... Die Machtübernahme der Separatisten schwächt die Zentralbank – Der Weg der Huthis zur Macht – Coronavirus breitet sich weiter aus – und mehr
June 17, 2020: Organizations helping people in Yemen – Yemenis suffer as COVID-19 dries up money from abroad – “Safer” tanker, an ecological time bomb – STC’s Aden takeover cripples Central bank – The Houthis’ rise to power – Coronavirus is spreading further – and more
Schwerpunkte / Key aspects
Kursiv: Siehe Teil 2 / In Italics: Look in part 2: https://www.freitag.de/autoren/dklose/jemenkrieg-mosaik-659b-yemen-war-mosaic-659b
Klassifizierung / Classification
Für wen das Thema ganz neu ist / Who is new to the subject
cp1 Am wichtigsten / Most important
cp1a Am wichtigsten: Coronavitrus und Seuchen / Most important: Coronavirus and epidemics
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
cp9a USA-Iran Krise: Spannungen am Golf / US-Iran crisis: Tensions at the Gulf
cp10 Großbritannien / Great Britain
cp12 Andere Länder / Other countries
cp12a Katar-Krise / Qatar crisis
cp12b Sudan
cp13a Waffenhandel / Arms Trade
cp13b Kulturerbe / Cultural heritage
cp13c Wirtschaft / Economy
cp14 Terrorismus / Terrorism
cp15 Propaganda
cp16 Saudische Luftangriffe / Saudi air raids
cp17 Kriegsereignisse / Theater of War
cp18 Kampf um Hodeidah / Hodeidah battle
cp19 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 H K)
Bürgerkrieg im Jemen: das missachtete Leid
Die Vereinten Nationen sprechen von der größten humanitären Katastrophe weltweit: Die Lage im Jemen ist ohnehin verheerend - und jetzt kommt auch noch das Coronavirus.
Nach mehr als fünf Jahren Bürgerkrieg sind im Jemen mindestens 100.000 Menschen gestorben. Experten gehen von weit mehr Opfern in dem rund 30-Millionen-Einwohner-Land im Süden der Arabischen Halbinsel aus. Trotzdem berichten Medien vergleichsweise wenig über den komplizierten Konflikt - und die menschlichen Tragödien. Ein Überblick zur Lage.
Beim Bürgerkrieg im Jemen handelt es sich nach Angaben der Vereinten Nationen (UN) um die größte humanitäre Katastrophe weltweit. Die Konflikte forderten nach offiziellen Angaben bislang mehr als 100.000 Todesopfer. YPC-Experte Raiman Al-Hamdani geht im Gespräch mit unserer Redaktion von weit mehr Opfern aus. "Ich wäre nicht überrascht, wenn es mehr als 500.000 sind."
24 Millionen der knapp 30 Millionen Einwohner sind auf humanitäre Hilfe angewiesen - und fast eine halbe Million Menschen nach UN-Angaben schwer unterernährt. Allein seit Januar wurden mehr als 94.000 Menschen vertrieben.
Nicht allein die Kämpfe machen der Bevölkerung zu schaffen, wie Al-Hamdani betont: "Sie leidet Hunger, und die medizinische Versorgung im Land ist katastrophal." Die Konfliktparteien hinderten Hilfsorganisationen immer wieder daran, ins Land zu kommen. "Darüber hinaus schwächen Naturkatastrophen wie Starkregen und Überschwemmungen als Folgen des Klimawandels das Land."
https://www.gmx.net/magazine/panorama/buergerkrieg-jemen-missachtete-leid-34791920 = https://web.de/magazine/panorama/buergerkrieg-jemen-missachtete-leid-34791920
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Arte-Videos zum Jemen
https://www.arte.tv/de/videos/RC-016583/jemen-ein-weg-aus-dem-elend/
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Yemen. Why Doesn’t the World Care?
Yemen is on the verge of extinction. What are we doing?!
War. Famine. Epidemic. Pandemic. Bombs, death, destruction, and in the midst of it all, the monster that carves up your insides and sucks your life little by little, giving you a prolonged, painful death — hunger. Starvation.
Have you seen the devastating photographs of the little Yemeni children, their skin plastered to their bones, their eyes large and pleading? Have you heard them praying for deliverance from God?
We gasp as the tweets pop-up on our timelines, because the graphic pictures disturb us. We pretend. We pretend we are disturbed at the state of those children, while in reality we are only angry that the tweet caught us unawares, that it didn’t come with a trigger warning so we could have scrolled past hurriedly, oblivious as usual.
So for those of you who don’t know— here’s what’s happening in Yemen, and why things are worse than ever before.
https://medium.com/@sharikahafeez/yemen-why-doesnt-the-world-care-7282807a48f6
cp1 Am wichtigsten / Most important
(** B H P)
Here is a list of organizations helping people in Yemen who are surviving in the world's worst humanitarian crisis
The World surveyed journalists, humanitarians and Yemeni citizens to come up with this short list of aid groups — some small and local, others huge and global — with proven track records of helping families in Yemen. Each in its own way is helping Yemenis survive what the United Nations has called the world’s largest humanitarian crisis. We first posted this list in 2017, and we continue to update it.
Humanitarians who live and work in Yemen
MonaRelief
Fatik al-Rodaini has been called a hero by Yemenis. He collects funds, buys food from local vendors, and creates batches of food (the term of art is "baskets") for families who his group has identified as needy. These days there is no shortage of need.
Yemen Hope and Relief
Ahmad Algohbary rescues children suffering from severe malnutrition. Families request his help, and he uses donated funds to transport and house them for weeks while their children are treated at nutrition clinics in major Yemeni cities.
Organizations whose mission is to help Yemenis
Yemen Aid
This group, founded by a Yemeni American, provides assistance and resources to Yemeni people, regardless of their race, political affiliation, ancestry or religion, in order to positively change, and ultimately save, lives.
Yemen Our Home
The United Nations Development Project set up "Yemen Our Home" to help people outside Yemen, especially the Yemeni diaspora, support in-country projects.
Yemen Relief and Reconstruction Foundation
This charity, based in Washington State, provides help and support to Yemeni families in desperate need. Through a network of local volunteers, YRRF reaches out to needy families not only in urban areas, but also remote villages and refugee camps.
Global NGOs that include service in Yemen
ICRC
The International Committee of the Red Cross has a well-organized operation in country, efficiently delivering food, clean water and essential household items. This year alone, the ICRC reached 4 million people with basic aid. The group has been outspoken in its call for an end to hostilities, working with all sides of the conflict.
International Rescue Committee
The International Rescue Committee provides lifesaving emergency aid, clean water and medical care to millions of people in Yemen affected by violent conflict and a growing health crisis.
INTERSOS
Since the outbreak of the conflict in March 2015, this Rome-based organization has provided humanitarian aid to thousands of displaced persons and refugees fleeing ongoing clashes and bombings. Some of the work they've done has been to provide medical and food assistance, support and organize school and professional classes for children and teenagers, and provide psychological care and protection for the most vulnerable women and children and for the victims of abuse and violence.
Médecins Sans Frontières(Doctors Without Borders)
MSF has nearly 1,600 staff members across Yemen, including 82 staff members from abroad, working in 13 hospitals and supporting 18 more. MSF medical workers have shored up Yemen’s failed public health system and has been instrumental in combating the cholera epidemic that swept the country in 2017.
MOAS (Migrant Offshore Aid Station)
This group is bringing its seagoing medical clinic to Aden, in southen Yemen, to provide emergency dental and ophthalmology treatment for thousands of Yemeni patients during its 40 days in port. It will also deliver pharmaceutical supplies and high-calorie food supplements to the primary healthcare providers on the ground.
Norwegian Refugee Council
NRC responds to emergency needs in Yemen by providing communities with resources, services and information that enable self-reliance and preserve dignity. One distinguishing feature of NRC's aid program is that it sometimes distributes cash. In Yemen's economy, ruined by war, NRC has given Yemenis the ability to buy the basics.
Oxfam
This global organization delivers essential aid in the north and south of Yemen, and has reached 1.4 million people across the frontlines since July 2015. Oxfam provides clean water and sanitation services, including in hard-to-reach areas of the country, by trucking in drinking water, repairing water systems and building latrines. It supports families with cash payments to buy food in the local market or livestock, and cash for work programs, so they get a possible source of income.
UNICEF
The United Nations Children’s Fund, in collaboration with local authorities, non-governmental organizations and community partners, is working in all parts of Yemen to respond to the needs of children throughout the country, providing food, shelter, sanitation, education and health services to help children survive and grow to their full potential. Surveys by UNICEF are an important gauge of the seriousness of Yemen's humanitarian crisis.
World Food Program
The World Food Program (WFP) began providing food aid to Yemenis long before the current war. Its logo can be seen on sacks of flour in homes throughout the country. As conditions have worsened, WFP has stepped up its efforts, more than doubling the number of people it served in Yemen, from 3.5 million in January to over 7 million in October. In addition, WFP reports on travel conditions throughout Yemen, shares space on its planes and trucks, and has a history of helping other organizations respond to humanitarian needs in Yemen.
Advocacy groups that work to end the war in Yemen
Friends Committee on National Legislation
The Friends Committee on National Legislation lobbies Congress and the Trump administration to advance peace, justice, opportunity and environmental stewardship. It has campaigned tirelessly to urge the US to withdraw its support from Saudi Arabia’s war in Yemen.
Mwatana Organization for Human Rights
This group is headquartered in the Yemeni capital Sanaa. Mwatana programs defend and protect human rights. Its researchers conduct field investigations to detect and stop human rights violations. The organization also attempts to provide support and justice for victims, to hold accountable those in violation of human rights, and to help craft legislation and policies that prevent such violations.
Yemen Peace Project
The US-based advocacy group Yemen Peace Project is dedicated to supporting Yemeni individuals and organizations working to create positive change; advancing peaceful, constructive US policies toward Yemen; defending the rights of Yemenis in the diaspora; and increasing understanding of Yemen in the wider world.
(** B E H)
In Yemen, families suffer as COVID-19 dries up money from abroad
The country’s first cases were not reported until early April; the first deaths three weeks later. But Yemenis like Mohammed felt the impact of the global pandemic weeks before it emerged on their doorsteps, as measures to mitigate the spread of the coronavirus saw businesses around the world close and workers laid-off or furloughed, leading to a massive decline in the up to $10 billion in remittances Yemenis abroad send home each year.
Rising food prices, job losses, and the failure of the state to pay the wages of civil servants, teachers, and healthcare workers has seen an increasing reliance on money transfers from Yemeni expats
This money has supported families struggling to survive, and has been crucial to preventing the famine aid agencies have long warned of.
Abdulwasa Mohammed, policy adviser to Oxfam in Yemen, said the drop-off in remittances could force many Yemenis into a dangerous downward spiral.
“It’s going to further exacerbate the humanitarian situation,” Mohammed told The New Humanitarian. “Those who usually rely on remittances will have to buy food on credit until that credit runs out. Then they’re at risk of being thrown out of their homes when they can’t pay rent, or being forced to mortgage properties and sell livestock.”
This could force people to reduce the number of meals a day they eat, Mohammed added. “The malnutrition crisis is going to get worse.”
The remittances economy
While there are Yemeni expats across the world, neighbouring Saudi Arabia has long been a major source of employment, and remittances.
Figures vary on how much of Yemen’s economy is made up of money sent home from abroad
One of Yemen’s most trusted providers for sending official remittances is the Alkuraimi Islamic Bank,
Transfers through Alkuraimi dropped by an unprecedented 70 percent when COVID-19 mitigation measures were first introduced regionally in March, according to the source.
Other informal Yemeni money exchanges are also reporting dramatic drops, likely not helped by the fact that many branches were forced to close due to COVID-19 restrictions.
A three-pronged crisis
The interconnectivity of Yemen’s economy means that a decline in any one of the three major sources of foreign currency – humanitarian aid, oil exports, and remittances – has a significant impact on local purchasing power.
Yemen is now facing a decline in all three. The loss of remittances comes as oil prices are plunging, and as a reduction in funding is forcing aid agencies and NGOs in Yemen to close down or scale back various humanitarian programmes, including food aid and subsidies to healthcare workers.
All of this is likely to result in a depreciation of the Yemeni rial and worsening food security in Yemen, where food often sits in markets with people unable to purchase it, said Anthony Biswell, an economic analyst at the Sana’a Center for Strategic Studies.
“We cannot underestimate the size of the impact that a drop in remittance flows will have on the country, at both the national and local levels,” Biswell warned.
In addition to the immediate impact on Yemeni families, the decline in money from family and friends abroad is likely to have wider economic implications.
Remittances are the primary source of foreign currency in Yemen, a country that imports the vast majority of its food.
Without much else by way of income during the war, money sent from abroad has been a major factor in keeping these imports coming, explained Alwai Ba Faqih, the minister of expatriate affairs for Hadi’s government. The fall in remittances “is going to be a disaster”, Ba Faqih told TNH. “It is a disaster.”
The loss of this inflow is also likely to put even more pressure on the exchange rate, resulting in even higher prices – food prices have already risen as a result of the pandemic – by Iona Craig
https://www.thenewhumanitarian.org/news-feature/2020/06/16/Coronavirus-Yemen-economy-remittances
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Safer time bomb discloses failure of peace sponsors in Yemen
Still, Yemen is approaching an environmental battle not less risky than the military one, to which peace has been strayed across the Arabian Peninsula country.
Warnings have been increasingly issued that a potential leakage from or boom of the floating storage and offloading (FSO) facility 'Safer' (moored off Yemen's western port of Ras Isa) could lead to an environmental disaster.
The time bomb's is a merely economic conflict stirred by millions of dollars in the FSO-loaded oil crude sought by both warring parties to benefit from its revenues, even at the expense of environment, whose contamination could be the worst in history.
No tangible outcomes has been yielded from warnings released by peace sponsors – the UN or US and UK – the UN-recognized government and the Houthi group, as none of them seems to have exerted serious efforts in order to prevent a catastrophic crisis.
Most of the Yemenis wonder about the real role assumed by super powers with regards to this critical issue, for which the Yemeni rivals have traded blames if the nearly 150,000 tons of crude leaked and left dire impacts to the whole region.
The international community's failure to tackle the Safer problem, which jeopardizes the Red Sea and nearby, reflects its failure to bring about a political solution for the broader Yemen's crisis.
An impending oil leakage from Safer would cause a maritime catastrophe affecting large swaths of Yemeni and nearby coasts, and a massive destruction for species in the Red Sea, say specialists, with inevitably lingering impacts to fisheries in the region.
Houthis fear espionage acts
The Houthis had already denied access for a UN technical team from "aggression countries" to report on needed repairs. Since Hodeida is under its control, the group sees any teams sent by these countries as spying agents working for the Saudi-led coalition.
Last May, member of the Houthi Supreme Political Council dubbed a call by the US Department of State upon his group to maintain the derelict tanker of Safer as the "biggest misleading act".
"US airplanes kill Yemeni humans in Sa'ada and it wants us to maintain the safety of fish in shores," Mohamed Ali al-Houthi added.
Observers suggest that a UN deterrent force should be in place, with pressures exerted by Yemen's peace sponsor, to impose a solution for the risks posed by Safer.
https://debriefer.net/en/news-17848.html
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Yemen Economic Bulletin: STC’s Aden Takeover Cripples Central Bank and Fragments Public Finances
Ahmed Bin Breik, Chairman of the Southern Self-Administration Committee, issued a decree mandating all state institutions and administrative apparatus in southern governorates deposit their revenues into an STC-controlled consolidated account at Bank Al-Ahli Al-Yemeni, otherwise known as the National Bank of Yemen (NBY). On May 5, the STC ordered public customs and tax offices operating in the Free Zone, Al-Mualla and Al-Zait areas of Aden port to deposit revenues at NBY instead of the Aden central bank, where they are legally mandated to go. In enforcing the redirection of public revenues, the STC closed the central bank offices at the Aden port facilities, confiscated YR639 million worth of existing customs and tariffs, and transferred these to NBY.
The STC chose NBY to act as the state treasury for their so-called “Self-Administration” office due to its deep roots and extensive networks across southern Yemen. Established as a fully state-owned entity in 1969 in what was then the People’s Democratic Republic of Yemen (also known as South Yemen) through the nationalization of all the foreign bank branches operating in the south at the time, NBY is the only Yemeni commercial bank headquartered in Aden
While the central bank building itself in the Crater district of Aden remains nominally under the Yemeni government’s control, with Saudi soldiers stationed inside the compound and STC-allied forces guarding the perimeter, whether it is able to function properly and in accordance with its own by-laws remains questionable.
According to a well-placed banking official who spoke on condition of anonymity, the central bank in Aden is still carrying out other primary functions free of direct STC intervention, including the management of foreign currency reserves to support import financing. However, the central bank’s ability to maintain a degree of monetary stability depends heavily on its ability to make the major players in the foreign exchange market – such as commercial banks, money exchange firms and commodity importers – abide by its circulars. Many of these major market players in southern Yemen operate from Aden, Lahj and Al-Dhalea, governorates where the STC has seized control from the Yemeni government, meaning central bank staff responsible for currency market regulation in these areas currently face daunting difficulties, thus limiting the central bank’s ability to maintain price stability.
The STC’s establishment of its own Supreme Economic Committee (SEC) on May 11 intensified the economic fracturing as this entity appears to be a direct counterpoint to the National Economic Committee established by the Hadi government in August 2018. While the framework of the SEC is still unpublished, all indications are that its main duties include the management of monetary and fiscal policies, which would mean the CBY would face competition in carrying out the primary functions for which it is mandated to be the sole arbiter.
The Yemeni government’s monetary leverage has been challenged and its fiscal capacities compromised for years; the STC’s self-rule declaration and takeover of Aden has undermined the government’s position even further.
Immense new economic stressors have also emerged in parallel. Various financial experts and Sana’a Center economists are forecasting a massive drop in remittances, Yemen’s largest source of foreign currency, due to the COVID-19-related economic contraction in Saudi Arabia and elsewhere.
Looking ahead
There has been little indication since the STC declaration of self-administration that the Yemeni government will be able to secure its authority in the city in the near future. The prospects, therefore, for keeping its central bank operating in the city are also dim. If the Riyadh Agreement becomes an irredeemable failure, Ataq in Shabwa governorate or Sayoun in Hadramawt would appear to be the most viable options for relocating the central bank headquarters, though as of this writing the Yemeni government has put forward no plan by which to carry out such an operation.
Notably, there had been minimal planning preceding President Abo Rabbu Mansour Hadi’s 2016 decree ordering the central bank headquarters relocated from Sana’a to Aden, a hasty decision that temporarily eviscerated the central bank’s ability to carry out its basic functions.
Thus, the Yemeni government-controlled central bank faces the very real prospect of shortly having no place to operate from and almost no money to operate with.
https://sanaacenter.org/publications/analysis/10219
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The Houthis: From the Sa’ada Wars to the Saudi-led Intervention
In February 2010, former Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh casually declared in a speech that the Sa’ada Wars were over. Six rounds of fighting between the Yemeni army and Houthi movement since 2004 did not end with any political agreement. The Sa’ada Wars had left the government and army fractured and divided politically, as a power struggle emerged between Ahmad Ali Saleh, the son of the president, and Ali Mohsen al-Ahmar, the country’s top military commander and President Saleh’s old partner in power. Years of war, meanwhile, served to strengthen the Houthis militarily, and after Saleh declared an end of the conflict, the Houthi insurgency was left to control Sa’ada governorate, the birthplace and stronghold of the movement.
From its experience in the Sa’ada wars, the Houthi movement became a major political and military power in Yemen. Four and half years after Saleh declared the end to hostilities, the Houthis had expanded beyond Sa’ada to control the country’s capital, Sana’a. Even as the intervention of the Saudi-led coalition and Operation Decisive Storm succeeded in halting the Houthi military march across the country and expelling it from southern Yemen, the course of war later began to favor the group, giving the Houthis the momentum to consolidate their authority in northern Yemen and eventually resume their military expansion. The Houthi alliance with Iran has become more solid amid a conflict that has local and regional dimensions. Overall, the Houthis’ rise to power has been defined by several prominent characteristics, which reveal the nature of the movement and give some indication of its potential future actions.
Alliances That Do Not Last
During their expansion from Sa’ada to Sana’a, the Houthis adopted a policy of forging temporary alliances and targeting rivals one by one. This often involved allying with a certain rival against another for a short period of time. For instance, during the Yemeni uprising in 2011, the Houthis did not mind coordinating and cooperating with the Islamist party, Islah, to get rid of President Ali Abdullah Saleh. This alliance also helped it make other political gains, the most important of which was the expulsion of the Sa’ada governor named by the government and the March 2011 appointment of Houthi ally Fares Mana’a, the most prominent illicit arms dealer in Yemen and the surrounding region.
When Yemen held its National Dialogue Conference (NDC), the Houthi Movement became closer with the Southern Movement, which advocates for the secession of the former South Yemen. The Houthis adopted the Southern Movement narrative that the South had been attacked by a northern tribal system. It also backed the Southern Movement and the Yemeni Socialist Party in demanding a two-region federal system for the country. Even during the NDC, however, the Houthis would continue to rely on their huge military strength to drive events in their favor. Following the breakup of the conference over the issue of federalism, the group resumed its military expansion, capturing Amran governorate, the northern gateway to the capital, in July 2014.
The fall of Amran and the Houthis’ march toward Sana’a led to a rapprochement with a longtime enemy: former President Saleh. Saleh’s networks of influence and connections in state institutions and society played a key role in facilitating the Houthis’ entry into the capital Sana’a and seizure of power. This alliance was based primarily on confronting their mutual rival, Islah.
The Houthis’ mostly-unopposed entry into Sana’a in September 2014 was also aided by the desire of other parties to weaken Islah.
Still, the Houthis do not rule out rapprochement with any party if it would benefit the group in the struggle against a mutual enemy. For instance, Houthi official Hussein al-Azzi in March 2020 publicly declared support for the secessionist Southern Transitional Council in its struggle with the Hadi government in South Yemen.
However, the group nature will only allow temporary alliances up to a certain point. In terms of ruling, the Houthi movement does so alone. It has not sought to form any lasting political or social alliances, for instance allying with some tribes, and instead has employed an approach reliant on oppression and imposing its will on Yemeni society.
Loyalty and Cohesion
The Houthis are a religious Zaidi movement that is limited to Yemen. While they have expanded their rhetoric to more closely reflect ideas espoused by Iran and other Shia Islamist movements in the so-called ‘Axis of Resistance’, their nature remains highly local, based on ancestral and territorial history. One cannot easily join the core Houthi movement because it does not trust anyone who joined after it expanded beyond Sa’ada and became the ruling power in Sana’a. This can be seen clearly when looking at the background of most military commanders and mushrifeen, many of whom share kinship or connections by marriage to the Houthi family and were part of the movement dating back to the insurgency against the central government, like Al-Tawos, Al-Ejri, Al-Shami, Habra and Filita families.
The political pragmatism in dealing with outsiders, exemplified in temporary alliances and changing rhetoric, contradicts the Houthi movement’s true doctrinal nature and narrow composition. Relations between the movement’s members are based on absolute loyalty to the leadership and complete faith in the inevitability of reaching the movement’s goals. The group’s faith in its own purity has led to a sense of superiority over others and distrust of outsiders.
Understanding the Houthis requires distinguishing between their true internal rhetoric versus the actions and words directed at non-members. Above all, loyalty to the leadership and the movement are the group’s core values. This coherence and unity has formed the basis for its existence and has served to protect it against outsiders, whether foreign powers or fellow Yemenis. The Houthi movement was formed and shaped during years of war. Even now, while governing in Sana’a and controlling the majority of Yemen’s population, the actions of the group remain influenced by the feeling that there always lurks a threat to the movement’s existence – by Maysaa Shuja al-Deen
https://twitter.com/SanaaCenter/status/1272790870870327302
and summary of main points:
Non-Resident Fellow @maysaashujaa writes about the #Houthi movement's rise to power, explaining that since it was formed and shaped during years of war, its actions remain influenced by the feeling that there always lurks a threat to its existence.
During their expansion from Sa’ada to Sana’a, the #Houthis switched alliances often, from the #Islah Party, to the Southern Movement and the Yemeni Socialist Party, to Ali Abdullah #Saleh, adopting a policy of forging temporary alliances and targeting rivals one by one.
The #Houthis do not rule out #rapprochement with any party if it would benefit the group in the struggle against a mutual enemy. However, the group nature will only allow temporary #alliances up to a certain point. In terms of #ruling, the Houthi movement does so alone.
The #Houthi movement has shown a willingness to shift how it depicts itself and its motives, depending on the situation, regardless of whether this is inconsistent with its actions on the ground or its previously stated ideological stances.
Yet the political pragmatism in dealing with outsiders, exemplified in temporary alliances and changing rhetoric, contradicts the #Houthi movement’s true doctrinal nature and narrow composition. Loyalty to the leadership and the movement are the group’s core values is above all.
https://twitter.com/SanaaCenter/status/1272790870870327302
cp1a Am wichtigsten: Coronavirus und Seuchen / Most important: Coronavirus and epidemics
Siehe / Look at cp1
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Film: Yemen Is Facing the World's Worst Humanitarian Crisis, Then Coronavirus Came
The WHO estimates that at best, at least half of Yemen could be infected with the coronavirus and could become the worst manifestation of the virus because of the country’s depleted healthcare system. At least half of the hospitals there are not fully functional, with less than 1000 ventilators and ICU beds across the country, according to the WHO. Yemen is also in the midst of the world’s humanitarian crisis.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XxkTM5fyabo
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Film von CARE: Jemen: Coronavirus in der größten humanitären Krise
COVID-19 im Jemen Besonders Familien sind von Coronakrise betroffen Mit sauberem Wasser, Lebensmitteln und Bargeld hilft CARE gegen die Pandemie Unterstützen Sie unsere Arbeit mit einer Spende: https://bit.ly/2wghxO
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tDBp6FObEp4
(A H)
Forty one new confirmed #coronavirus cases , including 6 deaths reported today by @YSNECCOVID19.
https://twitter.com/mohammedalqadhi/status/1272972960043655168
(A H)
36 new cases of COVID-19 reported, 885 in total
http://en.adenpress.news/news/23315
(A H)
Film (in Arabic): Yemen - Adenians resort to herbs to protect against corona
Many residents of Aden governorate in southern Yemen resorted to medicinal herbs to prevent the emerging corona virus due to the high cost and lack of some treatments and antibiotics that help in treating the virus, in addition to the scarcity of medical capabilities in the governorate,
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MU6eGiwVcfA
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Thread, -#Yemen has suffered 5 years of war, poverty, cholera and now #COVID19! -Our country is on the brink of collapse. -The "death" has become normal! -Hospitals have refused to take in infected people, because there is a lack of protection equipment. -Fuel crisis.
-Doctors and nurses can't work without personal protective equipment. -people are afraid of going to hospitals and they die in their houses. -People can't bury their loved ones because of the high prices of burial. -A lot of #COVID19 cases in Sana'a and double in #Aden!
-No Salaries for 5 years, no electricity, no jobs, no access to health care, no access to clean water, famine, destruction, Cholera, dengue fever, bombardment and now #coronavirus. -High number of infections and deaths among Doctors, nurses and helpers.
Until now there is not a way to test people for the disease, the true number of people infected or killed will remain unclear. -In many villages, there are not even doctors! -There are just 500 ventilators and 700 intensive care beds available!
https://twitter.com/AhmadAlgohbary/status/1272863903375151104
(A H)
Yemen reports highest daily count of COVID-19
The supreme national emergency committee for COVID-19 reported on Monday, 116 new confirmed cases of coronavirus, including 36 recoveries and 4 deaths.
The committee said that 73 cases of coronavirus were detected in Hadramout, including 32 deaths, 24 cases in Shabwa, including 2 deaths, 5 cases in Aden, 3 in Taiz, including 2 deaths, 3 cases in Lahj, 7 in Abyan and 1 in al-Dhale.
The committee reported the death of 6 patients previously detected in Hadramout and two deaths in al-Mahra.
The committee also announced the recovery of 26 patients
http://en.adenpress.news/news/23308
https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20200616-yemen-records-highest-daily-deaths-cases-since-april/
https://english.alaraby.co.uk/english/news/2020/6/16/yemen-records-worst-day-for-covid-19-cases
(A H)
Infographic: Yemen's Supreme National Emergency Committee for #COVID19 confirmed on Monday 36 fatalities from the novel coronavirus, bringing the death toll to 208.
https://twitter.com/RepYemenEnglish/status/1272918983222714368
(* B H)
Film: Yemen - Corona injuries and fevers is out of control in Aden amid total collapse of health sector
The governorate of Taiz, in the southwest of Yemen, is witnessing an exponential increase in cases of coronavirus infection, in the midst of an outbreak of deadly fevers in the city.The health authorities in the city indicated that the increase in cases significantly increased the suffering of the health sector, which has been collapsing for years
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NRc7GxvOAoM
(* B H)
Yemen and COVID-19: The pandemic exacts its devastating toll
Predictably, the war decimated the country’s health sector, with at least half the medical facilities rendered dysfunctional while confronting the worst cholera outbreak in modern times with 110,000 cases in April. Around 20 percent of the country’s 333 districts have no medical doctors and the numbers are getting thinner as the war and now the pandemic force doctors and other medical staff to leave the country or avoid working for fear of infection with little available protection. The country currently has only 500 ventilators (60 for children) and 700 intensive care unit beds. According to the U.N. more than 30 of 41 major U.N. programs in Yemen will close in the next few weeks if additional funding is not available. Some 10,000 health care workers have already lost the United Nations payments that for many were their only salary. The U.N. has also had to halt health services for women giving birth in 150 hospitals. As the UNHCR says. the country’s health system “has in effect collapsed.”
As of early June, official sources cited 400 pandemic cases and 87 deaths. But the U.N., Doctors without Borders, and others believe this to be a dramatic undercount given limited testing ability.
(* B H)
Doctors Without Borders: COVID-19 SUPPLY CHALLENGES SHORT-TERM ALTERNATIVE SOLUTIONS
With only about half of Yemen’s medical facilities still functioning, the health system can no longer meet the needs of the vulnerable people who need it most. Unlike other epidemics Yemen has faced in the past, the novel coronavirus presents unprecedented challenges – in terms of movement constraints for staff and supplies, and in terms of global supply shortages, particularly of personal protective equipment (PPE), which is essential for health workers already struggling to cope with limited resources.
“There was a limited chance of MSF being able to get PPE inside Yemen, because of global shortages and constraints on the movement of supplies worldwide.
To reduce the risks of people contracting and spreading COVID-19, MSF teams have been compelled to produce personal protective gear by hand using locally-available materials. However, it should be said that this is an incomplete and temporary solution, as the protective masks and aprons are not suitable for medical staff handling core medical tasks, while the depleting stocks of primary materials mean that these efforts to respond to the PPE shortage may be short-lived.
“The idea came about due to the shortage in PPEs we are seeing at the moment, and we needed to find ways to economise the scarce medical PPE so that it is kept for the use of healthcare workers. We needed to come up with safe alternatives to protect our staff, since we want to continue providing healthcare safely to patients coming to our facilities.”
Annie Marie Morales, MSF medical team leader in Marib
“We bought waterproof jumpsuits as an alternative to disposable gowns and placed a large order for non-medical masks from the local market. These are only meant for our non-medical staff, their families, patients and caretakers, and would not work for our medical staff who need more specialised PPE. Face shields are very practical as they are re-usable when disinfected in chlorine solution and protect your entire face from droplets and fluids, which are the main transmitters of COVID-19.”
Katrin Mielck, MSF project coordinator in Taiz Houban
“We see this in Taiz Houban, where the local market started to produce all sorts of masks at quite an early stage of the COVID-19 crisis. We have some skilled colleagues in our team – Adeel, our handyman, is one of them. He undertook the task of producing face shields and a foot-operated handwashing point that was inspired by a video from our colleagues in MSF South Africa. It means people don’t have to touch the tap with their hands and is therefore more hygienic.”
Katrin Mielck, MSF project coordinator in Taiz Houban
“We are fully aware that this is not the ideal solution, as the quality of tools we currently use may not be the most reliable. Our staff are dealing with an extra layer of complexity added to a work situation that is already challenging and unstable, but they are doing the best they can in the face of this extreme shortage of essential supplies and of heightened risks. They are determined to keep medical services running and ensure that medical care reach the most vulnerable Yemenis.”
Katrin Mielck, MSF project coordinator in Taiz Houban
“It's a difficult situation and we are trying to adapt as events unfold rapidly. There is local transmission [of COVID-19] happening in the country at present, which risks having to shut down our activities, because the safety of our staff and the patients we serve is of the utmost importance.”
Annie Marie Morales, MSF medical team leader in Marib
“However, to maintain our lifesaving medical activities in the country, it is crucial that we have PPE. If we run out of these essential items, we will be forced to close our medical facilities and will no longer be able to serve the people who are most in need of our services: children and pregnant women.”
Katrin Mielck, MSF project coordinator in Taiz Houban
While our teams remain determined to continue running lifesaving medical activities, a lack of PPE presents a very real threat to their ability to work. Unless enough PPE can be secured for our teams in Yemen, MSF may be forced to shut down these vital programmes. (with photos)
https://msf.exposure.co/yemen-nbspcovid19-supply-challenges-shortterm-alternative-solutions
(* B H P)
Die unsichtbare Welle
Im Jemen mehren sich die Corona-Todesfälle. Doch die Huthis vertuschen das Ausmaß der Katastrophe. Opfer werden heimlich beerdigt. Das Land steht am Abgrund.
offiziellen Angaben zufolge gibt es Corona im Jemen kaum.
Fast niemand glaubt den offiziellen Zahlen. Der Informationsfluss ist spärlich. Es gibt viel zu wenig Tests. Doch es gibt immer mehr Leichen. In sozialen Medien machen Videos die Runde von heimlichen Beerdigungen.
Das südliche Gesundheitsministerium zählte zuletzt in seinem Teil des Landes mehr als 129 Corona-Tote und über 500 Infizierte. Die tatsächliche Zahl dürfte weit höher liegen, da es an Testkapazitäten mangelt.
Doch die Huthis im Norden vertuschen das Ausmaß der Katastrophe und machen so alles noch viel schlimmer. Ihren Angaben zufolge hatte es bis Ende Mai lediglich vier Infektionen gegeben, keine davon tödlich.
Auf einer Pressekonferenz im Juni verkündete der Huthi-Gesundheitsminister Taha al-Motawakel, dass der Jemen bald schon einen Impfstoff gegen Corona entwickeln könnte, was extrem unwahrscheinlich ist. Schließlich fehlt es im Jemen an allem - Ärzten, Medikamenten, ja sogar an Trinkwasser. Umgerechnet steht in den Krankenhäusern pro Monat für 2,5 Millionen Jemeniten ein einziger Sauerstoffzylinder zur Verfügung.
Wie die Lage in der von den Huthi kontrollierten Hauptstadt Sanaa tatsächlich ist, deutet ein Bericht der Organisation "Ärzte ohne Grenzen" an. Medizinerinnen und Mediziner erzählen von Panik und vielen Todesfällen: "Corona hat das Gesundheitssystem im Jemen vollständig zusammenbrechen lassen."
Die Uno rechnet damit, dass Corona im Jemen viel tödlicher wirkt, weil viele Jemeniten schon so geschwächt sind. Im besten Fall geht sie derzeit davon aus, dass etwa die Hälfte der Bevölkerung sich infizieren wird. – von Raniah Salloum
(* B H)
Audio: Yemen has the worst humanitarian crisis in the world, following years of civil war. And now, on top of malnourishment and a decimated healthcare system, comes Covid-19. Iona Craig was in the worst-hit city, Aden, when the virus started to spread. (fom min. 6:28)
https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m000jxtz
(B H)
YEMEN WASH Cluster COVID-19 Bulletin, 02 June 2020
https://reliefweb.int/report/yemen/yemen-wash-cluster-covid-19-bulletin-02-june-2020-enar
(* B H)
Yemen COVID-19 Preparedness and Response Snapshot - As of 13 June 2020
As of 13 June, the number of confirmed COVID-19 cases in Yemen had reached 709, with 161 related deaths and 42 recoveries. The overall case fatality rate remains alarmingly high at just below 25 per cent, nearly four times higher than the global average. All indications suggest that COVID-19 is spreading rapidly across the country. Individuals who are symptomatic are often not seeking testing or treatment until their condition is serious because health facilities are not accessible or local facilities are full or cannot treat patients safely. Other reasons that explain why people are delaying seeking treatment include fear of stigma, concerns about safety, and the perceived risks of seeking care. Even so, the health system is overwhelmed and is in danger of collapsing under the strain of COVID-19.
https://reliefweb.int/report/yemen/yemen-covid-19-preparedness-and-response-snapshot-13-june-2020
(A H P)
QRCS, UNHCR provide Coronavirus testing equipment for Yemen health facilities
Qatar Red Crescent Society (QRCS) and the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) are working together on a health care project for refugees in Sana’a, Yemen, with a total budget of $739,162.
(* A H P)
US-Saudi Aggression Increases Humanitarian Crisis, Transports People Infected with Coronavirus to Yemen
News of the suspension of the Yemeni flight has sparked widespread discontent in the Yemeni governorates in general, and the southern governorates in particular, after medical tests at the airport proved that a number of stranded Yemenis, who were expected to travel through Cairo airport on Sunday to Seyoun Airport, were infected with the coronavirus.
Activists on social media have accused the coalition and its tools of deepening the humanitarian crisis in Yemen by transferring people infected with corona, which will increase the spread of the epidemic in the areas they will reach.
Observers believe that the Hadi government’s progress in its procedures and the transfer of the stranded Yemenis to Yemen, despite knowing that a number of them were infected with the virus, proves the coalition’s role in spreading the pandemic in Yemen during the last period.
https://english.almasirah.net/details.php?es_id=13457
My remark: As claimed by the Houthi side.
(A H)
23 new cases of COVID-19 reported, 728 in total
http://en.adenpress.news/news/23296
(A H)
728 Covid-19 cases, including 164 deaths & 53 recoveries, been confirmed in regions run by Gov't & militias backed by Saudi-led coalition since 10th April. In north, Houthi cover-up is continuing, but locals been flooding social media with death news for several weeks.
https://twitter.com/FuadRajeh/status/1272208672538714119
(A H)
UNICEF delivers COVID-19 medical equipment to Yemen's Sanaa
http://www.xinhuanet.com/english/2020-06/15/c_139138713.htm
https://www.saba.ye/en/news3099463.htm
(* B H K P)
Coronavirus: World powers must speak up for Yemen's most vulnerable civilians
As fighting is renewed in the north, hundreds of thousands of displaced people are at increased risk of contracting Covid-19
Millions of Yemeni civilians are in dire need of humanitarian aid, and renewed fighting in the country's north has left hundreds of thousands of displaced people at heightened risk of contracting Covid-19, rights groups warn.
The intensifying conflict between Houthi forces and a Saudi-led coalition has moved nearer to these overcrowded camps, presenting a significant risk. The onslaught is driven by Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, who has not let up, even as the pandemic threatens catastrophic consequences in a country whose healthcare capacity has been decimated by years of war.
It is incumbent upon Saudi Arabia and the Houthis to collectively act with immediate effect to protect those who have been displaced within the country's most insecure areas.
It is vital that civilians in Yemen get access to the humanitarian aid that they desperately need
Bin Salman has the authority to implement needed changes to protect civilians, but he has thus far failed to do so. The war itself goes against the very tenets of Islam, which calls to protect civilians and to look after your neighbours.
(A H)
73 new cases of COVID-19 reported, 705 in total
According to the committee, the total number of confirmed cases of coronavirus in the liberated regions has reached 705, including 160 deaths and 39 recoveries.
http://en.adenpress.news/news/23287
(A H)
12 cases of coronavirus reported in al-Mahra
http://en.adenpress.news/news/23283
(A H)
Yemen recorded 41 new Covid-19 cases
https://debriefer.net/en/news-17761.html
(B H)
for patients with kidney failure covid19 is a double-hell. What’s your capabilities to treat patients, dr? -Dr: honestly, our capabilities are zero.
https://twitter.com/Afrahnasser/status/1271890801786867712
referring to film (in Arabic): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kCUqJBBT7so
(A H)
Flight from Cairo to Aden cancelled due to COVID-19 cases on board
http://en.adenpress.news/news/23288
(* B H P)
In front of Massacres of Global Terrorism, Yemen Victorious over Coronavirus
Certainly, one of the most important and influential weapons in wars is intimidation and the terror of an adversary, even large military armies can be defeated in front of an organized terror campaign. History is a witness to many of the battles that led to this result. Therefore, the various military institutions in the world strive to enhance the morale of the individual, then it develops advanced strategies and methodologies to advance this spirit to include society if the country enters a military confrontation.
In this regard, many questions are raised:
Is it humanity to terrorize society in the event of the spread of diseases and epidemics, and why do countries not care about the morale of patients as they do with the morale of their armies?
Doesn't the patient need reassurance and psychological comfort more than a soldier who is often in good health and with strong physical structure?
Even the medical consultations in place in the world for the various diseases, chronic ones specifically, confirm the importance of morale in the recovery of many patients, and vice versa.
Faced with this reality, why has the global response to the corona epidemic emerged in a different way, by adopting a policy of intimidation rather than reassurance with warning?
The Yemeni Minister of Health, Dr. Taha Al-Mutawakkil, confirms that the psychological trauma created by political leaders and the media about corona causes many of the deaths in the world.
From this standpoint, Yemen has realized the seriousness of the media terrorism that states are adopting, either intentionally or with ignorance.
Ministry of Health in Sana’ announced a strategy of "neither intimidation nor underestimation", in line with the principle that intimidation of society is a crime, and then a response to the difficult humanitarian and living conditions created by the aggression and the siege.
https://english.almasirah.net/details.php?es_id=13350
My comment: The odd Houthi viewpoint on Corona, actually leading to a policy of neglect causing plenty of deaths.
(A H P)
[Sanaa gov.] Health Minister : Amid Corona Pandemic US-Saudi Alliance Prevents Oil Derivatives Entry Causing Epidemic Outbreak
Minister of Health and Population, Dr. Taha Al-Mutawakkil, confirmed Saturday that amid the Corona pandemic, the US-Saudi Alliance prevented the entry of oil derivatives to cause the outbreak of the epidemic.
Al-Mutawakel, in his speech explained that the timing of preventing the entry of oil derivatives confirms the alliance's maliciousness as we face the epidemic and limit its spread.
https://english.almasirah.net/details.php?es_id=13432
(A H P)
Yemeni embassy in Riyadh suspends work after employees infected with Covid-19
The Yemeni embassy in Riyadh to suspend its work from tomorrow, Sunday, until further notice, as a result of the outbreak of the Coronavirus in the corridors of the embassy
https://debriefer.net/en/news-17774.html
(*B H)
Yemen records 137k cholera infections this year
Over 137,000 cholera cases have been recorded in Yemen since the beginning of this year, nearly a quarter of them among children below 5 years old, UNICEF spokesperson said Friday in a press release.
"Of the 8.4 million Yemenis whose access to WASH will be affected because of insufficient funding, a total of 4 million people – nearly half of them children – directly depend on UNICEF," Marixie Mercado added. "They are among the most vulnerable Yemenis due to conflict, cholera and internal displacement.
"Unless UNICEF receives US$30 million by the end of June, water, sanitation and hygiene services will start shutting down for these 4 million people in July," she warned.
https://debriefer.net/en/news-17783.html
(* B H)
Outbreak update – Cholera in Yemen, 31 May 2020
The Ministry of Public Health and Population of Yemen reported 3071 suspected cases and no associated death during epidemiological week 22 (25 – 31 May) of 2020 with 17% of the cases reported as severe. The cumulative total number of suspected cholera cases from 1 January 2018 to 31 May 2020 is 1 371 819 with 1566 associated deaths (CFR 0.11%). Children under five represent 23% of the total suspected cases during 2020. The outbreak has affected 22 of the 23 governorates and 293 of the 333 districts of Yemen.
Suspected cholera cases at the country level started to be increasingly reported from week eight of 2019 and the trend continued until week 14 when the number of cases reached more than 29 500, the highest number of cases reported so far. The number of suspected cases fluctuated over the following period with the trend now considered as stable during the past three weeks based on the average number of cases calculated between weeks 20 and 22.
https://reliefweb.int/report/yemen/outbreak-update-cholera-yemen-31-may-2020
(B H)
Outbreak update – Cholera in Yemen, 24 May 2020
The Ministry of Public Health and Population of Yemen reported 2489 suspected cases and one associated death during epidemiological week 21 (18 – 24 May) of 2020 with 16% of the cases reported as severe. The cumulative total number of suspected cholera cases from 1 January 2018 to 17 May 2020 is 1 368 325 with 1566 associated deaths (CFR 0.11%). Children under five represent 23% of the total suspected cases during 2020. The outbreak has affected 22 of the 23 governorates and 293 of the 333 districts of Yemen.
https://reliefweb.int/report/yemen/outbreak-update-cholera-yemen-24-may-2020
(B H)
Yemen - 2020 AWD / Cholera Response Dashboard - Weeks 1 - 22
https://reliefweb.int/report/yemen/yemen-2020-awd-cholera-response-dashboard-weeks-1-22
cp2 Allgemein / General
(* A K P)
Interactive Map of Yemen War
(* A K)
Karten: Die Houthi Rebellen haben in ihrer Offensive in der Region Marib Erfolge erzielt.
Die saudische Front soll dort zusammengebrochen sein!
https://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?id=174962133151864&story_fbid=598417447472995
Mapping #Yemen's #War Updates in Ma'rib
https://twitter.com/BashaReport/status/1272967401483763712
MILITARY SITUATION IN YEMEN ON JUNE 16, 2020 (MAP UPDATE)
https://southfront.org/military-situation-in-yemen-on-june-16-2020-map-update/
MILITARY SITUATION IN YEMEN ON JUNE 15, 2020 (MAP UPDATE)
https://southfront.org/military-situation-in-yemen-on-june-15-2020-map-update/
MILITARY SITUATION IN YEMEN ON JUNE 14, 2020 (MAP UPDATE)
https://southfront.org/military-situation-in-yemen-on-june-14-2020-map-update/
MILITARY SITUATION IN YEMEN ON JUNE 13, 2020 (MAP UPDATE)
https://southfront.org/military-situation-in-yemen-on-june-13-2020-map-update/
(B H K)
Krieg, Cholera, Corona: Der Jemen leidet unter der größten humanitären Krise der Welt
Stellt euch vor, eurer Land wird von einer Cholera-Epidemie, einer Corona-Pandemie, einer Hungersnot und einem seit mehreren Jahren wütenden Krieg heimgesucht. Alles gleichzeitig. Was klingt, wie ein abstruser Weltuntergangsfilm ist bittere Realität: Der Jemen leidet unter der schlimmsten humanitären Krise seit 100 Jahren. Das Gesundheitssystem liegt in Trümmern: Krankenhäuser wurden bombardiert, viele Ärzt*innen sind längst geflohen. Menschen verhungern.
Der anhaltende Krieg und die Bombardierungen werfen das Bürgerkriegsland nach Ansicht der Hilfsorganisation Handicap International (HI) um eine ganze Generation zurück.
https://noizz.de/politik/jemen-krieg-cholera-corona-grossten-humanitaren-krise-der-welt/4er1v2v
(A K P)
Violence surges in Yemen after coronavirus truce expires
Violence has surged between the Western-backed alliance and the Houthi group after a six-week ceasefire prompted by the coronavirus pandemic expired last month.
My comment: This Saudi “truth” was a scam – from the very beginning.
(* B K P)
Confidential: Saudi intelligence knew Houthi purchase of drone systems
Days gradually unveil facts on Yemen's war, most of whose events are unexpectedly stirred by intelligence bodies, including drone attacks launched by Houthis on giant economic facilities inside Saudi lands.
Among such facts are the Saudi-Houthi secret talks –either conducted directly or led by regional mediators like Oman – and the fact that Saudi early knowledge of the Houthi drones.
"The Saudi intelligence were aware that the Houthis bought systems to control drones, which were used later to attack large, vital facilities inside Saudi Arabia," private sources told Debriefer.
"An international mediator informed the Saudi intelligence about details of the deal that included spare parts (of remote control systems and engines), but the intelligence officials astonishingly overlooked the information with no reason," the sources added on condition of anonymity.
In December 2019, the Houthi missile and UAV forces attacked the Saudi giant Aramco using 12 drones and 3 missiles, the group's spokesmen said then.
"Serving as a broker for a European arms manufacturer, the mediator also warned Saudis of Houthis' purchasing drones able to carry explosive heads at the beginning of 2016.
"The mediator, who had already led arms sales for the Saudi Defense Ministry (SDM) to be channeled later to the Yemeni UN-recognized troops, informed about the deals' path and date, but received no response from the Saudi intelligence," according to Debriefer sources.
Back to December attacks on Aramco, spokesman for the SDM dismissed the Houthi account, noting that the assault had not been launched from Yemen, "despite the great efforts exerted by Iran" to make it seem so.
https://debriefer.net/en/news-17821.html
(A P)
Yemen's Houthi rebels must allow UN access to tanker, British ambassador says
Vessel holding a million of barrels of oil could spill its cargo or explode after not being serviced since 2015
Yemen’s Houthi rebels must allow a UN team to inspect a tanker in the Red Sea, which is loaded with more than a million barrels of oil, the British ambassador to the country said on Monday.
The tanker Safer, which has been kept off Yemen's Red Sea coast to operate as a mini-terminal to store and offload oil from Yemen’s inland fields, has reportedly not been used since March 2015, when the region fell under control of the Houthis.
There are serious concerns that the tanker's structure has deteriorated significantly without regular maintenance and that it could explode.
“They just have to give the UN permission to allow an inspection team to go and make an assessment,” ambassador Michael Aron told The National.
“They will probably conclude that the oil needs to be siphoned off and the tanker then dismantled."
My comment: Look at cp1. Britain is warring party in Yemen, thus putting blame on the enemy. The Houthis themselves ask UN experts to do this – but they claim the profit of selling this crude, as the tanker is ion their territory. But the British-backed Hadi government also claims this revenue – just because of its claimed “legitimacy”. Look at https://english.almasirah.net/details.php?es_id=13459 and longer: https://www.saba.ye/en/news3099653.htm.
In this point, the British ambassador seems to cooperate with the Saudis, claiming the same:
(A P)
Houthis blocking maintenance of deserted FSO Safer tanker in Red Sea: Saudi embassy
The Iran-backed Houthi militia are currently blocking the critical maintenance of an aging oil tanker of the Red Sea coast, according to Saudi Arabia’s embassy in the United States, warning of a potential major oil spill on Yemeni islands if no action is taken.
“The Iranian backed Houthis in Yemen are blocking the critical maintenance of an aging oil tanker in the Red Sea. An oil spill could potentially have devastating consequences on Yemeni islands, the Red Sea coral reef, and the income of Yemeni fishermen,” the Saudi Arabian Embassy to the US tweeted late on Monday accompanied with a video.
The oil tanker in question is the FSO Safer, an abandoned and decaying floating oil storage tanker near the coast of Yemen near the Hodeidah province.
(* A P)
Almasdar Online English suspends news operations until further notice
The staff of Almasdar Online English, Yemen’s leading independent news organization for English-language readers, have been forced to suspend news operations as of today, June 15, due to a disruption of the organization’s financial plan.
Since launching our new website and newsroom in 2019, Almasdar Online English has quickly become a primary source of news for policy makers, researchers and others interested in Yemen. We have seen our global readership increase exponentially, demonstrating not only our commitment to hard-hitting, credible reporting but also the keen interest that readers from around the world have in following developments in Yemen.
We have sought to provide readers with a localized understanding of frontline dynamics and other breaking news
In late 2019, Almasdar Online English shored up sufficient financial support from local business owners and sponsors to sustain our news operations. This funding was free of any conditions or stipulations. However, as a result of the worsening conditions in Yemen, including military escalations in several governorates, the deteriorating economic conditions exacerbated by COVID-19, and more invasive monitoring and targeting of businessmen and organizations by security officials, funding sources have dried up.
Almasdar Online English has continued to hold discussions with businessmen and reached out to other local and international stakeholders about supporting independent journalism, but the resulting funding offers have come with strings attached. Due to our commitment to remain independent and maintain full editorial control over the content we provide our valued readership, we have decided to suspend our news operations until such time as we secure funding with no conditions attached.
Our journalists, and those of Almasdar Online’s Arabic-language sister newsroom, have and continue to face extreme difficulties in carrying out their work. Beyond financial hurdles, parties to the ongoing conflict have regularly targeted journalists and media institutions.
https://al-masdaronline.net/national/914
(B K P)
Film: Saddam Hamed Abu Asim über Journalisten im Jemen
https://www.swissinfo.ch/ger/multimedia/saddam-hamed-abu-asim-ueber-journalisten-im-jemen/45539558
(* B K P)
Jemen: Im Schatten von Corona vergessene Verbrechen
Neben dem Krieg gegen Syrien, dem immer noch nicht beendeten Krieg gegen Libyen, und dem Krieg gegen die Palästinenser, unterstützt Deutschland auch den Krieg gegen den Jemen. Eines der ärmsten Länder der Welt wird in die Vor-Stein-Zeit zurück gebombt, mit einer solchen Menge an Bomben, dass eines der reichsten Länder der Welt, Saudi-Arabien, dank niedriger Ölpreise, darüber in wirtschaftliche Schwierigkeiten gerät.
In den Medien in Deutschland und anderen NATO-Ländern wird immer wieder von „kompliziertem Bürgerkrieg“ gesprochen, und dass es darum ginge, den „international anerkannten“ Präsidenten wieder ins Amt zu heben. Tatsächlich war dieser Präsident längst illegitim geworden
Deutschland hilft eifrig bei dem Versuch, den Jemen als neo-kolonialen Besitz von Saudi-Arabien zu gewinnen. Behalten Sie das im Gedächtnis, wenn deutsche Politiker wieder von „Humanität“, „Selbstbestimmung“, „Völkerrecht“ und „Menschenrechten“ reden.
Mein Kommentar: Ein pro-Huthi Artikel.
(* B K P)
Covid-19 Deaths Soar in Yemen – What Now?
Amid the pandemic, don’t expect UN agencies to launch an emergency medical aid appeal, claiming they want to avert a humanitarian catastrophe in war-torn Yemen. That country has been under siege by the US and Saudi Arabia for more than five years, while the UN continues to publish pathetic statements. Be that as it may, the criminal hordes prevent any delivery of food and basic supplies, let alone emergency medical assistance.
As well, it’s a waste of time for Doctors Without Borders to issue a joint statement with the UN Food and Agriculture Organization, the UN Children's Fund, and the World Food Program that says more than two-thirds of Yemenis are struggling to feed themselves under an incessant barrage of bombs being dropped by US-backed Saudi warplanes. As previously, the regime changers will never allow any emergency food or medical assistance reach Yemen.
To verify on that, President Trump says he has every intention to make the situation worse. All signs are that Yemen is in for more suffering at Trump’s hands. His Defense Department has designated Yemen as a formal battlefield in the bogus War on Terror, which allows for an intensified pace of drone operations.
As the illegal war grinds on and civilian casualties mount, the Trump administration must answer for its support of the Saudi campaign at the UN, which is prolonging the conflict. E
As long as American drones and bombs are involved in the dirty war, more lives will be lost amid the pandemic. And it's not just about weaponry. It is about the US fuelling Saudi war crimes without demanding that they demonstrate a serious commitment to preventing civilian casualties. The United Nations has repeatedly said the Saudis are responsible for two-thirds of civilian casualties. It has documented Saudi attacks on civilian areas, including hospitals, schools, refugee camps, markets and homes.
No doubt multiple parties are colluding to worsen the pandemic and starve Yemen into submission, including the US and its allies. Any measure taken at the United Nations must take the form of a binding resolution of disapproval that would force the warmongers to end their war and allow the delivery of food and medicine supplies into the country.
https://en.farsnews.ir/newstext.aspx?nn=13990325001103
My comment: A pro-Houthi article, blaming the UN for bowing to the US imperialist foreign policy.
(B K P)
Saudi-Led Coalition A Tool in US, Zionist Hands: Yemeni Diplomat
In an interview with Tasnim, Moataz al-Qarshi, a [Sanaa gov.] Yemeni diplomat working in Syria’s Damascus, said Saudi Arabia would stop the war on Yemen if the kingdom were an independent state with the ability to make independent political decisions.
“Saudi Arabia is nothing but a tool among the American-Zionist tools in the region.”
He added that Riyadh would have not basically launched any war on Yemen if it had been aware of the consequences and damages of the offensive.
(* B K P)
The Houthis have built their own drone industry in Yemen
The Iran-backed rebels’ new capabilities in UAV technology pose an increased threat to the region, intelligence sources and defence experts say
Iranian proxy forces have created their own drone manufacturing industry, increasing threats to the region, defence experts and intelligence sources have warned.
There are increased security concerns that Houthi rebels in Yemen are becoming increasingly capable in making unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) that can carry explosives long distances.
Their new skills are part of Iran’s strategy to use drones and UAV technology to project its power across the region with the ability to use ‘plausible deniability’ as an excuse for attacks.
It is now using the technology, aligned with its development of highly accurate ballistic missiles, to demonstrate to Gulf States, the US and others that a military attack on Iran would come with significant consequences.
“When you look at what Iran has been doing, it is all very consistent with its reliance on non-conventional tools that allow it to project power with plausible deniability that does not lead to the threat of direct confrontation,” said Dr Aniseh Bassiri Tabrizi, of the Royal United Services Institute (RUSI).
The Middle East specialist warned that Iran’s brinksmanship could result in a “confrontation without that being the intention”.
The greatest success with drones came after Houthi-made models were used alongside Iranian cruise missiles to attack two oil production facilities belonging to Saudi state oil company Aramco in September last year. The development confirmed Iran's role in arming the Yemeni militia faction.
“The Houthis have their own drone industry,” a military intelligence source told The National.
“And they are not stupid. They get a new bit of kit, they take it apart and see how it works.
“Amazingly they’ve gained knowledge in ballistic missiles, land attack cruise missiles and drones because that’s the kit they’re getting across the border and by sea from Iran.
“As well as equipment, Iran is providing technical advisers and engineer know-how on how to turn drones into deadly attack weapons.”
The growing Houthi threat to the region has been examined by other analysts at RUSI. Justin Bronk, a Research Fellow for Airpower and Technology at the London-based institution, said: “While it’s low tech – that’s a benefit. If you want to enable your proxies - and Iran does this very successfully with relatively small-scale technical transfer – you need just key components and a few technical specialists. As a result the Houthis have been able to set up quite an impressive indigenous drone battlefield drone industry.”
In a case of “reverse proliferation” the Iranians then took the Houthi manufactured drones to the launch area in Iran – opposite the Kuwait border – and used them alongside their own cruise missiles as part of a “plausible deniability” operation against Saudi.
My comment: This is a very interesting article, by UAE’s The National. Up to now, Western and Saudi / UAE propaganda always had denied Houthi claims that they have built up an own missile industry. Suddenly, exactly this is confirmed here. Now, this Houthi missile industry story should fit to another “The bad Iranians” framing. Not much Iranian support would have been needed if the Houthis “are not stupid. They get a new bit of kit, they take it apart and see how it works”. Now, the story of Houthi missile industry is used for an absurd propaganda conspiracy theory claiming that Iran imported Houthi-made missiles just to use them “used them alongside their own cruise missiles as part of a “plausible deniability” operation against Saudi.” This really is absurd.
cp2a Saudische Blockade / Saudi blockade
(A E)
Photo: Oil prices soar and black markets thrive as fuel shortages hit #Houthi-controlled areas, particularly the rebel-held capital Sana'a.
https://twitter.com/RepYemenEnglish/status/1272897213912539136
(* A E K P)
Oil severely disappears in Yemeni Houthi-held areas
Fuel crisis deepens day by day in Yemeni northern areas controlled by the Houthi group, boosting a black market where oil is sold with more than double of its official price.
"Since Wednesday, Sana'a City has witnessed a fuel crisis," locals said Sunday, with "the supply far less than the demand, and tens of cars lining up in front of gas stations."
"The shortage in oil supplies has created a black market for petrol and diesel," they added.
On Saturday, the Houthi-run Yemeni Petroleum Company (YPC) in Sana'a launched, in cooperation with security authorities, a campaign to control oil prices and arrest illegal sellers at black market, the group's media reported.
The Houthi group blames the fuel crisis on the Saudi-led coalition and Yemeni official government who "detain 15 oil tankers and deny them access to Hodeida seaport" controlled by the group in the Red Sea.
The legitimate government has dismissed the Houthi account, accusing the group of deliberately creating the crisis.
https://debriefer.net/en/news-17801.html
and also https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20200615-yemen-houthi-controlled-areas-witness-severe-fuel-crisis/
(A E K P)
Yemeni [Sanaa gov.] officials warn continuation by preventing entry of fuel ships
The Yemeni officials affirmed that the continued aggression and blockade on Yemen and the holding of oil derivatives ships would lead to the suspension of all vital sectors related to the daily lives of citizens, such as health, water, sanitation, electricity, and food and pharmaceutical industries, in addition to worsening the economic and living conditions of citizens and increasing the spread of diseases and epidemics, especially in light of the Corona pandemic.
“The aggression coalition's holding of ships of oil derivatives and foodstuffs is a major crime against the Yemeni people,” the officials said.
https://www.saba.ye/en/news3099538.htm
(A E K P)
Houthis: Coalition practices collective punishment policy against Yemenis
The "Ansar Allah" group (the Houthis) warned on Friday of the consequences of the coalition's continued denial of entry of oil and gas derivatives ships to the port of Hodeidah, considering it an attempt to subject the Yemenis to the policy of collective punishment.
The Foreign Minister of the Houthi "Salvation" government Hisham Sharaf sent letters to the countries sponsoring the peace process in Yemen, the UN envoy Griffiths and the heads of the inter-governmental organizations working under the umbrella of the United Nations.
The Houthi-run Yemeni News Agency (Saba) quoted Minister Sharaf as saying that the coalition forces have been holding ships loaded with oil and gas derivatives off the Jizan port for more than 70 days despite having been subject to inspection procedures in Djibouti and obtaining permits by the United Nations Verification and Inspection Mechanism to enter To the port of Hodeidah. "
https://debriefer.net/en/news-17759.html
and also https://www.saba.ye/en/news3099431.htm
(A E K P)
Holding oil ships by aggression coalition threaten a humanitarian catastrophe
The Coalition of Aggression once again compounding the suffering of the Yemeni people in detaining oil derivatives ships, which threatens catastrophic repercussions on the various vital and service sectors, most notably the health sector, especially in the light of the Corona pandemic.
The Criminal practices of aggression and acts of piracy come in the shadow of a flawed international silence, although everyone is aware of the scale of the humanitarian disaster caused by the denial of the entry of oil derivatives and impact on the various service sectors associated with the daily livelihood of citizens, and efforts to confront the Corona epidemic
In this regard, the Shura Council Abdul Hakim Benchmash, sent letters to the President of the Association of Senates, Shura councils and similar councils in Africa and the Arab world
https://www.saba.ye/en/news3099423.htm
and
(A E K P)
Preventing entry of fuel ships is flagrant violation of int'l humanitarian law: [Sanaa gov.] Minister of Industry
https://www.saba.ye/en/news3099455.htm
(A E K P)
[Sanaa] Parliament Speaker sends letters on consequences of holding fuel ships
https://www.saba.ye/en/news3099462.htm
https://english.almasirah.net/details.php?es_id=13444
cp3 Humanitäre Lage / Humanitarian situation
Siehe / Look at cp1
(* B H)
Film: Locusts in Yemen: plague and food source for hundreds of thousands
Yemeni journalist Ahmad Algohbary explains the implications of the latest locust outbreak on a worn-torn country like Yemen, where 10 million people are one step away from famine.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yAhgpCCvDlY
and
(* BH)
A Biblical Locust Swarm Appears in Yemen, Threatening Food... and Honey
Locusts breed and consume on an extraordinary level; able to consume their own body weight in food each day, a swarm can be anywhere between 40 million and 80 million individuals over an area of less than one square kilometre to hundreds of kilometres.
One square kilometre of locust swarm can consume the equivalent in food of roughly 35,000 people. In Rub' al Khali, or the Empty Quarter, three generations of breeding occurred in the Southern Arabian Peninsula. Mostly undetected in the early stages, the locusts then spread to Saudi Arabia, Yemen, and Iran. In the latter two countries, control operations were less successful leading to the formation of swarms.
Keith Cressman, a Senior Locust Forecasting Officer from the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), told Al Bawaba that the weather “bought so much rain to those areas which never get rain and it became green for about 9 months. The ground was moist, and the locusts took to those areas. The locust population grew by about 8000x in those areas.”
Yemen is one of the places where bio-pesticides would work well,” Cressman says. There are some suggestions that the numbers of locust swarms are dropping in Yemen. However, this is down to the inherent difficulty in assessing the situation on the ground. There are huge difficulties in accessing the areas that are affected, either because of poor transport connections or the effects of civil war on the country have increased risks to international agencies and communications.
(B H)
Film: Colouring life of an obstetric fistula survivor in Yemen
It's lifeless for obstetric fistula patients until a glimpse of light hits and restores colours back into their souls. This film is based on a true story of an obstetric fistula survivor who was successfully treated at UNFPA-supported fistula unit in Yemen.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ndO2cmieKJ8
(B H)
UNICEF: Yemen crisis
Yemen is the largest humanitarian crisis in the world – and children are being robbed of their futures.
Children continue to be killed and maimed in the conflict. Around 2 million children under 5 years old are suffering from acute malnutrition and require treatment. The damage and closure of schools and hospitals has disrupted access to education and health services, leaving children even more vulnerable and robbing them of their futures. Before COVID-19, 2 million children were out of school. Now, because of the pandemic, schools have been closed around the country, leaving an additional 5million children out of school.
https://www.unicef.org/emergencies/yemen-crisis
(B H)
Film: 24m people in #Yemen are in need of #humanitarian aid & now #COVID19 is adding yet another threat to vulnerable communities. Oxfam & our partners are responding now & calling for sufficient funding, full humanitarian access & a nationwide ceasefire to save lives
https://twitter.com/OxfamYemen/status/1272554681319985154
(B H)
UNICEF Yemen Country Office Humanitarian Situation Report (Reporting Period: 1 - 30 April 2020)
UNICEF continues to implement preventive response activities alongside its regular programmes. COVID-19 continues to challenge the implementation of some UNICEF programmes due to restrictive measures imposed by local authorities, such as closure of schools and child-friendly spaces.
As some therapeutic feeding and public health facilities are being used as COVID-19 isolation centers, an estimated 13%% of 290 outpatient therapy sites reported a 10-50%% decrease in attendance. 14%% of 479 targeted supplementary feeding programme sites also reported a decrease ranging between 10% and 50%%.
Due to the COVID-19 mitigation measures imposed by local authorities, and considering the risk of transmission involved, UNICEF was forced to discontinue vaccination campaigns. This “cas de force majeure” has resulted in the potential expiry of oral polio and tetanus-diphtheria vaccines worth $621,0
(B H)
As inflation soars across Yemen, ACTED provides immediate cash assistance
Communities have had to adjust to the uncertainty of finding work, food and security for their families. With little prospect for improvement in the situation, a growing portion of the population is falling further into food insecurity as public resources dry up and jobs become increasingly scarce.
To improve the situation for families like Yasmeen’s, ACTED provided almost four hundred vulnerable households with six rounds of cash assistance to the value of 80 USD per round.
By spreading the assistance rounds over a longer period of time, recipients can choose which needs they want to prioritise for their families and are able to plan their finances for the coming months.
Midway through the intervention individuals like Yasmeen are already seeing a positive impact on their lives. “ACTED’s assistance is helpful for my family. We’re able to pay off some debt that we’ve accumulated, can buy food, water and other items, and are able to visit health services.”
Some families have decided to use the money provided to invest in longer term planning too. “Other people have been investing the cash into their own private businesses,” said one community leader
https://www.acted.org/en/as-inflation-soars-across-yemen-acted-provides-immediate-cash-assistance/
(* B H)
WFP Yemen Country Brief, April 2020
In Numbers
8.6 million people assisted in April 2020
82,203 mt of general food assistance dispatched
USD 6.4 million cash-based transfers made
USD 11.8 million value of redeemed commodities through food vouchers
USD 634 million six-month net funding requirements (June – November 2020)
In April, WFP continued to operate on an alternate remote work arrangement in all WFP offices in Yemen as a precautionary measure against COVID-19 with exceptions necessary for operational continuity. WFP operations remained mostly unaffected in April, except for school feeding due to the early closure of schools, and food assistance for training. Activities are ongoing with precautionary measures set in place to prevent crowding, with distributions staggered over several days.
During the April distribution cycle in light of anticipated funding shortages and in a bid to stretch available resources, WFP implemented a reduction in the levels of assistance provided in the northern areas. The reduction came as a result of eroded confidence in the operation, following the delays in implementation of some elements required for full assurances. WFP continues to work with the authorities to resolve these issues to allow for a conducive operating environment for both WFP and donors to reinstate full assistance as soon as possible.
https://reliefweb.int/report/yemen/wfp-yemen-country-brief-april-2020
(* B H)
A joint letter from the Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) actors in Yemen
The existing humanitarian crisis is compounded by the pandemic on an unprecedented scale.
Yemen remains one the most water scarce countries in the world. Over five years of conflict have damaged water systems, left the health sector on the brink of collapse and led to disease outbreaks, including cholera. We estimate that up to 70 per cent of Yemenis currently lack access to soap for handwashing and personal hygiene. 11.2 million lack access to the basic water supplies they need to survive.
Since the escalation of the conflict in 2015 the joint humanitarian response has rehabilitated thousands of damaged water systems, built mass solar electricity systems to address fuel shortages for water pumps, and provide up to 12.6 million people with clean water every day. Without this humanitarian aid Yemen’s water, sanitation and hygiene systems and institutions would collapse.
But, we are facing a funding crisis; only 4 per cent of our requirements have been met. By the end of June, without adequate resources, we will have to cut services that provide nearly 6 million people - almost half of them children – with the clean water they need to survive. By July, if funding shortfalls continue, 6.3 million people will be affected. The rapid response teams that help prevent the spread of disease will be stopped, as will our water services for people displaced by conflict.
We know that water, and hand hygiene, are central to curbing the spread of COVID-19. Right now, communities around the world have been reminded of the importance of handwashing with soap in limiting the COVID-19 virus.
We are facing a gut-wrenching prospect. In the middle of a global pandemic, where we know how important hand hygiene is to protect against disease, we will have to stop a lifeline to those in need.
As the leaders of the WASH response in Yemen, we are sounding the alarm that the public health response to the COVID-19 pandemic, a response that also addresses cholera, malnutrition and the risk associated with polio prevalence, will become impossible as access to clean water and soap is cut off to vulnerable families in need.
https://reliefweb.int/report/yemen/joint-letter-water-sanitation-and-hygiene-wash-actors-yemen-enar
and
(* B H)
Advocacy brief: A Water Crisis in the time of COVID-19: Impact of funding shortages on Public Health in Yemen, June, 2020
11.2 million Yemenis are in acute need of Water, sanitation and Hygiene assistance.
- Acute funding shortages are cutting off access to water and soap, essentials of COVID-19 prevention.
- By the End of June, WASH services for 6 million people, including 3 million children could close
- Water supply Major Cities will be forced to completely stop in parts of the country.
1.Asks:
- WASH must be embedded as an integral part of public health priority
- Rapid mobilization of financial support is critical to save lives avert a public health catastrophe
- Urgent action is needed to give Yemenis the means to protect themselves from COVID-19
- Water and sanitation systems must be sustained and workers protected
(B H)
Islamic Relief: YEMEN EMERGENCY APPEAL
Yemen: 24 million people are in need of humanitarian aid
With the ongoing conflict in Yemen – already one of the poorest countries in the region – tens of thousands of lives have been lost and over 20 million people don’t know where their next meal will come from. A country crippled by conflict is sadly now on the brink of famine.
With families facing ongoing armed conflict, displacement, disease and economic decline, an estimated 24 million people (80% of the country’s population) are now in need of humanitarian aid to survive – a figure so high that it is in fact the highest across the globe.
Through our emergency appeal, we’re working to save lives across Yemen. Islamic Relief is distributing food across a wide area and providing food to more than 2.5 million people. We’ve also equipped 21 hospitals and clinics across the country to support doctors and nurses working to treat wounded, sick and malnourished people. We have also been working to support children through child protection and psycho-social support activities.
In light of the impending famine, we’re continuing to distribute food packs and essential food vouchers to provide critical aid to families in need. However, we need your help to reach as many people as possible and widen our response
https://www.islamic-relief.org.uk/yemen-emergency-appeal/
(B H)
Map: Yemen: Access Constraints as of 12 June 2020
https://reliefweb.int/map/yemen/yemen-access-constraints-12-june-2020
(B H)
Film: The health sector in Amran is a potential catastrophe for the United Nations and the countries of aggression
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IGX1vLbq6UM
(A H)
Our most gratitude go to Mr @omeisy who played a critical role and was the driving force behind #MAPYemen program to support youth, where he coached and taught trainees with a passion, and instilled a team spirit in us for the betterment of #Yemen and building a brighter future.
https://twitter.com/abeer_alathwari/status/1271869084485943297
referring to https://althawra-news.net/news112980.html (Arabic)
(B H)
RDP: Yemen: Monthly Situation Report (May 2020)
Delivering BSFP services for 115,629 children U2 & PLW through 236 food distribution points in seven districts of Ibb and Taizz governorates.
A total of 105 children U5 and 207 pregnant and lactating women received TSFP services through six health facilities in Taizz governorate.
FOOD SECURITY & LIVELIHOOD:
RDP reaches 53,928 individuals and provides them with food rations in Wald Rabi, Al Malagim, and As Sawadiya districts of Al-Bayda governorate.
WATER, SANITATION AND HYGIENE:
In six governorates, 186 healthcare facilities have been thoroughly assessed in terms of damage, water supplies, sanitation and hygiene facilities, and medical wastage disposal.
https://reliefweb.int/report/yemen/yemen-monthly-situation-report-may-2020
cp4 Flüchtlinge / Refugees
(B H)
Abdighani has restarted his life after fleeing the war in Yemen
After assistance from DRC, Abdighani has opened an optical shop in Somalia and he is now again a self-reliant optical doctor.
In Bossaso, Somalia, Danish Refugee Council (DRC) runs a refugee reception centre that receives refugees from different countries, provides them with food and drinks and registers them alongside our donor UNHCR.
After the refugees are resettled in the community, they are offered an opportunity to develop their own business plans, receive business skills training and thereafter given grants to start their small and medium enterprises. For younger refugees, DRC offers specialised vocational skills training and provides them with a start-up to ensure they become self-reliant.
Abdighani from Yemen is among the 1,800 refugees who participated in a week-long business skills training that was offered by DRC in Bossaso, Somalia this year. He received a USD 1,000 business grant twice, which he used to open an optical shop (dispensing optician).
(B H)
Yemen: UNHCR Operational Update, 11 June 2020
UNHCR delivered cash assistance to some 10,200 conflict-affected families in Hajjah, Al Hudaydah, Al Jawf, Sa'ada, and Marib governorates. This cycle of distribution aimed to provide much-needed cash support to newly displaced families to help cover their basic needs and pay their rent. Since the beginning of the year, UNHCR has reached close to 56,000 families (349,000 people) with cash assistance.
In light of insufficient funding for humanitarian programmes in Yemen, protection services such as cash assistance may be forced to close in the coming weeks if additional funds cannot be secured. Of the 41 major UN programmes, more than 30 risk closing in the coming weeks.
UNHCR coordinated with partners to deliver urgent assistance to some 200 displaced families facing imminent risk of eviction in Hajjah and Lahj governorates. In Yemen, some 12,350 displaced families are at high risk of losing their rental accommodations. The UNHCR-led Camp Coordination and Camp Management (CCCM) cluster coordinates closely with authorities, partners and host communities to find sustainable solutions for their shelter needs.
On 6 June, UNHCR started distributions of non-food items (NFIs) and shelter kits to more than 7,000 displaced families.
https://reliefweb.int/report/yemen/yemen-unhcr-operational-update-11-june-2020
(* B H)
IOM Yemen: Situation Report February 2020
As a result of COVID-19 fears, migrants are facing increased protection risks. Thousands have found themselves stranded and a rising number face crowded conditions that do not meet public health standards in transit and detention centres or forced quarantine. IOM, in its lead role of the Refugee, Migrant Multi-Sector (RMMS), has been working closely with humanitarian partners to monitor trends of stigmatization, violence and detention of migrants, while coordinating a response, and scaling up protection assistance as well as advocacy efforts.
IOM’s Displacement Tracking Matrix (DTM) teams have monitored several country wide COVID-19 movement restrictions, including the closure/partial closure of five international airports, twelve sea border points and three land border points. In addition to the restricted movements between governorates and curfews in many, there are severe operational restrictions in northern governorates. In April, 45 per cent of IOM permits to implement activities in northern governorates were not approved; this was much higher (75 per cent) for requests to travel between governorates. This is a worrying trend as humanitarian programming needs to continue to address vulnerabilities that will only be further exacerbated by COVID-19 (see IOM’s COVID Response Update for more information).
Along with scaling up COVID-19 preparedness and response activities, IOM continued to respond to the displacement crisis in Marib governorate, now in its third month. The Organization provided lifesaving assistance to approximately 50,000 displaced persons since the start of the crisis (for more information on the situation in Marib, see IOM’s Marib Displacement Update).
https://reliefweb.int/report/yemen/iom-yemen-situation-report-february-2020
(B H)
IOM Yemen | Rapid Displacement Tracking (RDT) - Reporting Period: 07 - 13 June 2020
From 01 January 2020- 13 Jun 2020, IOM Yemen DTM estimates that 16,065 Households or 96,390 Individuals have experienced displacement, at least once.
(* B H)
IOM Yemen | CCCM | Al Jufainah Camp, Marib City Camp Profile | February 2020
In eight sectors, people live in mostly permanent and transitional shelters comprised of concrete blocks, mud bricks or iron sheets. In three sectors, shelters are a mix of permanent/transitional and emergency shelters, while in six sectors, they are primarily emergency shelters, which includes tents or salvaged materials. There is periodical provision of plastic sheets and shelter maintenance by IOM that is usually provided in response to floods or storms
WFP provides basic monthly food baskets through Islamic Relief Yemen to nearly 3,000 HHs in the camp. Many new arrivals have yet to be registered for food assistance.
There are two IOM-supported mobile clinics reaching the whole camp every 25–20 days. IOM runs a static clinic in sector 3 and CSSW constructed one in sector 1, both provide basic health care.
(* B H)
Shelter Cluster Yemen 2019 End Year Report
Shelter is a vital survival mechanism for those who have been directly impacted by the conflict and had their houses destroyed or have had to flee to protect their lives. Often overlooked, shelter interventions provide a safe space where families can pause and start rebuilding their lives – protected from the elements and with the privacy they are entitled to. Shelters are a first step towards displaced families regaining their dignity and building their self-reliance. Without a roof above their head, there will be no family life and no sharing of emotions with loved ones; no opportunity for children to learn or play; no sense of security for women, girls, elderly or persons with disabilities; no place to store one’s belongings; and, no healthy place to eat, rest or sleep.
In 2019, 158 partners – mainly national non-government organizations – provided a wide array of interventions adapted to the families’ needs and aspirations and the local real estate market and environmental conditions: from rental subsidies through cash in particular to prevent evictions threats to emergency shelter kits at the onset of a displacement, or winterization upgrading of shelters of those living in mountainous areas of Yemen or in sites prone to flooding. Both displaced and host communities contributed to the design and building of shelters adapted to the Yemeni context, resorting to locally produced material and offering a much-needed cash-for-work opportunities. As a result, more than 2.1 million people benefitted from shelter and non-food items interventions in 2019.
This report provides an overview of 2019 key achievements through a series of maps and infographics
https://reliefweb.int/report/yemen/shelter-cluster-yemen-2019-end-year-report
(B H)
Photo: Amal, a girl among the thousands of children displaced to # Darwan camp. What attracted me is that the child suffers from epilepsy because of the suffering she gets while going between the great sun to fetch water from a remote area from their place of residence inside the camp for the displaced, and despite her illness, she continues because of their need for water.
https://twitter.com/Bassam_photo/status/1271563208692830208
cp5 Nordjemen und Huthis / Northern Yemen and Houthis
Siehe / Look at cp1
(A P)
Film: On the footpath of ISIS, these are Houthi armed men in Rada’a city destroying a “filming & photography studio”. The CCTV shows the Houthi field commander “Nasr Al-Rayami” with his armed men firing randomly to destroy the store.
https://twitter.com/BShtwtr/status/1272762441705967622
(B P)
The Yemeni Organization for Prisoners and Abductees and the Committee of Families of the Abductees revealed that a number of prisoners and abductees are infected with #coronavirus in prisons run by the #Houthi group in Sana'a.
https://twitter.com/BelqeesRights/status/1272990809806307328
(A P)
Houthis launch summer school camps in Ibb despite coronavirus outbreak
The Houthis launched this year’s summer camps in Ibb governorate, for promoting its radical sectarian thoughts among the schoolchildren despite the growing spread of the coronavirus.
Local sources in Ibb said that the Houthis officials opened summer camps in several districts of the governorate whereas the World Health Organization (WHO) recommends avoid of gatherings.
https://www.alsahwa-yemen.net/en/p-40248
(A P)
Facebook, Twitter close Information Minister Dhaifallah al-Shami's page
Facebook and Twitter have closed the official page of the Minister of Information Dhaifallah al-Shami on Facebook and his new Twitter account in less than 48 hours after they were launched, in an arbitrary violation of the two companies' standards and their policies.
An official said at the Minister of Information's office told Saba that this is not for the first time that the minister's pages on social media "Facebook and Twitter" have been shut down.
The official stated that the minister new pages are as follows:
https://www.saba.ye/en/news3099652.htm
(* B K P)
Houthis launch forcible recruitment among teachers
Spokesman of the Yemeni Teachers Syndicate, Yahya Al-Yanaee, said on Saturday that the Houthis began a new compulsory military recruitment among teachers.
Al-Yanaee said that the Houthis seek for sending thousands of the teachers to the warfronts.
The Houthis’ Minister of Education, Yahya Al-Houthi, a brother to the Houthis’ leader, has recently instructed officers of education centers to mobilize the education personnel to the fighting fronts, according to Al-Yanaee.
He said that the syndicate has received complaints and reports on the obligation of the education officers and principals to participate in the mobilization of teachers to join the fighting for the Houthis’ side.
https://www.alsahwa-yemen.net/en/p-40224
(A P)
11 dead cattle seized coming from Hodeidah for selling their meat in Sanaa
A truck loaded with 11 heads of dead cattle covered with hay was seized on Saturday at al-Subaha crossing while coming from Hodeidah province with the intention of slaughtering them and selling their meat in the capital Sanaa.
https://www.saba.ye/en/news3099519.htm
(A P)
[Hadi gov.] Yemen House of Representatives, Top Political Parties Slam Houthis for Enforcing Racial Tax
https://republicanyemen.net/archives/24510
and by Islah Party: https://alsahwa-yemen.net/p-40191
(A P)
Quite innovative of the Houthis’ mufti in Sanaa: He says the khums — the 20% obligatory alms required on certain goods & rikaz/ore — applies to “mineral” water. So if you get 10 bottles, you give away 2 of them to Al Al-Bayt.
https://twitter.com/hxhassan/status/1271989861738786823
referring to film https://twitter.com/mareb_alward/status/1271985906170433537
(* B P)
Die Vision des Jemens
In der Zwischenzeit entwickelte die revolutionäre Führung des Landes die Strategie einer Vision, die bis zum Jahr 2030 erreicht werden sollte. Jahrzehnte der Korruption, staatlicher Verbrechen und fehlender Rechenschaft der Politiker soll beendet werden. Ausbeutung des Landes durch fremde Mächte verhindert werden. Im Mittelpunkt der Entwicklung des Landes sollen die Menschen stehen. Vor allen Dingen Frauen, Arme und Marginalisierte. Folgende Themen stehen im Mittelpunkt der Planungen (3):
Bekämpfung der grassierenden Armut durch finanzielle Stärkung marginalisierter Gruppen und Regionen
Ländliche Entwicklung und Unterstützung zur Vermeidung von Abwanderung in Städte
Stadtentwicklung und Verbesserung der öffentlichen Dienste
Verteidigung des Landes gegen Terrorismus im ISIS-Stil, Sektierertum und ausländische Aggressionen
Kontaktaufnahme mit ausländischen Regierungen und Aufnahme diplomatischer Beziehungen
Unterstützung der nationalen Einheit und Versöhnung in der pluralistischen Gesellschaft des Jemen
Aufbau einer Umweltschutzbehörde
Schaffung einer Nationalen Kommission zur Stärkung der Frauen: Erhöhung der Erwerbsbeteiligung von Frauen auf 30 % und Prävention von Gewalt gegen Frauen.
Aufbau einer nachhaltigen und prosperierenden Wirtschaft, die für ausländische Investitionen und nationale Innovationen reif ist
Umstrukturierung des Lohn- und Beschäftigungssystems
Justiz- und Gesetzesreform
Verbesserung der Bildung für alle, auch für Menschen mit besonderen Bedürfnissen
Revitalisierung des versagenden Gesundheitssystems
Inzwischen kann man die Vision der Regierung des Jemen auch als PDF downloaden. Dies sei jedem empfohlen, der an die Darstellung der deutscher Medien glaubt, dass die Huthis „schiitische Terroristen“ wären oder „verwirrte Rebellen, die durch den Iran gesteuert werden“. (4)
Auf einer deutschsprachigen Internet-Seite www.krieg-im-Jemen.de, die sich für Frieden im Jemen einsetzt, kann man mehr über die Pläne der „Terroristen“ im Jemen erfahren. Hier nur einige Auszüge:
„Umfassende nationale Aussöhnung und politische Einigung“
Das erste Thema konzentriert sich auf die Stabilisierung des Landes durch politische Versöhnung zwischen verschiedenen jemenitischen Fraktionen und politischen Parteien.
Regierungssystem
Das zweite Ziel der Jemen National Vision enthält alles, was Washington zu unterstützen behauptet, aber in der Praxis nicht tut: ein Regierungssystem, das auf fortschrittlichen und demokratischen Grundlagen basiert. Mit diesem Ziel werden Ansarullah [vorher „Huthis“ genannt] und ihre Verbündeten den Grundstein für eine neue Verfassung legen, die erst nach einem Volksreferendum in Kraft treten wird. Im Mittelpunkt dieses Themas stehen die Bekämpfung der Korruption und die Verbesserung der Transparenz auf lokaler und nationaler Ebene.
Soziale Restrukturierung
Unter diesem umfassenden Thema plant Ansarullah, das Land von vergangenen Konflikten und Tribalismus zu vereinen und zu heilen und gleichzeitig das einheimische Erbe und die Kultur des Jemen zu bewahren.
Frauen – insbesondere Frauen in den Haushaltsvorständen – erhalten Kreditprogramme.
Die Bildung ist obligatorisch und kostenlos.
Arme Bevölkerungsgruppen werden Zugang zu einem Programm zur Ernährungssicherheit haben.
Wirtschaft
Ziel ist es, eine autarke Wirtschaft zu schaffen, die die Entwicklung fördert. Ziel ist außerdem, den Anteil der Frauen am Erwerbsleben auf mindestens 30 % zu erhöhen. Ab 2018 machten Frauen weniger als 6 % der Arbeitskräfte aus.
Natürlich plant Ansarullah, die Öl-, Gas- und Mineralexploration im Jemen auszuweiten, damit die Jemeniten die Vorteile nutzen können und nicht die internationalen Konzerne. Dieses Thema umfasst auch Pläne zur Verbesserung der erneuerbaren Energiequellen, der IT-Entwicklung und der allgemeinen Infrastruktur.
Administrative Entwicklung
Der Jemen soll u.a. auch ein langfristiges Sozialversicherungs- und Rentensystem erhalten.
Gerechtigkeit und Rechtsstaatlichkeit
Neben den üblichen Justiz-Themen enthält die Vision einige Punkte zur Stärkung der Rechte von Frauen und Kindern. Derzeit ist der Jemen das acht-gefährlichste Land für Frauen in Bezug auf sexuelle Übergriffe, Gewalt, Menschenhandel und kulturelle Traditionen (die USA liegen den Angaben der Vision zufolge auf dem zehnten Platz).
Innovation, Kreativität, Wissen und wissenschaftliche Forschung
Die Forscher sollen Zugang zu wissenschaftlichen Datenbanken erhalten und eine Nationalbibliothek wird eröffnet. Ansarullah plant, ein Programm zur Entwicklung digitaler und intellektueller Inhalte zu starten.
Bildung
Jemenitische Kinder und Erwachsene hatten noch nie einen breiten Zugang zu hochwertiger Bildung, und der Krieg hat die Situation nur noch verschlimmert. Laut UNICEF gehen rund zwei Millionen Kinder nicht zur Schule. Dieses Thema zielt darauf ab, allen Mitgliedern der Gesellschaft eine vorbildliche Bildung zu bieten.
Gesundheit
Ähnlich wie bei der Bildung wird die Jemen National Vision das nationale Gesundheitssystem als kollektive Verantwortung für die Bedürfnisse aller Menschen erweitern und modernisieren. Die wichtigste der Reformen wird vermutlich die einer allgemeinen Krankenversicherung für alle sein.
Umwelt
Der von den USA unterstützte Krieg gegen den Jemen hat die Umwelt des Landes in unzähliger Weise verwüstet. Ansarullah will sich auf die grüne Entwicklung konzentrieren, indem die Bewegung eine Umweltschutzbehörde gründet und die Schäden durch den Krieg bewertet.
Die Jemen National Vision Strategy wird die Versorgung mit sauberem Trinkwasser und sanitären Einrichtungen verbessern. US-geförderte saudische Luftangriffe zerstören jeden Monat Dutzende von Wasseraufbereitungsanlagen. Berichten zufolge waren im vergangenen Jahr jede Woche fast 30.000 Menschen aufgrund des schlechten Zugangs zu Trinkwasser an Cholera erkrankt. Im Jahr 2017 erlitt der Jemen den schlimmsten Cholera-Ausbruch der Weltgeschichte: Über eine Million Menschen erkrankten an Cholera, über 3.000 starben.
Verteidigung und Sicherheit
Eine starke nationale Armee wird die Bürger und ihre Freiheiten vor internen und externen Bedrohungen schützen. Auch hier wieder die Betonung auf dem Schutz von Frauen: Spezielle Polizeieinheiten werden die Aufgabe haben, Gewalt gegen Frauen zu verhindern – insbesondere geschlechtsspezifische häusliche Gewalt.
Außenpolitik und nationale Sicherheit
Am wichtigsten ist vielleicht, dass die Jemen National Vision die Ideologie des IS bekämpft und beseitigen wird, eine Ideologie, die vom saudischen Wahhabismus und gleichgesinnten Gruppen wie Al-Qaida und dem IS importiert wird.
Mein Kommentar: Die längste deutsche Zusammenfassung des bereits vor einigen Monaten veröffentlichten politischen Plans der Huthis findet sich hier. Die Realität der Huthi-Regierung sieht leider völlig anders aus. Die neueste Sondersteuer, die wie in einem Feudalstaat explizit nur einer durch Abstammung (!) definierten Elite zugutekommen sollen, ist die Pervertierung dieses gesamten Plans, wie er hier referiert wird.
(* B P)
“Screaming in the Face of the Arrogant”: Understanding the Logic and Symbolism of Yemen’s Huthi Movement
Commonly described by Western media as a Shi’i Zaydi revivalist movement, a rebel group and an Iranian proxy, the Huthis (or Ansar Allah) exist marginally in the Western consciousness. The little knowledge that is recycled about the movement is typically misleading, and conducive to stereotypes and an underestimation of the group’s military and strategic capabilities. The reality of today’s Ansar Allah is both a skilled paramilitary force that has internalized the lessons of a decade and a half of war, as well as a political organization with the veneer of a social justice movement, which excels in the production of propaganda on the local and regional stages. The Huthis may, in fact, be the band of slogan-chanting tribesmen occasionally seen on major news networks, but they are also a remarkably resilient and dynamic entity that adapts to Yemen’s ever-changing political landscape.
This flexibility is precisely what makes the movement so difficult to define. One Huthi member claims that the group is most accurately described as a “current” [tiyy!r] comprised of all sections of Yemeni society, rather than a distinct political movement [arakah]. He added that, despite the leadership’s identity as Hashemite Zaydis, Ansar Allah does not adhere to any specific branch of Islam, but is informed by Qur’anic principles and includes non-Zaydi factions.
With these complexities in mind, the questions this paper hopes to answer include the following: How can we best define the Huthis, and how does the group define itself, politically, socially, and religiously? How do the Huthis categorize and label their adversaries? Ultimately, this paperexplores what it is about the Huthis that allowed them specifically, rather than any of the other politically marginalized groups in Yemen, to capture and maintain control over the country’s capital and large swaths of territory.
"I will also refer to reports by Ansar Allah's primary news outlet, al-Masirah, and other media controlled by the group. A number of my own interviews with current and former members of the Huthi movement, as well as a Yemeni analyst and a politician, will be quoted as well. These primary source materials will help in understanding how Ansar Allah is regarded by internal and external actors, as well as the rhetoric and ideology that characterize the group." – by Hannah Porter [PhD Thesis, 2018]
(A P)
[Hadi gov.] @YemenEmbassy_DC presents the following statement on the #Houthis latest imposed discriminatory regulations against the people in #Yemen.
https://twitter.com/YemenEmbassy_DC/status/1272610443140440064
Fortsetzung / Sequel: cp6 – cp18
https://www.freitag.de/autoren/dklose/jemenkrieg-mosaik-659b-yemen-war-mosaic-659b
Vorige / Previous:
https://www.freitag.de/autoren/dklose/jemenkrieg-mosaik-658-yemen-war-mosaic-658
Jemenkrieg-Mosaik 1-658 / Yemen War Mosaic 1-658:
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/
Liste aller Luftangriffe / and list of all air raids:
http://yemendataproject.org/data/
Untersuchung ausgewählter Luftangriffe durch Bellingcat / Bellingcat investigations of selected air raids:
Untersuchungen von Angriffen, hunderte von Filmen / Investigations of attacks, hundreds of films:
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