Jemenkrieg-Mosaik 680 - Yemen War Mosaic 680

Yemen Press Reader 680: 18. Sept. 2020: Kein Ende des Krieges in Sicht – Saudische Luftangriffe im August – Hunger als Verbrechen – Die Krise der Finanzierung im Jemen – Hölle Kinderklinik ...

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Eingebetteter Medieninhalt

Eingebetteter Medieninhalt

... Der ideologische „Kreuzzug“ der Huthis – ACAPS-Jemen-Datensammlung – Söldner in den Golfstaaten – und mehr

Sep. 18, 2020: No end of war in sight – Saudi air raids in August – The crime of hunger – The Yemen funding crisis – The hell of a childrenn’s hospital – The Houthi ideological “crusade” – ACAPS Yemen dataset – Mercenaries in Gulf countries – and more

Schwerpunkte / Key aspects

Kursiv: Siehe Teil 2 / In Italics: Look in part 2: https://www.freitag.de/autoren/dklose/jemenkrieg-mosaik-680b-yemen-war-mosaic-680b

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

cp11 Deutschland / Germany

cp12 Andere Länder / Other countries

cp12b Sudan

cp13a Waffenhandel / Arms Trade

cp13b Mercenaries / Söldner

cp13c Kulturerbe / Cultural heritage

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)

Film: Verhungernde Kinder im Jemen: Der stille Tod der Vergessenen

Schlimmste humanitäre Katastrophe der Welt

Ein normaler Tag in einem Krankenhaus im Jemen: In langen Reihen liegen verhungernde Kinder. Während sich die Welt mit der Corona-Pandemie beschäftigt, spielt sich in dem Bürgerkriegsland die schlimmste humanitäre Katastrophe der Welt ab, wie CNN berichtet. Die fürchterliche Geschichte – in unserem Video.

Im Krankenhaus von Abs sterben jeden Tag Kinder

"Das ist eine Tragödie", sagt Dr. Ali Al Ashwal aus dem Krankenhaus in Abs im Westen des Landes. Eine als zehnköpfige Familie lebt zusammengequetscht in einem Raum. "Innerhalb von drei Jahren sind vier der Kinder verhungert", erklärt der Arzt.

Dr. Al Ahswal zeigt eine Liste der aufgenommenen Kinder: 17 Fälle allein an einem Tag – selbst für den Arzt ist das ein Zeugnis einer bislang ungekannten, verzweifelten Situation. Jeden Tag muss er tote Kinder eintragen.

https://www.rtl.de/cms/verhungernde-kinder-im-jemen-der-stille-tod-der-vergessenen-4614633.html

und den Film auch bei https://www.wetter.de/videos/der-stille-tod-der-vergessenen-5f61e03e0b35e0631b559956.html und https://www.vox.de/videos/der-stille-tod-der-vergessenen-5f61c979e4e44d6c5a44d032.html

and English version:

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Film: Yemen, a Crisis made in America

What happens to a country on the brink of starvation when aid dries up during a global pandemic? CNN's @nimaelbagir reports on the crisis in Yemen.

https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=931359157360113 = https://edition.cnn.com/videos/world/2020/09/14/yemen-aid-suspension-coronavirus-child-malnutrition-elbagir-pkg-exclusive-intl-hnk-vpx.cnn

and

And

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Film: A Crisis Made in America: Yemen on Brink of Famine After U.S. Cuts Aid While Fueling War

CNN’s senior international correspondent Nima Elbagir says what is happening in Yemen is not a natural disaster but a “man-made catastrophe” directly tied to U.S. policies. Elbagir says, “Not only is the U.S. profiting from the war by selling weapons to the UAE and Saudi Arabia,” but it is also ignoring the impact on civilians. We also feature her exclusive CNN report, “Yemen: A Crisis Made in America.”

https://www.democracynow.org/2020/9/17/yemen_crisis_us_uae_saudi_arabia = https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KicM5s9X8mw

Transcript:

NIMA ELBAGIR (in film): Why is that? That lack of funding that Dr. Al Ashwal was talking about. Eighty percent of the 30 million population in Yemen is reliant on aid, the majority of whom live in the Ansarullah Houthi-controlled north. The Houthis, seeking to control the flow of aid, placed restrictions on U.N. agencies in areas under their control.

In March, the U.S. suspended much of its aid to the north, citing concerns over Houthi misappropriation. Two other key donors — the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia — have also drawn down. The U.S., UAE and Saudi Arabia have all slashed their Yemen aid spend, the U.S. spend dropping from almost a billion to 411 million, Saudi from over a billion to half that, with only 22.8 million actually received. The UAE has given zero dollars to the U.N.’s 2020 Yemen appeal.

CNN was able to obtain access to a confidential internal U.N. briefing document. U.N. agencies have confirmed to us its contents. In the aftermath of the drop in foreign aid, the U.N. has shuttered almost 75% of its programs.

In previous CNN investigations, we traced serial numbers on armaments in Yemen back to arms deals between Saudi Arabia, the UAE and the U.S., proving that the U.S. government has profited from the chaos of the war in Yemen. And aid agencies tell us that the aid drawdown threatens to wreak even more havoc.

NIMA ELBAGIR (in interview): Well, it’s a very clear and — it’s a very clear connection. It’s an incredibly egregious one. When the war launched five years ago, the U.S. backed the Saudi-led invasion after the Houthis overthrew the legitimately — the legitimate, internationally recognized government of President Abdu Rabbu Mansour Hadi. What complicated the issue is, even after the Obama administration found that the Saudis and the coalition were not taking into account the impact on civilians or their deployment of U.S. weaponry, and they suspended it, when the Trump administration came in, they immediately overturned that suspension. So, there was a foreknowledge of the involvement and the impact and the ways that U.S. support entrenched this conflict. But for years now, we’ve seen another pattern start to come together, which is, not only is the U.S. profiting from the war by selling weapons to the UAE and Saudi Arabia, who are both partners in the coalition, they also — the inspector general who was forced out from the State Department found, continuing to not take into account the impact on civilians of that deployment of U.S. armaments by the UAE and by Saudi Arabia.

We fast-forward two or three years of this extraordinary, controversial action, and then we start to see — we start coming across these numbers that are starting to drop. The UAE in 2017 gave zero dollars to the U.N. humanitarian assistance program, even though it was an active member of the coalition. Saudi Arabia gave a billion, but only really after the U.N., at the end of last year, had come back and pushed and said Yemen is slipping into famine. So, there was all this work and all this investment and all this, frankly, shaming of the U.S. and the UAE and Saudi Arabia to force them to put — to put right what they had made wrong on the ground in Yemen. And then, in March, Secretary Pompeo, the secretary of state, decides that they are going to suspend aid to those Houthi-controlled areas. And, yes, the Houthis are obstructing aid, and it is extraordinarily egregious, but the Houthis are not the only one. This is a war in which food and starvation have been weaponized by both sides. And that’s when we saw the drop, and that’s when we saw the numbers.

https://truthout.org/video/us-cuts-aid-to-yemen-while-fueling-war-and-famine/

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Yemen famine: 10 million children facing starvation with suffering 'only likely to get worse'

The UN says more than 20 million people require urgent humanitarian assistance because of the war - almost half of them children.

More than 20 million require urgent humanitarian assistance - almost half of them children - and more than three million people have been displaced.

There is little sign of an end to the conflict because it has drawn in the big powers of the region whose rivalry shows no sign of abating.

The roots of the war go back to the Arab Spring uprising. Huge crowds of protesters forced the ousting of longstanding strongman ruler Ali Abdullah Saleh. (photos)

https://news.sky.com/story/yemen-famine-10-million-children-facing-starvation-with-suffering-only-likely-to-get-worse-12074261

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Yemen

War crimes are being committed in Yemen as pro-government forces and a regional military coalition fight against Houthi rebels who still control much of the country.

Necessary action

All parties to the conflict should fully implement the terms of the Stockholm Agreement and extend the Hodeidah ceasefire to other conflict-affected governorates. The government of Yemen should allow access to the GEE, as well as representatives from the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, and ensure that all potential war crimes and crimes against humanity are properly investigated and prosecuted.

The distinction between military and civilian targets is central to IHL and must be adhered to at all times. In keeping with the Arms Trade Treaty, all UN member states should immediately halt the sale of weapons to parties to the conflict who routinely violate IHL, including Saudi Arabia and the UAE. The UNSC should adopt targeted sanctions against all those responsible for potential atrocities and the deliberate obstruction of vital humanitarian assistance.

https://www.globalr2p.org/countries/yemen/

cp1 Am wichtigsten / Most important

(** B P)

WAR IN YEMEN: NO END IN SIGHT AS THE STATE DISINTEGRATES

This article looks at the prospects for peace in Yemen. It offers a comprehensive overview of the current situation, including the strength of the Huthis, the interests involvement of Iran, Saudi Arabia, the UAE and western powers, the individual situation of the various regions and provinces of Yemen, its economy, the question of terrorist presences in the country, and the attempts made to reach a settlement between all sides. The article argues that at present the prospects for a peaceful cessation of the conflict are poor and that it is likely to continue for the foreseeable future.

Yemen is disintegrating as a state after more than five and half years of war.

The Huthis are here to stay

The Huthis, sometimes referred to as Ansar Allah, the name of their political movement, can no longer be defeated militarily and are in firm control of northwest Yemen, where 60–65 per cent of the population live, and followers of the Zaydi school of Shi’ism are concentrated.

The Huthis are now the dominant force within a broader alliance rooted in traditional north-Yemeni politics.

After their takeover in 2015, the Huthis created a system of supervisors to oversee the working of state institutions and local government, leaving as far as possible existing structures intact as long as they responded to Huthi commands.

Iran and the Huthis

At the beginning of the war Iran was giving some assistance to the Huthis including the provision of military advice and training.

Iranian support has increased in recent years: the UN Panel of Experts monitoring the situation confirms that some weapons, including missile parts, are being smuggled.

For Iran, Yemen presents a low cost and low risk opportunity to damage Saudi interests in a country that is vital to Riyadh, but not to Tehran, and is part of a much wider regional struggle between them, complicated by the ramifications of President Trump’s policy of all-out pressure on Iran.

The Huthis’ Achilles Heel

Some analysts conclude that the Huthis have won the war. That is an exaggeration, but it is clear they cannot be defeated by the coalition and will have a decisive influence in the post-war situation. Their Achilles Heel is the economy. Imports to Huthi-controlled ports, mainly Hodeida, are subject to a blockade, and the war has deprived them of previous sources of state income, whilst the divisions over the Central Bank (see below) restrict access to currency.

President Hadi’s fragmented Yemen

The war is being fought to restore Hadi, whose core support has narrowed to an influential inner circle of advisers, including sons and relatives of the president, and allies from his home area (in Abyan). Beyond this, his regime is widely regarded, not least by the Saudi leadership, as weak, ineffective, and corrupt. It is easy to dismiss him, but he is a symbol of legitimacy as conferred under the GCC deal of 2012.

The essential problem is that President Hadi’s government may be recognised internationally but lacks much legitimacy on the ground.

Hadi and Islah are also strong in the major population centre of Ta’izz, which was the scene in the first years of the war of intense fighting for control of routes into the city and battles within the city itself. Ta’izz, which is largely Sunni, has a long history of resisting attempts by regimes based in the largely Zaydi Upper Yemen to control it. Anti-Huthi forces have been weakened by rivalries between militias controlled or influenced by Islah and other groups, mostly Salafis, that have been supported by the UAE. If these two notional allies had been able to work together, they might well have pushed the Huthis out of this populous part of Yemen.

South Yemen

However, the main division is that between Hadi and the Southern Transition Council, which controls Aden, Lahej, Dhala and part of Abyan, and is seeking to extend this to the whole of the lands of the former People’s Democratic Republic of Yemen (PDRY).

Hadhramaut, Shabwah, al Mahra and Socotra

These southern governorates felt excluded from decision making in Aden in PDRY times, and Sanaa after unity. There is thus a strong desire, especially in Hadhramaut and Al Mahra, that they should govern themselves.

Impact of the UAE drawdown of forces

The UAE reassessed its priorities in Yemen and the region in the early months of 2019. This was not long after its planned operation to wrest Hodeida from the Huthis was abandoned as a result of international pressure driven by fears that the battle would damage the port and associated infrastructure, and also greatly exacerbate the already dire humanitarian situation.

The Riyadh Agreement

Despite this progress it is likely that Hadi and the STC will remain at loggerheads unless the Saudis find a way of making the Riyadh Agreement stick. Unlike the UAE, Saudi Arabia has little experience of handling post-conflict situations, and there is a lack of capacity in the Saudi system: the Yemen file is in the hands of small number of people who may be able in themselves, but lack the day-to-day contact and wide networks that the UAE previously enjoyed. Rather more visible and proactive co-operation by the UAE will be needed to keep Hadi and the STC together. As they have different objectives, that could prove difficult.

Economic concerns

The Hadi regime and the Huthis are fighting an economic war which adds to the suffering of all Yemenis except those able to benefit from their control of decision-making or those who are engaged in a war economy. The internationally-recognised government moved the HQ of the Central Bank from Sanaa to Aden in 2016, but most of its staff and records remained in Sanaa. The two have wrestled since then for control of the bank and the currency. This undermined the ability of traders in Sanaa to get the hard currency needed to import basic commodities.

Western interests

Up to the start of the war, the main focus of US, UK and EU interest in Yemen was to remove the threat to their own security posed by AQAP and later Daesh.

Prospects for peace

Martin Griffiths and his team work assiduously to build confidence between the two sides and give a voice to many Yemeni constituencies. His patient persistence may eventually lead to a new process even if too many politicians blame the mediator and not their own intransigence for a lack of progress. COVID-19 and the looming economic, health and humanitarian crisis underline the need for an urgent political settlement.

The National Dialogue Conference could be revived – and there is a process for a review of its outcomes – but only after a peace deal has been signed.

The bigger problem is that the Huthis and none of the main Yemeni groups linked to the internationally-recognised government seem ready to make the sort of compromises that might lead to peace with each other. For example, the Huthis may be willing to negotiate with Riyadh but are unwilling to seek a compromise with the Hadi regime. If the STC and potentially Tariq Saleh and others are not party to any settlement they can – and will – spoil it so that mediators will need to find a way of involving them that does not undermine the authority of President Hadi – by Noel Brehony

https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/03068374.2020.1812263

(** B K)

YEMEN DATA PROJECT AIR RAIDS SUMMARY SEPTEMBER 2020

Sixteen Child Casualties in a Single Air Raid as Bombings Reach Lowest Monthly Rate Since January

One of the deadliest air raids for children so far this year leaves nine children dead and seven injured in August

The second most deadliest air raid for children so far this year killed and injured 16 children in August. A single air raid* with up to 4 individual airstrikes by the Saudi-led coalition on Bedouin tents in the Khab Wa Al-Sha'af district of Al-Jawf. on the afternoon of 6 August, left 9 children dead and 7 injured. Four women were also amongst the injured. This single incident accounted for 21 of the 23 civilian casualties in coalition bombings in August.
The month-on-month rate of air raids fell by 54% to 144 in August, the lowest monthly figure since January, following the two-year high of 271 bombings in June and monthly numbers staying above 210 in July This marks the lowest monthly rate since the last month of an undeclared de-escalation that kept air raid numbers at a record low for the last quarter of 2019, and below the monthly rates seen in the Saudi's unilaterally declared ceasefire during April and May. Civilian casualty numbers more than halved in August from the high of 50 in July.
Mass Civilian Casualties

The three air raids responsible for the highest number of civilian casualties so far in 2020 have all been in Al-Jawf, with two of those air raids carried out in the last two months. Almost 60% of all civilian casualties in the air war so far this year have been in bombings in Al-Jawf. July saw a spike in civilian casualty numbers with a single air raid causing 62% of casualties in the month. Over 70% of civilian casualties so far this year occurred in less than 0.5% of air raids. Five air raids in 2020 resulted in mass civilian casualty events (10 or more casualties), with 136 civilian casualties - accounting for 72% of civilian casualties in 2020 to date. Three of those five air raids were in July and August.

The highest number of air raids recorded in a single month remains September 2015 at 920, which was also the deadliest month in the air war when at least 756 civilians were killed.
April 2015 saw the highest number of civilian casualties (fatalities and injured) in a single month at 1,745.

In August, 10% of bombings hit civilian targets** 10% hit military targets. In 80% of air raids in August the target could not be identified. Of the 29 air raids where the target could be identified, 48% of bombings hit civilian sites. 52% of identifiable targets were military.

Of the 29 air raids where the target was identified in August 2020

10 hit residential areas, killing 11 civilians - all women and children - and injuring 12, of which 11 were women and children.

2 hit farms.

1 hit the customs depot in Harad, a government compound.

1 hit a civilian car.

Marib continues to be the most heavily bombed governorate of 2020. A quarter of all Saudi-led coalition air raids in 2020 have targeted Marib. In August, 36% off all air raids hit Marib. Majzar district in Marib has been the most heavily bombed district in the country so far this year. In August, Sirwah was the mostly heavily bombed district in Marib, and the second most heavily bombed district countrywide in the month.

In 2020, Al-Bayda has seen the heaviest bombing in the governorate since the first year of the air war in 2015. Al-Bayda has been subject to fighting in the ground war longer than any other governorate, with clashes between pro and anti Houthi forces since September 2014. A crucial transit route between north and south as well as east and west, Al Bayda has seen an uptick in violence as the conflict in neighbouring Marib has escalated during 2020

Khab Wa Al-Sha'af district of Al-Jawf was the most heavily bombed district countrywide in August with 22 air raids. 21 of the 23 civilian casualties in the month were recorded in a single air raid in the district on 6 August. 59% of all civilian casualties in the air war in 2020 have been in bombings in Al-Jawf.

https://mailchi.mp/13a2a54c2af6/september2020-yemen-data-project-update-6455016

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The Crime of Hunger: Yemen’s Humanitarian Crisis

In a previous case study of Yemen’s mass hunger, I analysed the context using the concept of famine crimes (Marcus 2003) in combination with Tyner’s (2018) conditions of actor intentionality. The three levels were ability, opportunity, and awareness (Ibid., 200), and were chosen to analyse the causes and perpetrators of the country’s hunger. The aforementioned research constitutes the foundation of this article about mass hunger and human accountability. The article will first, from a scholarly perspective, discuss hunger in order to illustrate how human involvement can engender it, and thereafter apply this understanding of starvation to what is perhaps the defining crisis of hunger of our time – Yemen.

The concept of famine crimes remains an academic contribution with no legal consequence for actors responsible for faminogenic behaviour[1].

Despite the lack of legal ramifications, it is analytically valuable to apply the concept of famine crimes to cases of mass hunger in order to identify actors and their possible accountability. It also facilitates an understanding of the causes of famines – the political choices behind the hunger. The conceptualization of famine as a crime is useful when applied to individual cases of mass hunger. It enables us to tease out the characteristics of starvation and facilitates a debate about who is responsible for inflicting hunger. Therefore, the idea of famine crimes needs to be continuously acknowledged and used in discussions about hunger to achieve a shift in the common perception of what causes hunger.

It is important to acknowledge that famines are not necessarily the result of a breakdown of a system or distribution network, but instead often the result of successfully implemented policies by actors with political, military, and economic interests.

In the case of Yemen, years of pervasive poverty, unemployment, and poor political governance in combination with a violent civil war has resulted in what the UN calls the worst humanitarian crisis in the world (UN News 2019). A forecast for 2020 by the Food Security Information Network (FSIN) has predicted increasing levels of acute food insecurity due to the combined effects of the conflict and a macroeconomic crisis (FSIN 2020, 194). This prediction was made before the coronavirus outbreak, which, together with the current crisis of mass hunger, results in an even more dire medical emergency (Leijon 2020)[2]. In 2019 before the pandemic, 20 million people in Yemen were food insecure (FAO 2019). Of a population of approximately 30 million, roughly two-thirds were experiencing some degree of hunger, and about 24 million people were reliant on relief aid (UN News 2020).

There are, thus, complex constellations of actors and motives which drives Yemen’s widespread hunger.

Even before the start of the war, Yemen’s infrastructure was underdeveloped with unreliable access to electricity and poor transport networks which created a dependence on expensive generators and fuel. These conditions inhibited the competitiveness of firms and has been made much worse by the ongoing conflict (Moyer et al. 2019, 23). Discriminate and indiscriminate targeting of civil infrastructure by the different sides of the conflict has resulted in damages. As a consequence, food distribution networks and access to health services and basic utilities have been severely disrupted. The loss of crucial societal infrastructure has increased Yemen’s vulnerability to famine and disease and increased the country’s reliance on external humanitarian aid (Alles 2017). The belligerents of the civil war have also imposed national economic blockades and domestic checkpoints which restricts and controls people’s movement within the country. The combination of politicization of humanitarian aid, where donors can be selective to which territories aid is rendered, and large transfers of arms from the international arms trade makes Yemen’s hunger crisis a confluence of human policies and interests.

According to Martha Mundy, who has conducted field and archival research in Yemen, there exists compelling evidence showing that the strategy of the Saudi-Coalition has been to obliterate domestic food production (Mundy 2017). Saudi Arabia has repeatedly conducted airstrikes which have destroyed both military and civilian targets such as hospitals, farms, roads, and residential areas. These tactics by Saudi Arabia have effectively turned starvation into a weapon of war by depriving the population of healthcare services and food distribution networks. Further, Saudi Arabia also has destroyed fishing boats and detained and killed fishers (WPF 2019, 9).

The Houthi rebels has used similar tactics by launching ballistic missiles towards Saudi Arabia and shelling targets within Yemen – both civilian and military (Mundy 2018; Barrington and El Yaakoubi 2019). These actions indicate intentionality and political interest where the actors actively contribute to the increase of food insecurity, and it could be argued that there are power and political advantages in controlling the production and distribution of food. The situation in Yemen bears similarity with the historical example put forward by Hopma: during the Middle Ages, the control of food exerted power over people, specifically walled cities under siege, were forced to surrender because of food deprivation (Hopma 2017).

Thus, if we apply the theories of famine crimes and actor intentionality on the case of Yemen, it is possible to identify examples of varying degrees of famine crimes being committed. Saudi Arabia’s and the Houthi rebels’ actions could be construed to fit into degree two of famine crimes as their violent actions implemented to stop the opposing side have had severe repercussions for food production and distribution in Yemen. This categorization could be a useful tool in establishing potential future accountability.

In Yemen, involved actors have actively sought to deprive the population of access to basic services and food by destroying infrastructure that provides it, which result in the mass hunger being a political process of deprivation. The hunger can, therefore, be considered as preventable as years of poor political governance and enduring conflict is taking its toll on the country’s infrastructure and food supply chains.

Consequently, in the future, actors could be held accountable for their arguably faminogenic policies which have had adverse effects on Yemen’s hunger. – by Johan Leijon

https://www.e-ir.info/2020/09/17/the-crime-of-hunger-yemens-humanitarian-crisis/

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'The hardest part is when we lose a child'

Aid cuts by Trump and some US allies are costing lives in Yemen

The doctors and nurses at the malnutrition ward in Abs Hospital are used to scrambling -- there is rarely enough time in the day to see the number of emaciated children that come in. But things have never been quite this bad.

In the past few months, the power has dropped out daily and high fuel prices mean they can't always keep their generators going. When that happens, their monitors and ventilators switch off. Children who could have been saved, die.

"Those who aren't killed by the airstrikes or this war? They will die from shortages in medical supplies," Dr. Ali Al Ashwal tells CNN at the hospital in Hajjah, northwest of the capital, Sanaa.

In March, the Trump administration and the US' key regional allies, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, slashed their funding to the United Nations' appeal for Yemen. The funding cuts mean reduced health care services for Yemeni civilians, with some forced to close. They have also forced aid agencies to stretch food assistance thin.

This state of affairs is evident at Abs Hospital. In the first half of the year, it received nearly 700 patients suffering from malnutrition. In August, the case load was double the average monthly total, according to hospital staff.

"Our clinic usually takes between 100 and 150 cases in a month, and in one month we have received approximately double the amount. While at the same time, medical supplies have decreased," Dr. Al Ashwal said.

"The hardest part is when we lose a child when there could have been a chance for them to survive -- if the situation was different."

In 2019, the US contributed almost $1 billion to the UN appeal, but this year, it has donated less than half that so far, giving $411 million, UN data shows.

Those cuts have largely impacted areas in the north controlled by the Iran-backed Ansarullah -- known as Houthi rebels -- whom the US and several other donor nations accuse of interfering in humanitarian operations.

Despite the US' sizeable cut in funding, it is still the biggest donor to the UN's Yemen appeal.

A spokesperson for the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) told CNN that the country would resume all operations in the Houthi-controlled north "when we are confident that our partners can deliver aid without undue Houthi interference and account for US assistance."

The spokesperson pointed to unmet commitments from "other donors" as the reason for the funding shortfall among UN agencies in Yemen, saying "the United States encourages all donors, including those in the Gulf region, to contribute additional funding, to fulfill their 2020 pledges in a timely manner, and for all assistance to be provided according to humanitarian principles."

Support pledged to the UN by Saudi Arabia for Yemen more than halved this year.

The US, Saudi Arabia and UAE are key actors in the Yemen conflict, and in 2018 and 2019 they were the biggest donors to the UN response in Yemen.

Getting a grasp on the big picture in Houthi-controlled Yemen is difficult. CNN spent weeks reaching out to the Health Ministry in Sanaa, local councils, aid organizations and doctors on the ground in northern Yemen for recent figures to show how many deaths here may have been caused by food shortages, or malnutrition. No one had any data on death numbers.

UN sources told CNN they have similarly been struggling to conduct assessment surveys in the north. A UN map showing the current level of food insecurity around the country doesn't include these Houthi-controlled areas in the north.

And with an apparent excess in deaths, assumed to be from undetected Covid-19 cases, it's been difficult to even keep count of the dead. No one really knows if the deceased succumbed to coronavirus, malnutrition, or both.

In the southwestern city of Taiz, a local gravedigger tells CNN that he and his fellow diggers are struggling to keep up with burials. They stopped counting the dead some time ago.

"When coronavirus arrived in Yemen, it came around the end of the month of Ramadan ... since then, we've kept on digging and digging. We can't keep up," Tamim Yousef says as he digs under the sweltering summer heat.

"You feel the worst pain with the children, when you have to bury a child. You feel sorrow, sadness. My thoughts go out to the parents."

It's a sentiment shared at Abs Hospital, where Dr. Al Ashwal laments that they have no way of knowing how many children might be dying at home, unable to reach treatment.

Medical staff all over the country are wondering how much longer they can hold on for – By Nima Elbagir, Angela Dewan, Nada Bashir, Barbara Arvanitidis and Yousef Mawry, CNN (with photos)

https://edition.cnn.com/2020/09/15/middleeast/yemen-funding-crisis-intl/index.html

(** B H)

This desperate children's hospital in Yemen could be the closest thing to hell on Earth

Sky News witnesses the daily battle to keep desperately weak and starving children alive in a country ravaged by civil war.

If there is a hell, it could well be in a small hospital in north Yemen. There is misery and desperation in every corner you look.

They thought, it couldn't get any worse after six years of civil war. They were wrong. A collision of factors has created what charity workers are calling the "perfect storm".

War, malnutrition and now a global deadly pandemic have created a torment from which many Yemenis simply will not recover.

Even the tough medics of the Abs Children's Hospital struggle to maintain their composure in the avalanche of unrelenting wretchedness here.

We watch as the teams work on baby after baby. The other mothers crowd round as word gets out about the struggle to save a tiny little new born, little more than a month old.

Javier's constant pushing keeps nudging Taif into this world, this world where her four siblings go to sleep hungry every night and where her mother Randah struggles to produce enough breast milk to feed her little one because she's so undernourished.

The doctors keep working on her, determined not to give up. Nurses flutter round with injections of stimulants and fresh machines to suck mucus out of her lungs.

But everyone present knows it is a hopeless battle. They shine the light from a mobile phone across her eyes. There’s no response. There's no heartbeat either.

They knew this before they even checked but seem reluctant to accept what seems obvious to everyone witnessing this titanic struggle to save this minuscule human.

Javier silently packs up his stethoscope and heart cables. "She’s passed away," he says matter-of-factly but his eyes betray much more turmoil than is immediately apparent.

Dr Izzedine Mohammed is struggling to hold back his emotions. "I have to deal with this every day… this is my life... every day. And this is what is disturbing us the most… because it’s a preventable death. It’s not an inevitable death… it’s something we can prevent by only giving food."

Take a moment to process that. There are children with so little food that they're susceptible to every single infection or disease going. Children with so little nutrition, that from the moment they’re born, they’re struggling to survive a mountain of disadvantages including what many believe is an entirely preventable conflict.

Children in Yemen are so weak from hunger, a bout of diarrhoea will kill them within days. And these same children are so fragile they stand little chance in the midst of a global pandemic which is wiping out richer, stronger, much more privileged human beings around the planet.

Everywhere we look we see tiny, skeletal bodies laying on every bed in the main children’s hospital in Abs, in Hajjah Governorate. And there’s not a bed that doesn’t contain a tragic tale.

They are scraps of humanity, wriggling in pain. Most are too weak to even cry. Those who do yelp or cry out in agony are the healthier ones.

Yet make no mistake, no-one but no-one is healthy in here. There are even some children hanging from hammocks underneath the beds.

The medics from Medecins Sans Frontieres buzz around, moving briskly from bed to bed and critical case to critical case.

These are dedicated people, the guardian angels of this area, desperately trying their best to save lives in the most horrendous of circumstances and fighting a tide of despair every hour and every day.

Many of the people they are caring for have moved several times to escape the fighting. Nearly all the country is dependent on aid.

https://news.sky.com/story/the-hellish-fight-to-keep-children-alive-in-a-yemeni-hospital-12073718

Film: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OSdddzjkzpM = https://news.sky.com/video/yemen-childrens-hospitals-the-closest-thing-to-hell-on-earth-12074343

(** B P)

Houthis Ramp Up Their Ideological Crusade in Yemen

Beneath the focus on the political and human rights aspects of Yemen’s war, the Houthis are engaged in an ideological conflict to re-establish a Zaydi Imamate, even if it means impoverishing Yemenis.

The Houthis ramped up their harsh crusade against Yemen’s educational and societal freedoms in August, including changing school curriculums to glorify Imam Al-Hadi Yahya, the father of the country’s Imamate which ruled north Yemen from 897 until 1962. This comes under the Houthis wider aims of imposing their strict interpretation of Zaydism, a branch of Shia Islam, in order to revive Yemen’s historic Zaydi Imamate.

These changes follow various other strict measures imposed on Yemeni civilians. The Houthis in June passed a “supremacist” taxation law granting 20 percent of all Yemenis’ income and revenue to the Bani Hashem clan, to which the movement’s leaders belong and claim descends directly from the Prophet Mohammad.

“The Houthi group has been seeking for years to change Yemeni society by converting it to the Zaydi doctrine that this group espouses. Their primary belief is that no one may rule except them,” Nabil AlBukairi, an Istanbul-based Yemeni Researcher, told Inside Arabia.

The Houthis have created an open-air prison for critics of their system. They have carried out brutal torture methods against dissidents, while parts of their territory resemble military complexes in their war against the internationally-recognized government and Saudi Arabia’s forces. The faction has also employed most of the child soldiers in Yemen’s five-year-long war, and is accused of covering up vast numbers of coronavirus cases, to guarantee their recruitment capabilities continue.

While there is more focus on these abuses, their manipulation of Zaydi ideology to control society is often overlooked, though it leads to more human rights violations. This is a central part of their desires to form an austere regime with the Houthis’ leaders enjoying absolute power.

“The Houthis seek to replicate the Zaydi Imamate with some modifications today, adapted from the Iranian experience, so that Yemen remains a republic, but an Islamic republic like Iran, and Abdul-Malik Al-Houthi is its general guide and real ruler,” added AlBukairi.

According to one resident in Yemen’s Houthi-controlled capital Sanaa’, the Houthis founded new schools and institutions in Sadaa to spread their ideology to young students and society in general throughout their expansion, while also promoting Iranian ideological thought.

“The Houthis are now using TV channels, radio stations, and all forms of media, while [regulating] schools, mosques, social events, and even replacing school and college instructors and heads with their supporters, all to impose their ideology in territories they control,” Fuad Rajeh, a Yemeni researcher, told Inside Arabia.

“They are changing regions under their control completely from a Yemen heading for a democratic and prosperous future into an austere religious state which presents Iran’s example [of a revolutionary theocratic state],” said Rajeh.

In the Houthis’ heartlands in Sadaa, the group in February 2020 introduced into schools daily videos of lectures by leader Abdul-Malik Al-Houthi’s brother, Yahya Al-Houthi. According to some of the students’ parents, the Houthis used these lectures as “an attempt to [turn the children into] followers, and to throw them into their battles in accordance with the guidance of the Houthi leader [to] satisfy his desires to take over Yemenis and rule them.”

Meanwhile, the Houthis are eroding Yemen’s own cultural traditions, particularly those which contradict the faction’s values.

“They are closing shops because they sell clothes and dresses which violate their beliefs, or they burn their goods. They also arrest young people with haircuts which are violating their teachings,” said Rajeh.

Last March, the Houthis went on another “moral campaign,” shutting down various cafes in Sanaa’. Its militias stormed one female-only café and demanded its closure.

“Armed men filled the street, directing obscenities at the women as they left,” the owner, Shaima Mohammed, reported in a Facebook post announcing the cafe’s closure.

“Women should be in their homes. Why are they going out in public?” one of the militias reportedly said – by Jonathan Fenton-Harvey

https://insidearabia.com/houthis-ramp-up-ideological-crusade-in-yemen/

(** B H)

Understanding the Yemen CrisisInsight Core Dataset 2020

The ACAPS Yemen Analysis Hub aims to support a stronger evidence base for humanitarian decision-makers in Yemen through inter-sectoral and forward-looking analysis. This is the core dataset for the Yemen Analysis Hub. It includes all 333 districts and is updated on a monthly basis.

This dataset brings together data from a range of sources to provide a greater overall and comparative understanding of the current situation and context inside each district. The core indicators consist of key drivers (conflict, basic commodity prices, exclusion and marginalisation, and disrupted access to life-saving services and income sources) and their major expected humanitarian impacts (food insecurity, cholera). The dataset includes a mix of quantitative and qualitative data. Qualitative data is collected by ACAPS through daily media monitoring, secondary data review, thematic products and discussions with experts in Yemen and the region. ACAPS tracks changes in these indicators and alerts the humanitarian community to emerging trends or risks that could overwhelm local coping mechanisms in Yemen, triggering a humanitarian emergency. This dataset forms the core of ACAPS Yemen Crisis Insight bi-monthly products such as the Yemen: Crisis Impact Overview and Yemen Risk Overview, and ad hoc risk alerts.

When analysing and interpreting the data, please be aware that while we aim to include district-level data that is updated monthly, some indicators are updated on only a quarterly or annual basis. Some data is only availalbe on a governorate level. Please ensure you check the details in the ‘indicator list’ tab and the references for each indicator before conducting analysis. A searchable power BI map of this dataset is currently under development and will be available shortly. Download the dataset

There are major impediments on collecting information in Yemen (both qualitative and quantitative). Therefore, this dataset has been given a ‘Medium’ reliability ranking by the ACAPS analyst team. The Yemen Analyst Hub recommends that this dataset is used only as a starting point. It will enable you to quickly examine and compare cross-sectoral, quantitative and qualitative data at the district level in Yemen.

However, for operational decision making, we recommend you conduct follow up conversations with front line actors and conduct additional research to confirm and check findings. Transcription errors are a major risk in data sets of this size, especially as some data has been entered manually. ACAPS conducts random quality checking of a sample of entries to try to limit errors. However, it is highly likely that errors remain. For sensitive analysis, we recommend you cross check findings with the source data in the list of indicators and at the top row of each column.

https://www.acaps.org/sites/acaps/files/products/files/yemen_ci_core_dataset_2020_-_july_0.pdf

Download dataset: https://data.humdata.org/dataset/yemen-crisisinsight-core-dataset-2020

(** B K P)

Foreign Contract Soldiers in the Gulf

Despite flagging oil revenues and the introduction of conscription in the Gulf, the use of foreign contract soldiers, sometimes called mercenaries, is here to stay.

States with ample financial resources but an insufficient number of citizens willing to enlist in their armed forces have employed foreign soldiers since time immemorial. Such non-native soldiers served in Arabia long before British involvement in the region. Aside from Saudi Arabia, the Gulf monarchies have small citizen populations that limit their ability to strengthen their defense sectors with the available pool of citizens. That pool itself is constrained because, as elsewhere in the world, prosperous young men do not find the rigors of military life appealing and have little economic incentive to join. Even though the Gulf is rife with change—from universal male conscription and activist foreign policies to dwindling oil revenues and ballooning defense budgets—basic demographic and political realities dictate that foreign contract soldiers are in the Gulf to stay.

Employing noncitizen contract soldiers coincides with the political dynamics of the Gulf. The six states on the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) are monarchies where, with the partial exception of Kuwait, citizens enjoy scant political rights and have no oversight, let alone say, in military affairs. Gulf monarchies thus benefit politically from using foreign contract soldiers because these soldiers generally have no political interests to pursue and seldom participate in attempts to overthrow the regime. Furthermore, because they tend to have no social links to the native population, the state can deploy them with confidence against citizens in domestic contingencies. Foreign contract soldiers can also be dismissed with no political liability. While citizen-soldiers are expensive to maintain, especially in rich countries, contract soldiers are relatively cheap and there is no social condemnation to deal with should they become casualties in domestic or foreign deployments.

Based on these political dynamics, contract soldiers in the Gulf overwhelmingly fill enlisted positions, that is, most of them are in the lowest ranks. A far smaller proportion of them are noncommissioned officers (NCOs). The number of noncitizens in the regular officer corps, as distinct from short-term appointments, is negligible, as officer status is generally tied to citizenship. Foreign contract soldiers generally serve in all branches of the regular armed forces (army, navy, air force) but their ratio is the highest in the army, the largest service in all GCC military establishments. Certain segments of the coercive apparatus of some Gulf states, however—the National Guard in Kuwait and Saudi Arabia, for instance—are restricted to citizens. Language problems occasionally occur with non-Arabic speakers from the Indian subcontinent, especially if they lack a rudimentary familiarity with English, which is often the main language of officer training, especially if it is led by instructors from the UK or the United States.

Societal labor dynamics, related to demographics, also bear on the use of contract soldiers. The types of tasks that low-skilled contract soldiers discharge mirror the employment landscape of the Gulf states. Just as it is hard to find a citizen of Kuwait, Qatar, or the UAE who is willing to work as a construction laborer, dishwasher, or janitor, it is equally difficult to recruit citizens of prosperous GCC states to fulfill indispensable but unglamorous positions in the armed forces.

Not surprisingly, the highest proportion of foreign contract soldiers serve in the Gulf’s three richest states, Qatar, the UAE, and Kuwait, where few young men have a strong economic incentive to sign up.

The vast majority of contract soldiers serving in the Gulf are Sunni Muslims from the Arab world and South Asia. From the former, GCC armies tend to hold Jordanian soldiers in the highest regard owing to their solid training, professionalism, and discipline. There are also many Moroccans and Yemenis and, especially since 2011, a growing contingent of Syrians. Most of them fill ordinary enlisted slots while highly trained soldiers, often Jordanians, are NCOs. Typically, only citizens can become officers in the Gulf though there are some exceptions: in rare cases after long (ten to fifteen years) and distinguished service, contract soldiers can become citizens. Bahrain, especially, has conferred citizenship to boost the Sunni proportion of the citizenry.

Most South Asian soldiers hail from Pakistan, especially from Balochistan Province. There are also a large number of Bangladeshi contract soldiers in the Gulf.

The results of over 150 interviews in the region suggest that this bazaar is not unique to the UAE and Saudi Arabia.1 In 2009, 64 percent of the staff at Bahrain’s National Security Agency were non-Bahrainis. Abdulhadi Khalaf, the eminent Bahraini sociologist in exile, claims that “the rank and file in the Bahraini military, police, and security forces consist almost entirelyof foreign recruits,” but he does not name his source. Pakistani personnel make up 18 percent of the Bahraini air force, and altogether 10,000 Pakistani nationals are employed by Bahrain’s coercive apparatus.

According to some sources, in 2016 contract soldiers made up between 25 percent and 50 percent of Kuwait’s regular armed forces, but all National Guard personnel were citizens – by Zoltan Barany

https://carnegie-mec.org/2020/02/05/foreign-contract-soldiers-in-gulf-pub-80979

cp1a Am wichtigsten: Coronavirus und Seuchen / Most important: Coronavirus and epidemics

(A H)

3 new cases of coronavirus reported, 2,022 in total

http://en.adenpress.news/news/26111

(* B H)

Coronavirus: Yemen in denial about COVID-19 - and worse still, there's a fog of mystery over how many are dying

There's no coronavirus pandemic in Yemen if you ask anybody in the Old City of Sana'a.

"There's no corona in Yemen," one man tells us as others gather around, nodding in agreement. "There's no corona at all… People are lying. They're liars."

Since then, it is difficult to believe that the country - which is suffering the world's largest humanitarian disaster - has managed to bring it under control. Most of the population is classified as dependent on aid.

There's a widespread lack of clean water to maintain simple hygiene standards, considered essential to stop the spread of the virus.

There's a crumbling and busted medical infrastructure unable to cope with the multiple existing problems and common killers such as malnutrition and diarrhoea.

There's a fresh outbreak of cholera.

But COVID-19 testing and tracing is virtually non-existent in Yemen, which contributes to the fog of mystery over how fast the virus is spreading and how many are infected or dying.

Auke Lootsma, from the United Nations Development Programme, said: "On top of everything that Yemen is experiencing, it can now also add the highest unofficial death rate to COVID-19 in the world.

The UN estimates those Yemenis who catch coronavirus die in record numbers. The average fatality rate globally is about 7% - but in Yemen, that figure is estimated by the UN to be around the 30% mark.

And with the lack of official data on both sides of the conflict, it's been left to local medical groups to try to collate figures of the dead. One medical charity estimated a shockingly high number of health workers have died - possibly as many as 100.

In Sana'a's Old City, those who do believe the virus exists are also convinced it's a biological weapon used by those who've been waging war against them in this region for the past few years.

And in a country where half of the medical facilities are not functioning, the global pandemic has also led to a cut in international donations. There're also worries that both sides in this conflict are restricting access to the millions donated in aid.

The doctors in the Al-Kuwait hospital tell us they've dealt with "thousands" of COVID cases, but their foreign sponsors are cutting their donations because the official tally suggests the virus is "over" here. They are frantic with worry about the future and what it holds (photos)

https://news.sky.com/story/coronavirus-yemen-is-in-denial-about-covid-19-and-worse-still-theres-a-fog-of-mystery-over-how-many-are-dying-12073435

Film: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1HjtS3etVEE

(* B H)

Jemen: „Erst hatten sie Angst und dachten, wir würden COVID-19 verbreiten, dann halfen sie uns sogar“

Randa El Ozeir begleitete im Juni 2020 als Journalistin für die Internationale Föderation der Rotkreuz- und Rothalbmondgesellschaften (IFRK) im Jemen Aktivitäten des Jemenitischen Roten Halbmondes (JRH) zu COVID-19.

Wir sind in einer relativ abgelegenen Gegend bei Dhamar im westlichen Jemen unterwegs. Freiwillige Helfer des JRH in Schutzmasken hängen Infoplakate auf, diese sind Teil einer Aufklärungskampagne über COVID-19.

Eine Gruppe von Anwohnern reagiert besorgt: Sie haben offensichtlich Angst, sich bei diesen maskierten Freiwilligen mit der Krankheit anzustecken, von der sie schon so viel gehört haben. Die Anwohner nähern sich zunächst vorsichtig und überschütten die Freiwilligen dann mit Fragen. Nach einer Weile aber erhellen sich ihre Gesichter – endlich verstehen sie, warum wir Schutzmasken tragen – um sie und uns vor Corona zu schützen!

Wieder einmal zeigte diese Episode, welch unschätzbare Rolle lokale Akteure und Freiwillige in den Gemeinschaften vor Ort spielen, die sie in der Regel wie ihre Westentasche kennen. Sie sprechen die Sprache, sind mit den Traditionen vertraut und kennen die vorherrschende Mentalität.

Nisrine Ahmed, die Medienbeauftragte des JRH, sagt: „Die geographische Herausforderung, von Bergen bis zu Wüsten, Küsten und Grenzen, wird durch die schlechte Telefon- und Internetabdeckung und die unzuverlässige Elektrizitätsversorgung noch verschlimmert und macht diese Orte unerreichbar. Bevor man aktiv wird, muss eine Koordination mit allen Behörden des Landes erfolgen. Nur so kann die Sensibilisierung vor Ort direkt mit der Bevölkerung beginnen.“

Basierend auf der guten Kenntnis des lokalen Umfelds, hat der JRH mit dem Internationalen Komitee vom Roten Kreuz (IKRK) vereinfachte Audio-Botschaften produziert. Themen sind die „Verwendung von Handdesinfektionsmitteln“, „Wie Sie sich und Ihre Familie schützen können“, „Was Sie tun sollten, wenn Sie Symptome haben“ und „wann Sie eine Maske tragen sollten“.

Nisrine Ahmed erläutert, wie diese Botschaften über die Lautsprecher der Krankenwagen übertragen werden, die in den Distrikten und Nachbarschaften der abgelegenen Gebiete innerhalb der einzelnen Gouvernorate unterwegs sind

https://blog.drk.de/jemen-erst-hatten-sie-angst-und-dachten-wir-wuerden-covid-19-verbreiten-dann-halfen-sie-uns-sogar/

(A H)

3 new cases of coronavirus reported, 2,016 in total

http://en.adenpress.news/news/26100

(A H P)

Yemen's Houthis plan to proclaim medicine for Covid-19

The Houthi health ministry plans to publicize its production of a drug for Covid-19, private sources in Sana'a City told Debriefer on Monday.

The ministry will hold a press conference this week to officially proclaim a new medicine that would put an end to the global pandemic, the sources added.

Last May, the Houthi health minister said preparations and researches were underway to introduce the anti-coronavirus remedy, triggering broad criticism on social media.

Covid-19 medicine will be from Yemen, Taha al-Mutawakil added at a news conference, noting that they were about to discover the drug and there are promising studies in this regard.

https://debriefer.net/en/news-19867.html

(B H)

Yemen - 2020 AWD / Cholera Response Dashboard - Weeks 1 - 34

https://reliefweb.int/report/yemen/yemen-2020-awd-cholera-response-dashboard-weeks-1-34

(A H P)

Fog-Spraying Campaign, Dengue Fever Awareness Continue in Aden

King Salman Humanitarian Aid and Relief Center (KSrelief) has continued for the third day in a row implementing the campaign of fog-spraying and raising health awareness of the dengue fever, in Aden Governorate, the Saudi Press Agency (SPA) reported on Wednesday.

http://en.adenpress.news/news/26104

cp2 Allgemein / General

(* A K P)

Interactive Map of Yemen War

https://yemen.liveuamap.com/

(* A K)

MILITARY SITUATION IN YEMEN ON SEPTEMBER 16, 2020 (MAP UPDATE)

https://southfront.org/military-situation-in-yemen-on-september-16-2020-map-update/

MAP UPDATE: HOUTHIS MAKE FRESH GAINS IN YEMEN’S MARIB

https://southfront.org/map-update-houthis-make-fresh-gains-in-yemens-marib/

(* B K P)

[from 2018] Patchwork Security:The New Face of Yemen’s Hybridity

Hybridity is a permanent dynamic of the Yemeni defence sector. However, due to the rise of new military actors, the inter-twining of political, local and tribal loyalties has undergone a further deep reformulation since the complete breakdown of the transitional process in 2014 and the start of the Saudi and Emirati-led military intervention in 2015. The reconfiguration of power relations in Yemen has resulted in a hybridized military marked by three emerging features. First, a growing hybridization between formal and informal military actors, generating loose and unstable alignments or alliances. Second, Yemen’s defence sector has shifted from a national system based on the neo-patrimonial army to a pattern characterized by multipleand competing ´state` umbrellas with militias at the center of military hybrid structures. Third, hybridity and patronage still remain salient dynamics of the Yemeni defence sector, though performing through different mechanisms.

https://www.academia.edu/40197660/Hybridizing_Security_Armies_and_Militias_in_Fractured_Arab_States?email_work_card=title

(* B P)

Yemen rights group: 1,896 forcibly disappeared persons in Aden, Sanaa

Yemen’s Wogood for Human Security said on Tuesday that the number of forcibly disappeared persons in the cities of Sanaa and Aden has reached 1,896 persons, Anadolu news agency reported.

The organisation’s Director, Maha Awadh, said during a joint session with the Abductees’ Mothers Association held in Aden that the number of forcibly disappeared persons in the capital, Sanaa, which is under Houthi control has reached 186 person while the number of those kidnapped has reached 1,573 persons.

She added that the Security Belt Forces in the interim capital, Aden, are responsible for the enforced disappearance of 113 persons.

https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20200917-yemen-rights-group-1896-forcibly-disappeared-persons-in-aden-sanaa/

(A K P)

Reactivation of Saudi-Emirati cooperation in Yemen

Deputy Chief of Staff of the Saudi Armed Forces and Acting Commander of the Saudi Joint Forces Lt-General Mutlaq Azaima met last Saturday (12/9/20) with Commander of the UAE Land Forces (UAELF) Major-General Saleh Al-Amiri in Riyadh.

They are said to have agreed to reactivate Saudi-Emirati military field cooperation in Yemen following the removal of Lt-General Prince Fahd Bin Turki Bin Abdulaziz from the command of the Saudi Joint Forces.

https://www.tacticalreport.com/reactivation-of-saudi-emirati-cooperation-in-yemen/

(* B P)

Arabs race to express solidarity with Saudi .. Humanity dividable?

The last few days saw harsh race of statements released by Arab and other countries to condemn the Houthi attacks with ballistic missiles and drones at Saudi lands.

These statements, say observers concerned with Yemeni situation, have been notably issued successively with duplicated phrases, often in the same sequence.

"This blatant resemblance suggests that all the statements were issued by one source, or copied from one document previously circulated to those countries' governments that did not bother themselves to modify," an analyst told Debriefer.

While the Saudi dominance over policies and stances of some Arab poor countries – that depend on the Kingdom's assistances – cannot be denied, this similarity could occur by chance, others said.

"What's important is that countries express solidarity with each other for mere human purposes," they added. But, when it disappears as the wrongdoer or victim differs, this solidarity voice loses its human dimension.

Yemeni activists criticized most of those countries that deplore Houthi attacks on Saudi lands while keep silent at the killing and other tragedies of Yemeni children documented by international humanitarian reports.

"It's harsh to ignore more than 7,200 child casualties in Yemen since the war outbreak, according to official figures, especially when Yemen's children have been expecting the world to save them from a war by which they are most victimized," they added.

https://debriefer.net/en/news-19897.html

(B K P)

Pembroke Research Fellow Dr Elisabeth Kendall publishes ground-breaking research on the Yemen War and Terrorism

Elisabeth commented “With so much of the region rocked by conflict and having just finished a six month consultancy with the UN, my profound hope is that these publications will help to build the understanding required to resolve the complex issues obstructing peace.”

https://www.pmb.ox.ac.uk/news/pembroke-research-fellow-dr-elisabeth-kendall-publishes-ground-breaking-research-yemen-war-and

A P)

Petition: Save Yemen from extinction!

Yemen has been in serious crisis since the Arab Spring. All the efforts to end war have been failed since neither of the parties is genuinely interested in ending it. All sides are being run by power-hungry leaders and its the civilians who are paying the price.

So to all this, we say ENOUGH IS ENOUGH! Let's bring peace back in Yemen.

https://www.change.org/p/united-nations-find-common-ground-and-end-conflict-in-yemen?recruiter=1114541400&recruited_by_id=1e3446a0-ab2a-11ea-ae9d-09ad58931abf

(* B P)

Ölkatastrophe mit Ansage vor der Küste Jemens

(…) Vier Seemeilen vor der Westküste Jemens ankert die FSO Safer. Das Schiff diente als vorgelagerter Hafen für die Verschiffung von Rohöl und ist mit einer 430 Kilometer langen Pipeline mit dem jemenitischen Ölfeld Ma’rib verbunden. 2015 wurde der schwimmende Ölspeicher von den Huthi-Rebellen gekapert und unter ihre Macht gebracht. Seither wird er nicht mehr gewartet, rostet er vor sich hin und verkommt zusehends. Nach fünf Jahren Bürgerkrieg, 20 Millionen vertriebenen und hungernden Menschen, Ernteausfällen und massiven Schäden nach flutartigem Regen droht dem Land im Süden der arabischen Halbinsel ein weiteres Unglück riesigen Ausmasses: Bereits sind beim einwandigen Tanker Lecks festgestellt worden, ein Teil des Schiffs brach ab und die Pumpen, die die giftigen Gase abtransportieren sollten, funktionieren nicht mehr. Jeden Tag kann die Katastrophe eintreten – eine Explosion, ein Auseinanderbrechen oder ganz einfach das Durchbrechen des Öls durch die Tankerwand. «Sobald Öl ausläuft, haben wir verloren, dann ist game over», schreibt die Meeresschutzorganisation Ocean Foundation. Sie hat sich bereit erklärt, als glaubwürdiger Mittler eine Vereinbarung zum Entladen der FSO Safer auszuhandeln. Bis anhin ohne Erfolg.
Krieg verhindert Lösung…
(…) Ökologisch schlimmer als bisherige Unglücke
Wie die Ocean Foundation schreibt, wären die ökologischen Folgen für das Rote Meer gravierend und grösser, als alles bisher Gesehene. Zudem hätten die Ölkatastrophen der Exxon Valdez in Alaska im Jahr 1989, der Havarie im Persischen Golf 1991 und der Explosion der Deepwater Horizon 2010 im Golf von Mexico gezeigt: Auch Jahrzehnte danach seien die Ökosysteme noch immer nicht wiederhergestellt…

https://www.infosperber.ch/Artikel/Umwelt/Olkatastrophe-mit-Ansage-vor-der-Kuste-Jemens

und

(* B P)

Supertanker rostet im Roten Meer vor sich hin

Wenn Öl aus dem Supertanker "FSO Safer" ins Wasser gelangt, droht eine Umweltkatastrophe. Und die könnte massive Auswirkungen für die Küsten des Roten Meeres haben.

Fast 50 Jahre alt, verrostet und randvoll mit Öl: Der Supertanker „FSO Safer“ dümpelt seit Jahren vor der Küste des Bürgerkriegslandes Jemen. Umweltschützer und die Vereinten Nationen befürchten nun, dass der Rumpf des verwahrlosten Schiffes bald reißt. Korallenriffen und Fischen in dem Seegebiet, das für seinen Artenreichtum bekannt ist, droht damit eine Katastrophe – doch der Krieg im ärmsten Land der arabischen Welt verhindert eine Lösung.

https://www.augsburger-allgemeine.de/panorama/Supertanker-rostet-im-Roten-Meer-vor-sich-hin-id58132081.html

(A P)

Yemen makes final call on international community to prevent tanker catastrophe

A [Hadi gov.] Yemeni official has made a final call on the international community to save Yemen from an imminent catastrophe from the decaying Safer oil tanker after a visit of UN experts has been indefinitely postponed.
Deputy Hodeidah governor, Walid Al-Qudaymi, wrote on Twitter: "Unfortunately the UN has postponed the visit of experts who were supposed to access the tanker. Hence we present this issue to you, the international community, to protect the environment and to put pressure on the Houthis in order to avert a catastrophe".
"The UN has prepared a two-phase plan to save the tanker. In the first phase, UN experts will assess the condition of the tanker and submit their recommendations. The second phase will include that the UNOP signs contracts with companies to implement recommended solutions," he said.

https://debriefer.net/en/news-19921.html

cp2a Saudische Blockade / Saudi blockade

(A K P)

Houthis blame UN for child died as waiting treatment abroad

The United Nations is responsible for the death of a Yemeni child who needed to receive healthcare outside the war-torn country, the Houthi health minister said Wednesday.
The Arab coalition's persistent closure of Sana'a international airport brings disgrace on the UN and the whole world, Dr. Taha al-Mutawakil added in remarks carried by the Houthi-run al-Masyra TV.

https://debriefer.net/en/news-19904.html

My comment: It’s much more than just one child; this was the fate of hundreds or even thousands, up to now.

(A K P)

[Sanaa gov.] Official: stoppage of telecommunications, internet services is imminent due to lack of oil

The Public Telecommunications Corporation (PTC) has strongly condemned a ban on oil ships entering the port of Hodeidah by the countries of the Saudi-led aggression coalition.

An official source at the PTC confirmed to Saba that the aggression's insistence on detaining oil ships threatens to stop the activities of the vital and service sectors that depend mainly on oil in producing energy and operating its equipment and means of transportation.

The official indicated that the basic and reserve stock of the Telecommunications Corporation of oil is about to run out which may cause the stop of the telecommunications control center and messaging stations as well as stoppage maintenance of all telecommunications equipment.

https://www.saba.ye/en/news3109118.htm

and also https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20200916-millions-in-yemen-could-lose-telecoms-access-in-houthi-areas/

cp3 Humanitäre Lage / Humanitarian situation

Siehe / Look at cp1

(* B H)

Donkeys Turn Into Prized Asset As Yemen Economy Sags

Yemenis have resorted to using donkeys to transport water and goods, as the conflict that has ravaged the economy for more than five years leaves gas-guzzling SUVs out of reach for most.

"The higher the price of fuel and costs of living, the more demand there is for donkeys," said Mohammed, as he saddled up along a garbage-strewn road in the southern port city of Aden.

In Aden, built partly on a volcanic site called Crater, the use of donkeys was long the norm for the hilly coastal district before modern means of transport.

Now, in the 21st century, children on donkeys transporting heavy loads and jerrycans of water have once again become a common sight.

"Sometimes gasoline can't be found for as long as two weeks," said Mohammed. "People are returning to simpler methods."

The 38-year-old father of nine, who looks far older than his years, turned to donkey trading two years ago after he lost his job.

He buys the animals from nearby Abyan province, where they cost less, and then puts them up for sale in Aden.

"We can make a profit of between 7,000 and 8,000 riyals a day, and it costs almost nothing to feed the donkeys," he said.

"How could I have fed my children with the cost of living so high? Even if I looked for another job, I can't find one," he said.

"Thanks to God, and then to donkeys, I have an income."

https://www.barrons.com/news/donkeys-turn-into-prized-asset-as-yemen-economy-sags-01600393803?tesla=y

and photos: https://gulfnews.com/photos/news/donkeys-turn-into-prized-asset-as-yemen-economy-sags-1.1600420243894

(B H)

Map: Yemen: Access Constraints as of 17 September 2020

https://reliefweb.int/map/yemen/yemen-access-constraints-17-september-2020

(* B H K P)

[Sanaa gov.] Health Minister: Toll of Heart Disease Patients Increased 3 Times During US-Saudi Aggression

Minister of Public Health and Population, Dr. Taha Al-Motwakel, stated that heart diseases increased 3 times during the US-Saudi aggression against Yemen which necessitates research on the association of weapons used by the coalition. This was presented during the scientific conference on heart disease in Yemen, with the participation of 750 doctors, which coincides with the occasion of 2000 days of US-Saudi aggression and siege.

The Minister of Health indicated that with the high rates of congenital heart-related anomalies, we lack nurseries and basic medical equipment for treatment. He pointed out that the UNICEF has provided only 100 nurseries during 6 years of the aggression, out of 2000 needed nurseries "We lack a ventilator for children under the first year and they are sentenced to death due to the lack of this device," he said.

In addition, the Minister of Health indicated that WHO has only transferred 29 patients within the medical air bridge, indicating that the cardiac catheterization devices in Yemen are out of their useful life and the organization has refused to provide Yemen with any catheter device.

https://english.almasirah.net/details.php?es_id=14972

(A P)

USAID Acting Administrator Barsa’s Meeting with British Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab, M.P.

In addition, the Acting Administrator and the Foreign Secretary discussed rising food-insecurity in the Republic of Yemen, which is worsening as the country faces compounding shocks. They agreed on the need for robust funding from additional donors, provided according to humanitarian principles. The U.S. Government committed nearly $195 million in additional funding in Yemen in early September 2020, and remains the largest humanitarian donor in Yemen this year.

Acting Administrator Barsa and Foreign Secretary Raab agreed to remain in close contact to coordinate response efforts in Yemen and other crisis areas.

https://translations.state.gov/2020/09/16/usaid-acting-administrator-barsas-meeting-with-british-foreign-secretary-dominic-raab-m-p/

My comment: ????

(* B H)

Yemen Food Security and Price Monitoring 1-14 August 2020

The food security situation in Yemen continues to be alarming, driven by ongoing conflict and the combination of cumulative deterioration in macroeconomic conditions, implications of COVID-19, reduction in food assistance and the fuel crisis in areas under control of Sana’a-based authorities, and recently by flash floods across the country.

The Yemeni rial continued to depreciate in areas under the control of the Internationally Recognised Government of Yemen (IRG) during August marking a new all-time trough value of YER 800/USD 1 at the end of August. The exchange rate in areas under the control of the Sana'a-based authorities was however static. The cumulative increase in food prices in 2020 remains concerning. However, monthly inflation in food prices slowed down in IRG areas. Inflation in the cost of the Minimum Food Basket has already crossed the 2018 crisis level benchmark1 by 15 percent and reached YER 6,318/person/month in IRG areas. Purchasing power is gradually eroding; 58 percent of households with poor food access reported in July that unemployment or reduced wages are key shocks for them (see figure 17).

In areas under IRG, inadequate food consumption increased by 9 percentage points in three months to 39 percent in July.

The fuel crisis continued in areas under the control of Sana’a-based authorities with a slight improvement in availability and prices of petrol and diesel, yet with 19 vessels not allowed to enter into Red Sea Ports.2 Prices of petrol and diesel in IRG areas were increased by 15 and 35 percent respectively during the month leading to mid-August.

In July, COVID-19 continued to affect households, challenging their access to medical care and work as households reported in mVAM surveys.

https://reliefweb.int/report/yemen/yemen-food-security-and-price-monitoring-1-14-august-2020

(B H)

RDP: Yemen: Monthly Situation Report (August 2020)

NUTRITION

7,253 children under two and 5,444 pregnant & lactating women received BSFP services in Sama and As Silw districts of Taizz governorate.

272 children under five and 228 pregnant & lactating women were benefitted from TSFP services in Sama and As Silw districts of Taizz governorate.

HEALTH

699 individuals were supported with reproductive health, vaccination and medical consultations in Al Abdiyah district of Marib governorate.

FOOD SECURITY & LIVELIHOOD

53,410 individuals and 6 IDPs households were provided with food baskets in As Sawadiyah, Al Malagim and Wald Rabi districts of Al Bayda governorate.

WATER, SANITATION & HYGIENE

RDP started the rehabilitation works for Al-Manhi water scheme which serves 19,000 individuals in Masrooh sub-district of Khayran Al-Muharraq district, Hajjah governorate.

https://reliefweb.int/report/yemen/yemen-monthly-situation-report-august-2020

(B H)

One of the many reasons we MUST continue to support #communitymidwives in these hard to reach areas in #Yemen to be well trained and have life saving equipment in their small clinics.

https://twitter.com/SofieAlj/status/1306271827564650496

referring to film https://twitter.com/Hooria_Mashhour/status/1306224688289505281

(* B H)

THE GAME-CHANGER: HOW ONE MSF TEAM IS SAVING YEMEN’S SMALLEST PATIENTS

MSF teams work in crisis zones where high-tech treatments often aren’t available. Paediatric nurse Alison Moebus explains how one determined team in Yemen is overcoming this challenge.

At the MSF-supported hospital in Khamer District, Yemen, however, we were implementing something that had the potential to make a huge difference to patients like Khadeja.

Humidified high-flow oxygen therapy (also known simply as “high flow”) provides more respiratory support than the traditional oxygen therapy you receive through a mask or through nasal cannulas.

It has been game-changer in the care of sick children around the world and is commonly used in many neonatal and paediatric departments, but never before in Yemen and rarely within MSF.

As the paediatrician spoke to the very anxious parents in a corner of the room, the nurses prepared our two-week-old patient in another. I could not have been prouder of this team that I’d become part of for my sixth assignment with MSF.

A month ago, the nurses had never heard of “humidified high-flow nasal cannula oxygen therapy” let alone seen a high flow device. Yet, here they were, confidently initiating the treatment, which would undoubtedly increase this beautiful baby’s chance of survival.

Hours of preparation by the team, revising basic principles and grappling with new concepts: all of it had paid off.

Implementing new standards of care is only possible with the commitment and willingness of the staff to try new things.

New interventions take perseverance and hours of work from many unsung heroes. These can be nurses, doctors, pharmacists, logisticians and translators working on the ground, as well as medical team coordinators and specialists giving their support from far-flung places all over the world.

The implementation of high flow will hopefully not only reduce how sick our smallest patients get but ultimately mean that the team here can save more lives.

The success of this project, and the difference it will make to patients like Khadeja, is only due to the commitment of the nurses and doctors who have worked together to make it happen.

https://blogs.msf.org/bloggers/alison/game-changer-how-one-msf-team-saving-yemen%E2%80%99s-smallest-patients

(* B H)

Deutscher Arzt über Corona im Jemen: "Patienten sind uns innerlich erstickt"

Der deutsche Arzt Tankred Stöbe versorgt im Bürgerkriegsland Jemen Verletzte und Kranke. Hier berichtet er, wie das Coronavirus die desolate Situation noch verschlimmert - und wie Deutschland helfen könnte.

Stöbe: Die Front verläuft nur etwa 50 Kilometer von unserem Krankenhaus entfernt. Täglich behandeln wir Opfer von Bombardierungen, fast jeder zweite Patient kommt mit Schusswunden. Diese Dichte an schweren Kriegsverletzungen - das habe ich in all den Jahren für Ärzte ohne Grenzen noch nie erlebt.

Verlässliche Zahlen über das Ausmaß der Pandemie im Jemen gibt es nicht. Aber die Pandemie hat die Lage der Menschen hier auf jeden Fall verschärft.

SPIEGEL: Die meisten Menschen sterben nach wie vor eher an Hunger, Durchfallerkrankungen oder bei Bombenangriffen. Wird das Coronavirus in Krisengebieten überbewertet?

Stöbe: Natürlich - solange Bomben fallen, kann das Virus nur eine Nebenrolle spielen. Gleichzeitig ist die Bevölkerung extrem vulnerabel. Tatsächlich hat der Jemen bei Covid-19-Erkrankungen eine der höchsten Sterblichkeitsraten der Welt. Wir sprechen von rund 30 Prozent. Das ist zehnmal mehr als in Deutschland. So etwas habe ich vorher nur bei Ebola erlebt. Trotz Sauerstoffgaben sind uns die Patienten innerlich erstickt.

https://www.spiegel.de/politik/ausland/jemen-deutscher-arzt-ueber-dramatische-lage-durch-krieg-und-corona-a-b400c01d-5e4c-4f8f-86cb-258d8a080694

(B H K)

Perils of the Sea

Now when Yemeni fishermen go out to sea, they are wading into war. And with hungry mouths to feed at home, men like Ali Mohammed make sure to say goodbye to their children each morning before heading to their boats. After all, they do not know if they are coming back.

As Yemen has struggled with war on shore, one of the world’s largest illegal fishing operations has flourished off the coast of Yemen, turning fishermen into targets.

According to one Hodeidah fisherman, they face a bitter choice: starve to death at home, or die from being bombed at sea.

https://www.csis.org/analysis/perils-sea

(B H)

WFP: Yemen Monthly Overview August 2020

https://reliefweb.int/report/yemen/yemen-monthly-overview-august-2020

(B H)

Yemen COVID-19 Joint Market Monitoring Initiative, dates of data collection: 9 August -17 August 2020

The reported number of open businesses within a 2 minute walk from KIs’ stalls increased compared to last round.

Sana’a city has recorded the highest cost of a cubic meter of water trucking compared to other assessd overnorates, thus causing an increase in WASH SMEB cost in the governorate.

Prince inflation remains the most commonly reported economic issue when obtaining fuel, WASH, food items, and water trucking services.

The food SMEB cost was found to have increased by 1.8% since July, and the WASH SMEB cost also increased by 0.8%, contributing to a 1.6% increase in the overall SMEB cost.

The average reported restocking time for food items was found to be lower than for fuel and WASH items.

Exchange rates continue to differ across the country

https://reliefweb.int/report/yemen/yemen-covid-19-joint-market-monitoring-initiative-dates-data-collection-9-august-17

(B H)

Yemen Joint Market Monitoring Initiative: July Situation Overview 2020

The number of businesses reported as open within a 2 minute walk from KIs has continued to increase.

Vendor KIs reported facing additional difficulties obtaining fuel. Almost all vendor KIs (91%) reported that diesel was difficult to obtain and 82% reported difficulties obtaining petrol.

Price inflation remains the most commonly reported economic issue when obtaining fuel items, WASH, food items, and water trucking services.

The food SMEB cost was found to have decreased by 16.3% since early July, contributing to a 13.4% decrease in the overall SMEB cost.

The average restocking time for food items was found to be lower than for fuel and WASH items.

Exchange rates continue to differ across the country

https://reliefweb.int/report/yemen/yemen-joint-market-monitoring-initiative-july-situation-overview-2020

cp4 Flüchtlinge / Refugees

(A H K)

4847 families were displaced in Marib since August 20 as Houthis continue their offensive to capture the governorate

https://twitter.com/Ndawsari/status/1306661546576183296

referring to https://twitter.com/FaresALhemyari/status/1306648663381422081

(* B H K)

Flash Update: Escalation and Response in Marib Governorate - Issue #5 | 17 September 2020

The situation in and around Marib remains volatile. Heavy fighting continues and has increased along frontlines in recent weeks, including along the governorate’s borders with Al Jawf, Sana’a and Al Bayda Governorates.

Increased hostilities on the outskirts of Majzar, Medghal, Mahalyah and Rahabah districts continue to cause new waves of displacements into Marib City and surrounding areas. Two new IDP hosting sites have been established in Marib Al Wadi to support the newly displaced – given the unpredictable security situation, additional sites are being planned planned in districts Sirwah and Al Jouba according to IOM.

The escalation in fighting has led to an influx of internally displaced persons (IDPs). Initial reports estimate more than 3,000 households (18,000 individuals)) have been displaced since the beginning of September 2020 alone.

Urgent needs as reported by partners include additional food assistance, non-food items, clothing and protection of civilians still trapped between the frontlines.

https://reliefweb.int/report/yemen/flash-update-escalation-and-response-marib-governorate-issue-5-17-september-2020

and

(* B H)

IOM Yemen - Marib Response (30 August - 12 September 2020)

Increased hostilities on the outskirts of Majzar, Medghal, Mahalyah and Rahabah districts continue to cause new waves of displacements into Marib city and surrounding areas. Partners estimate that over 2,900 households have been displaced by recent fighting since the start of September alone. Two new IDP hosting sites have been established in Marib Al Wadi to support the newly displaced – given the unpredictable security situation, additional sites are planned in districts like Sirwah and Al Jouba.

Humanitarian needs caused by flooding have subsided in recent weeks, and the Marib dam flow has returned to normal levels. The dam overflow in August caused more than 30km spread of damage in surrounding areas, and over 2,000 people continue to be at risk of flooding in the area. As part of preparedness and mid/long-term water management efforts, the IOM team is working on scenario planning and flood risk mapping, collecting data from monitoring instruments at the Marib dam that would help inform the hydraulic analyses being conducted by a team of water management specialists.

Protection issues for migrants continue to be of concern in Marib

https://reliefweb.int/report/yemen/iom-yemen-marib-response-30-august-12-september-2020

(B H)

Yemen: UNHCR Operational Update, 17 September 2020

The Government of Yemen’s (GoY) Executive Unit that coordinates IDP assistance, with partners managed the relocation of 80 displaced families who were evicted from an informal IDP hosting site in Aden. Evictions are a wide spread issue of high concern for the Camp Coordination and Camp Management (CCCM) cluster, led by UNHCR. In the south, most vulnerable displaced families who cannot offer to pay for rent or have no relatives to host them often end up settling in informal sites, in abandoned or unfinished buildings or open spaces. Humanitarian actors are not always able to negotiate with authorities or land owners to allow displaced families to temporary settle in these locations, putting them at risk of eviction.

https://reliefweb.int/report/yemen/yemen-unhcr-operational-update-17-september-2020

(* B H)

Clean Water and Displacement in Yemen’s Taizz Governorate

Three years ago, with armed conflict intensified in Jabal Habashi, Saeed made the tough decision that his family should leave their home. Initially, there was nowhere for them to go. But eventually they found safety in the Al Beerain displacement site, also in Taizz, but in a different district.

That site is supported by EU Humanitarian Aid working with the International Organization for Migration (IOM).

Saeed’s story is typical among the tragic pasts of millions of displaced people across Yemen, where lives have been changed forever by six years of conflict.

“We didn’t escape until the houses in our neighborhood started to get damaged by the fighting, so we fled for our lives with nothing. Even our farm animals, which were in the mountains feeding on the day we left, were gone,” Saeed recalled.

“We heard a few months later that our houses were completely destroyed.”

After his family arrived in Al Beerain, Saeed was forced to sell his wife’s golden earrings to buy tarpaulins to make a shelter for the large family. He even had to take on some loans

And the roughly-built shelter could not adequately protect them from the sun, rain, wind or cold.

“Our conditions are really bad. We have so many needs and humanitarian organizations cannot support us with everything. If we receive cash for food, we don’t get to buy other things that we need, and if we receive money for clothes, we can’t buy food,” added Saeed, describing the hardship they experience daily.

Apart from their financial, food and shelter concerns, Saeed’s family and 200 fellow camp residents had almost no access to safe water.

In rural areas, women and children are usually the ones responsible for collecting water, which can expose them to many risks, including of kidnapping or accidents. Sometimes, the community living near the well closest to Al Beerain—a two-hour walk away—would forbid displaced women and children from fetching water, due to its scarcity.

Fearing for their safety, Saeed used to accompany his children on their daily water tasks, watching over them for protection. Typically, this would take several hours each day. Meanwhile the competition for water worsened earlier this year between the locals and displaced people as COVID-19 broke out in Yemen and fears over the virus became widespread.

To respond quickly to urgent needs, IOM and EU Humanitarian Aid collaborated to establish seven water points across the Al Beerain site.

https://reliefweb.int/report/yemen/clean-water-and-displacement-yemen-s-taizz-governorate

cp5 Nordjemen und Huthis / Northern Yemen and Houthis

Siehe / Look at cp1

(A P)

Sadeq Abu Shawareb, a senior Houthi militant demanded in a tweet his Houthi group to unveil the whereabouts of six people - from the same family – the group had kidnapped half a year ago in Amran. Source: Multiple news websites.

https://www.alsahwa-yemen.net/en/p-42061

(A P)

Houthis say war on Yemen in context of battle with Israel

The war on Yemen came "in the context of battle with Israel," spokesman for the Houthis said Wednesday, after the country "soundly stood with the nation's issues and refused subordination" though the "aggressing countries tried to give their aggression Arab cover."
If it accepted a slight part of Israel's and America's demands, the Houthi group "would have treaded with its shoes the demands of those still assaulting Yemen," Mohamed Abdul Salam added on Twitter.

https://debriefer.net/en/news-19916.html

(A K P)

Lieutenant General Al-Ruwaishan: Liberating Marib Is Part of Liberating Every Inch of Yemen Battle

The Deputy Prime Minister of the Defense and Security Council, Lieutenant General Jalal Al-Ruwaishan, considered liberating Marib as part of the battle of liberating every inch of Yemen.

Lieutenant General Al-Ruwaishan said in an exclusive interview with Almasirah: Our responsibility is to liberate all Yemeni land and territorial waters, regardless of the extent of political and diplomatic pressures. And any raid by the aggression against Marib or elsewhere, the army and committees will respond as they have the ability to target vital and economic facilities.

He explained that the military and security forces and intelligence agencies work jointly and in constant coordination on every front and societal security to reducing crime rates.

https://english.almasirah.net/details.php?es_id=14982

(B K P)

Houthi militia.. Recruiting children outside international norms and laws

The Iranian-backed Houthi militia continues to recruit children, violating children’s rights and international laws and norms.

Large numbers of children recruited by the Houthi militia in past months have recently been captured by the army and the popular resistance in Marib, Al-Jawf, and east of Sana’a.

The army is not delayed in handing over these captured children to psychological and social rehabilitation centers.

In Yemen the Houthi rebel militia over-matched the issue of recruiting children in its wars since 2004 so far. The Houthis adopted the strategy of recruiting children in special camps, where they are subjected to intensive religious Shiite sessions which make them extremists and very obedient to their leadership and ready to fight for them happily.

Beside religious lessons, those children are subjected to combating training, to learn the art of war and the use of weapons and other matters required by the rebellions in the field.

Reports indicate that the Iran-backed Houthi rebel militia is more than other militia in using children in wars, where children represent one third of the Houthi militia fighters.

Children are distributed on the fighting fronts and sites, militia’s headquarters and security points.

http://en.26sepnews.net/2020/09/16/houthi-militia-recruiting-children-outside-international-norms-and-laws/

My remark: By the Hadi government army website.

(B K P)

Yemen Ready to Counter Israeli Military Presence on Occupied Islands: Expert

A Yemeni military expert voiced his country’s readiness to fight off the military presence of Israel on the islands of Yemen and even attack the Zionist regime’s bases in west of the Mediterranean Sea.

In an interview with Tasnim, Yemeni expert of strategic and military affairs, General Aziz Rashed, warned of the dire consequences of normalization of ties with Israel for regional countries after the UAE and Bahrain’s recent decision to establish diplomatic ties with the Zionist regime.

Israel’s purpose in normalizing relations with the Arab states is military presence on the occupied islands of Yemen, particularly Socotra, and controlling the ships moving to Bab al-Mandab Strait and the Strait of Hormuz, he added.

The general also said that the Yemeni forces are prepared to thwart the military presence of Zionists on the Yemeni islands

https://www.tasnimnews.com/en/news/2020/09/16/2350301/yemen-ready-to-counter-israeli-military-presence-on-occupied-islands-expert

(B P)

Crime Rates Spike in Yemen’s Houthi-held Areas

Yemeni territory controlled by Iran-backed Houthi militias have witnessed an unprecedented spike in crime rates over the last two weeks. Killings, kidnappings, and lootings have devastated Sanaa and other insurgent-held areas.

According to Sanaa-based sources, who spoke under the conditions of anonymity, the number of victims of the security chaos in the capital has risen by the dozens.

In Houthi-run areas, murders, thefts and robberies are taking place daily against civilians and public property.

https://english.aawsat.com/home/article/2510786/crime-rates-spike-yemen%E2%80%99s-houthi-held-areas

My comment: A Saudi propaganda report. There will be little difference where ever you go in Yemen.

(A P)

Parliament reviews aggression coalition's crimes against Yemenis over 6 years

https://www.saba.ye/en/news3109200.htm

(A P)

Sana’a, Other Provinces Commemorate Martyrdom of Imam Zaid bin Ali

People in Sana'a, and other provinces organized dozens of events, Monday, to commemorate the martyrdom of Imam Zaid bin Ali bin Al Hussein, peace be upon them.

The participants raised slogans of freedom against US politics, demanding a boycott of American and Israeli goods. They affirmed the continuation of the approach and path of Imam Zaid, peace be upon him, in fighting tyrants, and confronting the forces of arrogance and their tools.

They expressed the steadfast and principled position of our Yemeni people against the Zionist-American policy in Palestine, Yemen and the region.

https://english.almasirah.net/details.php?es_id=14949

and

(A P)

Film: Protests in Yemen to mark 2,000 days of Saudi-led attacks

Yemenis have been rallying in the capital to mark 2,000 days since the start of a Saudi-led offensive. Protesters called on the United Nations to do more to force a political settlement, and end what they describe as “Saudi-UAE death and destruction”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ju0O0X4Ky1w

(A P)

Revolution Leader: Normalization and aggression against Yemen are in the interest of America and Israel

The Revolution Leader Sayyed Abdulmalik Badr al-Din al-Houthi has affirmed that the priorities of the countries rushing to Zionist entity are in the interest of America and Israel, and they have become their soldiers.

"Today they are clearly conspiring against the Palestinian people, and their aggression against the people of Yemen has been in this context since the first day," the leader of the revolution said in his speech on Monday on the anniversary of the martyrdom of Imam Zaid bin Ali, peace be upon them.

"We have said at the outset of the aggression that Saudi Arabia and the UAE and those involved under their control are merely tools to fulfill the plans of America and Israel to target the Yemeni people," he added.

"Now things are clearer, and some don't understand that the aggressors were conspiring against Yemen and want to occupy it and enable the Americans and Israelis to come after them to take control of Yemen," he said.

https://www.saba.ye/en/news3109135.htm

and

(A P)

Sayyid al-Houthi: Saudi, UAE and Bahraini governments culprit of security chaos

Leader of the Revolution blasts normalisation attempt plans with Zionists

The Leader of the Yemeni Revolution, Sayyid Abdul-Malik al-Houthi, has said on Monday that the Saudi, Emirati and Bahraini regimes represent the security, economic, political and social imbalance that is plaguing the Arab region.

“Now things have become more and more clear. Some did not understand that the aggressors are conspiring against Yemen, want to occupy it, and that the Americans and Israelis can come behind them and control Yemen,” Sayyid Abdul-Malik al-Houthi said.

“We have said since the beginning of the aggression that Saudi Arabia, the UAE and those with them are just tools to execute the plans of the US and Israel in targeting the Yemeni people,” he added

Sayyid al-Houthi explained that after the occupation forces have taken control over southern provinces, the US set up a base at al-Rayyan airport in Hadhramaut. He pointed out that the Zionists have begun to prepare for its presence in Yemen through its tools and under their protection, in reference to the establishment of a joint Emirati-Israeli base on the island of Socotra.

In his speech, Sayyid Abdul-Malik al-Houthi launched a blistering attack on Saudi Arabia, the UAE and the League of Arab States, accusing them of “carrying the banner of hypocrisy.

https://uprising.today/sayyid-al-houthi-saudi-uae-and-bahraini-governments-culprit-of-security-chaos/

and

(A P)

KSA, UAE deprive nationals, give milk to Americans, Zionists: Houthi

Saudi Arabia, Emirates and Bahrain are blamable for wars and political, economic and social problems in the region, the Houthi leader said Monday, accusing the Arab Gulf states of serving the interests of the nation's enemies, mainly the US and Israel.

Any relation with the Israeli enemy is a crime and treason against, not only Palestine but, the Arabs and Muslims, Abdul Malik al-Houthi added, attacking the Bahraini and Emirati normalization deals with Israel.

https://debriefer.net/en/news-19868.html

and more. https://english.almasirah.net/details.php?es_id=14943

https://english.almasirah.net/details.php?es_id=14944

(A P)

Panic-stricken Houthis Mount Arrests Campaign in Sanaa against Protesters

Houthi militias have detained 30 people who took part in a protests in Yemen's Sanaa over the killing of a young man, demanding that the perpetrators be brought to justice.

The protests demanded revealing the details of the murder of the young man, who was apparently tortured by Houthi militiamen before his death.

Human rights sources based in Sanaa told Asharq Al-Awsat that the Iran-backed Houthi group, out of panic, intensified its deployment of militants across the capital's streets for the past two days.

https://english.aawsat.com/home/article/2508606/panic-stricken-houthis-mount-arrests-campaign-sanaa-against-protesters

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

Aden verbleibt in der Hand der Separatisten im Süden. Ihre medien verbreiten eine große Menge von parteiischen Berichten, die das Narrativ der Separatisten überihren Hauptgegner, die Islah Partei (genannt "Muslim-Bruderschaft"), über die Kämpfe in Abyan und Shabwa, ihre Herrschaft in Aden und den von ihnen kontrollierten Gebieten verbreiten.

Aden remains in the hands of southern separatists. Their media are spreading a bulk of biased reports, showing their narrative of their foes from Islah Party (labeled “Muslim Brotherhood”), the fighting at Abyan and Shabwa, their self-rule at Aden and the areas under their control.

(* A P)

Continuation of Chaos, Assassinations in Aden

Aden city witnessed the most violent and bloody attacks, most notably in Al-Tawahi district, during the past 24 hours, where gunmen stormed a house executing a man, woman and less than 5-years-old child.

In Mansoura district, two people were killed and 3 others were injured in a bomb attack that targeted a wedding party.

This comes after series of bombings in Khormaksar district, where “unknown” attackers have attacked Aden airport and Sapsun Energy station, the largest electricity generator in Aden, with grenades.

Others have detonated the car of an activist in Sheikh Othman called, Mustafa Al-Mansouri, after planting an explosive device.

These developments come at a time when protests are escalated in the city to condemn the almost total blackout of the electricity that reached 18 hours a day.

https://english.almasirah.net/details.php?es_id=14993

(* A K P)

Islah leader calls Saudis 'mice' and says he will liberate Yemen's Mocha from UAE

In leaked video, head of party's military wing in Taiz also claims Turkey will provide weapons for the offensive

A leaked video has thrown into sharp relief the divisions between Yemen's Islah and Saudi Arabia, even if the leadership of the Muslim Brotherhood-affiliated party has yet to make a formal announcement of the split.

In the video, leaked on 1 August, the leader of Islah's military wing in Taiz province mocks the Saudis as "mice" and says that Islah is planning to launch attacks against UAE-backed force in Mocha.

Coupled with recent statements by other Islah leaders, it reflects the reality that the party's one-time alliance with Riyadh is over, and that Saudi Arabia is now considered an enemy whose actions have failed to lead Yemen to peace.

Discussing the planned attack in the video, Abdu Farhan Salem says: “Mocha is ours. They said ‘Turkey will provide us with weapons and those [Saudi-led coalition forces] will become mice’.”

Mocha, a port city on the Red Sea coast located in Taiz province, is currently under the control of Tareq Saleh, a nephew of the late president Ali Abdullah Saleh, who is seen by many as responsible for hundreds of deaths in Taiz.

https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/islah-leader-yemen-saudi-arabia-mice-liberate-mocha-uae

(A T)

Local residents in #Aden found 3 bodies from one family shot in their home in Al-Tawahi district in Aden city. A local source said the victims are a man called Hasan, his wife, and their daughter. Al-Tawahi police have not yet uncovered the motives of the crime.

https://twitter.com/BelqeesRights/status/1306660958828404740

and

(A P)

The Press Secretary of the Yemeni Council of Ministers deplored the Southern Transitional Council militia governing Aden for failing to protect a family that was slain by a militant in their own house in the city on Wednesday.Ridiculing the ambitions of the STC separatists to build an independent southern Yemen state, he inquired, in a tweet, “How those who failed to protect a family can build a state?”

https://www.alsahwa-yemen.net/en/p-42060

(A T)

From the slain Abdulhabib family, picture of the young daughter goes viral

A gunman reportedly stormed a house in Arrodha neighborhood in Al-Tawahi town of Aden and shot dead Abdulhabib Naser, his wife Samah Abduh Hassan and the young girl Haneen )pictured).

https://www.alsahwa-yemen.net/en/p-42060

(* A P)

STC calls on UNHRC to prevent suffering of Southerners

The Southern Transitional Council (STC) called on the Untied Nations Human Rights Council to pay special attention to the rights and civil liberties in the South.
The STC said in a press release on the 45th session of UN Human Rights Council that "rights and freedoms have long been violated in the South, exposing the citizens to serious suffering of which they have been and still are victims, and winch have had an impact on their lives, safety and security."
The STC explained the reasons behind its decision to suspend the participation in the Riyadh Agreement talks, affirming that it was "in response to the Yemeni government's stalling and delaying particularly with regard to its call for action to halt the deterioration of people's lives and the causes of their suffering due to the collapse of basic services, including health and education services, the supply of electricity and water and the loss of value of the local currency accompanied by an increase in the prices of necessary goods and services and the delay of several months in the payment of pensions for retirees and salaries for employees and the failure to regularize their financial situation, in addition to neglecting to take care of the families of martyrs and the wounded."
The STC also made it clear that "the population's safety and security are endangered by the continuous and increasing military escalation of Yemeni government forces in Abyan governorate and by the hundreds of dead and wounded since the announcement of the ceasefire last June. The latest of these violations was the crackdown by Yemeni authority forces on popular protests in the city of Seiyun, Hadramout governorate, and the city of Al-Musainaah, Shabwah governorate where live ammunition was fired at demonstrators on 03 September and sixty-six residents of Shabwah governorate were arrested."
"we believe that the best solution to restore the rights and freedoms of the people of the South is to grant them the right to restore their independent state, as part of a comprehensive political solution to the Yemeni crisis through the process winch involves all actors on the ground and winch is led by the United Nations, represented by the Special Envoy of the Secretary-General Mr. Martin Griffiths." the STC said.

http://en.adenpress.news/news/26105

(A K P)

High-ranking Islah commanders killed by UAE-backed militias

The UAE-backed Southern Transitional Council (STC) militias stated that it’s forces have killed four military leaders of the Islah Party in Abyan province, southern Yemen, on Wednesday.

Spokesman for the STC militias in Abyan front, Mohammed al-Naqeeb, confirmed in a tweet that four leaders of the Islah militants units were killed, including Abd Rabbo bin Ma’eili, the most prominent military commander under General Ali Mohsen al-Ahmar in the Shuqrah front.

https://uprising.today/high-ranking-islah-commanders-killed-by-uae-backed-militias/

(A P)

Islah leader shot dead in south Yemen

A leader of the Islah Party has been shot dead in Yemen's southern province of Dhale.

Ahmed bin Ahmed Ali, head of the party's provincial bureau, was assassinated in mysterious circumstances

https://debriefer.net/en/news-19895.html

and also

(A P T)

Gunman assassinates leader of Yemen’s Al-Islah party

https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20200917-gunman-assassinates-leader-of-yemens-al-islah-party/

(A P)

Emirati-backed forces arrest Salfist sheikh for criticizing normalization

Emirati-backed forces have arrested a Salfist religious leader in Aden city for criticizing the UAE normalization with Israel, Yemeni sources said Wednesday.

A force from the UAE-backed Southern Transitional Council's (STC's) support brigades arrested Yasser al-Azzani last Friday

https://debriefer.net/en/news-19901.html

(A K P)

Muslim Brotherhood suffers more losses in Abyan

A number of fighters of the Islah party's militias, the Yemeni arm of Muslim Brotherhood organization within Yemen's legitimacy, were killed and injured in a fresh armed clashes erupted on Tuesday on the fronts of Abyan with the southern armed forces.

Medical sources at Lawder hospital told the press on condition of anonymity that at least nine killed and injured fighters had been taken to hospital by ambulance and military vehicles coming from the frontlines.

http://en.adenpress.news/news/26095

(A K P)

New battles between Islah militias and UAE-backed forces break out in Taiz

UAE-backed gunmen in Taiz have on Wednesday launched a series of attacks on the positions of Islah forces in the southwestern countryside of the province.

This coincides with the continuation of the Islah militias’ moves to expand its area to areas under the control of UAE-backed factions.

Local sources said that unknown assailants attacked the positions of the 17th infantry Brigade in Jabal Habashi district and that clashes between the two sides continued for several hours, resulting in several deaths and injuries

https://uprising.today/new-battles-between-islah-militias-and-uae-backed-forces-break-out-in-taiz/

(* B P)

UAE Begins Implementation of Largest Displacement of Socotra Residents

Media sources reported that the Emirati occupation forces carried out the largest displacement of residents of Socotra Island, and transferred them to one of the areas in Hadramout Governorate.

Editor-in-chief of Hunaaden website, Anis Mansour, confirmed in a tweet on Twitter that the UAE is carrying out a census operation for Socotra residents, with the aim of transferring them to temporary camps and building a residential city for them in Qusayr district in Hadramout governorate.

He explained that the UAE seeks to make the island of Socotra a joint military base with Israel, and they want to keep it a part of the island as a nature reserve under the supervision of the UAE Ministry of Tourism.

https://english.almasirah.net/details.php?es_id=14941

(A P)

Yemen PM says ‘great progress’ in Riyadh Agreement implementation process

Yemen’s prime minister-designate said that the country’s parties had achieved great progress toward the full implementation of the Riyadh Agreement, forming a new government and ending hostilities in southern provinces, the official Saba news agency reported.

Prime Minister-designate Maeen Abdulmalik Saeed told a group of pro-government resistance fighters from southern provinces that his consultations on forming a new government under the agreement had reached advanced stages with great support from Saudi Arabia.

https://www.arabnews.com/node/1735181/business-economy

and also Premier: Progress made on formation of new government in Yemen

Progress has been made on the formation of a new government of technocrats coinciding with the implementation of the military and security part of the Riyadh agreement, prime minister in caretaker government, Maeen Abdulmalik, has said.

"The priorities of the new government are now clear. The government will function with support from President Abdrabbuh Mansur Hadi and all political and social partners," he said at a meeting with the government on Monday.

https://debriefer.net/en/news-19871.html

My comment: I do not believe.

Fortsetzung / Sequel: cp7 – cp19

https://www.freitag.de/autoren/dklose/jemenkrieg-mosaik-680b-yemen-war-mosaic-680b

Vorige / Previous:

https://www.freitag.de/autoren/dklose/jemenkrieg-mosaik-679-yemen-war-mosaic-679

Jemenkrieg-Mosaik 1-679 / Yemen War Mosaic 1-679:

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

Der saudische Luftkrieg im Bild / Saudi aerial war images:

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

http://poorworld.net/YemenWar.htm

http://yemenwarcrimes.blogspot.de/

http://www.yemenwar.info/

Liste aller Luftangriffe / and list of all air raids:

http://yemendataproject.org/data/

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

https://yemen.bellingcat.com/

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

https://yemeniarchive.org/en

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

Dietrich Klose

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

Dietrich Klose

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