Jemenkrieg-Mosaik 686b- Yemen War Mosaic 686b

Yemen Press Reader 686b: 16. Oktober 2020: Fortsetzung von Jemenkrieg-Mosaik 686, cp7 - cp19 / October 16, 2020: Sequel to Yemen War Mosaic 686, cp7 - cp19

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Eingebetteter Medieninhalt

Eingebetteter Medieninhalt

Dies ist die Fortsetzung von Jemenkrieg-Mosaik 686, Teil 1 / This is the sequel of Yemen War Mosaic 686, part 1:

https://www.freitag.de/autoren/dklose/jemenkrieg-mosaik-686-yemen-war-mosaic-686

Schwerpunkte / Key aspects

Kursiv: Siehe Teil 1 / In Italics: Look in part 1

Klassifizierung / Classification

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

cp1 Am wichtigsten / Most important

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

cp1b Am wichtigsten: Großer Gefangenenaustausch / Most important: Great prisoner swap

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

cp8a Jamal Khashoggi

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

cp12a Katar-Krise / Qatar crisis

cp12b Sudan

cp13a Waffenhandel / Arms Trade

cp13b Kulturerbe / Cultural heritage

cp13c Wirtschaft / Economy

cp14 Terrorismus / Terrorism

cp15 Propaganda

cp16 Saudische Luftangriffe / Saudi air raids

cp17 Kriegsereignisse / Theater of War

cp18 Kampf um Hodeidah / Hodeidah battle

cp19 Sonstiges / Other

Klassifizierung / Classification

***

**

*

(Kein Stern / No star)

? = Keine Einschatzung / No rating

A = Aktuell / Current news

B = Hintergrund / Background

C = Chronik / Chronicle

D = Details

E = Wirtschaft / Economy

H = Humanitäre Fragen / Humanitarian questions

K = Krieg / War

P = Politik / Politics

pH = Pro-Houthi

pS = Pro-Saudi

T = Terrorismus / Terrorism

cp7 UNO und Friedensgespräche / UN and peace talks

Siehe / Look at cp1b

(* A P)

Welcoming Mass Prisoner Swap in Yemen as ‘Airlift of Hope’, Speakers Urge Government, Houthi Rebels to Negotiate Durable Peace, during Security Council Briefing

Security Council 8770th Meeting (AM)

Welcoming today’s large‑scale prisoner release in Yemen as “an airlift of hope” for ending the suffering caused by the long conflict in the country, speakers in the Security Council today called on the Government and Houthi rebels to build on that hope to stop the fighting and negotiate a lasting solution to the conflict.

“An end to the shooting war and opening the gates of peace” was the ultimate goal called for by Martin Griffiths, Special Envoy for Yemen, in the monthly briefing on the situation. Also briefing today was Mark Lowcock, Under‑Secretary‑General for Humanitarian Affairs and Humanitarian Coordinator.

Mr. Griffiths, emphasizing the rarity of good news from Yemen, reported that over 1,000 prisoners were being released as agreed upon during September talks in Switzerland. He said that today’s events showed that dialogue between the parties can indeed pave the road to peace, urging them to agree on the Joint Declaration he was currently facilitating through shuttle diplomacy. He warned that peace becomes harder to achieve the longer a conflict lasts.

Pointing to a “tense but calm” situation in Ma’rib, where fighting had decreased recently and to high casualties from fighting in the south of Hudaydah, he called on the parties to immediately end clashes and shore up the Hudaydah Agreement, to allow access to a damaged tanker that threatened dangerous leaks and to facilitate humanitarian aid. Regretting that Yemenis risk their lives merely to continue their children’s education, he pled for stepped‑up action to resolve the situation peacefully.

In his briefing, Mr. Lowcock said, “Yemen needs a nationwide ceasefire – one that covers Ma’rib, Hudaydah and everywhere else”, noting that there are 47 active frontlines of fighting across Yemen – the most ever recorded. Nearly 150,000 people had fled the fighting this year and, despite Yemen’s hunger crisis, farms are attacked with alarming regularity, he reported.

All parties must take constant care to spare civilians and civilian objects throughout military operations and violators must be held to account, he said, welcoming the recent mandate renewal of the Group of Eminent Experts on Yemen to document violations and promote greater accountability. He reiterated calls to open all transportation infrastructure for aid, to end harassment of humanitarian workers and to ease bureaucratic obstacles to assistance.

Threats of a worsened hunger crisis have been exacerbated by high fuel prices and a plummeting exchange rate for Yemen’s currency, he said, calling for assistance in easing both those factors. In addition, he noted that only 42 per cent of the Yemen Humanitarian Response Plan is funded. “The window to prevent famine is closing,” he warned, calling upon donors to honour unfulfilled pledges.

Following those briefings, Council members expressed strong support to the Special Envoy and the Humanitarian Coordinator. Welcoming the prisoner release agreement, speakers affirmed that it represents a positive dynamic of which the parties must take advantage in order to end the devastating conflict, starting with an agreement on the Joint Declaration and implementation of the Hudaydah Agreement, as well as ceasefires in all conflict zones.

Most speakers called for significant participation of women in the peace process and access to the disabled tanker. Underlining the dire humanitarian situation, they also called for unimpeded humanitarian access, support to alleviate high oil and food prices and greater contributions from humanitarian donors.

The representative of the United Kingdom called on Iran to cease military support to the Houthis and to instead help facilitate peace. Echoing that call, his counterpart from the United States said that such support is well documented and includes supplies of arms, defying Security Council sanctions, and must stop.

The speaker for the Russian Federation, Council President for October, speaking in her national capacity, said the situation in Yemen has a direct bearing on the wider Middle East region, reiterating Moscow’s call for the establishment of a collective security architecture for the Persian Gulf.

South Africa’s delegate called on all parties to the conflict to agree to a unified set of measures to counter the spread of COVID‑19, and to agree on confidence‑building steps such as the payment of civil servants, reopening of Sana’a airport and lifting of commercial import restrictions.

The speaker for Yemen said more international efforts are needed to end the Houthis’ Iranian‑led coup. His Government, he emphasized, continues to push forward efforts to end the devastating war, in line with the outcome of its national dialogue and relevant international agreements such as those of the Gulf Cooperation Council and Security Council resolution 2216 (2015). The Government has made a series of important compromises to that end, he added, but the Houthis “always come up with new conditions and preconditions” to the Government’s extended hand.

Reporting that Houthi fighters recently shelled an industrial complex in Hudaydah, with clear humanitarian repercussions, he called for the relocation of the United Nations Mission to Support the Hudaydah Agreement (UNMHA) to an area outside Houthi control. Responding to the statements that called on his Government as well as the Houthis to lift any impediments to humanitarian aid, he stressed his Government spares no effort to support its people without discrimination, even in areas controlled by Houthi militias.

Also speaking today were the representatives of Indonesia, China, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, France, Dominican Republic, Viet Nam, Germany, Niger, Tunisia, Estonia and Belgium.

https://www.un.org/press/en/2020/sc14328.doc.htm

(* A P)

Briefing to United Nations Security Council by the Special Envoy for Yemen – Mr. Martin Griffiths, 15 October 2020

The parties have started releasing prisoners and detainees, after the agreement they reached on the 27th of September in Switzerland. And this process will lead to the release of over a thousand individuals, all returning to their families. This will bring immense relief and comfort to all those families who waited so long to be reunited as well as to other families, close relations, friends and members of their communities. This is an extraordinary number to be released during the conduct of hostilities. And indeed, I understand that it is the largest such operation of its kind in the history of the conflict in Yemen.

As you might imagine, I am personally very grateful to the International Committee of the Red Cross and their President Peter Maurer for working with us to reach this agreement, and in addition for so diligently and expeditiously working on the implementation of the agreement itself a densely complicated task.

More importantly perhaps, I commend the parties and we know that their respective leaderships stepped up to the plate and made the commitments necessarily to send their delegations to Switzerland for the talks and during the period of the negotiation to negotiate constructively, successfully, at length day and night to reach the agreement of these one thousand plus individuals.

Of course, Mr. President, this prisoners’ agreement does not include many thousands more of Yemenis detained during the course of this conflict. And it is therefore, our obligation and the obligation of the parties to convene very soon to discuss further releases, in line with the commitment that they made in Stockholm in December 2018 to release all conflict-related prisoners and detainees.

My office continues to negotiate the agreement between the parties on a Joint Declaration. Both parties remain engaged in those negotiations, but they have yet to agree a final text. And I’d like to say that I am neither surprised nor indeed frankly discouraged by this. We are in fact asking a lot from the parties. I have just returned from a visit to Riyadh myself and had very useful and extensive meetings with the Government of Yemen of course and President Hadi as well as the leadership of the Arab Coalition. Now I am not surprised. I’m not discouraged. We are asking a lot. The Joint Declaration is an ambitious set of agreements, as President Hadi pointed out to me, which covers as you know, a nation-wide ceasefire, economic and humanitarian measures, and the resumption of the political process, perhaps the most important of the three. So, I do understand the reasons why the parties take their time to cross that crucial line. Negotiations have been conducted, after all, in the midst of a global pandemic we started in March, as you will remember Mr. President, as a result of the Secretary-General’s call for a global ceasefire and then his subsequent call for ceasefire in Yemen. Amidst to the global pandemic and lockdown and while the war raged perhaps even more voraciously across the battlefields of Yemen. The negotiations have been conducted solely through shuttle diplomacy. The meetings have been mostly virtual due to of course COVID-19 restrictions. And the parties have not yet met face-to-face to discuss the Joint Declaration. And we know now that virtual means may take us a long way, but they still do not replace the necessity of parties negotiating with each other to understand the commitments they will make to each other. This is what made the prisoner meeting of such importance and I hope such a precedent.

Mr. President, the primary goal of this Joint Declaration is to end, what I call, the shooting war and to open the gateway to peace. Resuming this process, as I have just said, is an imperative and frankly an obligation to the people of Yemen.

https://osesgy.unmissions.org/briefing-united-nations-security-council-special-envoy-yemen-%E2%80%93-mr-martin-griffiths-3

and main points:

(* A P)

Griffiths to #UNSC: "We'll soon convene the parties to discuss more releases, in line with the commitment made in #Stockholm. I reiterate my call to the parties to unconditionally&immediately release all arbitrarily detained civilians, including journalists&political prisoners"

"Negotiations over the draft of a #JointDeclaration continue. Parties remain engaged but have not yet agreed on a text. I cannot stress enough the need for the parties to act with urgency. As time goes on, resolution becomes more difficult."

"The military situation in Marib remains volatile. I reiterate my call for the attack to cease completely & immediately. Significant escalation in #Hudaydah. Following calls to stop the fighting from @UN_Hudaydah & myself the situation seems tense but calm"

https://twitter.com/OSE_Yemen/status/1316747948429119488

and also https://twitter.com/OSE_Yemen/status/1316676206134210562

and

(* A P)

Film: Yemen: More than 1000 Detainees Going Home - Press Conference (15 October 2020)

Press conference by Mr. Martin Griffiths, UN Special Envoy for Yemen, on the situation in the Middle East - Yemen.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NHt0RWQVTZg

(* B H P)

Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator, Mark Lowcock - Briefing to the Security Council on the humanitarian situation in Yemen, 15 October 2020

I will brief you again today on five priority issues that, when they were acted on two years ago, successfully prevented famine: protection of civilians, humanitarian access, funding the relief operation, supporting the economy, and progress towards peace.

First, protection of civilians.

Since we last briefed you, we have seen a further escalation of conflict. There are now 47 active front lines across Yemen – the most ever recorded. Over several recent weeks, the heaviest clashes have occurred in Hudaydah, Marib and Al Jawf. And in September, civilian casualties reached the highest levels recorded this year. As Martin alluded to, in recent days, hostilities have subsided a little bit, but it is not enough.

Around 1 million people who are displaced are sheltering in and around Marib city. A major confrontation there, as we have said before, would be disastrous. Escalating violence in Hudaydah is also very worrying. Hudaydah port, of course, remains the lifeline for northern Yemen. Anything jeopardizing its smooth and continuous functioning would put the lives of millions of people at risk.

Violence also continues to force people from their homes. Nearly 150,000 people have fled this year, most of them in Marib. The International Organization for Migration estimates that 80 per cent of people displaced in the last two months have had to move into already overcrowded shelters.

And civilian infrastructure, which is critical, is still coming under attack.

So I repeat: Yemen needs a nationwide ceasefire – one that covers Marib, Hudaydah and everywhere else. And that’s been our message for many months.

All parties must take constant care to spare civilians and civilian objects throughout military operations. There should be accountability for violations. We welcome the recent mandate renewal of the Group of Eminent Experts, which was established by the Human Rights Council to document violations and promote greater accountability.

Mr. President, the second point is unimpeded humanitarian access.

In the south, front-line humanitarian staff continue to face challenges due to insecurity, including harassment by armed groups. Discussions with the Government of Yemen to streamline bureaucratic processes to approve aid projects are still continuing, as they have done for the last six months. We hope a resolution can be expedited.
In the north, agencies are grappling with more severe access challenges, mainly the result of restrictions imposed by the Ansar Allah authorities.

Mr. President, the third point is funding for the humanitarian operation.

Since my last briefing, funding for the Yemen Humanitarian Response Plan has increased from 30 per cent to 42 per cent.

That is obviously to be welcomed.

But this time last year, the response plan was 65 per cent funded. Funding shortages still mean that more key programmes are at risk of shutting down.

Just last week, the Food and Agriculture Organization was forced to close a livestock vaccination programme that was serving 3 million rural families.

Aid agencies are now reaching only about 9 million people a month in Yemen – that’s down from more than 13 million at the start of the year. What is to be the fate of the 4 million we no longer have the money to help?

Mr. President, the fourth point is Yemen’s economy, which remains a key determinant in the risk of famine.

Commercial food imports have remained largely stable in recent months, with more than 380,000 metric tons entering Hudaydah and Saleef in September. But the cost of food and other basic goods means they are out of reach for millions of families.

Fuel shortages also persist in the north. They are driving up the price of fuel, which in turn is exacerbating humanitarian needs.

Only 20,000 metric tons of commercial fuel entered Hudaydah in September – that’s the thirdlowest figure ever recorded, and 76 per cent less than in August. Currently, 20 commercial fuel ships are waiting to enter the port and discharge the equivalent of three months of imports.

The Government is blocking their entry due to an ongoing dispute with the Ansar Allah authorities over the management of import revenues.

Mr. President, my final point is progress towards peace.

https://reliefweb.int/report/yemen/under-secretary-general-humanitarian-affairs-and-emergency-relief-coordinator-mark-32

(* A P)

Houthis: We still keep Saudi captives as pressure for next negotiations

Houthis still keep Saudi captives as pressure for any next negotiations, spokesman for the Iranian-backed group said Thursday.
The 15 prisoners included in the swap's first stage are put a part of Saudis detained in Houthi jails, Mohamed Abdul Salam added, noting that the presence of these captives "serves as a strength".
The swap included the release of Saudis and 4 Sudanese to encourage the other party, he said, after his group "made major concessions in this regard.
"This prisoner swap comes in the course of long-patience. Moreover, supporting the military aspect had key role in this issue."
According to the Houthi official, this is not a political, but humanitarian deal, that would benefit everyone, though he hoped it would positively reflect on political issues.

https://debriefer.net/en/news-20504.html

(* A P)

Huthi-Rebellen lassen US-Geiseln frei

Zwei im Jemen von Huthi verschleppte US-Bürger sind offenbar im Zuge eines Austauschs freigekommen. Im Gegenzug sollen mehr als 240 Huthi-Rebellen aus dem Oman in den Jemen zurückkehren.

Nach Angaben des Weißen Hauses wurden neben den beiden Amerikanern auch die sterblichen Überreste eines dritten US-Bürgers übergeben. Er habe die Geiselhaft nicht überlebt, sagte der nationale Sicherheitsberater der USA, Robert O'Brien.

Über die beiden freigelassenen US-Geiseln war bislang wenig bekannt. Laut Medienberichten handelt es sich um eine Entwicklungshelferin und einen Geschäftsmann. Ein Mitarbeiter von Präsident Donald Trump, der nach eigener Aussage an der Vereinbarung zur Freilassung der Amerikaner beteiligt war, sagte dem Wall Street Journal, die weibliche Geisel sei etwa drei Jahre lang von den Huthis und der männliche Gefangene etwa ein Jahr lang festgehalten worden

Die omanischen Staatsmedien und ein Sprecher der Huthi-Rebellen teilten mit, dass im Gegenzug mehr als 240 Rebellen aus dem Oman in den Jemen zurückkehren dürften. Sie seien mit zwei omanischen Flugzeugen in die jemenitische Hauptstadt Sanaa geflogen worden, erklärte Huthi-Sprecher Mohammed Abdel Salam. Die Huthi-Anhänger waren vor zwei Jahren zur medizinischen Behandlung in den Oman gebracht worden, hatten dann aber nicht in den Jemen zurückkehren können.

Die US-Regierung vermied es, offiziell von einem Gefangenenaustausch zu sprechen. O'Brien dankte aber Saudi-Arabien und dem Oman für ihre Bemühungen, die US-Geiseln freizubekommen.

https://www.dw.com/de/huthi-rebellen-lassen-us-geiseln-frei/a-55279714?maca=de-rss-de-region-nahost-3328-rdf

und Kurzmeldung: https://www.deutschlandfunk.de/jemen-zwei-us-geiseln-kommen-frei.1939.de.html?drn:news_id=1183533

(* A P)

Two U.S. nationals released by Houthi rebels in possible prisoner swap

Two U.S. nationals held by Houthi rebels in Yemen have been released, Omani state media said on Wednesday, in what may have been part of a prisoner swap, with Oman sending flights to Sanaa to return 250 Yemenis from the Gulf state and abroad.

“Under the directions of Sultan Haitham bin Tariq, the relevant authorities in the Sultanate contacted authorities in Sanaa which agreed to release the Americans and to transfer them to the Sultanate before heading home,” Oman state TV said.

The United States welcomed the release of two U.S. citizens, Sandra Loli and Mikael Gidada, from Houthi custody and said the remains of Bilal Fateen would also be repatriated, according to a statement by U.S. National Security Advisor Robert O’Brien.

Aid worker Loli had been held captive for three years and businessman Gidada one year.

Oman sent two flights to Sanaa to carried back 250 Yemenis who had been receiving treatment in the Gulf state and abroad, the Oman report said.

O’Brien thanked Oman’s Sultan Haitham bin Tariq al-Said as well as Saudi Arabia’s King Salman for their help in securing the release of the two citizens.

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-yemen-security/two-u-s-nationals-released-by-houthi-rebels-in-possible-prisoner-swap-idUSKBN270097

and

(* A P)

Two Americans Held Hostage by Iran-Backed Forces in Yemen Freed in Trade

U.S. backs exchange, including the remains of a third American, for Houthi fighters in deal that Saudis hope will jump start peace talks in Yemen’s civil war

Two Americans held hostage by Iran-backed Houthi militants in Yemen were freed on Wednesday as part of a U.S.-backed trade that returned more than 200 of the group’s loyalists to the fractured Middle East country, according to U.S. and Saudi officials.

A Royal Oman Air Force plane carrying the two Americans and the remains of a third flew out of Yemen’s Houthi-controlled capital of Sana’a, hours after the jet and a companion flight brought hundreds of militants back to the country following years stuck in Oman.

The deal secured freedom for Sandra Loli, an American humanitarian worker who was held hostage by the Houthis for about three years, and Mikael Gidada, a U.S. businessman who was held for about a year, said Kash Patel, a deputy assistant to President Trump who worked on the deal.

The pact also included the return of the remains of Bilal Fateen, a third American who had been held by the Houthis. U.S. officials provided only limited information on the three Americans, but did say that they had been working urgently to secure the deal because Ms. Loli’s health was in decline. The deal also included delivery of medical aid for Yemen.

Saudi officials said they reluctantly backed the deal, which they said would permit dozens of Houthi militants trained on advanced drones and missiles to return to the battle zone. Mr. Patel said the U.S. worked to ensure that Houthis returning to Yemen didn’t pose a major risk.

Houthi officials weren’t immediately available for comment.

https://www.wsj.com/articles/two-americans-held-hostage-by-iran-backed-forces-in-yemen-freed-in-trade-11602687328

and also https://thehill.com/policy/defense/521024-two-americans-held-by-yemeni-rebels-freed

https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/americans-freed-militant-group-yemen-returning-us/story?id=73612547

https://www.syracuse.com/news/2020/10/skaneateles-woman-freed-after-16-months-as-hostage-in-yemen-following-us-brokered-deal.html

and

(* A P)

283 of war wounded return to Sanaa after receiving treatment abroad

About 283 of Yemeni wounded of the aggression war arrived on Wednesday at Sanaa International Airport coming from the Sultanate of Oman, after receiving the necessary treatment abroad.

Member of the Supreme Political Council, Mohammed Ali Al-Houthi, who was in forefront of those received the returnees at Sanaa Airport, welcomed the return of the wounded to the homeland after receiving treatment.

https://www.saba.ye/en/news3112344.htm

and also https://english.almasirah.net/details.php?es_id=15336

Film: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xEqaKt-isRU

(? B P)

Audio: Episode 15: Baraa Shiban on the Peace Building in Yemen

In this episode, we had the pleasure of talking to Mr. Baraa Shiban. Mr. Shiban is a caseworker at the NGO Reprieve, a vocal human rights activist and the first Yemeni to be nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize. Mr. Shiban was the youth representative at Yemen's National Dialogue in 2014 and has served as an advisor to the Yemeni embassy in London. The conversation examines the obstacles to the peace building process in Yemen and looks at steps that need to be taken in order for a transition out of the crisis.

https://www.fairobserver.com/podcasts/ishaan-kapoor-matter-file-baraa-shiban-yemen-war-arab-spring-houthis-ali-abdullah-saleh-79181/ = https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly9mZWVkLnBvZGJlYW4uY29tL21hdHRlcmZpbGUvZmVlZC54bWw/episode/bWF0dGVyZmlsZS5wb2RiZWFuLmNvbS8yZjYwOTVkOC05OWU0LTM0MzYtYjUyMi0zOTg5ZjVmYzc4ZjI

My comment: Shiban is a fierce anti-Houthi propagandist, this must be kept in mind.

(A P)

UNHCR in Yemen Appreciates Saudi Arabia's Efforts towards Displaced Yemeni People

The Representative of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) in Yemen Jean-Nicolas Beuze expressed his thanks and appreciation to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, represented by King Salman Humanitarian Aid and Relief Center (KSrelief), for the generous support for refugees and internally displaced people in Yemen and abroad.

https://www.spa.gov.sa/viewfullstory.php?lang=en&newsid=2144590

My comment: First bomb and displace them, then feed them dates. – Praising blood money is disgusting.

(A P)

Wegen Kriegsverbrechen - Saudi-Arabien schafft Einzug in UN-Menschenrechtsrat nicht

Saudi-Arabien hat am Dienstag nur 90 von 193 möglichen Stimmen erhalten, um dem UN-Menschenrechtsrat beitreten zu können.

Riads gescheiterter Versuch, dem Rat beizutreten, kam, nachdem die Menschenrechtsorganisation Human Rights Watch (HRW) am Donnerstag letzter Woche die Staats- und Regierungschefs der Welt aufgefordert hatte, gegen diese Mitgliedschaft zu stimmen.

https://parstoday.com/de/news/middle_east-i54053-wegen_kriegsverbrechen_saudi_arabien_schafft_einzug_in_un_menschenrechtsrat_nicht

und

(A P)

Saudi-Arabien schafft Einzug in UN-Menschenrechtsrat nicht

Saudi-Arabien zieht für die kommenden drei Jahre nicht in den Menschenrechtsrat der Vereinten Nationen ein: Als einziger Bewerberstaat fiel der Golfstaat bei der Wahl der Mitglieder für das UN-Gremium am Dienstag (Ortszeit) durch. Wiedergewählt wurden dagegen unter anderem China, Kuba und Russland.

Menschenrechtsorganisationen begrüßten die gescheiterte Kandidatur Riads. "Das Königreich hat geerntet, was es angesichts seiner ernsthaften Verstöße gegen Menschenrechte sowie seiner Kriegsverbrechen in anderen Staaten verdient", erklärte der stellvertretende Direktor von Human Rights Watch (HRW), Bruno Stagno.

https://www.arte.tv/de/afp/neuigkeiten/saudi-arabien-schafft-einzug-un-menschenrechtsrat-nicht

(A P)

China, Russia elected to U.N. rights council; Saudi Arabia fails

China and Russia were elected to the United Nations Human Rights Council on Tuesday, but support for Beijing dropped by more than 20 percent compared with a 2016 vote and Saudi Arabia failed in its bid to win a seat on the Geneva-based body.

Saudi Arabia received 152 votes when it was last elected in 2016 to be a council member from 2017 to 2019, but on Tuesday only 90 states voted for Riyadh - a 40 percent drop.

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-un-rights/china-russia-elected-to-u-n-rights-council-saudi-arabia-fails-idUSKBN26Y2YE

and also https://www.mintpressnews.com/china-russia-elected-un-human-rights-council-saudi-arabia-rejected/271971/

https://crescent.icit-digital.org/articles/saudi-bid-for-seat-at-un-human-rights-council-rejected

(A P)

Houthis say are 100% ready to implement prisoner swap deal

The Houthi group, also known as Ansar Allah, has said it is ready to implement an agreement signed with the Yemeni government for exchanging war prisoners.

Chairman of the Houthi committee for prisoners affairs, Abdulqadir Al-Murtada, wrote on Twitter on Monday: "We and the International Committee for the Red Cross have finalised all arrangements for the prisoners exchange. Now we are 100% ready to implement the agreement".

He hoped the other side is ready at the same level.

https://debriefer.net/en/news-20453.html

and

(A P)

[Sanaa gov.] Prisoners Affairs Committee: Other Party Tries to Thwart Exchange Deal

The head of the National Committee for Prisoners Affairs, Abdul Qadir Al-Murtada, revealed that the other party is not ready to implement the prisoner exchange agreement, trying to thwart the exchange deal.

https://english.almasirah.net/details.php?es_id=15326

and

(A P)

Prisoner swap with Houthis starts next Thursday: Yemeni official

The [Hadi] Yemeni government prisoner swap with the Houthis will start on 15 October, a Yemeni official said, hours after the Houthi group announced 100% readiness to apply the pact as planned.
The prisoner swap is expected to kick off next Thursday between the Yemeni UN-recognized government and the Houthi group, as stated by a pact the two rivals reached last month in Switzerland.
Under the pact, 400 government prisoners (including 15 Saudis and 4 Sudanese) would be released in exchange for 681 Houthi captives.

https://debriefer.net/en/news-20452.html

(A P)

Houthis give conditions for sustainable political settlement in Yemen

The key step for a political settlement in Yemen can be attained by the Saudi-led coalition's stopping military operations, the Houthi foreign minister said Sunday at virtual meeting with the Iranian assistant FM.

Lifting the blockade, allowing oil and gas tankers access, paying the salaries of all Yemeni civil servants and reopening Sana'a airport for all flights are the Houthi conditions to resume talks and reach political, peaceful settlement in Yemen, Hisham Sharaf told Ali Asghar Haji.

"Authorities in Sana'a still extend hand to fair, honorable peace accepted by the Yemeni people," the Houthi FM added. The group "will head for, if the other party inclines towards, peace."

https://debriefer.net/en/news-20432.html

(A P)

Al-Zubaidi, Griffiths discuss southern representation in peace process

President of the Southern Transitional Council (STC) and Supreme Commander of the Southern Armed Forces, Aidroos Qassem al-Zubaidi received at his residence in Riyadh on Tuesday, the UN Special Envoy for Yemen, Martin Griffiths.
The meeting took place amid intense efforts exerted and sponsored by the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates to push forward the implementation of the Riyadh Agreement.

http://en.adenpress.news/news/27309

and

(A P)

STC warns of signing agreements without participation of southern representatives

The southern transitional council has warned of the danger of signing more agreements on Yemen without engaging representatives from the south.

At a meeting with the UN envoy to Yemen Martin Griffiths on Tuesday, president of the UAE-backed council Aidarous Al-Zubaidi said: "The non-participation of the council in talks on a joint declaration designed to end the crisis exempts it from any obligations included in the declaration".

https://debriefer.net/en/news-20475.html

(A P)

Yemeni president [Hadi] pledges ‘permanent support’ to UN peace efforts

Yemen’s president has pledged his “permanent support” for the UN’s efforts to establish peace in his war-torn country.
Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi met UN special envoy to Yemen, Martin Griffiths, in the Saudi capital Riyadh on Monday,
The Yemeni leader highlighted the concessions made by his government, which he said had been “met only with arrogance and intransigence” by the Houthi militia.

https://www.arabnews.com/node/1748036/middle-east

and also http://en.adenpress.news/news/27306

https://debriefer.net/en/news-20450.html

My comment: LOL. Concessions? Did he give up his “3 references”? No. Hadi and “concessions” actually is fake news. he clinges to his “3 refdrences”:
(A P)

Yemen leader rejects UN peace deal, denounces Houthi demands

Yemeni President Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi rejected a peace proposal presented by UN Special Envoy for Yemen Martin Griffiths on Monday.

According to a government official, the proposal fell outside the agreed framework to achieve peace in the country.

The internationally recognized Yemeni government will only support peace initiatives that comply with the GCC Initiative, the outcomes of the National Dialogue Conference and UN Security Council Resolution 2216, official sources told Arab News on Tuesday.

The Security Council Resolution 2216 recognizes the Hadi-led government’s authority over Yemen and requires the Iran-backed Houthis to disarm and abandon territory under their control.

Despite Hadi’s rejection of the agreement, a report in SABA, Yemen’s official news agency, said the leader still fully supported Griffith’s efforts to broker a peace deal.

https://www.arabnews.com/node/1748431/middle-east

(A P)

UN envoy to discuss Yemen peace plan in Riyadh

Martin Griffiths scheduled to meet Saudi and Yemeni officials

The UN envoy for Yemen is set to arrive in Saudi capital Riyadh on Sunday to discuss a peace proposal for the war-torn country with Yemeni and Saudi officials.

A UN source, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, said Martin Griffiths will try convincing the Yemeni government to agree on a joint declaration to solve the on-going conflict

The draft proposal includes a complete cease-fire, resumption of political talks between the conflicting parties, and to allow humanitarian arrangements.

On Friday, Griffiths also discussed the peace process with Mahdi al-Mashat, the president of the Houthis Supreme Political Council, via a video link.

https://www.yenisafak.com/en/world/un-envoy-to-discuss-yemen-peace-plan-in-riyadh-3551465

(* B H P)

Yemenis can't believe corrupt WFP has won Nobel Peace Prize. What is the secret behind rich international humanitarians?

The winning of the World Food Programme of the 2020 Nobel Peace Prize has raised questions about the criteria of the prize as many believe the Rome-based world's largest humanitarian organisation is corrupt and should be tried not honoured.

Observers said the Nobel Committee has ignored corruption files in which this organisation is involved and suspiciously gave it a prize.

In Yemen, WFP has not provided aid with all funds it has received in the name of the Yemeni people, observers said. It is providing simple food baskets that have since April been given every two months because of alleged fund shortages, they added.

Yemeni beneficiaries have many times complained of expired food aid distributed by WFP. Now after years of this corruption, it seems that this organisation has benefited in the name of Yemen more than it helped.

WFP and its operations in Yemen have provoked all Yemenis and made them agree to attack it and expose its corruption.

Early last year, the Houthi group opened WFP corruption files. Activists from all other political groups did the same.

The most UN funds go to operating expenses and that's how UN agencies benefit from humanitarian aid, the group said.

In May 2019, social media activists circulated a document exposing WFP corruption. The document angered the people across the country. It showed that WFP had spent $1.2 million on the internet in one year.

https://debriefer.net/en/news-20405.html

(A P)

[Hadi] Gov’t affirms commitment to release of all prisoners and detainees

Minister of Foreign Affairs, Mohammed Al-Hadhrami affirmed on Sunday commitment to the Stockholm agreement on the prisoners, detainees and enforced disappeared people.

https://www.alsahwa-yemen.net/en/p-42556

(* B K P)

Pandemic or Peace in Yemen: A Ray of Hope

In the face of the current pandemic, the international community and the concerned parties in Yemen must congregate to build a final, binding solution for the conflict.

In a great irony, the COVID-19 pandemic might be a harbinger of peaceful times for Yemen. After more than 5 years of war and a severe humanitarian crisis, multiple ceasefire declarations by the Saudi-led coalition, plummeting oil prices, and a significant redirection of funds towards the domestic healthcare sectors of the coalition members (amidst numerous other developments) might finally convince the warring parties to agree to a durable peace accord.

While the ‘beginning of the end’ has been regularly predicted since at least 2019, it seems that the COVID-19 pandemic might prove to be the panacea for this conflict. Three recent announcements show promising signs of an imminent end to the fighting.

However, many sources have found that the virus is already spreading in the country and that the healthcare system, which had already collapsed due to Yemen’s cholera outbreak, is incapable of controlling the spread of the virus.

Hence, the conflict urgently needs to progress to the stage of peacebuilding and reconstruction. The primary focus must be on healthcare, potable water, and the restoration of domestic institutions such as the judiciary, state military, and banks. Reinstatement of public and civil society that undergird a free press, education, and employment generation must immediately follow if the country is to achieve any kind of stability.

A Pandemic-Induced Path to Peace in Yemen
Half a decade of war and multiple negotiations later, it is evident that peacebuilding will be neither easy nor quick. Humanitarian issues will be the last thing to drive peace home. Ultimately, financial and political incentives for the warring parties will prove to be the key factors in negotiations.

While the United Nations, particularly through the UN Special Envoy for Yemen Martin Griffiths, is already playing a key role in monitoring and mediating in the conflict, it could be advantageous if Oman were invited as a principal negotiator.

What is vital, at present, is to affect an immediate cessation of on-the-ground aggression.

Once this can be achieved, the next goal would be to achieve a tripartite agreement between the Saudi-backed internationally-recognized Yemeni government, the Houthis, and the Southern Transitional Council (the so-called ‘separatists). This is the most necessary, and yet the most difficult step

The longstanding grievances of the Houthis and the Southerners (and the myriad tribal, sectarian, and regional sub-groups under them) of discrimination on sectarian and regional grounds, respectively, must urgently be addressed by establishing a strong federal structure with regional autonomy. This is imperative for harmony in a socially heterogenous country like Yemen. However, merits, or the lack thereof, of Southern secession must be addressed. Not only would secession cause economic distress and a diplomatic challenge for Yemen’s neighbors, it would also put South Yemen in the precarious position of dealing with terrorist outfits alone, given their sizable presence in Southern Yemen.

Given that the UAE has been supportive of the STC and warm to the idea of secession for some time now — eyeing the southern coastline as a potential zone of influence and unfettered access to strategic shores — the UN and Oman would have to work hard to convince the UAE of the demerits of secession. For Saudi Arabia, too, dealing with one unstable neighbor would be easier than dealing with two.

It is imperative that the concerned actors along with the USA, the UK, the EU, and the UN take the negotiation process up a notch and make use of the war-weariness and economic constraints brought about by the pandemic.

At this time of global upheaval, it is not only the moral imperative, but the duty of the international community to set aside geopolitical gainsmanship in the pursuit of peace. As those within the international community with the greatest leverage to affect change, it is incumbent upon major regional powers like the U.S. and Saudi Arabia to at last silence the guns, binder up, and move past the phase of never-ending conflict to perform the hard work of diplomacy, transformation, and peacebuilding.

https://www.theintlscholar.com/periodical/10/11/2020/pandemic-peace-yemen-hope

My comment: This sounds too optimistic. COVID-19 does not have this impact on Yenmeni thinking than Westerners might believe. And, just one point: “duty of the international community to set aside geopolitical gainsmanship in the pursuit of peace”: What’s the “international community”? Iceland, Indonesia, Argentine, Uruguay, Nigeria, Angola, Papua Niugini etc. are not asked at all, and the main Western powers neber had “set aside geopolitical gainsmanship in the pursuit of peace” – since 1945, from Afghanistan to Yemen.

cp8 Saudi-Arabien / Saudi Arabia

(* B K P)

Saudi minister defends kingdom over Khashoggi murder, Yemen war and Loujain al-Hathloul

In an interview with Middle East Eye, Sarah Leah Whitson dissects Faisal bin Farhan's justification of Riyadh's crackdown on dissent and war in Yemen

Less than two weeks after the second anniversary of the murder of Jamal Khashoggi, Saudi Arabia's foreign minister, Prince Faisal bin Farhan, is visiting Washington for a "strategic dialogue" with the US administration.

On Thursday, Prince Faisal spoke to the Washington Institute on Near East Policy on range of topics in which he defended the kingdom's human rights record and its relationship with the US.

The foreign minister said Riyadh is ensuring accountability for the murder of Khashoggi, constantly working to minimise civilian casualties in Yemen and detaining women's rights defenders, including Loujain al-Hathloul, over "serious crimes" that are judicial matters.

To assess his defence of Saudi Arabia's human rights record, Middle East Eye spoke with Sarah Leah Whitson, the executive director of Democracy for the Arab World Now (DAWN).

Envisioned by Khashoggi, DAWN was relaunched late last month to document human rights abuses and advance democracy in the Middle East.

On Khashoggi

Faisal bin Farhan: We are ensuring accountability

Sarah Leah Whitson: The actual perpetrators are still free

"In terms of ensuring that this doesn't happen again, the first and foremost requirement would be to ensure that the actual perpetrators are held accountable for their crimes," Whitson told MEE.

The human rights advocate noted that even even the "sham" trial avoided indicting top officials alleged to be involved in the assassination, including Saud al-Qahtani, a top adviser to Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, who has been the target of US sanctions for his role in the killing.

Whitson said Prince Faisal's claims merit a "failing grade".

"On the most basic level, if the Saudi government is not willing to tell us where they hid Jamal's body, nothing they can say about transparency and accountability has any credibility," she said.

On Loujain al-Hathloul and political detainees

Faisal bin Farhan: They are being prosecuted for serious crimes by an independent judiciary

Sarah Leah Whitson: Notion of judiciary prosecuting people for free expression is farcical

"The notion of an independent judiciary just doing its job in Saudi Arabia is a bit of a mockery because the laws that the judicial system has been delegated to uphold are on their face abusive, and on their face criminalise free expression, critical speech, basic everyday freedoms that are supposed to be protected by human rights law," Whitson said.

She noted that the "serious crimes" that Hathloul and others are accused of committing include innocuous activities, including applying for a job at the United Nations, or wishing for an end to the Gulf rift, as in the case of Muslim scholar Salman al-Awdah.

"It's very telling that the foreign minister of Saudi Arabia thinks it's a 'serious crime', when the citizens of his country express their opinions and wish for reform," Whitson said.

On Yemen

Faisal bin Farhan: Saudi-led coalition never targets civilians

Sarah Leah Whitson: There is a deliberate and systematic pattern of targeting civilians

"You don't make hundreds and thousands of mistakes of bombing civilian areas," Whitson told MEE.

"This is about a deliberate and systematic pattern of targeting civilian areas - not just schools, but hospitals, not just hospitals, but universities, not just universities but residences, not just residences but factories - that are deliberately designed to terrorise the Yemeni people."

Late in September, the UN group of Eminent and International Regional Experts on Yemen accused the Saudi-led coalition of conducting air strikes "in violation of the principles of distinction, proportionality and precaution, acts that may amount to war crimes".

Whitson said Saudi Arabia's defence against such "credible" accusations of war crimes is merely regurgitating "empty talking points" from PR experts.

https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/saudi-foreign-minister-defends-kingdom-khashoggi-yemen-human-rights

(A P)

Saudi Arabia presides over G-20 interfaith forum

Saudi Arabia is presiding over a virtual global interfaith forum that began on Tuesday, with participation from Muslim clerics, Jewish rabbis, Christian priests and others religious figures.

The kingdom is hosting the online event as part of its presidency this year of the Group of 20 leading rich and developing nations.

https://apnews.com/article/dubai-saudi-arabia-united-arab-emirates-g-20-summit-archive-b4d34d89a1822ffdde63c13f570b822d

My comment: What a bad propaganda joke. Christians and Jews are prosecuted in Saudi Arabia.

(A P)

New arrests in Saudi Arabia linked to Jabri

The “New Testament” account said that the Saudi authorities recently launched a new campaign of arrests that affected a large number of people, in one way or another, with the man of the intelligence services who fled to Canada, Saad Al-Jabri.

The account stated in a tweet via “Twitter”, that “a large number of those who had a previous relationship with Saad Al-Jabri were investigated, and some of them were stopped.”

He continued, “All the people who had money transfers between them and Saad al-Jabri were arrested,” noting that the contractor who built the villa for Jabri was also arrested.

Last August, Saad al-Jabri filed a lawsuit against the Saudi government with the American judiciary, accusing Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman of sending a squad to try to assassinate him.

Al-Jabri says; The authorities kidnapped two of his sons without any legal justification, and blackmailed him to return to the kingdom in exchange for their release.

https://www.saudi24news.com/2020/10/new-arrests-in-saudi-arabia-linked-to-jabri.html

(A K P)

Aramco Seeks to Acquire Surveillance Drones, Protecting its Assets against Threats

Informed Saudi sources revealed, according to the Tactical Report website concerned with intelligence affairs, that the Saudi oil company Aramco has requested the Ministry of Defense's assistance to obtain drones designed for short-range aerial surveillance with the ability to quickly detect threats and identify targets.

The ministry referred the "Aramco" request to a military advisory team charged with submitting proposals for various types of reconnaissance drones as soon as possible.

https://english.almasirah.net/details.php?es_id=15309

(A P)

Saudi activist suffers stroke after being poisoned in prison: Report

A Saudi pro-democracy campaigner has reportedly suffered a life-threatening stroke after being deliberately poisoned by regime authorities at a maximum-security prison south of the capital Riyadh.

The Prisoners of Conscience, an independent non-governmental organization advocating human rights in Saudi Arabia, announced in a post on its official Twitter page that Sheikh Muhammad bin Dalim al-Qahtani, a leader of the Umma Islamic Party, suffered the serious medical condition after he was poisoned on purpose at al-Ha'ir Prison.

The post added that Qahtani has been transferred to al-Iman Hospital in Riyadh, and is apparently in critical condition.

https://www.presstv.com/Detail/2020/10/11/636141/Saudi-activist-suffers-stroke-after-being-poisoned-in-maximum-security-prison

(A E P)

Turkish business groups call for Saudi action to resolve trade problems

Turkey’s leading business groups urged Saudi Arabia on Saturday to take action to improve trade relations as Turkish firms encounter growing problems in doing business with the Gulf Arab state.

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-saudi-turkey-trade/turkish-business-groups-call-for-saudi-action-to-resolve-trade-problems-idUSKBN26V0HN

cp8a Jamal Khashoggi

(* B P)

Remember Khashoggi By Making Sure The Saudis Don’t Get Away With It Again

Today, October 2, is the second anniversary of the brutal murder of the journalist and dissident Jamal Khashoggi. In the wake of the international outcry following his death, Western governments took action against most of those clearly implicated in the killing.

They condemned the murder and imposed travel bans and sanctions on the hit team members, effectively marking Khashoggi’s killers as international pariahs, unwelcome across much of the world. Though he avoided formal sanction, Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman too has paid a price, his reputation stained indelibly by the murder, his name forever linked with that of Jamal Khashoggi. The specter of lawsuits hangs over those involved in the murder, including MBS, who has not set foot in the U.S. or Europe since the episode, knowing he could be subpoenaed in civil suits or even detained on criminal charges.

Judge al-Jaber, Attorney General al-Mojeb, former public prosecutor Sadek, and thousands of other bureaucratic functionaries of autocratic governments in the Middle East and North Africa are just as guilty of terrible abuses as the killers of Khashoggi. Indeed, many of these functionaries exact a far greater toll in blood on their fellow citizens than those sanctioned worldwide for their role in Khashoggi’s murder.

And yet they manage to evade any consequences for their actions by hiding behind the veneer of “official duties.” Some of them even get to enjoy the perks of their office courtesy of the United States and other Western countries, which provide them with tours and pomp and circumstance befitting honored foreign dignitaries.

Drawing on public and confidential sources in-country, DAWN, the organization founded by Jamal Khashoggi two years ago, is identifying these functionaries and documenting their malign activities in a Culprits Gallery of human rights offenders. We seek to shatter the façade of officialdom to reveal the culprits for who they are—human rights abusers and criminals who have violated international human rights obligations and in many instances their own domestic law.

Justice for the victims of these cogs in the wheel of oppression might well be elusive. Nevertheless, we remain true to our own democratic principles and honor the legacy of Jamal Khashoggi, not by feting these human rights offenders, but by excluding, shunning, and sanctioning them, and putting on notice other would-be culprits that they too will pay a price.

https://dawnmena.org/remember-khashoggi-by-making-sure-the-saudis-dont-get-away-with-it-again/

(B P)

Film by Nabeel Khoury: Remembering Jamal Khashoggi two years on, and a reminder to the Biden campaign that once in office the have promises to keep to his family & to the people of Yemen.

https://www.facebook.com/nabeel.a.khoury/videos/10156989360537269 = https://twitter.com/khoury_nabeel/status/1315995020235870208

cp9 USA

Siehe / Look at cp1, cp9a

(A P)

Remarks at a UN Security Council Briefing on the Situation in Yemen

Ambassador Kelly Craft, Permanent Representative U.S. Mission to the United Nations

Despite the promise this agreement holds, I am deeply concerned that progress on the political front is stalled because of the Houthis’ failure to uphold their commitments. Their continued offensive on Marib demonstrates they are not interested in a political process, and only want more years of war for the people of Yemen. Marib is home to many of Yemen’s internally displaced people and has become a refuge for Yemenis fleeing fighting throughout the war. The Houthis’ assault on this refuge is deeply concerning, and we call on the Houthis to cease this action immediately.

We are also extremely concerned about the recent intensified fighting in Hudaydah and offer our condolences for the lives lost.

Only a political solution will bring stability, peace, and prosperity back to Yemen. Yet, sadly, the Houthis have been content throughout this conflict to lose tens of thousands of fighters on the battlefield.

Of course, the Houthis’ are not doing it alone. Iran’s continued exports of weapons to the Houthis in contravention of the arms embargo have been extensively documented, including by the Secretary-General’s most recent report on Resolution 2231. Iran’s role in this conflict, which defies UN Security Council sanctions, is serving no other purpose than to worsen this humanitarian tragedy and prolong the suffering of millions.

https://usun.usmission.gov/remarks-at-a-un-security-council-briefing-on-the-situation-in-yemen-12/

My comment: What a monument of hypocrisy! The US is warring party in Yemen the main supporter and arms supplier to the Saudi coalition, while blaming Iran for supplying and estimated 1/10000 of arms to the Yemen theater of war compared to US arms supplies. If really Iran’s role in this conflict really “is serving no other purpose than to worsen this humanitarian tragedy and prolong the suffering of millions”, this is 10.000 times more applying to the US role.

(A P)

Letter to Washington Institute: Cancel Event with Saudi Foreign Minister

We are deeply concerned to learn of your “Virtual Policy Forum” this Thursday, October 15, 2020, with Saudi Arabia’s Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan al-Saud. At a time when the world is demanding accountability and human rights reforms from Saudi Arabia’s government, the Washington Institute is hosting a solo interview with Saudi Arabia’s foreign minister that excludes voices of accountability for his government’s horrific human rights crimes.

https://freedomforward.org/2020/10/14/letter-to-washington-institute-cancel-event-with-saudi-foreign-minister/ = https://dawnmena.org/rights-groups-to-washington-institute-dont-create-pr-platform-for-saudi-foreign-minister/

(* B K P)

The Case for U.S. Offshore Balancing in the Middle East

Fact: A military presence in the Middle East is less a prize we should fear others will snatch than a burden we should want our worst enemies to bear.

Advocates of U.S. military participation in the Middle East, including continued participation in civil wars in Yemen, Libya, and Syria, argue that U.S. departure will leave a vacuum for rivals like Russia, China, or a local power like Iran to fill. They are wrong: The Middle East’s messy balance of power assures that no rival will much profit from a U.S. exit. A military presence in the Middle East is less a prize we should fear others will snatch than a burden we should want our worst enemies to bear.

Two events in 1979 set the course for today’s U.S. quagmire in the region. The first was the Iranian Revolution, where the U.S. lost a strong ally and lynchpin of its regional security to a new and strongly anti-American government. The second was the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan. Taken together, these events, which were mostly unconnected save in timing, created fears of a cascade effect similar to the “Domino Theory” that had fueled U.S. fears of Cold War losses in Southeast Asia in the previous decade. The events also inspired an unprecedented wave of destructive sectarianism.

Events would soon show, however, that such fears were misplaced. The anti-American regime in Tehran did not become pro-Soviet. Soviet intervention in Afghanistan ended up weakening Moscow’s global position. Neither actions undid the gains the United States had made in the region earlier in the decade by flipping Egypt from a pro-Soviet to a pro-U.S. alignment. Any ambitions Iran might have had were soon checked by Iraq’s invasion in 1980 and then by a coalition of Saudi Arabia and smaller Gulf nations aligning against it.

The success of the Cold War, and then the Gulf War expelling Iraq from Kuwait, invited excessive ambitions. This included the attempt to dually contain both Iraq and Iran with U.S. forces in the Gulf, while heavily sanctioning both, despite their being hostile neighbors who could balance and check each other’s ambitions. In the 2000s, regime change rather than counterbalancing became U.S. policy. The efforts to topple the governments of Iraq and Libya were successful, but the outcomes were disastrous for regional stability and long-term American interest. The attempts at covert regime-change operation in Syria simply failed outright, while generating an upswing in extremism. Further expansion into the Middle East was not a net gain to the United States. Other powers could either learn from this or risk a repetition at their own peril.

Many analysts are now concluding in favor of a U.S. withdrawal from the Middle East and adoption of an offshore balancing position. The most likely criticism of this position is that it is surrendering the region to one or more great power rivals. This is not true. Any power who decided to replace the role vacated by the U.S. will find itself in at least as much of a quagmire – only with far less resources to manage it. More likely, having witnessed the experience of Washington’s interventionism in the region in recent decades, they will simply opt out and move instead towards a more distant and economic-centered approach. Either way, the United States can strengthen its position less with bases and permanent alliances and more with the sober diplomatic behavior of a trustworthy yet distant maintainer of a balance between powerful nations. – by Christopher Mott

https://nationalinterest.org/blog/skeptics/case-us-offshore-balancing-middle-east-170704

(* B P)

How a future Biden White House can end the war in Yemen

The United States has failed the Yemeni American community on this front, under both Obama and Trump. The current administration has failed to do anything but fuel the destruction and perpetuate the violence that has cost tens of thousands of lives. Trump and his backers continue to view Yemen largely through the lens of its campaign of “maximum pressure” on Iran. This view of a greater, omnipresent danger has echoes of the dangerous ideas and flawed logic of the Cold War, such as combating “spheres of influence” that flattens the reality on the ground and neglects to consider the actual issues and needs of the nation in turmoil.

Trump’s White House fundamentally views the Yemen War as a conflict with Iran and over Iranian influence, rather than the reality that in the war, Yemen is facing a civil crisis exacerbated and catalyzed by foreign intervention. Despite the White House’s Iran obsession and skewed coverage, it is hard to gauge exactly how much influence Iran has over the Houthis and their goals in Yemen and neighboring countries. While the Iranian government provides financial aid and military supplies to the Yemeni group, the Houthis are largely self-reliant, and their leadership is insular and focused on its own local goals. Ironically, the longer the war has gone on, the closer the Houthi-Iran relationship has become.

The continued immiseration of the Yemeni population serves no side in the conflict, and the growing financial cost of the war has deflated the zealousness of external actors, like Saudi Arabia, that has domestic crises of its own to deal with.

Foreign interventions in domestic conflicts ordinarily end with a diplomatic solution that includes international pressure to end the fighting and limit external powers’ role. In this case, the major supporting powers include the United States, and to a lesser extent the U.K., Canada, and European countries, that continue to sell arms to Saudi Arabia for use in the war. U.S. support for Saudi Arabia is a major factor, and the threat of a withdrawal of that support by a Biden administration could act as an important lever with the Saudis. Careful mediation of the conflict by the U.N. is also vital.

The confluence of all of these factors presents an opportunity for a more peace-oriented, more compassionate American administration to help Yemen achieve peace. The United States can play a major role in ending this conflict by threatening to end support — the supply of weapons, military equipment, logistical support, and intelligence — for Saudi military forces fighting in Yemen, requesting its allies to do the same, and demanding that Riyadh outline a clear plan for ending the war.

At the same time, it should work with regional and other international partners to intensify diplomatic efforts with all sides to the conflict and pressure both sides to a diplomatic compromise mediated by the United Nations.

https://responsiblestatecraft.org/2020/10/15/how-a-future-biden-white-house-can-end-the-war-in-yemen/ = https://english.alaraby.co.uk/english/comment/2020/10/20/how-a-biden-white-house-can-end-yemens-war

(A H P)

Restore aid to Yemen!

CODEPINK is writing to our representatives in Congress to demand that USAID restore aid to Yemen. Early on in the COVID-19 pandemic, aid was suspended and it must be restored and expanded immediately in order to save lives.

Tell your Reps. and Senators that USAID must restore and expand aid to all parts of Yemen. If you don’t want to stop there, you can call 1-833-STOPWAR and demand Congress ends U.S. involvement in the war in Yemen.

You can also donate to the Yemen Relief and Reconstruction Foundation which works to provide Yemenis with food and other aid.

If you are overseas, please click here to share this action via email or social media.

https://www.codepink.org/usaid_yemen

(* A P)

Pompeo urges Saudi Arabia to consider normalizing relations with Israel

U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on Wednesday urged Saudi Arabia to consider normalizing relations with Israel as he met with the Gulf country’s foreign minister, also saying that Washington supports a “robust program of arms sales” to it.

Pompeo said he raised the so-called Abraham Accords, a U.S.-brokered agreement to normalize diplomatic ties with Israel, with Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan Al Saud at a meeting at the U.S. State Department.

“We hope Saudi Arabia will consider normalizing its relationships as well, and we want to thank them for the assistance they’ve had in the success of the Abraham Accords so far,” Pompeo said, adding that he hopes the nation will encourage Palestinian leaders or the Palestinian Authority to return to negotiations with Israel.

“They reflect a changing dynamic in the region, in which countries rightly recognize the need for regional cooperation to counter Iranian influence and generate prosperity,” Pompeo said.

The United States is trying to persuade more Gulf countries to strike similar accords with Israel, as the UAE and Bahrain did at the Sept. 15 ceremony in Washington.

Riyadh has quietly acquiesced to the UAE and Bahrain deals – though it has stopped short of endorsing them – and has signaled it is not ready to take action itself.

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-saudi-israel/pompeo-urges-saudi-arabia-to-consider-normalizing-relations-with-israel-idUSKBN26Z23Y

Film, Pompeo’s statement: https://twitter.com/StateDept/status/1316367294705078272

My comment: This is how the US presses its allies. Main points are US anti-Iranian paranoia and more arms sales.

and

(* A P)

Saudi Arabia is imprisoning our relatives, while Mike Pompeo and the U.S. cozy up to the king

The secretary of state pledged to raise human rights on his visit, but the U.S. has shown little willingness to go beyond lip service for these hostages.

This week, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has traveled to Saudi Arabia, where our family members are just some of the U.S. citizens and relatives of U.S. citizens being held by the government on spurious charges, denied due process and even tortured. Why is there no sign the hostage envoy is accompanying Pompeo on his trip to Riyadh?

But U.S. officials seem to assume America’s long-term interests are too valuable to risk alienating or weakening the Saudi royal family, which enjoys close ties with Trump’s inner circle. Indulging this autocratic and unstable regime not only punishes the domestic activists who most uphold American values, it also undermines the very reliability of any joint military or business undertakings.

Such military and business ventures are agenda items U.S. officials have been much more eager to pursue, but they do so at great cost in moral authority and risk to our interests, even narrowly defined. As long as this culture of impunity persists, no American in Saudi Arabia is safe. And we should not trust Saudi forces to stand alongside our troops who defend U.S. interests and Saudi sovereignty in the Middle East.

https://www.nbcnews.com/think/opinion/saudi-arabia-imprisoning-our-relatives-while-mike-pompeo-u-s-ncna1140116

(A P)

US elections: Group of 33 former ambassadors to Middle East endorse Biden over Trump

A group of 33 former US ambassadors recently penned an endorsement of Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden, according to the letter seen by Al Arabiya English.

The list also includes several Middle East experts and analysts based in the US. Claiming that the United States has “lost the trust and friendship of many countries, alienated close allies, emboldened adversaries,” the signatories said they felt confident Biden would reverse this.

In the letter, the main issues touched on involved Lebanon, Palestine and Israel.

Biden, according to the letter, would reinstate aid halted under President Donald Trump to the Palestinian people.

“It is for these reasons among many others that we believe that Joe Biden has the integrity, knowledge, and understanding to initiate and support policies that protect America’s interest and security,” the letter read.

A majority of the 33 ambassadors were appointed by former Presidents Bill Clinton or Barack Obama, who are Democrats.

https://english.alarabiya.net/en/News/world/2020/10/13/US-elections-Group-of-33-former-ambassadors-to-Middle-East-endorse-Biden-over-Trump

and also https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20201014-us-33-ex-ambassadors-to-middle-east-endorse-biden/

My comment: This is not true: The democrtas aren’t any better. US slaughter in the Middle East kept on, whether the president was republican or Democrat.

(A K P)

Film: The US destroyer Winston Churchill witnessed the firing of 21 missiles in the Gulf of Aden and the crew of the US Fifth Fleet was stopped @ Us5thfleet @usnavy In a moment of silence and reflection on Monday morning the 12th to commemorate the twentieth anniversary of the attack on the American destroyer (USS Cole DDG67) in # Yemen

https://twitter.com/BashaReport/status/1316003559616516099

(* B P)

The Shia are a black hole for US policy in the Middle East

It is an enduring distortion of American foreign policy that our entire experience of the Arab world and Islam is viewed through Sunni eyes. It is through our allies that the United States interprets people and events and, other than Israel, all of our Middle Eastern allies are Sunni. We often speak about democratization in the Shia majority states—particularly Lebanon, Iran, and Iraq—but have no real interface with these communities other than a simple “militia-bad; people-good” dichotomy of oppressed masses yearning to break free from oppression. Which is partially true. But we have little institutional knowledge of what those oppressed Shia masses actually want or how to engage with them. There is an urgent need for public diplomacy with the Shia community, building stakeholders with Shia religious leaders, and, above all, factoring concerns of the Shia sect into the policy process.

The issue is that Sunni extremists are no longer a determinative geopolitical priority. For the moment, the fire has gone out of the radicals.

Adding to this challenge is that the Shia community’s radicals are radical in a very different way than the Sunnis. They form the political bodies from which structured, directed militant groups emerge, but there are virtually no lone wolves. Terror, such as it exists, is carefully controlled for state ends. Lebanese Hezbollah will still conduct bombings in Israel, Syria, and Europe—like the Bulgarian attack for which it was blamed in 2012—and Iran will kill dissidents, but this is structurally a far different phenomenon than the explosion of hydra-headed Sunni radicalism that the US faced at the end of the twentieth century.

The great bureaucratic success of the Trump administration has been to make Iran the US’s top priority in the Middle East, allowing for America’s great big counter-Sunni extremist machine to shift focus to Shia groups. Iranian-backed Shia militant groups have begun to be sanctioned more regularly—even those that had fought against ISIS. President Donald Trump’s targeting of Iranian and Iran-backed targets and his administration’s increased risk tolerance of operating against such actors in battlespaces where they dominate is a signature bureaucratic achievement. Neither the State Department nor the Defense Department readily changed course.

Nevertheless, the public engagement work has not caught up with the new focus on Iran. In other words, the US lacks virtually any engagement with the Shia body politic.

And, unfortunately, virtually all of America’s policies toward the Muslim world are pro-Sunni, allowing Iran, Hezbollah, and others to offer an appeal to the Shia body politic beyond simply coercion.

The goal is not for the Shia to love the United States. That would be nice, but it is not necessary. What is necessary is for Shia bodies politic in Shia plurality states to begin to put constraints on militant action—not necessarily through confrontation and arrest, but through political fallout for their representative parties. We have somewhat seen this over the past eighteen months in Iraq. It should be a US objective to cultivate it elsewhere – by Andrew Peek is the former Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Iraq and Iran at the US Department of State from 2017-2019.

https://www.atlanticcouncil.org/blogs/menasource/the-shia-are-a-black-hole-for-us-policy-in-the-middle-east/

My comment: The world seen through US eyes, by a high Trump administration geopolitical official. US geopoliticals is a divine right.

(A P)

Trump, Kushner gave pass for Khashoggi murder, says ex-CIA chief

The Trump administration effectively allowed Saudi Arabia to kill Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi in 2018 by failing to hold Riyadh to account after the gruesome killing, former CIA chief John Brennan has said.

"We have to hold the Saudis as well as others to account for any type of human rights atrocities… [But] Donald Trump and Jared Kushner and the White House have given MBS… a pass for that horrific murder and dismemberment of Jamal Khashoggi," Brennan said in a CNN interview aired on Friday, adding that the president "sees life and the world through a prism of dollar sides".

Brennan, who headed the CIA between 2013 and 2017, described Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman as "a quintessential authoritarian leader" who has "incarcerated and suppressed many Saudis, including activists and women activists in the Kingdom with widespread reports of maltreatment.
"And this is something that unfortunately Donald Trump has turned a blind eye to."

https://english.alaraby.co.uk/english/news/2020/10/10/trump-kushner-gave-pass-for-khashoggi-murder-ex-cia-chief

My comment: This is campaigning, nothing more. As far as Trmp & Co. Are concerned, he’s right. But he forgets to mention that the Obama administration wasn’t any better. Just look at Obama backing the Saudi war in Yemen.

cp9a USA-Iran Krise: Spannungen am Golf / US-Iran crisis: Tensions at the Gulf

(A K P)

Rouhani: Iran entitled to free arms trade in days with UN ban expiry

President Hassan Rouhani says Iran will be free to trade weapons as of Sunday after the United States failed in its attempts to secure an extension of the United Nations arms embargo against the Islamic Republic.

Speaking during a cabinet meeting on Wednesday, Rouhani congratulated the Iranian nation on the lifting within days of the “oppressive” 10-year arms ban on the Islamic Republic despite Washington’s struggles to keep the restrictions in force.

https://www.presstv.com/Detail/2020/10/14/636365/Iran-Rouhani-UN-arms-embargo-

(A K P)

Roadside bomb strikes US-led coalition convoy southeast of Baghdad

https://www.presstv.com/Detail/2020/10/11/636152/Roadside-bomb-strikes-US-led-coalition-convoy-southeast-of-Baghdad

(A P)

Iran-backed militias offer truce for US troop withdrawal

Iraqi militias backed by Iran have agreed to temporarily halt attacks targeting the American presence in Iraq on the condition that U.S.-led coalition troops withdraw from the country in line with a parliamentary resolution, three of the militia officials said Sunday.

https://apnews.com/article/iran-baghdad-iraq-troop-withdrawals-archive-f12d77bec74acefc7c4883eb30d832eb

(* B K P)

Abraham Accord: Experts Warn Trump Peace Deal a Precursor to War with Iran

Experts warn that the Accord is motivated by a desire to secure a united front against Iran for a potential future war — a conflict that would likely make Iraq and Afghanistan look mild by comparison.

On paper at least, last month’s U.S.-sponsored agreements between Israel, the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain were all about peace. But behind the headlines, a darker, much more worrying picture of regional alliances, weapons deals, destabilization campaigns, and messianic prophecies emerge.

The Abraham Accord, as it is known, is likely to expand the power of Gulf dictatorships and increase the number of devastating high-tech weapons in the Middle East, fueling further instability and bloodshed, a welcome prospect for neoconservative hawks and religious zealots who see the deal as fulfilling ancient prophecies about the end of the world. Above all, the deal can be seen as an attempt to present a united front against Iran for any potential future war — a conflict that would likely make Iraq and Afghanistan look mild by comparison.

But across corporate media, the accord was almost universally hailed as a “peace deal” — and a potentially massive breakthrough.

While it is Trump gaining the plaudits, in reality, the man organizing operations is his son-in-law Jared Kushner. Kushner has spent his entire adult life organizing for zionist groups and making contacts with the Israeli right, his family’s charitable organization has donated thousands to the IDF and to illegal Jewish-only settlements. Kushner has been leaning heavily on Saudi Arabia to join the new alliance, promising them state of the art new weaponry and a host of economic benefits. A cult-like hero in much of Israel, he has time and again shown his disgust for Palestinian life.

The Abraham Accord appears to have been deeply unpopular with the people of the UAE and Bahrain, who risked serious consequences by protesting the decision on social media. Nevertheless, their governments justified it by claiming they had guaranteed that Israel would not annex the Jordan Valley as it announced it would in the summer. But Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu later made clear that the plans were merely now “delayed” and that they remain on the table.

Yet a number of experts who spoke to MintPress questioned the entire framing of the Abraham Accord as a peace deal, claiming instead that this was far less about peace than about war, particularly with Iran.

For such a “peace deal,” negotiations certainly seemed to revolve quite heavily around weapons transfers. Much of the accord focussed on American plans to sell the UAE and Bahrain high tech armaments, including the costly Lockheed Martin F-35 fighters, Boeing’s EA-18G Growler jets, and General Atomics’ MQ-9 Reaper drones.

https://www.mintpressnews.com/abraham-accord-experts-warn-trump-peace-deal-a-precursor-to-war-with-iran/271799/

cp10 Großbritannien / Great Britain

Siehe / Look at cp1

(A P)

Moving toward a ceasefire and preventing famine in Yemen

Statement by Ambassador Jonathan Allen, UK Chargé d’Affaires to the UN, at the Security Council briefing on Yemen

It’s not just about this specific confidence-building measure; today’s news also demonstrates that dialogue can lead to positive outcomes. That momentum now needs to be carried into the political tracks. The parties must agree urgently to the United Nations Joint Declaration. On the Riyadh agreement, I welcome the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia’s leadership to achieve a resolution and urge the parties to form a government rapidly.

Mr President, on 22 September, the Spokesman of the Iranian Armed Forces, General Shekarchi, admitted that Iran had provided technical assistance and training to the Houthis. This represents an apparent breach of the arms embargo. This is deeply concerning and reaffirms our concerns about destabilising Iranian activity in Yemen and the wider region. We call on Iran to cease such activity, which risks escalating the conflict, and to support a political solution to the conflict in Yemen.

Mr President, we must prevent Yemen tipping into famine. We welcome the recent positive steps by some donors to provide humanitarian funding, including new commitments from the United States, Kuwait and some EU Member States, as well as seeing Saudi Arabia sign agreements with UN agencies.

https://www.gov.uk/government/speeches/moving-toward-a-ceasefire-and-preventing-famine-in-yemen

My comment: A monument of hypocrisy. The UK is warring party in Yemen as a fierce supporter and arms supplier to the Saudi coalition, lauding the Saudis and blaming Iran.

(B K P)

Here's why the UK govt has for 5 years lied that it is "not a party" to the Yemen war - because it always feared legal prosecution for what it, and the world, knows are war crimes. UN group has now referred Yemen war to the International Criminal Court. (images)

https://twitter.com/markcurtis30/status/1315924604347658240

(? B K P)

Why is the UK Military Training Saudi Fighter Pilots in Yemen? (subscribers only)

https://www.albawaba.com/news/why-uk-military-training-saudi-fighter-pilots-yemen-1385954

cp11 Deutschland / Germany

(* A P)

Preis für jemenitischen Kolumnisten

Er gibt den Menschen des vergessenen Kriegs eine Stimme

Der jemenitische Kolumnist und Menschenrechtsanwalt Abdul-Rahman Al-Zbib hat den Raif Badawi Award für herausragende, mutige Journalisten erhalten. Die Auszeichnung der Friedrich-Naumann-Stiftung für die Freiheit gemeinsam mit dem Börsenverein des Deutschen Buchhandels musste wegen der Corona-Pandemie am Mittwoch virtuell vergeben werden und nicht wie üblich auf der Frankfurter Buchmesse.

In seiner Dankesrede sagte Al-Zbib laut Mitteilung: "Auch im Jemen ist es so, wie in der gesamten arabischen Welt, dass Journalisten und Journalistinnen Repressionen ausgesetzt sind." Er betonte: "Es ist sehr wichtig, dass die Welt informiert wird, wie die Situation im Jemen ist. Es gibt Aktivisten im Jemen, die für die Menschenrechte eintreten. Auch wenn wir hier gerade unter dem Krieg leiden, ist es uns nicht gleich, wenn Menschen verfolgt werden."

In ihrer Laudatio sagte Agnes Callamard, UN-Sonderberichterstatterin für außergerichtliche, standrechtliche oder willkürliche Hinrichtungen: "Der Krieg im Jemen hat die größte humanitäre Krise dieser Welt hervorgerufen, da 80 Prozent der Bevölkerung in die Abhängigkeit von humanitärer Hilfe geraten sind. Unter den vielen Opfern dieses grausamen und unerbittlichen Krieges gegen die Freiheiten des jemenitischen Volkes ist die Pressefreiheit, die Redefreiheit, die Glaubensfreiheit und die Versammlungsfreiheit auf brutale Weise ins Visier genommen worden."

https://www.t-online.de/nachrichten/deutschland/id_88750664/jemen-er-gibt-den-menschen-des-vergessenen-kriegs-eine-stimme.html

cp12 Andere Länder / Other countries

(* B P)

Oman tightens screws on pro-Qatar Yemeni Brotherhood activities

Muscat’s changed stance towards Yemeni Muslim Brotherhood activities funded by Doha are part of Sultan Haitham’s policy of positive relations with neighbours.

Political sources revealed to The Arab Weekly a remarkable shift in Oman’s stance towards the Qatari-supported Muslim Brotherhood’s activities in Oman.

The Omani capital Muscat has long been used by the Brotherhood as a centre for coordinating media attacks against the Saudi-led Arab coalition.

The sources indicated that the Sultanate of Oman has decided to tighten the screws on what is known as the “Muscat Cell” and that the matter is related to improving relations with Saudi Arabia.

The sources stated that Omani authorities asked a number of Yemeni activists and media professionals affiliated with the Muslim Brotherhood to stop carrying out anti-coalition media activities from Omani territory or else leave the country. This forced a number of Yemeni media and political leaders, who were working within the so-called Muscat Cell, to move to Istanbul, Turkey.

Sources emphasised that Oman’s change in position towards the Yemeni Muslim Brotherhood’s activities funded by Doha came as part of Sultan Haitham bin Tariq’s efforts to establish positive relations with the country’s neighbours.

These sources said that Omani authorities have begun to implement a policy of staying out of other countries’ conflicts and struggles, especially those targeting neighbouring countries.

An adviser at the Yemeni information ministry, Fahd Talib al-Sharfi, quoted a private source as saying that Omani authorities issued a warning to pro-Muslim Brotherhood journalist Samir al-Nimri, who works as a correspondent for Qatar’s Al-Jazeera channel in Muscat, following stances seen as abusive incitement against Saudi Arabia and Yemen on Omani territory.

https://thearabweekly.com/oman-tightens-screws-pro-qatar-yemeni-brotherhood-activities

My comment: By a pro-UAE news site. Therefore, “Qatar-payed” cannot be ommitted.

(* B E P)

UAE Economy is a “Bubble” that “Will Eventually Burst,” Local Businessman Warns

In an interview with Democracy for the Arab World Now (DAWN), an Emirati businessman with connections inside and outside the UAE talked about the state of money, business and investment. He summarized the economic situation as a "bubble" about to burst.

The businessman, who wishes to remain anonymous for fear of retribution, commented on the relationship of politics, money, and the economic situation that the country, since the political arrests and the antagonism of citizens, began to deteriorate the country’s reputation, and took a new direction.

Regarding the arrests, the businessman referred to the campaign launched by the UAE’s government in 2012 against a very large group of reformists, writers, thinkers, and activists. Many were arrested and 94 of them were tried in court in what was referred to as the “94 cases.” After trial, many were sentenced to years in prison.

The businessman also commented on commercial projects and on investments between foreigners and the citizens in the UAE, and on the problems that arise when changes to the status quo are made suddenly.

Also discussed was the lack of transparency, the prevalence of lying and deceit regarding the economic situation, and the lack of clarity from the government to the citizens of the UAE.

The businessman believes that foreigners have exploited the citizens of the UAE by bearing the brunt of the public debt while not benefiting from any economic prosperity.

Excerpts from the Interview follow:

https://dawnmena.org/economy-in-uae-is-a-bubble-that-will-eventually-burst-local-businessman-warns/

(B P)

Somaliland: East Africa’s largest conduit for illicit cheetah trafficking to the Gulf

A recent spate of cheetahs being seized in Somaliland has shown that the illicit demand for these animals remains strong. Cheetahs are highly prized as exotic pets in the Gulf states, and in supplying this market, traffickers have heavily impacted local cheetah populations in Africa, a situation compounded by the fact that many animals die en route.

https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/article/2020-10-12-somaliland-east-africas-largest-conduit-for-illicit-cheetah-trafficking-to-the-gulf/

(A P)

UAE official says Turkey’s army in Qatar destabilizes region

Turkey’s army in Qatar is an element of instability in the Gulf region, a senior official of the United Arab Emirates said on Saturday, adding that it contributes to negative polarization.
“The Turkish military presence in the Arab Gulf is an emergency,” UAE Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Anwar Gargash tweeted.
“It reinforces polarization, and it does not take into account the sovereignty of states and the interests of the Gulf countries and its peoples,” added Gargash.

https://www.reuters.com/article/emirates-politics-turkey/uae-official-says-turkeys-army-in-qatar-destabilises-region-idINL8N2H10KC

(A P)

Iran Exercising All Capacity, Ability to Defend Oppressed Yemeni Nation

Iranian Foreign Minister's Senior Assistant for Special Political Affairs Ali Asghar Khaji said his country will use all its potentials and capabilities to defend the innocent Yemeni people on the international scene.

https://en.farsnews.ir/newstext.aspx?nn=13990720000929

cp12a Katar-Krise / Qatar crisis

(* B P)

[ca. Nov.-Dec. 2017] Saudi-UAE push to mobilize tribes against Qatari emir

Nearly six months into the Gulf crisis, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates are attempting to mobilize tribal opposition as well as little known members of one branch of Qatar’s ruling Al Thani family in a bid to weaken, if not topple, Qatari emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani.

The attempt, suggesting anything from constituting a dig at Sheikh Tamim’s popularity to thinking in some quarters about possible regime change in Qatar, comes against the backdrop of Saudi Arabia and the UAE’s failure to garner international support for their diplomatic and economic boycott of Qatar.

The international community has responded to Saudi Arabia and the UAE’s insistence that Qatar accept humiliating demands that would effectively curtail its independence with calls for a negotiated resolution. Qatar has said it wants direct talks with its detractors but would not compromise its sovereignty. The UAE and Saudi Arabia have insisted they would not use force to resolve the crisis.

https://www.academia.edu/35185432/Saudi_UAE_push_to_mobilize_tribes_against_Qatari_emir

cp12b Sudan

(A P)

Tribal clashes over governor’s sacking kill 6 in east Sudan

Tribal clashes erupted on Wednesday in eastern Sudan over the prime minister’s decision to sack a provincial governor, killing at least six people, a medical group said.

The violence came a day after authorities announced that annual inflation has hit a new record as prices of bread and other staples keep surging, according to official figures. Both the clashes and the high inflation threaten Sudan’s fragile transition to democracy in the aftermath of the ouster last year of longtime autocrat Omar al-Bashir.

https://apnews.com/article/virus-outbreak-sudan-omar-al-bashir-inflation-prices-e75082b7a8d06f8fd3a74ba6a9ce7106

(A P)

Sudan’s premier sacks provincial governor after protests

Sudan’s prime minister on Tuesday sacked the governor of an eastern province, less than three months after his appointment, the state-run news agency reported.

Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok’s decision to fire Saleh Ammar, newly appointed governor of Kassala province, came amid sporadic protests against his appointment — protests that at times have turned deadly.

https://apnews.com/article/sudan-archive-khartoum-daac3e7d968249b237f57d0959f16a87

(A P)

Filmmaker’s trial raises concerns over freedom in new Sudan

More than a year after the overthrow of Sudanese strongman Omar al-Bashir, amid the promise of new leadership, Sudanese film director Hajooj Kuka was arrested during a theater workshop by the security forces that had served al-Bashir for years. He was tried and sentenced to prison on vague charges often used by the former government to enforce its conservative interpretation of religion.

The jarring episode, including alleged beatings by guards, rattled Kuka and other artists and activists, who say that the country has a long way to go before it can overcome the legacy of three decades of autocratic rule under al-Bashir.

https://apnews.com/article/religion-academy-awards-sudan-trials-omar-al-bashir-99b5c275a61b2d12b70a958d5b8b5ae3

cp13a Waffenhandel / Arms trade

Siehe / Look at cp1

(A E P)

CBY adopts new measures to control exchange rates in Yemen

The Aden-based Central Bank of Yemen (CBY) on Sunday adopted new measures to tackle volatilities of exchange rates and regulate banking and transfer transactions in the war-torn country's government-held provinces.

In a statement, the CBY said it agreed with local exchange firms to establish a new company that would design a standard network owned by these firms in order to control the exchange market.

Banking services in Yemen are facing severe disorders and record decline in the rial against foreign currencies, with one dollar is purchased with more 800 rials.

https://debriefer.net/en/news-20433.html

cp13b Kulturerbe / Cultural heritage

(B K)

Film, in Arabic: Years After Burning Parts Of National Museum, An Employee Tells How He Protected its Records And Pieces

Museums, like other industries, have not been away from the Houthi bombing. However, the National Museum in Taiz, registered in the World Heritage List of museums, has been able to protect from theft and looting by its employees. Ahmed Jassar, a museum employee in Taiz, while wandering through its destroyed and burned corridors, tells how he managed to keep the museum records and risked his life and others to preserve some of its antiquities and collections by moving them to a safe place after the Houthis bombed it. It is noteworthy that the National Museum in Taiz was exposed in 2016 to the Houthi bombing and was destroyed.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3ZsrbiiN1ls

cp13c Wirtschaft / Economy

(B E)

Feature: Watermelons rot in Yemen's farms due to war

Most of the watermelon crop has ripened and then rotted in the fields of the besieged coastal city of Midi in northern Yemen.

Farmers cannot cross the roads to the other markets in neighboring cities to sell their crops due to the escalation of fighting between the government forces and Houthi militia.

The Houthi militia, which controls a large part of the northern Hajjah province, has tightened the siege on Midi for more than two years, in an attempt to retake it from the hands of the government forces.

The continuing siege and shelling have forced most of the residents to flee the city, fearing for their lives.

"We have suffered from the siege for more than two years, and we cannot go to other markets in neighboring cities to sell our crops. This is the second year in a row that we are losing our watermelon crop," said farmer Mohammed Al-Jaidi.

"More than 10,000 watermelons had rotted since the beginning of this harvest ... this is a catastrophe," the 63-year-old farmer told Xinhua.

This crop is the only livelihood of al-Jaidi's 22-member family.

Most of the watermelon crop has ripened and then rotted in the fields of the besieged coastal city of Midi in northern Yemen.

http://www.xinhuanet.com/english/2020-10/14/c_139439876.htm

Photo: http://www.xinhuanet.com/english/2020-10/14/c_139439876_2.htm

(B E)

Yemen's economic losses in the past five years, according to the government: -Economy has shrunk 50%. -More than $100 billion in revenue losses. -National currency has lost 180% of its value.

https://twitter.com/FuadRajeh/status/1316061764845477890

(B E P)

Flash Update 8: YER Exchange Rate Volatility (11 October 2020 Week1)

Key findings:

The Central Bank of Yemen closed all money transfer markets at the end of September, with the aim to roll out a new single transfer market in early October
The goal of the new single transfer market, called the Yemen Financial Services, is to stem the depreciation of the YER and help bolster the falling currency
IRG vs DFA exchange rate variation currently stands at a 25% difference
The economy is still suffering due to the impact of COVID 19, mainly in trade and travel
Remittance flows from Yemenis abroad into Yemen have continued to stagnate (see CCY Remittance tool)
Clashes between STC and IRG continue to take place sporadically
Due to a lower supply of USD, exchange shops have irregular hours of operation

https://reliefweb.int/report/yemen/flash-update-8-yer-exchange-rate-volatility-11-october-2020-week1

(A E P)

Al-Dailami Reveals Agreement with Iran to Transfer Manufacturing Iranian Agricultural Tractors to Yemen

The [Sanaa gov.] Yemeni ambassador to Tehran, Ibrahim Al-Dailami, revealed an agreement with Iran to transfer the technology of manufacturing and producing Iranian agricultural tractors to the Republic of Yemen to achieve agricultural renaissance and reach self-sufficiency.

On the sidelines of his visit to the Tabriz company for the manufacture of tractors, accompanied by the economic attaché and commercial officials of the Yemeni embassy in Iran, Al-Dailami told the Almasirah network correspondent, "We have agreed with the Iranian side to transfer expertise and experience and settle such industries for agricultural equipment in Yemen."

"We are facing an opportunity for Yemen to build an industrial structure to serve the agricultural side.

https://english.almasirah.net/details.php?es_id=15298

(B E K)

It costs Yemen USD3.7 [billion] annually: The UAE refuses to evacuate Balhaf liquefied natural gas plant, in order to keep strangling the Yemeni people economically. Source: Aden Net.

https://www.alsahwa-yemen.net/en/p-42560

cp14 Terrorismus / Terrorism

(A T)

Militant jihadi French media continues to promote #AQAP in #Yemen. Yesterday it released a lecture subtitled in #French that was from al-Nazari's 2014 series "Good Reminders" And it did remind me of something: Batarfi's last #Quran lecture May 2020. Same mosque? (or software?) (images)

https://twitter.com/Dr_E_Kendall/status/1316723361565872129

(A T)

#AlQaeda in #Yemen is sticking to its new terse style of operational claim that omits even to mention #Allah. #AQAP seems keen to demonstrate continuing relevance in Bayda but with little to show: just 3 minor ops in 2 weeks. Latest below: mortars fired at Houthis in Sawma'a yday (image)

https://twitter.com/Dr_E_Kendall/status/1316415306445840386

(B T)

Remember the Cole: al-Qaida attacked the destroyer in Yemen 20 years ago today

On Oct. 12, 2000, an explosion rocked the hull of guided-missile destroyer Cole as it sat for refueling in the Port of Aden, Yemen.

The 40-by-60-foot hole created by the explosion left all able-bodied sailors battling fires and flooding for 96 hours just to stay afloat. Seventeen sailors were killed, and another 37 injured by the blast.

https://www.navytimes.com/news/your-military/2020/10/12/remember-the-cole-al-qaida-attacked-the-destroyer-in-yemen-20-years-ago-today/

cp15 Propaganda

(A P)

Yemen [Hadi gov.] demands strict international position towards Houthis’ crimes against medical personnel

The Yemen’s health ministry condemned on Monday Houthis’ constant crimes against the medical personnel.

Minister of Public Health and Population, Nasser Baoum, demanded unified international position towards Houthis’ crimes and harassment against medical personnel and organizations.

https://www.alsahwa-yemen.net/en/p-42611

(A P)

Following their defeat, Houthis call for ceasefire in Hodeida

With this failure in Marib, the Houthis sent four key battalions of their indoctrinated fighters towards south Hodeida to release dozens of their fighters who have been blocked in Al-Duraihmi district for two years.

Those fighters have been taking residents as human shields and banning everyone from departure.

Yet, they failed to do so following fierce response by the government’s forces that foiled the attack.

This drove the Houthis to express commitment to the Stockholm agreement amid their two-year defiance to the implementation of the agreement.

https://www.alsahwa-yemen.net/en/p-42573

(A P)

[Hadi gov.] Yemen defence minister calls for national alignment to face Iranian evil

Defence minister in Yemen's internationally recognised government Lt. Gen. Mohammed Al-Maqdishi said on Sunday the government forces can overcome all challenges and roadblocks on their way to liberating the country.

On a visit to warfronts on the outskirts of the capital Sanaa, he said: "The historic and national responsibility requires all to align for the main battle against the imamate and Iran's projects and ambitions in Yemen".

https://debriefer.net/en/news-20418.html

(A P)

Shatara: 'The South will no longer be a base for Al Qaeda'

Member of the Presidency of the Southern Transitional Council (STC), Vice-President of the National Assembly for Control and Inspection, Mr. Lufti Shatara affirmed that the STC is a true partner of the Arab Coalition and the international community in the war on terrorism.
The South will no longer be a base for Al Qaeda.. The Southern Armed Forces are the partners of the Coalition and the international community in the fight against terrorism, he tweeted.
Shatara also said that the STC will continue its war on terror with the whole world, first and foremost the United States of America.

http://en.adenpress.news/news/27294

(A P)

Defense Minister: Armed forces to make waiting victory

Minister of Defense, General Mohamed Al-Maqdashi, said that the Yemeni army and the resistance forces will make the victory which the Yemeni people have been waiting for.

https://www.alsahwa-yemen.net/en/p-42554

(A P)

More Saudi coalition „We are benefactors“ propaganda

https://www.spa.gov.sa/viewfullstory.php?lang=en&newsid=2143568

http://wam.ae/en/details/1395302875992

cp16 Saudische Luftangriffe / Saudi air raids

(* A K pH)

Saudi coalition air raids and shelling day by day

October 1 – 6: https://www.facebook.com/LivingInYemenOnTheEdge/posts/3449836315069374

(B K)

#Saudi govt TV @AlHadath inadvertently exposed a #Saudi #WarCrime of bombing a #Yemeni prison where #Yemeni soldiers fighting alongside Saudi invasion were held by #Ansarrulah govt #Sanna. Will @IntlCrimCourt request his testimony?

https://twitter.com/AliAlAhmed_en/status/1316820597117276161

referring to film https://twitter.com/AhmedAlmoaiad/status/1316809594048589827

(* B K pS)

Official Spokesman of the Joint Incidents Assessment Team (JIAT) in Yemen Legal Counsellor Mansour Al-Mansour refuted a number of claims raised by global bodies and international organizations on errors allegedly committed by the Coalition Forces to Support Legitimacy in Yemen during their military operations inside Yemen.

Joint Incidents Assessment Team Issues Statement Regarding Allegations against Coalition Forces 2

that at approximately (9:00) a.m. on (17/04/2018), (Masar Fort) and nearby houses in the village of (Masar) in (Manakhah) directorate of (Sana'a) governorate, were attacked by Coalition Forces airstrike, which carried out several attacks on the area that lasted until (3:00) p.m., the attack resulted in the destruction of the wall of the Fort and some of the archaeological buildings inside it, including mosque of the archaeological Fort.

JIAT found the following:
1- The Coalition Forces did not carry out any air missions on (Masar) village on the date of the claim (17/04/2018) as claimed.
2- By studying the air missions carried out by the Coalition Forces on (16/04/2018) the day before the date of the claim, JIAT found that the Coalition Forces received intelligence information that Al-Houthi armed militia had taken over a site at the top of a mountain consisting of (building and its accessories, and communications masts) in (Manakhah) directorate of (Sana'a) governorate, and used it as (command and communication center).

On Monday (16/04/2018), Coalition Forces carried out an air mission on a military target (command and communication center) located on the top of a mountain in (Manakhah) directorate west of (Sana'a) capital, using guided bombs that hit their targets, except for one bomb that did not hit its target.

By reviewing the after-mission reports and analyzing the video recordings of the targeting JIAT found the following:
1- Coalition Forces surveyed the target area before carrying out the mission, and ensured that there were no movements of vehicles or civilian personnel before and during the targeting.
2- The bombs hit their targets, except for one bomb that landed on the claimed (Masar Fort) fence, due to a malfunction, which damaged a part of the (Fort) fence and one of its guard towers.

https://www.spa.gov.sa/viewfullstory.php?lang=en&newsid=2144712

Evidence:

So far, 3 women killed, 5 other women seriously injured, 1 kid, man alo injured.

https://twitter.com/narrabyee/status/985862404255907841

Photos, names of victims: https://www.facebook.com/SaudiArabia.war.crimes.against.Yemen/posts/1801693526793300

More photos: https://www.facebook.com/SaudiArabia.war.crimes.against.Yemen/photos/pcb.1802043990091587/1802043070091679

https://twitter.com/M_A_Al_ameer_A/status/986298472235233280 = https://twitter.com/narrabyee/status/986300783846096896

https://twitter.com/AhmadAlgohbary/status/986324791702556675

https://twitter.com/A7medJa7af/status/986329738217164800

Film: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hTSJwWjtwv4 (Google/Youtube washes away evidence of war crimes: film saved by me)

Joint Incidents Assessment Team Issues Statement Regarding Allegations against Coalition Forces 4

With regard to the statement of the UN Humanitarian Coordinator in Yemen, entitled (An attack on hospitals caused the reduction of health services provided to thousands of displaced people in Marib), issued on (10/02/2020), where initial reports indicate that (Al-Jafrah hospital) and the (Saudi Field hospital) in (Mjzar) directorate of (Marib) governorate were hit on (07/02/2020) during the clashes, the two hospitals are serving (15,000) people, many of whom are displaced, the two hospitals are located (75) km northwest of (Marib) city.

After studying the daily mission schedule for the Coalition Forces air operations for the day before and the day after the date of the claim, JIAT found the following:
1- On (06/02/2020), the day before the date of the claim, the closest air mission carried out by the Coalition Forces was on a military target located in (Mjzar) directorate of (Marib) governorate, (8.6) km away from the claimed site.
2- On (08/02/2020), the day after the date in the claim, the closest air mission carried out by the Coalition Forces was on a military target located in (Naham) directorate of (Sana'a) governorate, (16) km away from the claimed site.

https://www.spa.gov.sa/viewfullstory.php?lang=en&newsid=2144714

No evidence found

Joint Incidents Assessment Team Issues Statement Regarding Allegations against Coalition Forces 5

With regard to what was observed by the JIAT on the claim that on (01/01/2018), that the Coalition Air Force bombed the (coastal city of Al-Hodeidah), killing at least (23) people.

By studying the daily mission schedule of the air operations carried out one day before and one day after the date of the claim, JIAT found the following:
1- On (31/12/2017), the day before the date of the claim, the Coalition Forces dealt with a military target (113) km away from (Al-Hodeidah) city, the place of the claim.
2- On (02/01/2018), the day after the date of the claim, the Coalition Forces dealt with a military target (105) km away from (Al-Hodeidah) city, the place of the claim.

https://www.spa.gov.sa/viewfullstory.php?lang=en&newsid=2144715

Evidence:

Reports, mentioning 30 killed: http://www.sabanews.net/en/news483467.htm

http://www.sabanews.net/en/news483456.htm

Photos: https://www.facebook.com/SaudiArabia.war.crimes.against.Yemen/posts/1762021344093852

Films: http://www.presstv.com/Detail/2018/01/02/547534/Yemen-west-coast-worst-affected-Saudi-war- and full size http://107.189.40.50/ptv//newsroom/20180102/sanaa-mat.mp4

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fvs2sqFNJVY = https://www.facebook.com/LivingInYemenOnTheEdge/videos/1603836643002693/

Other films recordíng war crimes have been removed by whitewashing assistants facebook, youtiube, twitter

and what Saudi propaganda had claimed at that time: http://almasdaronline.com/article/96433

Joint Incidents Assessment Team Issues Statement Regarding Allegations against Coalition Forces 6

With regard to the statement of the UN Humanitarian Coordinator in Yemen entitled (Strikes damage a major hospital serving hundreds of thousands of Yemenis) issued on (07/11/2019), which includes that the main hospital serving hundreds of thousands of Yemenis, has been severely damaged as a result of the strikes that took place in (06/11/2019), in (Al-Makha) of (Taiz) governorate on the west coast of Yemen, and the Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) statement entitled (MSF hospital was partially destroyed as a result of attack in Al-Makha city), that a hospital run by (MSF) in (Al-Makha) southwestern Yemen, was partially destroyed on Wednesday evening (06/11/2019), when an air attack on surrounding buildings, including a military depot, was targeted.

By studying the daily mission schedule of the Coalition Forces on (06/11/2019), JIAT found that the Coalition Forces did not carry out any air mission inside Yemen.
By studying the daily mission schedule of the air operations carried out one day before and one day after the date of the claim, JIAT found the following:
1- On (05/11/2019), the day before the date of the claim, the Coalition Forces did not carry out any air mission inside Yemen.
2- On (07/11/2019), the day after the date of the claim, the Coalition Forces did not carry out any air mission inside Yemen.

https://www.spa.gov.sa/viewfullstory.php?lang=en&newsid=2144716

No evidence found

My comment: The Saudi coalition whitewashing team at work again. Claiming this team would conduct “investigations”, would be a lie.

(A K pH)

More Saudi coalition air raids

https://www.saba.ye/en/news3112365.htm Marib p., Jawf p.

https://english.almasirah.net/details.php?es_id=15332 Several prov.

https://www.saba.ye/en/news3112219.htm / https://english.almasirah.net/details.php?es_id=15317 Marib p., Jawf p.

https://english.almasirah.net/details.php?es_id=15293 / https://english.almasirah.net/details.php?es_id=15294 Several prov.

https://www.saba.ye/en/news3111953.htm Marib p., Jawf p.

cp17 Kriegsereignisse / Theater of War

Im Jemen herrscht ein militärisches Patt. Eine größere offensive mit größeren Erfolgen und Geländegewinnen für eine Seite bleiben seit der Offensive der saudischen Koalition gegen Hodeidah im Jahr 2018 aus. Kleinere Offensiven, ständige gegenseitige Angriffe und Gefechte mit Toten auf beiden Seiten und Opfern unter der Zivilbevölkerung gibt es aber ständig. Besonders betroffen sind die Provinzen Hodeidah, Taiz, Al Bayda, Al Dhalea, der Bezirk Nehm in der Provinz Sanaa, die Provinzen Al Jawf, Marib, Hajjah und Saada.

There is a military stalemate in Yemen. A larger offensive with greater successes and territorial gains for one side has been absent since the Saudi coalition's offensive against Hodeidah in 2018. Smaller offensives, constant mutual attacks and skirmishes killing fighters of both sides and causing victims among the civilian population are constant. The provinces of Hodeidah, Taiz, Al Bayda, Al Dhalea, the district of Nehm in the province of Sanaa, the provinces of Al Jawf, Marib, Hajjah and Saada are particularly affected.

(A K pS)

#Houthi militia launched today indiscriminate shelling on densely populated areas in #Taiz, leaving dozens of civilians wounded, including children (photos)

https://twitter.com/RepYemenEnglish/status/1316738216171655170

and

(A K pS)

One civilian killed, dozens wounded in Houthi shelling on Taiz: Photos

The Iran-aligned Houthi insurgents have intensified their indiscriminate shelling on densely residential areas in the five-year-besieged city of Taiz, Yemen’s-third largest city, leaving one civilian dead and dozens wounded.

Medical sources said one civilian was killed and over 50 others wounded due to artillery shelling that targeted populated areas east of the city.

https://republicanyemen.net/archives/25807

and also https://twitter.com/BelqeesRights/status/1316748153429913600

(A K pS)

Local tribesmen in Aljawf remove landmines with their own hands. The other day, they removed 93 landmines that were planted on the main road that links Marib to Kahb w shaaf district east of aljawf

https://twitter.com/Ndawsari/status/1316442404933767170

referring to film https://twitter.com/eAZk4a04YMfncHl/status/1316169621439950849

(A K)

At least 11 Houthis killed in Taiz fighting

https://debriefer.net/en/news-20481.html

(A K pH)

In Taiz, a citizen was seriously injured by Saudi-mercenaries gunfire in Sabr-al-Mawadim district. A number of cars and some property were damaged and livestock were killed as a result of the indiscriminate artillery shelling by the mercenaries.

https://english.almasirah.net/details.php?es_id=15321

(A K pS)

Houthi militia’s shelling kills civilian, injures other in Taiz

http://en.26sepnews.net/2020/10/13/houthi-militias-shelling-kills-civilian-injures-other-in-taiz/

and also http://en.adenpress.news/news/27313

https://www.arabnews.com/node/1748586/middle-east

(A K)

Taiz sees Yemeni gov't, Houthis engaged in violence

Fierce confrontations erupted on Tuesday between the Yemeni official government troops and Houthi forces in several fronts in the southwestern city of Taiz.
Heavy and medium weapons were used in the fighting seen by the eastern front of Taiz, a military source said, after a Houthi attack on government sites in Sala Valley, presidential palace and Osaifera quarter.

https://debriefer.net/en/news-20461.html

(A K pS)

KSrelief Masam Project Dismantles 1,857 Mines in Yemen during 1st Week of October

King Salman Humanitarian Aid and Relief Center (KSrelief)'s Masam Project for Clearing Mines in Yemen demined 1,857 mines during the first week of October 2020, including 1 antipersonnel mine, 417 anti-tank mines, 1,439 unexploded ordnance

https://www.spa.gov.sa/viewfullstory.php?lang=en&newsid=2143875

(A K pS)

[Hadi] Govt forces advance toward Al Hazm city, capital of Al Jawf province

Government forces ___ supported by tribesmen ___ have advanced towards Al Hazm city, capital of the northern province Al Jawf that is bordering Saudi Arabia, military sources said.

Col. Khaled Dwaid told Al Masdar Online that government forces and the popular resistance have cleared all Houthi pockets in Dahdha Ohm Alma’a, Dahdha Al Aqer, and Al Malfofa areas as well as securing mountains and hills surrounding these areas.

https://republicanyemen.net/archives/25760

(A K pS)

[Hadi gov.] Army’s Spokesman Brig. Gen. Abdu Mujali said the battles in Al-Jawf province are defining and have already approached the province’s capital Al-Hazm.

In a statement to September Net, he said the army has retaken vast swaths of territories from the desert northern Yemen province and extracted hundreds of Houthi-laid landmines along the way.

http://en.26sepnews.net/2020/10/11/armys-spokesman-army-at-the-gates-of-al-hazm-city/

(A K pH)

Killing, Injuring Civilians with Saudi Bombing, Sa’adah

A civilian was killed and two others were injured, Monday, with Saudi bombing targeted border areas in Sa'adah governorate.

Almasirah net correspondent stated that Saudi missiles and artillery shells killed a civilian and injured two civilians in Shida district.

https://english.almasirah.net/details.php?es_id=15305

(A K pH)

In Taiz, a woman was injured, one of them seriously, on Tuesday by Saudi-mercenaries gunfire in Al-Saloa district.

https://english.almasirah.net/details.php?es_id=15303

(A K pH)

Death Toll of US-Saudi Crime in Taiz Raises to 6 Killed and 8 Injured, Most of them Children

The death toll of the US-Saudi aggression crime in Taiz Governorate rose to 6 Killed and injured, most of them children.

A security source in the governorate confirmed that a child was killed and a man and his son were wounded by the US-Saudi artillery shelling that targeted May 22 school in Salah district. Less than an hour after, injuring of a woman and two children with varying wounds by the bombing of the aggression.

https://english.almasirah.net/details.php?es_id=15296

and also https://www.saba.ye/en/news3112020.htm

Photo: https://twitter.com/wfahd1000/status/1315613718282207232

(A K)

Taiz sees sporadic clashes between [Hadi gov.] Yemeni troops and Houthis

https://debriefer.net/en/news-20402.html

(A K pS)

Nearly 2000 Houthi rebels killed & injured within 70 days

At least 2000 militants from Iran-backed Houthi rebel militia were killed and injured during fighting with army forces and coalition airstrikes in the past 70 days west and south Marib Governorate.

The toll includes 44 senior militia field leaders, as well.

The terrorist militia’s losses divided between the western fronts where 650 of its fighters were killed and injured and in the southern fronts in which 1259 of its militiamen killed and wounded.

http://en.26sepnews.net/2020/10/12/nearly-2000-houthi-rebels-killed-injured-within-70-days/

and also https://debriefer.net/en/news-20426.html

(A K pS)

Students were brought back home from schools this morning in Sala district, #Taiz as #Houthis have continued shelling the city since yesterday evening. This has been always one of the greatest sufferings of parents and Students inTaiz since the city was besieged

https://twitter.com/RiyadhAldubai/status/1315248388988981249

referring to film: https://twitter.com/BasemAlabsi/status/1315225684004884481

cp18 Kampf um Hodeidah / Hodeidah battle

Seit dem Abkommen von Stockholm vom 13. Dezember 2018 gibt es einen Waffenstillstand für Hodeidah. Zwar bleiben größere Offensiven aus, kleinere Gefechte gibt es aber laufend, und beide Seiten werfen sich ständig Verstöße gegen den Waffenstillstand vor.

Since the Stockholm Agreement of December 13, 2018, a ceasefire has been in place for Hodeidah. There are no major offensives, but smaller battles are ongoing and both sides constantly are accusing each other of violating the ceasefire.

(A K pS)

Man badly injured by Houthi sniper in al-Tuhita (Video)

A man called Talal Salem Yaqoob was shot and injured by the Houthi snipers in al-Tuhita district on Thursday, Al-Amalika Media Centre (AMC) reported.

http://en.adenpress.news/news/27330

Film: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h3ZXnJ13UNg

(A K)

Yemeni government forces kill 2 top Houthi commanders

Clashes took place in Al Hudaydah province, says military source

https://www.aa.com.tr/en/middle-east/yemeni-government-forces-kill-2-top-houthi-commanders/2006789

(A K pS)

Child severely injured in Houthi shelling in south Hodeidah (Video)

http://en.adenpress.news/news/27315

Film: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=50WzR0_-Hp0

Photo: https://twitter.com/RepYemenEnglish/status/1316364634199257089

(A K pS)

Yemen rebels kill two civilians in attack on Hodeidah health centre

Shelling by Yemen’s Houthi rebels killed two civilians and injured several others on Sunday in another attack on healthcare centres in Hodeidah, a medical official in the western province said.

Dawood Kattab, manager of the government's health services in the coastal areas of Hodeidah, said Sunday’s attack on a village near Al Duraihimi in eastern Hodeidah followed the shelling last week of a healthcare centre in the south of the province.

“Talal Kuba, 37, and his brother Ahmed Kuba, 22, were killed when a Houthi mortar fell on their house next to the healthcare centre in Al Shogaiyrah village on Sunday evening,” Dr Kattab told The National

“The area which was crowded with women and children receiving health care at the time.”

Another house near the health centre was also hit, but without any casualties. “The house was destroyed completely but fortunately the shell landed while the whole family was out,” he said.

https://www.thenational.ae/world/mena/yemen-rebels-kill-two-civilians-in-attack-on-hodeidah-health-centre-1.1092203

and also https://republicanyemen.net/archives/25754

(A K pS)

Three siblings sustain injuries in Houthi shelling on their house in Hays, Hodeidah. Source: Aden Alghad.

https://www.alsahwa-yemen.net/en/p-42560

(A K pH)

Daily violations

Oct. 14: https://english.almasirah.net/details.php?es_id=15332

Oct. 13: https://english.almasirah.net/details.php?es_id=15321

Oct. 12: https://english.almasirah.net/details.php?es_id=15303

Oct. 11: https://english.almasirah.net/details.php?es_id=15293

cp19 Sonstiges / Other

(A H)

Desert Locust situation update 14 October 2020

YEMEN. Breeding continues in the interior where hopper bands, groups of immature and mature adults, and immature swarms are present mainly near Al Hazm but most likely elsewhere, too. Immature swarms were seen near Sana’a while others are migrating south towards the southern coast where more swarms are likely to appear. Mid to late instar hopper bands are present on the northern coast of the Red Sea near Suq Abs that are fledging and forming immature groups. Field operations are in progress but continue to be hampered by insecurity.

http://www.fao.org/ag/locusts/en/info/info/index.html

(* B H)

Desert locust upsurge: Progress report on the response in the Greater Horn of Africa and Yemen | May – August 2020

Since January 2020, remarkable progress has been made to counter the upsurge that slowly developed over the last two years in the Empty Quarter of the Arabian Peninsula and spread to Eastern Africa and Southwest Asia. Owing to strong capacities in Southwest Asia, the upsurge is almost under control, while scaled-up and sustained action in Eastern Africa has prevented a major humanitarian crisis and averted massive infestation in Western Africa.

This second quarterly report reflects FAO’s continued efforts towards transparency in reporting against planned activities and achievements between May and August 2020, responding to common questions and concerns posed by our partners.

http://www.fao.org/emergencies/resources/documents/resources-detail/en/c/1313414/

(-)

Photo: Sana'a .. Light, heart and moon

https://twitter.com/waleedmutawakil/status/1315359173547380737

(A D)

Film: Yemen - "Art and Peace Project" launched in Taiz

The Ambassadors of Peace Organization, with funding from Youth Without Borders and Saferworld, launched the "Art and Peace" project in the cultural hall in the public library in Taiz Governorate, south of Yemen. The "Art and Peace" project aims to deliver a message to the world that Taiz Governorate is despite the war, siege and destruction that befell it is still a city of peace that inspires hope and optimism in the hearts of its inhabitants.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PM0VPqe4lm4

(A H)

Special event for autistic children held in Aden (Photos)

http://en.adenpress.news/news/27308

and

(B H)

Preschool Teachers’ Beliefs towards Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) in Yemen.

It is perplexing that some preschool teachers not only advise parents who have children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) to go to religious healers, but also attribute such neurological disorders to the curse of the “evil eye” or vaccines. Although it is now the twentieth century, this behavior simply reflects the concerns of over-protective teachers and the cultural misperceptions about the actual definition of ASD. In Yemen, the term “ASD”, with its wide range of symptoms, is still ambiguous among preschool teachers. Thus, in a rather insightful piece for the education community, this study has attempted to look beneath the surface of the beliefs (religious belief-social belief-personal belief) of Yemeni preschool teachers regarding ASD.

https://www.physiciansweekly.com/preschool-teachers-beliefs-towards-children-with-autism-spectrum-disorder-asd-in-yemen/

(A P)

Film: Arbitration of sheikhs and men of Hadd Yafeh Bani Malik led by Sheikh Saleh Al-Radmani Al-Haddi Al-Yafei presenting their faces and their guns to the men of Al-Diwan Al-Ba'asy Office of Yafeh Bani Malik apologized and arbitrated after a group of Al-Shihhi Al-Hadd kidnapped the son of the director of the security prison of Baous

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oknlBJYnVqE = https://twitter.com/Yafei__/status/1315745623795290114

(A)

Yemen officials say man has killed 12 in family dispute

A Yemeni man killed at least a dozen people, including his wife and three children, in a family dispute in the country’s central province of Bayda, security officials said on Tuesday.

The father of three was trying to settle a dispute with his wife who was staying at her family’s house for three weeks after delivering the couple’s third child, the officials said.

The man, in his 20s, opened fire on his wife’s family, killing at least 12 people and wounding four others, including three policemen

https://apnews.com/article/yemen-archive-b15686f401113431ae732cc3f38c5882

and also http://en.adenpress.news/news/27311

(A P)

Hillary, the godfather of chaos in Yemen, was awarded the “Nobel”...

Yemeni experts stated that publishing Clinton’s emails is an important occasion to launch a campaign to withdraw the award from the Brotherhood, Tawakkol Karman, after the Nobel lie of peace was exposed.

Yemeni lawyer and political activist, Muhammad Ali Allaw, said in a series of tweets on Twitter that the email scandal confirms that Hillary was the one who nominated Karman for the Nobel Prize and established her own lobby to support her.

Allaw indicated, in a series of tweets on Twitter, that the e-mails are additional evidence that Qatar has been assigned to pay the value of the Nobel Prize from a private lobby as part of the implementation of the creative chaos scheme.

The Yemeni activist added, “We appeal to the Nobel Prize management, after the lie of Tawakkol Karman’s entitlement to the award was revealed and those behind it were revealed, to drop the award because she does not deserve it. The truth is that she is a war advocate who did not accomplish any peace project in her life other than more incitement to blood, destruction, tears and murder.”

These were the details of the news Hillary, the godfather of chaos in Yemen, was awarded the “Nobel”... for this day.

https://alkhaleejtoday.co/international/5080318/Hillary-the-godfather-of-chaos-in-Yemen-was-awarded-the-Nobel.html

(A)

On 4 Oct, a ULCC tanker was approached by 2 black/green skiffs in the Gulf of Aden after loading 2 MMbbl of crude at Ash Shihr. Weapons sighted. CPA 200m. MST fired warning shots. Yemeni media later reported that the UAE had dispatched boats to block the export

https://twitter.com/Ambrey_Intel/status/1314617979150139397

(A)

Film: An Event for Reviving Children’s Traditional Games in Taez Government and the Southern Transitional Council

Mashaqer Initiative, in cooperation with Youth without Borders Organization for Development, and under Safeworld organization’s patronage, has inaugurated an event for reviving children’s traditional games in Taez. Hajar Mohammad, the head of Mashaqer Initiative for heritage revival, said that this event aims at reviving Yemeni folklore, promoting tolerance, the culture of coexistence, and peace among children.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pZsPYwAC4Fs

(-)

Visited this beautiful village in Haraz today. A challenge is water & sanitation that is why @SFDYemen's culture & heritage experts are renovating a 600 yr old cistern, and connecting ancient houses to a sanitation system (photo)

https://twitter.com/Wesamqaid/status/1316755198153547776

(C)

On this day in 1963, armed resistance to British occupation of Aden began, leading to British withdrawal in 1967. Watch this 1965 clip showing British brutality of civilians on display, even as they repeatedly accuse Yemenis of "terrorism."

https://twitter.com/shireen818/status/1316543999319175169

referring to film: https://www.gettyimages.de/detail/video/terrorism-continues-general-view-of-street-nachrichtenfilmmaterial/827478528

and also, photos: https://twitter.com/Alsakaniali/status/1316073359596281856

film: https://twitter.com/MohammedHojily/status/1316751388051935233

Vorige / Previous:

https://www.freitag.de/autoren/dklose/jemenkrieg-mosaik-685-yemen-war-mosaic-685

Jemenkrieg-Mosaik 1-685 / Yemen War Mosaic 1-685:

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.
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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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