... Leiden in Houthi-Gefängnissen – VAE-Gefängnis in Balhaf – Finstere Motive der Saudis für Einheit am Golf – und mehr
Jan. 13, 2021: Children dying of hunger in a Yemeni hospital – Saudi coalition air raids in 2020 – Saudis use oil as a weapon in the Yemen war – Suffering in Houthi prisons – UAE prison at Balhaf – Saudis’ dark motives for pushing Gulf unity – and more
Schwerpunkte / Key aspects
Kursiv: Siehe Teil 2 / In Italics: Look in part 2: https://www.freitag.de/autoren/dklose/jemenkrieg-mosaik-707b-yemen-war-mosaic-707b
Klassifizierung / Classification
Für wen das Thema ganz neu ist / Who is new to the subject
cp1 Am wichtigsten / Most important
cp1a Am wichtigsten: Coronavitrus und Seuchen / Most important: Coronavirus and epidemics
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
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 Wirtschaft / Economy
cp14 Terrorismus / Terrorism
cp15 Propaganda
cp16 Saudische Luftangriffe / Saudi air raids
cp17 Kriegsereignisse / Theater of War
cp18 Kampf um Hodeidah / Hodeidah battle
cp19 Sonstiges / Other
Klassifizierung / Classification
***
**
*
(Kein Stern / No star)
? = Keine Einschatzung / No rating
A = Aktuell / Current news
B = Hintergrund / Background
C = Chronik / Chronicle
D = Details
E = Wirtschaft / Economy
H = Humanitäre Fragen / Humanitarian questions
K = Krieg / War
P = Politik / Politics
pH = Pro-Houthi
pS = Pro-Saudi
T = Terrorismus / Terrorism
Für wen das Thema ganz neu ist / Who is new to the subject
Ältere einführende Artikel u. Überblicke für alle, die mit den Ereignissen im Jemen noch nicht vertraut sind, hier:
Yemen War: Older introductory articles, overviews, for those who are still unfamiliar with the Yemen war here:
https://www.freitag.de/autoren/dklose/jemenkrieg-einfuehrende-artikel-u-ueberblicke
(B K P)
Warum ist Jemen im Bürgerkrieg?
https://www.freiepresse.de/RATGEBER/ONKEL-MAX/warum-ist-jemen-im-buergerkrieg-artikel11286991
cp1 Am wichtigsten / Most important
USA wollen Huthis als Terroristen einstufen: Siehe Jemenkrieg-Mosaik 708
US wants to classify Houthis as terrorists: Look at Yemen War Mosaic 708
(** B H)
At a Yemen hospital wracked by U.S. funding cuts, children are dying of hunger
Aid cuts by the Trump administration and other Western countries, intended to prevent Yemen’s Houthi rebels from diverting or blocking funds, are worsening the country’s humanitarian crisis, already considered the most severe in the world.
Last year’s pledges totaling $1.61 billion were less than half of 2019’s funding, and hundreds of millions of dollars committed by donors have not yet been paid, according to the U.N.’s humanitarian office for Yemen. At least 15 of the U.N.’s 41 major programs have been scaled back or closed, and additional programs could shutter in the months to come, if more funds are not received, U.N. officials say.
Aid groups fear the crisis would get even worse if the Trump administration, in its waning days, goes ahead with plans to designate the Iran-aligned Houthis as a foreign terrorist organization to apply pressure on Iran.
It would prevent numerous Western aid organizations, concerned about prosecution for perceived support of the armed group, from operating in Houthi-controlled areas, where most Yemenis live. It could also prompt retaliatory measures by the rebels against aid groups, further undermining efforts to assist millions of Yemenis.
The reduction in funding comes at a time when “Yemen is now in imminent danger of the worst famine the world has seen for decades,” U.N. Secretary General António Guterres warned in a recent statement, adding that “in the absence of immediate action, millions of lives may be lost.”
Aidan O’Leary, head of the U.N.’s humanitarian office in Yemen, said the lack of funding could result in emergency food aid being suspended for 5 million people and basic health care for 9 million people, including more than half a million malnourished children.
An economy in free fall, a locust infestation and devastating floods, as well as the spread of the coronavirus have compounded the humanitarian woes, aid workers said.
Today, more than 24 million Yemenis, roughly 80 percent of the population, require humanitarian assistance, including more than 12 million children, says the U.N. Children’s Fund (UNICEF). Half of all medical facilities are destroyed or not operational, according to Oxfam. Cholera, dengue and other diseases have shattered the immune systems of millions, leaving them more vulnerable to the coronavirus.
In March, the Trump administration suspended at least $73 million in aid after accusing the Houthis of diverting and disrupting aid. Other Western donors followed suit. In October, a UNICEF study found that acute malnutrition rates among children under the age of 5 in some parts of Yemen were the highest ever recorded.
Save the Children, an American charity that receives U.S. government funds, once paid for most salaries, medicines, nutritional supplements, hygiene equipment and first aid service.
“These things have stopped since March,” said Abdullah Saleh Altam, the hospital’s general manager. “As a result, the situation here has deteriorated in the past few months.”
Today, he said, patients with chronic diseases cannot find basic medicines for respiratory illnesses, diarrhea and malnutrition.
“Even those who were financially okay have started showing signs of malnutrition,” Altam said. “It’s not only children but also pregnant and breastfeeding women, too.”
In 2019, Save the Children reached 1.2 million adults and children across north Yemen, including the area where the Raydah hospital is located. Last year, the funding cuts have forced the charity to reduce food support to 21,000 households.
The reduction in aid “has left them in an uncertain fate,” said Anna Pantelia, a spokesperson for Save the Children, referring to the 1.2 million they once reached.
Kareema Al-Maakhathi, a nurse at the Raydah hospital who is under contract with Save the Children, said there are many people unable to even afford the trip to the hospital.
“In the past, we would cover, not only the transportation, but also traveling costs” to Raydah hospital or even as far away as Sanaa, Maakhathi said. “However, three months ago we were forced to stop.”
“In October, six to seven children died because their families couldn’t afford taking them to the hospital,” Altam added. “All were under the age of 5.”
“Recently we were forced to turn away parents whose children needed the food when we ran out of supplies,” he said – by Ali Al-Mujahed, Sudarsan Raghava
https://www.seattletimes.com/nation-world/at-a-yemen-hospital-wracked-by-u-s-funding-cuts-children-are-dying-of-hunger/ = https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/at-a-yemen-hospital-wracked-by-u-s-funding-cuts-children-are-dying-of-hunger/ar-BB1cC2f9?li=BBnbcA1&srcref=rss
(** B K)
YEMEN DATA PROJECT AIR RAIDS SUMMARY JANUARY 2021
Saudi-led Coalition Air Strikes Kill 125 Civilians in Yemen in 2020
Saudi-led air raids* killed and injured 212 civilians in Yemen in 2020, amid an 82% increase in coalition bombings. 45% of casualties were children.
At least 125 civilians were killed in coalition bombings last year, 54 children were amongst the dead. A further 87 civilians were injured, including 57 women and children. 2020 saw the first rise in air raids in three years. Since 2017, coalition bombing rates declined year-on-year to the 2019 low of 1,181. This trend ended last year with an 82% increase in bombings to 2,155 in 2020, despite a unilaterally declared ceasefire of 45 days in April-May and the rapid spread of coronavirus through the country.
During 2020 the Saudi-led coalition carried out an average of 6 air raids everyday, double the average daily rate in 2019.
By the end of the year, international aid organisations renewed warnings of famine in Yemen, a consequence of the global Covid-19 pandemic. Through 2020, coalition air raids hit healthcare facilities, markets, farms, schools and vital water infrastructure including water wells. At least one Covid-19 quarantine centre was bombed.
Despite the 82% year-on-year rise in air raids, civilian casualties were the lowest of any year since the air war began in 2015, and 73% down on the previous low of 785 civilian casualties in 2019. Yet the record annual low in civilian casualty numbers did not mean an end to mass civilian casualty events in 2020.
One of the most deadliest bombings for children since the air war began happened in 2020. At least 25 children were killed and a further 18 children injured when an air raid hit a residential area in Al-Maslub district of Al-Jawf on 15 February. Only two other air raids have resulted in more child casualties since the coalition began its bombing campaign in March 2015 .
Yemen Data Project has recorded a total of 18,568 civilian casualties in 22,485 air raids* from March 2015 to the end of 2020 with up 65,122 individual airstrikes.
The single deadliest air raid for civilians in 2020 was the air raid on 15 February in Al-Jawf that killed 35 civilians, 25 of them children. Another 23 civilians were injured in the bombing, 18 of them children. Five air raids were responsible for 64% of all civilian casualties in the air war in the year, three of which hit civilian residential areas.
Saudi-led coalition air raids narrowed in focus in 2020, targeting 12 of Yemen's 22 governorates. For the first time, Sa'ada was not the most heavily bombed governorate. Marib and Al-Jawf saw the greatest number of air raids in the year, reflecting the shift in the ground conflict to the two governorates.
Almost one third (32.3%) of all bombings in 2020 hit Marib. Al-Jawf bore the brunt of the civilian casualties in the air campaign, with 55% of the 212 civilians killed and injured in air raids in 2020 happening in the governorate. A 45-day unilaterally declared ceasefire saw little let up in bombing rates with 205 air raids recorded in the ceasefire period, averaging 5 bombings per day.
Data Summary for December 2020
The year ended with 125 coalition air raids in December and, as 2019 did, with no civilian casualties recorded in the final month of the year - just the third month since the aerial campaign began almost six years ago where no civilian casualties were recorded in the air war. This was a 29% reduction in bombings from November. In keeping with the rest of the year, Marib was the main focus of Saudi-led coalition bombings.
https://mailchi.mp/8c2506fffe0e/january2021-yemen-data-project-update-6476668
(** B E K P)
A Manufactured Crisis: How Saudi Arabia Uses Oil to Bring Yemen to its Knees
By manufacturing an oil crisis in Yemen, Saudi Arabia is able to foment political chaos in the country and stir up popular discontent against domestic oil companies, many of which are run by the Houthi-led resistance
Yemen’s oil is in thrall to a complex, intertwined network of elites that control the smuggling of fuel imports and new, thriving black markets. Starving Yemen of petroleum products has always been a conspicuous feature of Saudi Arabia’s nearly six-year-long war on the country, however, the most recent blockade is significantly more extensive than previous ones and comes at a time when a pandemic, diseases, and hunger are spreading rapidly across the country. The most recent byproducts of that blockade: the spread of schistosomiasis, a faltering economy in areas outside of Saudi control, and a dangerous new black market.
Known colloquially as snail fever, schistosomiasis is a rare disease caused by flatworms that thrive in untreated water, something now abundant in Yemen as the diesel fuel needed to power many of the country’s water treatment facilities, especially those in rural areas far removed from any electric grid, has dried up amid the blockade.
As the war in Yemen closes in on yet another grim milestone, the end of its sixth year in March, oil-rich U.S. ally Saudi Arabia continues to prevent oil tankers from delivering much-needed fuel to hospitals, water pumping stations, bakeries, cleaning trucks, and gas stations, plunging the entire nation into an unending fuel crisis.
The CEO of Yemen Petroleum Company (YPC), Ammar Al-Adrai, told MintPress that at least nine tankers have been trapped in Saudi Arabia’s Jizan Port, which sits on the Kingdom’s western seaboard painfully close to the Yemeni border. The tankers, Al-Adrai says, have been held despite being checked and issued permits by both the Saudi-led Coalition and the United Nations. He confirmed that the vessels are loaded with oil derivatives and that some of them have been detained for over nine months, leading to the suspension of more than 50% of the operational capabilities in the service, health, industrial and commercial sectors.
That lack of fuel has caused an acute shortage of even the most basic goods. Khalid told MintPress that “the price of fruits, vegetables, and medicine is skyrocketing and my farm is defenseless against desertification.” Like many farmers, Khalid, who like his daughter Jamilah shows symptoms of malnutrition, is unable to power the pumps needed to irrigate his fields, leaving him unable to grow his own food with which to feed his family and the desert sands encroaching on his now derelict fields.
“The [Yemeni] government is indifferent and apathetic to the suffering of citizens, even in areas under their control,” Khalid said, accusing the Saudi-backed government of Aden of deliberately compounding the suffering through the proliferation of the black market. “Fuel shortages in the northern provinces are caused by the blockade, but in Aden, we don’t understand what’s going on.”
A manufactured oil crisis
By manufacturing an oil crisis in Yemen, Saudi Arabia is able to foment political chaos in the country and stir up popular discontent against domestic oil companies, many of which are run by the Houthi-led resistance. As a sort of grim bonus, the manufactured oil shortages also to incapacitate the Houthi-run port of Hodeida, increasing poverty and unemployment rates and siphoning cash out of the market, according to the Yemen Petroleum Company (YPC).
YPC released a statement placing the estimated economic damage caused by Saudi Arabia’s refusal to allow tankers to unload their cargo at billions of U.S. dollars. The company also said that demurrage fees are now at an unprecedented level of nearly $107 million and that Saudi forces have illegally impounded 72 Yemen-bound oil tankers last year, resulting in an approximately 45% drop in the amount of desperately-needed fuel shipments arriving at Yemeni ports.
The fuel blockade has not only forced thousands of Yemenis to wait for days in lines as far as the eye can see, but it has also left water pumps and treatment plants, and hospital generators without fuel. Most drinking water, particularly in rural areas, is extracted using diesel-powered pumps, while the country’s sizable refugee population survives on water brought in by diesel-powered trucks.
Food imports which generally arrive via one of the country’s ports are processed and packaged at diesel-fuel-powered facilities, factories in Hodeida or Aden before being transported across the country or sold locally.
Outside of the country’s coastal cities where more than 60% of the population resides, freight is transported by road leaving remote communities at the mercy of trucks that must traverse roads pockmarked and damaged by airstrikes. The few who are willing to undertake the dangerous journey must contend with the high price and scant availability of fuel, pushing the price and availability of even the most basic commodities – food, water, and medicines – through the roof.
A thriving black market is born
The oil crisis in Yemen certainly isn’t new, but it has been growing worse recently amid a black market boom which is adding to the already miserable quality of life for Yemenis. The Saudi government is flooding southern areas of Yemen under its control with cheap fuel, exacerbating regional tensions and creating an ideal environment for black market petroleum products to boom. The stark disparity between the availability of fuel in Saudi-controlled areas versus areas under Houthi control is also causing predictable economic damage to the ladder, which is unable to compete amid the Saudi-imposed blockade – by Ahmed Abdulkareem
https://www.mintpressnews.com/manufactured-crisis-how-saudi-arabia-uses-oil-to-bring-yemen-to-its-knees/274107/ = https://english.almasirah.net/post/17069/A-Manufactured-Crisis-How-Saudi-Arabia-Uses-Oil-to-Bring-Yemen-to-its-Knees = http://alwaght.com/en/News/190356/A-Manufactured-Crisis-How-Saudi-Arabia-Uses-Oil-to-Bring-Yemen-to-its-Knees
(** B P)
“I had a death wish”: A report documenting the suffering of prisoners in Houthi prisons
The Euro-Mediterranean Human Rights Monitor documented the grave violations prisoners in Houthi prisons endured in a detailed report, stressing the need to scale up efforts to put an end to such violations and hold perpetrators accountable.
The 40-page report presented the various illegal forms of abduction and torture adopted by Houthis and revealed secret location of some Houthi-run prisons in various Yemeni governorates to torture civilians
The report, entitled "I had a death wish,” is based on 13 testimonies Euro-Med Monitor research team collected from freed prisoners. It is worth mentioning that all of them are civilians and have been released in the UN-sponsored prisoner-swap deal between the warring parties in August 2020. Freed prisoners explained the most prominent violations they were subjected to and the adverse conditions they endured during their detention in Houthi prisons.
Houthis run unofficial centers for detention, including residential buildings, schools, and universities, which do not meet the minimum international and local standards for detention concerning hygiene, ventilation, and the provision of proper health care, water, electricity, and basic necessities.
The report highlighted that COVID-19 has spread widely in the three main detention centers in Sana’a: the Political Prison, the Habra Prison, and the Central Prison. These three prisons are not suitable to be used as detention centers in the first place due to the lack of the minimum legal standards for detention.
Houthis adopt various forms of torture, varying between physical and mental torture. Houthis’ most prominent torture method was sever beating with heavy tools such as rifle butts; Houthis used other forms of torture such as hanging from hands for long periods, whipping detainees while naked, and using chemical incendiary materials. This caused permanent disabilities to some detainees while some others died during torture, especially those who were hit on the head with batons or those who were sprayed with acid.
On the other hand, there were various forms of mental torture. That involved intimidation and pressuring detainees to confess to charges they did not commit. Houthis kept them in solitary confinement, having confiscated their clothes and medicines, and insulted and threatened to harm their families. They also blackmailed their families in exchange for releasing them and threatened to transfer detainees to places under constant bombing from the Arab Coalition warplanes. Most of those released suffer from psychological problems that require long-term rehabilitation.
Ibrahim Ghandari, 40, a former prisoner in Houthi prisons, said in his testimony to Euro-Med Monitor: “I was imprisoned for about five years. I was not presented to court, nor was I allowed to appoint a lawyer. My charge was being a political activist. I was beaten with cables. They used to tie my hands to my feet from behind using chains, deprived me of medicines and painkillers. I spent about five years in an overcrowded and completely closed room with no light, ventilation or sunlight. They only allowed us to use the bathroom for a short period of time not exceeding two minutes three times a day. They did not allow me to communicate with my family except eight months after my detention”.
Tariq Al-Liwa, the legal advisor at the Euro-Med Monitor, said: “Yemeni laws and international agreements and conventions regarding the status of prisoners prohibit all practices committed by Houthis against prisoners, including arbitrary arrest, detaining them in illegal places and not enabling them to exercise their right to legal defense, and violations and practices committed against them, including physical and psychological torture”.
He added, “the atrocities committed inside Houthi prisons make it imperative for all concerned parties, with their different specializations, to assume their responsibilities towards monitoring detention facilities and conditions, and to pressure Houthis to end their policy of kidnapping, enforced disappearance and systematic torture of prisoners, and to hold accountable those involved in these brutal practices.”
Euro-Med Monitor’s report concluded by the following recommendations:
The United Nations Special Rapporteur on torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment should conduct a fact-finding visit to Yemen, and prepare a detailed report to be submitted to the competent authorities documenting violations committed inside prisons, especially by Houthis.
The International Criminal Court (ICC) Prosecutor should open a serious investigation into violations documented in Yemen, especially enforced disappearances, torture and extrajudicial killings, as these acts constitute crimes that fall within the framework of the court's work.
Houthis should immediately and unconditionally release all detainees, reveal the fate of those forcibly disappeared and work to return them to their families without restrictions or threats of prosecution, and to stop practicing torture or any form of inhumane treatment against detainees in the group's prisons.
Report in Arabic
https://euromedmonitor.org/en/article/4092/%E2%80%9CI-had-a-death-wish%E2%80%9D:--A-report-documenting-the-suffering-of-prisoners-in-Houthi-prisons
Full report in English: https://euromedmonitor.org/uploads/reports/Hothisprisonsrepenfinal.pdf
(** B P)
UAE has converted Yemen's Balhaf gas facility into secret prison
Over the past few years, the United Arab Emirates has been pursuing a plethora of agendas in Southern Yemen, whether directly or via backing the separatist Southern Transitional Council (STC).
Among Abu Dhabi’s primary objectives in Yemen are taking control of the country’s western Red Sea coast; the Bab-el-Mandeb, a strait located between Yemen, Djibouti and Eritrea in the Horn of Africa, and Socotra, an archipelago near major shipping routes.
But this hegemonic ambition has never been just limited to taking strategic locations.
The story of Balhaf is a case in point; a major oil facility in Shabwah Governorate turned by the Emiratis into a detention center, among other things.
The existence of the Balhaf prison was first announced by the United Nations in September 2019.
Two months later, Armaments Observatory released a detailed report about the facility which the Emiratis had turned into a military base and a secret prison.
But what made the story strange was the silence of France since the revelation. Given that Total SE, a French multinational oil and gas company, was the biggest shareholder with nearly 40% of stake, critics say the silence is significant.
The fact that they've taken over a gas plant essential for the country's energy supply, and for its economy, and turned it into a detention camp where torture is being reportedly carried on is just an indication of the brutality of this occupation force in Yemen (Gearoid O’ Colmain, Journalist & Political Commentator)
Based on witness accounts, the report also accused Emirati soldiers of treating prisoners inhumanely. The UAE had already been accused of running a secret network of prisons across Yemen.
But I think having prisons in other countries, particularly in Yemen, it's difficult to tell what's happening in Yemen because there's a war. So, I mean, it's much easier to hide political prisoners, torture. It's much more difficult for human rights agencies to tell what exactly is happening. And it's much easier for the authorities and the occupation forces to deny that that these abuses are taking place. So I think having a detention centre in Yemen is advantageous for the United Arab Emirates in that sense. Remember that the United Arab Emirates, is a country that presents an image of itself as a modernising country; it's highly invested in technology. And, you know, Dubai is a major city in the world, major modern city, so it would not work to have this kind of brutality on its own shores. (Gearoid O’ Colmain, Journalist & Political Commentator)
But what made the story strange was the awkward silence of France since the revelation.
French presence in UAE is strategic for Paris
According to Emma Soubrier, Arab Gulf States Institute, “For France, a presence in the UAE is strategic and will allow easy intervention to prevent possible disturbances affecting access to (Persian) Gulf oil.”
https://www.presstv.com/Detail/2021/01/11/642753/France-silent-on-secret-UAE-prison-Yemen-Total-oil-and-gas = https://english.almasirah.net/post/17139/UAE-Has-Converted-Yemen-s-Balhaf-Gas-Facility-into-Secret-Prison
(** B P)
The dark motives behind Saudi Arabia's push for Gulf unity
Mohammad Bin Salman could use the detente with Qatar to achieve two objectives: to announce his own recognition of Israel, and to persuade his father to abdicate the throne.
It took Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman three years and six months to come to the same conclusion that some of us reached days into the blockade of Qatar: that it was doomed to failure.
The project to silence the voice of an independent neighbour was doomed the moment that then-US Defence Secretary James Mattis and then-Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, a former oilman with extensive links to Qatar, learned of plans to invade the peninsula and stopped them.
As the weeks passed, Qatar’s hand was only strengthened. Turkish troops arrived in Doha to form a physical buffer. Iran gave Qatar the use of its airspace. The blockade could never work with an air bridge established around Saudi Arabia.
It took only months for Qatar to assemble a major lobbying operation in Washington, undoing or rolling back the influence of the principal lobbyist for the Saudis, the Emirati ambassador Youssef al-Otaiba, and establishing solid support of its own.
Domestically, Qatar’s emir, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, is held in higher esteem for his defence of the state than he was before, as Qatari nationalism has mounted. Qatar is more self-sufficient and confident than it was before the blockade.
'Qatar has won'
If anything, this unpleasant shock has strengthened Qatar. The same goes for Turkish and Iranian foreign policy.
“You could say Qatar has won,” Abdulkhaleq Abdulla, a professor of politics in Dubai who was one of the foremost defenders of the blockade three years ago, told the Financial Times. “The cost of fighting was too high - there is a realisation now that this is the black sheep of the family and we just have to put up with it. These have been the worst three-and-a-half years in the history of the GCC [Gulf Cooperation Council].”
The sources noted that none of the basic demands made of Qatar - closing down Al Jazeera, shuttering a Turkish military base, severing ties with the Muslim Brotherhood and reducing ties with Iran - had been met. It is too early to say whether this signals a fracturing of the counter-revolutionary forces that have held together since they paid for and installed Sisi as president of Egypt after a military coup in 2013.
Tensions over Yemen and Israel
Certainly, there are grounds for a bust-up between mentor bin Zayed and his protege, bin Salman. One is Yemen: who is really in charge of the Saudi-led intervention that bin Salman launched in March 2015 - the Saudis or the Emiratis? Militias funded by and loyal to the UAE have taken control of the south, leaving the Saudis with an unresolved war with the Houthis in the north.
A second source of tension is Israel. In spearheading normalisation with Israel, the Emiratis clearly pitched themselves as Tel Aviv’s principal Gulf partner. Otaiba’s boast that the UAE and Israel had the two most capable military forces in the region raised eyebrows in Riyadh and Cairo.
Kingdom split
Al Jazeera’s coverage of the tumultuous events shaking the Arab world has waxed and waned. Even before the blockade, it did not, for instance, devote the same attention to the murderous bombardment of Yemen by Saudi warplanes as it did to the Egyptian revolution in 2011.
While producers and reporters are freer to report than most of their contemporaries in the Saudi-, Emirati- and Egyptian-controlled media, the state of Qatar still has its hands on volume control. There are many examples, including the decision to downplay coverage of the trial of Loujain al-Hathloul, the prominent Saudi activist recently sentenced to five years and eight months in prison.
Bin Salman could use this detente with Qatar to achieve two objectives: to announce his own recognition of Israel, and to persuade his father to abdicate and pass the crown to him.
There is no doubt that bin Salman thinks it is time to do both. From the very start of his campaign to become king, establishing close clandestine relations with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has been key to bin Salman’s relationship with US presidential adviser Jared Kushner and his father-in-law, Trump.
The kingdom is split from top to bottom on the issue of normalisation with Israel. Foreign-policy heavyweights in the family still publicly voice opposition, notably the former Saudi intelligence chief, Prince Turki al-Faisal. The king himself, to whom Prince Turki remains close, is also opposed, and the issue will have a strong impact on the Saudi people.
Future turmoil
One first step towards resolving this is to neutralise or turn down the volume of the Arab media that could run against bin Salman. This mainly comes from Qatar, which might explain why Kushner himself was present at the GCC summit.
For all the pain involved, the prize is great - and Biden, a committed Zionist, would welcome it. To deliver Saudi Arabia into the hands of Israel would represent a real prize to the alliance being built over and around the heads of Palestinians. Saudi Arabia remains, by dint of its size and wealth, a “real” Arab nation.
While the resolution of the crisis with Qatar is to be welcomed, the motives for doing so could lead to yet more turmoil in Arab world – by David Hearst
https://www.middleeasteye.net/opinion/dark-motives-behind-saudi-arabias-push-gulf-unity = https://english.almasirah.net/post/17046/The-Dark-Motives-Behind-Saudi-Arabia-s-Push-for-Gulf-Unity-MEE
cp1a Am wichtigsten: Coronavirus und Seuchen / Most important: Coronavirus and epidemics
(A H)
COVID-19 patient dies in Hadramout
http://en.adenpress.news/news/31973
(A H)
Two patients recovered from COVID-19 in al-Baidha
http://en.adenpress.news/news/31964
(A H)
Two new cases of coronavirus reported, 2,104 in total
http://en.adenpress.news/news/31951
cp2 Allgemein / General
(* A K P)
Interactive Map of Yemen War
(* A K)
MILITARY SITUATION IN YEMEN ON JANUARY 12, 2021 (MAP UPDATE)
https://southfront.org/military-situation-in-yemen-on-january-12-2021-map-update/
MILITARY SITUATION IN YEMEN ON JANUARY 11, 2021 (MAP UPDATE)
https://southfront.org/houthis-vow-to-respond-to-us-terrorist-designation/
MILITARY SITUATION IN YEMEN ON JANUARY 10, 2021 (MAP UPDATE)
https://southfront.org/saudi-proxies-repelled-houthi-attack-in-yemeni-province-of-marib-map-update/
MILITARY SITUATION IN YEMEN ON JANUARY 9, 2021 (MAP UPDATE)
https://southfront.org/saudi-backed-forces-recapture-mountain-chain-from-houthis-in-al-jawf/
(* B K P)
A pragmatic view on Yemen’s Houthis
Thanks to Saudi Arabia’s reckless decision to intervene in Yemen six years ago, Iran has acquired a non-state ally in the Arabian Peninsula along with a base to threaten the Bab el-Mandeb, the strategic waterway that links Europe to the Indian Ocean. Tehran has gained an unprecedented strategic advantage with very little expenditure of human and financial resources. The Biden-Harris administration should make ending the war an urgent priority.
In 2015, the Iranians and Hezbollah had only dozens of advisers and experts in Yemen, and had trained a handful of Houthis in Iran and Lebanon.
Now their presence is much larger, and they provide critical expertise and equipment to assist the Houthi missile and drone program that keeps up a steady fire on Saudi cities and military bases as well as Aden, the port city in South Yemen where the Saudi-supported regime operates. Despite the Saudi blockade and American interception efforts, the Iranians are steadily getting aid to the rebels. This costs Iran a pittance, compared to the tens of billions of dollars the Saudis have spent on the war. It is a very expensive quagmire for Riyadh.
This fall, Iran sent its first ambassador to Yemen since the old government expelled the last one in 2015.
The architect of the Saudi-led war is Crown Prince Muhammad bin Salman, who has no military training or experience. He has bungled the job from the start. The crown prince is pressing Washington to designate the Houthis as a Foreign Terrorist Organization (FTO). The Houthis are a violent and dangerous organization — with very extremist propaganda — but they have not attacked Americans or Israelis, despite their rhetoric.
The Department of State has announced it will designate the Houthis as an FTO, which will also hamper the efforts of humanitarian relief organizations to get food and medicine to Yemeni civilians living in the territory that the rebels control.
MANAGING THE HOUTHIS RIGHT
The Houthis are non-state actors that aspire to be recognized as the legitimate rulers of Yemen. The United States had a dialogue with the Houthis before 2015. The Pentagon’s then-Undersecretary of Intelligence Michael Vickers said the insurgents were providing useful information on al-Qaida in 2015, information that helped American counterterrorism missions.
But treating them as an Iranian puppet may well lead them to conducting terrorism against Americans. The Houthis have a horrendous human rights record and are thugs. But they are a reality that must be dealt with, and clearly there is no military solution to the challenge they pose.
Getting a new legal basis for the diplomacy to end the war would also have the benefit of bringing the international community behind the effort
https://www.brookings.edu/blog/order-from-chaos/2021/01/11/a-pragmatic-view-on-yemens-houthis/
My comment: An US-centered view.
(B K P)
Yemen cannot afford to have another year of Saudi and UAE impunity
Saudi Arabia's de facto leader Bin Salman must reassess whether his actions are in line with the tenets of Islam; he is, after all, the heir to the title "Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques" in Makkah and Madinah, the spiritual centre of the Muslim world. The war that brought Yemen to the brink of starvation and death should be a matter of regret for the Saudi Crown Prince because it is in complete contradiction of Islamic values, including the requirement to care for those in need.
Sadly, calls to end the war and implement measures to rebuild and rehabilitate Yemen appear to have fallen on deaf ears. It is surely time for the international community to speak up and put pressure on those in power to act now to save the Yemenis from further heartache. Yemen cannot afford to have yet another year of Saudi Arabia and the UAE being allowed to act with impunity.
(* B K pH)
Human Rights Commission releases scathing report on horrible human cost of Saudi invasion
A Human Rights Commission report revealed that there have been unjustified attacks on thousands of civilians in Yemen, destroying thousands of homes and killing and injuring thousands of civilians, as a result of Saudi-led aggression war on Yemen.
The move came during a joint meeting held for members of the Shura Council and the [Sanaa gov.] Ministry of Human Rights, to discuss the report on crimes and human violations of Saudi-led aggression, submitted by the Commission on Human Rights and Public Freedoms as well as various civil society organisations.
The report of the Human Rights Commission confirmed that unjustified attacks have affected thousands of civilians and led to the destruction of hundreds of thousands of homes, injuring and killing a large number of residents all over the country.
It listed more than 80% of aviation sector workers lost their jobs due to the attacks, and the navigation guidance system at Sana’a Airport was destroyed.
The report documented the targeting and bombing of centers used for treating disabilities, which resulted in many serious injuries and a grave psychological impact, as well as the killing of a number of residents of the centers.
Many of them got stuck inside targeted buildings due to their inability to move and evacuate quickly.
The report pointed out that as a result of the blockade the poverty rate rose to 80%, the unemployment rate is at 65%, and more than 60% of Yemenis suffer from starvation.
The report indicated that the discontinuation of of state employees salaries impacts a total of 1.25 million employees, who support 35% of the population.
The relocation of the Central Bank caused a great shortage in jobs as heads of households lost the ability to provide food and medicine. The report pointed out that about 30% of those stranded outside Yemen were unable to enter Yemen due to the closure of Sana’a International airport.
According to the report, the direct bombings led to the destruction of more than 3,930 roads and bridges, more than 4,976 km of road and more than 101 bridges. 14 seaports were completely or partially destroyed, the cranes of the sea ports destroyed, 9 civilian airports were completely or partially ruined, 4 civil aircraft were burned, and more than 6 sectors of civil aviation and meteorology were destroyed.
The Committee documented the total and partial destruction of more than 2,023 public facilities and 11 branches of the Social Welfare Fund.
It documented the aggression’s destruction of more than 1,030 sites, facilities, and a civil telecommunication networks, as well as the destruction of 538 installations, networks and power stations, and the killing of 383 employees in the electricity sector.
Moreover, it documented the total and partial destruction of 41 complexes and governmental buildings belonging to the judicial authority’s, and the martyrdom of a number of judges, most notably Judge Yahya Rubaid.
The Commission furthermore reported the destruction of more than 1,324 mosques, more than 417 historical and archaeological monuments, and more than 364 tourist facilities, 47 audio-visual and legible media institutions and 131 sports facilities.
In terms of the petrochemical industry, 472 facilities, stations and oil and gas tankers were destroyed by the aggression, resulting in the destruction of 163,000 household gas cylinders and the obstruction of the repair of the floating Safer oil reservoir off the coast of Hodeidah.
(A K P)
Former leading Salafist defects to revolutionary government of Yemen
A head of the Salafi organisation known as the al-Rashad party, which is loyal to the Saudi-led coalition, has on Sunday arrived in the Yemeni capital of Sana’a from Jawf province.
According to informed sources, Misfer bin Ali Shafiam, formerly the leader of the Salafist party and advisor of Hadi puppet government-appointed governor of Jawf, has defected to the National Salvation Government of Yemen, along with several of his companions.
(A K P)
New defections hit UAE occupation forces in Yemen
The United Arab Emirate (UAE) occupation forces and their militias have received a new military blow on Yemen’s west coast.
Informed local sources confirmed that several members and officers of a mercenary military battalion forces led by Yahya Arabek, defected to the side of the defenders of Yemen.
The entire battalion announced their return to the ranks of the of the Yemeni army and Popular Committees, in order to defend the homeland against Saudi-led aggression forces, the sources said.
https://hodhodyemennews.net/2021/01/10/new-defections-hit-uae-occupation-forces-in-yemen/
(A P)
24 Yemeni fishermen released by Eritrea
The Ansar Allah group, known as the Houthis, on Saturday announced the arrival of 24 Yemeni fishermen in Hodeidah province from Eritrea where they had been held for three months.
They arrived at the area of Al-Khouba, said director of the local fish landing center, Mohammed Hashim, pointing out that the fishermen had been detained in Yemen's territorial waters.
https://debriefer.net/en/news-22379.html
(* A P)
Saudi invaders establish new, and so far largest, Salafist training center in southern Yemen
Saudi Arabia has on Sunday established the largest Salafist camp so far, in the southern Yemeni city of Dhalea, Yemen News Portal (YNP) reported, citing local sources.
According to YNP, the move is aimed at blocking the UAE-backed Southern Transitional Council, amid recent fears of rapprochement with between them and Ansarullah.
Saudi-based Salafist leaders have opened their largest so-called religious complex yet, known as the “House of Hadith for Islamic Sciences”. The building is ostensibly aimed at training and settling hundreds of pro-Saudi Wahhabi fighters.
The Saudi move has sparked controversy in Dhalea, which lacks most basic services, most notably hospitals.
The center would bring the city, which forms the northern gate of Aden, under Saudi control through the Wahhabi movement.
With it, Saudi Arabia aims to establish a belt between the north and the south, and has already set up several training centers in Lahj, specifically in the border areas with Taiz, as well as in Yafa’a on the border with Bayda.
Before the September 21 Revolution of 2014, Salafist organisations funded by Saudi Arabia held a major influence in Yemen. The northern Yemeni city of Dammaj even held one of the largest Wahhabi training centers in the world at a certain time.
The Saudi-led center, known as “Dar al-Hadith” by its adherents, was eventually shut down by the revolutionary forces of Yemen following the liberation of Dammaj in 2014.
(* B H K P)
Audio: Best of: Steht Jemen vor dem Zerfall?
Nach fünf Jahren Krieg ist das ärmste arabische Land vollkommen zerrüttet. Den Norden kontrollieren fast vollständig die Huthi-Rebellen, im Süden fordern Separatisten einen eigenen Staat. Droht Jemen auseinanderzufallen? Oder wäre eine Spaltung sogar die Lösung, könnte sie den Krieg beenden? Arabia Felix, das glückliche Arabien, so hiess das fruchtbare Stammesgebiet in der Antike. Heute hängt das kriegsversehrte Land an der Südspitze der arabischen Halbinsel am Tropf der internationalen Nothilfe.
Die Separatisten im Süden fordern bereits die Abspaltung, sie erhoffen sich Stabilität von einem unabhängigen Staat Süd-Jemen, wie es ihn bis vor 30 Jahren gab. Fünf Jahre nach Kriegsbeginn steht Saudi-Arabien in Jemen vor einem Debakel.
https://www.podcast.de/episode/519349531/Best%2Bof%253A%2BSteht%2BJemen%2Bvor%2Bdem%2BZerfall%253F/
(* B K P)
Interview: Shireen Al-Adeimi on the U.S.-Backed War in Yemen
SA: I think the most important aspect—the defining feature, I would say—is sovereignty. They [Houthis] reject U.S. intervention. They have been very clear about [their anger that] the U.S. has used Yemen as [its] backyard, with the drone fights and whatnot, which are “constitutional” but extremely harmful towards civilians over there. So, part of their complaints were about sovereignty, about U.S. interventions, about Saudi interventions in Yemen, and Saudi influence in Yemen. So, I would say that that’s their most defining characteristic, and this fight for them is a fight for sovereignty.
Yemen has this long history of being used, essentially. This poor Middle Eastern country, that’s been used by people in power who feel like they need to control it, because there’s this racist [argument] that they can’t control themselves. And it comes back to resources and influence and all of that. The U.S. supported the Saudis the day that the Saudis began bombing. They began bombing on March 26, 2015 and they made the announcement that they were bombing in English, not in Arabic. From D.C., not from Riyadh, by the [Saudi] foreign minister. And the Obama White House released a statement that same day saying that they were supporting the coalition fully, that they were backing the legitimacy of President Hadi, and that they were providing the logistical support—the military support and all sorts of support—even though all of this was unconstitutional. The President can’t go to war without congressional approval.
EM: OK, now you mentioned geography a little bit and one relevant factor is that Saudi Arabia, of course, borders Yemen. So, they have security concerns. One Saudi justification that I’ve heard is that Iran or Iranian proxies are in Yemen. Is there any legitimacy to this claim?
SA: I mean that’s what they use to justify their crimes in Yemen. The Houthis are not Iranian proxies. They’re close with Iran, but they’re not Iranian proxies. They posed no security threat to Saudi Arabia until Saudi Arabia began bombing and the Houthis figured that, while they can’t respond in kind, there’s no Saudi military ground troops in Yemen because they hire mercenaries.
So, the Houthis took their war across the border and you see these skirmishes across in Saudi Arabia. [The] concern was that Saudi Arabia has always had their men in Yemen. They’ve always had a president who was willing to do Saudi Arabia’s bidding and so did the United States. Saleh was a U.S. man. He was a strong U.S. ally in the war against terrorism.
the key factor here is that it’s always been of Saudis’ interest and they’ve always had this [influence] in Yemen in the last several decades. They’ve always had someone in Yemen willing to do their bidding. Saleh was a very close Saudi ally. [When] he suffered burns after the assassination attempt, he was treated in Saudi Arabia and recovered in Saudi Arabia and then came back to Yemen. With the rise of the Houthis, the Saudis realized that they were going to lose that control. They were going to lose Yemen because if you have a group who detests Wahhabism, who detests foreign intervention, then Saudis are going to lose control over Bab-al-Mandeb. They’re going to lose control over this unpredictable southern neighbor, essentially, as they see it.
EM: To the extent that you can describe Hezbollah as an Iranian proxy, what do you think of that claim?
SA: I can’t assess that claim. But as far as I know, Hezbollah was funded initially by Iran. But I don’t know if you can classify them as proxies. Again, I’m not saying that the Houthis don’t have a relationship with Iran and Hezbollah. They do. They find themselves in this war going on six years, completely blockaded and bombarded by their neighbors and starved out, and the only people willing to support them somehow are Hezbollah and Iran. [And the Houthis] will take that support, except that it is very minimal.
So, it doesn’t [add] up to the status of proxy. The Houthis have publicly rejected Iranian advice—for example, Iranians were very unhappy about them taking over Sana’a. The Houthis are like, “It’s not up to you.” Iranians said at some point in 2016, “Oh, we’ll send some advisors.” And the Houthis were very upset about that and said, “We didn’t ask for advisors.” And so, this isn’t…. a proxy relationship as it has been described.
https://www.currentaffairs.org/2021/01/interview-shireen-al-adeimi-on-the-u-s-backed-war-in-yemen
(A K P)
Thousands of protesters in the government-held city center of Taiz have demanded the international community to end the Houthi siege on themselves and on Al-Haymah, an outskirt under Houthi control, but the militia started to encircle and shell with tanks from this week./Multiple websites.
https://www.alsahwa-yemen.net/en/p-44370
(A K P)
Rights body calls UN to pressure Houthis amid attacks
The network accused Houthis of taking eight children hostage, detaining 20 civilians and detonating bombs in four houses in the same region.
The statement asked UN Special Envoy to Yemen Martin Griffiths to condemn these acts as crimes against humanity and massacres, as well as to put pressure on the Houthis to end their violations.
https://www.aa.com.tr/en/middle-east/rights-body-calls-un-to-pressure-houthis-amid-attacks/2103745
(* B P)
The Biden administration’s Yemen imperative
Ending the war in Yemen, which has raged for the past six years, would fulfill two stated goals of the incoming Joe Biden administration: restoring the United States’ leadership role in international affairs and reducing tensions in the Gulf. In addition, it would be in the best national security interests of the US.
Former President Barack Obama’s administration sacrificed Yemen at the altar of achieving the 2015 nuclear agreement with Iran and securing short-term counterterrorism goals by heavily relying on the use of drones against al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP). The Donald Trump administration bought into the Saudi-Emirati argument that the Houthi rebels, acting as a proxy force for Iran, were intent on taking over Yemen to extend Iran’s influence to the Bab al-Mandab Strait and the Red Sea. The Arab coalition led by Saudi Arabia, which launched a war against the Houthis in 2015 in order to combat Iran’s “malign” influence, got the equation backwards. It was precisely the Saudi intervention—first in 2009-2010 on behalf of then President Ali Abdullah Saleh, and again in 2015 with the coalition’s war—that pushed the Houthis closer to Iran. What started as an internal struggle for power in Yemen has turned into a dangerous regional conflict that has only brought poverty, disease, and famine.
The Biden administration will have a chance to correct past mistakes by averting further destabilization of the region and by lifting Yemen from its current status as the world’s worst humanitarian disaster.
the Trump administration had very little interest in investing much energy in ending the war. For his part, Griffiths has thus far lacked the superpower support he needs to succeed in his mission. This is where the incoming Biden administration can play a role.
Deconstruction of the Yemen conflict
The Yemen war has three interlinked components: internal, regional, and international. Ending the war will require a complex strategy dealing with all three levels.
Internal
The political transition, which was called for by the 2011 youth uprising, has stalled. Yemen’s descent into chaos started with the frustrated goals of that uprising: an end to corruption and the installation of a government that truly represents the Yemeni people and cares about their grievances.
Regional
The geography of Yemen, as a natural extension of the Arabian Peninsula with shores on the Arabian Sea and the Red Sea, tempts Saudi Arabia and the UAE to pursue their national commercial interests there. The Horn of Africa provides a desirable route for a potential Saudi oil pipeline from its oil fields directly to the Arabian Sea, circumventing, if need-be, the Strait of Hormuz. Access to ports in Aden and the Socotra Archipelago at the entrance to the Red Sea has similarly interested the UAE for years.
Working through armed proxies in a divided country will never protect the security and economic interests of Saudi Arabia and the UAE the way commercial agreements—buttressed by international security arrangements—might do with a peaceful and stable country.
The interests of Saudi Arabia, the UAE, and Iran, not to mention the US and Europe, are now intertwined with local interests. International actors, including European, American, and other arms exporters must be brought into an agreement to end the war via a moratorium on the export of arms to the region—at least for the duration of new peace talks and preferably through a successful end to such talks.
Urgent matters
As the Biden administration brings renewed focus on Yemen, an agreement on a country-wide ceasefire is an urgent first step, as the human cost of the Yemen tragedy is horrifyingly high and continues to climb. Given tensions in the Gulf, Yemen’s utility as a confrontation zone will only grow with time. The peace talks that follow a ceasefire must be managed closely by the Biden administration.
https://www.atlanticcouncil.org/blogs/menasource/the-biden-administrations-yemen-imperative/
My comment: A main stream US centrist “democrat” article. Better than what had happened before , but, of course, claiming an US “leading role”. Whatfor? US “leadership” has been a horrifying experience for the greatest part of the world for decades.
(* B P)
Yemen: 112 media freedom violations during 2020
The Yemeni Journalists’ Syndicate (YJS) has documented 112 cases of violations of media and journalists’ rights in 2020, including killings, torture, kidnappings, arrests and bans. The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) stands in solidarity with Yemeni media workers and joins its affiliate in warning warring parties against intolerable attacks against the media.
In its annual report on press freedom violations in Yemen, the YJS again identifies Yemen’s internationally recognized government of President Hadi and the Houthis who lead the de facto government in Sana as those mainly responsible for the attacks against media workers. The government committed 44% of all registered violations while the Houthi group was responsible for 29.5% of the violations. Unknown individuals committed 13 violations ( 11.6%) and the Southern Transitional Council (STC) committed 12 (10.7%).
The YJS reported 33 (29.5%) cases of kidnappings and arrests in addition to 22 cases (19.6%) of threats and incitement against journalists. Thirteen cases (11.6%) of bans and confiscation of material and equipment and 10 cases (8.9%) of prosecution and investigation were reported. In addition, 10 cases (8.9%) of journalists being suspended from their job and 7 cases (6.3%) of torture were reported. Six cases (5.4%) of assaults and 3 cases (2.7%) of murder were documented.
(* B H K P)
Yemen, a Quagmire for Saudi Coalition and Imperialists
The Saudi-led war on Yemen continues to intensify the humanitarian crisis in the country. 3.6 million people in Yemen have been internally displaced and live in makeshift shelters and refugee camps inside Yemen.
Hundreds of thousands of Yemenis chose to make the perilous journey to leave Yemen to seek safety and asylum in other countries such as Egypt, Djibouti, Somalia, Malaysia, Jordan, and Sudan. These families that were forced out of their beloved homeland by the Saudi-led war find themselves stranded in foreign countries with very little support.
Imperialists Complicity and Hypocrisy of the War
Since the start of the war, the United States has only accepted over 50 refugees from Yemen! In contrast, the U.S. has provided political, logistical, and military support to Saudi Arabia to carry out the war under the guise of restoring legitimacy and stability to the region. Over five years of Saudi-led war on Yemen only achieved death and destruction with no peace or stability in sight.
Saudi Arabia was the largest importer of weapons globally in 2015–2019 and the United States was its biggest supplier with billions of dollars’ worth of arms sales. In his last days in office, U.S. President Donald Trump is pushing to complete a $500 million arms sale to the Saudi Kingdom and a $23 billion arms sale to the United Arab Emirates.
The U.K. government also continues to profit from weapons sales and to provide military training to Saudi Arabia. An article published on September 23, 2020, in Declassified UK, an investigative journalism website, exposed that Saudi combat aircraft pilots continue to receive training in the U.K. by the British Royal Air Force.
Just like the U.S. and the U.K., Canada also has blood on its hands as it also continues to profit from selling arms to Saudi Arabia and other countries in the military coalition. According to data from the “Canadian International Merchandise Trade Database,” Canada has exported over $600 million worth of “Tanks and other armoured fighting vehicles, motorized, and parts” to Saudi Arabia just in the period between July and October 2020.
In contrast, Canada contributed $220 million in humanitarian assistance for Yemen since the war in 2015. Canada’s amount of money made selling weapons to Saudi Arabia in the last four months is three times higher than the total amount donated by the government in aid for Yemen in over five years! Such hypocrisy!
In addition to profiting from the war, Canada also joins other Western countries in disregarding the Yemeni refugee situation. While hundreds of thousands of Yemenis are still stranded in transit countries, Canada has only accepted 124 refugees from Yemen between January to June 2020. What a shame!
No to the War on Yemen
The hypocrisy of countries like the U.K., the U.S., and Canada is so revolting. As long as they continue their political and military support for the Saudi-led war on Yemen, there will be no solution to the country’s humanitarian or political situation. We must hold our respective governments accountable and demand an immediate end to the war and that they open the borders to Yemeni refugees and grant them asylum.
https://www.counterpunch.org/2021/01/08/yemen-a-quagmire-for-saudi-coalition-and-imperialists/
(? B P T)
Film: Who was behind the Aden airport attack?
With the help of open source intelligence, Eekad team was able identify the party responsible for the Aden airport attack.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WDzpHh6voTc
(A K P)
Houthis say coalition forces prepare for dangerous escalation
The Ansar Allah group, known as the Houthis, on Wednesday accused the pro-government joint forces of military escalation and recruiting terrorists from Syria and Iraq to fight in Yemen's Western province of Hodeidah.
Chief of staff at the defence ministry in the Sanaa-based national salvation government and head of the group's team in the Redeployment Coordination Committee Maj. Gen. Ali Al-Moshki condemned continued airstrikes by a Saudi-led coalition backing the government.
At a meeting with head of the United Nations Mission to
support the Hudaydah Agreement (UNMHA) and the Redeployment
Coordination Committee Abhijit Guha, he held the United Nations fully responsible for escalation and attacks on civilians and civilian objects by the coalition and the government forces.
https://debriefer.net/en/news-22315.html
(* B H K)
Eine verlorene Generation
Jemen: Das von Krieg und Zerfall gezeichnete Land ächzt unter Stillstand und Unterernährung – nun kommt noch Covid dazu
Die ölreiche, zwischen allen Konfliktparteien im Jemen umkämpfte Provinz Schabwa ist, verglichen mit anderen Regionen, relativ stabil. Hier haben sich viele durch Kämpfe vertriebene Jemeniten aus anderen Landesteilen und aus Saudi-Arabien zurückgeschickte Arbeitsmigranten angesiedelt. So wuchs die Bevölkerung von 600.000 auf gut eine Million. Früher überquerten Seidenstraßen-Karawanen die Tafelberge, die über Schabwas Flachland thronen – heute werden sie durch Ölpipelines und Panzerkonvois ersetzt. Mohammed Saleh bin Adyo, seit 2018 regierender Gouverneur, hat viel in lokale Sicherheitskräfte und Infrastruktur investiert, um ausländische Ölfirmen zurückzuholen. Was diese daran hindert, sind anhaltende Gefechte zwischen der vom Westen unterstützten saudischen Koalition, den den Norden beherrschenden Huthi-Rebellen und einer separatistischen Bewegung, die für einen unabhängigen Südjemen kämpft. In der Wüste lauert die jemenitische Al-Qaida-Filiale.
Der einheimische Rial hat seit Beginn des Konflikts Anfang 2015 zwei Drittel seines Wertes verloren, sodass es für viele Jemeniten stets schwieriger wird, sich ausreichend zu versorgen. Die Gefahr einer Unterernährung ist in Schabwa wie im gesamten südlichen Jemen laut einer UN-Studie 2020 um zehn Prozent gestiegen, bei den unter Fünfjährigen gar um 15 Prozent.
Auf Ataqs Markt wollen alle verkaufen, aber niemand kauft.
Als Covid-19 Anfang 2020 ausbrach, befürchteten die WHO und viele Hilfsorganisationen, dass die Konsequenzen für den Jemen katastrophal sein würden, und gingen von einer Infektionsrate von bis zu 90 Prozent aus. Bisher jedoch scheint das ausgezehrte Land die Pandemie besser zu überstehen als gedacht. Bis Ende November wurden etwa 2.200 Infektionen und 611 Todesfälle gemeldet.
„Vergangene Woche habe ich einen kleinen Jungen an das Denguefieber verloren, weil wir kein Medikament dahatten, das wir ihm hätten geben können. Ich habe alle Krankenhäuser im Süden kontaktiert – niemand konnte helfen. Vielleicht hätte er überlebt“, sagt der Kinderarzt Saleh al-Khamsi. „Wenn der Krieg irgendwann endet, haben wir womöglich eine ganze Generation verloren.“
https://www.freitag.de/autoren/the-guardian/eine-verlorene-generation
The English original from The Guardian, Nov. 2020: https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2020/nov/27/yemen-disease-covid-war
(* B P)
[from 2016] Tribal Mediation and Empowered Women: Potential Contributions of Heritage to National Development in Yemen
When demonstrations against Yemen's former regime first began in 2011, observers expressed surprise at two developments: first, that women led the demonstrations, and second, that Yemen's heavily armed tribes did not lead the country into civil war. Instead, a significant number of tribesmen went into cities to protect demonstrators from harm, and others protected their own communities from the incursions of outsiders. This article suggests that both developments are rooted in a deeply engrained tribal heritage that provides social capital, contributes to Yemeni soci-ety's resilience and counteracts stereotypes of primitivism by prioritizing mediation, dialogue and consensus above the facile use of force or terrorism. Ways in which this heritage can be harnessed to support national reconciliation and development are proposed. Yemen's tribal heritage is threatened by recurrent political and economic crises, various forms of modernism, and imported conservative interpretations of Islam that perceive tribalism as divisive and women's mobility unacceptable. By far the most serious threat to Yemen's population and heritage, however, is the current war unleashed by Saudi Arabia and its allies, which threatens to destroy the very foundations of Yemeni society.
(* B K P)
[from 2015] War in Yemen: Revolution and Saudi Intervention
Yemen is once more at the focus of international attention: Internal power struggles continue in the wake of authoritarian president Ali Abdullah Saleh’s relinquishment of power during the Arab Spring and the initiation of a national dialog. The power grab by Houthi rebels has prompted a military response by neighboring Saudi Arabia.
https://www.academia.edu/12776477/War_in_Yemen_Revolution_and_Saudi_Intervention
cp2a Saudische Blockade / Saudi blockade
Siehe / Look at cp1
cp3 Humanitäre Lage / Humanitarian situation
Siehe / Look at cp1
(* B H)
FACTSHEET Jemen
Die humanitäre Krise im Jemen verbleibt die schlimmste in der Welt. Am 26.3. jährt sich der aktuelle Konflikt zum sechsten Mal. Dieser und schwerer wirtschaftlicher Verfall treiben das Land und seine Bevölkerung weiter in den Hunger und verschärfen die Lage in allen Lebensbereichen. Schätzungsweise 82 Prozent der Bevölkerung – über 24 Millionen Menschen – sind auf humanitäre Hilfe angewiesen. Die Hauptursachen sind weit zurück in der Geschichte des Landes zu suchen. Die Eskalation verschiedener Konflikte und die Gewalt-Ausbrüche gegen die Zivilgesellschaft begannen jedoch in der Folge der gescheiterten Proteste während des „Arabischen Frühlings“. Das Land ist faktisch in zwei Teile zerfallen: den Westen und Norden mit der Hauptstadt Sanaa beherrschen die Huthi-Rebellen, die u.a. vom Iran unterstützt werden. Im Süden des Landes regiert aus der Stadt Aden Präsident Mansur Hadi, militärisch gestützt durch eine von Saudi-Arabien geführte Koalition. Die Not wird immer größer und die Zahl der Menschen in akuter Not steigt weiterhin. Für sie wird die Situation, angesichts von immer wieder aufkommenden Kampfhandlungen, des eingeschränkten Zugangs von Hilfsorganisationen, der Blockaden von Häfen und anderen Versorgungsstandorten etc., immer dramatischer. Der Jemen erlebt derzeit eine der schlimmsten humanitären Katastrophen unserer Zeit.
(* B H)
Film: Hungertod im Jemen
Ein tödlicher Mix aus Krieg, Fluten, der Corona-Pandemie und dem Mangel an Hilfsgütern verschärft die ohnehin schon katastrophale humanitäre Situation im Jemen. Vor allem die Kinder brauchen Hilfe.
(A H)
MONA Relief: More blankets were delivered today in Sana'a to the most vulnerable families & IDPs. We have finished the 2nd phase targeting 400 families & preparing for the 3rd phase to target 600 families others. The project was funded by Partners Relief and Development & Karmagawa (photos)
https://twitter.com/Fatikr/status/1349075041405849605
(B H)
Yemen Joint Market Monitoring Initiative: December Situation Overview 2020
The Yemen Joint Market Monitoring Initiative (JMMI) was launched by REACH in collaboration with the Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene (WASH) Cluster and the Cash and Market Working Group (CMWG) to support humanitarian actors with the harmonization of price monitoring among all cash actors in Yemen. The JMMI incorporates information on market systems including price levels and supply chains. The basket of goods to be assessed includes ten non-food items (NFIs), such as fuel, water, and hygiene products, reflecting the programmatic areas of the WASH Cluster. The JMMI tracks all components of the WASH and Food Survival Minimum Expenditure Basket (SMEB) as well as other food and non-food items. In light of the current COVID-19 pandemic, REACH has adapted the JMMI to begin assessing the potential impact of the pandemic on markets and on respondents' businesses.
(B H)
Yemen WANTS Situation Overview, October- December 2020
The Yemen WASH Cluster (YWC) launched the WASH Needs Tracking System (WANTS) with the support of REACH to provide high quality WASH data and inform more effective programming and planning.
https://reliefweb.int/report/yemen/yemen-wants-situation-overview-october-december-2020
and for one district: https://reliefweb.int/report/yemen/yemen-wash-needs-tracking-system-wants-hajar-district-hadramawt-governorate-december
(B H)
WHO: Yemen: Health Cluster Bulletin, November 2020
A total of 2,263 Health Facilities (16 Governorate Hospitals, 126 District Hospitals, 60 General Hospitals, 22 Specialized Hospitals, 568 Health Centers and 1,471Health Units) are being supported by Health Cluster Partners.
As of the 30th of November 2020, 2087 positive COVID-19 cases and 607 deaths have been confirmed by MOH Aden (COVID-19 reports are only from the southern governorates).
The cumulative total number of suspected Cholera cases from the 1st of January to the 30th of November 2020 is 221436 with 80 associated deaths (CFR 0.04%). Children under five represent 26.5% whilst the elderly above 60 years of age accounted for 6.0% of total suspected cases. The outbreak has so far affected in 2020 : 22 of 23 governorates and 300 of 333 districts in Yemen.
https://reliefweb.int/report/yemen/yemen-health-cluster-bulletin-november-2020
(B H)
Yemen: Humanitarian Response Snapshot (October 2020)
In the year to October 2020, 192 humanitarian organizations continued to deliver aid to an average of 10.4 million people a month. While the number of people reached with assistance decreased across many cluster areas, partners continued to provide support to millions of people – an average of 10.1 million were reached each month with food assistance, over 5.4 million were reached with WASH services, 600,397 were supported by Health Cluster partners and 461,884 received nutrition treatment.
https://reliefweb.int/report/yemen/yemen-humanitarian-response-snapshot-october-2020
(B H)
UNOCHA: Yemen Humanitarian Update Issue 12 (December 2020)
Emergency Relief Coordinator reiterates that Yemen is being starved while the Security Council echoes calls for action
Senior UN officials condemn attack on Aden airport, which caused multiple civilian casualties, as new government arrived in Yemen
UN Secretary-General calls for more to be done to end the devastating conflict in Yemen on the anniversary of the Stockholm Agreement
COVID-19 amplifies underlying vulnerabilities in Yemen
Rial reaches all-time low in southern governorates, compounding threats to food security, before rallying by the year-end
https://reliefweb.int/report/yemen/yemen-humanitarian-update-issue-12-december-2020
(B H)
WFP: Yemen Monthly Overview December 2020
https://reliefweb.int/report/yemen/yemen-monthly-overview-december-2020
(* B H)
Crisis in Yemen: Unrelenting conflict and risk of famine
Here are five reasons the International Rescue Committee’s Emergency Watchlist ranks Yemen as the country most at risk of humanitarian catastrophe in 2021.
Yemen tops the International Rescue Committee's annual Emergency Watchlist for the third year in a row: a consequence of over five years of war and severe underfunding that has pushed the country to new lows in 2020. Here's what you need to know about what is still the world’s largest humanitarian emergency.
Meanwhile, the COVID-19 pandemic and a steep drop in humanitarian funding put the country at risk of massive further deterioration. People are increasingly struggling to get enough food and the World Food Programme has warned that Yemen could face famine in 2021.
“Yemen faces a triple threat from conflict, hunger and a collapsing international response," says Abeer Fowzi, the IRC's deputy nutrition coordinator. "At the end of 2020, malnutrition for children under 5 was the highest ever recorded, yet, in the face of an unprecedented threat, the world has turned its back on Yemen."
"Never before have Yemenis faced so little support from the international community—or so many simultaneous challenges,” says Fowzi. Here are five reasons Yemen is the country most at risk of humanitarian catastrophe in 2021, for the third year in a row.
Stalled peace efforts and competition for control of Yemen’s oil fields put the country at risk of escalating violence and even greater humanitarian needs.
Yemenis tell the IRC that they are more concerned about hunger than COVID-19, although the pandemic is increasing the risk of famine by deepening Yemen’s economic crisis.
Parties to the conflict in Yemen often disregard their obligations under international humanitarian law to protect civilians and facilitate humanitarian access.
The humanitarian response faces unprecedented threats from underfunding, on top of one of the world’s most challenging operating environments.
An avoidable oil-tanker disaster could cause catastrophic disruptions to economic activity and humanitarian aid.
https://www.rescue-uk.org/article/crisis-yemen-unrelenting-conflict-and-risk-famine
(* B H)
Two-thirds of Yemenis lack access to safe water, basic health services: Red Cross
The International Committee of the Red Cross in Yemen says the Saudi-led coalition’s aggression against the Arab country has deprived two-thirds of Yemenis of access to potable water and basic health services.
“Two out of three Yemenis lack access to safe water and basic health services,” the Red Cross said in a post in its Twitter account.
“We provided 800,000 liters of fuel to the Local Corporation for Water and Sanitation and to Al-Thawra Hospital in Hudaydah, in addition to our regular support for the water and health sector around Yemen, but the need remains great,” it added.
(B H)
Film: These Yemeni women with disabilities are battling to become basketball champions – and to fight stereotypes.
https://twitter.com/ajplus/status/1348404251475656710
(A H)
your donations made possible for @ghalebalsudmy to distribute 20 foodbaskets to poor families within the last two weeks. this means, that about 120 people will have enough to eat for the next month thank you so much! from this hall the baskets go to the needy people . (photos, films)
https://twitter.com/clauci2nd/status/1347312010053218304
(* B H)
Can Solar Power Save Lives in Rural Yemen?
High fuel prices restrict mobility as villagers cannot afford to pay, forcing them to rely on what little services are available locally. As the only health facility in Al-Za’zea, Al Ulya healthcare center has become indispensable. When faced with a shortage of power supply things looked dire — the lives of children were now at risk as vaccines could not be kept cold without power for the refrigerators. At its worst, only 50 children were being vaccinated per month, and with limited access to gas for the refrigerators, vaccinations were often delivered 1–3 months late.
Today, with the support of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and its local partner, Oxfam, 27 healthcare facilities across Yemen have been provided with solar micro-grids and solar-power refrigerators, benefitting more than 208,000 people. Now operating at much higher capacity, the healthcare center is able to vaccinate almost 70 children monthly.
These solar micro-grids and solar-powered vaccine refrigerators provide 24 hours of electricity every day, saving families a long and costly — and sometimes dangerous — three-hour journey to the next operational healthcare facility.
The increased availability of medical services provides care for over 5,000 people living in the Al-Za’zea catchment area, “The reliable electricity supply has improved our capacity, increasing the number of patients we can receive — which includes up to 175 visits per month by local women seeking family planning services and pregnancy care, as well as treatment for malnourished children,” explains Tariq.
https://medium.com/@UNDPArabic/can-solar-power-save-lives-in-rural-yemen-dcda480af802
(B H)
A road was paved and poured in AD Al Mahwit, by popular and charitable efforts of the people of the province (photos)
https://twitter.com/safaa_alhabal/status/1347417282650271750
(B H)
Im Jemen droht die weltweit schlimmste Hungersnot
Erneut warnt eine Hilfsorganisation vor einer Hungersnot im Jemen. Dem arabischen Bürgerkriegsland droht nach Angaben des „Norwegian Refugee Council“ die weltweit schlimmste Ausprägung seit Jahrzehnten. Man sei dem Punkt nahe, an dem es kein Zurück mehr gebe, teilte Generalsekretär Egeland via Twitter mit.
(B H)
Resilience to maintain quality of intrapartum care in war torn Yemen: a retrospective pre-post study evaluating effects of changing birth volumes in a congested frontline hospital
Fragile and conflict-affected states contribute with more than 60% of the global burden of maternal mortality. There is an alarming need for research exploring maternal health service access and quality and adaptive responses during armed conflict. Taiz Houbane Maternal and Child Health Hospital in Yemen was established during the war as such adaptive response. However, as number of births vastly exceeded the facility’s pre-dimensioned capacity, a policy was implemented to restrict admissions. We here assess the restriction’s effects on the quality of intrapartum care and birth outcomes.
Assumptions regarding quality of care in periods of high demand may be misguiding - resilience to maintain quality of care was strong. We recommend health actors to closely monitor changes in quality of care when implementing resource changes; to enable safe care during birth for as many women as possible.
https://bmcpregnancychildbirth.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12884-020-03507-5
cp4 Flüchtlinge / Refugees
(* B H K)
Saudi forces deliberately endangering refugees in Ma’rib province
Tribal leaders in the Ma’rib province have warned for an imminent massacre of internally displaced people (IDPs) in the province, where Islah Party forces backed by Saudi-led coalition are reported to use the refugees as human shields.
Sheikh Nasser Munif Al-Obaidi said on Sunday in a tweet on his Twitter account “The government prevents the displaced people from leaving or moving from the camps to safe places, due to the approaching confrontations, and the goal for this is known. They want these poor people as shields for the government compound.”
Sheikh Mohammed Saleh Al-Moradi denounced the practices of Islah, saying: “it is a flaw that you make the IDP camps shields and fortifications. Be men and confront [your enemies] like men, far away from the camps; or [at least] allow the displaced to leave the camps.”
(A H P)
HR Ministry calls on humanitarian agencies to intervene in Aljawf as IDPs’ situation deteriorate
The Ministry of Human Rights office in Aljawf has called upon the international aid organizations to intervene in the northern province where the situation of a large numbers of Aljawf IDPs is deteriorating.
https://www.alsahwa-yemen.net/en/p-44404
(* B H)
Yemen: UNHCR Operational Update, 7 January 2021
According to IOM, some 172,000 persons (28,659 families) were newly displaced in Yemen during 2020. An estimated 82 per cent of the displacement was due to conflict, while 13 per cent was the result of natural disaster, particularly in the governorates of Marib, Al-Hudaydah, Al Dhale'e, Taiz, Al Jawf and Hadramout.
The remaining five per cent faced due to the declining economy and health conditions caused by the outbreak of COVID-19. Additionally, some 54,500 displacements took place between August – November 2020 following an escalation of hostilities in Marib in the late summer.
During the reporting period, UNHCR and partners assisted over 12,695 internally displaced persons in Marib, Al Dhale’e, Taizz, Aden, Abyan, Shabwah and AlHudaydah governorates, with essential supplies including mattresses, blankets, water buckets, solar lamps and mosquito nets meet basic needs. UNHCR also provided transitional shelters made from local materials to about 1,463 conflict-affected displaced persons in Aden, Lahj, and Al-Hudaydah.
https://reliefweb.int/report/yemen/yemen-unhcr-operational-update-7-january-2021
(* B H)
DTM Yemen - Flow Monitoring Dataset - 2020
IOM Yemen DTM’s Flow Monitoring Registry (FMR) monitors key migrant arrival and Yemeni re-turn locations on Yemen's northern border with the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) and southern coastal border. Enumerators placed at Flow Monitoring Points (FMPs) record arrivals of migrants and returning Yemeni nationals in order to identify different patterns and types of migration, and to provide quantitative estimates to help define the population of irregular migrants entering the country. FMR is not representative of all flows in Yemen and should be understood as only indica-tive of the individuals recorded at FMPs during the timeframe indicated. Access constraints limit the ability to collect data at some migrant arrival points. IOM Yemen DTM estimates from 1st January to 31th December 2020, an 37,535 migrants arrived in Yemen, and 13,895 Yemenis returned from KSA, while another 266 Yemenis returned from the Horn of Africa.
https://migration.iom.int/datasets/dtm-yemen-flow-monitoring-dataset-2020
(B H)
Flow Monitoring Points | Migrant Arrivals and Yemeni Returns in December 2020
IOM Yemen DTM estimates that 2,035 migrants entered Yemen during the month of December 2020. Currently, IOM Yemen DTM does not have access to Manfath Alwadeeah FMP, on the KSA-Yemen land border point, and therefore cannot report information on Yemeni returnees. From 1st January to 31th December 2020, an estimated 37,535 migrants arrived in Yemen, and 13,895 Yemenis returned from KSA, while another 266 Yemenis returned from the Horn of Africa.
(B H)
Flow Monitoring Points | Migrant Arrivals and Yemeni Returns in 2020
From 1st January to 31th December 2020, an estimated 37,535 migrants arrived in Yemen, and 13,895 Yemenis returned from KSA, while another 266 Yemenis returned from the Horn of Africa.
https://reliefweb.int/report/yemen/flow-monitoring-points-migrant-arrivals-and-yemeni-returns-2020
(* B H)
IOM Yemen: Situation Report November 2020
This year has seen the humanitarian situation in Yemen, the largest crisis in the world, deteriorate to further alarming levels. Millions of people are displaced across the country, with 166,000 new displacements in 2019 alone, while at least 14,500 migrants are stranded in cities like Aden and Marib in dire need of assistance. Displacement and migration challenges have been compounded by a fuel and economic crisis, weakened public and health services, and COVID-19 pandemic.
The recently released Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) analyses show pockets of famine-like conditions returning in the country for the first time in two years. The number of people experiencing this degree of catastrophic food insecurity is predicted to nearly triple between January and June 2021 if immediate humanitarian support is not increased. Against this backdrop, the economic downturn is severely affecting food prices and households’ purchasing power; by the end of November, the Yemeni Rial reached a record low of YER 875 per USD in southern governorates.
Following trends throughout the year, hostilities have continued this month in hot spots like Taizz, Al Jawf, Abyan, Al Hudaydah and Marib further exacerbating vulnerabilities and putting pressure on host communities.
https://reliefweb.int/report/yemen/iom-yemen-situation-report-november-2020
cp5 Nordjemen und Huthis / Northern Yemen and Houthis
(B P)
On Daesh & al-Qaeda footsteps, Houthis storm universities, impose terrorist lifestyle
The militia have so far stormed Sana'a University, Amran University, the University of Sciences and Technology and the Lebanese University.
Resembling Daesh and Al-Qaeda, they have stormed the main headquarters of the Lebanese University to ban "mixing of men and women," and impose religious rules on how people must dress and cut their hair. In the public universities, the militia re-named the lecture halls to fit their religious ideology.
https://www.alsahwa-yemen.net/en/p-44450
(* A P)
Houthi extremists drag corpses of slain villagers in Taiz
Houthi militants have reportedly mutilated and dragged the corpses of civilians they killed in al-Haymah district of Taiz, several media sources reported. As part of their incessant six year war against the government and oppositionist populations, the Shia theocratic extremists launched last week a fierce military campaign against al-Haymah a group of villages in central Yemen's Taiz governorate to impose religious taxes on them. By Sunday, they killed 35 civilians, injured dozens, kidnapped more than 140 people and destroyed several houses, five by detonation.
Social media users shared a video (attached) of Houthi militants standing over the dead bodies of villagers reported killed and dragged. The theocratic militants appear calling their dead victims mercenaries and Kuffar (non-Muslims)."
The militia repeatedly recruit and radicalize fighters and launch campaigns under the slogan of "Tough Against the Unbelievers," sort of excommunicating oppositionists out of Islam to legalize their killing. (photo)
https://www.alsahwa-yemen.net/en/p-44451
Film: https://www.facebook.com/100027295741123/posts/741815530071632/?app=fbl
Photos: https://twitter.com/FuadRajeh/status/1349026980239462402 = https://twitter.com/alguneid/status/1348982276927836160
https://twitter.com/Ndawsari/status/1349114623027507202
and
(A K pS)
Houthis prepare for incursion in Taiz outskirt, locals appeal for rescue
Houthis maintained on Thursday the second day of a strangling siege around al-Haymah an outskirt of the central Yemeni province of Taiz, local sources said.
The Shia theocratic extremists deployed 60 military patrol cars, two tanks and several armored vehicles in preparation to overrun the area, a day after they killed and injured 11 local people mostly women and bombed two houses. Fearing the expected incursions are appealing for an international intervention to protect them. The Taiz-based Human Rights Center has said it had received several messages from the local people demanding their appeal for rescue be communicated to the UN and the whole international community.
The militants began the military campaign by an attempt to blow up the house of a man by the name Abdullah al-Raadhi on Wednesday. When the local people prevented them, the militants brought these huge military reinforcements and began besieging the area and preparing to overrun it.
https://www.alsahwa-yemen.net/en/p-44359
Photos: https://twitter.com/ycmhrv/status/1348589648541528065
(A P)
Houthis throttle internet speed hours after they were designated terrorists
The Houthi militia, who control the capital Sana'a and the national telecommunication corporation, have throttled the speed of the internet across Yemen following their designation as a foreign terrorist organization by the US.
https://www.alsahwa-yemen.net/en/p-44452
(* A P)
Reports: Houthis raising money through blackmail
The Iran-backed Houthi militia has started imposing taxes on imported goods under the pretext of collecting the financial resources necessary for the response to Covid-19.
The militia has also imposed taxes on dozens of restaurants usually frequented by poor Yemenis, according to media reports.
They said the Houthis raid the restaurants and force their owners to pay the taxes.
The Houthis also asked the owners to get operation permissions amid reports that the militia would enlist the restaurants as tourist facilities.
The restaurant owners say the new taxes come at a time they are incapable of meeting their basic needs, including the payment of rents and feeding their families.
They express fears that the Houthi may shut down their businesses if they fail in paying the taxes.
http://en.adenpress.news/news/31979
(A P)
16 deceived soldiers return home
The National Center for Returnees received on Monday 16 deceived soldiers coming from the Western Coast and borders' military fronts.
https://www.saba.ye/en/news3124042.htm
My comment: Means: Soldiers defected from anti-Houthi fighters.
(* A K P)
75 Militärführer wegen Hochverrats zum Tode verurteilt
Das Zentrale Militärgericht in der Hauptstadt Sana'a verurteilte am Sonntag 75 Militärführer zum Tode, nachdem sie wegen Verrats verurteilt worden waren, indem sie den Feind beim Betreten des Territoriums der USA unterstützten und erleichterten Republik Jemen.
Das Urteil sah vor, die Verurteilten mit den beiden sich ergänzenden Strafen zu bestrafen, die sich aus der Entlassung aus dem Dienst bei den Streitkräften und der Beschlagnahme ihres gesamten beweglichen und unbeweglichen Vermögens in irgendeiner Hand innerhalb oder außerhalb des Landes zugunsten der Streitkräfte - des Ministeriums - ergeben der Verteidigung.
Das Gericht entschied auch, dass alle verurteilten Personen insgesamt 11.250.000 Rial an die Anwälte zahlen, die ernannt wurden, um sie als Prozesskosten zu verteidigen.
https://www.saba.ye/de/news3123853.htm
Meine Bemerkung: Militärführer der Hadi-Regierung und von Anti-Huthi-Milizen, in Abwesenheit verurteilt.
(* A K P)
75 military leaders sentenced to death for treason
The Central Military Court in the capital Sana'a on Sunday sentenced 75 military leaders to death after being convicted of committing the crime of treason by assisting and facilitating the enemy's entry into the territory of the Republic of Yemen.
The verdict stipulated punishing the convicts with the two complementary punishments, represented in the dismissal from service in the armed forces and the confiscation of all their movable and immovable property in any hand inside or outside the country for the benefit of the armed forces - the Ministry of Defense.
The court also ruled that all convicted persons pay a total of 11,250,000 riyals to the lawyers appointed to defend them as litigation fees.
https://www.saba.ye/en/news3123844.htm
My remark: Anti-Houthi and Hadi-gov. military leaders, convicted in absentia.
(* A P)
How Does Yemeni Military Capabilities Threat "Israel"?
On the anniversary of the martyrdom of General Qassem Soleimani and his companion, Deputy Chairman of the Popular Mobilization Forces, Abu Mahdi Al-Muhandis, ٍSayyed Abdulmalik Al-Houthi, said, "We will attend in all political, military and economic fields with courage and responsibility."
After this statement, the Armed Forces revealed the possession of ballistic and winged missiles capable of targeting more vital installations of the enemy, and causing heavy losses on its military and economic facilities. The spokesperson, Brigadier General Yahya Sare’e, announced that 10 new sensitive targets in the Saudi depth were hit.
This disclosure and threat was preceded by a clear and explicit warning from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Sana'a when it said that “any reckless action of the Zionist entity in the region will ignite an all-out war,” affirming also that “in the event that the Zionist entity did any reckless move or action affecting Yemen, the interests of "Israel" or its partners in the Red Sea will be a legitimate target within the framework of the right of response guaranteed by all international conventions and agreements.
This comes after the deputy prime minister for defense and security affairs, Jalal Al-Ruwaishan, confirmed that "Israel" began to move militarily in the region after normalization with the Gulf states.
https://english.almasirah.net/post/17099/How-Does-Yemeni-Military-Capabilities-Threat-Israel-%3F
(A P)
Arab coalition unserious on ending Yemen's war: Houthis
The Houthi group will hit very sensitive targets in Israel in response to the Israeli army's threats, member of the Houthi politburo vowed on Sunday, accusing the Saudi-led coalition of unwillingness to reach a political solution for Yemen's war.
"If the Israeli enemy is involved in any foolish act against our people, our people won't hesitate to declare jihad in the cause of Allah against this enemy," Fadhl AbuTalib added.
https://debriefer.net/en/news-22381.html
(A P)
Pictures of Qassem Soleimani adorn the streets of Sanaa
https://twitter.com/Wedadalbadwi/status/1348251118720184320
(A P)
Houthis ban local NGOs from holding online activities
The Iran-linked Houthi insurgents have lately ordered local Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) not to hold any online activities or meetings unless they have approval in advance.
The militia-run Supreme Council for Management and Coordination of Human Affairs and International Cooperation(SMCHAIC) issued on Sunday a circular that bans local NGOs from holding any online activities,
“Relief and humanitarian organizations are not to implement any online activities or projects unless approved by the General Secretariat of SMCHAIC,” it said.
https://republicanyemen.net/archives/26784
(A P)
Houthis, Hamas merge diplomacy around prisoner releases
Hamas welcomes a Houthi initiative to release two Saudi airmen the Houthis captured in Yemen in exchange for Saudi Arabia freeing 60 Palestinian prisoners, including a Hamas leader and his son
Saudi Arabia has been detaining a number of Palestinians since early 2019, and brought a number of them before courts on charges of financing a terrorist entity. These Palestinians include Mohammed al-Khodari, 82, who was a Hamas representative between the mid-1990s and 2009 in Saudi Arabia, and his son Hani. Riyadh continues to refuse to respond to any attempts or initiatives regarding their release.
(A P)
Parliament stresses importance of strategic planning in preparing visions
https://www.saba.ye/en/news3123754.htm
My comment: Better stay real and insist that Sanaa government improves from “very bad governance” just to “bad governance”.
(A P)
Houthis Smuggle Security Officer Accused of Killing Yemeni Woman in Ibb
The Iran-backed Houthi militias in Yemen have smuggled the prime suspect in the murder case of Khitam al-Ashary, who was beaten to death in her home in Odain town, located in the central governorate of Ibb, local sources reported.
In an attempt to divert public attention from the murder, the Houthis continued to wage arrest campaigns against citizens and activists in Odain.
Although Houthis announced forming a probe committee to look into Ashary’s death, local sources said that the militias were never serious about holding the perpetrators accountable for their crime.
Gunmen involved in the incident were arrested only to later be secretly transferred outside Ibb.
and also http://en.adenpress.news/news/31972
(B P)
Film: This is Saadi Saba'a, kind of folk dance "Bara'a" performed by 2 men using Janbiyah or daggers during social events prtcly wdng parties. A lot has bn changed now as u c in this wdng prty 2days ago..guns, Houthi inciting zawamil.. Btw,this is 1way of Houthi recruitment of fighters
https://twitter.com/Alsakaniali/status/1348062338272919553
(* A P)
Houthis resume trial of Baha'is
The specialised criminal court in Yemen's Houthi-held capital Sanaa on Saturday held a new trial for 24 members of the Baha'i minority.
Representatives for human rights and a lawyer for the accused attended the hearing.
The lawyer rejected the arrangements for the hearing before getting a reply from the prosecution to a note he submitted in the previous hearing.
The court then gave the prosecution until February 13 to reply to the note.
The lawyer is demanding to drop all charges against the defendants, return all their properties, and recognise their religious and legal rights as well as the return of the exiled Baha'is.
Trying the Baha'is and sentencing some to death by the Houthi judiciary have sparked wide local and international condemnation.
https://debriefer.net/en/news-22367.html
My comment: Whatfore repeating this once again?
(A P)
20 deceived soldiers return home
The National Center for Returnees received on Friday 20 deceived soldiers in the capital Sana'a.
Among the deceived soldiers head of operations at 3rd borders guard brigade in al-Rabu'ah area Col. Mahfoudh al-Ameri.
https://www.saba.ye/en/news3123608.htm
My remark: Houthi wording for defected anti-Houthi fighters.
and
(A K P)
Twenty more soldiers defect from Saudi side and join Yemeni forces
(A P)
Envoy reiterates Iran’s support to Yemeni nation
Iranian Ambassador in Sana'a Hassan Irloo reiterated the Islamic Republic’s support to the oppressed people of Yemen who have been the target of cruel attacks in the past years.
In a meeting with General Sultan Al-Samaei, a member of Yemen’s Supreme Political Council, on Thursday, Irloo said Tehran will not hesitate to support the Yemeni people by transferring its capabilities in all areas.
https://en.mehrnews.com/news/168225/Envoy-reiterates-Iran-s-support-to-Yemeni-nation
(A P)
Multiple websites reported that Houthis are force Sana’a school students to attend what the militia call the ‘martyrs’ photo exhibitions.
https://www.alsahwa-yemen.net/en/p-44361
(B P T)
Houthis, ISIL took turns in seizing Beidha villagers.
Sam Organization for Rights and Liberties has unveiled that Houthis and ISIL had colluded with each other and took turns in cracking down and seizing people from Hemaydhat Sheteir village of Qayfa region in Al Beidha province.
In a report on Thursday, the organization said Houthi warlord Ahmed Sayf Aldhahab led a military campaign against the village in 2015 but failed. The following year armed men calling themselves the Islamic State began to appear and military sites affiliate to them began to pop up around the village and began provoking the villagers mainly Al Salooh clan gradually until they launched a full-blown military offensive on them. The organization said ISIL camps received food and military ammunition from Houthis, and followers of the Houthi warlord began joining the ISIl camps.
https://www.alsahwa-yemen.net/en/p-44360
(A P)
The American Center for Justice (ACJ) condemns the referral of 46 abductees to the criminal prosecution by the Houthis, in preparation for trial.
https://twitter.com/BelqeesRights/status/1347174716851810304
(* A K P)
Houthi shelling leaves 13 civilians killed, injured in Taiz
Six civilians were killed and seven others wounded on Wednesday when the Houthi forces shelled their houses in the Yemeni southwestern governorate of Taiz, the Aden-based Saba reported late on Wednesday.
The Iranian-backed Houthi group bombed an area under its control with heavy and medium weapons, the news agency quoted local sources as saying, after the forces besieged al-Haima area using tanks, armored vehicles and armed pickups.
The bombardment left the two children Anwar Abdul Fatah and Arafat Dahhan, two women and two men killed, and seven women injured, the sources added.
The Houthis stormed into 18 civilian houses in the area and blew up two houses, according to the sources, as the "violent bombing left damages to other houses."
https://debriefer.net/en/news-22326.html
and
(* A K pS)
Houthis squash Taiz villagers under the world’s watchful eye
The Shia extremist Houthi militia have finally controlled the villages of al-Hayamah in Yemen’s central Taiz governorate after killing and injuring 35 villagers including women and children inside their houses; kidnapping 144 others; and blowing up several houses by bombardment and planted bombs.
Al-Haymah, to the northwest of Taiz’s besieged provincial capital is a region of farmlands within the sphere of control of Houthis. The dynastical militia, a Shiit version of Daesh, wanted to impose exorbitant religious taxes on the farmers but met refusal. By Wednesday, the villages were besieged by more than 70 military trucks including three tanks and several armored vehicles, firing on lightly armed villagers and the villages’ houses indiscriminately from different directions. The reaction of the helpless government in Aden was limited to condemning the campaign as genocidal and as “crimes that make the government more determined to restore the territories” under Houthi control.
https://www.alsahwa-yemen.net/en/p-44407
and
(A K pS)
Yemeni gov't warns Houthi attack on Haima in Taiz
The Hadi ] Yemeni official government on Friday warned against Houthi raid into the Haima area in the southwestern governorate of Taiz, reiterating calls to designate the group as a terrorist movement.
The ministry of legal affairs and human rights is anxiously following the Houthi persistent shelling of Haima with heavy artillery, killing seven civilians, injuring 11 others, displacing tens of families and abducting 8 children from their houses to hold them as hostages, the ministry said.
The Houthis seek to keep blockade on Taiz city and take revenge against its people with sectarian motives, it added in a statement carried by the Aden-based Saba.
https://debriefer.net/en/news-22363.html
and
(* A K pS)
Taiz Human Rights Center: The number of casualties resulted from the #Houthi assault on Al Hayma village, located north of #Taiz, has risen to 8 deaths and 24 injuries, with 45 civilians being abducted by the militia.
https://twitter.com/RepYemenEnglish/status/1347692771092656130
For the third day in a row, #Houthis keep targeting Al Hayma village --- north #Taiz city ---- with heavy weapons, killing or wounding scores of people. (photo)
https://twitter.com/RepYemenEnglish/status/1347617243111317504
and
(* A K pS)
NGOs appeal for an int’l rescue of Taiz villages under Houthi shelling
A number of human rights organizations have issued appeals to the international community to rescue the Taiz villages of al-Haymah which are constant Houthi siege and heavy shelling since last Wednesday.
The Taiz Human Rights Center and Equality for Rights and Freedoms, two NGOs, have issued separate appeals saying the Houthis are committing “war crimes” against the villages, “shelling” them heavily, “killing civilians,” kidnapping them and destroying houses.
and how Houthi propaganda describes this assault (at which 2 women, 2 children and 2 men had been killed)
(A K P)
Yemeni security operation destroys Daesh cell operating in Taiz
The Ministry of the Interior has announced on Saturday the success of a joint security operation carried out in a remote area known as Al-Haymatain in the Al-Taizyah district of Taiz province, southwestern Yemen.
The spokesman for the Ministry of the Interior, Brigadier General Abdul Khaleq Al-Ajri, said the security campaign aimed to arrest takfiri terrorist and criminal elements affiliated with the Daesh (ISIS) terrorist organisation.
At least five takfiri elements were killed and others were wounded, in addition to a large number of them being captured, the spokesman said, adding that five members of the Yemeni security forces achieved martyrdom during the operation.
The Daesh leaders that were killed are Azzam Taha Mohammed al-Abd, a field commander for groups affiliated with the takfiri organisation, Anwar Abdel Fattah al-Jabri, Aref Dahan Mohammed Khaled, Abdullah Noman Ahmed Saif and Blegh Ahmed Mohammed Al-Sorori, he stated.
Al-Ajri explained that these elements were carrying out murders, robberies and looting raids against citizens.
My remark: Earlier reporting: https://debriefer.net/en/news-22326.html (Aref Dahan as “child”)
https://republicanyemen.net/archives/26770
https://www.aa.com.tr/en/middle-east/yemen-6-civilians-killed-in-houthi-shelling/2101662
(* B P)
Factbox: Who are Yemen's Houthis?
cp6 Südjemen und Hadi-Regierung / Southern Yemen and Hadi-government
Siehe / Look at cp1
(A T)
Explosion targets security patrol in Yemen's Aden
A large explosion targeted a security patrol in Yemen's southern port city of Aden on Monday evening, a government official told Xinhua.
http://www.xinhuanet.com/english/2021-01/12/c_139659708.htm
(A P)
Government calls for international action to stop Houthi crimes against religious minorities
Yemen's internationally recognised government on Tuesday condemned in strongest terms systematic and continued prejudice against minorities, including the Bahai's, in regions controlled by the Houthi group.
https://debriefer.net/en/news-22430.html
(A P)
UAE uproots hundreds of palm trees on Yemen’s west coast
The UAE-backed militias uprooted hundreds of palm trees during the past few days, in the coastal districts of Al-Durayhimi, Al-Tuhita, Beit Al-Faqih and Al-Khokha in Hodeida province, west of Yemen, local sources reported on Monday.
The sources explained that the militias justified their cutting down of trees on the grounds of obstructing the [Sanaa gov.] army and the popular committees.
https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=170144511562863&id=100057019443135
Photos: https://twitter.com/baseem_aljenani/status/1348618615189336068
(A K P)
Saudi forces deploy to Hadhramaut after local gunmen kill local al-Qaeda leader
The areas of Wadi Hadhramaut on Monday have witnessed an unprecedented deployment of pro-Saudi military factions, hours after unidentified gunmen assassinated the most prominent al-Qaeda leaders in the region, Yemen News Portal reported, citing local sources.
(A P)
Presidential Guards forces are set to move to Aden within the coming hours./Almashehad Alyemeni.
https://www.alsahwa-yemen.net/en/p-44406
(A)
Unknown attackers carry out grenade attack at bank office in Ma’rib
(* A E P)
Yemeni Shabwa seaport receives first ever cargo
The first vessel on Sunday arrived at Qana port in Shabwa with 17,000 tons of diesel on board, local authorities in the Yemeni southeastern governorate said.
The second ship and the floating storage and offloading (FSO) facility are expected to arrive in the few coming days as part of the port construction's first stage to secure the governorate's needs.
The second stage will see the erection of berths for oil discharge, 8 strategic reservoirs (with total capacity of 60,000 tons) and docks for commercial activity.
The governorate's first oil and commercial port will play key role in reviving the trading and economic activity in Shabwa and the neighboring governorates of Marib, Jawf, Hadhramout and Abyan, Governor Mohamed Bin Edio said (photo)
https://debriefer.net/en/news-22384.html
(A T)
New bomb blasts near Yemeni Aden airport
The vicinity of the Yemeni Aden international airport was rocked by a violent blast of an explosive device early on Sunday, 11 days after the facility was targeted by a missile attack.
The bomb exploded in al-Aarish quarter in Khour Maksar district near the airport, local sources said, with no casualties reported.
The explosive device was planted in a cartoon and blasted in an empty space, but the violent sound left damages to windows of the nearby houses, the sources added.
https://debriefer.net/en/news-22380.html
(A P)
Measures underway to face possible acts of terror, sabotage in Aden
The supreme security committee in Yemen's interim capital Aden on Sunday held an emergency meeting and decided to take measures to face possible acts of terror and sabotage.
The measures include establishing an operations room and integrated electronic surveillance network in all districts and committing stores to install security camera systems.
They come amid increasing threats since the new government arrived in the city.
https://debriefer.net/en/news-22386.html
(A)
Photos: Al-Marina ,a new 4-star hotel opened in #Marib today for the first time.
https://twitter.com/Alsakaniali/status/1348252911353126914
(* A P)
President Al Zubaidi: The Transitional Council has taken upon itself the cause of restoring the state of the South and will not retreat from it
(* B P)
Gulf reconciliation means little for warring sides in Yemen's conflict
Despite end to Qatari blockade, groups loyal to different Gulf states are far from reconciling in Yemen
The disputes between Qatar and its neighbours in the Gulf have long had a direct impact on the fighting in Yemen, with client groups of each country helping to play out the conflict on the ground.
Last week, Saudi Arabia announced the end to the almost four-year blockade of Qatar, imposed in 2017 over accusations that the small Gulf country was supporting "terrorism" and helping to destabilise neighbouring countries.
But despite the optimism expressed in Saudi Arabia last week, and what Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan described as the "full return of diplomatic relations," the thaw has so far had little impact in Yemen.
A major point of conflict has been between the Southern Transitional Council
(STC), which is backed by the United Arab Emirates, and the Islah party, a Muslim Brotherhood-affiliated group seen as linked to Qatar.
"Since 2017, Yemenis used to accuse each other of working for the sake of the UAE or Qatar, but today there is reconciliation between the UAE and Qatar and there should be no more disagreements in Yemen based on this issue," Analyst Mohammed Suleiman told Middle East Eye.
"Unfortunately, I can hear that supporters of the STC and Islah are still exchanging accusations, and that means they can't accept each other easily."
Despite the warm words from some of the major players in the Yemen conflict, the STC and Islah gave the agreement a much colder reception.
The STC congratulated the success of holding the Gulf summit and issued a press release that stressed the need to make the most of the Gulf and Arab reconciliation to unify efforts to confront various security challenges.
However, on 5 January Salem Al-Awlaqi, a member of the presidency of the STC, tweeted that the agreement meant little for Yemen until Qatar ended its support for the Houthis (which Qatar has long denied giving) and Islah and stopped "inciting against the efforts of security and stability".
A supporter of the STC in Aden, talking on condition of anonymity because he isn't authorised to speak to media, told MEE that the STC had long clashed with Islah and could not just forget the "bad history" between them.
"The Muslim Brotherhood leadership fought us in 1994, and its scholars have fatwas of killing us and fighters did so it is very difficult to forget that," he said, referring to the period of an earlier civil war between the north and south.
He added that he hoped the Gulf reconciliation deal would see Qatar join other countries in the region in declaring the Brotherhood a terrorist organisation.
Similarly, Islah members have been sceptical of any real shift.
"We know that Saudi Arabia and the UAE are fighting Islah because they don't want a free party to lead the country, but they need people who are willing to work under their control," an Islah supporter in Aden told Middle East Eye, on condition of anonymity.
He said the STC would never accept Islah because the former was implementing the agenda of the UAE, which has staunchly opposed the Muslim Brotherhood across the region.
"We should take the lesson from the Gulf Reconciliation and do a Yemeni Reconciliation far from Gulf countries or any other country... no country wants us to live peacefully," he added
"As long as Iran supports the Houthi militia and the UAE supports the STC, there won't be any solution in Yemen."
https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/gulf-reconciliation-cant-end-disagreement-yemen
(A P)
Gas station security guard killed in Ma’rib
A guard of security forces affiliated with Islah Party, was killed at a gas facility in Ma’rib province, northeastern Yemen.
https://hodhodyemennews.net/2021/01/09/gas-station-security-guard-killed-in-marib/
(A P T)
Senior commander survives assassination attempt in Hodeidah
http://en.adenpress.news/news/31963
(A P)
Yemeni government reiterates calls for designating Houthi militia terrorist group
(* B P)
1259 Crimes Were Monitored in Southern Governorates During 2020 Including 159 Assassinations
During the year 2020, the southern governorates witnessed the highest level of occurrence of various crimes and violations. The annual report issued by the Media Center for the Southern Governorates stated that it had documented 1259 crimes and serious violations during the past year, including 159 assassinations as a result of the conflict between the militia of the Southern Transitional.
The report indicated that the center monitored 82 home raids in Aden and Shabwa governorates. Kidnappings have escalated, in Aden, Abyan, Shabwa and Lahj 67 crimes were committed affecting military commanders, civilian leaders and citizens, including party leaders, workers, women and children.
The crimes of clashes in the governorates of Aden, Lahj, Al-Dhalea, Abyan and Shabwa increased to 265 crimes due to insecurity and the proliferation of militias and armed groups loyal to the countries of the coalition.
222 detention crimes affected people in Aden, Shabwa, Lahj, Abyan, Hadramout and Al Dhale'e, indicating that 200 violations and forced deportations were committed on racial grounds against 4,500 people, the report added.
The report indicated that 92 crimes of extortion against merchants and investors of the occupied southern governorates were committed by armed militias, and 136 armed robbery crimes were reported against the lands and property of 13 government in Aden, including robberies on the university campus, the military museum and other public and private property in the governorates of Lahj, Shabwa and the coast of Abyan, Mukalla and Socotra.
More than 50% of the crimes were committed in the city of Aden by the coalition militia, including assassinations, killings by armed militia bullets, outlaw arrests, kidnappings, armed robbery, extortion, forcible deportation, raids on citizens' homes and travel deprivation.
Hadhramaut was the second in the security chaos and assassinations by the terrorist groups “Al-Qaeda and Daesh”, followed by Shabwa governorate in terms of arrests and raids of homes and villages, and then the governorates of Abyan and Lahj, and last one is Al-Dhalee.
The report of the Media Center mentioned that those governorates witnessed a deterioration in public and basic services during the past year, and a decline in health, electricity and water services due to Hadi government's abandonment of its responsibilities towards the citizens' demands, which doubled the suffering of citizens.
Collapse of services and outbreaks of epidemics
The report indicated that the "Southern Transitional Council" of the Emirates, which was announced on April 25, 2020, imposed the Autonomous Administration under the pretext of deteriorating services and halting the payment of salaries, failing to improve public services, considering that the so-called Autonomous Administration and the "Hadi government" were unable to implement any solutions in light of The outbreak of Coronavirus and other epidemics, which killed two thousand people during 2020.
(A P)
Mahra denounces external interference affecting national identity
The people of Mahra province have denounced foreign interventions aimed at obliterating Yemen's Mahra identity.
In a statement issued on Thursday by a peaceful sit-in of the people of Mahra, the education office in the province of the aggression forces issued a decision to name a number of schools in Mahra according to the names of Saudi cities.
The Education Office named eight schools, three in al-Ghaydah and one each in Heswain, Qishn, Sayhut , al-Masilah, and Hawf districts in the names of Saudi cities such as "Dammam, Riyadh, Diriyah , Abha, Tabuk, Medina, Taif, and Mecca," the statement said.
The statement indicated these measures came after pressure exerted by the Saudi program on the education office as a condition for obtaining support.
https://www.saba.ye/en/news3123626.htm
(A K P)
Shatara calls on Coalition to reinforce southern military capabilities
It is time for the Arab Coalition to change its dealings with the Southern Transitional Council (STC), its strong and sincere partner on the ground, said the member of the STC Presidency, Vice-President of the National Assembly for Control and Inspection, Lufti Shatara.
In his tweet on Friday, Shatara called on the Arab Coalition to reinforce the STC'S military capabilities to counter Houthi crimes.
http://en.adenpress.news/news/31954
and also https://debriefer.net/en/news-22353.html
(A P)
[Sanaa gov.] Fisheries Ministry condemns confiscation of fishermen's boats in Abyan
The Ministry of Fisheries in the National Salvation Government in Sana'a on Thursday condemned the confiscation of a number of fishing boats of fishermen from Abyan governorate by Saudi-led aggression coalition.
https://www.saba.ye/en/news3123483.htm
and also https://hodhodyemennews.net/2021/01/08/yemen-condemns-saudi-aggression-against-fishermen/
(A P)
Yemeni gov't deplores Houthi besieging, shelling Haima people
Information minister in the Yemeni UN-recognized government strongly condemned the Houthi "barbarian campaign" against al-Haima people in the southwestern governorate of Taiz.
https://debriefer.net/en/news-22341.html
(A K P)
Military mediation ends armed dispute between Yemeni troops
Senior officers in the Yemeni pro-government joint forces on Friday led successful mediation that ended a dispute between personnel from the Guards of the Republic and the Tehama Resistance brigades in the Red Sea port city of Mocha, local sources said.
The dispute sparked armed clashes between the two allied sides
https://debriefer.net/en/news-22344.html
(A P)
Presidency of Transitional Council affirms not to back down of Riyadh agreement due to the attack on Aden airport
https://en.smanews.org/south-arabia/19070/
but
(A P)
STC says determined to restore southern state
President of the southern transitional council on Thursday said the council is determined to restore the pre-1990 southern state.
The southern cause has been marginalised since 1994 and the southern people have been struggling to meet their aspirations, he said in an interview with the UAE-based Sky News Arabia.
The perfect solution for the crisis in Yemen lies in two states because the idea of a federal state is over, he said.
The council includes all southern factions, and the new government, which has assumed its duties, keeps balances, he said.
There will be consultations in the near future to protect achievements and guarantee the continuation of the partnership with the Saudi-UAE coalition, he said.
He attacked the Islah Party, an offshoot of the Muslim Brotherhood, saying it represents a real danger because it gets support from regional states.
Moreover, he accused the Houthi group of being responsible for the terrorist attack on Aden airport last week
https://debriefer.net/en/news-22333.html
and
(A P)
The head of the Southern Transitional Council @AidrosAlzubidi: There will be no stability in Yemen nor in the region without the two-state solution.
https://twitter.com/alimahmood19844/status/1347233884614909952
https://www.alsahwa-yemen.net/en/p-44361
Reminder that the Riyadh Agreement is only a short-term solution. One of the main parties of the newly formed power sharing government in Aden still plans on secession at some point.
https://twitter.com/Macoombs/status/1347277939243565056
Southern Transitional Council President @AidrosAlzubidi, to @skynewsarabia: We are securing Aden and provide security for the new #Yemen Government. We will work with President Hadi and the new government so it can implement its duties in providing services and paying salaries.
https://twitter.com/samwrax/status/1347230376691970049
Meaning the new government, without implementing security arrangements, would be at the mercy of STC in #Aden.
https://twitter.com/Alsakaniali/status/1347320528969867268
(A P)
New series of assassinations expected in Aden
A leading member of the so-called Southern Resistance has on Thursday warned of a wave of assassinations set to take place in the port city of Aden, southern Yemen, in the coming days.
Adel Al-Hasani, who lives in Turkey, said in a tweet on Twitter that “The square will witness assassinations of known figures through Shallal [former security director of Aden loyal to the UAE] and his cells.”
The UAE is “rearranging the chaos in Aden with a new look,” he added.
https://hodhodyemennews.net/2021/01/08/new-series-of-assassinations-expected-in-aden/
(A)
Explosion in Aden
https://www.deutschlandfunk.de/jemen-explosion-in-aden.1939.de.html?drn:news_id=1213723
(A)
Explosion heard in Yemeni city of Aden -residents
and also http://en.adenpress.news/news/31953
https://debriefer.net/en/news-22337.html
The explosion was caused by IED that exploded in a building under construction near the central vegetable market in the Mansoura district, no casualties..
https://twitter.com/AhmadAlgohbary/status/1347288069293137924
Just checked with family in Mansoura, who reported ongoing bombings and explosions, including one that struck a water pumping station yesterday. This unrest has increased since the Hadi/STC "unity government" arrived from Riyadh last week & were met with airport blasts.
https://twitter.com/shireen818/status/1347295550375415809
How many explosions have been reported in Yemen's #Aden since the new government arrived in the city? What is going on there?!!!
https://twitter.com/FuadRajeh/status/1347455840693997568
(A T)
Bomb blast injures Yemeni official in Yemen's Aden
Police director of al-Dorain district in Aden was wounded on Wednesday when an explosive device blasted in the Yemeni southern port city.
https://debriefer.net/en/news-22327.html
(A T)
Saudi-backed mercenary Chief of Staff survives assassination attempt in Ma’rib
(A P)
Saudi forces ban commercial ships from making port in Mahrah
Saudi forces have prevented a number of commercial ships from unloading their goods at Nishtun Port in Mahrah province, eastern Yemen, informed sources reported on Thursday.
The sources said that Saudi forces have prevented the entry of the commercial ships anchored off the port for days, without any explanations or legal justifications.
https://hodhodyemennews.net/2021/01/07/saudi-forces-ban-commercial-ships-from-making-port-in-mahrah/
(* B E P)
Will Yemen's new Cabinet revive economy?
Although the road to sustainable economic recovery is teeming with several obstacles at this critical time, the new Yemeni Cabinet that recently arrived in Aden asserts that it will overcome all hurdles and deal with this challenging situation.
At present, the government is in Aden amid tight security measures. It has a variety of problems to address; the economic collapse is among the urgent issues that are of grave concern to all Yemenis.
Six years of war have culminated in dire economic conditions across Yemen.
In view of the current turmoil, it is unlikely that the new government will be competent to address economic issues in a few weeks or even months. The spokesman for the UN secretary-general, Stephane Dujarric, said in December, “Next year [2021], more than half of all Yemenis will go hungry, and we expect 5 million people to be living just one step away from famine …”
Although the road to sustainable economic recovery is teeming with several obstacles at this critical time, the new Cabinet asserts that it will overcome all hurdles and deal with this challenging situation
Wafeeq Saleh, an economic analyst focusing on Yemen's economy, told Al-Monitor that the Yemeni government can lead an economic recovery to mitigate people's suffering. However, this cannot happen without efficient action plans. Saleh said, “The government needs to have proper economic policies and practical programs to stem the economic collapse through activating all the government institutions and the resumption of exports such as oil and gas.”
Moreover, accountability over revenues is an urgent need. Saleh added, “The revenues of customs and taxation should be deposited into the Central Bank in Aden. Plus, austerity measures need to be adopted in to order to rationalize expenditures, fight all forms of corruption and address any issues in the revenue-generating institutions.”
Mohammed al-Samei, a Yemeni journalist in Taiz, said that the new Yemeni government will not quickly handle all economic issues
Fortsetzung / Sequel: cp7 – cp19
https://www.freitag.de/autoren/dklose/jemenkrieg-mosaik-707b-yemen-war-mosaic-707b
Vorige / Previous:
https://www.freitag.de/autoren/dklose/jemenkrieg-mosaik-706-yemen-war-mosaic-706
Jemenkrieg-Mosaik 1-706 / Yemen War Mosaic 1-706:
https://www.freitag.de/autoren/dklose oder / or http://poorworld.net/YemenWar.htm
Der saudische Luftkrieg im Bild / Saudi aerial war images:
(18 +, Nichts für Sensible!) / (18 +; Graphic!)
http://poorworld.net/YemenWar.htm
http://yemenwarcrimes.blogspot.de/
Liste aller Luftangriffe / and list of all air raids:
http://yemendataproject.org/data/
Untersuchung ausgewählter Luftangriffe durch Bellingcat / Bellingcat investigations of selected air raids:
Untersuchungen von Angriffen, hunderte von Filmen / Investigations of attacks, hundreds of films:
Was ist Ihre Meinung?
Kommentare einblendenDiskutieren Sie mit.