Jemenkrieg-Mosaik 615 - Yemen War Mosaic 615

Yemen Press Reader 615: 14. Jan. 2020: Stille Erfolge von Jemens lokalen Vermittlern – Waffen aus Europa in vielen Kriegen der Welt – Chomsky: Die USA, ein Schurkenstaat und keine Ordnungsmacht

Bei diesem Beitrag handelt es sich um ein Blog aus der Freitag-Community.
Ihre Freitag-Redaktion

Eingebetteter Medieninhalt

... Spannungen am Golf: Iran gesteht Flugzeugabschuss ein, Hintergründe zum Soleimani-Attentat – und mehr

Jan. 14, 2020: The quiet successes of Yemen’s local mediators – European arms in many wars worldwide – Noam Chomsky: The US is a rogue state, and not a regulatory power – Tensions at the Gulf: Iran admits it downed jetliner, backgrounds of Soleimani assault – and more

Schwerpunkte / Key aspects

Klassifizierung / Classification

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

cp1 Am wichtigsten / Most important

cp1a Am wichtigsten: Seuchen / Most important: Epidemics

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

cp2 Allgemein / General

cp2a Allgemein: Saudische Blockade / General: Saudi blockade

cp3 Humanitäre Lage / Humanitarian situation

cp4 Flüchtlinge / Refugees

cp5 Nordjemen und Huthis / Northern Yemen and Houthis

cp6 Separatisten und Hadi-Regierung im Südjemen / Separatists and Hadi government in Southern Yemen

cp7 UNO und Friedensgespräche / UN and peace talks

cp8 Saudi-Arabien / Saudi Arabia

cp9 USA

cp9a1 USA-Iran Krise: Wachsende Spannungen am Golf: deutsch / US-Iran crisis: Mounting tensions at the Gulf: German

cp9a2 USA-Iran Krise: Wachsende Spannungen am Golf: german / US-Iran crisis: Mounting tensions at the Gulf: English

cp12 Andere Länder / Other countries

cp13a Waffenhandel / Arms Trade

cp13b Kulturerbe / Cultural heritage

cp13c Wirtschaft / Economy

cp15 Propaganda

cp16 Saudische Luftangriffe / Saudi air raids

cp17 Kriegsereignisse / Theater of War

cp18 Sonstiges / Other

Klassifizierung / Classification

***

**

*

(Kein Stern / No star)

? = Keine Einschatzung / No rating

A = Aktuell / Current news

B = Hintergrund / Background

C = Chronik / Chronicle

D = Details

E = Wirtschaft / Economy

H = Humanitäre Fragen / Humanitarian questions

K = Krieg / War

P = Politik / Politics

pH = Pro-Houthi

pS = Pro-Saudi

T = Terrorismus / Terrorism

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

Ältere einführende Artikel u. Überblicke für alle, die mit den Ereignissen im Jemen noch nicht vertraut sind, hier:

Yemen War: Older 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 P)

Es gibt so gut wie keinen unabhängigen Journalismus mehr. Die Welt ist weitgehend polarisiert, das bedeutet die weitgehende Verabschiedung von der Vernunft. Ich betrachte inzwischen RT als eine unverzichtbare Informationsquelle, nicht weil RT objektiv, unparteiisch wäre, sondern weil ohne es eine erbärmliche Schieflage entstünde. Den Eifer mancher, Russland als Manipulator, als dunkles Reich der Lüge darzustellen, finde ich lächerlich angesichts des Ausmaßes, in dem der Westen manipuliert und lügt. Es sind unsere Lügen, die mich auf die Palme bringen, denn ich lebe in unserer Gesellschaft. Ich würde mindestens erwarten, daß man die extrem polarisierten Sichtweisen gegeneinanderstellt und analytisch befragt. Es kann durchaus sein, daß die von RT verbreiteten Informationen fake sind, daß sie aber unanalysiert als solche betrachtet werden, verrät den ideologischen Standpunkt der Kritiker.

Wer nicht als (kalter) Krieger unterwegs ist, muß das Skandalon einer affirmativen Presse, die jegliche Skrupel verloren hat, thematisieren und die Öffentlichkeit dagegen mobilisieren.

https://www.freitag.de/autoren/der-freitag/das-letzte-bollwerk#1578568648327606

(* B K P)

Film: Jemenkonflikt - Jemenkrieg - Krieg im Jemen - Huthi-Konflikt - einfach erklärt

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

Mein Kommentar: Kurze Erklärung in 4 ½ Minuten. Doch teilweise sehr vereinfachend. Die Jemeniten im Norden sind keine „Shiiten“, sondern Zaiditen. Auch nicht unerwähnt bleiben sollte, dass Präsident Hadis Amtszeit schon im Feb. 2015 abgelaufen war.

cp1 Am wichtigsten / Most important

(** B P)

Taiz prisoner deal shines light on the quiet successes of Yemen’s local mediators

UN has been criticized for taking over the prisoner exchange file and ultimately sidelining the Yemeni-led process.

In total, 135 prisoners and detainees were freed that day in one of the largest exchanges to take place during the war in Yemen.

Abdullah Shaddad, a member of the mediation committee and one of the most distinguished independent mediators on the ground, spoke to Almasdar Online about the groundbreaking deal and the momentum he hopes it can build for more exchanges in the future.

A year in the making

The deal to release the 135 prisoners and detainees took over a year of intense and continuous mediation between the warring parties, explained Abdullah, who is a lawyer and legal advisor by profession. During the course of building trust with and between the parties in the lead up to the exchange, he added, dozens more detained non-combatants were released on an individual basis.

Mediators and activists in Yemen normally use the phrase “prisoners and detainees,” with “prisoner” generally referring to a prisoner of war or PoW – someone directly engaged in armed hostilities – and “detainee” encompassing a wide range of non-combatants like journalists and lawyers believed to have been arrested for politically motivated reasons.

“The exchange deal was carried out following agreement on the number and names, and after we presented guarantees for the implementation,” Abdullah said, explaining that the guarantees included solving issues involving certain prisoners and detainees, like crimes and personal disputes that occurred with other individuals not involved in the war. Though Abdullah could not share all the details for fear of disrupting ongoing and future negotiations, he spoke about several of the obstacles that he and the other mediators faced in implementing the deal.

These included difficulties pertaining to the list of names given by the warring parties, as the mediators could not identify or find sufficient details about some of the individuals. In other cases, they encountered difficulty recording the location where individuals were captured or arrested, which is a detail that can be used to exert pressure by either party.

Another obstacle was the classification by the warring parties of the prisoners in terms of their importance. That is, it was a long process involving complex calculations by both parties, knowing they need to release certain “higher value” individuals in exchange for their own high-value members or affiliates being held by their opponent, but at the same time wanting to retain such individuals in order to maintain leverage in future negotiations.

These difficulties came on top of the considerable lack of trust between the warring parties, who regularly leveled accusations against the other that they were the cause of obstructions and delays, Abdullah explained.

At the same time, he said, the help of friends and relatives of the prisoners and detainees was important, as the public pressure exerted on officials of the prisoner and detainee file to make concessions and accept their guarantees as mediators pushed the process forward.

“We have seen great cooperation from both parties in seeking to solve these problems, and we hope that these problems will be ended so that we can implement another exchange deal at the earliest time,” Abdullah said optimistically.

There have been a number of larger prisoner exchange efforts that gained considerable momentum but ultimately fell through.

A humanitarian imperative

In his several years of experience mediating the exchange of hundreds of prisoners and corpses, and seeking the release of thousands more, Abdullah has seen the devastation caused not only to families but communities as a whole.

“When we talk about the file of prisoners and detainees, we are not talking about tens or hundreds of people, but rather talking about thousands and sometimes tens of thousands,” he said. “Every detainee and prisoner has a family and a community that surrounds him, and the impact on this group as a whole has a significant and important effect on the framework of society,” Abdullah explained, adding “the international community should pay attention to the file of the prisoners and detainees.”

In his view, the success of prisoner exchanges like the one in Taiz can have a positive impact on wider peace and reconciliation processes. “We seek to achieve social peace, national reconciliation, and rebuilding trust between the warring parties for mutual understanding and dialogue, starting with humanitarian files – prisoners, detainees, and opening humanitarian roads,” he said.

The efforts by the UN and Special Envoy Griffiths, according to Abdullah, have not been felt by the prisoners and detainees, “except for a small percentage of some detainees.” However, he said, the Griffiths’ office does not have to be at the forefront of the prisoner and detainee file to make a difference.

Instead, the special envoy can contribute by offering logistical support for negotiations and discussions in order for local mediators to be able to implement agreements in a shorter time frame, he said. Currently, the efforts by local mediators are hampered by their limited technical tools and lack of funds, which makes the documentation process slow and inefficient and limits their options for travel, which they do at great personal risk.

https://al-masdaronline.net/national/248

(** B K P)

Europäische Waffen mischen in vielen Konflikten der Welt mit

Das Recherche-Netzwerk «Bellingcat» hat nachgeforscht, wie Waffen aus Europa in Krisengebiete gelangen.

Mit Waffen aus der EU wird im Jemen gekämpft und in Libyen, sie finden sich in der von Marokko besetzten Westsahara und sogar in den Händen von kriminellen Kartellen und Terroristen. Oft keineswegs deshalb, weil sie irgendwo verloren gingen. Waffen aus Europa werden ganz offen in Krisengebiete und an Diktaturen geliefert. Sie werden dazu eingesetzt, die Bevölkerung zu unterdrücken und fragwürdige Kriege zu führen. Die europäischen Regierungen kneifen dabei oft mehr als beide Augen zu.

Das geht aus einer Recherche hervor, die das Investigativ-Netzwerk «Bellingcat» und das niederländische Non-Profit «Lighthouse Reports» durchgeführt haben. Dazu haben sie anhand öffentlich verfügbarer Quellen nachvollzogen, wo europäische Waffen überall auftauchen und wie sie dorthin gelangt sind.

Umfangreiche Recherche aus frei verfügbaren Quellen

Bei der Recherche stützten sie sich auf Bilder und Videos, die öffentlich verfügbar sind, Postings in sozialen Netzwerken, Fernsehbeiträge über Militärparaden, Aufzeichnungen, auf denen militärisches Gerät zu sehen ist, sowie offizielle Dokumente über Waffenlieferungen. Die Recherche beschränkte sich auf die Herkunftsländer Belgien, Deutschland, Frankreich, Italien, die Niederlande und Spanien.

Die umfangreichen Ergebnisse ihrer Suche haben die Rechercheure detailliert dokumentiert und aufwendig visualisiert. Visueller Einstiegspunkt der Onlinepräsentation ist eine interaktive Karte (unser Titelbild), auf der farbige Punkte hin- und hersausen. Besonders viele bewegen sich zwischen den untersuchten Ländern, den grossen Waffenabnehmern wie Israel und Saudi-Arabien und Krisengebieten wie Jemen und Libyen.

Der Export-Kodex der EU – und wo er greifen sollte

Die Wege einzelner Lieferungen sowie der Rechercheweg sind im Einzelnen nachvollziehbar. Die Schwerpunkte haben die Investigativ-Netzwerke zudem in Textform oder als Video zusammengefasst. Aus dem «EU Arms Project» sind mehrere Teilprojekte hervorgegangen wie #SpanishArms, #FrenchArms oder #GermanArms, die von Medien wie ARTE oder der ARD aufgenommen wurden.

Beispiel 1: Deutsche Waffen im Jemen

Waffen aus quasi allen europäischen Ländern, geliefert an Saudi-Arabien und die Vereinigten Arabischen Emirate, haben dazu beigetragen, im Jemen eine der derzeit grössten humanitären Katastrophen auszulösen. Geschätzt ein Drittel aller Luftangriffe trafen bisher zivile Ziele, die Infrastruktur des Landes wurde teilweise gezielt zerstört. Zehntausende hat der Krieg direkt das Leben gekostet. Die jemenitische Bevölkerung leidet an Hunger, Krankheiten und unter dem von den Kriegsparteien verhängten Embargo.

Der deutsche Wirtschaftsminister Peter Altmaier hatte bis zum Februar 2019 «keine Erkenntnisse» zum Einsatz deutscher Waffen im Jemenkrieg. Das sagte er zumindest im Interview mit der ARD, die den Hinweisen von «Bellingcat» und «Lighthouse Reports» nachgegangen ist.

«Bellingcat» und «Lighthouse Reports» kostete es nur zwei Wochen, um entsprechende Erkenntnisse zu gewinnen. Geheime Berichte brauchten die Rechercheure dazu nicht, als Quelle diente das Internet. In einem Workshop mit Journalisten und Laien bewiesen sie nicht nur, dass in Deutschland gefertigte Militärtechnologie im Jemen eingesetzt wurde, sondern auch wo und wann. Der deutsche Aussenminister Heiko Maas schwieg zu den Fragen der ARD – von Daniela Gschweng

https://www.infosperber.ch/Artikel/Politik/Europaische-Waffen-mischen-in-vielen-Konflikten-der-Welt-mit

(** B K P)

EU arms export: This is where European arms really end up

https://euarms.com/weapon

Films, for the countries in special:

BelgianArms: Yemen's destruction on the radar

How Belgian military technology is serving Saudi airpower

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p5EOKXStrWI

BelgianArms: serving the Saudi kingdom

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mXeHw4ZyqdI

FrenchArms: Maintaining the blockade - causing starvation

The naval blockade of Yemen is the major cause for the world's worst humanitarian crisis. Millions, including countless children, are on brink of starvation. Based on open source information and visual analysis we'll show the French enablers of the blockade.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pDD7KyzgB2c

GermanArms: Howitzers firing on Yemen

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MerxHUG46Aw

#GermanArms: Yemeni's troubled water

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

GermanArms Jets over Yemen

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=An8B62toSqg

SpanishArms: Maintaining war in Yemen

How Spanish companies (Iberia and Airbus) make a profit from the war in Yemen, by maintaining the airfleet of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t2xSZOZbORY

(** B K P)

Noam Chomsky: US Is a Rogue State and Suleimani’s Assassination Confirms It

As world-renowned public intellectual Noam Chomsky points out in this exclusive interview for Truthout, the primary aim of U.S. foreign policy in the Middle East has been to control the region’s energy resources. Here Chomsky offers his analysis of Trump’s reckless act and its possible effects.

What is the conflict between U.S. and Iran all about, and does the assassination of Suleimani constitute an act of war?

Noam Chomsky: Act of war? Perhaps we can settle on reckless international terrorism. It seems that Trump’s decision, on a whim, appalled high Pentagon officials who briefed him on options, on pragmatic grounds. If we wish to look beyond, we might ask how we would react in comparable circumstances.

Suppose that Iran were to murder the second-highest U.S. official, its top general, in the Mexico City international airport, along with the commander of a large part of the U.S.-supported army of an allied nation. Would that be an act of war? Others can decide. It is enough for us to recognize that the analogy is fair enough, and that the pretexts put forth by Washington collapse so quickly on examination that it would be embarrassing to run through them.

As for what the conflict is all about, the background reasons are not obscure. It has long been a primary principle of U.S. foreign policy to control the vast energy resources of the Middle East: to control, not necessarily to use. Iran has been central to this objective during the post-World War II period, and its escape from the U.S. orbit in 1979 has accordingly been intolerable.

The “obsession” can be traced to 1953

The term “rogue state” (used widely by the U.S. State Department) refers to the pursuit of state interests without regard to accepted standards of international behavior and the basic principles of international law. Given that definition, isn’t the U.S. a star example of a rogue state?

State Department officials are not the only ones to use the term “rogue state.” It has also been used by prominent American political scientists — referring to the State Department. Not Trump’s, Clinton’s.

During the era between Reagan’s murderous terrorist atrocities in Central America and Bush’s invasion of Iraq, they recognized that for much of the world, the U.S. was “becoming the rogue superpower,” considered “the single greatest external threat to their societies,” and that, “In the eyes of much of the world, in fact, the prime rogue state today is the United States” (Harvard professor of the science of government and government adviser Samuel Huntington; President of the American Political Science Association Robert Jervis. Both in the main establishment journal, Foreign Affairs, 1999, 2001).

After Bush took over, qualifications were dropped. It was asserted as fact that the U.S. “has assumed many of the very features of the ‘rogue nations’ against which it has … done battle.” Others outside the U.S. mainstream might think of different words for the worst crime of the millennium, a textbook example of aggression without credible pretext, the “supreme international crime” of Nuremberg.

And others sometimes express their opinions. Gallup runs regular polls of international opinion. In 2013 (the Obama years), it asked for the first time, which country is the greatest threat to world peace. The U.S. won; no one else even came close. Far behind in second place was Pakistan, presumably inflated by the Indian vote. Iran — the greatest threat to world peace in U.S. discourse — was scarcely mentioned.

That was also the last time the question was asked, though there needn’t have been much concern. It does not seem to have been reported in the U.S.

We might consider what the world would look like if the U.S. Constitution were considered applicable to the U.S., but let’s put that interesting question aside — not, however, without mentioning that there is a respected profession, called “international lawyers and law professors,” who can learnedly explain that words don’t mean what they mean.

https://truthout.org/articles/noam-chomsky-us-is-a-rogue-state-and-suleimanis-assassination-confirms-it/

(** B K P)

….eine kleine Betrachtung über “Ordnungsmächte” – aus gegebenem Anlass

Seit der Ermordung des iranischen Generals Qassem Suleimani durch die USA erlebt ein politisches Zauberwort eine Art Wiedergeburt – in den Stellungnahmen einiger Politiker und in den Kommentaren mancher Zeitungen. Die USA sollten ihre Rolle als „Ordnungsmacht“ wieder erfüllen und „Ordnungspolitik“ betreiben.
Ordnungsmacht. Man muss die beiden Wortteile kurz analysieren, dann wird man schnell gewahr, dass beides eigentlich nicht zusammen geht. Ordnung suggeriert etwas Geordnetes, auf das sich die Beteiligten friedlich und gemeinsam geeinigt haben. Macht aber bedeutet Gewalt. Wie also gehen Ordnung und Gewalt zusammen? Gut, Kinder werden mit sanftem Zwang von ihren Eltern zur Ordnung erzogen. Im Deutschen Bundestag ergeht vom amtierenden Parlamentspräsidenten ein „Ordnungsruf“ an einen Abgeordneten, der in seiner Rede die als allgemein anerkannten gültigen Regeln des Anstandes verletzt.

Aber politische Ordnungsmacht? Die Geschichte lehrt , dass in den meisten Fällen eine führende imperiale Macht eine „Ordnung“ hergestellt hat, die ihren eigenen Interessen entsprach, den Vorstellungen der zur Ordnung gerufenen Völker aber meistens zuwiderlief. Schauen wir uns diese fatale Entwicklung an Hand der Geschichte des Iran an

Die „unqualifizierte Unterstützung des Schahs“ (Nelson Mandela) war ein Baustein im geostrategischen Gebäude der USA. Diese Strategie nahm auf die Interessen der Menschen wenig Rücksicht, verkannte zudem, dass nicht nur die USA „Interessen“ haben, sondern andere Völker auch.

Eine wirkliche „Ordnungsmacht“ wäre gehalten, beide Interessen gegeneinander abzuwägen und dann zu Beschlüssen zu kommen.

Dafür haben die Staaten jeweils einen meistens gut ausgebildeten Beamtenapparat namens Außenministerium und ein Mittel namens Diplomatie. Doch Donald Trump hat viele Fachleute gefeuert und das Wort Diplomatie durch den Terminus Deal ersetzt.

Doch die USA versuchten auf andere Weise, Ordnung in der Region zu schaffen. Nachdem etwa der neue irakische Machthaber Saddam Hussein 1980 den Iran überfallen hatte – vermutlich mit stiller Duldung der USA – unterstützen die Vereinigten Staaten mal den Irak, mal den Iran. Das Kalkül: Sollen sich doch beide Staaten am Golf bekriegen, dann wird keiner von ihnen zu mächtig. Dem diabolischen Machtspiel – und natürlich den Waffen auf beiden Seiten – fiel eine Million Menschen zum Opfer.

Es gab keine „Ordnungsmacht“.

Die trat 2003 auf den Plan, aber ganz anders, als man hätte hoffen dürfen. George Bush junior beseitigte den „Schurken“ Saddam Hussein, um die Despotie durch eine demokratische Ordnung zu ersetzen. Der Versuch ging gründlich schief, anstelle einer westlichen Demokratie entstand ISIS und mit dem „Islamischen Staat“ kamen alle heutigen Probleme.

Abermals war nun eine Ordnungsmacht gefragt. Aber die traditionellen westlichen Ordnungsmächte strichen die Segel. Sie hatten sich politisch diskreditiert, weil sie stets nur die eigenen Interessen vertreten hatten.

Alles verstaubte Geschichte, heute nicht mehr relevant? Ein Leser hat mir einmal gesagt: „Ihr Journalisten tut immer so, als sei die Welt gestern erst erfunden worden.“ Recht hat er, oft tun wir so, als ob es ein Gestern und ein Vorvorgestern in der Politik nicht gäbe. Aber das ist falsch. Das historische und kulturelle Gedächtnis ist besonders im Nahen Osten tief verwurzelt.

Respektlosigkeit vor dem politischen Erbe führt zu Fehlentscheidungen, Terror und Krieg – besonders dann, wenn „Ordnungsmächte“ tatsächlich einmal ihr diplomatisches Werkzeug benutzen, einen Vertrag mit den Betroffenen aushandeln – und diesen dann grundlos kündigen. So geschehen mit dem noch unter der Regierung Barack Obamas ausgehandelten Vertrag, in dem sich der Iran verpflichtete, auf bestimmte Zeit die Entwicklung von Kernwaffen einzustellen. Der Vertrag war vielleicht nicht ideal, aber er funktionierte, der Iran kooperierte mit der Internationalen Atomenergieagentur. Die erklärte mehrmals, der Iran halte sich an alle von ihm geforderten Auflagen.

Doch Donald Trump mochte den Vertrag nicht, vielmehr mochte er, so sagen manche, vor allem Barack Obama nicht, der den Vertrag zusammen mit Russland, China, Frankreich, Großbritannien und Deutschland ausgehandelt hatte. Der Vertrag kann als eines der seltenen Beispiele von gelungener „Ordnungspolitik“ gelten, er hätte, zumindest zeitweise, eine gewisse Ruhe garantiert – doch im Handstreich zerstörte jene Ordnungsmacht, die jetzt manche wieder herbeisehnen, die schöne neue Ordnung.

Daher steht die Region wieder am Rande des Chaos – und niemand ist in Sicht, der Ordnung schaffen könnte. Mit der Ermordung führender Köpfe des Regimes ist eine solche Ordnung nicht herzustellen.

Die Schlussfolgerung für den Iran liegt nahe: sprechen statt schießen, gemeinsam Ordnung schaffen, statt der Region einseitig eine Ordnung zu diktieren. Dann käme auch niemand in Versuchung, Männer wie Qassem Suleimani zu ermorden Von Heiko Flottau

https://www.nachdenkseiten.de/?p=57619

cp1a Am wichtigsten: Seuchen / Most important: Epidemics

(* B H)

Lahj governorate hit by mosquito-borne dengue fever outbreak

Yemen’s Office of Public Health and Population (OPHP) issued a report in late December on the rapid spread of mosquito-borne dengue fever in the Tebn district of Lahj governorate in the country’s south.

Dr. Shallal Hassel, coordinator of the early warning program within the Department of Epidemiological Surveillance at OPHP in Lahj, told Almasdar online that dengue fever is endemic to the area and has already claimed two lives in the governorate.

OPHP issued a report in December documenting 1288 recorded cases of dengue fever in Lahj in the last two months of the year. Taiz governorate in southwest Yemen recorded the highest number of dengue fever cases nationwide last year, according to its local health office, which said nearly 8,000 people were infected.

https://al-masdaronline.net/local/250

(* B H)

Yemen: 500 Yemenis die of H1N1

Over 500 Yemenis passed out for contracting H1N1 while number of infected cases reached up to 23,406 in Sana’a, said medical sources. Some medical sources said that the infected cases and death toll might be much greater taking into account those that have not consulted health clinics and hospitals.

Dr. Ahmed Al-Zobair, Director of the National Influenza Control Program at the Ministry of Public Health and Population revealed that the number of deaths of people infected with H1N1 flu in Yemen has increased to 426 deaths out of a total of 23 thousand and 406 cases of suspicion during the past three years of 2017-2019.

Noting in a special statement that the total number of suspected cases of H1N1 flu during the past year 2019 amounted to 7364 cases, of which 310 cases died, while the number of suspected cases in 2018 was 8522 cases, 71 of whom died, and the number of deaths in 2017 45 cases out of a total of 7520 suspected cases.

Stressing that the Ministry of Public Health and Population, with direct guidance and supervision from the Minister of Health, Dr. Taha Al-Mutawakkil, has declared a state of alert to confront this disease, as the Ministry has allocated sections and a family of intensive care in hospitals and public hospitals to treat influenza cases and directing to allocate 3 rooms in each private hospital to receive and treat those cases Providing quantities of vaccine for the medical staff in contact with the cases and providing sufficient quantities of treatment for the dangerous cases.

Adding that laboratory solutions have been provided for influenza examination to monitor the disease and monitor its types and collect laboratory samples to send abroad for examination with special and advanced tests to ensure that no new epidemic appears and the training of doctors and nurses and rapid response teams and send rapid response teams to investigate cases and take samples and dispense treatment to patients and some contacts And raising community health awareness of the disease and its transmission and prevention.

https://newyemenen.com/yemen-500-yemenis-die-of-h1n1/

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

(A K pS) The army forces announced that dozens of landmines and explosive devices have been found in al-Manthar neighborhood, east of Hodeidah airport.

https://twitter.com/BelqeesRights/status/1216862427582795776

(* A K pH)

UAE-backed mercenary groups now fighting one another in Hodeidah

Giants Brigades and militias led by Tariq Saleh turning on each other on western coast

The conflicts between Saudi-led coalition rival militias are spreading over all areas under coalition control in Yemen, becoming a key element in the formation of armed groups.

One of the manifestations of that conflict unfolded between militias supported by the United Arab Emirates in the west coast of Yemen. On Sunday, armed clashes took place between groups led by Tariq Saleh on the one hand, and the Giants Brigades in the city of Khokha in the south of Hodeidah province.

Local sources reported to Yemen Press Agency that clashes broke out between the two parties, against the background of Tariq Saleh’s appointment of an official to take over the levies of Khokha, which provoked the anger of Hamdi Shukri, commander of the Third Giants Brigade, consisting out of Southern Yemenis.

The two parties rushed into squabble, which later evolved into a clash in which various types of weapons were used.

The sources added that the clashes left injuries on both sides, some of them in serious condition. They were taken to Mocha hospital. The clashes have also caused serious panic among civilians in the city of Khokha.

The sources pointed out that the coastal areas under the occupation of the coalition forces suffer from constant instability due to conflicts between its militias.

https://www.uprising.today/uae-backed-mercenary-groups-now-fighting-one-another-in-hodeidah/

(A K pH)

US-Saudi Aggression’s Daily Update for Monday, January 13th, 2020

https://english.almasirah.net/details.php?es_id=10741

(A K pH)

Aggressionskräfte verletzen weiterhin das Waffenstillstandsabkommen von Hodeida

https://www.saba.ye/de/news3084592.htm

(A K pH)

US-Saudi Aggression’s Daily Update for Sunday, January 12th, 2020

https://english.almasirah.net/details.php?es_id=10730

(A K pS)

Houthis continue to target joint forces in Hodeidah

http://en.adenpress.news/news/16237

(* A K P)

Yemen: UNMHA Mandate Renewal

On Monday (13 January), the Security Council is expected to adopt a resolution renewing the mandate of the UN Mission to support the Hodeidah Agreement (UNMHA) for six months until 15 July 2020. The draft resolution, which is in blue, is very similar to the resolution 2481, which renewed the mission’s mandate in July. The UK, as penholder, circulated the text to the full Council membership on 9 January, placing it under a silence procedure, which it passed this morning.

The only substantive difference from the last renewal is a request for the Secretary-General to submit a review of UNMHA within five months, as opposed to the previous renewal that requested the review in 3 months.

UNMHA will continue to have the following four-point mandate:

lead and support the functioning of the Redeployment Coordination Committee (RCC) to oversee the governorate-wide ceasefire, redeployment of forces and mine action operations. (The RCC was set up by the Hodeidah agreement, is chaired by the head of UNMHA, General Abhijit Guha, and made up of representatives of the Yemeni government and Houthis.);

monitor the compliance of the parties to the ceasefire and the mutual redeployment of forces from the city of Hodeidah and the ports of Hodeidah, Salif and Ras Issa;

work with the parties so that the security of the city and ports is assured by local security forces in accordance with Yemeni law; and

facilitate and coordinate UN support to assist the parties to fully implement the Hodeidah agreement.

https://www.whatsinblue.org/2020/01/yemen-unmha-mandate-renewal.php

(A K pH)

US-Saudi Aggression’s Daily Update for Friday, January 10th, 2020

https://english.almasirah.net/details.php?es_id=10716

(A K pS)

Houthis suffered heavy losses in Hodeidah

http://en.adenpress.news/news/16233

(A K pH)

US-Saudi Aggression’s Daily Update for Friday, January 10th, 2020

https://english.almasirah.net/details.php?es_id=10711

and also https://www.saba.ye/en/news3084496.htm

(A K pS)

Houthi militia kills young man inside Mosque in Hodeidah

A civilian was killed on Friday by the Iran-backed Houthi militia in the Hayes district south of Hodeidah province, western Yemen.

Local sources said that the Houthi militia opened fire from its machine gun at worshippers while performing Friday’s prayer inside a mosque in Beit Maghari village.

http://en.26sepnews.net/2020/01/10/houthi-militia-kills-young-man-inside-mosque-in-hodeidah/

Film: Watch the body of the muezzin of the Beit Maghari mosque, who was shot dead by the Houthis during Friday prayers

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fe0GEKtz6-E

cp2 Allgemein / General

(* A K P)

Interactive Map of Yemen War

https://yemen.liveuamap.com/

(* A K)

MILITARY SITUATION IN YEMEN ON JANUARY 13, 2020 (MAP UPDATE)

https://maps.southfront.org/military-situation-in-yemen-on-january-13-2020-map-update/

MILITARY SITUATION IN YEMEN ON JANUARY 12, 2020 (MAP UPDATE)

https://southfront.org/military-situation-in-yemen-on-january-12-2020-map-update/

MILITARY SITUATION IN YEMEN ON JANUARY 11, 2020 (MAP UPDATE)

https://southfront.org/military-situation-in-yemen-on-january-11-2020-map-update/

(* B K P)

A return to diplomacy with Iran could also save Yemen from hunger

It was President Dwight Eisenhower who said, “People want peace so much that one of these days government had better get out of their way and let them have it.”

Neither the American nor Iranian people want a war. We want peace. The way to achieve it is a return to diplomacy.

The Trump administration should immediately reinstate the Iran nuclear deal, a diplomatic breakthrough with Iran that Trump has rashly treated like a failure.

A return to diplomacy with Iran would have other benefits, too. It could help end the civil war in Yemen, which has pulled in neighboring Saudi Arabia, which relies on arms supplied by the U.S. and supports the government against the Iran-backed Houthi rebels. The conflict has destabilized the region. A diplomatic approach to Iran could help limit the involvement of Iran and the U.S. in the Yemeni civil war, which has left over 20 million Yemenis in desperate need of food.

But by arming the Saudis, Trump has prolonged the conflict and put Yemen on the brink of famine. U.S. military aid to the Saudis must cease

While diplomacy would pave the way toward peace, more is needed in Yemen. There must also be funding for food aid to the starving Yemenis.

Following a ceasefire, America must work to achieve a lasting peace treaty in Yemen. For that to happen, the U.S. must bring back diplomacy to prevent war with Iran and end current hostilities in the Middle East. Only then will the millions now at risk of starvation have a brighter future – by William Lambers

https://www.houstonchronicle.com/opinion/outlook/article/A-return-to-diplomacy-with-Iran-could-also-save-14960382.php

(* A K P)

US-Angriff auf iranischen Kommandeur schlug fehl

In der Nacht der gezielten Tötung von Top-General Ghassem Soleimani gab es wohl noch eine weitere streng geheime Operation des US-Militärs. Sie erfolgte laut US-Medien im Jemen - verlief allerdings nicht wie geplant.

Die äußerst vertrauliche Operation im Jemen soll Abdul Resa Schahlaei, einem Befehlshaber der gefürchteten iranischen Al-Kuds-Brigaden, gegolten haben. Der Iraner Schahlaei ist bei den Brigaden für Finanzen zuständig und gilt als Schlüsselkommandeur, wie die "Washington Post" unter Berufung auf zwei namentlich nicht genannte hohe US-Regierungsbeamte und der TV-Sender CNN, der sich auf zwei Insider bezieht, weiter berichten.

Die Angriffe auf Soleimani und Schahlaei wurden demnach in etwa zur selben Zeit angeordnet. Da die Operation gegen Schahlaei nicht zum gewünschten Erfolg geführt habe, sei die Aktion auch nicht von der US-Regierung öffentlich kommentiert worden, heißt es weiter. "Wenn wir ihn getötet hätten, hätten wir dies in der selben Nacht publik gemacht", zitiert die "Washington Post" einen ranghohen US-Beamten. Pentagon-Sprecherin Rebecca Rebarich sagte dem Blatt: "Das Verteidigungsministerium diskutiert nicht jede 'vermeintliche Operation' im Nahen Osten." Die USA hatten im Dezember eine Belohnung von insgesamt 15 Millionen Dollar für Hinweise auf Schahlaei ausgelobt.

https://www.dw.com/de/us-angriff-auf-iranischen-kommandeur-schlug-fehl/a-51960583

und auch https://www.spiegel.de/politik/ausland/iran-krise-usa-sollen-versucht-haben-weiteren-iranischen-befehlshaber-zu-toeten-a-6bd03892-952c-4d5f-996b-7f8a2e820e02#ref=rss

https://www.zdf.de/nachrichten/politik/berichte-us-angriff-auf-weiteren-iranischen-kommandeur-im-jemen-schlug-fehl-100.html

https://www.welt.de/politik/ausland/article204931474/Attacke-im-Jemen-USA-wollten-weiteren-iranischen-Kommandeur-toeten.html

(* A K P)

U.S. targeted Iranian official in Yemen in failed strike: sources

The United States carried out a secret operation in Yemen that targeted, but failed to kill, an Iranian military official last week, two U.S. officials told Reuters on Friday.

The strike was carried out on the same day that the United States killed Iranian military commander Qassem Soleimani in a drone strike in Baghdad, the officials said, speaking on condition of anonymity.

The timing could suggest that the United States had sought to take out a broader swathe of the Iranian military leadership when it killed Soleimani, citing an imminent threat from him.

The Pentagon declined comment on the failed strike in Yemen, first reported by the Washington Post.

One of the U.S. officials named the Iranian who had been targeted as Abdul Reza Shahlai, a senior officer in the Revolutionary Guards’ elite Quds force, the unit in charge of foreign operations that had been headed by Soleimani.

The U.S. Treasury Department says he was based in Yemen and accused him of "a long history of targeting Americans and U.S. allies globally," including killing U.S.-led coalition forces in Iraq. It has offered a $15 million reward in connection with him under its "Rewards for Justice" here program.

The United States has accused Shahlai of coordinating a failed 2011 plot to assassinate Saudi Arabia’s ambassador to the United States at a cafe in a posh neighborhood of the U.S. capital.

“Shahlai approved financial allotments ... to help recruit other individuals for the plot, approving $5 million as payment for all of the operations discussed,” the Treasury Department said.

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-iraq-security-usa-yemen/u-s-targeted-iranian-official-in-yemen-in-failed-strike-sources-idUSKBN1Z929G

and

(* A K P)

U.S. STRIKE ON IRANIAN COMMANDER IN YEMEN THE NIGHT OF SULEIMANI’S ASSASSINATION KILLED THE WRONG MAN

ON THE NIGHT the U.S. assassinated Iranian Maj. Gen. Qassim Suleimani by drone strike, the U.S. launched a similar operation to kill a top Iranian commander in Yemen, a U.S. official told The Intercept.

The operation was aimed at killing Abdul Reza Shahlai, the commander of the Yemen division of Iran’s elite Quds Force, near the Yemeni capital Sana’a. Shahlai survived, but a lower-level Quds Force operative was killed, and Shahlai went into hiding, the official said. Shortly thereafter, Iranian state TV reportedly announced the death of a Quds Force operative named Mohammad Mirza in “one of the fields of Resistance Front.”

Shahlai is a senior operator in the Quds Force, the external operations arm of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. He was sanctioned by the U.S. in 2008 for his role in operations against the United States in Iraq, and the U.S. has accused him of coordinating a 2011 plot to assassinate the former Saudi ambassador to the U.S., Adel al-Jubeir, at a restaurant in Washington, D.C. Shahlai has since been placed in charge of the Quds Force division responsible for aiding the Houthi militia in its war against Saudi-led intervention in Yemen, the official said.

The strike was first reported by the Washington Post.

The Trump administration had contemplated killing Shahlai for three years, as a means of deterring further Iranian support for the Houthis in Yemen, the U.S. official told The Intercept. But the attempt to assassinate him on the night of January 2 seems to undercut the government’s stated rationale for killing Suleimani, who U.S. officials have repeatedly described as posing “an imminent threat” to U.S. forces in Iraq.

Shahlai is unlikely to have posed a similar threat in Sana’a, where the U.S. evacuated its embassy compound in 2013.

“Congress needs answers,” tweeted Rep. Ro Khanna, D.-Calif., who has been critical of the U.S. role in the Saudi-led intervention. “What was the full extent of the Trump administration’s plans to kill Iranian officials? How does the attempted killing in Yemen have anything to do with an imminent threat?”

Congress has not authorized U.S. military action against Iran, so members are likely to question the legal basis for a strike against Shahlai.

https://theintercept.com/2020/01/10/us-strike-abdul-reza-shahlai-yemen/

and

(* A K P)

US Tried (And Failed) To Kill Soleimani's "Guy On The Ground In Yemen"

Little further details have been given, other than confirmation defense officials did not consider the mission a success, and therefore would have revealed the operation alongside the announcement of Soleimani's death.

Shahlai is considered by the US to be behind attacks on US troops in Iraq, including abduction and killings of five American soldiers in the city of Karbala in 2007, and is currently active in Yemen allegedly training and supplying the Shia Houthis in their attacks on the Saudis.

Last year the State Department's special representative for Iran, Brian Hook, said the United States remains “gravely concerned by his presence in Yemen and potential role in providing advanced weaponry of the kind we have interdicted to the Houthis.”

Further, according to the WSJ, "In 2011, Mr. Shahlai orchestrated and funded a plot to assassinate the then Saudi ambassador to the U.S., Adel al-Jubeir, at a restaurant in the Georgetown area of Washington, the State Department said."

Beyond that, there hasn't been evidence offered of just how "imminent" the threat represented by Shahlai is, at a moment the Trump administration has struggled to justify the Soleimani assassination amid push back from skeptical reporters, given the narrative has changed and altered somewhat over the past week.

Matthew Levitt, a former Treasury Department official and Iran analyst, described Shahlai as Gen. Soleimani’s “guy on the ground in Yemen.” Shahlai currently has a $15 million US bounty on his head. “Clearly, the intent here was to target some of the Quds Force’s most important and capable proxy handlers,” Levit further told the WSJ.

https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/us-tried-kill-soleimanis-guy-ground-yemen-separate-operation

and also https://www.nationalreview.com/news/u-s-launched-secret-operation-targeting-senior-iranian-official-in-yemen-on-day-of-soleimani-killing-report/

https://apnews.com/786998edec97e3845b496bb29a15ec7d

(* B P)

Yemen: Union reports 134 rights violations in 2019

In an annual report published by the Yemeni Journalists’ Syndicate (YJS), the union reports 134 violations of media and journalists' rights in 2019. The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) joined the Syndicate in condemning those attacks and repeated its call for the release of imprisoned journalists.

According to YJS's report media violations range from killings, torture and kidnapping to cases of blocking websites and denying proper coverage of daily news. According to the report, all warrying parties are responsible for such attacks.

In light of the hostile environment caused by the civil war between the government and the armed Houthi movement, working as a journalist in Yemen is a perilous task. The report records 15 cases of torture, more than 30 kidnappings and dozens of attempted murders and beatings. Two journalists, Ziyad al-Sharabi and Ghaleb Belhash, were killed. Since the beginning of the civil war in 2015, 35 journalists have been killed.

https://www.ifj.org/media-centre/news/detail/category/press-releases/article/yemen-union-reports-134-rights-violations-in-2019.html

cp2a Saudische Blockade / Saudi blockade

(A K P)

Ein mit Benzin und Diesel beladenes Schiff kommt in Hodeida an

https://www.saba.ye/de/news3084727.htm

(* B K P)

Yemeni Oil Company Warns against US-Saudi Detention of Oil Tankers, Calls on UN to Meets its Responsibilities

The Yemeni Oil Company has warned of the US-Saudi aggression forces from continued detention of oil derivatives ships. Despite obtaining the necessary permits by the UN inspection team in Djibouti, these Oil tankers are not allowed to enter to the port. The company called on the United Nations and all humanitarian organizations to do what is necessary to spare citizens the consequences of these abuses that affect the necessities of life. The director of Hodeidah oil facilities, Abdul_Khaleq Abu Ali, said that arbitrary aggression measures are a war crime targeting citizens in the necessities of their lives.

https://english.almasirah.net/details.php?es_id=10743

cp3 Humanitäre Lage / Humanitarian situation

(B H)

Film: The Emirates Red Crescent Authority runs mobile clinics in the Al-Jariba area in Al-Tahita

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZC6-Viz4K1A

(* B H)

Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations: Solar powered water pumps help Yemeni farmers restore their agricultural livelihoods

Yemen is predominantly a rural country, with close to 70 percent of its population living in rural areas. Irrigated agriculture is the primary source of food, employment and economic activity. Water scarcity poses one of the most significant constraints to increasing food production in a country where more than half the population requires food assistance.

Recognizing that agriculture is the single most important contributor to resuscitate rural livelihoods, it is crucial to support pro-poor sustainable agricultural production systems. Water management, transfer of appropriate production technology, improvement along value chains and creation of on/off-farm employment opportunities and income-generating activities are among the key intervention that need to be scaled up. In response, FAO and the European Union (EU) partnered to roll out a two-year USD 12.8 million project to enhance the resilience of 150 990 conflict-affected Yemenis while boosting their food security.

The sustained fuel crisis across the country has affected thousands of farmers who depend on groundwater for irrigating using fuel operated pumps. FAO, in partnership with the European Union, is supporting farmers by providing them with solar-powered pumps, water-saving drip irrigation kits along with training on improved farming practices.

By prioritizing livelihood programmes that strengthen the community’s resilience, increase food production, and diversify income sources, FAO is equipping Yemeni families with the tools they need to earn a living even in the face of the conflict-induced crisis. Rashed’s story is proof that even in conflict-affected countries, restoring agricultural livelihoods can be a people’s greatest defense against hunger and malnutrition.

http://www.fao.org/emergencies/fao-in-action/stories/stories-detail/en/c/1257353/

(* A H P)

Film: After a Four-year salary cut, medical staff in Taiz break their silence

Workers at the military hospital in the southern Province of Taiz marched to the provincial headquarters to protest against not receiving their salaries, which have not been paid for four years.Staff at the military hospital confirmed that all medical, nursing, hygiene and other staff were working tirelessly day and night, noting that they could no longer afford basic living because of the salary cut.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=znCk7y0LOb4

(B H)

Relief and Development Peer Foundation: Responding to the needs in a deadly war zone

Even though delivering aid in areas with violent clashes and armed conflicts is extremely difficult and dangerous, our WaSH team - despite the extreme risks and threats - reaches the toughest areas to perform their humanitarian duty across six governorates.

https://reliefweb.int/report/yemen/responding-needs-deadly-war-zone

(B H)

World Health Organization: Emergency Health and Nutrition Project saves lives in Yemen

In Yemen, a country torn apart by war, those seeking medical help often struggle to receive proper and effective treatment. One reason is that much hospital equipment needs replacing. For example, in the central sterile supply department of Al-Thawra hospital, Sana'a, the equipment was until recently so old that the sterilization of instruments would take hours instead of minutes, causing the delay or cancellation of critical surgical operations. But thanks to the support given by the World Bank to the Emergency Health and Nutrition Project, Al-Thawra hospital now has the updated sterilization equipment it so desperately needed.

http://www.emro.who.int/yem/yemen-news/emergency-health-and-nutrition-project-saves-lives-in-yemen.html

(B H)

Aid to 11 thousand yemenis

IHH Humanitarian Relief Foundation delivered humanitarian aid to almost 11 thousand victims and deprived people in Yemen where the humanitarian crisis is continuing.

IHH Humanitarian Relief Foundation is continuing its aid operations in Yemen where the humanitarian crisis has reach fatal dimensions. IHH delivered aid to 10.918 victims and deprived individuals in Yemen’s Hadhramaut , Marib and Al-Jawf regions. The operations carried out with a team of four people are as follows:

Disinfection works were carried out all over Marib and Taiz against the threat of the Dengue disease and 4.500 people were given medical aid treatment.

https://www.ihh.org.tr/en/news/11-bin-yemenliye-yardim

(* B H)

Feature: Children in war-torn Yemen suffer from malnutrition

The civil war pushed Yemen to the brink of famine, with more than 12 million Yemeni children in dire need of humanitarian assistance, according to the United Nations.

The Al-Sabeen hospital, a main public hospital specializing in malnutrition treatment, is crowded with patients, mostly children, mainly from remote villages.

Despite the crowds, the place is quiet as many of the malnourished children are too weak to cry.

"The hospital suffers from severe shortage in medical supplies and medicines to cope with the increasing malnutrition cases," Ghalib complained.

The war which has been lasting for more than four years between the Iran-allied Houthi rebels and the exiled government backed by the Saudi-led coalition has cut wages, reduced imports and destroyed Yemen's health care system.

The World Food Programme warned that the current level of hunger in Yemen is unprecedented and is causing severe hardship for millions of people. It warned that about 20 million Yemenis are at the brink of starvation.

http://www.xinhuanet.com/english/2020-01/11/c_138696873.htm

(* B H)

PROTHESEN AUS DEM 3-D-DRUCKER:Vom Krieg versehrt

Täglich verlieren in den Kriegsgebieten des Mittleren Ostens Menschen Arme und Beine – unter ihnen auch viele Kinder. In einem Krankenhaus in Jordanien werden sie nun mit Prothesen aus dem 3-D-Drucker versorgt. Ein großes Glück.

Der Jemenit ist seit rund zwei Wochen Patient im „Reconstructive Surgery Hospital“ von Ärzte ohne Grenzen, das auf Wiederherstellungschirurgie spezialisiert ist. 2006 startete die private Hilfsorganisation das Projekt, das als einziges seiner Art im Nahen Osten rekonstruktive Chirurgie und orthopädische Rehabilitation anbietet. Seit 2014 befindet sich die Klinik in einem achtstöckigen Gebäude im Osten der rund vier Millionen Einwohner zählenden Hauptstadt Jordaniens.

Die Hauptstadt des Jemen, Sanaa, liegt rund 2500 Kilometer südlich von Amman. Die meisten Patienten in der Klinik stammen heute von dort, zudem aus dem Gazastreifen, aus Syrien und noch vereinzelt aus dem Irak. Für die Versorgung dieser Kriegsverletzten wurde die Klinik ursprünglich gegründet, doch die verheerenden Gewaltausbrüche in der Region erfassten in den vergangenen zehn Jahren ein Land nach dem anderen.

Versehrte Gliedmaßen sind an der Tagesordnung. Manche tragen enorme Aufbauten auf ihren Armen, die die operierten Stellen stabilisieren.

Die Ärzte, die aus den Ländern ihrer Patienten stammen, sind Experten für komplizierte Eingriffe auf den Gebieten der orthopädischen, plastischen und der Mund-, Kiefer- und Gesichtschirurgie. Sie operieren im Durchschnitt drei- bis fünfmal am Tag. In der Pflege, der Physiotherapie-Abteilung und im psychologischen Team arbeiten vor allem Einheimische. Und auch das 3D-Print-Team, die neueste Abteilung des Krankenhauses, wird von einer Jordanierin geleitet.

Sie heißt Samar Ismail, ist 37 Jahre alt, studierte Physiotherapeutin und seit 2011 bei Ärzte ohne Grenzen. Vor zwei Jahren hat Ismail mit einer Handvoll Kollegen begonnen, eine neue Technik in der Prothesenherstellung zu verstehen und zu nutzen, die sich seitdem als großer Fortschritt für die Patienten herausgestellt hat. Arme und Hände – das Team hat sich auf die oberen Extremitäten spezialisiert – werden im 3D-Druckverfahren günstig und schnell hergestellt. Statt bislang 600 US-Dollar für eine konventionelle Prothese kosten Hand oder Arm aus dem 3D-Drucker maximal 70 Dollar. Die Prothesen sind viel leichter und damit komfortabler zu tragen. Und sie müssen so gut wie nicht gewartet werden, was in den Ländern, aus denen die Patienten stammen, oft ohnehin nicht gewährleistet werden kann. Auch die Anpassung ist einfacher – von Eva Schläfer

https://www.faz.net/aktuell/gesellschaft/gesundheit/vom-krieg-versehrt-prothesen-aus-dem-3-d-drucker-16556161.html

(A H)

Visited Aslam health center hajjah area, We provided urgent food baskets & all the needs of kitchen center to feed sick children & their mothers & continue work to care them. No words can describe my thanks & gratitude 2 all donors (photos)

https://www.gofundme.com/f/food-and-medicine-for-yemen

https://twitter.com/ghalebalsudmy/status/1215688743878787079

cp4 Flüchtlinge / Refugees

(B H)

UN High Commissioner for Refugees: Yemen: UNHCR Operational Update, 10 January 2020

Some 5,715 displaced families in Hudayhdah and Hajjah governorates have begun residing in recently distributed Tehama Emergency Shelter Kits (TESKs).

TESKs are an upgraded version of the Emergency Shelter Kit (ESK), with a first layer of plastic tarpaulin sheets covered by an extra layer of locally sourced palm leaves.

This serves to maintain cooler temperature inside the shelters, which is essential for IDPs living in hot and humid areas.

https://reliefweb.int/report/yemen/yemen-unhcr-operational-update-10-january-2020

My comment: This really seems very basic; there is no more help needed?

cp5 Nordjemen und Huthis / Northern Yemen and Houthis

(A E P)

Industrieministerium schließt eine Fabrik für Markenfälschungen

Das Ministerium für Industrie und Handel hat heute in der Region Beit Boss, im Bezirk Sanhan, im Gouvernement Sana'a, eine Fabrik für Markenfälschungen und für die Umverpackung von Fertigwaren zum Verkauf auf den Märkten geschlossen.

https://www.saba.ye/de/news3084718.htm

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

(A P)

Public schools in Aden are closed after calls for a comprehensive and open strike.

https://twitter.com/BelqeesRights/status/1216861463979139075

(A P)

#Independence_Our_Goal_South_Unites_Us hashtag goes top on Twitter

https://en.smanews.org/independence_our_goal_south_unites_us-hashtag-goes-top-on-twitter

(* A K P)

Confrontations between “Hadi’s forces and the STC militia” escalated in Shabwah

Confrontations between Hadi’s forces and the UAE-backed Southern Transitional Council (STC) militias have witnessed a remarkable escalation in the southeastern province of Shabwah, local sources reported on Sunday.

According to the local sources, after nearly two weeks of clashes, the UAE air force decided to intervene to curb the expansion of groups loyal to the Islah Party in Shabwah.

The sources said that the UAE warplanes carried out several raids on positions belonging to “Had’s forces” in al-Arm district of Bayhan district, which was captured by Saudi-backed forces during their recent campaign in the province.

Moreover, the same sources added that a number of “Hadi” gunmen were killed and wounded, as well as several military vehicles were destroyed, as a result of the UAE raids.

Furthermore,the sources pointed out that the bombing of the UAE air, linked to the events of the clashes currently taking place in Abyan province between the two parties, which come with the aim of striking the reinforcements of Islah forces in Shabwah province and preventing them from reaching Abyan.

The STC militias pursued Had’s forces to the Saylah area in the Lauder district in northern Abyan province, where violent clashes took place between the two forces, after the UAE-backed militias managed to expel the reform forces from the Yarmas area in Khanfar district.

http://en.ypagency.net/151082/

(A P)

National Assembly kicks off its 3rd session in Aden

The 3rd session of the National Assembly kicked off in Aden on Monday in conjunction with the anniversary of the Southern Reconciliation and Tolerance the 13th of January.

http://en.adenpress.news/news/16239

Film: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ODD7uUbrlaM

My comment: The separatists more and more are building the structures of their parallel state.

(* A P)

Islah Party rebels against Saudi former masters over Riyadh Agreement

Islah openly rejects deals between Saudi-backed Hadi government and UAE-backed separatists

Saudi-backed forces of the Islah Party still continue to rebel against the Riyadh Agreement signed between Hadi’s government and the UAE-backed Southern Transitional Council.

Islah remains opposed to the recent Saudi efforts to implement the agreement, informed sources reported on Saturday.

According to the source, the Southern Transitional Council (STC) welcomed the signing of Saturday’s deal to implement the second phase of the Riyadh accord, and announced its intention to implement its commitment to the agreement, while the Islah Party militia reproyedlg seeks to rebel against the agreement in Shabwah and Abyan provinces.

Local sources confirmed that the Islah militia reinforced its positions in al-Arm area in Shabwah province, and in the al-Muhafed district of Abyan province, instead of implementing what was signed regarding its withdrawal from these province on Saturday.

Sources said reinforcements from Ataq had arrived in the Al-Arm and al–Muhafed areas, including armoured vehicles carrying soldiers.

https://www.uprising.today/islah-party-rebels-against-saudi-former-masters-over-riyadh-agreement/

(A P)

European diplomatic delegation arrives in Aden

An European diplomatic delegation composed of a number of ambassadors accredited to Yemen arrived in Aden International Airport on Sunday.

http://en.adenpress.news/news/16235

and

(A P)

European Delegation Supports Yemeni Efforts to Implement Riyadh Deal

https://aawsat.com/english/home/article/2079876/european-delegation-supports-yemeni-efforts-implement-riyadh-deal

(A P)

Yemen President arrives in Oman

Abd Rabbu Mansour Hadi, President of the Republic of Yemen arrived in the Sultanate to offer condolences to the late Sultan Qaboos bin Said

https://timesofoman.com/article/2551829/Oman/Government/Yemen-President-arrives-in-Oman

(A K P)

Yemen Gov't and STC have signed an agreement for implementing Riyadh Agreement. Later, they would sign an agreement for implementing Agreement which has been signed for implementing Riyadh Agreement. Well, not a single deal signed by Yemeni factions has worked since war began.

https://twitter.com/FuadRajeh/status/1216285601567334400

(* A K P)

Prisoner swap in Aden signals early victory for renewed push to implement Riyadh agreement

News of the prisoners' release followed a Thursday announcement that a deal had been reached to implement the power sharing agreement

The exchange of dozens of prisoners between Yemen’s army and forces loyal to the Southern Transitional Council (STC) in Aden and Shabwa governorates has raised the prospect that the Saudi-brokered peace deal aimed at preventing a new civil war in southern Yemen could survive the fate of similar agreements that have died on the vine.

News of the prisoners' release followed a Thursday announcement by Saudi Arabia’s ambassador to Yemen, Mohammed Al-Jaber, that a detailed agreement had been reached to implement the military annex of the so-called Riyadh agreement, signed two months ago by the Yemeni government and the UAE-backed STC, which has sought secession.

That the prisoner exchange happened just a few days after the Thursday announcement is a major achievement, given that there have been almost no visible signs of progress toward any of the Riyadh agreement’s political, military and security aims since it was signed on Nov. 5 in the Saudi capital.

The new agreement seeks to implement a range of military and other goals by Jan. 31, including the collection of heavy and medium weapons from the warring parties, the exchange of prisoners, the return of troops to agreed upon positions and the appointment of a governor and security director for Aden.

The announcement of the second signing coincided with rising tensions in the region and fears of a war between Iran and the US

https://al-masdaronline.net/national/249

and

(* A K P)

Yemen's gov't, southern council swap 53 prisoners under Saudi-brokered deal

Yemen's government and the opposition Southern Transitional Council (STC) on Sunday started exchanging about 53 prisoners under a Saudi Arabia-brokered deal in the south of the country.

The prisoner swap deal was signed between the two Yemeni warring rivals in the Saudi capital Riyadh last November, a local military official said on condition of anonymity.

"Nearly 33 prisoners of the STC were released from the government's jails in Shabwa Province. In exchange, 20 prisoners affiliated with the government were also released from the STC's jails," the source noted.

All these prisoners were received by the forces of the Saudi-led Arab coalition operating in Yemen, according to the official.

http://www.xinhuanet.com/english/2020-01/12/c_138698697.htm

cp7 UNO und Friedensgespräche / UN and peace talks

(* B P)

Marl Lowcock: Thank you to our top donors for their contributions to our Yemen humanitarian response plan: KSA, USA, UAE, UK

https://twitter.com/UNReliefChief/status/1216796227372711936

Comment: That the @UN continues to publicly ingratiate itself to countries *directly* responsible for killing and starving Yemenis is shameful. #Yemen wouldn't need a "humanitarian response plan" were it not for the relentless bombing and blockading by Saudi, UAE, US, UK, and others!

https://twitter.com/UNReliefChief/status/1216796227372711936

(* B K P)

Yemenis mull prospects for peace in 2020

Abu Saleh, a 30-year-old barber, has one wish for the new year: That the continuing cycle of violence that started when the Iran-backed Houthis seized power in late 2014 comes to an end, and that peace and stability prevail in Yemen.
“When the war stops, the currency will recover, people will receive their salaries and we’ll work,” Abu Saleh, who prefers to be known by his nickname, told Arab News.
In 2019, fighting largely decreased on major battlefields across Yemen as the UN-brokered Stockholm Agreement between the internationally recognized government and the Houthis managed to defuse a major military offensive aimed at Hodeidah city on the Red Sea.
Saudi Arabia also brokered a power-sharing deal between the Yemeni government and the Southern Transitional Council.
But the economic crisis persisted as the Yemeni riyal continued to plunge, pushing up fuel and food prices. Abu Saleh’s job has been greatly affected by the war, and he has had to work from morning to late evening to make ends meet.
“I’m not educated, but I can tell you that things would be better if peace prevails,” he said with a smile as he was cutting a child’s hair.
When he travels from the city of Al-Mukalla in Hadhramaut governorate, which is under government control, to the Houthi-controlled northern governorate of Ibb, he passes through contested areas where warring factions stop him for questioning.
“We don’t want anyone to give us money or jobs. We want peace. Yemenis are resilient, used to hardships, and don’t depend on their government,” Abu Saleh said. In Switzerland, Nabel Al-Osaidi, a member of the Yemen Union Syndicate Council who left Yemen in 2015, seems less optimistic about an outright halt to hostilities in 2020.
He said the crisis is complicated, and without an agreement between non-Yemeni players, the country will not be stable.
“The war has exhausted Yemenis, raised poverty rates, and spread dangerous diseases and famine. The majority of Yemenis seek peace and security since they were affected by the war,” he added.

https://www.arabnews.com/node/1612671/middle-east

(* A P)

Security Council extends political mission overseeing peace agreement in Yemen for six months, unanimously adopting Resolution 2505

The Security Council today decided to extend for six months a United Nations political mission overseeing a peace agreement between the Government of Yemen and the Houthi militia in the port city of Hudaydah.

Adopting resolution 2505 (2020), the Council renewed the mandate of the United Nations Mission to Support the Hudaydah Agreement (UNMHA) until 15 July, continuing the tasks set out when it was established on 16 January 2019 through resolution 2452 (2019). (For information, see Press Release SC/13664.)

The Mission — which monitors the city and port of Hudaydah, as well as the ports of Salif and Ra’s Issa — will continue to lead and support the Redeployment Coordination Committee to oversee the redeployment of forces, mine action operations and the governate-wide ceasefire agreement reached in Stockholm in December 2018. UNMHA will monitor the compliance of parties to the Hudaydah Agreement and work with them so that security in Hudaydah’s city and port, and the ports of Salif and Ra’s Issa, is assured by local forces.

https://www.un.org/press/en/2020/sc14075.doc.htm

(A P)

Yemen [Hadi gov.] demands international pressures on Houthis to end war

Abdullah Al-Sa’di, Yemen’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations (UN) renewed calls by the Yemeni government to the UN Security Council (UNSC) to exercise more pressures on the Houthis rebels to implement the UNSC resolutions on Yemen to reach a comprehensive agreement to resolve the conflict.

https://www.alsahwa-yemen.net/en/p-37316

(A P)

Zahlungsverzug: Venezuela verliert Stimmrecht bei der UNO

Insgesamt zehn Länder, darunter Venezuela und der Libanon, verlieren ihr Stimmrecht in der Generalversammlung der Vereinten Nationen. Nach Angaben der multilateralen Organisation haben die genannten Staaten (Zentralafrikanische Republik, Somalia, Jemen, die Komoren, Gambia, Lesotho, São Tomé und Príncipe und Tonga) die Gebühren seit zwei Jahren nicht bezahlt.

https://latina-press.com/news/270062-zahlungsverzug-venezuela-verliert-stimmrecht-bei-der-uno/

(A P)

UN suspends Lebanon and Yemen voting rights over unpaid bills

The two countries must meet their minimum financial contributions before they can be allowed to vote again in the 74th session of the United Nations

https://www.thenational.ae/world/mena/un-suspends-lebanon-and-yemen-voting-rights-over-unpaid-bills-1.962860

cp8 Saudi-Arabien / Saudi Arabia

(A P)

Leading NGOs boycott Saudi Arabian G20 civil society talks

Three leading international NGOs announced on Monday they are boycotting meetings that Saudi Arabia is holding with civil society groups ahead of hosting this year’s Group of 20 summit, saying participating would lend legitimacy to a kingdom “trying to whitewash its dire human rights record.”

As Saudi Arabia begins its first meetings this week to kick off the dedicated meetings for civil society within the G20 known as the Civil 20 or C20, Berlin-based Transparency International said it would decline its invitation to be part of the process.

In a joint statement with Amnesty International, based in London, and the Johannesburg-based alliance of civil society organizations and activists known as CIVICUS, the anti-corruption watchdog said they were calling on other groups to join their boycott as well.

https://apnews.com/31aa4e97a99304f6e597cda12a5e88af

(A P)

Saudi TV bans Palestine announcer due to solidarity with Yemen

Director of Saudi sports channels, Ghanim Al-Qahtani, has banned Palestinian announcer, Razan Malash, from appearing on his channels after she tweeted in solidarity with Yemen, Shehab News Agency reported on Friday.

The ban came following controversy on social media among supporters of the Royal Court of Saudi Arabia, claiming that a tweet posted by the announcer was abusive towards the Kingdom.

Malash, who is a sports correspondent in Spain, tweeted: “The Saudi fighters only strike Yemen, not Israel.”

https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20200111-saudi-tv-bans-palestine-announcer-due-to-solidarity-with-yemen/

cp9 USA

Siehe / Look at cp1

(* B K P)

Iran-Krise als Innenpolitik – Das russische Fernsehen über die politische Woche in den USA

Die politische Woche in den USA wurde ebenfalls von den Vorgängen rund um den Iran bestimmt und dabei wird erst so richtig deutlich, wie sehr die Welt und unzählige Menschenleben einzig und allein von den innenpolitischen Grabenkämpfen und medialen Schlammschlachten in den USA abhängen.

Beginn der Übersetzung:

Die Krise, die die Vereinigten Staaten im Nahen Osten provoziert haben, hat auch eine inneramerikanische Dimension. Wie funktioniert die?

Die Proteste gegen die Ermordung von General Soleimani und die neue Krise um den Iran sind Teil der Geschichte des Amtsenthebungsverfahrens geworden.

Es gibt noch keine neuen Umfragen, aber erste Anzeichen deuten darauf hin, dass sieben von zehn Amerikanern besorgt sind, dass die USA beschließen könnten, übereilt militärische Gewalt gegen den Iran anzuwenden.

Dafür konnte man sich in Washington – wo es natürlich keine Spur eines moralischen Unbehagens über den Mord gab – nicht einigen. Es gibt keinen evidenzbasierten Grund für den Angriff. Es ist nicht klar, warum es so überstürzt passieren musste. Die neueste Version gab Trump im Interview mit Fox preis.

Der Präsident der Vereinigten Staaten verwechselt seine Aussagen. In nur 24 Stunden vervierfachte sich die Zahl der Botschaften, die der Kommandeur der al-Kuds-Einheit und seine Männer angeblich in die Luft sprengen wollten.

Die Anwesenheit paralleler Kommentare verschlimmert die Situation noch. Mike Pompeo, den US-Außenminister, hat die amerikanische Presse als den wichtigsten Drahtzieher des Angriffs auf Soleimani ausgemacht. Journalisten haben Zugang zum Außenminister und das bringt nicht nur ihn in eine dumme Situation.

Die Anwesenheit paralleler Kommentare verschlimmert die Situation noch. Mike Pompeo, den US-Außenminister, hat die amerikanische Presse als den wichtigsten Drahtzieher des Angriffs auf Soleimani ausgemacht. Journalisten haben Zugang zum Außenminister und das bringt nicht nur ihn in eine dumme Situation.

„Nach dem Angriff sagte Trump seinen Helfern, dass er, als er beschloss, General Soleimani zu liquidieren, unter dem Druck der republikanischen Senatoren stand, die er bei der bevorstehenden Anhörung über die Amtsenthebung im Senat als seine Verbündeten betrachtete.“, schreibt das Wall Street Journal.

Was die wirklichen Folgen des Schlages gegen Soleimani waren, scheint Trump erst an dem Morgen erkannt zu haben, als die Nachricht von der abgestürzten ukrainischen Boeing aus Teheran kam.

https://www.anti-spiegel.ru/2020/iran-krise-als-innenpolitik-das-russische-fernsehen-ueber-die-politische-woche-in-den-usa/

(A K P)

Trump Brags About Serving Up American Troops to Saudi Arabia for Nothing More Than Cash

Conservative Rep. Justin Amash, who was a Republican until recently, responded to Trump’s remarks, saying, “He sells troops”

During President Donald Trump’s interview with Fox News’ Laura Ingraham on Friday, the president spoke about his positive relationship with Saudi Arabia, including how the country is paying to use American troops. Conservative Rep. Justin Amash (I-Mich.), who until recently was a Republican, responded to Trump’s remarks in a tweet, saying, “He sells troops.”

“Saudi Arabia is paying us for [our troops]. We have a very good relationship with Saudi Arabia,” Trump said. “I said, listen, you’re a very rich country. You want more troops? I’m going to send them to you, but you’ve got to pay us. They’re paying us. They’ve already deposited $1 billion in the bank.”

Trump continued, talking about U.S. troops as, essentially, mercenaries. “We are going to help them, but these rich countries have to pay for it. South Korea gave us $500 million… I said, ‘You gotta help us along. We have 32,000 soldiers in South Korea protecting you from North Korea. You’ve gotta pay.'”

https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-news/trump-brags-about-serving-up-american-troops-to-saudi-arabia-for-cash-936623/

Film: https://twitter.com/atrupar/status/1216046574427693058

(* A P)

Sanders and Lee Call for Vote in the Senate for No War Against Iran Act

Today, Senators Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and Mike Lee (R-Utah) issued the following statement regarding the bipartisan No War Against Iran Act, introduced by Sanders and co-sponsored by Lee:

“As United States Senators, we often disagree on many issues. But standing up for the Constitution is not about partisanship. The Founding Fathers were absolutely clear. They wanted to ensure that our country avoided needless conflict and they understood that presidential war-making would be harmful to our democracy.

“That is why Article I of the Constitution vests Congress—and only Congress—with the power to declare war and to direct government spending. The American people’s elected representatives have a duty to publicly debate and vote on military action before we send our brave servicemembers into harm’s way or spend a penny on military hostilities.

"Our bill—the No War Against Iran Act—utilizes Congress’s power of the purse to block any funds from going to an unauthorized war with Iran. As our country faces the possibility of another devastating conflict in the Middle East that could cost countless lives and trillions of dollars, the Senate must vote on our legislation without delay.

“We are proud to have worked together in a bipartisan way to help end the disastrous, unauthorized U.S. war in Yemen

https://www.sanders.senate.gov/newsroom/press-releases/sanders-and-lee-call-for-vote-in-the-senate-for-no-war-against-iran-act

(* A P)

USA wollen saudi-arabische Militärschüler ausweisen

Die USA wollen Medienberichten nach mindestens zwölf Militärschüler aus Saudi-Arabien ausweisen. Ihnen würden extremistische Verbindungen und der Besitz von Kinderpornografie vorgeworfen, hieß es am Wochenende, unter anderem in der „Washington Post“. Die Vorwürfe seien Folge der Ermittlungen zu einem tödlichen Schusswaffenangriff auf einem US-Militärstützpunkt im Bundesstaat Florida letzten Dezember.

https://orf.at/stories/3150682/ = https://www.spiegel.de/politik/ausland/usa-wollen-saudi-arabische-militaerschueler-ausweisen-a-379770bc-1451-488d-aa09-059f9aae6cd0

(* A P)

First on CNN: More than a dozen Saudi servicemen to be expelled from US after review of December shooting at Naval Air Station

More than a dozen Saudi servicemen training at US military installations will be expelled from the United States after a review that followed the deadly shooting last month at a Naval Air Station in Pensacola, Florida, multiple sources told CNN.

The Saudis are not accused of aiding the 21-year-old Saudi Air Force second lieutenant who killed three American sailors in the December shooting, two sources said, but some are said to have connections to extremist movements, according to a person familiar with the situation.

A number are also accused of possessing child pornography, according to a defense official and the person familiar with the situation. The FBI and Justice Department declined to comment.

"In the wake of the Pensacola tragedy, the Department of Defense restricted to classroom training programs foreign military students from Saudi Arabia while we conducted a review and enhancement of our foreign student vetting procedures," said Lt. Col. Robert Carver, a spokesman for the Department of Defense. "That training pause is still in place while we implement new screening and security measures."

About a dozen Saudi trainees at the Pensacola base had been confined to their quarters as the FBI investigated the shooting as a potential terror attack, and the Pentagon initiated a review of all Saudi military trainees in the country, numbering around 850 students.

https://edition.cnn.com/2020/01/11/politics/saudi-servicemen-expelled-december-air-force-base-shooting/index.html

Comment: Why did Sec Pominio welcome #Saudi Deputy defense minister although he oversaw publication of anti-Semitic publications?

https://twitter.com/AliAlAhmed_en/status/1216189461912080384

(A P)

120 states protest US visa refusal for Zarif

The Non Aligned Movement (NAM ) members states in a communiqué protested the US visa refusal for Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif to attend UN Security Council session to hear Iran's complaint against the US over assassination of Iranian Commander in targeted airstrike.

https://en.irna.ir/news/83629075/120-states-protest-US-visa-refusal-for-Zarif

(B P)

Film: Democrats Pretend To Oppose Iran Attack They Enabled

Guest: Max Blumenthal

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rR2ZMduQE2s

(A P)

Film: Tulsi Gabbard slams Soleimani airstrike

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p1cOUisJKoE

(B P)

Film: No war on Iran: How to revive the anti-war movement in the US

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2aptiRf5-vI

(* B K P)

Film: The News with Rick Sanchez - January 8, 2020 (20:00 ET)

Who makes the real decisions regarding endless US wars? And do those that profit from such wars really care whether Washington accomplishes its purported goals? Rick Sanchez explains.

Then former Pentagon official Michael Maloof and former US diplomat Jim Jatras share their insights.

Former West Point Instructor and retired officer Maj. Danny Sjursen weighs in.

https://www.rt.com/shows/news-with-rick-sanchez/477774-news-with-rick-sanchez-january/

(A P)

College director fired after joking Iran should make list of US cultural sites to bomb: 'Mall of America? Kardashian residence?'

Babson College says it conducted a 'thorough investigation' into the joke before firing director of sustainability after 15 years on with school

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politics/iran-news-college-professor-fired-boston-babson-wellesley-trump-cultural-sites-bomb-a9278381.html

(A K P)

Film: "We've got him lined up Adam! You little pencil neck. He has the smallest shirt collar you can get, and it is loose." -- Trump heaps abuse on Adam Schiff while mocking him for demanding congressional oversight of military strikes

https://twitter.com/atrupar/status/1215435029393952770

(* A K P)

Trump officials didn't tell Senate that Soleimani plot allegedly targeted four embassies

Administration officials who briefed senators this week on the U.S. strike that killed Iranian military leader Qassem Soleimani did not tell the senators that there was also an attempt the same day to target the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) leader in Yemen, two sources familiar with the briefing told CBS News.

Senators were also not apprised of a plot to target four U.S. embassies in the region, which President Trump disclosed during an interview to air Friday evening with Fox News' Laura Ingraham. Mr. Trump also told Ingraham that the embassy in Baghdad was "probably" among the targets.

The sources said based on what was relayed in the briefing, a plot against a U.S. embassy or embassies would be plausible. But this was not specifically disclosed by the briefers. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, CIA Director Gina Haspel, Defense Secretary Mark Esper, Joint Chiefs Chairman Mark Milley and acting Director of National Intelligence Joseph Maguire briefed the House and Senate on Wednesday.

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/trump-officials-didnt-tell-senate-that-iranian-general-qassem-soleimani-plot-targeted-four-embassies-2020-01-10/

My remark: This claim obviously has been invented later to silence critics, look at https://edition.cnn.com/middleeast/live-news/baghdad-airport-strike-live-intl-hnk/h_4124040d53c4e905f8178422f3c20c31

cp9a1 USA-Iran Krise: Wachsende Spannungen am Golf: Deutsch / US-Iran crisis: Mounting tensions at the Gulf: German

(* A K P)

Newsblog zum Iran-Konflikt

https://www.t-online.de/nachrichten/id_87140110/iran-konflikt-pelosi-mit-hidschab-trump-teilt-verunglimpfende-fotomontage.html

(A P)

Riskante Mission

Japan: Die Entsendung eines Zerstörers zum Golf bricht mit pazifistischen Grundsätzen

https://www.freitag.de/autoren/the-guardian/riskante-mission

(B P)

Machtlose Europäer?

Nahost: Wer denkt, die EU habe durch die Krise keine Perspektiven, hat die neue Geopolitik nicht verstanden

https://www.freitag.de/autoren/der-freitag/machtlose-europaeer-wer-so-redet-hat-die-neue-geopolitik-nicht-verstanden

(* A K P)

Videos zeigen Polizeigewalt gegen Demonstranten im Iran

Menschen laufen in Panik weg, Blut ist auf den Straßen zu sehen. Im Iran kommt es bei Protesten gegen die Regierung zu Gewalt. Die Demonstranten beschuldigen die Einsatzkräfte. Die wichtigsten Entwicklungen im Live-Ticker.

https://www.welt.de/politik/ausland/live204792166/Proteste-nach-Flugzeugabschuss-Videos-zeigen-Polizeigewalt-gegen-Demonstranten-im-Iran.html

(* B K P)

Wie in Russland über die Iran-Krise berichtet wird

Die Iran-Krise und das abgeschossene ukrainische Flugzeug waren ebenfalls Thema in der russischen Sendung „Nachrichten der Woche“ und es ist ausgesprochen interessant, wie anders die Dinge in Russland gesehen werden.

Der Absturz der ukrainischen Boeing ist eine direkte Folge der Eskalation und ohne dem Iran die Verantwortung zu entziehen, dürfen wir nicht vergessen, wer den ersten Schuss abgefeuert hat. Washington wird sicherlich versuchen, die iranische Ehrlichkeit auszunutzen.

https://www.anti-spiegel.ru/2020/wie-in-russland-ueber-die-iran-krise-berichtet-wird/

(* B K P)

Soleimani: «Tot» und «Tötung» oder «Mord» und «ermordet»

Der Sprachgebrauch deckt auf, welche Medien nicht im Klartext informieren, wenn es um die befreundeten USA geht.
Der Anschlag auf Kassem Soleimani war zweifelsfrei geplant und gewollt und ist deshalb ein Mord oder eine Hinrichtung. Die «Sonntags-Zeitung» nannte es in einem Kommentar eine «Exekution».
Der Mord als «Präventivmassnahme» verstösst gegen das Völkerrecht, weil die USA nicht unmittelbar bedroht waren.
Klar, dass die PR-Maschinerie der Trump-Administration von einer mehr als nur gerechtfertigten Tötung redet. Das sollen Medien auch so im Originaltext zitieren. Aber wenn sie selber diese Terminologie übernehmen und zur eigenen machen, müssen sie sich den Vorwurf der einseitigen Stellungnahme gefallen lassen.

https://www.infosperber.ch/Artikel/Medien/Soleimani-Tot-und-Totung-oder-Mord-und-Ermordung

(* B K P)

USA mauern beim Irak-Abzug – Verstoß gegen Völkerrecht?
Iraks Präsident Abdel Mahdi hat die USA aufgefordert, einen “sicheren Abzug” ihrer Truppen zu veranlassen. In Washington will man davon nichts wissen. Doch ein Verbleib wäre ein Verstoß gegen Völkerrecht. (…)

https://www.t-online.de/nachrichten/id_87130332/iran-konflikt-usa-mauern-beim-irak-abzug-verstoss-gegen-voelkerrecht-.html

(* B K P)

Alexander Neu über den Verbleib ausländischer Streitkräfte im Irak
Hier der entscheidende Auszug aus dem von mir in Auftrag gegebenen #Gutachten des Wissenschaftlichen Dienstes des Deutschen Bundestages zum Verbleib ausländischer Streitkräfte auf dem Territorium des #Irak gegen den erklärten Willen der irakischen Regierung. (…)

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10157922443974350&set=a.10151731967204350&type=3&theater

(* B K P)

Film: Aufstehen im Gespräch: Oskar Lafontaine über die Eskalation im Vorderen Orient

https://vimeo.com/384247059

(* B K P)

Schwerer Kollateralschaden

Was schon vermutet wurde, ist nun klar: Die kriegerische Konfrontation USA-Iran hat erstmals zivile Opfer unbeteiligter Staaten gefordert
Krisenregionen sind seit jeher Risikozonen für die zivile Luftfahrt. Doch hat es mit dem Abschuss und Absturz der ukrainischen Passagiermaschine bei Teheran noch einmal eine besondere Bewandtnis. Die 176 Toten von Flug PS752 der Ukraine International Airlines, deren Maschine Minuten nach dem Start brennend aus den Wolken fiel, wurden zu Opfern des am Rande eines großen Schlagabtauschs wandelnden Konflikts zwischen den USA und dem Iran. Damit freilich sind die Ursachen dieser Katastrophe unzureichend beschrieben. Was am 8. Januar am frühen Morgen geschah, war auch eine alles andere als zufällige Folge der von Präsident Trump zusätzlich geschürten Spannungen, wie sie durch den Anschlag auf den iranischen General Soleimani ausgelöst und offenkundig gewollt wurden.
Selbstredend besteht zwischen direkten Tätern und mittelbaren Verursachern ein Unterschied. Doch ist der mehr juristischer als politischer Natur. Unbestreitbar ist: Eine seit der Kündigung des Atomvertrages auf der Schwelle zur kriegerischen Konfrontation wandelnde Feindschaft fordert erstmals zivile Opfer unbeteiligter Staaten.

https://www.freitag.de/autoren/lutz-herden/schwerer-kollateralschaden

(* B K P)

Die Gewinner von Trumps Kriegspolitik sind BlackRock und Co.

Als Donald Trump am 3. Januar das Attentat auf den iranischen General Soleimani anordnete, knallten bei einigen „Investoren“ die Sektkorken. Binnen weniger Minuten schossen die Aktienkurse der großen amerikanischen Rüstungskonzerne um durchschnittlich fünf Prozent in die Höhe. Der Gewinn, der dadurch alleine bei vier der großen Rüstungskonzerne entstand, liegt bei rund 18 Milliarden US-Dollar. Die größten Aktionäre dieser Konzerne sind durch die Bank weg die drei gigantischen Finanzkonzerne BlackRock, Vanguard und State Street, die zusammen im Schnitt mit mehr als 20 Prozent an diesen Konzernen beteiligt sind, also durch das Attentat fast vier Milliarden US-Dollar Gewinn machten.

https://www.nachdenkseiten.de/?p=57612

(* A P)

Proteste im Iran weiten sich aus – offenbar Ausschreitungen

https://www.t-online.de/nachrichten/ausland/id_87137748/nach-flugzeugabschuss-proteste-im-iran-weiten-sich-aus-offenbar-ausschreitungen.html

(* A K P)

US-Verteidigungsminister räumt dürre Beweislage für Bedrohungen ein

Donald Trump verdächtigte den getöteten iranischen General, Angriffe auf vier US-Botschaften geplant zu haben. Beweise habe es keine gegeben, sagte nun Mark Esper.
US-Verteidigungsminister Mark Esper hat nach eigenen Angaben keine harten Beweise für eine Bedrohung von vier US-Botschaften durch den bei einem Luftschlag getöteten iranischen General Kassem Soleimani gesehen. Damit widersprach er indirekt Aussagen von US-Präsident Donald Trump.

https://www.zeit.de/politik/ausland/2020-01/us-verteidigungsminister-mark-esper-donald-trump-kassem-soleimani-botschaften

und auch https://www.zdf.de/nachrichten/heute/kein-beweis-fuer-angriffsplaene-esper-bezweifelt-soleimani-toetung-100.html

(A K P)

Irak: Raketen schlagen in US-Luftwaffenbasis ein - vier Verletzte

https://web.de/magazine/politik/nahostkonflikt/irak-raketen-schlagen-us-luftwaffenbasis-verletzte-34337658

(* A K P)

Newsblog zum Iran-Konflikt

Pentagon: Es gab keine Hinweise auf iranische Anschlagspläne

Laut Pentagon hatten die USA doch keine Hinweise auf Anschlagspläne der Iraner, bevor sie Soleimani töteten. Im Irak ist derweil erneut ein Stützpunkt beschossen worden. Alle Infos im Newsblog.

https://www.t-online.de/nachrichten/ausland/internationale-politik/id_87084270/iran-konflikt-usa-gab-keine-hinweise-auf-iranische-anschlagsplaene.html

(A P)

Großbritannien empört über Botschafter-Festnahme in Teheran

https://web.de/magazine/politik/grossbritannien-empoert-botschafter-festnahme-teheran-34336370

(* A K P)

Newsblog zum Iran-Konflikt: "Luke Skywalker" kontert Trump nach Iran-Tweet

https://www.t-online.de/nachrichten/ausland/internationale-politik/id_87084270/iran-konflikt-luke-skywalker-kontert-donald-trump-nach-iran-tweet.html

(* A K P)

Newsblog zum Iran-Konflikt: Demonstranten in Teheran fordern Chameneis Rücktritt

https://www.t-online.de/nachrichten/ausland/internationale-politik/id_87084270/iran-konflikt-demonstranten-in-teheran-fordern-chameneis-ruecktritt.html

(* A K P)

Flugzeugabsturz: Iran räumt versehentlichen Abschuss ein – Die merkwürdige Reaktion der Medien

https://www.anti-spiegel.ru/2020/flugzeugabsturz-iran-raeumt-versehentlichen-abschuss-ein-die-merkwuerdige-reaktion-der-medien/

(** B K P)

Ex-CIA-Agent Robert Baer: "Iran ist der Gewinner im Schlagabtausch mit den USA"

RB: Donald Trump behauptete in seiner Rede, die amerikanische Bevölkerung solle "äußerst dankbar und glücklich" sein. – "Der Iran scheint klein beizugeben." Vizepräsident Michael Pence sagte danach, "dass wir heute sicherer sind" als vor dem Mord an Ghassem Soleimani. Das ist völliger Unsinn, denn weder war ein lebender Soleimani eine akute Gefahr für die USA, noch wurde die Position Irans durch die Ermordung nachhaltig geschwächt. Soleimanis Nachfolger, Esmail Ghaani, hat ja auch bestätigt, dass er den Kurs seines ermordeten Vorgängers fortsetzen wird.

Der Drohnenkrieg wird doch aber vom Pentagon als beispiellose Erfolgsgeschichte interpretiert?

Ich kann Ihnen nur so viel mitteilen, dass man Stellungnahmen und Behauptungen von Geheimdiensten und Verteidigungsministerien mit größter Skepsis begegnen sollte. Der massive Einsatz von Drohnen wurde unter Obamas Präsidentschaft forciert. Damals behauptete die CIA, dass Al-Qaida damit ausgeschaltet wurde – eine These, die höchst zweifelhaft ist. Drohnen stiften in erster Linie Chaos, verbreiten Angst, töten viele unschuldige Zivilisten. Folgt man der These, dass durch das gezielte Töten durch Drohnen ein schnelleres Kriegsende erreichbar ist – oder wie im Falle Soleimani behauptet, Gefahren abgewehrt wurden –, so ist das falsch. Durch den Einsatz von Drohnen wurden weder Gefahren abgewehrt noch Frieden erreicht. Im Gegenteil: Die USA sind heute viel stärker in die Konflikte im Nahen und Mittleren Osten verwickelt.

Trumps Strategie gegen den Iran ist also gescheitert?

Trump hat überhaupt keine Strategie und sein Umfeld hat auch keinerlei Kenntnisse über die Mentalität der Iraner. Durch den Angriff auf die US-Basen im Irak hat Teheran bewiesen, dass es mit erstaunlicher Präzision US-Ziele in der Region treffen kann. Die Tatsache, dass die USA indirekt vom Iran gewarnt wurden, um Tote auf amerikanischer Seite zu vermeiden, ändert nichts an der Tatsache, dass niemand in der Lage war, die Raketen abzufangen. Die Experten sind darüber erstaunt, mit welcher Präzision zugeschlagen wurde, auch wenn man das öffentlich nicht zugibt. Die ballistische Kompetenz der Iraner ist Fakt und zugleich Warnung, dass im Falle eines Krieges mit hohen US-Verlusten zu rechnen ist. Den USA gelang es nicht, mit ihrem Luftabwehrsystem die einfliegenden Raketen abzufangen – trotz der Vorwarnung aus Teheran.

Haben die USA die Reaktion des Iran unterschätzt?

Ja. Der Iran ist der Gewinner in diesem Schlagabtausch. Es ist Teheran gelungen, den Konflikt von einer drohenden militärischen Eskalation wieder auf die politische Ebene zu tragen. Persönlich wundere ich mich darüber, dass niemand das Weiße Haus über die möglichen Folgen des Attentats auf Soleimani informiert hatte. Trumps Stellungnahme, sein Auftreten und seine Aussagen unterstreichen das. Letztendlich gestand er sein Scheitern ein, als er die Nato dazu aufforderte, die meines Wissen zuvor nicht informiert wurde, sich zukünftig stärker in der Region zu engagieren.

https://www.t-online.de/nachrichten/id_87128758/ex-cia-agent-robert-baer-iran-ist-der-gewinner-in-diesem-schlagabtausch-.html

(A K P)

USA kündigen zusätzliche Sanktionen an

Wegen des Raketenangriffs auf US-Truppen im Irak haben die USA Sanktionen gegen den Iran erlassen. Betroffen seien unter anderem die Textil- und die Bergbauindustrie.

https://www.zeit.de/video/2020-01/6121709426001/iran-usa-usa-kuendigen-zusaetzliche-sanktionen-an

(* A K P)

Newsblog zum Iran-Konflikt: USA scheiterten offenbar mit Angriff auf weiteren Iran-Militär

https://www.t-online.de/nachrichten/ausland/internationale-politik/id_87084270/usa-scheiterten-offenbar-mit-angriff-auf-weiteren-iran-militaer.html

(** A K P)

Iran räumt "versehentlichen" Flugzeug-Abschuss ein

Nach tagelangen Dementis hat der Iran nun doch eingeräumt, für den Absturz des ukrainischen Passagierflugzeugs mit 176 Opfern verantwortlich zu sein. Das Militär habe die Maschine "unbeabsichtigt" abgeschossen, es handele sich um einen "menschlichen Fehler", hieß es am Samstagmorgen in einer Presseerklärung im Staatsfernsehen. Die iranischen Streitkräfte bedauerten den Vorfall. Zuvor hatte der Iran einen Abschuss der Maschine vehement bestritten und erklärt, eine technische Ursache habe zu der Katastrophe geführt.

Nach Angaben der Streitkräfte gab es an dem Unglückstag mehrere US-Drohungen, iranische Ziele anzugreifen. Daher habe im iranischen Militär "höchste Alarmbereitschaft" geherrscht. Nachdem sich dann die ukrainische Maschine einer "strategisch wichtigen Militäranlage" genähert habe, sei dies "versehentlich" als eine Drohung eingestuft und die Maschine abgeschossen worden, hieß es in der Presseerklärung.

In der iranischen Pressemitteilung hieß es weiter, die für den Abschuss verantwortliche Person werde vor ein Militärgericht gestellt, es werde wegen des "unbeabsichtigten Abschusses" juristisch vorgegangen.

https://www.t-online.de/nachrichten/ausland/krisen/id_87131118/ukrainische-boeing-iran-raeumt-versehentlichen-flugzeug-abschuss-ein.html

und

(* A K P)

Ruhani: Flugzeug-Abschuss war ein "katastrophaler Fehler"

https://www.t-online.de/nachrichten/ausland/internationale-politik/id_87084270/iran-konflikt-ruhani-flugzeug-abschuss-war-ein-katastrophaler-fehler-.html

und auch https://www.t-online.de/nachrichten/ausland/krisen/id_87131118/ukrainische-boeing-iran-raeumt-versehentlichen-flugzeug-abschuss-ein.html

(* A K P)

Newsblog zum Iran: Ukraine hat Zugang zu den Blackboxen des Flugzeugs

https://www.t-online.de/nachrichten/ausland/internationale-politik/id_87084270/iran-konflikt-usa-verhaengen-neue-sanktionen-gegen-iran.html

(** B K P)

52 Geiseln gleich 52 Ziele

Nach dem Attentat auf General Soleimani schwimmt Präsident Trump auf einer Woge der Zustimmung und ist plötzlich um Deeskalation bemüht

Team Trump ist offenbar davon überzeugt – und will dies auch der eigenen Bevölkerung vermitteln –, dass die iranische Regierung sich zurückhalten wird bei der Antwort auf die „gezielte Tötung“ ihres Generals Qasem Soleimani. Den habe man ausschalten müssen, aus Überlebensgründen und weil die USA nun einmal die Weltmacht seien.

Ob der Präsident die Entscheidung nun auf dem Golfplatz getroffen hat oder sonst wo: Die gezielte Tötung von Soleimani war offenbar alles andere als „unüberlegt“

Gezieltes Töten und eine asymmetrische Kriegsführung mit Drohnen bei minimalem eigenen Risiko haben Kriege beeinflusst und Regionen verändert. Die Präsidenten George W. Bush und Barack Obama führten das bereits vor. Trump fährt beim Feldherr-Spielen zweigleisig. Einerseits betont er Amerikas Stärke und droht. Andererseits will er angeblich kein Weltpolizist sein und ist zurückhaltend bei Situationen, die ihm politisch schaden könnten. Drohnen und Luftangriffe sind für dieses Kalkül ideale Werkzeuge.

Außenminister Mike Pompeo hat offenbar den Auftrag übernommen, den Anschlag in TV-Shows zu begründen und Trumps Drohgebärden präsentabel zu machen.

Friedenskundgebungen sind minimal. Ein paar Hundert Leute waren es vor dem Weißen Haus, mit recycelten Plakaten gegen einen Krieg mit Iran. Bei der Iran-Frage ist Trump gar nicht so isoliert.

Mike Pompeo gilt als harter Hund beim Thema Iran. Bereits 2014 empfahl er, damals noch Kongressabgeordneter, man solle einen Angriff auf dessen Atomkapazitäten in Erwägung ziehen. Trumps Drohungen sind auch nicht neu. Sie ziehen sich durch seinen gesamten Präsidentschaftswahlkampf von 2016 und die bisherige Amtsführung. „Wenn Iran kämpfen will, wird dies das offizielle Ende von Iran sein“, teilte er einmal mit.

Überheblichkeit hat in den USA Tradition bei offiziellen Analysen zu Kriegen und bei der Planung im Nahen Osten. Von den selbstgefälligen Urteilen der vermeintlichen Experten hat man sich bei George W. Bushs Irak-Invasion 2003 überzeugen können

Für den Anschlag auf Soleimani gibt es Rückhalt im US-Militär.

Neues Themen-Ranking

Zugute kommt Trump: Iran ist ein Sonderfall für die US-Politik. Der Staat hat keine Freunde in den USA, seit der Geiselnahme von Botschaftsangehörigen in Teheran von Ende 1979 bis Anfang 1981.

Und jetzt? Möglicherweise kollidiert Trumps Realität mit der Wirklichkeit. Er spielt mit dem Feuer – von Konrad Ege

https://www.freitag.de/autoren/der-freitag/52-geiseln-gleich-52-ziele

(** B K P)

Das letzte Bollwerk

Iran ist im Visier, weil das Land die Vorherrschaft der USA stört

Washington hat die Kunst, die Hardliner in Iran auf Kosten der Pragmatiker im Umfeld von Präsident Rohani zu stärken, vervollkommnet.

Jede sachliche Auseinandersetzung mit iranischer Politik sieht sich einem Dilemma ausgesetzt. Die politische und mediale Einordnung Teherans folgt meist einem schlichten Gut-Böse-Schema. Hier der aufgeklärte, rechtsstaatlich orientierte Westen, dort fanatische Mullahs, die ihr Volk unterdrücken und Israel vernichten wollen. Dieses Narrativ ist arg simpel, aber wirkmächtig. Es gibt nichts zu beschönigen am iranischen Regime, doch wer beispielsweise wen in der Region zu vernichten trachtet, darüber ließe sich trefflich streiten. Argumente allerdings greifen dort nicht, wo transatlantische Bilderwelten die eigenen Überzeugungen prägen.

Die USA beanspruchen, gemeinsam mit ihren regionalen Verbündeten Israel und Saudi-Arabien, die Vorherrschaft im Nahen und Mittleren Osten. Iran ist hier das letzte verbliebene Bollwerk, das es zu schleifen gilt – um gleichzeitig Teherans Verbündete Moskau und Peking auf Distanz zu halten. Das ist der Kern des Konflikts, der sich derzeit gefährlich zuspitzt.

Entgegen vorherrschender Überzeugung besteht die iranische Führung keineswegs aus irrationalen Brandstiftern. Gerade in der Außenpolitik hat sie, etwa im Zuge der Atomverhandlungen, Verhandlungsgeschick ebenso bewiesen wie Verlässlichkeit. Nach Washingtons Aufkündigung des Atomdeals und der Einführung völkerrechtswidriger Sanktionen, mit denen die USA auch Drittstaaten jeden Handel mit Iran unter Strafandrohung untersagen, hat Teheran sich ein Jahr lang, bis zum Mai 2019, weiterhin an das Abkommen gehalten. Doch die iranische Hoffnung, Deutschland, Großbritannien und Frankreich würden den wirtschaftlichen Schaden der Sanktionen zumindest teilweise kompensieren oder auf die USA einwirken, sie wenigstens abzuschwächen, erfüllte sich nicht.

Daraufhin änderte Teheran seine Strategie und reagierte auf die Politik des maximalen Drucks aus Washington mit maximalem Gegendruck. Das Ergebnis war die Eskalation der Spannungen im Persischen Golf

Washington setzt nicht auf einen Ausgleich mit Teheran, sondern auf Kapitulation, idealerweise einen Regimewechsel. Die iranische Führung weiß sehr genau, dass sie seit den frühen 1990er Jahren im Visier steht und mit einem Angriff, mit Krieg rechnen muss. Da die iranische Armee im Ernstfall den USA militärisch nicht gewachsen wäre, setzt sie auf asymmetrische Kriegsführung. Das erklärt, warum Teheran schiitische und proiranische Milizen im Irak, in Syrien und im Libanon unterstützt oder geschaffen hat. Im Kriegsfall würden diese Stellvertreter die vorderste Verteidigungslinie bilden und könnten gleichzeitig die US-Verbündeten Israel und Saudi-Arabien leichter angreifen. Man muss diese Strategie nicht gut finden, aber man sollte sie verstehen, um iranische Politik sachlich und nicht ideologisch zu beurteilen – von Michael Lüders

https://www.freitag.de/autoren/der-freitag/das-letzte-bollwerk#1578581731057576

(* B K P)

Film: Bernd Erbel über die Rolle des Iran im Irak

Ausschnitt aus dem Gespräch mit Bernd Erbel (Deutscher Botschafter a. D.)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lv6PqxlKDcQ

in voller Länge: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6K9-NbqQ8p0

und wie „Bild“ darauf reagiert: https://www.bild.de/politik/ausland/politik-inland/instex-deutscher-ex-diplomat-stolpert-ueber-skandal-auftritte-bei-youtube-63841386.bild.html

(* B K P)

Kassem Soleimani soll Angriff auf vier US-Botschaften geplant haben

In einem Interview begründet Donald Trump die Tötung des iranischen Generals. Laut Medien sollte zugleich ein weiterer Kommandeur im Jemen getötet werden. Dies misslang

https://www.zeit.de/politik/ausland/2020-01/donald-trump-kassem-soleimani-iran-jemen-drohnenangriff-al-kuds-brigaden

(* B K P)

Hier wird eine Gretchenfrage gestellt, aber nicht korrekt

https://www.nachdenkseiten.de/?p=57585#h01

zu

Krise im Nahen Osten: “Das Völkerrecht wird zurechtgebogen”

https://www.tagesschau.de/ausland/voelkerrecht-100jahre-usa-iran-irak-syrien-interview-101.html

(* B K P)

Worin liegt die legitime Grundlage der gezielten Tötung durch die USA?

http://german.cri.cn/kommentar/alle/3259/20200110/405279.html

(* B K P)

Kräftemessen am Golf: USA und Russland müssen neuen Player auf dem Schirm haben

Im Pulverfass Mittlerer Osten bekriegen sich nicht nur Regionalmächte und Milizen untereinander. Auch Supermächte wie die USA, Russland und neuerdings China lassen in der Region rund um den Persischen Golf die Muskeln spielen.

USA gegen Iran, Weltmacht gegen Regionalmacht, Demokratie gegen Gottesstaat – der Nahe Osten ist seit Jahrzehnten Schauplatz eines Kräftemessens zwischen den beiden Nationen. Der Konflikt ist inzwischen jedoch so komplex, dass die Region rund um den Persischen Golf längst zum Spielball anderer Großmächte geworden ist.

So mischen auch Russlands Präsident Wladimir Putin, der türkische Präsident Recep Tayyip Erdogan und China mit, wenn es um geopolitische Interessen in der Region geht. Ein Überblick über die Mächte, die im Mittleren Osten die Muskeln spielen lassen.

China: Künftiger Big Player im Nahen Osten?

Immer größeren Einfluss gewinnt die Volksrepublik China, die zum großen Profiteur der aktuellen Spannungen werden könnte. Während sich andere Großnationen wie die Vereinigten Staaten und Russland primär militärisch engagieren, verfolgt China vor allem wirtschaftliche Interessen in der Region. Dubai etwa ist für China ein wichtiger Finanz- und Geschäftsplatz, an dem mehr als 4000 chinesische Unternehmen sitzen.

2016 schwang sich China zum größten ausländischen Investor im Nahen Osten auf und gewinnt laut Experten seither weiter an wirtschaftlichem Einfluss in der Region.

Chinas opportunistische Reaktion auf die Eskalation der Spannungen zwischen den USA und dem Iran ist instinktiv“, analysiert China-Expertin Yun Sun vom Nonprofit-Think-Tank Stimson Center.

https://www.focus.de/politik/irankrise/wer-welche-interessen-hat-die-player-im-nahen-osten_id_11534912.html

(* B K P)

Film: Pulverfass Nahost: Trump legt die Lunte, die Bundesregierung zündelt mit

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1OgRljPfgMM

(* B K P)

Film: Der Konflikt zwischen dem Iran und den USA

Eure Fragen an Natalie Amiri

https://www.facebook.com/Weltspiegel/videos/857596224662038/

dazu https://www.nachdenkseiten.de/?p=57588#h02

(* B K P)

Film: Der Rote Platz #64: Das Pentagon ist eine Mörder-GmbH
USA wütet gegen Iran und Irak

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=srNjwkc01cw

(B K P)

Audio: „Irans Vergeltungsschlag im Rahmen des Völkerrechts“: Interview mit MdB Alexander Neu (Die Linke)

https://soundcloud.com/sna-radio/irans-vergeltungsschlag-im-rahmen-des-volkerrechts-interview-mit-mdb-alexander-neu-die-linke

(* B K P)

Film: Markus Lanz vom 8. Januar 2020
Zu Gast: der Politiker Gregor Gysi, die Theologin Margot Käßmann, Nahost-Experte Michael Lüders und der Politikwissenschaftler Andrew Denison

https://www.zdf.de/gesellschaft/markus-lanz/markus-lanz-vom-8-januar-2020-100.html

dazu: https://www.nachdenkseiten.de/?p=57588#h02

(B K P)

Film: Was die Syrer vom USA-Iran-Konflikt halten – Karin Leukefeld berichtet aus Damaskus

https://deutsch.rt.com/der-nahe-osten/96636-was-syrer-vom-usa-iran/

(B K P)

So schweigt sich Europa geopolitisch in die 3. Liga
Donald Trump schiesst – und Europa schweigt. Noch gäbe es unmissverständliche Massnahmen, den USA die rote Karte zu zeigen

https://www.infosperber.ch/Artikel/Politik/USA-Ermordung-Soleimani-Europa-Reaktion-Schweigen

(* B K P)

Irans Kämpfernetzwerk

Im Kräftemessen mit den USA setzt Iran auf seine Armee - und auf ein Netzwerk von Schattenkriegern in vielen Staaten des Nahen Ostens. Wie das Regime aufgestellt ist, zeigt der Grafiküberblick.

https://www.spiegel.de/politik/ausland/iran-teherans-kaempfernetzwerk-ueberblick-in-grafiken-a-2d8f9298-f407-43e9-93ce-8a1a49d37a72

(* B K P)

«Iran wartet geduldig auf die Gelegenheit, sich zu rächen. Auge um Auge»

Die Tötung von Kassem Soleimani werde Iran als Regionalmacht und die Hardliner in Teheran nicht schwächen, sondern stärken, sagt Iran-Experte Ervand Abrahamian.

https://nzzas.nzz.ch/international/kassem-soleimani-warum-sein-tod-die-hardliner-in-iran-staerkt-ld.1531936?reduced=true

cp9a2 USA-Iran Krise: Wachsende Spannungen am Golf: Englisch / US-Iran crisis: Mounting tensions at the Gulf: English

(A K P)

Iran Strongly Condemns UK’s Positions, Remarks about General Soleimani’s assassination

https://www.presstv.com/Detail/2020/01/13/616117/Foreign-Ministry-Iran-Britain-statement-Soleimani

(* B K P)

Trump authorized Soleimani's killing 7 months ago, with conditions

The timing raises new questions about the Trump administration's stated justification for taking out the top Iranian general.

President Donald Trump authorized the killing of Iranian Gen. Qassem Soleimani seven months ago if Iran's increased aggression resulted in the death of an American, according to five current and former senior administration officials.

The presidential directive in June came with the condition that Trump would have final signoff on any specific operation to kill Soleimani, officials said.

That decision explains why assassinating Soleimani was on the menu of options that the military presented to Trump two weeks ago for responding to an attack by Iranian proxies in Iraq, in which a U.S. contractor was killed and four U.S. service members were wounded, the officials said.

The timing, however, could undermine the Trump administration's stated justification for ordering the U.S. drone strike that killed Soleimani in Baghdad on Jan. 3. Officials have said Soleimani, the leader of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps' elite Quds Force, was planning imminent attacks on Americans and had to be stopped.

After Iran shot down a U.S. drone in June, John Bolton, Trump's national security adviser at the time, urged Trump to retaliate by signing off on an operation to kill Soleimani, officials said. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo also wanted Trump to authorize the assassination, officials said.

But Trump rejected the idea, saying he'd take that step only if Iran crossed his red line: killing an American. The president's message was "that's only on the table if they hit Americans," according to a person briefed on the discussion.

https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/national-security/trump-authorized-soleimani-s-killing-7-months-ago-conditions-n1113271

and also https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2020/01/trump-approved-soleimani-killing-conditions-june-report-200113143321384.html

https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/donald-trump-authorized-soleimanis-killing-7-months-ago

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politics/trump-soleimani-death-assassination-airstrike-drone-approved-presidential-directive-iran-iraq-a9281801.html

(* B K P)

Israeli intel helped the US assassinate Soleimani - report

Israeli intelligence was instrumental in the successful US assassination of the head of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) Quds Force, Maj.-Gen. Qasem Soleimani, NBC News reported on Sunday.

According to NBC and Reuters, informants in Damascus were able to tip off the CIA about exactly which plane Soleimani would be on, which Israeli intelligence confirmed and verified.

https://www.jpost.com/Middle-East/Israeli-intel-helped-the-US-assassinate-Soleimani-report-613899

(A P)

Japan pursues regional diplomacy to defuse Gulf tensions

Japan, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates should work together to de-escalate the tense situation in the Gulf, a Japanese foreign ministry official said on Monday, relaying comments by Prime Minister Shinzo Abe.

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-emirates-japan-abe/japan-pursues-regional-diplomacy-to-defuse-gulf-tensions-idUSKBN1ZC23C

(** B P)

The west is still buying into nonsense claims about Iran’s regional influence

[In 1991,] Coalition forces stood aside as Saddam’s tanks, with helicopters overhead, smashed their way into Shia cities like Karbala, Najaf and Basra, and then began their mass executions.

Three decades later, the US and its allies are still making the same mistake, treating the millions of Shia in Iraq, Lebanon, Syria, Bahrain, Yemen and Afghanistan as if they were Iranian agents.

Down the centuries, the Shia have been one of the most savagely persecuted religious minorities; they fear today that in the wake of the assassination of Qassem Soleimani, they are once again being demonised, as Donald Trump denounces all who oppose the US in the Middle East as Iranian proxies.

Yousif al-Khoei, the grandson of the grand ayatollah and the head of the London-based Al-Khoei Foundation, told me that the confrontation between Iran and the US was already leading to “the rise of anti-Shia sentiment”. He receives many calls from non-political but very worried Shia who hear what they interpret as crude anti-Shia propaganda being spouted in Washington.

“The threat to demolish ‘cultural sites’ in Iran was shocking to hear from a US president,” said Khoei. “Ordinary Shia express fear that this may mean attacking our holy places and institutions where faith and culture are intertwined.” He told me how young Shia are angered by potential “gross violation of the Shia faith” by US threats to holy sites and shrines that have only recently been targeted by Isis. “We are still recovering from the losses Isis inflicted on the Shia,” he said.

One of the most significant developments in the Middle East since 1945 has been the rise of the previously marginalised and impoverished Shia communities in many – though not all – of the region’s countries.

Yet American and British politicians too often treat the rise of the Shia as if this was purely the outcome of unjustifiable Iranian interference. Western leaders find it convenient to adopt the anti-Shia propaganda line pumped out by Sunni states like Saudi Arabia, which persecutes its own Shia minority, and Bahrain, which has an even more oppressed Shia majority.

In both countries, Shia demanding civil rights are punished as terrorists and alleged proxies of Iran. Often, the Sunni authorities are convinced by their own propaganda – by Patrick Cockburn

https://www.independent.co.uk/voices/iran-iraq-middle-east-crisis-shia-proxy-influence-a9278696.html?amp

(* A K P)

Iran's 'Unforgivable Mistake' Downing Jet Elicits Furor At Home And Abroad

https://www.npr.org/2020/01/11/795567483/irans-unforgivable-mistake-downing-jet-elicits-furor-at-home-and-abroad

(A K P)

'Corrupt acts’ by US, allies cause of current situation in region: Ayatollah Khamenei

https://parstoday.com/en/news/iran-i115406-'corrupt_acts%E2%80%99_by_us_allies_cause_of_current_situation_in_region_ayatollah_khamenei

(* B K P)

Multiple Failures Led to Iran’s Accidental Attack on Jetliner

Technology, methodology failed to stop accidental shoot down

Ukrainian plane on normal route mistaken for cruise missile

Details about why Iran air defense forces mistook a Ukrainian airliner for a cruise missile remain murky, but one thing is clear: Safeguards for operating surface-to-air missiles are supposed to prevent that kind of mistaken identity and all of them failed.

The error, which killed all 176 people aboard the plane on Wednesday, is probably the result of multiple layers of failure that extend into high levels of the government and military, said Steven Zaloga, senior analyst for missile systems at the Teal Group.

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-01-13/multiple-failures-led-to-iran-s-accidental-attack-on-jetliner

(A P)

Anger in Iran over jet’s downing; gunfire disperses protests

https://apnews.com/1b5f51dc8712b6fcddc2010bbd9de31f

Film: https://twitter.com/borzou/status/1216673738369961989

(* A K P)

High-gear diplomacy aims to avert U.S., Iran conflict

https://apnews.com/a3b1f9e3989b5bcbb75827c6779fdc31

(A K P)

Iran's Parliament issues statement concerning Ukraine plane crash

https://iranpress.com/en/iran-i142716-iran's_parliament_issues_statement_concerning_ukraine_plane_crash

(A K P)

US troops clear rubble from Iraq base days after Iran strike

https://apnews.com/ae79cb0f18f7adf15a2a57e88f469dd7

(A K P)

Iran summons British ambassador over 'unconventional behavior,' attending 'illegal' rally

https://parstoday.com/en/news/iran-i115408-iran_summons_british_ambassador_over_'unconventional_behavior_'_attending_'illegal'_rally

(* A K P)

Trump administration warns Iraq could lose New York Fed account if US troops forced to leave: WSJ

The Trump administration this week warned Iraq that it could lose access to its central bank account at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York if Baghdad expels American troops from the region, Iraqi officials told The Wall Street Journal.

Shutting down Iraq’s account at the Federal Reserve Bank could be detrimental to its financial system. The country puts its revenue from oil sales there, and takes out that money to pay government salaries and contracts.

https://www.cnbc.com/2020/01/11/trump-administration-warns-iraq-could-lose-new-york-fed-account-wsj.html

and also https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-7876933/US-threatens-cut-Iraqs-access-NY-Fed-troops-forced-withdraw.html

(* A K P)

Esper says he’s seen no hard evidence embassies under threat

Defense Secretary Mark Esper explicitly said Sunday that he had seen no hard evidence that four American embassies had been under possible threat when President Donald Trump authorized the targeting of Iran’s top commander, raising questions about the scale of the threat described by Trump last week.

As the administration struggled with its justification for the drone strike that killed Gen. Qassem Soleimani, Esper and other officials tried to refocus attention on voices of dissent in Iran.

https://apnews.com/5a168a5d8f560e928f3924f7af10f1d8

(A K P)

Canada PM Trudeau: Iran plane families will get answers

https://apnews.com/a9855c7c124cd64d41be745bd1208a77

(A K)

4 Iraqi servicemen wounded by rocket attack on air base

https://apnews.com/68a093183dfafa7d357ec30c81fa2599

(A K P)

Hezbollah says payback for US strike has just begun

https://apnews.com/80c81d6cc0c64dac31ac43ca68a94c8d

(** B K P)

Trump administration 'planned killing Soleimani for 18 MONTHS' before the deadly strike and 'devised a cyber attack to cripple Iran's oil industry' in case Tehran retaliated

The US discussed targeting Iranian General Qassem Soleimani for the past 18 months, according to a New York Times report citing officials

The 62-year-old was the second most powerful man in Iran and leader of the Quds Force of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps

Surveillance of Soleimani intensified in May under then national security adviser John R Bolton following attacks on oil tankers

On December 31 Trump was presented with a top secret memo of possible targets in response to attacks on the US embassy in Iraq

He chose to target General Soleimani, which shocked some Pentagon officials

On January 3, Soleimani was killed in a US drone strike after landing in Baghdad

US also developed plans to strike Iranian command-and-control ship and carry out cyber attack to partially disable Iran's oil and gas sector if Iran retaliated

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-7877709/US-considered-targeting-Soleimani-18-MONTHS-new-report-reveals.html

and also https://www.thecitizen.co.tz/news/How-Trump-administration--planned-/1840386-5415344-x2nk9cz/index.html

https://sputniknews.com/middleeast/202001121078014430-us-mulled-targeting-soleimani-for-assassination-since-2018--report/

My comment: This reveals that the whole US reasoning in this whole affair simply was bullshit.

(* A P)

Defying police, Iranians protest over plane shootdown

https://apnews.com/f5912dbd48b5037f1cf3b3ebce154fdd

and

(* A P)

Iran braces for protests after admitting plane shootdow

https://apnews.com/f5912dbd48b5037f1cf3b3ebce154fdd

Films: https://apnews.com/31aa4e97a99304f6e597cda12a5e88af

https://twitter.com/AlinejadMasih/status/1216384719086145536

https://twitter.com/AlinejadMasih/status/1216483586691477504

https://twitter.com/AlinejadMasih/status/1216384719086145536

https://twitter.com/KyleWOrton/status/1216325618368946176

https://twitter.com/farnazfassihi/status/1216132182172848129

https://twitter.com/farnazfassihi/status/1216130644729892867

https://twitter.com/AlinejadMasih/status/1216044869300498433

https://twitter.com/b_momani/status/1216033477151191042

https://twitter.com/HillelNeuer/status/1216113567436615680

https://twitter.com/BabakTaghvaee/status/1216016169087442944

https://twitter.com/Joyce_Karam/status/1216047580343390209

https://twitter.com/b_momani/status/1216043506076016640

https://twitter.com/maralkay/status/1216054304471179264

https://www.welt.de/politik/ausland/video204949180/Nach-Abschuss-Trump-richtet-Tweet-auf-Persisch-an-iranische-Demonstranten.html

(* A P)

Iraqi protesters decry Iranian and US interference

https://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/originals/2020/01/iraq-iran-us-protests-1.html

Film: https://twitter.com/RashaAlAqeedi/status/1215305460141711360

Photos: https://twitter.com/Hamzoz/status/1216314763560595457

(* A K P)

Esper: US does not expect more Iranian retaliatory attacks

https://apnews.com/5a168a5d8f560e928f3924f7af10f1d8

(A K P)

Iran welcomes global cooperation on plane crash investigation: President Rouhani

https://parstoday.com/en/news/iran-i115379-iran_welcomes_global_cooperation_on_plane_crash_investigation_president_rouhani

(A K P)

US interventionist presence in region has to end as soon as possible: Iran defense chief

https://www.presstv.com/Detail/2020/01/10/615811/US-occupation-end-Iran-Japan-Persian-Gulf

(A K P)

Iran Leader ordered swift release of Ukraine plane downing details: Report

https://www.presstv.com/Detail/2020/01/11/615901/Leader-Ukraine-plane-crash-probe

(* A K P)

We accept full responsibility for Ukrainian plane crash: IRGC Aerospace chief

https://www.presstv.com/Detail/2020/01/11/615905/full-responsibility-IRGC-Hajizadeh

(* A K P)

The Latest: Germany’s Merkel urges Iran plane crash solution

The Latest: Canada seeks justice for crash victims’ families

https://apnews.com/731f21ad26bd9cc2a217df7c9eaa8675

(** A K P)

Iran finally ADMITS shooting down Ukrainian jetliner

Tehran says military 'unintentionally' fired missiles at Boeing 737 and killed 176 passengers because of 'human error'

Iranian state TV, citing a military statement, says the country 'unintentionally' shot down a Ukrainian jetliner, killing all 176 aboard

Iran had denied for several days that a missile downed the aircraft. But then the U.S. and Canada, citing intelligence, said they believe Iran shot down the aircraft

Iran has since blamed 'human error' for shooting down the plane on Tuesday. The government also offered an apology to families.

The plane, en route to the Ukrainian capital of Kyiv, was carrying 167 passengers and nine crew members from several countries, including 82 Iranians, at least 63 Canadians and 11 Ukrainians, according to officials

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-7875505/Iran-ADMITS-shooting-Ukrainian-jetliner.html

Comment: On the night of a military operation with the chance of a retaliatory response and while air defense systems are on highest alert, why allow civilian planes fly over the capital to lead to such a devastating yet preventable tragedy?

https://twitter.com/NegarMortazavi/status/1215852101764632576

and

(** A K P)

Iran says it ‘unintentionally’ shot down Ukrainian jetliner

A military statement carried by state media said the plane was mistaken for a “hostile target” after it turned toward a “sensitive military center” of the Revolutionary Guard. The military was at its “highest level of readiness,” it said, amid the heightened tensions with the United States.

“In such a condition, because of human error and in a unintentional way, the flight was hit,” the statement said. It apologized for the disaster and said it would upgrade its systems to prevent future tragedies.

It also said those responsible for the strike on the plane would be prosecuted.

https://apnews.com/21f4a92a2dfbc38581719664bdf6f38e

and

(** A K P)

Under pressure, Iran admits it shot down jetliner by mistake

The plane was shot down early Wednesday, hours after Iran launched a ballistic missile attack on two military bases housing U.S. troops in Iraq in retaliation for the killing of Iranian Gen. Qassem Soleimani in an American airstrike in Baghdad. No one was hurt in the attack on the U.S. bases.

The admission raised a host of new questions, such as who authorized the strike on the plane and why Iran did not shut down its international airport or airspace when it was bracing for a U.S. reprisal. It also undermined the credibility of information provided by senior officials, who for three days had adamantly dismissed allegations of a missile strike as Western propaganda.

Iran’s acknowledgment also alters the narrative around its confrontation with the U.S. in a way that could anger the Iranian public. Iran had promised harsh revenge after Soleimani’s death, but instead of killing American soldiers, its forces downed a civilian plane in which most passengers were Iranian and none survived.

Gen. Amir Ali Hajizadeh, the head of the Guard’s aerospace division, said his unit accepts “full responsibility” for the shootdown. In an address broadcast by state TV, he said that when he learned about the downing of the plane, “I wished I was dead.”

He said Guard forces ringing the capital had beefed up their air defenses and were at the “highest level of readiness,” fearing that the U.S. would retaliate. He said the airline’s pilot and crew had done nothing wrong, but an officer made the “bad decision” to open fire on the plane after mistaking it for a cruise missile.

“We were prepared for an all-out conflict,” he said.

https://apnews.com/21f4a92a2dfbc38581719664bdf6f38e

and

(* A K P)

AP Analysis: New questions rise as Iran says it downed plane

Iran’s acknowledgement that it shot down a Ukrainian airliner, killing 176 people, raised new questions Saturday about transparency in the Islamic Republic and what led to the downing of the commercial flight.

While its paramilitary Revolutionary Guard took responsibility, a commander also claimed it warned Tehran to close off its airspace amid fears of U.S. retaliation over Iran launching ballistic missiles at Iraqi bases housing U.S. forces.

The same Guard commander also said he raised the possibility to his superiors that his forces shot down the airplane as early as Wednesday morning. However, Iranian air-crash investigators, government officials and diplomats all denied for days afterward that a missile downed the Boeing 737 operated by Ukrainian International Airlines out of Tehran’s Imam Khomeini International Airport.

https://apnews.com/ef423e4deec0ec35442d39c21474d7f7

and

(* A K P)

US experts concerned about Iran’s handling of crash probe

https://apnews.com/c95358b7c2fa9c8a964012de673ccfd7

(* A K P)

US State Department: The U.S. Continued Partnership with Iraq

America is a force for good in the Middle East. Our military presence in Iraq is to continue the fight against ISIS and as the Secretary has said, we are committed to protecting Americans, Iraqis, and our coalition partners. We have been unambiguous regarding how crucial our D-ISIS mission is in Iraq. At this time, any delegation sent to Iraq would be dedicated to discussing how to best recommit to our strategic partnership—not to discuss troop withdrawal, but our right, appropriate force posture in the Middle East.

https://www.state.gov/the-u-s-continued-partnership-with-iraq/

My comment: LOL LOL LOL.

Comments: Diplo-Babble for "we want more money from all concerned, or we're leaving ... "

https://twitter.com/khoury_nabeel/status/1215652201034588160

So basically if we leave Iraq A LOT of military contractors will lose out on $$$.

https://twitter.com/stephela/status/1215658611705171969

More comments: https://twitter.com/statedeptspox/status/1215647199977246730

(* A K P T)

ISIS welcomes the death of Iran's Qaseem Soleimani and declare it an act of 'divine intervention' that will let them regroup in Iraq

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-7874033/ISIS-welcome-death-Irans-Qaseem-Soleimani.html

(* B K P)

How Pompeo convinced Trump to kill Soleimani and fulfilled a decade-long goal

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo was a driving force behind President Donald Trump's decision to kill a top Iranian general, sources inside and around the administration tell CNN, a high-stakes move that demonstrates Pompeo's status as the most influential national security official in the Trump administration.

Taking Iranian Gen. Qasem Soleimani "off the battlefield" has been a goal for the top US diplomat for a decade, several sources told CNN.

Pompeo "was the one who made the case to take out Soleimani, it was him absolutely," this source said.

According to multiple sources close to Pompeo, the secretary of state has believed throughout his career that Iran is at the root of all the Middle East's problems and has focused on Soleimani, Iran's "shadow commander," as the mastermind behind the country's state sponsored terrorism throughout the region.

https://edition.cnn.com/2020/01/09/politics/pompeo-trump-iran-soleimani/index.html

(* B K P)

Assassination and International Law

In an era of death by drone, grand-scale invasions or tank-to-tank warfare have been replaced by single-shot missions against top leaders

While U.S. officials have claimed the attack on Soleimani was lawful as an act of anticipatory self-defence, this international legal standard is extremely difficult to meet. Under Article 2(4) of the United Nations (UN) Charter, a breach of international peace is only permitted when authorized by the UN Security Council or conducted in an act of self-defence. Self-defence means fending off an armed attack.

With respect to “anticipatory” self-defence, a state that strikes first must meet the heightened Caroline test, which requires that the necessity of self-defence “is instant, overwhelming, and leav[es] no choice of means, and no moment for deliberation.”

Absent evidence of such an extraordinary attack against the United States, “anticipatory” self-defence, e.g., Pompeo’s stance that the killing was a “defensive action,” likely cannot be legally justified.

To justify the use of lethal force under human rights law requires a similar analysis, showing that the killing was strictly necessary to protect against an imminent threat to life. UN Special Rapporteur on Extra-Judicial Executions Agnes Callamard, made this very point.

https://consortiumnews.com/2020/01/09/assassination-and-international-law/

from the comments:

W: A sound precis of the Law. However the implied assumption that the US obeys that Law is arguably not valid. This of course is the big problem. There is no agency or power to enforce I.L.

JB: This is an excellent presentation of facts. However, facts do not apply to the US government. US policy (disguised as “American Exceptionalism”) appears to have come from the porcine political manual written by G Orwell commonly studied in high school- “Animal Farm.” To wit: All animals are equal but some animals are MORE EQUAL than others. America, of course, is more equal.

(* B K P)

Dear America: the death of Qasem Soleimani is not all about you

As Americans worry about suffering reprisals for the killing of Iran’s top general, they overlook the civilians who have already been paying for many years — with their blood.

https://conversationalist.org/2020/01/10/dear-america-the-death-of-qassem-soleimani-is-not-all-about-you/

(** B K P)

Stop This War

We are not on the brink of war; we are already at war. What matters now is ending it—as quickly as possible.

The United States is now effectively at war with Iran. That the assassination of Maj. Gen. Qassim Suleimani—not merely an escalation but an act of war—took place on Iraqi soil is no more relevant, or likely to keep the hostilities confined to that country, than the fact that the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand happened in Bosnia.

However, with Iran now suspending its commitment to the JCPOA and both sides poised to escalate, the current situation is far too dangerous to rely on Congress alone. We need fresh thinking and bold action.

Instead of resisting the Iraqi parliament’s demand that US forces withdraw from that country, Americans should welcome it. Trump promised an end to our endless wars; now is the time to make him keep that promise and bring our troops home.

This war is a test, and not just of leadership. Vietnam was a small country with little strategic importance or impact on the global economy, yet the US war there consumed a generation and cost millions of lives. If the war with Iran becomes a regional conflagration, its effects will be felt far beyond the Middle East and beyond the troops who make up our volunteer armed forces. For all of us—but especially the young, who will have to pay the highest price in blood, economic disruption, and environmental disaster—now is the time to take to the streets and stop this war. Because this is a test we dare not fail.

https://www.thenation.com/article/iran-war-suleimani-aumf/

(* B K P)

Film: The Iran Crisis – Everything you need to know with Prof. Kuznick

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GoKZCmSUYs4

(* B K P)

PATRICK LAWRENCE: The Iranian General’s Intent

Given the gravity of last week’s drone assassination, the State and Defense Departments must prove their claims against Qassem Soleimani.

https://consortiumnews.com/2020/01/06/patrick-lawrence-the-iranian-generals-intent/

and as a reminder from 2018:

(* B K P)

Saudis Close to Crown Prince Discussed Killing Other Enemies a Year Before Khashoggi’s Death

During the discussion, part of a series of meetings where the men tried to win Saudi funding for their plan, General Assiri’s top aides inquired about killing Qassim Suleimani, the leader of the Quds Force of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards Corps and a man considered a determined enemy of Saudi Arabia.

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/11/11/world/middleeast/saudi-iran-assassinations-mohammed-bin-salman.html

Comments: News of Yemen plans raises serious questions. Is there a Saudi hand behind Trump’s assassination attempts?

https://twitter.com/Cirincione/status/1215776378446077955

If there any decent @FBI special agents who are serious about stopping major political crimes, then they would investigate certain “members of the cabinet” for selling US military attacks for personal financial gains from the #Saudis Look hard & you shall see

https://twitter.com/AliAlAhmed_en/status/1215812146094837761

(* B K P)

“Right-Wing Populists Will Sweep the Elections”: U.S. Killing of Soleimani Helps Hard-Liners in Iran

„It was probably the best, the fastest, the quickest way to have a unifying rallying cry for the Iranian political establishment,” notes Iranian journalist Negar Mortazavi. We are also joined by historian Ervand Abrahamian, author of “The Coup: 1953, the CIA, and the Roots of Modern U.S.-Iranian Relations,” and Phyllis Bennis, fellow at the Institute for Policy Studies and author of “Understanding the US-Iran Crisis: A Primer.” (with film)

https://www.democracynow.org/2020/1/3/right_wing_populists_will_sweep_the

snippet from film: Historian Ervand Abrahamian of @GC_CUNY says the killing of Qassem Soleimani gives Iran's government a "new propaganda weapon" to use against the United States. "Now… they can describe the United States as a state terrorist power."

https://twitter.com/democracynow/status/1213097936495808514 = https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OSMFyr1GCjg

(* B K P)

Seymour Hersh – “The persistent self-defeating Dumbness of America”
[…] President Trump blasts Iranian leadership that he will hold it “fully responsible” for the embassy rampage. He tweets: “They will pay a very BIG PRICE! This is not a Warning, it is a Threat. Happy New Year!”
“My president had no business authorizing the strikes he did in response to the death of one American contract employee,” Hersh tells me in frustration. “They were disproportional and in a clear violation of Iraqi and Syrian sovereignty.”

https://www.weltwoche.ch/ausgaben/2020-1/weltwoche-international/wwi-seymour-hersh-die-weltwoche-ausgabe-1-2020.html

(* B K P)

The Sinister Genius of Qassem Soleimani

The Iranian commander harnessed both Shiite extremists and Sunni radicals, even as he built a ‘foreign legion’ to project Iran’s power (subscribers only)

https://www.wsj.com/articles/the-sinister-genius-of-qassem-soleimani-11578681560

the main points by the author here:

It took me years to understand the sinister strategic genius of Ghassem Soleimani. This is the abridged story (based on my @WSJ essay) of the world from his eyes, and how his decisions-coupled w/ costly US errors-impacted the lives of tens of millions

Even after Soleimani’s death, this legacy outlives him: The Islamic Republic of Iran remains the only nation state in the Middle East that can harness both Shia radicalism, and, at times, Sunni radicalism (including the Taliban and Hamas), even while fighting against ISIS

Today the prospects of meaningful US-Iran cooperation is virtually nil: Iran's powerless diplomats may express a desire to cooperate w the US against Sunni radicals, but Iran's powerful Revolutionary Guards will likely continue to conspire with Sunni radicals against the US

There is a real danger that Trump's assassination of Soleimani will energize Iran’s Shia extremists/militias (which in turn could revitalize Sunni extremists like ISIS). While they lack popular support, many now feel the same existential angst that Soleimani felt in 2002

Popular fury, however, may limit the regime's ability/mandate to respond. For most Iranians the downing of 176 civilians in Ukraine Airways flight 752 was a far more devastating blow than the killing of Soleimani, and they're ready for this 40-year cycle of violence to end .

https://twitter.com/ksadjadpour/status/1216433588318679041

(* B K P)

Why the U.S. Assassination of Soleimani Is a Windfall for Iran's Mullahs

Inside the Islamic Republic, the impact of Soleimani’s death will take years to appreciate. But its immediate effect was to throw the regime a lifeline. Only weeks earlier, an abrupt hike in gas prices brought into the streets not the elite and middle class who normally protest but tens of thousands of the working-class Iranians whom Khomeini called “the real owners of the revolution.” The regime answered by shutting down the Internet and killing as many as 1,500 people.

Soleimani’s assassination changed the subject.

https://time.com/5762017/iran-leader-soleimani-martyr-trump/

(* B K P)

US-Iran Escalation Timeline

https://www.criticalthreats.org/analysis/US-iran-escalation-timeline

(* B K P)

[from 2019] SAUDI-IRAN ENMITY Implications for South Asia, Pakistan and Middle East

The purpose of this paper is to explore the ideological cold war between Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and Iran. These two countries have been involved in a serious fight against each other directly or indirectly. This research paper is intended to draw the historical context of KSA-Iran enmity and its wide range repercussion for South Asia, particularly Pakistan. South Asian Region has remained a theater for proxies between Sunni dominated Saudi Arabia and Shiite Iran after Iranian Revolution in 1979. It will also shed light on sectarian, socioeconomic and political dimensions of repercussions for Muslim dominated country and the only Muslim Nuclear Power Pakistan.

https://www.academia.edu/41039900/SAUDI-IRAN_ENMITY_Implications_for_South_Asia_Pakistan_and_Middle_East?auto=bookmark

(* B K P)

[from 2019] Old and new challenges for ethnic and religious minorities in the Middle East

This chapter argues that ethnic and religious minorities in the Middle East are living a crucial juncture in this early twenty-first century that asks for a reassessment of their position. The ever-expanding process of globalization as well as the Arab revolts of 2010–11 have paved the way for an empowerment of certain ethnic and religious minorities, despite the fact that the latter have witnessed a dramatic decline from a numerical perspective. Today, like yesterday, diverse sectors from Middle Eastern societies, including minorities, are calling for new forms of governance beyond the “primitive” versions of nationalism and communitarianism.

From Contents:

Don’t shoot the elephant: Middle East stability after the Iraniannuclear deal

The revolutionary guard in Iranian domestic and foreign power politics

Saudi Arabia and Iran: Islam and foreign policy in the Middle East

GCC foreign policy: the struggle for consensus

https://www.academia.edu/38695740/_Old_and_new_challenges_for_ethnic_and_religious_minorities_in_the_Middle_East_?auto=bookmark

cp12 Andere Länder / Other countries

(* A B P)

Kabus’ kostbares Erbe

Der Oman ist eine Insel der Stabilität im Nahen Osten. Bleibt das nach dem Tod des Langzeitherrschers so?

Doch die Herrscherfamilie verzichtete von vornherein. Und so wurde schon am Samstag nach der Trauerfeier in der Großen Moschee von Muskat der letzte Wille von Kabus verlesen und sein Cousin Haitham bin Tarik, bisher Kulturminister, als neuer Sultan inthronisiert. Der 65-Jährige übernimmt ein reiches, aber auch kompliziertes Erbe. Innenpolitisch könnte der Machtübergang Konflikte an die Oberfläche bringen, die durch die paternalistische Herrschaft und den Personenkult um Kabus eingedämmt waren. Politische Parteien existieren nicht. Im Arabischen Frühling 2011 kam es erstmals seit Jahrzehnten zu Demonstrationen, in der Hafenstadt Sohar sogar zu Ausschreitungen.

Außenpolitisch war der Oman bisher eine Insel der Stabilität, obwohl es gegenüber dem Iran an der Straße von Hormus liegt und dem Bürgerkriegsland Jemen benachbart ist. Wie kein anderer Herrscher der arabischen Welt verstand es Kabus, sein Land von Turbulenzen fernzuhalten und als Friedensmittler zu etablieren.

https://www.stuttgarter-zeitung.de/inhalt.nach-dem-tod-des-sultans-von-oman-kabus-kostbares-erbe.a27ac5a5-cf66-4198-a00f-4a645f8fe8f5.html = https://www.stuttgarter-nachrichten.de/inhalt.nach-dem-tod-des-sultans-von-oman-kabus-kostbares-erbe.3fafa9a5-21af-4fe6-a247-c108b36479c5.html

(* A P)

Oman: Nachfolge nach Tod von Sultan Qabus geregelt

Nach dem Tod des langjährigen Sultans von Oman, Qabus bin Said, ist dessen Cousin Haitham bin Tarik zum Nachfolger ernannt worden.

https://www.deutschlandfunk.de/oman-neuer-sultan-vereidigt.1939.de.html

und auch ausführlicher https://www.t-online.de/nachrichten/ausland/id_87131138/oman-sultan-kabus-stirbt-mit-79-jahren-und-hinterlaesst-besonderen-brief.html

(* A P)

New Oman ruler vows to uphold peaceful policy of Qaboos

Oman’s new ruler, Sultan Haitham bin Tariq Al Said, vowed Saturday to uphold his predecessor Sultan Qaboos bin Said’s foreign policy approach, which steered the Arab country through choppy Persian Gulf waters by balancing close relations with both the United States and Iran.

The new ruler, who was Oman’s culture minister, spoke after being named successor to Sultan Qaboos, the Middle East’s longest-ruling monarch whose death was announced Saturday. He died at the age of 79 after years of an undisclosed illness.

Sultan Haitham’s message to Omanis and the world was clear: Oman would continue down the path laid by Qaboos as a facilitator of peace.

“We will follow the same line as the late sultan, and the principles that he asserted for the foreign policy of our country, of peaceful coexistence among nations and people, and good neighborly behavior of non-interference in the affairs of others,” he said in his first public remarks as sultan.

https://apnews.com/9ca4a9910ede3e11b2fbf085189e628b

(* A P)

Sultan of Oman dies and is succeeded by cousin

Reports say Haitham bin Tariq al-Said will replace Sultan Qaboos bin Said, who had no children

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/jan/11/sultan-of-oman-dies-state-media-announces

(* A P)

Sultan Qaboos bin Said, who modernized Oman, dies at 79

Oman’s Sultan Qaboos bin Said, the Mideast’s longest-ruling monarch who seized power in a 1970 palace coup and pulled his Arabian sultanate into modernity while carefully balancing diplomatic ties between adversaries Iran and the U.S., has died. He was 79.

https://apnews.com/d5bb9597cc96b6ab7a6e73fd87d72f30

(A P)

#Yemen: Finally something that the Houthis, STC & Hadi government can all agree on... All 3 rival power structures have released warm words of respect, appreciation & condolence on the passing of #Oman's #SultanQaboos. It's hard to imagine any other world leader achieving this (image)

https://twitter.com/Dr_E_Kendall/status/1216332979771006978

cp13a Waffenhandel / Arms trade

Siehe / Look at cp1

(* B K P)

Im Jemen-Konflikt tauchen Waffen aus der Schweiz auf

Saudi-Arabien setzt Schweizer Flugabwehrkanonen ein, um Ölfelder gegen Angriffe feindlicher Drohnen zu schützen. Darf die Schweiz solche Waffensysteme liefern, weil sie der Abwehr dienen?

Waffen aus der Schweiz haben im Jemen-Krieg eine viel wichtigere Rolle gespielt, als bisher bekannt, wie der «Tages-Anzeiger» schreibt. Die Zeitung stützt sich dabei auf mehrere Sachverständige, die sich wiederum auf öffentlich zugängliche Satellitenbilder berufen.

Demnach hat Saudi-Arabien mit Flugabwehrkanonen aus der Schweiz im September 2019 das Ölfeld Abqaiq gegen einen Drohnenangriff jemenitischer Huthi-Rebellen zu schützen versucht. Möglicherweise steckte aber der Iran dahinter. Vor wenigen Tagen hat die UNO Jemen für den Angriff entlastet.

US-Sicherheitsforscher Michael Duitsman von der Universität Monterey in Kalifornien zeigte bereits im September auf Satellitenbildern, dass vor dem Angriff mindestens drei Skyguard-Systeme der Schweizer Firma Oerlikon Contraves, einer Rheinmetall-Tochter, rund um Abqaiq stationiert waren.

Für Lewin Lempert, Sekretär der Gruppe für eine Schweiz ohne Armee (GSoA), zeigt der Fall, dass die Schweizer Exportpolitik gegenüber Saudiarabien widersprüchlich ist.

https://www.bluewin.ch/de/news/schweiz/im-jemen-konflikt-tauchen-waffen-aus-der-schweiz-auf-345620.html

(* B K P)

Wir Kriegsgehilfen der Saudis

Im Jemen-Krieg werden Schweizer Waffen eingesetzt. Die Kriegsmaterialexporte nach Saudiarabien müssen endlich auf null sinken.

Wie Recherchen zeigen, kamen Schweizer Waffen letzten Herbst in einer Schlacht um ein saudisches Ölfeld zum Einsatz. Es handelte sich um Flugabwehrkanonen, entstanden in hiesigen Fabriken.

Wann immer irgendwo auf der Welt Schweizer Kanonen donnern, folgen als Echo sogleich die Relativierungen. Bürgerliche Politiker wollen in dem Kampfeinsatz kein Problem erkennen: Es sei das gute Recht der Saudis, ihre Ölfelder gegen jemenitische und iranische Drohnen zu verteidigen. Doch die penible Unterscheidung zwischen verwerflicher Aggression und legitimer Abwehr funktioniert in Kriegen nur selten – und im Falle Saudiarabiens überhaupt nicht.

Selbst wenn die Schweizer Systeme nicht direkt für Angriffe im Jemen eingesetzt werden: Mit seinen Waffenlieferungen hat sich unser Land als kleines Rädchen in die ebenso komplexe wie brutale saudische Kriegsmaschinerie eingepasst. Dass der Ölstaat mit seinem absolutistischen Königshaus und seinem Steinzeit-Islam die Menschenrechte auch abseits kriegerischer Fronten aufs Schlimmste missachtet, daran darf in diesem Zusammenhang auch mal wieder erinnert werden – von Fabian Renz

https://www.bazonline.ch/ausland/naher-osten-und-afrika/wir-kriegsgehilfen-der-saudis/story/13600347

(* A K P)

Italienische Hafenarbeiter zu den Protesten gegen die saudischen Bahri-Frachter

Das Kollektiv der Autonomen Hafenarbeiter in Genua informierte im Dezember 2019 über die sechs saudi-arabischen Bahri-Frachter, die US-amerikanische und europäische Häfen anfahren, um von dort Rüstungsgüter an die saudische Kriegsallianz für den Krieg im Jemen zu transportieren. Nachfolgende Information ist die deutsche Übersetzung der Information der Hafenarbeiter.

Bahris Schiffe (https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bahri-Abha-Klasse) transportieren Waffen und Militärfahrzeuge von den USA, Kanada und Europa in den Nahen Osten, hauptsächlich für die Armeen von Saudi-Arabien und den Vereinigten Arabischen Emiraten. Darüber wurde in Zeitungen und Fernsehsendern berichtet. Zwischen Mai und Juni 2019 wurden Bahris Schiffe in Le Havre, Genua und Marseille blockiert oder gegen die Einfahrt protestiert, während in anderen Fällen Hafenarbeiter die Beladung mit Militärfahrzeugen verweigerten. Soweit wir wissen, haben Bahri-Schiffe seitdem die nordeuropäischen Häfen nicht mehr angefahren, mit Ausnahme von Genua, wo sie jedoch keine militärische Ausrüstung mehr laden. Möglich wurde dies durch die Mobilisierung der Hafenarbeiter und derjenigen, die mit ihnen protestierten, sowohl in Frankreich als auch in Italien. Im vergangenen Jahr hatte eine ähnliche Mobilisierung das Transport- und Logistikunternehmen Bahri gezwungen, den Hafen von Bilbao zu verlassen. Unabhängig davon transportieren Bahris Schiffe weiterhin Waffen, Sprengstoffe und Militärfahrzeuge, die speziell für das Massaker im Jemen bestimmt sind, auch wenn sie nicht in unseren Häfen anlegen.

Vor ein paar Tagen legte der Frachter Bahri Abha im Hafen von Sagunt (Spanien) an, wo er acht Container mit Sprengstoff für die Vereinigten Arabischen Emirate (VAE) verlud, die ebenfalls am Krieg im Jemen beteiligt sind. Lokale Mobilisierungen haben versucht, die Beladung zu stoppen, wurden jedoch von der Polizei und der Guardia Civil daran gehindert. Die Abha ist jetzt in Genua angekommen, hat den üblichen Einsatz von Polizei und Carabinieri am Eingang des Hafens und im Terminal ausgelöst. An Bord wurden vierrädrige Panzerfahrzeuge mit Geschützturm und Kanone gesichtet, wahrscheinlich leicht gepanzerte Fahrzeuge aus Kanada, die von General Dynamics hergestellt wurden.

https://de.indymedia.org/node/58859

cp13b Kulturerbe / Cultural heritage

(A P)

[Hadi gov.] Taiz Governor directs making study for maintenance work of Al-Qahira Castle

http://en.26sepnews.net/2020/01/11/taiz-governor-directs-making-study-for-maintenance-work-of-al-qahira-castle/

cp13c Wirtschaft / Economy

(* B E P)

Fresh banknotes spark new economic war in Yemen

Sanaa resident Abdullah Salami had been trying to buy food with the money in his pocket but without much luck. With no shop willing to accept the banknotes, Salami returned to his family's home empty-handed.

In November 2019, freshly printed banknotes arrived in Aden, headquarters of the UN-recognized government of Yemeni President Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi. From there they were pumped onto the market to gradually begin the process of replacing older notes nationwide. While it is not a problem to use the new notes in government-controlled areas, on Dec. 19, the Sanaa-based Houthi government banned their use and exchange in areas under its control.

This new economic fraying between the Houthis and the government constitutes yet another burden on weary civilians, particularly in Yemen’s north, and exacerbation of their economic plight.

The new banknotes were given a new look and colors different from the previous ones to easily distinguish them. People coming into possession of the new notes, however, are finding no way to use them. A restaurant owner in Sanaa who requested anonymity said business owners cannot accept the new notes, for fear of a Houthi crackdown.

“After the Houthi announcement that the new banknotes are illegal, I could not take any more although I know the new notes are not fake, and it is not wrong to accept them,” said the restaurant owner. “If the Houthis know I accept the new notes, it is a risk, and I would not be spared their punishment.”

The Houthi authorities in Sanaa have adopted draconian measures to stop the circulation of the newly printed currency, calling on civilians to turn in the notes they have and be compensated for them. Officials at the Houthi-controlled Central Bank in Sanaa argue that the ban on dealing in the new notes is to benefit the economy and the people.

On Dec. 29, Sami al-Sayaghi, director of the treasury and an acting official for foreign banking operations at the Sanaa-based Central Bank, said in a statement to 26 September News, “What we have done is intended to protect the national economy and capital as well as the purchasing power of citizens. If we accept the illegal currency, we will reach a stage at which income is of no value in line with the devaluation of the national currency against the foreign currency and price hikes.”

https://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/originals/2020/01/yemen-aden-central-bank-notes-houthi-sanaa-economy.html

(* A P)

Cut Undersea Cable Plunges Yemen Into Days-Long Internet Outage

The fragility of global internet infrastructure has left the entire Red Sea region struggling to connect.

Last week, the internet went dark for Yemen and its 28 million citizens. It's still not fully back today. In fact, the entire Red Sea region has dealt with slow to nonexistent connectivity since the severing of a single submarine cable on Thursday.

It's popular to think of the internet as a cloud, but it's really under the sea. A lattice of massive cables crisscrosses the world, seeding connectivity to every continent and into each country. The cables naturally suffer breaks and cuts given those harsh conditions, but usually multiple cables serve each area to create redundancies and contingencies for when one line goes down. As Yemen's ongoing connectivity issues underscore, though, the fallback options for some regions are more tenuous.

Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, and Ethiopia all felt major effects from last week's cut of the so-called Falcon cable, which even impacted countries as far away as Comoros and Tanzania.

https://www.wired.com/story/yemen-internet-blackout-undersea-cable/

(A P)

Emergency 20 GB capacity internet cable restored

[Sanaa gov.] Telecommunications Ministry announces partial solution to internet outage across Yemen

https://www.uprising.today/emergency-20-gb-capacity-internet-cable-restored/

Comment: Internet is back but not really back. Twitter is barely working and searching the web is a disaster! Feels like it works in the morning just to make businessmen and bankers happy!!

https://twitter.com/HanaalShowafi/status/1216779475129634816

(A)

The Internet services is almost suspended in Sana'a and other governorates in #Yemen. We are isolated from the outside world! We can't send photos and messages! I have been trying to send this tweet for about 3 days.

https://twitter.com/AhmadAlgohbary/status/1216515281402712065

(A P)

Houthis: Emergency solutions to internet outage in Yemen

The Ministry of Communications and Information Technology, in the Houthi government of the Houthi group (Ansar Allah), said on Sunday, that it has recovered the 20-GB link in an emergency step for the internet outage in Yemen since last Thursday.

The ministry added in a statement, that urgent solutions were taken during the past 48 hours, as part of the efforts of the Yemeni International Telecommunication Company (TeleYemen) in Sana'a to provide the Internet, according to the Yemeni news agency "Saba" in its version in Sanaa, which is managed by the Houthis.

https://debriefer.net/en/news-14188.html

and

(A P)

Activists Blame Houthi Corruption for Internet Blackout

For the third consecutive day, the Iran-backed Houthi militias denied almost 8 million Yemenis from using home internet services almost entirely under the pretext of a submarine cable cut outside Yemen.
Specialists and activists have questioned the Houthi excuse for the blackout, accusing the group of corruption and delaying in paying the fees of the global company providing the service, as well as the group's intention to put new restrictions on usage.

https://aawsat.com/english/home/article/2078806/activists-blame-houthi-corruption-internet-blackout

and also http://engnews24h.com/specialists-question-the-houthi-version-yemen-is-out-of-coverage-for-the-fourth-day-%E2%80%A2-yemen-news/

cp15 Propaganda

(A K P)

Der Terrorfürst ist tot, die Mullahs schlagen blamabel zurück. Wir lernen.

Die Beweislast war zu erdrückend. Die Mördermullahs mussten eingestehen, dass sie das ukrainische Passagierflugzeug abgeschossen hatten, 176 Menschenleben ausgelöscht.

Nun ist das Auslöschen von Menschenleben nichts, was diese Figuren anfechten würde, es ist geradezu ihr Lebensinhalt.

https://www.ruhrbarone.de/der-terrorfuerst-ist-tot-die-mullahs-schlagen-blamabel-zurueck-wir-lernen/177748

(A P)

Zurück zur skandalösen Normalität

Erleichterung über die Deeskalation? Der Iran setzt Gewalt und Rechtsbruch auf einem Niveau fort, das als Alltag gilt, aber nicht akzeptabel ist. Ein Kommentar

Alles wie gehabt vor der Eskalation. Und darüber soll man erleichtert sein?

Eigentlich ist diese Lage skandalös. Aber vielleicht hat sie ein Gutes: Sie zeigt die Struktur des Konflikts. Und die Unterschiede zwischen dem Vorgehen des Irans sowie dem der USA und anderer westlicher Staaten, darunter die Europäer.

Die USA und die Europäer bemühen sich seit anderthalb Jahrzehnten, den Irak zu stabilisieren und ihm eine neue halbwegs demokratische und halbwegs rechtsstaatliche Normalität zu ermöglichen – nach einem Krieg, den die USA mit falschen Begründungen (Saddam Husseins angebliche Massenvernichtungswaffen) begonnen hatten. Mit rund der Hälfte der europäischen Nato-Staaten an ihrer Seite.

Der Iran tut das Gegenteil. Er hat kein Interesse an der Stabilisierung eines eigenständigen Iraks. Denn den könnte er nicht kontrollieren.

https://www.tagesspiegel.de/politik/iran-zuendelt-weiter-zurueck-zur-skandaloesen-normalitaet/25425924.html

Mein Kommentar: LOL. Die guten USA und die bösen anderen.

(A K P)

The Middle Eastern Problem Soleimani Figured Out

Militias have made much of the region ungovernable, and one general managed to exploit the chaos in Iran’s interests. Now the U.S. has an opportunity—maybe.

he Iranian general Qassem Suleimani is dead, and tensions with Iran appear to be simmering down. But the landscape he helped build is still very much a problem for the United States.

Since his killing in a U.S. drone strike last week, experts have been rushing to explain just why Soleimani mattered so much to Iran’s ambitions—and what consequences his death really holds for the region. One simple way to think about it: He was the one man who had mastered the new landscape of the Middle East.

One problem for the U.S. is that its adversaries have every incentive to keep the instability alive; rival powers, like Iran and Russia, are deeply invested in the disruptive local militias that give them leverage.

https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2020/01/12/iran-middle-eastern-problem-soleimani-figured-out-097350

My comment: What is really up to the US to meddle into Middle Eastern affairs? Not more than it’s up to let’s say Ireland, Uruguay or Namibia.

(B P)

How Killing Soleimani Creates Danger—and Opportunity

It was a righteous strike. But an ominous one.

This action was a welcome and decisive blow struck against Iran’s foreign and defense establishment. Alas, its potential strategic windfall could be forfeited by crude and incompetent American statecraft in short order.

With Trump serving in the presidential chair, the contingency is not a remote one.

Above all, America’s leaders should not lose sight of the strategic essence of this contest: The regime in Tehran is incompatible with, and adversarial to, any civilized order in the Middle East. Given its theocratic character (Shiite absolutism combined with the power of a sovereign state, Ayatollah Khomeini’s innovation of the velayat-e Faqih) and its revolutionary mission abroad, the Islamic republic in its current form simply cannot evolve into a law-abiding member of the international community.

https://thebulwark.com/how-killing-soleimani-creates-danger-and-opportunity/

(A P)

Yemenis Say Houthis Outdo ISIS in Violating Media Freedom

Iranian-backed coup militias ratcheted up violations and crimes against various media outlets and journalists in the Yemeni capital, Sanaa, and the rest of the cities under their control.
As a result, Yemenis came to say that the group topped violations against freedom commited by the terrorist ISIS organization.

https://aawsat.com/english/home/article/2077256/yemenis-say-houthis-outdo-isis-violating-media-freedom

(A P)

More Saudi coalition „We are benefactors“ propaganda

https://www.yemenonline.info/special-reports/2947

https://www.spa.gov.sa/viewfullstory.php?lang=en&newsid=2021686

https://www.spa.gov.sa/viewfullstory.php?lang=en&newsid=2021684

https://www.spa.gov.sa/viewfullstory.php?lang=en&newsid=2021681

http://en.adenpress.news/news/16232

cp16 Saudische Luftangriffe / Saudi air raids

(A K pH)

Child Killed, another Injured, Cluster Bomb Exploded in Sa’adah

https://english.almasirah.net/details.php?es_id=10715

cp17 Kriegsereignisse / Theater of War

Siehe / Look at cp1b

(* B K pS)

Total dead Houthis reached 5,000 militants in Hajja

The number of total dead Houthis fighters reached around 5,000 militants in Hajja governorate since the Houthis group launched their coup in late 2014.

Majority of the dead fighters were child soldiers according to photos of the dead gunmen displayed publicly by the Houthis official in a memory of their dead fighters.

Reported dead fighters from Hajja governorate were killed in different warfronts including Hajja, Hodeida, Taiz, Sana’a and Marib.

The Houthis rebels often do no disclose number of their dead militants over the courses of fighting against the government’s forces.

However, lists of families to dead fighters in Hajja governorate who received this week some gifts from the Houthis authority suggest that total number of the dead gunmen in Hajja reached so far nearly 5,000 people.

https://www.alsahwa-yemen.net/en/p-37315

(* A K pS)

MASAM Removes 123k Houthi Landmines in Yemen

The engineering teams of the Saudi Project for Landmines Clearance in Yemen (MASAM), launched by King Salman Humanitarian Aid and Relief Center (KSRelief), cleared 2,855 landmines in January.
MASAM Program Manager Osama al-Gosaibi said that the teams cleared 2,855 landmines, unexploded ordnance, and explosive devices.
In the second week of January, MASAM removed 1,187 landmines, while in the past week, it cleared 789 unexploded ordnance and 17 explosive devices, Gosaibi added.
He added that during the same week, the teams removed 367 anti-tank mines and 17 anti-personnel mines. Gosaibi continued that MASAM demined a total of 123,000 explosives since launching the project until Jan. 9.

https://aawsat.com/english/home/article/2080046/masam-removes-123k-houthi-landmines-yemen

(A K pS)

A civilian was killed by the Houthi group in Hayes district in Hodeidah governorate.

https://twitter.com/BelqeesRights/status/1216412941978869762

(A K pS)

Civil engineer Abdulmalik Mohammed Almulaiki lost both his legs today to a #landmine laid by #Houthi rebels in Al Dabab Zone, west the besieged city of #Taiz

https://twitter.com/RepYemenEnglish/status/1216406274058924033

(A K pH)

Saudi aggression forces continue to violate ceasefire agreement in Saada

https://www.saba.ye/en/news3084470.htm

My comment: there is no ceasefire agreement for Saada province.

(A K pH)

Ein Kind getötet und ein weiteres verwundet in Saada

https://www.saba.ye/en/news3084496.htm

(A K pH)

2 children killed, injured in Saada

https://www.saba.ye/en/news3084496.htm

(A K pH)

In Sa’adah, the Saudi artillery bombarded the citizens' homes and farms, causing material damage in Bani Sayyah area of Razih border district.

https://english.almasirah.net/details.php?es_id=10711

(A K pS)

A woman was injured by shrapnel from the bullet of a #Houthi sniper in Hayfan district, south of #Taiz governorate.

https://twitter.com/BelqeesRights/status/1215706413500071936

cp18 Sonstiges / Other

(B D)

From Yemen to the Netherlands, a Photographer Focuses on Migration and Statelessness

With her project, The Passport, Thana Faroq documents the lives not just of stateless individuals, but also her own escaping conflict and later settling abroad.

https://hyperallergic.com/536828/from-yemen-to-the-netherlands-a-photographer-focuses-on-migration-and-statelessness/

(A)

Six people killed and 19 injured in rollover bus accident in Shabwah

Bir Ali and other health centers located along Yemen's remote national highways generally lack basic medical equipment and ambulances necessary to provide first aid to people with serious injuries. Five years of war have exacerbated the situation, leaving the healthcare infrastructure severely deterioriated.

https://al-masdaronline.net/local/246

(A)

Yemen’s internet outage stretches into second day

Oracle attributed to the outage to a severed submarine cable in "the Gulf," while Yemen's Houthis said a cable was damaged in the Suez Canal

https://al-masdaronline.net/national/247

(* B H)

Why I Still Wear My Black Abaya

Not once did the abaya constitute a problem for me, on the contrary, I see elegance and beauty in it. But, that the abaya has changed from an overcoat that represents the culture and customs of a society into a cloth chosen by God for all of us, that was what had ignited the struggle within me. Like many others, for a long time I believed that it was impossible to take off this sacred veil linked to religion, morality and righteousness, as if removing it is also removing all chastity, decency and honor ...

As an adult woman, I try not to hate the color black, and I understand its tyranny in my society, yet I hang on to my black abaya with me today in Lebanon as it reflects my identity as a Yemeni woman, and not as a marker of chastity or a sign of honor. I consider myself as an advocate of the principle of "respecting the culture of the place" you are in and that clothes are (part of) culture and are not just a piece of cloth.

https://raseef22.com/article/1076743-why-i-still-wear-my-black-abaya

(* B H)

Thursday Night Is Sex Night in Yemen

While Thursday night is fun and joy for couple living together, it can be hell for the lone Yemeni – whether residing inside of Yemen or abroad – and also for the youth who dream of marriage, with poverty standing as an obstacle between them and their dreams and aspirations.

Thursday’s night is the subject of many Yemeni songs and poems, especially considering it is often the first night for newly-weds, with it being a Yemeni custom for the bride to enter her spousal home on Thursday night – thus becoming their first anniversary which is resurrected and celebrated every Thursday.

"O Thursday night, the joy of the married – as for the single, he is a poor man with bad luck." So declares the lyrics of one of Yemen's most popular songs, while others announce "Thursday night is when everyone is with their lover, while I'm alone in wearisome estrangement" and "Thursday night is when each room has a couple, while I'm alone and sleepless” as well as dozens of other songs which affirm the special nature of Thursday night for Yemenis, and the happiness of those who are married and live with their spouses.

https://raseef22.com/article/1075243-thursday-night-is-sex-night

Vorige / Previous:

https://www.freitag.de/autoren/dklose/jemenkrieg-mosaik-614-yemen-war-mosaic-614

Jemenkrieg-Mosaik 1-614 / Yemen War Mosaic 1-614:

https://www.freitag.de/autoren/dklose oder / or http://poorworld.net/YemenWar.htm

Der saudische Luftkrieg im Bild / Saudi aerial war images:

(18 +, Nichts für Sensible!) / (18 +; Graphic!)

http://poorworld.net/YemenWar.htm

http://yemenwarcrimes.blogspot.de/

http://www.yemenwar.info/

Liste aller Luftangriffe / and list of all air raids:

http://yemendataproject.org/data/

Untersuchung ausgewählter Luftangriffe durch Bellingcat / Bellingcat investigations of selected air raids:

https://yemen.bellingcat.com/

Untersuchungen von Angriffen, hunderte von Filmen / Investigations of attacks, hundreds of films:

https://yemeniarchive.org/en

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

Dietrich Klose

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

Dietrich Klose

Was ist Ihre Meinung?
Diskutieren Sie mit.

Kommentare einblenden