healthcare is but one way the UAE attempts to do this.
Another is through the media.
Yousef Al Otaiba, known to some in the lower levels of the State Department simply as “Brotaiba”, has been slowly but surely cultivating the UAE image in Washington. Profiles of Otaiba have appeared in the Huffington Post and The Intercept, and his name has been in and out of the media since he became UAE ambassador in 2008.
In his op-eds, Otaiba relentlessly defends the UAE’s presence in Yemen as necessary to counter al-Qaeda in the Arabia Peninsula (AQAP) and the Iranian-backed Houthis, saying“It is difficult and deadly work, but the UAE, United States and the international community are safer because of it”. Otaiba also maintains that Qatar is a bad actor.
In conclusion, the United Arab Emirates–while small–has an aggressive and far-reaching agenda in DC. The UAE wants to be seen as the United States’ indispensable ally in the Middle East, a partner in the War on Terror, and a contributor to a better world. This can be seen in the UAE’s forceful stance on Iran and al-Qaeda, both in Yemen and elsewhere, and in the UAE funneling millions towards international development aid.
According to 2017 FARA filings, the UAE spent almost $20 million on lobbying in the United States. Do we as a nation want to be blind to how much influence the UAE has over our politicians and especially our presidential administration? – by Avery Beam and Thomas Low
https://lobelog.com/the-other-gulf-state-that-is-manipulating-u-s-mideast-policy/
(** B P)
The Real Problem Is the US-Saudi Relationship, Not Just Crown Prince MBS
Peace activist Medea Benjamin of CODEPINK says US support for the Saudi monarchy must be fundamentally challenged. Some American officials want a cosmetic change, simply replacing Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, but the problem runs much deeper
MEDEA BENJAMIN: One would think after the 9/11 attacks there would have been a whole rethinking of the U.S.-Saudi relationship given that 15 of the 19 hijackers were from Saudi Arabia. But for a number of different reasons, that never happened, and the U.S.-Saudi relationship continued to be very tight. And I think the American public is totally unaware. I mean, the American public doesn’t pay much attention to foreign policy until it hits us like it did on the attacks, but the U.S. administrations continue to have that very close relationship. And we started questioning it as Code Pink when we saw what was happening in the Middle East and looked around, and saying so much of the extremist groups were based on Saudi religion, on Wahhabism.
Whether you looked at Al Qaeda, or after that ISIS, or other extremist groups in Africa, or the creeping fundamentalism that you found in places like even Indonesia, you saw the tracks of Saudi Arabia, the billions of dollars that the Saudis were spending on setting up schools around the world, they money they were sending on bringing in clerics and training them and then sending them back out into the world with this very intolerant perversion of Islam.
And one of the reasons that the U.S. government continues to say we have to be close allies with Saudi Arabia is that we work together on counterterrorism. But how crazy is that, if they’re the ones that continue to support? And there’s many ways in which they support. And one of the ways continues to be the spreading of educational materials, the books that are used, and also, even though the United States has been harping on Saudi Arabia for many years to change its own schoolbooks, we continue to see the language in the Saudi educational system that is anti-Shia and that is anti anybody that is not practicing the Wahhabi version of religion.
But let’s even just look not just at what it’s doing externally, like the war in Yemen, or how it crushed the democratic uprising in Bahrain, or how it’s fighting the Shia minority and its nemesis, Iran, but let’s Look at Saudi Arabia as a country itself. It is one of the most backward countries in the world in terms of no freedom of press, no freedom of religion, no freedom of association, no political parties, no attempts to even try to have national elections.
And you look at the prison system, the court system, the way that torture is used, the way beheadings are the favorite way of killing people in Saudi Arabia. And so, this is a regime that is run as one of the last absolute monarchies in the entire world
https://therealnews.com/stories/the-real-problem-is-the-us-saudi-relationship-not-just-crown-prince-mbs and film https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rmMBbxlvrEg
cp1a Am wichtigsten: Seuchen / Most important: Epidemics
(* B H)
44 children have died of measles in Dhamar province. According to the report issued by the General Administration for Disease Control and Epidemiological Surveillance in Sana’a, there have been more than 25,000 cases of suspected measles and 200 deaths this year in #Yemen.
https://twitter.com/BelqeesRights/status/1077716887583313921
(* B H)
Film: The de-facto collapse of the health system in Yemen lead to outbreaks of preventable diseases such as cholera, diphtheria and measles. Learn more in this short video and share to support Yemenis' access to health care
https://twitter.com/msf_yemen/status/1077546687265157120
(* B H)
UNHCR: Suspected cholera cases have reduced by nearly 3/4 from last year. 400 associated deaths & 295,000 suspected cases reported in 2018. Children under five account for one third of the deaths.
https://twitter.com/BelqeesRights/status/1077265967082807297
(* A H)
Fears of a cholera outbreak in Ibb central prison
A medical source told Al-Masdar online that cholera reappeared between the prisoners in the central prison in Ibb amid fears of the spread of the disease among other 2000 prisoners.
The source said that one of the inmates infected with cholera yesterday and taken to hospital for treatment.
In 2017 three recorded deaths of inmates of the central prison in Ibb due to cholera.
This incident comes within the third wave of the epidemic hits the province after two previous waves were recorded more than 120 deaths and nearly 40 000 suspicion cases.
http://almasdaronline.com/articles/162444
cp1b1 Am wichtigsten: Kampf um Hodeidah: Deutsch/ Most important: Hodeidah battle: German
(* A P)
UNO-Beobachter trafen in Hodeidah erstmals Kriegsparteien
Der Chef der UNO-Beobachtermission im Jemen hat sich am Mittwoch zu einem ersten Gespräch mit Vertretern von Regierung und Rebellen in der strategisch wichtigen Hafenstadt Hodeidah getroffen. Bei der Zusammenkunft unter Leitung des niederländischen Ex-Generals Patrick Cammaert im Union Palace Hotel seien alle Mitglieder des Waffenstillstand-Komitees anwesend gewesen, erklärte ein UNO-Vertreter.
https://orf.at/stories/3105598/ = https://www.vol.at/zehn-regierungskaempfer-waehrend-jemen-waffenruhe-getoetet/6043558
(* A K pS)
Militärkoalition: Seit Beginn von Jemen-Waffenruhe zehn Regierungskämpfer getötet
Seit Beginn der Waffenruhe in der jemenitischen Provinz Hodeida sind nach Angaben der saudiarabisch geführten Militärkoalition zehn Kämpfer der Regierungstruppen getötet worden. Die Huthi-Rebellen würden versuchen, "eine Antwort der Koalition zu provozieren", sagte ein Vertreter des Militärbündnisses am Dienstag. Er versicherte, seit Beginn der Waffenruhe vor einer Woche habe das Bündnis keine Luftangriffe geflogen und auch keine Artillerie eingesetzt.
https://www.welt.de/newsticker/news2/article186077950/Gewalt-Militaerkoalition-Seit-Beginn-von-Jemen-Waffenruhe-zehn-Regierungskaempfer-getoetet.html = https://www.zeit.de/news/2018-12/26/militaerkoalition-seit-beginn-von-jemen-waffenruhe-zehn-regierungskaempfer-getoetet-20181226-doc-1bt91v
Mein Kommentar: Letzteres ist gelogen, wie zahlreiche Vorfälle zeigen. – „Copy and Paste“ einer Agenturmeldung, auch noch hier, ein Wort ändert man dann mal: https://www.tt.com/ticker/15160571/seit-beginn-von-jemen-waffenruhe-zehn-regierungskaempfer-getoetet .
(* A P)
UNO ruft die Konflikt-Parteien in Jemen zum Respekt vor Feuerpause auf
Leiter der UNO-Beobachtermission in Hodeida, Patrick Cammaert, ist am Montag in der jemenitischen Hafenstadt eingetroffen.
Dort rief er die Regierungstruppe und die Houthi-Rebellen auf, die vor kurzem in Schweden erreichte Waffenruhe zu respektieren. Der UN-Beamte bekräftigte, dass die internationale Gemeinschaft gerade bemüht sei, um den Krieg im Jemen zu stoppen. Er betonte auch die Wichtigkeit, den Waffenstillstand umzusetzen.
(* A P)
Film: Waffenruhe im Jemen: Ein Zeichen der Hoffnung
In Hodaida ist ein UN-Team eingetroffen, das die mühsam ausgehandelte Waffenruhe überwachen soll. Nach Jahren des Krieges nähern sich die Gegner offenbar vorsichtig an.
https://www.tagesschau.de/ausland/jemen-waffenruhe-111.html
(* A P)
Film: UN-Mission zur Überwachung der Waffenruhe im Jemen nimmt ihre Arbeit auf
https://www.tagesschau.de/multimedia/video/video-486845.html
https://www.tagesschau.de/multimedia/video/video-486839.html
(* A P)
Leiter von UN-Beobachtermission nimmt seine Arbeit im Jemen auf
Der Leiter der UN-Mission zur Überwachung der Waffenruhe in der jemenitischen Hafenstadt Hodeida hat am Wochenende seine Arbeit in dem Bürgerkriegsland aufgenommen. Der niederländische Ex-General Patrick Cammaert führte zunächst Vermittlungsgespräche mit den Konfliktparteien in Aden und Sanaa. Danach reiste er am Sonntag nach Hodeida weiter, wie aus UN-Kreisen verlautete. Die Hafenstadt spielt eine zentrale Rolle für die Versorgung der hungernden Bevölkerung.
Cammaert sei mit einem Konvoi nach Hodeida gefahren, hieß es am Sonntag aus UN-Kreisen. Am Montag wolle er sich in den Hafen der Stadt am Roten Meerbegeben.
und auch https://www.hurriyet.de/news_vermittlungen-im-jemen-beginnen_14355053.html
cp1b2 Am wichtigsten: Kampf um Hodeidah: Englisch / Most important: Hodeidah battle: English
(A K pS)
A land mine kills a young man in Nakhilah south of Hodeidah
the landmine planted in al-Nakhilah road exploded when the young man was passing on his carriage and killed him instantly.
http://almasdaronline.com/articles/162518
(A K pS)
Film: The engineering teams of the guards of the Republic remove mines Huthi from the roads taken by the United Nations today in the liberated areas of the city of Hodeidah
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KZWa5hUFH8g
(* A P)
UN-led monitors meet in Yemen's Hodeida as clashes test truce
A UN-led team tasked with monitoring a ceasefire met Wednesday in Yemen's flashpoint city of Hodeida, after sporadic clashes underscored the fragility of the truce which began last week.
The ceasefire in the rebel-held city, whose Red Sea port is vital for millions at risk of starvation, is part of a peace push seen as the best chance yet of ending four years of devastating conflict.
A pro-government official told AFP that loyalist members of the committee overseeing the truce went to the Union Palace Hotel in the east of Hodeida city to take part in the meeting.
"We are expecting a good outcome," said the official, who requested anonymity.
Retired Dutch general Patrick Cammaert is heading the joint committee, which includes both government officials and Huthi rebels, and chaired its first face-to-face meeting.
According to a Yemeni official, government members headed to the sit-down in UN vehicles.
UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric has described the meeting as "one of the priorities" of Cammaert's mission.
and also https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/clashes-yemens-hodeidah-ahead-un-truce-team-meeting-1403706978
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/wires/afp/article-6530001/UN-convenes-warring-sides-Yemens-Hodeida.html
(* A K)
Clashes in Yemen's Hodeida ahead of UN truce team meeting
Sporadic clashes erupted Wednesday in Yemen's flashpoint city of Hodeida, an AFP correspondent said, as a UN-led truce monitoring team was scheduled to convene for the first time.
Government forces -- backed by a Saudi-led coalition -- and the Iran-aligned Huthi rebels exchanged gunfire in the latest breach of the ceasefire.
The sound of heavy artillery could be heard to the east of the Red Sea city, with clashes stopping after a few hours.
(* A K pH)
Spokesman of Armed Forces: 31 Violations of Mercenaries in Hodeidah, Creeps on Number of Fronts
The Spokesman for the Armed Forces, Brigadier General Yahya Sare'e, said that the US-Saudi mercenaries continued their violations of the ceasefire in Hodeidah and concentrated violations in the directorates away from the presence of the team and the monitoring committees like Hais, Addurayhimi and Kilo-16.
https://english.almasirah.net/details.php?es_id=4538&cat_id=1
(* A K pS)
10 pro-govt troops killed in Hodeida since Yemen truce: coalition source
Ten pro-government troops have been killed and 143 wounded in Hodeida province since a truce took effect last week, an official for the Saudi-led coalition backing the loyalists said Tuesday.
It was the first time the coalition has said pro-government forces have been killed since the fragile ceasefire entered into force on December 18.
The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, also accused the Iran-aligned Huthi rebels of violating the truce 183 times in and around the flashpoint city of Hodeida.
"The fact of the matter is, unfortunately, that the Huthis are clearly looking to provoke a response from the coalition and no one is holding them accountable," he told AFP.
He said the coalition was not "retaliating" and has not "conducted any air strikes or fired any artillery since the ceasefire began".
(* A K P)
Yemen gov’t: 5,000 soldiers will secure Hodeida ceasefire
A Spokesman of al-Amaleqa Brigade Wadhah al-Dubaish has revealed that the government would deploy 5,000 soldiers to secure the city of Hodeida instead of the Houthi militias.
He said that most soldiers are former members of security services who were excluded by the Houthi Movement after it took over the city of Hodeida, pointing out that they have good skills and expertise.
He affirmed that these forces will replace the Houthi Movement’s militias after their withdrawal from the city of Hodeida and its districts.
https://www.alsahwa-yemen.net/en/p-26370
My comment: ????? The Hadi government seems to think that they now can occupy Hodeidah – but the ceasefire agreement clearly states that BOTH sides must WITHDRAW their military from Hodeidah. – With this crazy idea, the Hodeidah ceasefire is dead.
(A K pH)
Coalition-led forces continue escalation in Hodeidah
UAE-backed forces of the US-backed Saudi-led coalition on Tuesday fired mortar shells Al-Jarba and Al-Shajn villages and Al-Monqim valley in east of Al-Durihemi district of Hodeidah province.
Earlier in the day, the coalition warplanes intensified their flying over Al-Tuhayta district and other southern districts of the province.
http://www.sabanews.net/en/news520348.htm
(A K pH)
Citizen Killed, 3 injured in coalition-led shelling in Hodeidah
A citizen was killed on Tuesday while three others were injured including two women in shelling of the mercenaries of US-backed Saudi-led coalition on Hodeidah province, a security official said.
The shelling targeted the citizens’ home by a howitzer projectile which fired to al-Tafsa village of al-Jarahi district
http://www.sabanews.net/en/news520344.htm
https://english.almasirah.net/details.php?es_id=4545&cat_id=1
(A K pH)
Saudi-led mercenaries shell Hodeidah
The mercenaries of US-backed saudi-led aggression coalition on Tuesday shelled Hodeidah province using machine guns, an official saidl
The shelling hit Zafran village of Kilo -16 area
http://www.sabanews.net/en/news520314.htm
https://english.almasirah.net/details.php?es_id=4545&cat_id=1
(A K pH)
Saudi-led mercenaries shell areas in Hodeidah
The shelling hit Monqem valley, Jurba and Shajen villages, east of Durihimy district.
http://www.sabanews.net/en/news520261.htm
https://english.almasirah.net/details.php?es_id=4545&cat_id=1
(A K pH)
Military bulldozers belonging to the US-Saudi aggression continued to develop fortifications and sites north-east of Al-Shabab town and north-west of Kilo-16
https://english.almasirah.net/details.php?es_id=4545&cat_id=1
(A P)
The #Houthi militia has forced its affiliates in the port city of #Hodeidah to wear the uniform of the Security Forces with the aim of misleading the #UN team assigned with monitoring the ceasefire in the city, as if they belonged to the security authorities of the city (photo)
https://twitter.com/RepYemenEnglish/status/1077600866197295104
and
Abu Ali Al-Kuhlani, a Houthi leader with the worst record of violations against civilians is posing next to Cammeart as director of security n Hodeida. Not a good sign. I hope @OSE_Yemen ensures UNSC on Hodeida is not manipulated or hijacked by war criminals (same photo9
https://twitter.com/Ndawsari/status/1077576502101843968
(* A K P)
UN ceasefire monitoring team briefed on damage caused by coalition in Hodeidah port
UN team monitoring ceasefire in Hodeidah province, headed by General Patrick Cammaert, on Monday paid visit to Hodeidah port to take idea on the damage caused by Saudi-led coalition due to their shelling on the port.
During the visit, the team were briefed over negative results of of the blockade imposed on the port, which touched the shipping activity at the port, which ensures food and medicine needs of more than 20 million people.
General Cammaert said that he would work urgently and permanently for normallize the situation in the port to receive humanitarian aid and its commercial activity.
Earlier, governor of Hodeidah Mohammed Quheem met the team and discussed with them how to implement Sweden agreement on the port of Hodeidah on the ground.
At the meeting, Quheem confirmed that the local authority in the Hodeidah would provide all facilitates to the team to carry out its tasks as it should be.
http://www.sabanews.net/en/news520214.htm
Remark: This is by the Houthi side, Houthi governor.
And
(* A K P)
UN monitor team chief of Yemen cease-fire visits Hodeidah port, frontlines
The head of a UN team monitoring the UN-backed cease-fire in Yemen's Red Sea port city of Hodeidah visited on Monday its main port, neighborhoods and some frontlines.
Cammaert was accompanied by the Houthi representatives of the cease-fire committee during his visit to the rebel-held docks.
During the visit, he held a press conference, in which he stressed that "both rival forces should respect the cease-fire and must begin to withdraw from the city."
The monitor team also visited several key areas in the city, as well as three flashpoint frontlines south and east of the city, known as the 50th Street, Sanaa Street and the 7th July.
Cammaert spoke to the residents, fishermen and farmers, and asked about their livelihood situations.
Many shops were seen open this morning, as the majority are still closed over fears of possible cease-fire collapse. Also dozens of fishermen were seen fishing on their boats along the city's coast.
After their visit to the docks, Cammaert and his team drove to several neighborhoods. He talked to the residents and inspected their humanitarian needs.
Unlike previous days, the city witnessed calm since early morning, with no sounds of warplanes, artillery shelling, explosions or exchange of gunfire. Many children were seen playing outside, after guns were silenced.
http://www.xinhuanet.com/english/2018-12/25/c_137696504.htm
and
(* A K P)
UN ceasefire monitoring chief visits key Yemen port
The head of the United Nations team tasked with monitoring a fragile ceasefire in the flashpoint city of Hodeida on Monday visited its lifeline docks, a port official said.
Retired Dutch general Patrick Cammaert called on Saudi-backed government forces and Iran-linked Huthi rebels to respect the hard-won truce, Hodeida port deputy director Yehya Sharafeddin said.
"The (UN) official promised us that the war will end," Sharafeddin told AFP by phone after Cammaert visited the docks, through which the majority of imports and humanitarian aid enter Yemen.
"He said the Yemen war had been forgotten for years but that the international community is now adamant about ending it," Sharafeddin added.
Cammaert later met with local officials in a government building in Hodeida city.
"We cannot solve your problem, you have to do that yourselves," he told them.
"It is extremely important that both sides are holding that (the ceasefire), and that they don't" blame each other, he added.
According to the UN, Cammaert will chair a meeting of the joint committee on Wednesday.
That meeting would be "one of the priorities" of Cammaert's mission, UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric said.
and also https://news.un.org/en/story/2018/12/1029301
photo: https://twitter.com/RepYemenEnglish/status/1077296138057908225
and
(A K P)
Yemen Red Sea Ports, Calls UN to Allow Hodeidah Port to Work Normally
The Department of the Red Sea Ports Corporation, during a meeting with Dutch Major General Patrick Cammaert in Hodeida. Patrick, called on Monday for the need to resume work at the port of Hodeidah and to lift all restrictions preventing the flow of goods. The deputy director of the Red Sea Ports Corporation, Yahya Sharaf Al-Deen, told Almasirah Net that during the meeting, they discussed the necessity of allowing the port of Hodeidah to operate in a normal manner and lifting all restrictions that prevent the flow of goods to the Red Sea Ports Corporation.
Deputy Director of the Foundation pointed out that Cammaert confirmed that the world will not remain silent about what he called the "forgotten war in Yemen." Sharaf Al-Deen explained that all United Nations organizations will be under the leadership of the United Nations Coordinator.
"We assured the international side that the items allowed to enter the port of Hodeidah very few", Sharaf Al-Deen said. He pointed to the Foundation signing of the agreement with the World Food Program to remove the destroyed cranes in the port of Hodeidah and bring two of the cranes to facilitate work in the port of Hodeidah.
https://english.almasirah.net/details.php?es_id=4523&cat_id=1
(A K pS)
Film: Saudi-led Military Coalition in Yemen Accuses Houthi Rebels of Breaking Cease-fire Deal
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PoVcSdMfN5o
(A K pH)
Armed Forces Spokesman: With UN Team Presence, 17 Violations of US-Saudi Aggression, Hodiedah
The spokesman of the Armed Forces, Brigadier Yahya Sare'e, said on Monday that Yemeni Army and Popular Committees are committed to respecting the ceasefire in Hodeidah, while the US-Saudi aggression continued violations with 17 violations during the UN team first hours in Hodeidah.
He said in a statement, to Saba News Agency, that the US-Saudi mercenaries targeted, residential neighborhoods and Yemeni Army's sites with intermittent firing of various light and medium weapons. He pointed out that Yemeni Army spotted the movements of mercenaries in the desert east of the city of Hodeidah towards the southeast of the city, noting that the violations coincided with the intermittent flight of the warplanes and reconnaissance in the city.
https://english.almasirah.net/details.php?es_id=4525&cat_id=1
(A K pH)
3 citizens wounded in mercenaries' shelling in Hodeidah
The artillery targeted the enemy's sites in al-Jabeliah area of Tuhayta distric
http://www.sabanews.net/en/news520209.htm
(A P)
Young man killed by an element of resistance in Al-Drihmi South of Hodeidah
Quoting Abkar family that the killer was having lunch in Haitham restaurant, and he refused to pay for food, caused a rift between the parties ended up by firing shot directly toward Haitham head and killed him instantly.
http://almasdaronline.com/articles/162476
Remark: “Resistance” = UAE-backed anti-Houthi militia.
(B K P)
IF the Hodeidah ceasefire (yet to start fully since 18 Dec) IS implemented by the UN team (which I find doubtful), the Houthis will have to withdraw its military forces (which I also find doubtful), and the UN will be the de facto Hodeidah authority (plain impossible).
https://twitter.com/BaFana3/status/1076943770556530688
(A K pH)
The artillery of mercenaries of US-backed Saudi-led aggression coalition shelled on Sunday evening residential areas in Hodeidah province over past hours, a security official saidl.
The artillery shelling targeted Zaafran village in Kilo 16 area of al-Hali district
http://www.sabanews.net/en/news520129.htm
(A K pH)
Saudi-led mercenaries shell Hodeidah
The artillery force of mercenaries of US-backed saudi-led aggression coalition on Monday fired shells on Hodeidah province, an official said.
The bombardment targeted residential areas of Shabab city on Taseen street.
http://www.sabanews.net/en/news520135.htm
(A K pS)
The displacement of dozens of people of the Mandhar area south of the city of #Hodeidah because of the continued shelling of the Houthi group, despite the ceasefire (photo)
https://twitter.com/BelqeesRights/status/1077698595028123654
https://twitter.com/BelqeesRights/status/1076576317561339904
(* A K P)
Advance U.N. truce monitors arrive in Yemen's Hodeidah
U.N. advance team arrived in Yemen’s port city of Hodeidah on Sunday to start monitoring a ceasefire and withdrawal of forces agreed by the Iranian-aligned Houthi group and Saudi-backed government forces, the United Nations said.
Cammaert’s team, which the United Nations has said will not be uniformed or armed, will oversee the truce and troop withdrawal from Hodeidah city and three ports.
The United Nations will also provide support for the management of and inspections at the ports of Hodeidah, Salif and Ras Issa; and strengthen its presence in the war-torn region.
(* A K P)
Yemen’s UN cease-fire monitors arrive in port of Hodeida
A U.N. team led by a Dutch officer arrived Sunday at Hodeida to monitor a cease-fire that went into force in the Red Sea port city where Yemen’s civil war rivals been fighting for months, according to security officials and witnesses.
The team, led by Maj. Gen. Patrick Cammaert, had flown into Sanaa, Yemen’s capital, earlier from Aden, the home-in-exile of Yemen’s internationally recognized government.
The witnesses and officials said the convoy of the U.N. team arrived in Hodeida amid heavy security provided by the anti-government Shiite rebels.
A U.N. security team is already in Hodeida to secure housing for the cease-fire monitors and to set up an operations center, according to the officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to brief the media.
Cammaert’s first task in Hodeida will be to assess the military and security situation on the ground and to estimate the number of monitors that will be required in the near future, said the officials. A major security concern, they said, was the protection of the monitors from Islamic militants known to reside in the city.
https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/head-un-ceasefire-monitors-arrives-yemens-hodeidah-846804351
(* A K pH)
47 mercenaries break to cease-fire in coincidence with arrival of UN team: Armed forces spokesman
Army's spokesman Brigadier General Yahya Sarie said on Sunday that the Saudi-led mercenaries continued their cease-fire breaks in Hodeidah taking advantage of the army and popular forces commitment to restraint and not to respond to successive breaches.
The mercenaries committed 47 violations during the past 24 hours in coincidence with the arrival of the UN team to Hodeidah, with the flight of warplanes, reconnaissance and Apache over al-Durihmi, said Yahya Sarie.
The mercenaries' artillery launched 27 different shells at residential areas and army sites, including 15 mortar shells fired at the sides of al-Shaab city, two towards the north of al-Khamseen Street, and 10 at al-Waha resort and nearby.
The mercenaries were fired the south-east of al-Aqd with various medium weapons towards al-Khamseen Street, al-Qimah Hotel, al-Shaab City, Kilo-16, City Max and al- Fadhli Mosque.
The army observed bulldozers of mercenaries, which are building fortifications and developments in the east and south of al-Shaab city, towards al-Aqd and al-Gharasi. Also, night movements and reinforcements in the same areas including Hodeidah.
http://www.sabanews.net/en/news520081.htm
(* A K P)
Houthis issue a circular to wear security forces uniform in the city of Hodeidah
Our reporter in Hodeidah said that Houthi group in Hodeidah City issued a circular to their gunmen wearing security forces uniforms and central security and police, hours before the arrival of the Dutch General Patrick Cammaert.
Houthis are trying to keep the town under the control of their armed militia, in a step to stabilize their members in the City and strengthening its presence since the mid of this year.
Thousands of Houthis control the city, and their authorities began in keeping them in the city as a part of the authorities that govern the city, and to be excluded from the forces will pull out of the city.
According to our correspondent, Houthis security wear security uniforms, and according to Sweden agreement, the city should be handed to former management by September 2014.
On the one hand, the Governor of Hodeidah Mohamed Ayash Quhaim appointed by Houthis is pressuring the local Council members \ for his election as General Secretary of the local Council in the governorate , and in order to manage the city since he belongs to Hodeidah..
http://almasdaronline.com/articles/162429
(A K pH)
saudi-led mercenaries hit several districts in Hodeidah
The Saudi-led coalition militants on late Saturday fired an artillery on several districts in Hodeidah province, a military official said.
The shelling targeted Shaab city, Mahal al-Sheikh village in the western coast causing material damages
http://www.sabanews.net/en/news519943.htm
(A K pH)
saudi-led militias shell areas in Hodeidah
Coalition-backed militias on Sunday fired shells at areas in Hodeidah province an official told Saba.
The militias shelled areas toward Waha hotel in Hali district using medium weapons.
Meanwhile, the war and spy planes continue their hovering over the province.
http://www.sabanews.net/en/news519949.htm
(A K pS)
Houthis violated ceasefire 14 times since Friday: Arab coalition
(A K pS)
Houthis Committed 26 Violations in Hodeidah in 2 Days
The Iran-backed Houthi militias in Yemen have committed 26 violations in the coastal Hodeidah province in two days, said a coordination cell in the region.
It said that the violations, committed on December 21 and 22, left several people dead or injured.
The violations included sniper attacks and shelling against residential areas and national army positions.
https://aawsat.com/english/home/article/1518316/houthis-committed-26-violations-hodeidah-2-days
(* A K pS)
Houthis committed more than 138 violations since cease-fire deal
The Iranian-backed Houthi militia has committed more than 138 violations since a cease-fire agreement, said Arab coalition spokesman Col. Turki Al-Maliki. Addressing a weekly press conference in Riyadh on Monday, he said the Houthis are blocking entry of aid ships to Yemen’s Saleef port near Hodeidah.
http://www.arabnews.com/node/1425161/saudi-arabia
(* A K pH)
Saudis step up attacks, violate Hudaydah truce 223 times: Yemen army
Yemen's army, which alongside the Houthi movement has been defending the country, says Saudi Arabia has increased its attacks in breach of a UN-brokered truce in the port city of Hudaydah.
Army spokesman Brigadier Yahya Sariyah told al-Masirah TV that the Saudis have violated the Hudaydah ceasefire 223 times since December 17, when the truce took effect.
The ceasefire violations included 51 missile attacks, 155 cases of artillery fire and shelling as well as infiltration attempts, he added.
https://www.presstv.com/Detail/2018/12/23/583720/Yemen-Hudaydah-Saudi-Arabia
(* A K pS)
Government forces declare 63 Houthis truce breach monitored in Hodeidah
Government forces said Sunday that Houthis breached the truce which started at dawn Tuesday in Hodeidah 63 times.
That came in a report published by September Net Government forces spokesman quoting the coordination unit at Hodeida ops command center, saying that the breaches varied between shelling and sniping activities.
http://almasdaronline.com/articles/162449
cp2 Allgemein / General
(* A K P)
Interactive Map of Yemen War
(* B K P)
Jemen: Der erste Schritt zum Anfang vom Ende
Doch die wichtigste Entwicklung spielt sich ohnehin im Ausland ab: Obwohl im Jemen-Krieg bis zu 50.000 Menschen bei Kämpfen oder durch Hunger und Krankheiten getötet worden sein sollen, waren die Reaktionen der internationalen Gemeinschaft über die Jahre hinweg höchst verhalten, um es gelinde zu formulieren.
Von Zeit zu Zeit entstanden daraus Resolutionen, die stets mit Worten wie "in tiefer Betroffenheit" begannen, und mit Appellen an die Kriegsparteien endeten.
Seit einiger Zeit erfährt der Jemen-Krieg nun auch in der internationalen Politik und Diplomatie mehr Aufmerksamkeit:
Doch die Bemühungen im Kongress, die US-Unterstützung für das saudische Militär einzuschränken, begannen bereits lange vor dem Verschwinden Khashoggis
Doch all' das, die neue Aufmerksamkeit und der Waffenstillstand rund um Hodeidah sind nur die ersten Buchstaben vom Anfang eines neuen Kapitels, das wahrscheinlich auch nicht das letzte sein wird.
Die Meerenge Bab al-Mandab: Interessen Irans, Saudi-Arabiens und der VAE
Das Argument, der Iran müsse daran gehindert werden, im Jemen Fuß zu fassen, wurde von saudischen Vertretern auch immer wieder als Begründung dafür genannt, warum man überhaupt derart lange einen Krieg zur Unterstützung einer Regierung führt, die trotzdem nur einen Bruchteil des Landes unter ihre Kontrolle bringen konnte.
Doch seit dem Sommer wird auch deutlich, dass die saudische Regierung auch andere Ziele verfolgt: In der ersten Jahreshälfte trafen saudische Truppen in der Provinz al-Mahra ein, die bislang zwar vom Krieg weitgehend verschont wurde, aber von örtlichen Stämmen kontrolliert wird und komplett verarmt ist. Medienberichten zufolge wurde dort mit dem Bau einer Pipeline nach Saudi-Arabien begonnen; Mitarbeiter von Hilfsorganisationen bestätigen die Präsenz von saudischen Truppen in der Provinz.
Mit einer Pipeline könnte Saudi-Arabien die Straße von Hormuz umgehen
Aber auch die Vereinigten Arabischen Emirate (VAE), die offiziell Seite an Seite mit dem saudischen Militär im Jemen kämpfen, verfolgen ihre eigenen Ziele
In den VAE hüllt man sich in Bezug auf das militärische Engagement im Jemen in nahezu allumfassendes Schweigen; Sprecher von Regierung und Militär verweigern jede Auskunft zu den eigenen Zielen. Nicht einmal zu Präsident Hadi mag man sich mehr bekennen; aus gutem Grund: Die VAE unterstützen mittlerweile eine weitere, weitgehend unbekannte Konfliktpartei, die unter dem Namen "Südlicher Übergangsrat" fungiert, dessen Anhänger in den deutschen Medien überwiegend schlicht als "Separatisten" bezeichnet werden – von Oliver Eberhardt
https://www.heise.de/tp/features/Jemen-Der-erste-Schritt-zum-Anfang-vom-Ende-4259286.html
(A K P)
Weihnachtsbotschaft: Papst ruft zu Frieden in Nahost und dem Jemen auf
In seiner traditionellen Weihnachtsbotschaft hat Papst Franziskus zu Frieden in Nahost und dem Jemen aufgerufen
Angesichts des brüchigen Waffenstillstands im Jemen hoffe er, dass sich dieser verstetige und die zahlreichen Kinder und Erwachsenen von "Krieg und Hunger" erlöse.
http://www.spiegel.de/panorama/gesellschaft/papst-franziskus-ruft-zu-frieden-in-nahost-und-dem-jemen-auf-a-1245371.html = https://www.arte.tv/de/afp/neuigkeiten/papst-ruft-weihnachtsbotschaft-zu-frieden-nahost-und-dem-jemen-auf
(A K P)
Pope Francis calls for peace in Yemen, Syria in Christmas message
Addressing those crowded at St. Peter’s Square in Vatican City, Pope Francis urged the world to unite.
The Pope specifically appealed for peace in Yemen and Syria, two countries that have been ravaged by civil war for years. "My thoughts turn to Yemen, in the hope that the truce brokered by the international community may finally bring relief to all those children and people exhausted by war and famine," he said.
(A K P)
Ali Khamenei, Iran: Yemen: If Jesus were among us today...
If Jesus were among us today, he would not spare even a single moment to fight the leaders of despotism and global arrogance; nor would he tolerate hunger and wandering of millions of people, degenerated by the hegemonic and colonialist powers into war, corruption, and violence.
http://english.khamenei.ir/news/6201/Yemen-If-Jesus-were-among-us-today
(B P)
There are 2 GPC parties, 2 southern Yemeni Harak movements, 2 Islah parties, 2 Houthi groups, etc, etc, even 2 governments.... This is politics in #Yemen. The ability to straddle the political fence while pissing and shaking hands simultaneously on both sides of the divide.
https://twitter.com/BaFana3/status/1077539828529537024
(* B K P)
Die Logik imperialer Kriege
https://swprs.files.wordpress.com/2018/05/logik-imperialer-kriege-spr.png
The logic of US foreign policy
https://swprs.files.wordpress.com/2018/05/us-foreign-policy-hd.png
Zieht man das Schaubild "Die Logik Imperialer Kriege" von Swiss Propaganda Research zu Rate, dann befindet sich der Jemen auf einer bis fast zum Ende geraden Schaubildlinie von1 Ist das Land bereits ein Klientelstaat? → Ja 2 Ist die Regierung akzeptabel? → Ja 3 Risiko, den Klientelstaat zu verlieren? → Ja 4 Problem militärischer Art? → Ja. Militärische Unterstützung 5 Kann sich die Regierung noch halten? → Nein. Militärische Hilfe (wenn politisch möglich).
https://www.freitag.de/autoren/the-guardian/dem-hungertod-ausgeliefert
(A P)
Social media users launch boycott campaign against Saudi products over Yemen crimes
Social media users and activists in Arab countries have launched an online campaign calling for a boycott of Saudi products in protest at the regime’s war crimes against Yemeni people.
People from Yemen, Lebanon, Palestine, Iraq, Tunisia, Egypt and several other Arab countries have mobilized on online social media platforms such as Twitter to prompt a global movement against the Saudi-led war on Yemen.
https://www.presstv.com/Detail/2018/12/24/583819/Saudi-Arabia-Yemen-war-boycott-campaign
(B H K P)
Film: Völkermord in Jemen
Während wir uns auf Weihnachten vorbereiten findet seit etwa vier Jahren in Jemen einer der größten Völkermorde unserer derzeitigen Welt statt. Kaum Jemand berichtet darüber und schon gar nicht über die wahren Gründe.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6LOhm_XLVLQ
(* B K P)
Yemeni people have had enough of Saudi interference in their domestic affairs
Rune Agerhus is the chairman of International Solidarity Committee with Yemen (ISCY) and editor-in-chief of Uprising Today Media. His work is mainly focused on the Yemeni struggle against foreign aggression and he is also a noted commentator on MENA affairs.
In an interview with Tehran Times, Mr. Agerhus spoke about the ceasefire facilitated by the UN, how Saudi-led coalition violated the truce, humanitarian situation in the war-ravaged country and why the world needs to speak in one voice against the Saudi war crimes in Yemen.
RA: The people of Yemen does not completely trust the UN, knowing well how the world body allowed war crimes to take place in places like Rwanda and Bosnia. Furthermore, having a Saudi national as chairman of UN's Human Rights Committee paints them as untrustworthy. There are condemnations, but rarely any action is taken to stop bombardments. Saudi regime is holding much of the world hostage, using its oil resources as an effective blackmail tool.
https://en.mehrnews.com/news/140803/Yemeni-people-have-had-enough-of-Saudi-interference-in-their
cp2a Saudische Blockade / Saudi blockade
(* A P)
US Embassy Yemen: The U.S. Department of State's Export Control and Border Security program sponsored 15 Yemeni Coast Guards for a 4-week specialized maritime training program, with exercises on interdicting illicit weapons, and more (photos)
https://twitter.com/USEmbassyYemen/status/1076894934358061056
My comment: This is the chapter where this news is belonging to!
cp3 Humanitäre Lage / Humanitarian situation
Siehe / Look at cp1
(* B H)
Film. 15-year-old Sabrine is a victim of child marriage in #Yemen. Her family used the dowry to buy food & medicine for her ill sister. This is the 12th of 20 stories covered by children & young people.
https://twitter.com/UNICEF_Yemen/status/1077843106488299520
(B H)
Through @europeaid, @UNDPYemen is improving access to #energy. We have provided 5,600 vulnerable #IDPs, #returnees and host agencies with #solar lanterns to help prolong business hours for income generation (photo)
https://twitter.com/UNDPYemen/status/1077808345493524481
(* B H)
WFP Yemen Country Brief, November 2018
113,776 mt of food assistance distributed; US$ 11.2 m commodity voucher transfers made; US$ 507.3 m six months (January 2018-June 2019) net funding requirement; 7.2 m people assisted in November 2018
In addition to the Immediate Response Rations provided to displaced people fleeing violence from Hodeidah, WFP is also providing a one-off General Food Assistance (GFA) ration, either in-kind or via a commodity voucher to all newly displaced people, sufficient for one month. Thus far, WFP has provided 584,406 people with a one-off GFA ration—252,318 IDPs have received in-kind general food distributions (GFD) and 332,088 have received commodity vouchers in 14 governorates.
Between January and November 2018, WFP admitted 430,639 children aged 6 to 59 months and 298,283 pregnant and lactating women (PLW) into WFP’s Targeted Supplementary Feeding Programme (TSFP). For WFP’s programme aimed to prevent moderate acute malnutrition (MAM) called the Blanket Supplementary Feeding Programme (BSFP), WFP admitted 277,833 children aged 6 to 23 months and 379,598 PLW into the programme.
WFP has scaled up its programme for treating moderate acute malnutrition (TSFP) for children under the age of five and PLW. Starting in October, WFP began implementing TSFP programmes in 3,008 health facilities in 287 districts, an increase of 574 health facilities over the previous 6 months. In addition, WFP has created different scenarios to increase BSFP programmes throughout the country based on the results of the latest integrated food security phase classification (IPC).
https://reliefweb.int/report/yemen/wfp-yemen-country-brief-november-2018
(B H)
Turkish charity group aids 1,150 families in Yemen
A Turkish aid group distributed humanitarian aid to families living in the tent cities of the war-ravaged Yemen, the charity announced on Wednesday.
The Istanbul-based Humanitarian Relief Foundation (IHH) provided blankets and coats to 1,150 families in Hanik district of the capital Sanaa, it said in a statement.
https://www.aa.com.tr/en/middle-east/turkish-charity-group-aids-1-150-families-in-yemen/1349134
(B H)
Turkish group sets up water tanks for refugees in Yemen
Turkish Red Crescent has been carrying out projects in coastal city of Aden to meet drinking water needs of refugees
Mehmet Sancar, head of the Turkish Red Crescent’s delegation in Yemen, told Anadolu Agency they regularly provide basic humanitarian aid to a refugee camp in Aden, where roughly 500 refugees are living.
Sancar said that refugees are in need of many things, especially water, to survive.
"Since our arrival, we have been carrying out our projects to satisfy drinking water needs of our Yemeni siblings in tent cities, who had to migrate from their homes because of the civil war," he said.
https://www.aa.com.tr/en/middle-east/turkish-group-sets-up-water-tanks-for-refugees-in-yemen/1349088
and also https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20181226-turkey-sets-up-water-tanks-for-refugees-in-yemen/
(B H)
Film: Yemen Aid USA: I am excited to showcase one of our new videos for @YemenAid_US, that was directed by Yemeni videographer, Omar Al-Fotihi, who currently works for @hrw. It is crucial for us as an organization by #Yemen-is for Yemenis to showcase our talented youth to the world.
https://twitter.com/ToEducate/status/1077633602970632197
(* B H)
Health Minister: Hundreds of Children with Leukemia Need Treatment abroad
Minister of Public Health and Population Dr. Taha al-Mutawakil confirmed on Tuesday that more than 300 children with leukemia patients need to travel abroad for treatment urgently. During his visit with the Director General of Kuwait University Hospital, Dr. Amin Al-Junaid, he pointed out that a number of critical cases have been diagnosed with leukemia in Kuwait University Hospital.
Al-Mutawakil pointed out that the siege and aggression prevented the entry of drugs for cancer patients and at the same time deprived the injured of their right to travel for treatment abroad.
https://english.almasirah.net/details.php?es_id=4537&cat_id=1
(* B H)
The Girl Who Stood Up Against Child Marriage
In 2013 Nada posted a You Tube video telling the world about the marriage her parents were forcing her into at the age of ten. The two-and-a-half-minute video had 8 million views in three days. She eventually ran away to live with her uncle after her parents’ second attempt to marry her off. She has faced accusations of falsifying her story, and has been threatened and detained.
Nada Al-Ahdal raised discussions of child marriage, and international media organisations such as CNN, the BBC, and The Huffington Post have covered her fight. Now at 15 Nada has established her own foundation to protect children’s rights (www.nadafund.org) which saves many girls from early marriage, brings children back to school, and provides shelters for homeless orphans.
The change Nada’s foundation is trying to bring to the lives of girls in Yemen was the main topic of her talk at TEDx. Chocking back the tears as she told the stories of the girls she had met during her time in the detention centre, Nada unveiled the face of the tragic denial of children’s rights.
https://cakehour.wordpress.com/2018/12/25/the-girl-who-stood-up-against-child-marriage/
(A H)
.@monarelief's team in the capital Sana'a was able today to deliver 50 families blankets to warm them in this harsh winter. Today's delivers was funded by @monareliefye's online fundraising campaign. (photos)
https://twitter.com/Fatikr/status/1077376405179117569
(B H)
Yemen: Humanitarian Access Snapshot (October - November 2018)
https://reliefweb.int/report/yemen/yemen-humanitarian-access-snapshot-october-november-2018
(A H)
Qatar Red Crescent Society: QRCS, YHF sign pact to support Yemen hospitals
https://reliefweb.int/report/yemen/qrcs-yhf-sign-pact-support-yemen-hospitals-enar
(* B H)
„Im Jemen stirbt die Hoffnung auf Besserung“
Die von den Vereinten Nationen vermittelte Waffenruhe für die umkämpfte jemenitische Hafenstadt Hudaida ist ein Fortschritt. Dennoch sieht der Generalsekretär von Care Deutschland, Karl-Otto Zentel, Millionen Menschen durch die Hungersnot im Bürgerkriegsland in Gefahr.
Andererseits sehe ich Menschen vor mir, die im Nirgendwo gestrandet sind, weil die Hilfsorganisationen den Bedarf nicht mehr decken können. Es herrscht eine große Verzweiflung, weil nichts mehr da ist. Die Hoffnung, dass es besser wird, stirbt allmählich. Selbst den jemenitischen Kollegen setzt es zu, dass sie Tag und Nacht arbeiten können, die Situation sich aber weiter verschlechtert. Die fehlenden Nahrungsmittel, das kollabierte medizinische System, keine Schulen, keine Gehälter – das sind die Hauptprobleme. In einigen Teilen des Landes verhungern jeden Tag Menschen. Zuerst trifft die Kinder, weil sie die geringsten Reserven haben. Und dann oft auch Frauen, die durch Kinder stärkeren Belastungen ausgesetzt sind.
Wie können Sie angesichts der Kämpfe im Jemen arbeiten?
Die Genehmigungen brauchen endlos lange – das dauert manchmal Monate. Dann die Sicherheitslage: Wir müssen jede Bewegung anmelden. Auch wenn wir eine Verteilung machen, kündigen wir Zeit und Ort über die UN bei der internationalen Koalition an, um sicherzustellen, dass dieser Ort an diesem Tag nicht bombardiert wird. Vermehrt kommt da der Hinweis: Das können wir euch nicht zusagen. An solchen Tagen können wir die geplante Verteilung dann nicht durchführen.
Wie kann es den Hilfsorganisationen gelingen, weitere Hilfe ins Land zu bringen?
Der Jemen hat immer schon 90 Prozent seiner Nahrungsmittel importieren müssen. So kommen die Güter über die Häfen ins Land, wenn auch viel zu wenig. Bei Millionen von Menschen können durch humanitäre Hilfe eben nur 80 Prozent des Kalorienbedarfs abgedeckt werden – es ist eine langsame Auszehrung. Deswegen braucht es viel mehr an kommerziellen Gütern. Die Kämpfe um die große Hafenanlage von Hudaida hatten die Zahl der anlegenden Schiffe verringert und die Dauer der Entladung verlangsamt. Der Waffenstillstand am Hafen seit dem 18. Dezember ist eine tolle Sache – aber er kann nur der erste Schritt sein. Denn selbst wenn nicht gekämpft wird, kommt kein Gramm Nahrungsmittel mehr ins Land, dann verhungern immer noch Menschen.
https://www.stuttgarter-zeitung.de/inhalt.krieg-und-hunger-im-jemen-die-hoffnung-auf-besserung-stirbt.6933f801-d2cf-4a03-823c-f2b3e5f66a0d.html = https://www.stuttgarter-nachrichten.de/inhalt.krieg-und-hunger-im-jemen-die-hoffnung-auf-besserung-stirbt.29ce7114-0025-4193-814d-732b339f62ba.html
(* B H)
Film: Put children in the heart of everything you do, not on the margins. #YemenChildren cannot wait. We already have a entire generation struggling to survive.
https://twitter.com/alasaadim/status/1076761561723736064
(B H)
Yemen: Education Cluster Gap Analysis (January - November 2018)
https://reliefweb.int/report/yemen/yemen-education-cluster-gap-analysis-january-november-2018
(A H)
.@monarelief's team delivers blankets to 100 of the most vulnerable families and IDPs in al-Rahbah area of Sana'a. Our project today was funded by @monareliefye's online fundraising campaign (photos). Please donate here:
https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/feed-hungry-children-in-hajjah-province-of-yemen#/
https://twitter.com/Fatikr/status/1076866985831657473
(A H)
Turkey provides food aid in Yemen
A Turkish aid organisation distributed 500 parcels of food aid in Yemen’s southern city of Lahij, as reported on Anadolu Agency.
https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20181223-turkey-red-crescent-provides-food-aid-in-yemen/
(* B H)
According to the latest IPC analysis, Dec 2018-Jan2019, a total of 15.9 million people in #Yemen, i.e. 53% of the population analyzed are severely food insecure, despite ongoing humanitarian food assistance.
Including: 17% of the population (about 5 million people) classified in IPC Phase 4 (Emergency) 36% (about 10.8 million people) in IPC Phase 3 (Crisis) 63,500 people in IPC Phase 5 (Catastrophe)
20.1 million people (67% of the total population) would be in need of urgent action (IPC Phase 3 and above), including 238,000 people in IPC Phase 5 (Catastrophe) had Humanitarian Food Assistance not been delivered.
When compared with 2017 IPC analysis, 2018 analysis shows an increase in the total number of people requiring urgent action from 17 Million to 20.1 Million which corresponds to an 18% increase. While the increase from 2016 IPC to 2017 IPC was 20%
https://twitter.com/yemen_updates/status/1076893415126827008
(* B H)
Film: Nizar's Mother Suffers Life-Threatening Bullet Injury
Civilian victims are deprived of their right to proper treatment in Lahj governorate.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mlpNzV9fqyA
cp5 Nordjemen und Huthis / Northern Yemen and Houthis
Siehe / Look at cp1
(A E P)
Yemen Gas Company distributes 180 trucks loaded with domestic gas in capital Sanaa
http://www.sabanews.net/en/news520463.htm
(* A H P)
Yemeni journalist reveals the systematic looting of relief from international organizations in Sana'a
Yemeni journalist revealed systematic looting by Admins responsible for the distribution of food aid provided by United Nations organizations.
Moein Al-Najri Press Secretary editor in the Government Althawrah newspaper publication said on his Facebook " number of our colleagues in Althawrah Foundation received calls from of the world food organization in Sana'a to be sure they receive monthly food good baskets, and when they went to the Office of the organization they surprised by Receive monthly rations slips in their names and their telephones numbers and IDs profile and in front of each name imprint on the basis that he has received their shares ".
http://almasdaronline.com/articles/162523
(A H P)
Nour El Oyoun Center inaugurates a free medical camp in Sanaa
Nour El Oyoun Center on Monday inaugurates a free medical camp "Al Nour Medical Surgical Camp N/ 207" to remove white water and to implant lenses for poor and disordered cases.
http://www.sabanews.net/en/news520232.htm
(A H P)
Public Works and Highways Office destroys more than 20 tons of finished food in Sanaa
http://www.sabanews.net/en/news520233.htm
(A P)
Houthi -Houthi conflict results in arresting a leader in Sanaa
The differences and disputes rose again between the factions of Houthis group and this time between the general director of Tax authorities assigned by Houthis Hashim Al-Shami and the manager of the senior taxes payers unit Radhwan Al-Moa’iad ended with the arrest of Radwan.
The dispute over the income of the unit has increased lately and led to the arrest of Al-Moaaiad by the National security bureau upon Al-Shami request, NSB has raided the office of Al-Moiad Saturday afternoon and detained him and he is still hidden for the second day.
http://almasdaronline.com/articles/162475
(A H P)
Authorities close 35 private medical facilities in Sanaa over violating standards
Director of medical facilities in the province, Dr. Abdulkhaliq Damaj told the Yemeni news agency Saba that two hospitals, five medical centers, 10 ambulatory clinics, 18 pharmacies and a drug store were closed due to violation of the Medical Facilities Law and its executive regulations.
He pointed out that the committees have urged the local and foreign health staff who did not obtain licenses to practice the profession the necessity to quickly obtain licenses from the Medical Council and give them an opportunity to do so.
http://www.sabanews.net/en/news520182.htm
(A P)
Houthis deny WFP delegation entry to besieged Taiz
The Houthi militia barred on Sunday the entry of a delegation from the World Food Program to Taiz, the central Yemen city they had besieging for nearly four years.
https://www.alsahwa-yemen.net/en/p-26325
(A P)
Houthis raids village in Ibb, intimidate women, children
Houthi militias on Sunday raided a village in the governorate Ibb, intimidating its civilians.
Local sources affirmed that the village of al-Hamadi in the district of Mudhaikhera located in the west of Ibb was raided by Houthi militias, surrounded some houses and threatened to blow up them.
https://www.alsahwa-yemen.net/en/p-26324
(A P)
Secretary General of Political Bureau of Ansarullah: We Understand Southern Cause Positively
Secretary-General of Ansarullah political bureau, Fadhel Abutaleb, said that Ansarullah and the national forces in Sana'a are more understanding for the southern issue than the aggression countries do, and they are more positive and credible in dealing with the issue.
https://english.almasirah.net/details.php?es_id=4508&cat_id=1
My comment: Too late. Instead of assaulting Aden in 2015, the Houthis should have tried to make an agreement with Southern separatists.
(A P)
Sanaa: President of the Supreme Political Council, Mahdi al-Mashat, received on Sunday the girl, #Buthaina al-Rimi, "Humanity Eye" kidnapped earlier by saudi and her uncle, and directs provision of salary, accommodation for Buthaina. (photo)
https://www.facebook.com/LivingInYemenOnTheEdge/
and
Bothaina who was kidnapped by #Saudi was released on friday 21Dec. This is her story Bothaina Almatri, 6years, lone survivor of #Saudi #UAE strikes on Attan in #Sanaa #Yemen on 25/Aug. 14killed inc her dad,mum,uncle,4brother/sister. See thread for info how they were kidnapped
https://twitter.com/HussainBukhaiti/status/1076960311436079105
(* B K pS)
50 children from one school in Bani Hushaish in Sana’a were killed fighting for the Houthis.
https://twitter.com/Ndawsari/status/1077790980504514560 referring to
https://twitter.com/brman1/status/1077705491432857600 (image)
My comment: Doubt remains.
cp6 Südjemen und Hadi-Regierung / Southern Yemen and Hadi-government
(A P)
Saudi ambassador to Yemen receives delegation from General People’s Congress
Saudi Arabia’s ambassador, Mohammed bin Saeed Al-Jaber, met with members of the General People’s Congress at the centre of the Saudi Program for the Development and Reconstruction of Yemen in Riyadh on Tuesday.
The General People’s Congress is a political party in Yemen that was founded by its former leader, Ali Abdullah Saleh, who was killed by the Houthi militia in Dec. 2017.
The Parliament members expressed their thanks and appreciations to the leadership, government and people of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia for the generous support provided for Yemen in various fields, which had a tangible impact on the Yemeni people.
http://www.arabnews.com/node/1425981/middle-east
My comment: The GPC split into a pro-Houthi and an anti-Houthi section. Some of these anti-Houthi former members of parliament fled to Aden. Several times, the Hadi government claimed there would be a seesion of “parliament” at Aden, but certainly just quite few former representatives would be available.
(A H P)
Teachers demands the Government and UNICEF» to release the Saudi - Emirates grant
Yemeni teachers demanded the Yemeni Government and the Yemeni Central Bank and UNICEF to award the incentives promised after Saudi Arabia and the UAE have granted them two and a half months ago.
Teachers accused Government and the organization of looting the grant as they said to Al-Masdar online.
Ahmed Saeed, Director of a government school in the province of Dhamar said, Yemen's Government and UNICEF should award the 70 million dollar grant received from the UAE, Saudi Arabia to teachers.
Said added, «till today we haven't heard only promises from the Government and UNICEF, and we don’t know if the grant actually been received as announced, why didn't receive it until today, even though we desperately need them».
http://almasdaronline.com/articles/162517
(A P)
Armed attack a picket in Aden, and the killing of three including an officer
gunmen attack the picket in Caltex tour in Aden and fired up on protestors, the attack caused no casualties, while the militants fled to escape on board a car., early Wednesday.
A number of relatives of the businessman Awad Abdul Habeeb staged a picket for three days in Aden to demand the UAE forces to release him and his son, Awad detained by the UAE forces at Buriqa Camp since mid-2016, a source said earlier.
http://almasdaronline.com/articles/162525
(A P)
Al-Wali Heads the Annual Meeting of the Local Leadership of Aden with Attendance of Al-Gaadi and Sawqui
The meeting denounced the decision of the electricity department of cutting off electric current over citizens of Aden who couldn’t pay their bills. The meeting also indicated that the support provided by the Arab Coalition was enough to cover these bills but the corruption of this government robbed this support.
[and separatists propagating their militia:]
https://en.smanews.org/security-belt-troopsw-arrest-the-killer-of-qais-nazmi-sultan-in-amran
https://en.smanews.org/dofes-post-seizes-ammunition-and-mortar-shells-heading-to-aden
(B P)
“Shakira” tortures detainees in UAE-run prisons in Aden
A leader in the so-called “southern resistance” has revealed a police dog called “Shakira” used to torture Yemeni detainees in the UAE-run secret prisons in the city of Aden, southern Yemen.
“The UAE occupation officers released Shakira towards some detainees after taking off their clothes,” Adel al-Hassani said in an interview with Bilqees Satellite Channel on Monday.
He added that “the dog (Shakira) had bitten thighs, legs, arms and genitals of some detainees while they were shackled.”
(A P)
An expanded military and security meeting with Hadramawt governoer… the war on terror continues
Al-Bahsani announced during the meeting that the new year 2019 will witness a widespread security force and more improvement in security in new areas including Hadhramaut valley.
The Governor said that the war on terror continues and will continue as long as those thoughts nesting in some young people's heads.
http://almasdaronline.com/articles/162511
(A)
Someone's getting ready for a ruckus in Aden. Large amount of ordnance seized by security forces in Aden city, from a site next to Aden Refinery's oil discharge terminal. 24 'suspects' arrested (photos)
https://twitter.com/BaFana3/status/1077521918989910017
(A P)
Mothers of detainees demand to release sons from Aden’s prisons
The Abductees’ Mothers Association on Monday arranged a protest in Aden, demanding to disclose the fate of their sons held by the Aden authorities and release them.
The association said that officials of the Human Rights Ministry had promised to release the detainees, asking them to keep their promises.
The association asserted that the mothers will continue their protests until their relatives are referred to courts or released.
https://www.alsahwa-yemen.net/en/p-26371
https://twitter.com/abducteesmother/status/1077153086030913538 (photos)
(A P)
Aden: Protests for Immediate Release of Detainees in UAE Prisons
Tribesmen and political, civil and human rights activists protested in Aden demanding the release of businessman Ali Awad Abd al-Habib and his son Ghassan, who were kidnapped by Militias loyal to UAE forces in Aden three years ago. Their fate is still unknown.
https://english.almasirah.net/details.php?es_id=4516&cat_id=1
(* B T)
220 army soldiers have been killed within two years in Taiz most of them belong to 22 Mika brigade
A senior military source said in a statement to Al-Masdar that 224 soldiers and officers have killed during the last period an assassination by bullets or bombs in the past two years, more than half of them belonged to 22 Mika brigade.
The source holds the Salifist Salafi "Abu Abbas" group responsible for providing cover for extremist groups active in the squares that were under their influence in the city.
The source noted that elements linked to Al-Qaida have found a favorable environment for their activity in the areas that were subject to what is known as "Abu Abbas brigades" and targeted the national army rather than fight the Houthis trespassers, pointing out that Abu Abbas had provided protection for those Extremist groups.
A senior military source said the members of the 22 Mika brigade were the most targeted by those assasinations which included 124 officers and soldiers.
http://almasdaronline.com/articles/162478
(A T)
Two soldiers were killed and six others wounded by a roadside bomb in Taiz
A military source said to Almasdar, two soldiers of 17 infantry brigade killed and six were injured by an explosion of a bomb planted in a car at Al-Dhbab road in Taiz.
He added that terrorist elements stand behind the incident as a response to the achievements of the security forces.
http://almasdaronline.com/articles/162474
(A P)
Saudi-led mercenaries kill citizen in southern entry of Marib city, tribes kill dozens in response
A citizen on Sunday was killed in the southern entry of Marib city when the mercenaries of US-backed Saudi-led aggression coalition opened the fire in Faw area, a security official told Saba.
Abdullah al-Sharif was killed when he passed the public street together with his family.
Abeeda and Al-Ashraf tribes were in a standby state and mobilize to response the crime.
They attacked a checkpoints and sites for the enemy and inflicting on their ranks heavy causalities.
http://www.sabanews.net/en/news520084.htm
(B P)
Yemeni PM: Funds from Saudi Arabia, UAE should be managed to achieve intended goals
The prime minister told the Saudi Press Agency that “Yemen has received large funds from Saudi Arabia and the UAE"
He also said any upcoming funds in 2019 should focus on supporting the economy and paying as many salaries as possible
http://www.arabnews.com/node/1421866/middle-east
(A T)
Increase on the casualties toll of the grenade attack in Al-Shihr-Hadramawt
The casualties toll in the attack targeted the police headquarters in the city of Al-Shihr in Hadhramaut coast, yesterday evening, to two dead and 45 wounded.
Local authority and the second military region, accused the Al-Qaida terrorist, noting that it has been confirmed the affiliation of the attackers to Al-Qaeda.
The joint statement said that terrorist elements, Friday evening, and at 9 pm throw a bomb at the gate of the Al-Shihr camp then followed by IED attack 12 minutes after the first explosion after citizens gathered around the scene.
http://almasdaronline.com/articles/162430
(A P)
Mass protests broke out in the city of Al-Mukha today, condemning the heinous crime committed by soldiers of the UAE right to childhood.
Local sources said the protests broke out after the news leaked to the citizens, despite attempts by the authorities to keep quiet and those who rushed to the streets and carried out civil disobedience, which closed the shops and burned tires and cut the streets of the city to express their condemnation of the crime.
The details of the crime indicate that the child, who works as a bread vendor and is no older than nine years old, was found to be in a state of shock, after less than a day of arresting soldiers and taking him to an unknown destination, witnesses said.
The sources revealed that the child was taken to hospital after being found in the vicinity of Al-Shazli mosque, pointing out that the medical tests conducted for him confirmed that he was subjected to brutal sexual assault and that his health is very critical and requires his stay in hospital for treatment (photos)
https://www.facebook.com/SaudiArabia.war.crimes.against.Yemen/posts/1950365745259410
film (Arabic) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2wk_UqzLje4
(A P)
Film: Leiter der UN-Beobachtermission landet im Jemen
Der Leiter des UN-Teams zur Überwachung des Waffenstillstands in der jemenitischen Hafenstadt Hodeida ist im Jemen eingetroffen. Die UN-Beobachter sollen unter anderem den Betrieb des Hafens sicherstellen und den geplanten Abzug der Rebellen aus der Stadt überwachen
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fPE-JD9rmH8
(A P)
Aid delegation released in Yemen
A Turkish aid delegation was released by UAE-backed forces in Yemen’s coastal city of Aden, according to a delegation member on Dec. 23.
“The delegation was held for questioning late Saturday before being released,” the member said on condition of anonymity.
The Turkish aid delegation had arrived in Yemen on Dec. 15 from Oman.
While travelling from eastern city of Marib to Aden on Dec. 20, UAE-backed held the delegation for no apparent reason.
http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/aid-delegation-released-in-yemen-139951
http://almasdaronline.com/articles/162448
(B P)
Al-Gaadi to Al-Ahram: Federalization Led to War and No Solution without a Plan to Respond to Ground Facts
Assistant secretary general of the Southern Transitional Council, Fadl Al-Gaadi, had an interview with Al-Ahram, the well-established Egyptian newspaper.
Today, our people are embracing the slogan of restoring our state. this is our right and we will never forsake it.
First, we should restore our southern state. Then, we should liberate the northern authority from corruption lobby and war traders.
My comment: Outdated, earlier than the Sweden talks.
cp7 UNO und Friedensgespräche / UN and peace talks
Siehe / Look at cp1, cp1b
(* B P)
Dear Mr. Griffith: For Peace We May Forgive, but we Can Never Forget!! Professor Abd Al-Nasser Al-Wali Chairman of Local Leadership of the Southern Transitional Council in Aden
Dear Mr. Martin Griffith: We are just asking about the one who is responsible for all that happens to the people in the south and north. Who is guilty for all that? Is there an accused who is assumed responsible for all that? People in the north and south were crushed, killed and bled. They were rapped, humiliated and compromised. Isn’t there someone, or even some people, who bears this responsibility? We know them by name and the whole world too. They are well-known, as well as their approach, intentions and goals. The whole world knows them and acknowledges their crimes as the peak of criminal acts.
Dear Mr. Martin Griffith: A catastrophic war, that led my country to be described as the country with the biggest humanitarian catastrophe, simply ends with a hand shake!!
Dear Mr. Martin Griffith: Any war, genocide or discrimination based on ethnic, gender, color or religious reasons, can never be let go and those who committed such crimes should be tried and punished. This is the mission of UN Security Council and the United Nations. They should prevent such acts and never let it go without punishment and full confession and apology from the criminal. This is the minimum acceptable limit.
My comment: Yes, in a better world, they all would be held accountable by the International Criminal Court, but it’s not only those Yemenis you asked why Griffiths shaked hands with, it continues to Prince Salman, Obama, Trump, Pompeo, Mattis, Kerry, … – And, as the Southern Transitional Council’s “Security Belt” militia are committing crimes against humanity as well, Al-Wali himself might join at court…
(* B P)
Office of the Special Envoy of the Secretary-General for Yemen: Griffiths to CNN: “The Hudayda Agreement sends a message of hope to the Yemeni people”
The Special Envoy of the Secretary General for Yemen mentioned that he is working on convening a new round of consultations between the two Yemeni parties towards the end of January.
In a TV interview with CNN’s host Christiane Amanpour, Griffiths stressed the importance of the full implementation of the Hudayda Agreement, in order to alleviate the humanitarian suffering in Yemen. He added that Hudayda is also the center of gravity of the ongoing war in Yemen, clarifying that “ a ceasefire in Hudayda is a massive signal to the people of Yemen that something new is possible. If we can make all this happen according to plan, the people of Yemen will notice a new prospect for the future.”
Griffiths mentioned that while the focus of the Sweden Consultations was on the urgency of alleviating the humanitarian suffering in Yemen, he is hoping that the two parties will discuss in the upcoming round of consultations the political issues and the substance of an eventual agreement.
The Special Envoy pointed out that he believes that there is a conviction at the end of the parties that there will be no military solution for this conflict. “I think the parties can see that military solution is not available, political solution has to be the one that is now the priority.”
https://reliefweb.int/report/yemen/griffiths-cnn-hudayda-agreement-sends-message-hope-yemeni-people
and full transcript: https://osesgy.unmissions.org/sites/default/files/martin_griffiths_transcript_from_cnn-english-revised.pdf and film: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CsbdKNmS7Gc
(* A P)
UAE trying to sabotage agreements struck between Yemeni sides in Sweden peace talks: Ansarullah official
A high-ranking member of the Yemeni Houthi Ansarullah movement has accused the United Arab Emirates (UAE) of attempts to scupper agreements recently reached between warring sides during the latest round of UN-sponsored peace negotiations in Sweden.
Secretary-General of Ansarullah political bureau, Fadhel Abutaleb said the Abu Dhabi regime is trying to torpedo the accords by means of its mercenaries, mainly Tareq Mohammed Abdullah Saleh – a Yemeni military commander and the nephew of the late Yemeni president Ali Abdullah Saleh.
Abutaleb also called on mercenaries fighting on the side of Saudi Arabia and its allies to withdraw from the strategic Red Sea port city of Hudaydah.
The top Ansarullah official then praised UN Security Council Resolution 2451 on Yemen as more effective and helpful compared to previous one.
(* B P)
Atmosphere is not conducive to sustaining agreements about Yemen: Falk
Richard Anderson Falk, professor emeritus of international law at Princeton University says “the opening of the port cities of Al Hudaydah and Sanaa, both covered by the Stockholm Agreement, handle up to 80% of humanitarian imports of food and medicine.”
In an interview with the Tehran Times, the former United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights said “it is likely that on the Saudi side, especially in the aftermath of the Khashoggi murder there was a serious concern about being blamed for another major humanitarian catastrophe if the ports remained closed.”
RF: The atmosphere is not conducive to sustaining agreements as there are apparently various militia factions on the government side that might seek to disrupt the agreement, and there have been some worrisome incidents along these lines.
https://en.mehrnews.com/news/140796/Atmosphere-is-not-conducive-to-sustaining-agreements-about-Yemen
(* A P)
Head of UN monitors arrives in Yemen's rebel-held Sanaa
The head of the UN team tasked with monitoring a fragile ceasefire in Yemen's port city of Hodeida arrived in the rebel-held capital of Sanaa on Sunday, an AFP photographer said.
Retired Dutch general Patrick Cammaert is heading a joint committee including members of the government and the Huthi rebels, in charge of monitoring a truce in the Red Sea city and its surroundings.
Cammaert was greeted by head of the Huthi delegation, Ali al-Mushki, and a number of other members of the UN team at Sanaa international airport. He did not comment upon arrival.
He is making a stop in Sanaa before heading to Hodeida
On Saturday, Cammaert urged the government and the Saudi-led coalition backing the loyalists to uphold the ceasefire that came into effect last week, said UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric.
He also "sought their commitment and cooperation to secure the unhindered flow of humanitarian aid", said Dujarric, adding that Cammaert will "convey similar messages" to the Huthis in Sanaa.
photos https://twitter.com/narrabyee/status/1076839465086341120
(A P)
Yemen's Ansarullah hails UN ceasefire efforts
Spokesman of Yemen’s Ansarullah welcomed the United Nation delegation’s visit to Yemen to establish ceasefire in al-Hudaydah port city, according to a Yemeni television channel.
http://www.irna.ir/en/News/83144057
(A P)
Head of Redeployment Coordination Committee Arrives in Yemen
Cammaert has not determined a clear agenda or set a date for the committee’s meeting which is crucial given that time is running out, especially since Houthis are expected to withdraw from Hodeidah, Saleef and Ras Issa ports after January 3, 2019, and the 30 days determined by the UN to implement the Stockholm's Agreement.
Governor of Hodediah al-Hassan Taher received Cammaert and his accompanying delegation at Aden International airport.
(A P)
UN resolution ensures Yemen's territorial integrity: Arab Coalition
The Official Spokesman for the Coalition to Restore Legitimacy in Yemen, Col. Turki Al-Malki has renewed Coalition States' support for the UN resolution regarding the Sweden Agreement on Yemen.
The Saudi Press Agency quoted Al Malki as saying at a press conference here today that the UNSC resolution ensures the territorial integrity of Yemen in line with the outcome reached through the UN-sponsored consultations in Stockholm.
http://wam.ae/en/details/1395302729017
(A P)
Saudi Ambassador: Houthis Made Significant Compromises in Yemen
The challenge now remains in ensuring the militias live by their commitments, he stressed.
He told the Wall Street Journal that his country wants Yemen to capitalize from this new opportunity for peace.
“That means no more rationalizing of Houthi violations whether the orders come from Sanaa or Tehran. And it means no signals from foreign capitals that the world is divided on the Houthis’ military aggression.”
(* B P)
Film: "Women take care of everyone, including children and men, on the ground but when it comes to peace talks they are forgotten" says @Kawkab, a co-founder of #Women4Yemen network via @trtworld about the current peace consultations in #Sweden.
https://twitter.com/women4yemen/status/1077351496000376833
cp8 Saudi-Arabien / Saudi Arabia
(A E P)
Saudi Arabia to Release Findings of Expat Levy Review Next Month
Saudi Arabia will release the results of its study of a controversial levy on expatriate workers within 30 days.
The fees were introduced in 2017 as part of a drive to increase non-oil government revenue -- a key goal of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s economic transformation plan -- but have drawn fire from business owners in a country accustomed to cheap foreign labor. They’ve contributed to the exit of hundreds of thousands of foreigners from the kingdom, hitting the already-struggling economy without making much of a dent in Saudi unemployment.
Bloomberg reported earlier this month that the government was reviewing the levy, with a view to reconciling its fiscal needs with the private sector’s ability to hire and grow.
(A P)
CONFIRMED: #Saudi Lawyer Ibrahim al-Modaimegh was released from jail today. Older, rumors of worsened health while in jail. He was arrested in May 2018. His name was among those stamped with “traitor” in gov media, with list of treasonous accusations.
https://twitter.com/Ana3rabeya/status/1077064021403148289
(B P)
Everything #Saudi denies, is proven to be true. They denied reports of activists being trotured and sexually harassed in prison. But today @LoujainHathloul’s father announced out loud for the world to hear. But what’s it going to take for us to put an end to this barbaric regime? (image)
https://twitter.com/amani_aal/status/1076613489714552833
(A P)
Saudi Prince Dies after Weakened by Hunger Strike
A Saudi prince, known internationally for his open criticism of the ruling family including Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, has died at the age of 87 on Saturday after being critically weakened by a hunger strike.
Prince Talal bin Abdul Aziz, a half brother of King Salman, had reportedly been hospitalized in the capital Riyadh due to ill health. He stopped eating in November last year after bin Salman ordered the capture of three of his sons, including billionaire Prince Al-Waleed bin Talal, during a crackdown on well-to-do royals and businessman.
Before starting the hunger strike, Prince Talal had “told friends it was right to protest ‘civilly’ to draw attention to the tyranny that MbS was establishing under the cover of an anti-corruption purge.”
https://english.almasirah.net/details.php?es_id=4509&cat_id=2
My comment: Reuters did not tell anything on his hunger strike (https://www.reuters.com/article/us-saudi-prince-death/prince-talal-bin-abdulaziz-long-time-saudi-political-reformer-has-died-idUSKCN1OL0E8). Why?
cp8a Jamal Khashoggi
(A P)
Houthis to Demand Body of Slain Journalist Jamal Khashoggi as Part of Saudi Prisoner Exchange
A high-ranking Houthi official told MintPress that the group will demand Saudi Arabia return the body of murdered journalist Jamal Khashoggi to his family as part of a mass prisoner exchange with the Saudi-led coalition. The official added that the demand will be made if Khashoggi’s sons request that it be part of the exchange.
The president of Ansar Allah’s Supreme Revolutionary Committee, Mohammed Ali al-Houthi, said on Twitter, after the warring parties struck a breakthrough ceasefire agreement, that “if Khashoggi’s sons ask or if they want us to demand their father’s body then we will do it,” adding that the slain journalist was [like Yemen] also a victim of Saudi aggression.
(* B P)
Khashoggi's influence grows so immensely in death. His bloodshed is contributing towards new Peace Accord in Yemen.
In fact, pressure from the Congress had pushed Saudis to make concessions to bless Yemeni-Yemeni peace concord.
Editor-in-chief of the Time magazine exposed Khashoggi, as a "person whose influence grows so immensely in death". It is the first time, the Time attributes someone posthumously, after recognizing Khashoggi, as the "2018 Person of the Year".
Eventually, all the efforts by Trump to soothe aggravations by tolling an alarming bell for the U. S-Saudi strategic partnership has chopped down flat.
According to a recent YouGov poll, 89% of liberal Americans and 54% of conservatives oppose continued arms sales to the Saudi-UAE alliance.
Since the death of Khashoggi, the world has become conscious of the calamity befalling in Yemen.
Unfortunately, Jamal Khashoggi didn't succeed to alter his country through the ink of his pen. However, his bloodshed is perpetually changing the region. By now, his bloodbath has galvanized the mockery about the war. And as a result, international media and public opinion turned the tide.
We hope a further dream of Khashoggi will pursue to end the Gulf blockade against Qatar. And getting resolutions for the Saudi injudicious disputes with Lebanon and Canada will follow, as well.
Categorically, we have to ascribe another glory to the spirit of Khashoggi – by Hasson O. Horri
(B P)
The loyal "spooner" in the Saudi court is the perfect metaphor for Jamal Khashoggi. He was not so much a "dissident" as he was a propagandist for another faction of the royal family — a faction that lost power with MBS' rise. (thread)
https://twitter.com/BenjaminNorton/status/1076941927889756162
(* B P)
Reckless in Riyadh
Five Reads: The best Foreign Policy stories of 2018 on U.S.-Saudi relations and the murder of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi.
The crown prince, bearing the sporty initials “MbS,” had carefully cultivated a self-image of enlightened reformer with important American officials, not least U.S. President Donald Trump’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner. Khashoggi challenged that reputation, and MbS wanted him stopped. Evidence gathered by the Turkish government and U.S. intelligence officials later pointed unmistakably to the crown prince’s culpability in ordering his killing. What MbS didn’t count on was that, after the brutal and shocking murder of Khashoggi in the Saudi consulate in Istanbul on Oct. 2, he himself would become a global pariah, the U.S. Senate would rebel against the Saudi war in Yemen, and U.S.-Saudi relations would fall into a deep crisis.
https://foreignpolicy.com/2018/12/25/reckless-in-riyadh/
cp9 USA
Siehe / Look at cp1
(* B K P)
U.S. Arms Sales and the War on Yemen
The New York Times has published a very good report on the role of U.S.-made arms and U.S.-provided assistance in the war on Yemen. This section merits a few comments
If policymakers used to assume that U.S.-made weapons would not be used by the clients that bought them, they no longer have the luxury of hiding behind that excuse. The Saudis and Emiratis have been using the planes, weapons, and ships they have acquired from U.S. manufacturers to massacre and starve civilians for more than three and a half years. Given their conduct in the war on Yemen, there should be an indefinite moratorium on selling weapons to the Saudis and Emiratis or any other member of the Saudi coalition.
Bruce Riedel has said on more than one occasion that the U.S. could put an end to the Saudi coalition bombing campaign tomorrow if it wanted to do so.
https://www.theamericanconservative.com/larison/u-s-arms-sales-and-the-war-on-yemen/
(* B P)
House Democrats will debate curtailing 9/11 war powers in new Congress
For years, the White House's ability to wage war anywhere they like has gone unquestioned. That is about to change.
The 2001 AUMF, passed at the height of national terror after the Towers fell, kickstarted the global war on terror by conferring stunningly open-ended war powers on three successive presidents. The authorization granted the right to unilaterally direct military forces against anyone who "planned, authorized, committed or aided" the 9/11 attacks or "harbored such organizations or persons, in order to prevent any future acts of international terrorism against the United States by such nations, organizations or persons." In practice, that means the president can commit acts of war just about anywhere in the world, at any time, which is why CIA and military Predator drone strikes can launched anywhere.
Perhaps the most disturbing use of the AUMF to date has been the Pentagon sharing equipment and intelligence with Saudi Arabia in their horrific war with the Houthi rebels in Yemen
https://www.alternet.org/2018/12/house-democrats-will-debate-2001-aumf-war-powers/
(A P)
Film, Rep. Ro Kanna: Last Chance For Yemen
Our Yemen War Powers Resolution can’t wait until 2019. We must pass it now to save lives.
https://www.facebook.com/StopTheWarOnYemen/videos/316586925857883/?
(* B P)
Yemen and the War Powers Act
The House & Senate War Powers Resolutions were complicated as hell so most journalists and politicians are not able to explain half of it.
For the wonkiest of wonks here is some information about the two separate Resolutions invoking the War Power Act to end the U.S. support to the Saudi-lead war reported in the news.
Why Is the U.S. in a War with Yemen?
1) Control the trade routes of the Bab-el-Mandeb Strait and the port of Hodeihad in Yemen.
2) Sell weapons to Saudi with a couple hundred billion under Obama and Trump.
3) As a potential military strategy to a lead up to war with Iran.
4) Support our oil allied countries Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emiratis, and Kuwait.
5) Stop any none allied power running Yemen.
6) Politicians get money from military contractors, Saudi lobbyists to support war.
7) Have greater U.S. Military presence in the Middle East
Senate and House War Power Act Resolution Bills
Representatives Ro Khanna’s Yemen war powers legislation has repeatedly been blocked by the House leadership, and for this legislation to be enacted, we need to pass it in both houses of Congress. We have the votes in the House and Senate but we have to put pressure on the House Democratic Leadership to allow a vote on the floor in early January. One Senator can force a vote but in the House, leadership can stop these votes and have in the past.
It’s almost impossible to find Journalist or Congresspersons who would have known how hard it is to make anything like this happen to keep pressure on the President and Defense Department for a passage of a Bill to save thousands of lives a month in Yemen.
To those who worried the Resolution had “loopholes” because the 2001 Authorization for the Use of Military Force still allowed for the U.S. to go after Al Qaeda in Yemen here are a couple of points to consider:
It’s called a carve -out not a ‘loophole’ and carve-outs simply mean that when it comes to ending US military involvement in Yemen, the drone wars are simply not covered by this legislation. It doesn’t authorize any U.S. military activity in Yemen, it simply limits it – by Arn Menconi
https://www.counterpunch.org/2018/12/24/yemen-and-the-war-powers-act/ = https://original.antiwar.com/arn_menconi/2019/01/04/yemen-and-the-war-powers-act/
(* B P)
Chaos at home, fear abroad: Trump unleashed puts western world on edge
While a government shutdown and a key resignation grabbed headlines, diplomats were stunned by US actions over Yemen
Both men [Bolton; Pompeo] have increasingly focused their efforts on the one area where their instincts are in line with Trump’s: putting maximum pressure on Iran.
That focus has increased the importance administration puts on relations with Israel, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, which have egged Trump on against Iran, and downgraded alliances with European capitals, which have insisted on sticking by the 2015 nuclear agreement with Iran that Trump wants to destroy.
The new realities were brought home to British diplomats over the past week, when they were trying to get a United Nationssecurity council resolution passed that would uphold a ceasefire in the Yemeni port of Hodeidah, guarantee delivery of humanitarian supplies and threaten consequences for war crimes.
Having been promised support from Washington, the UK mission was stunned when the US began circulating a rival resolution, stripped of language about humanitarian supplies and war crimes, the Americans apparently acting on behalf of the Saudi-led coalition, which has fought any UN attempt to constrain its military operations.
“Utterly baffling behaviour from the US,” one diplomat said. “No one in the US-UN [mission] or state [department] able to give sensible advice to Pompeo who was obsessed with Iran and deleting all language which the Saudis and Emiratis disliked.”
(* B P)
Trump was right to pull out of Syria and Afghanistan. This is what he should do next.
President Trump is receiving an onslaught of criticism for his decision to withdraw troops from Syria and Afghanistan. Congressional Democrats should not pile on without offering an alternative vision. We should applaud the president’s desire to put an end to these interventions, but should challenge him to assemble a team that does so with better planning and diplomacy. We should articulate a foreign policy doctrine of responsible withdrawal that prioritizes restraint and human rights.
Most urgently, the president should apply his newfound commitment to anti-interventionism to Yemen’s devastating civil war. The United States should stop taking Saudi Arabia’s side in Yemen, especially in light of the brutal murder of Jamal Khashoggi – by Rep. Ro Khanna
Comment by Glen Greenwald: The genuinely anti-war & left-wing member of Congress, @RoKhanna, has been idiotically & hilariously attacked as a "Trump apologist" because he praised Trump's desired withdrawal of troops from Syria & Afghanistan.
https://twitter.com/ggreenwald/status/1076892931880087554
(* B P)
MAJOR LIBERAL GROUPS SAT ON SIDELINES AS SENATE PASSED HISTORIC RESOLUTION ON YEMEN WAR
Backers of the effort approached the Center for American Progress, Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, and the American Civil Liberties Union, and all declined to specifically endorse the resolution or become members of the activist coalition. And when a procedural vote on the resolution came to the House floor, it got the same kind of half-hearted support from Democratic leadership, falling just three votes short.
As the momentum built toward the Senate victory, the lack of support from established groups in Washington became increasingly conspicuous. In the wake of the successful vote, the politics of war and peace in Washington are being reoriented, opening the possibility for a generational change that could have implications far beyond the Trump administration, potentially restraining the militaristic impulses of a future Democratic administration.
The Senate’s passage of the resolution bestowed on it the kind of luster that allows liberal groups to support it without feeling as if they’re moving in too radical a direction. And, indeed, some insist that they’ve been strong supporters all along.
BEFORE THE SENATE vote, CAP, Amnesty International, and HRW put out statements condemning the war in Yemen and signaling broad backing of congressional action to end U.S military support in the country. There is no question that, to varying degrees, they’ve all been critical of Saudi Arabia. Yet none of them specifically endorsed the two parallel resolutions on the Yemen war making their way through Congress — when it came to using the War Powers Resolution as a vehicle to end the war, reluctance set in.
The issue is especially sensitive to the Center for American Progress, the most prominent Democratic think tank in Washington, because it has been criticized for accepting significant funding from the embassy of the UAE
Statements put out by Human Rights Watch, a leading humanitarian nongovernmental organization in D.C., also reflect a broad willingness to criticize Saudi Arabia — to condemn atrocities in the war in general terms, but to decline to specifically endorse the resolution that would end it.
Those statements obscure the whole truth: The resolution wouldn’t just bring “greater transparency and oversight” to the war, it would end the U.S. role in it — a notion whose radical nature has been difficult to absorb in Washington, even as it gathers steam in Congress.
When a coalition — led by the progressive group Win Without War and conservative FreedomWorks, and including 53 other groups like Demand Progress, Indivisible, and Our Revolution — sent a letter to senators ahead of the first Senate vote in March urging them to vote for the resolution, CAP, HRW, Amnesty International, and the ACLU did not sign on. – by Clio Chang and Ryan Grim
https://theintercept.com/2018/12/23/yemen-war-resolution-vote-senate/
(B P)
Sara Avery: Gardner should reconsider position on Yemen
I hope Sen. Cory Gardner will reverse course and oppose illegal U.S. war in Yemen.
U.S. taxpayer dollars should not be aiding and abetting Saudi-UAE atrocities
http://www.dailycamera.com/letters/ci_32347171/sara-avery-gardner-should-reconsider-position-yemen
(B P)
Film: Dem Voted For Destruction Of Yemen Right After Meeting Saudi Official
Rep. Dutch Ruppersberger (D-MD), one of five Democrats who joined the majority of House Republicans to block debate on the war in Yemen, had met with Saudi officials and foreign agents representing them on numerous occasions
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N-NHb-VnlwY
(B P)
John Kerry and America's (bad) reputation: podcast & transcript
Chris Hayes speaks with former Secretary of State John Kerry about why he refuses to be mad about Trump undoing years of his work.
Will America’s reputation survive President Trump? A common trend underlying President Trump’s policy decisions is to undo whatever President Obama accomplished. For former Secretary of State John Kerry, that means watching years of his hard-earned achievements in the international community come apart.
Hear Kerry explain what it’s like to watch President Trump on the world stage, why he refuses to let the current administration anger him, and what he believes threatens the basic fabric of American democracy.
Kerry: When President Obama was there, we worked very hard to try to focus effort on creating a policy vis-à-vis Yemen, creating a policy vis-à-vis neighbors, creating a policy vis-à-vis extremism, support for people in Syria, by the way, when we first came in.
My comment: A typical Obama guy’s worldview. It’s quite bizarre when thinking that they now are blaming Trump for his foreign politics – the Obamians were as imperialist, as hawkish as all presidencies before and after: Under Obama, the US started / enabled / supported wars in Syria, Libya, Yemen: Shut up, Kerry.
cp10 Großbritannien / Great Britain
(A H)
Cardiff woman and children escape war-torn Yemen
A mother from Cardiff who raised more than £7,000 to try and bring home her daughter from war-torn Yemen after she was abducted by her father over thirty years ago, says they have now left and arrived in Egypt.
https://www.itv.com/news/wales/2018-12-25/cardiff-woman-and-children-escape-war-torn-yemen/
(B K P)
In one Welsh mosque, the disaster in Yemen hits home hard
There have been Yemenis in Cardiff since 1860. For this community, the UK’s role in the conflict is personal
When coal from south Wales powered the world’s engine rooms, thousands of Yemeni sailors and dockhands found work in Cardiff. Today, around 500 people, mostly of Yemeni descent, come to Alice Street to pray on Fridays.
Almost everyone in this community has relatives stuck in Yemen.
Saudi bomber pilots are trained at RAF Valley in Anglesey, north Wales.
“Imagine: they come to Wales, to our home, to learn how to kill us,” said Daoud Ali Salaman
https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2018/dec/23/wales-cardiff-mosque-yemen-disaster-hits-home
cp11 Deutschland / Germany
(B H)
Hilfe aus Ahaus sichert Saleh (13) das Überleben im Jemen
Saleh aus dem Jemen wurde 2010 und 2012 im St.-Marien-Krankenhaus behandelt. Der Junge besuchte damals die Kita Villa Kunterbunt und die Andreasschule. Die Hilfe aus Ahaus hält bis heute an (nur im Abo)
(B H P)
STORYFINDING IM VERGESSENEN JEMEN
Humanitäre Krisen im Schatten der Berichterstattung
Fachveranstaltung von Aktion Deutschland Hilft für Journalist*innen – Anmeldung erforderlich!
How does humanitarian aid work? How is journalism different when reporting from a civil war country? And what are the challenges for journalists working in Crisis-stricken areas? The seminar held by Aktion Deutschland Hilft will give German journalists a background on the humanitarian catastrophe in Yemen and convey a realistic picture of humanitarian aid, relief measures and needs.
Wie funktioniert humanitäre Hilfe? Wie können Journalisten über die vergessene Krise im Bürgerkriegsland Jemen berichten? Und welche Herausforderungen erwarten Journalisten bei ihrer Arbeit in Krisengebieten?
Aktion Deutschland Hilft will mit Hilfe des geplanten Seminars deutsche Journalisten und Journalistinnen über Hintergründe der humanitären Katastrophe im Jemen aufklären, ein realistisches Bild von humanitärer Hilfe, Hilfsmaßnahmen und Bedürfnissen vermitteln.
Die Teilnehmerzahl ist begrenzt!
Wir bitten um Anmeldung bitte bis zum 16. Januar 2019 per E-Mail an
presse@aktion-deutschland-hilft.de
https://bellevuedimonaco.de/veranstaltung/storyfinding-im-vergessenen-jemen/
(B K P)
Jemens Kinder hungern, deutsche Waffenkonzerne boomen
Der Hunger in Jemen ist keine Naturkatastrophe, sondern menschengemacht und Teil einer barbarischen Kriegsführung.
Die Bundesregierung hat in diesem Jahr bereits Waffenlieferungen an Saudi-Arabien im Umfang von 416 Millionen Euro genehmigt.
Der kürzlich erst verfügte Waffenexportstopp ist löchrig wie ein Käse. Jemens Kinder leben in der Hölle auf Erden – auch deshalb, weil die Bundesregierung und ihre NATO-Verbündeten mit ihrer anhaltenden Unterstützung für Saudi-Arabien das Land dazu gemacht haben.
Seit Donnerstag laufen in Stockholm Friedensgespräche über eine Friedenslösung für Jemen. Bundesaußenminister Heiko Maas spricht von einem “ersten Lichtblick”. Wenn er es ernst meint mit der Unterstützung für eine politische Lösung, dann muss er dafür sorgen, dass die Schlupflöcher für die Waffenlieferungen deutscher Rüstungskonzerne an Saudi-Arabien umgehend geschlossen werden. Dafür reicht eine einfache Exekutive Ergänzung in Paragraph 49 der Außenwirtschaftsverordnung, die noch vor Weihnachten umgesetzt werden kann – den notwendigen politischen Willen vorausgesetzt." – von Sevim Dagdelen (Bundestagsabgeordnete Die Linke)
https://www.theeuropean.de/sevim-dagdelen/15197-der-hunger-im-jemen-ist-menschengemacht
cp12 Andere Länder / Other countries
Siehe / Look at cp1
(A P)
Zurück im Goldkäfig
Prinzessin Latifa, Tochter des Emirs von Dubai, versuchte im Frühjahr, der strengen Aufsicht durch ihre Familie zu entkommen, doch ihr Fluchtversuch scheiterte.
Danach gab es monatelang kein Lebenszeichen von der 33-Jährigen.
Nun verbreitete der Palast Fotos, die beweisen sollen, dass Latifa nach wie vor bei ihrer Familie in Dubai lebt.
https://www.sueddeutsche.de/politik/dubai-latifa-vereinigte-arabische-emirate-1.4265982
(A P)
'Missing' Dubai princess Latifa pictured alive
Until the release of these images, the 33-year-old royal had not been seen in public for more than nine months.
Photographs showing "missing" Dubai princess Latifa posing with the former UN high commissioner for human rights have been released.
In a statement, the UAE ministry of foreign affairs and international co-operation said in an effort to rebut "false allegations" they have "provided evidence that Her Highness Sheikha Latifa was at home and living with her family in Dubai".
Princess Latifa is the daughter of Dubai's ruler Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum.
In March she fled the UAE and a video was circulated online in which she made allegations of abuse at the hands of her father.
Until the release of these images, the 33-year-old royal had not been seen in public for more than nine months.
https://news.sky.com/story/missing-dubai-princess-pictured-alive-11590923
Comment: I said this b4 how horrible is ex UN rights commissioner Mary Robinson is. She told me in 2001 how much she loved “His royal highness Saud AlFaiasal” when i asked her to investigate Saudi women rights abuses. Now she is covering up abuse of Latifa
https://twitter.com/AliAlAhmed_en/status/1077563698326261760
and
(A P)
Press statement from Guernica Chambers regarding the the photos of Sheikha Latifa on 24/12/18
The recent photographs of Princess Sheikha Latifa released by Sky News on 24 December 2018 are, if verified, a welcome development. However, a number of serious questions still remain as to Sheikha
Latifa’s whereabouts, her overall well-being and whether she remains detained all appear to be at issue and unanswered by the official statement of the United Arab Emirates.
The question remains as to why the United Arab Emirates waited nine months before responding and
until now failed to engage with the United Nations investigating Sheikha Latifa’s disappearance.
(* B P)
Russia and the Middle East: Diplomacy and Security. Russia and South Yemen
The Southern Transitional Council (STC)’s discontent with a peace process that has largely ignored south Yemeni interests was underscored by south Yemeni separatist demonstrations in Sweden that called for the creation of an independent state in southern Yemen, called South Arabia. These protests resonated strongly in Russia. Senior Kremlin policymakers, like Russian Ambassador to Yemen Vladimir Dedushkin and Russian representative to the UN, Vasily Nebenzia, have emphasized the importance of addressing the south Yemeni cause, while other great powers have neglected the region’s unique concerns.
Russia’s interest in southern Yemen is long-standing, as the Soviet Union viewed the Marxist-Leninist state of South Yemen as its strongest ally in the Middle East from 1967 to 1990.
The strong relationship between Russia and southern Yemen is demonstrated by Moscow’s extensive commitment to promoting cross-factional dialogue in southern Yemen.
In spite of these successes, the south Yemeni struggle for independence continues to fuel apprehension in Russia. In particular, some Russian analysts believe that the establishment of an autonomous or independent south Yemeni state would lead to political infighting that could destabilize the Red Sea region and impede Yemen’s reconstruction. Tensions between pro-Hadi factions and hardline south Yemeni separatists have been cited by opponents of south Yemeni autonomy as proof of the unviability of a south Yemeni state.
Some Russian analysts are also concerned about the feasibility of a south Yemeni state, if it were to emerge as a result of a peace settlement. The STC’s dependence on the United Arab Emirates (UAE) for financial and military support has fueled concerns that the UAE will use southern Yemen as a proxy or protectorate to enhance its power projection ambitions in the Horn of Africa. This outcome is undesirable for Russian policymakers – by Samuel Ramani
http://russiancouncil.ru/en/blogs/samuel-ramani-en/russia-and-south-yemen/
(A P)
Turkey Demand the Islamic cooperation Organization to hold an emergency session about Yemen
Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu said in a press conference that "we asked for an Islamic cooperation organization meeting on Yemen on 10 January in Istanbul.
http://almasdaronline.com/articles/162505
(B P)
Tehran to Keep Up Support for Yemeni People
Iran’s diplomatic apparatus is working to ensure the continued implementation of measures in support of the people of Yemen so that they can achieve the peace they desire, a top official said.
“Iran has always welcomed intra-Yemeni negotiations for positive achievements toward peace, stability and security in this county and will continue to do so,” Kamal Kharrazi, the head of Strategic Council on Foreign relations, said in a Monday talk with Mehr News Agency.
https://financialtribune.com/articles/national/95783/tehran-to-keep-up-support-for-yemeni-people
(* B K P)
Saudis owe Canada $1.8B payment in controversial arms deal
Saudi Arabia still owes Canada $1.84 billion for a shipment of light-armoured vehicles, adding a new layer of uncertainty to the already controversial deal.
An undisclosed number of light-armored vehicles assembled at the General Dynamics plant in London, Ont. were delivered to Saudi Arabia, but the kingdom is taking months to pay up.
The delayed payment is detailed in documents from the Crown agency managing the deal, which show the payment outstanding as of Sept. 30.
The massive $15-billion arms deal has been under intense scrutiny. Critics have called for the federal government to abandon the deal, citing Saudi Arabia’s role in the brutal war in Yemen and the killing of Washington Post journalist Jamal Khashoggi.
https://www.ctvnews.ca/politics/saudis-owe-canada-1-8b-payment-in-controversial-arms-deal-1.4227083
cp13a Waffenhandel / Arms sales
Siehe / Look at cp1
cp13b Kulturerbe / Cultural heritage
(* B K)
Yemen’s Threatened Cultural Heritage
The heartbreakingly destructive civil war in Yemen has put some of the world’s most treasured Islamic manuscripts in peril.
Since 2015, the civil war in Yemen has caused untold human suffering: tens of thousands killed, millions displaced, widespread famine, and a deadly cholera epidemic. In an extraordinary step, the Senate on Dec. 13 voted to limit U.S. support for the brutal Saudi-led campaign to oust the Houthi rebels. As the debate continues, it’s important...
Christian C. Sahner, Associate Professor of Islamic History at the University of Oxford, writes in the Wall Street Journal of the civil war in Yemen and the Islamic manuscripts that are in peril:
“Scholars do not have a precise grasp of what has been lost since 2015, though the destruction has certainly been extensive. It has been driven as much by sectarian hatred as by the vicissitudes of war, as it seems that some of the destruction has occurred at the hands of Salafi militants who regard the Zaydis and their books as heretical.
Amid this, there is a small glimmer of hope for Yemen in the form of a new project called the Zaydi Manuscript Tradition: A Digital Portal. Led by Prof. Sabine Schmidtke of the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, N.J., the portal aims to preserve, study, and make available online the rich patrimony of Zaydi texts. Thus, while war ravages the country, a digital salvage operation of Yemen’s patrimony is well under way. It has the power to play an important role in rebuilding the country’s cultural heritage after the war ends—and, thus, contribute to rebuilding its identity.” (subscribers only)
https://www.wsj.com/articles/yemens-threatened-cultural-heritage-11545739200
https://www.ias.edu/in-the-media/yemens-threatened-cultural-heritage
learn more about the Zaydi Manuscript Tradition project at IAS: https://www.ias.edu/digital-scholarship/zaydi_manuscript_tradition
cp15 Propaganda
(* A P)
JIAT Spokesman Holds Press Conference
The official spokesman of the Joint Incident Assessment Team (JIAT) in Yemen Legal Counsellor Mansour Al-Mansour held here today a press conference disclosing results reached by JIAT regarding five allegations reported by international organizations or international media means usually circulated through international news outlets, affirming the safety of all procedures followed by the Coalition Forces.
Regarding the allegation that Coalition Forces has targeted (Fish Wealth Headquarters) in Port (Khobah), (Hodeida) Governorate, Al-Mansour said that, reagrding case No. 112, different media outlets had circulated that the Coalition Air Force on (Monday, January 8th, 2018) at (2030) conducted four consecutive airstrikes against the (Fish Wealth Headquarters) and a (fishing gear warehouse) in Port (Khobah), (Al Luhayyah) Directorate, (Hodeida) Governorate West of (Yemen), which caused the death of five people and injury of another five.
He added that the Joint Incidents Assessment Team has vetted the possibility of the incident, and following verification of all related documents
Video recordings have indicated that the area of the target was civilian and civilian-vehicle free at the time of the operation, and that a hanger adjacent to the target had sustained partial damage, due to a secondary explosion as a result of the targeting.
https://www.spa.gov.sa/viewfullstory.php?lang=en&newsid=1857116
The building was "Civilian-free"? What a blatant lie!
My comment: The only function of this JIAT is whitewashing the Saudi coalition. This is the raid in question: http://www.sabanews.net/en/news484216.htm
Photos: https://twitter.com/narrabyee/status/950751038692380672 and https://www.facebook.com/SaudiArabia.war.crimes.against.Yemen/posts/1764809817148338
Names of 3 victims: http://www.newnewss.net/new-saudi-airstrike-five-civilians-yemens-alhodeida/ (16, 17 and 85 years old)
Film: https://www.facebook.com/Hona.Almasirah/videos/1770198873011169/ = https://twitter.com/Hona_Almasirah/status/951201936967196675
And more cases here:
(* A P)
The Joint Incident Assessment Team (JIAT) of the Arab Coalition to Restore Legitimacy to Yemen affirmed today the conformity of their military operations with the principles of the Customary International Humanitarian Law.
The spokesman for JIAT, Legal Counsellor Mansour Al-Mansour, held a press conference here today, where he refuted five allegations reported by international organisations and international media organs, and affirmed the safety of all procedures followed by the Coalition Forces, according to the Saudi Press Agency.
Regarding the case No. 113, Al-Mansour said that the Amnesty International report issued August 18th, 2015 stated that: On 14 April 2015 at approximately 12.30 am, a coalition airstrike killed ten civilians, including seven children and two women, and injured 14 others in Al-Akma village. The airstrike struck a residential area of the village where members of the marginalised community live in dwellings made of corrugated iron and cardboard. Al-Akma Village, 20km north-east of the city of Ta’iz, falls between two Huthi/Saleh loyalist-controlled military installations, both belonging to 22 May Brigade, around 500m to one kilometer from the east and west of the village."
He added that the Joint Incidents Assessment Team has vetted the possibility of the incident, and following verification of all related documents
JIAT found that the Coalition Air Force conducted a single aerial mission in Ta’iz Governorate, and that the target of said mission was twelve kilometers away from Al-Akma village. Following review of satellite imagery post allegation date, Al-Akma village had not sustained airstrike damage.
On the light of that, JIAT finds that the Coalition Air Force did not target a residential area in Al-Akma village, Ibb Governorate.
Regarding case No. 115, the JIAT official spokesman said that an e-mail by the Coordinator of the Panel of Experts on Yemen stated that a Coalition airstrike struck a house on May 9th, 2018 in Dahyan area, Majz Directorate, Saadah Governorate, which caused the killing of one woman and three children.
He added that the Joint Incidents Assessment Team has vetted the possibility of the incident, and following verification of all related documents.
JIAT found that the Coalition Forces had received intelligence indicating a building being used as command operations center and supply point for border fronts of the armed Houthi militia with weapons, ammunition and heat-seeking missiles in Alab – Al Rabow’ah 37 kilometers away from Saudi Arabian International Border. Deeming it a legitimate military target, whose destruction offers a definite military advantage.
Accordingly, the Coalition Air Force on Wednesday May 9th, 2018, carried out a single targeting operation in Dahyan, Majz Directorate, Saadah Governorate, against the building using a single bomb that hit the target precisely. Following review of satellite imagery and video recordings, the surrounding buildings did not sustain any damage, and that Coalition Forces took all feasible precautions from type of munition used to the angle of the strike and vacancy of surrounding area of civilians and civilian vehicles, as well as making sure that the building was civilian-free at the time of the operation in accordance with the Customary International Humanitarian Law.
On the light of that; he disclosed that JIAT confirms the procedures of the Coalition Forces in targeting the building in question), and that they were carried out in accordance with the Customary International Humanitarian Law.
With regard to a case No. 116, he said that the "Annual Report of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights" regarding Yemen, presented to the Human Rights Council on September 7th, 2015 stated: "OHCHR gathered information indicating that, on 7 June 2015, coalition forces conducted air strikes against an area hosting a high concentration of internally displaced persons in Duaij village, Hajjah Governorate, allegedly killing four civilians, including three women, and injuring 41 civilians, including12 women and 16 children.
After review and analysis of satellite imagery of the area of the location, JIAT found no airstrike damage
http://wam.ae/en/details/1395302729110
and also https://www.thenational.ae/world/mena/joint-assessment-team-defends-arab-coalition-in-yemen-1.806539
My comment: Whitewashing in all cases. Here some evidence:
Case 113:
AI reports: https://amnesty.no/sites/default/files/187/nowhere_safe_for_civilians_-_taiz_aden_report_final.pdf
https://amnesty.no/sites/default/files/187/nowhere_safe_for_civilians_-_taiz_aden_report_final.pdf
and this are records of a village of marginalized people hit on April, 11, in the surroundings of Taiz: Should this be the same raid??)
film: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y6GYXyB-TRs (استشهاد 9 مواطنين باستهداف العدوان السعودي تجمعاً للمهمشين في الجند)
photos: http://poorworld.net/Yemen/YemenImages11.htm
Case 115:
The "building was civilian-free at the time of the operation"?? What a blatant lie!!
"the surrounding buildings did not sustain any damage"?? What a blatant lie!!
Report: http://www.sabanews.net/en/news495727.htm
Photos: https://twitter.com/AhmadAlgohbary/status/995064670561144832
https://twitter.com/AhmadAlgohbary/status/994326478560153600
https://www.facebook.com/SaudiArabia.war.crimes.against.Yemen/posts/1810831282546191
[This is how “civilian-free” looks like?????]
(* A P)
Yemen intervention advances UAE goals on two fronts
Military support pushes back against Iran's regional meddling and secures vital trade route
The UAE’s intervention in the Yemeni civil war is part of a larger grand strategy and the continuation of a foreign policy aimed at securing trade networks and scaling back Iranian influence in the Arabian Peninsula.
Yemen provides the clearest manifestation of the two guiding principles of UAE foreign policy: battling extremism, in the form of Al Qaeda, and cutting off Iran’s access to the Arab world.
The UAE has been embroiled in a four-year conflict in the Arab world’s poorest country. Along with Saudi Arabia and other allies, it intervened on behalf of the Yemeni government to fight the Iranian-backed movement known as the Houthis.
Seizing control of the Yemeni capital Sanaa in 2014, the minority Shiite group’s grip over the country represented a threat of regime change at a time when Abu Dhabi was coping with the rise of political Islam as a fallout of the Arab uprisings in 2011.
The Houthi-led coup, coupled with Yemen’s geographically strategic importance for the UAE, has led it to extend the realm of its own security beyond the borders of the seven emirates.
Ensuring the stability of Yemen would protect the UAE’s interests in the Horn of Africa and maintain a strong Saudi Arabia capable of countering Iran’s increasing influence in the region.
In the meantime, the UAE is sending aid to Yemen to try to help alleviate the suffering of 14 million people on the brink of famine, which the UN calls the worst humanitarian disaster in the world.
https://www.thenational.ae/world/gcc/yemen-intervention-advances-uae-goals-on-two-fronts-1.806615
My comment: The UAEs propaganda story justifying it’a ggressive and interfering foreign policy.
(A P)
Al Jaber: Saudi interference saved Yemen from being a militia failed state
The Saudi Ambassador to Yemen Mohamed Al Jaber said that the Saudi response to the request of the Yemeni Government for a military intervention, save it from becoming a failed State divided between Iran militias and other terrorist groups like Al-Qaida and «ISIS».
Ambassador Al Jaber talked in his article in Wall Street newspaper published Sunday, about the role of Saudi Arabia in the successful Stockholm consultations.
«the agreements reached in Sweden are encouraging, but words and promises are not enough since the Houthi guerrillas had violated previous truce ceasefire repeatedly, ignoring promises made by its representatives in the negotiations.
He stated that his Government's assistance to Yemen in economic and diplomatic and military tracks actively participated in renewed hope for peace.
He continues saying, Saudi Arabia has spent billions of dollars on relief and reconstruction projects Yemen, making it one of the most countries benefiting from the Saudi humanitarian projects.
http://almasdaronline.com/articles/162503
My comment: “Saudi interference saved Yemen from being a militia failed state”: This really is putting upside down. LOL.
(A P)
The Saudis Want Peace in Yemen
Talks in Stockholm have produced a promising agreement. Will the Houthis live up to it?
The Iran-backed Houthi militia in Yemen made critical compromises in peace talks this month, agreeing to retreat from the key city of Hodeidah and release a stranglehold that has blocked aid from reaching millions. Now the hard part: ensuring the Houthis live by their commitments.
I found renewed hope in the scenes of amity between representatives of Yemen’s legitimate government and the Houthis. The two sides, locked in conflict since the Houthis’ violent coup in 2014, sat down for eight days of negotiation at a castle near – By Mohammed Al-Jaber (subscribers only)
https://www.wsj.com/articles/the-saudis-want-peace-in-yemen-11545598864
cp16 Saudische Luftangriffe / Saudi air raids
Siehe / Look at cp15
(* A K pH)
Saudi coalition air raids day by day
Dec. 24: https://www.facebook.com/lcrdye/photos/pb.551288185021551.-2207520000.1545745324./1206714866145543/
Dec. 23: https://www.facebook.com/lcrdye/photos/pb.551288185021551.-2207520000.1545710685./1205909192892777/
Dec. 22: https://www.facebook.com/lcrdye/photos/pb.551288185021551.-2207520000.1545624839./1205255139624849/
(A K pH)
Today’s US-Saudi Crime in Yemen, Two Displaced Civilians Killed, Four others Wounded by an Airstrike, in Hajjah
Two displaced people were killed and three women were injured on Wednesday, as a primary result, of two US-Saudi airstrikes targeting displaced people in Hajjah province.
Our correspondent conformed that two are killed and 3 wounded after two raids targeting a displaced family in the village of Al Sudi district of Al-Hijja Directorate of Mstabha.
The reporter pointed out that the search is still ongoing for survivors following the raids targeted this displaced family.
https://english.almasirah.net/details.php?es_id=4546&cat_id=1
photos, names of victims: https://www.facebook.com/SaudiArabia.war.crimes.against.Yemen/posts/1952354975060487
https://www.facebook.com/SaudiArabia.war.crimes.against.Yemen/posts/1952358701726781
https://twitter.com/narrabyee/status/1077988414883053568
film: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ocn2hVpmZ5M
and
2 sons killed 2 daughters seriously injured. Wife injured Husband injured Hazaz Ali was asleep here at dawn today, with his wife & children,his animals. US-Saudi airstrike hit them while sleeping in this tent!
https://twitter.com/narrabyee/status/1077988414883053568
and
2 killed, 3 injured in Saudi-led airstrike on NW Yemen
Two men were killed and three women were wounded when a Saudi-led coalition airstrike hit a displaced family in Yemen's northwestern province of Hajjah on Wednesday, a local council official told Xinhua.
It targeted a slum house, which the victim family has rented for more than two years after they escaped ground battles in the far northern district of Harad bordering Saudi Arabia, Abdullah Shuayb, a member of the tribal and local council in Mastaba district, told Xinhua by phone.
The airstrike took place in early morning in al-Sudy village in the northern edge of Mastaba district.
http://www.xinhuanet.com/english/2018-12/27/c_137700825.htm
(A K pH)
More Saudi coalition air raids recorded on:
Dec. 25: http://www.sabanews.net/en/news520259.htm Saada p.
https://english.almasirah.net/details.php?es_id=4545&cat_id=1 Jawf p.
Dec. 24: http://www.sabanews.net/en/news520153.htm and http://www.sabanews.net/en/news520222.htm Jawf p.
http://www.sabanews.net/en/news520223.htm Saada p.
http://www.sabanews.net/en/news520139.htm Hajjah p.
Dec. 23: http://www.sabanews.net/en/news519970.htm Sanaa p.
http://www.sabanews.net/en/news520026.htm Saada p.
cp17 Kriegsereignisse / Theater of War
Siehe / Look at cp1b
(A K pS)
Yemeni army opens new front in Houthi stronghold of Saada
The Yemeni army, with support from the Arab Coalition, launched a new military operation on Tuesday to free sites located between the two Houthi fronts Northwest of Saada, the stronghold of the president of the Houthi militia coup, according to Saudi-owned Al-Arabiya News Channel.
http://www.arabnews.com/node/1426051
(A K pH)
2 Children injured in saudi-led mercenaries' shelling in Bayda
Two children were injured on Tuesday in shelling of the US-backed Saudi-led coalition’s mercenaries on Bayda province, a security official said.
The bombardment hit al-Dhahra area in al-Qarishia district
http://www.sabanews.net/en/news520341.htm
(A K pS)
Yemeni army finds Houthi arms depot in Kattaf district
According to Saudi news agency SPA, Yemeni National Army Forces found an arms depot belonging to the Iran-backed Houthi militia in the Kattaf district, northeast of Yemen's Saada province.
http://www.arabnews.com/node/1425516/middle-east
(A K pS)
Houthi shelling kills two civilians in Damt -Al-Dale
Local sources said that two civilians were killed Monday evening by Houthi militants artillery fire on residential neighborhoods in Damt the northern governorate of Dale.
The source said that a Shell fired from Houthis positions fell on a house in “ Beit Al Yazidi”, killing Mansour Kaid Al Yazidi and Ezz Aldeen Mothanna.
He noted that shelling resulted in casualties.
http://almasdaronline.com/articles/162508
https://twitter.com/BelqeesRights/status/1077353511782895616
(A K pH)
Army downs saudi-led drone in Saada
http://www.sabanews.net/en/news519946.htm
http://www.irna.ir/en/News/83144417
films: https://www.facebook.com/LivingInYemenOnTheEdge/videos/2170563426530651/ = https://twitter.com/HussainBukhaiti/status/1076934625098977281
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9In4YranPgs
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_YDhwCYARhg
photos: https://twitter.com/narrabyee/status/1076836250592706562
https://twitter.com/narrabyee/status/1076737365496991744
https://twitter.com/narrabyee/status/1076714772714962944
(A K pH)
More Saudi coalition artillery shelling recorded on:
Dec. 25: http://www.sabanews.net/en/news520342.htm Saada p.
Dec. 24: http://www.sabanews.net/en/news520223.htm Saada p.
cp18 Sonstiges / Other
(A P)
Yemeni activist wants Jews to return after Houthi conflict ends
Limmud first-timer Bara'a Shaiban helped to draft new constitution for war-torn country that will allow Jews and other minorities to run for parliament
My comment: Baraa Shiban is well known as a straight anti-Houthi propagandist.
(A)
New Yemeni airline launches regular flights to Jordan
Newly formed Yemeni airline Queen Bilqis Airways launched regular commercial flights on Saturday from the southern government-held port city of Aden to the Jordanian capital Amman, airport officials said.
https://www.firstpost.com/world/new-yemeni-airline-launches-regular-flights-to-jordan-5777571.html
Vorige / Previous:
https://www.freitag.de/autoren/dklose/jemenkrieg-mosaik-494-yemen-war-mosaic-494
Jemenkrieg-Mosaik 1-494 / Yemen War Mosaic 1-494:
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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