... Kann die Nahostpolitik der USA unter Biden revidiert werden? – Ignorieren Sie die Emirate nicht – Als Ärztin allein in Corona-befallenem Krankenhaus – und mehr
Jan. 21, 2021: US terror designation against Houthis – Yemen: Salafis and the war – Saudis install 13 Salafi centers in Yemen – Under Biden, can US Middle East policy be revised? – Don’t ignore the Emirates – A doctor alone in a COVID-raged hospital – and more
Schwerpunkte / Key aspects
Kursiv: Siehe Teil 2 / In Italics: Look in part 2: https://www.freitag.de/autoren/dklose/jemenkrieg-mosaik-710b-yemen-war-mosaic-710b
Klassifizierung / Classification
Für wen das Thema ganz neu ist / Who is new to the subject
cp1 Am wichtigsten / Most important
cp1a Am wichtigsten: Coronavirus und Seuchen / Most important: Coronavirus and epidemics
cp1b Am wichtigsten: USA stufen Huthis als Terroristen ein / Most important: US terror designation against Houthis
cp2 Allgemein / General
cp3 Humanitäre Lage / Humanitarian situation
cp4 Flüchtlinge / Refugees
cp5 Nordjemen und Huthis / Northern Yemen and Houthis
cp6 Separatisten und Hadi-Regierung im Südjemen / Separatists and Hadi government in Southern Yemen
cp7 UNO und Friedensgespräche / UN and peace talks
cp8 Saudi-Arabien / Saudi Arabia
cp8a Jamal Khashoggi
cp9 USA
cp9a USA-Iran Krise: Spannungen am Golf / US-Iran crisis: Tensions at the Gulf
cp10 Großbritannien / Great Britain
cp11 Deutschland / Germany
cp12 Andere Länder / Other countries
cp12a Katar-Krise / Qatar crisis
cp12b Sudan
cp13a Waffenhandel / Arms trade
cp13b Kulturerbe / Cultural heritage
cp13c Wirtschaft / Economy
cp14 Terrorismus / Terrorism
cp15 Propaganda
cp16 Saudische Luftangriffe / Saudi air raids
cp16a Saudische Luftangriffe: Saudische „Untersuchungen“ / Saudi air raids: Saudi “investigations“
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
cp1 Am wichtigsten / Most important
(** B H K P)
Trumps letzte Entscheidung zum Krieg in Jemen ist viel schlimmer als der „Sturm auf das Kapitol“
Während Politik und Medien die Randale am Kapitol hysterisch mit Pearl Harbor und der Kristallnacht vergleichen, hat die Trump-Administration etwas getan, das weit, weit schlimmer ist, aber weit, weit weniger Aufmerksamkeit bekommt.
Das US-Außenministerium hat offiziell seine Absicht erklärt, die Huthis im Jemen auf die Terrorliste zu setzen. Davor war schon von vielen Seiten gewarnt worden. Humanitäre Organisationen verurteilen den Schritt, weil er Hilfe für die Bevölkerung weiter erschweren wird, die bereits Opfer der brutalsten Gräueltaten der Welt ist – Gräueltaten vonseiten der Saudis, die ohne die Hilfe der westlichen Macht-Allianz nicht möglich wären. Einige Folgen dieser Bezeichnung als Terroristen sind bereits zu erkennen.
Dave DeCamp von Antiwar berichtet Folgendes:
Der Terror-Stempel wird die Bemühungen internationaler Wohltätigkeitsorganisationen behindern, die Nahrungsmittel in die von den Huthis kontrollierten Gebiete bringen, wo 70 Prozent des jemenitischen Volkes leben und wo Unterernährung am weitesten verbreitet ist.
Hilfsorganisationen befürchten, dass ihre Arbeit im Nord-Jemen nunmehr kriminalisiert wird, da die Huthis dort das Sagen haben und die Organisationen sich mit ihnen bei der Abwicklung ihrer Hilfslieferungen verständigen müssen. Die Einstufung als Terroristen durch die USA ebnet Sanktionen gegen Personen oder Gruppen den Weg, die mit jenen Geschäftsbeziehungen unterhalten, die Washington als Terroristen brandmarkt.
Pompeo sagte zwar, es würden Ausnahmen für humanitäre Güter gemacht. Doch jede zusätzliche Straßensperre, die Hilfsorganisationen überwinden müssen, werden mehr Leid im Jemen verursachen, da die Lage dort so aussichtslos ist. „Selbst wenn es Ausnahmen gibt, werden die Hilfslieferungen darunter leiden“, sagte Janti Soeripto, der Präsident von Save the Children laut AP News.
Wenn man das Wort „Hungersnot“ hört, denkt man für gewöhnlich an Massen-Hunger, der durch Dürre oder andere natürliche Phänomene erzeugt wird. Doch in Wirklichkeit verhungern die Menschen im Jemen, darunter sehr viele Kinder unter fünf Jahren, aufgrund von Umständen, die keinen Deut natürlicher sind als eine mittelalterliche Belagerung, bei der ebenfalls Menschen verhungerten. Die Menschen im Jemen sterben aufgrund von Blockaden durch die saudische Koalition und ihren absichtlichen Beschuss von Bauernhöfen, Fischerbooten, Marktplätzen, Lebensmittellagern und Cholera-Behandlungszentren. Durch Luftangriffe will man die von den Huthis kontrollierten Gebiete im Jemen so schwächen und ins Elend stürzen, dass sie aufgeben.
Mit anderen Worten: Die USA und ihre Verbündeten haben Saudi-Arabien dabei geholfen, absichtlich massenhaft Kinder und andere Zivilisten zu töten, um ein politisches Ziel zu erreichen. Das wäre natürlich ein perfektes Beispiel für jede gängige Definition von Terrorismus. Dass das unfassbar barbarische und blutrünstige US-Imperium die Huthis als Terrororganisation bezeichnet, ist der schlechteste Witz aller Zeiten.
Dieser Schritt ist quantifizierbar deutlich schlimmer als alles, was Trump möglicherweise hätte tun können, um den Aufstand im Kapitol anzustacheln, da er weitaus mehr Menschen töten wird. Doch die Massenmedien konzentrieren sich auf die eine Nachricht, während sie die andere praktisch ignorieren.
Die Medien, die Plutokraten gehören, existieren nicht, um uns die Welt so zu zeigen, wie sie ist. Es gibt sie vielmehr, um das Imperium am Laufen zu halten.
Es herrscht ein seltsames Tabu zu sagen, dass einige Dinge schlimmer als andere sind, insbesondere, wenn es sich dabei um Dinge dreht, von denen uns die Massenmedien eintrichtern, dass sie von überragender Bedeutsamkeit sind. Da heulen Leute auf: “Warum redest du den Angriff auf das Kapitol klein??“ Und „Warum ziehst du Vergleiche? Das ist doch kein verdammter Wettstreit!“ Das ist dämlich. Alle Dinge sind nicht allen anderen gleich, und herauszufinden, in welcher Hinsicht die Berichterstattung unverhältnismäßig ist und die Realität nicht widerspiegelt, ist ein sehr wichtiger Teil des Versuchs, die Welt zu verstehen.
Jetzt wird den Amerikanern also ständig eingetrichtert, dass von Trumps radikalisierter Basis eine Gefahr für People of Color ausgehe. Gleichzeitig ignoriert man aber die Tatsache, dass Trump aktuell Maßnahmen umsetzt, welche das Abschlachten von People of Color erleichtern. Der einzige Unterschied besteht darin, dass sich Letzteres verborgen in geografischer Distanz vollzieht und weitaus entsetzlicher ist.
Es spielt eine Rolle, dass die Massenmedien nicht ausgewogen berichten. Es spielt eine Rolle, dass sie den Blick der Öffentlichkeit von den Gräueln des Imperiums ablenken und ihren Realitätssinn grob verzerren. Das ist nicht bloß eine müßige „Querdenker-Auffassung“. Das ist bedeutsam.
In den vergangenen Jahrhunderten haben wir eine Entwicklung durchgemacht. Während wir früher erwartet haben, dass unsere Anführer Menschen mit brauner Hautfarbe töten und sich rassistisch äußern, erwarten wir heute, dass unsere Anführer Menschen mit brauner Hautfarbe töten und zugleich den Rassismus anprangern. Das Ermorden ist geblieben und der Rassismus auch. Verändert haben sich bloß die Normen der Umsetzung – von Caitlin Johnstone
https://www.nachdenkseiten.de/?p=68956
Original English version:
(** B P)
Yemen: Salafis and the war
In the context of the conflict in Yemen, Salafis of various shades have not made the headlines, nor have been the object of much expert analysis. This fact has been rather counter-intuitive considering how much Salafism had been scrutinized in the wake of 9/11. Obscured by other religious and political movements or state actors, their standing and evolution over the last five years in Yemen remains insufficiently understood. Yet they are undoubtedly playing a role in the fighting, and, simultaneously, are themselves being transformed by the war. Thus, the ambition of this policy report is to update our collective knowledge on such meaningful actors which are likely to remain a significant force should peace ever again become a realistic perspective in Yemen.
The bulk of the Salafi movement in Yemen emerged in the early 1980s around a figure, Muqbil al-Wadi‘i. Through his institute, located in Dammaj, near Saada in what would become the cradle of the Huthi rebellion, al-Wadi‘i developed a network of mosques and schools across the country. His movement generally received support from the Yemeni authorities due to its overtly apolitical stance and its quietist calls to be unconditionally loyal to the government. As such, in the best interest of the Ali Abdallah Salih regime, it served as a conduit to weaken other movements, linked to the Muslim Brotherhood on the one hand through the Islah party, or on the other hand to Zaydi revivalism which would give birth to the Huthi movement. Salafism then developed as the antagonist of these two groups, as well as a rival to the Jihadi movement which developed from the late 1990s onwards. Considered as a “Trojan horse” of Saudi influence by its adversaries, Salafism was in reality often critical of Saudi policies and adapted to the local Yemeni context, melting into its local debates and dynamics.
A sectarian reading of the conflict
After Muqbil al-Wadi‘i’s death in 2001, the movement went through an internal crisis and splintered. Some of its figures advocated in favor of direct politicization and the establishment of a party which would compete during elections, something that al-Wadi‘i bluntly rejected. The dynamic culminated in 2011 in the context of the ‘Yemeni Spring’ with the foundation of the Rashad Union. Leaders of this political party considered that the popular uprising against President Ali Abdallah Salih was a game changer that could finally allow the Salafis to participate in decision making, present candidates during elections, and enforce their views top-down, rather than bottom-up as an apolitical movement.
Others, headed by Yahya al-Hajuri who was based in Dammaj refused this evolution. However, their maintained apolitical stance did not save them from confrontation with the rising local force, the Huthis. In late 2013, skirmishes between the latter and Salafi residents of Dammaj led to the forced closure of the religious institute and the relocation of many activists across the territory. This humiliation traumatized Salafis turning them into resolute enemies of the Huthis. Consequently, Salafis would later easily be mobilized in the military and ideological efforts against the Huthi rebels, with support from the coalition headed by Saudi Arabia.
It is thus not surprising that from January 2015 onwards, the Huthis’ outreach in non-Zaydi majority territory, in particular in Taiz, al-Baydha and Aden was met with direct opposition from Salafis, along with other Sunni Islamist movements like al-Islah. Individuals linked to the various branches of Salafism contributed to the fighting on the ground. Figures like Hashim al-Junaydi, Mahran al-Qubati, Abd al-Wahhab al-Humayqani or Hani Bin Burayk, who all had been socialized to the Salafi ideology in the network of institutes established by al-Wadi‘i in the previous years had the ideological fuel to combat Huthi presence, thus gaining a new form of prominence. They directly contributed to a sectarian reading of the conflict, stressing how the war waged against Zaydi revivalists had religious justifications and was a legitimate means to combat Shia encroachment in a Sunni dominated society.
Troubled identities
The role played by Salafis in the context of the war in Yemen is yet at times counter-intuitive and is not always tantamount to deepening political and religious rifts. The automatic criminalization of its activists is thus certainly not a solution. All in all, Salafis are better off integrated in the political system than excluded from it as blunt exclusion is likely to push them in the arms of Jihadis. Beyond the example of Hani Bin Burayk in the South, the pragmatism of many Salafi leaders nevertheless shows how local identities and immediate personal interests are in certain contexts factors that contradict ideological mechanisms that lead to a form of sectarian prejudice that is allegedly at the core of Salafism. The establishment of a de facto truce between the Huthis and Muhammad al-Imam, a prominent Salafi figure, in Ma‘bar (south of Sanaa) as well as the choice of former head of the Dammaj institute, Yahya al-Hajuri, to back off and, at the beginning of the war, mitigate his hostility to the Huthis as his region of origin was being targeted by Saudi bombardments highlight political processes that are in themselves ambivalent. It is precisely because Salafis (despite their denials) get caught into politics and local dynamics that their evolution should not be discarded but contextualized – by Laurent Bonnefoy
https://www.kas.de/en/web/rpg/detail/-/content/yemen-salafis-and-the-war
(** B P)
Saudi-led invaders establish 13 takfiri terrorist training centers across Yemen
Saudi-led coalition forces have established at least 13 new takfiri training centers in the provinces of Lahj, Mahrah, Dhalea and areas near Shabwah, southern Yemen, according to a report released by the Media Center for Southern Provinces.
The report noted that coalition countries have funded such centers in a strategic, densely populated areas between Lahj and Taiz provinces, with the aim of attracting as many young people as possible.
According to the report, these centers are working to attract hundreds of young people from Hadhramaut, Shabwah and Abyan provinces, and then transferring them to the major mobilisation centers in Lahj and Mahrah provinces.
One takfiri extremist center, belonging to Yahya al-Hajjouri, was established and funded by Saudi-Emirati occupation in the city of al-Jubah, south of Ma’rib and east of Shabwah province, the report stated
According to the media center report, Saudi Arabia has funded seven extremist religious centers in Mahrah over the past three years, which have been distributed to the districts of Shahan, Huswain, Qishn and the vicinity of the city of Al-Ghaydah, bordering Oman .
These centers housing hundreds of foreign elements, according to the center.
It explained that the coalition aims to consolidate the Saudi occupation in the province and give the countries of global arrogance, mainly America and Britain a “green light to establish military bases under the pretext of combating terrorism and countering maritime piracy in the shores of the Arabian Sea.”
The report attributed the coalition countries’ interest in financing and establishing centers in sensitive strategic areas such as the western gate of the Bab al-Mandab Strait, to a malicious and a major plot aimed to target the security and stability in Yemen.
The report warned that these Wahhabi takfiri centers are placed in sensitive areas, in accordance with the wishes of the allied countries, which threatens the security of the Red Sea and Bab al-Mandab.
The repot pointed out that the coalition countries “will use these terrorist dens in the future to threaten maritime navigation in the Red Sea, in order to take control over the Bab al-Mandab Strait under the pretext of protecting the international trade corridor from any terrorist attacks.”
(** B P)
Under Joe Biden, can US Middle East policy be reversed?
Last-minute moves by the Trump administration in Yemen, Iraq and North Africa have been heavily criticized. But once Joe Biden takes office, how quickly can they be rolled back?
"This is Trump playing domestic politics with foreign policy to the bitter end," said Julian Barnes-Dacey, director of the Middle East and North Africa program at the European Council on Foreign Relations.
"As the clock is ticking down, they're trying to energize their political base and possibly cement some kind of legacy. They're trying to lock the US into a certain direction, to prevent Biden from reversing it."
But will the incoming Biden administration reverse these moves? And even if they want to, how long and how complicated would that process be?
Just one day needed to make changes
"In theory, some changes could be quite easy," said Marina Henke, professor of international relations at the Hertie School, a post-secondary institute teaching public policy in Berlin. "Technically, many could be done in a day."
Executive orders and presidential memorandums work the same way. They can be rolled back with another executive order or memorandum from the incoming president, Joe Biden.
Designating a foreign terrorist organization is slightly more complicated, but not by much. The process goes like this: The secretary of state must announce his intention to do so, then members of Congress have seven days in which to lodge any objections. In fact, Congress had until last Sunday to object to the designation, although nobody did.
"Congress has obviously been busy with other things," Henke told DW. But, she added, "this is also where it gets a little more problematic."
Outgoing Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has created "a narrative" around delicate foreign policy issues that matter to US voters, said Henke — issues involving Iran, China and Cuba. "If Biden moves too quickly, Republicans can complain that he's willing to negotiate with terrorists. And not a single member of Congress wants to be described like that. But if they just wait a couple more days, the president can change this with a stroke of his pen," said Henke.
There may also be some foreign policy moves by the Trump administration that the new US leadership doesn't wish to row back. "The normalization of Arab relations with Israel is something that enjoys bipartisan support," Barnes-Dacey told DW. The plan to move the US embassy to Jerusalem is also unlikely to be undone, he said.
Where concern is high, such as with the humanitarian situation in Yemen, "Biden may end up trying some sort of workaround rather than directly confronting this. For example, exemptions or waivers would be one way to get around obstructions to humanitarian aid," Barnes-Dacey argued.
"It is about political will," agreed Arie Perliger, a professor of security studies at the University of Massachusetts Lowell in the US. "Executive orders can quickly push forward in a specific direction and they can work pretty fast. Congress doesn't have to get involved. However, if you're talking about state actors — like Iran or Syria, or some of the actors in Iraq — that will be much more difficult."
"In my view, the key issue is a return to the Iran deal," said Ian Black, a senior fellow at the London School of Economics' Middle East Centre. "The pressure for that is very high, even though the Trump administration has worked very hard to ally the Gulf states with Israel, against Iran." – by Cathrin Schaer
https://www.dw.com/en/what-is-joe-bidens-plan-for-the-middle-east/a-56264449
(** B P)
Iona Craig: Don’t ignore the UAE
The Emirates avoid much of the criticism that Saudi Arabia attracts. But their influence in the region is just as significant – and perhaps even more pernicious
The UAE disappearing and torturing thousands of Yemenis was already well documented – for those that cared to notice.
I’d seen for myself the bullet-riddled family homes in Yemen, raided in the middle of the night as children slept, male members of households whisked away to no-one-knew-where but held under the authority of the Emirati forces, the de facto authority in Yemen’s second-largest city, Aden, by 2017. Detainees described to the Associated Press being smeared with faeces, crammed in shipping containers in the searing heat and blindfolded for weeks on end. They told reporters they were beaten, trussed up on a “grill,” and sexually assaulted. I also spoke to family members and former detainees who described similar treatment.
In non-Covid times, 1.5 million Britons visit the UAE every year, more than there are UAE citizens.
The UAE serves as a tax-free business destination, a popular winter holiday location and a main stop-off point and transit hub for travellers heading further east. Successfully setting itself apart from many of its neighbours such as Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Oman, the UAE has cultivated a perception as a liberal beacon, attracting celebrities and online influencers who perpetuate this image.
In fact, since the foundation of the UAE in the early 1970s, Britons have played a key role.
Most Middle Eastern nations sought to “coup-proof” their militaries, involving the deliberate politicisation of and division within armed forces in order to maintain their weakness so as to avoid them being a threat to those in power. It was the avoidance of this that set the UAE’s military apart. Instead, MbZ attempted to establish a meritocratic officer selection system.
Foreign private contractors, rather than serving officers, were part of this plan. After more than a decade of falling numbers of foreign nationals in the military, British officers were dispersed through the UAE military and air force.
The cloud-piercing rise of Dubai’s record-breaking skyscrapers over recent decades has been matched by the ascent of the UAE’s military. Abu Dhabi’s defence force went from 300 strong in the mid-1960s to an army of 64,000 today to protect a nation of less than two million Emirati citizens.
The UAE is Britain’s fourth-largest export market outside the EU. The single most lucrative export is arms sales, putting the UAE in the top ten importers of UK arms.
Despite these increases, UK exports for dual-use – equipment that can be used by either military or civilians – to the UAE are worth seven times more than pure military export licences, peaking in 2013 at £2.6 billion.
This matters because of the UAE’s human rights record and its curtailment of freedom of speech, particularly critical speech, and of freedom of expression.
Yet it is Emirati nationals who face the worst of what UAE security forces have to offer.
Many of the aims set out by the UAE Soft Power Strategy, launched in 2019 have already been fulfilled, including one of the UAE’s four main objectives “to establish its reputation as a modern and tolerant country that welcomes all people from across the world”.
One of the listed six pillars that form the framework of the Soft Power Strategy is “scientific and academic diplomacy”. A number of Western universities have established campuses in Abu Dhabi or Dubai.
While domestic policy might be kept out of sight and out of mind, the UAE’s recent foreign policy is harder to ignore.
Six years ago, the UAE became Saudi Arabia’s leading partner in a rapidly formed coalition of nations established by the Kingdom to support their bombing campaign in neighbouring Yemen.
While the Saudis focused on the air war in Yemen, the UAE turned its attention to the escalating ground conflict.
The deal-making and the mass detentions of Yemenis in black sites in southern Yemen also demonstrated the priorities of MbZ. The thousands of arrests were declared a counter-terrorism measure, yet the pattern of those being detained suggested otherwise. The UAE was often detaining individuals who were part of or associated with Yemen’s political Islamist party, Al-Islah.
The UAE’s presence in southern Yemen soon manifested this hatred for the Islah party and its members. The UAE set about empowering and arming those who opposed them, creating Salafi militias and emboldening Yemen’s southern separatists by creating the Southern Transitional Council.
It became apparent that the main battle for the UAE was not against the Houthis, their Iranian allies, or even Yemen’s Al-Qaeda branch, but the political Islamists. Even though this set the UAE on course for fighting between its proxy forces and Saudi-backed, Islah-linked forces of the Yemeni government. This culminated in the UAE carrying out airstrikes against its own side.
Political assassinations on the anti-Houthi side were also linked to the UAE and its supported forces. From popular Imams who refused the UAE’s advances, activists linked to Islah, or individuals who spoke out against the Emiratis presence in southern Yemen, dozens were mysteriously killed or gunned down.
Seemingly emboldened by their ground operations and establishment of a parallel army of UAE proxy forces in Yemen, MbZ pushed further into the conflict in Libya.
These foreign interventions can seem distant. The UAE, however, is not. It is widely recognised in Britain through its presence in the world of sport and the Emirates Airline branding.
The UAE has become increasingly brazen in its attitude and actions in the last decade. Both at home and abroad, whether via airstrikes, assassinations, locking up and torturing political prisoners, MbZ remains unhindered by either Washington or London. The small Gulf nation, fawningly labelled “Little Sparta” by General James Mattis before his stint as US defence secretary, has skilfully avoided the bad publicity and criticism that Saudi Arabia has faced for its attacks on dissidents and role in the humanitarian disaster in Yemen – by Iona Craig
https://www.tortoisemedia.com/2021/01/19/iona-craig-dont-ignore-the-uae/
cp1a Am wichtigsten: Coronavirus und Seuchen / Most important: Coronavirus and epidemics
(** B H)
Yemen: The doctor alone in a Covid-ravaged hospital
As war-torn Yemen braces itself for a second wave of Covid-19, one doctor recalls how she battled the pandemic alone after her colleagues fled the hospital, and the dramatic fake news that plagued the assistance when it eventually arrived.
Twenty-nine-year-old Zoha Aidaroos al-Zubaidi recalls the moment she stood behind a hastily painted red quarantine line down the middle of her hospital. A patient on the other side of the line was all alone, struggling to breathe.
For weeks, the line had not been needed. It was only a quiet warning that the pandemic ravaging other nations would eventually reach Yemen. But now al-Amal hospital, in the southern city of Aden, had its first suspected coronavirus patient.
Zoha hovered at the line, terrified. The rest of the medical staff stood there too. When she asked them what was happening, they said they had given the man oxygen but wanted no further contact with him. The next thing she knew, her colleagues had left the hospital completely.
"There was no response. I kept calling and shouting out… There was nobody left." Management say, however, that they did not leave the hospital.
For the next two weeks, Zoha and a single nurse were alone with dozens of patients.
She didn't blame her colleagues. Al-Amal, though designated by the government as the city's official Covid hospital, was completely ill-equipped for that role. It did not have enough PPE, barely any oxygen canisters, and only seven ventilators. During those first two weeks, she was unable to save a single patient.
But neither the authorities nor the state broadcaster made any mention of Covid. This somehow reassured Zoha. 'If they aren't talking about it,' she told herself, 'perhaps they do have everything under control.'
Even so, when she heard that the World Health Organization was organising a Covid training conference in the country, she decided to sign up. Attendees were taught how to protect themselves and treat Covid patients safely. But although Zoha found the training useful, she was terrified. She knew the real state of the hospitals in Yemen, and particularly the one in Aden where she would be working.
"They were training us but we didn't have the supplies or the infrastructure to apply any of this training."
It was not long before Covid appeared to have spread throughout Aden. As other hospitals in the city found themselves unable to cope, and more than a dozen doctors working in those hospitals themselves died with suspected Covid-19, they shut their doors.
Covid death figures in Aden are hard to come by. There's been little-to-no testing, so it's difficult to establish how many of the people who have died during the pandemic suffered from Covid. But Ghassan has been keeping his own records.
The family of the deceased would provide him with a certificate stating cause of death. He noted down the name of every person he buried who had died in al-Amal hospital with Covid-like symptoms. He told me that in May alone - the pandemic's peak in the city - he buried more than 1,500 people. The death rate in the city was six times higher in May when compared with the previous year, according to official death records.
"It was unbelievable," Ghassan told me. "This was the first time I saw such a thing. It was worse than the war."
For now, the Covid situation is relatively stable in Aden, Zoha says. She is working with a different medical facility run by the International Committee for the Red Cross and says very few are testing positive there for the virus at the moment.
"People here think the virus has disappeared, but scientists say that's not true."
Like many countries, Yemen is expected to suffer a second wave.
"We will be as unprepared as we were in the first one. They [the government] have learnt nothing." – By Nawal Al-Maghafi
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-55563798
(A H)
No new cases of COVID-19 nor deaths, one recovery reported
http://en.adenpress.news/news/32035
(A H)
Two new cases of coronavirus reported, 2,115 in total
http://en.adenpress.news/news/32025
(A H)
New case of COVID-19 reported in Hadramout
http://en.adenpress.news/news/32018
(B H)
Yemen: COVID-19 Preparedness and Response Monthly Report (December 2020)
In December, 16 new confirmed cases of COVID-19 were reported, 4 deaths and 11 recoveries, bringing the total number of reported cases to 2,103 with 611 deaths and 1,396 recoveries. Health partners remain concerned that under-reporting continues for various reasons and that the official epi-curve underestimates the extent of COVID-19 in Yemen.
Other factors that have had a negative impact on the COVID-19 response include a lack of adaptive behaviour by the population to reduce transmission, severe funding shortages for health workers and personal protective equipment (PPE) and long delays in importing COVID-19 response supplies. Partners continued working towards
cp1b Am wichtigsten: USA stufen Huthis als Terroristen ein / Most important: US terror designation against Houthis
Siehe / Look at cp1, cp9
(* B H P)
Avaaz petition: STOP TRUMP'S DEADLY FINAL ACT
To US President Joe Biden, Secretary of State Anthony Blinken, and the US Congress:
"We urge you to do everything in your power to save the Yemeni people from starvation and help bring lasting peace to Yemen. We ask you to immediately reverse Trump's designation of the Houthis as a 'terrorist' organization, which is blocking life-saving food and medical aid from reaching desperate children. Suspend arms sales that fuel the conflict. Lead diplomatic and humanitarian efforts to protect civilians. Keep your promise, and end US support for this cruel war."
https://secure.avaaz.org/campaign/en/trumps_murderous_final_act_loc/
(* B H P)
Was Trumps diplomatischer Vandalismus für Biden bedeutet
Pompeo war stets einer der engsten Verbündeten Trumps in Washington. Und er ist weiterhin entschlossen, Trump's “America First”-Politik bis zum letzten Moment auszuführen – selbst wenn das bedeutet, außenpolitische Landminen für die künftige Biden-Regierung zu legen.
Dazu auch das folgende Interview mit Ishaan Tharoor, außenpolitischer Kolumnist bei der Washington Post.
Euronews: In einer normalen Welt würde eine scheidende US-Regierung in ihren letzten Tagen keine nennenswerte außenpolitische Aktivität mehr zeigen. Nicht so Trump and Pompeo. In einem Leitartikel haben Sie ihnen vorgeworfen, “diplomatischen Vandalismus“ zu betreiben. Was geht da vor?
Tharoor: Pompeos State Department hat zuletzt eine hektische Aktivität gezeigt und wichtige Schritte unternommen. Die Hutis im Jemen wurde zur terroristischen Vereinigung erklärt; Kuba wurde auf die Liste der Länder mit Staatsterrorismus gesetzt; dann wurden provozierende Erklärungen zu Taiwan abgegeben und so weiter. Damit wird bezweckt, es der künftigen Biden-Regierung so schwer wie möglich zu machen und sie zu Manövern zu zwingen, wenn sie ihre eigene Außenpolitik formuliert.
Euronews: Aber bringt das irgendetwas? Kann Joe Biden das nicht sofort abstellen?
Tharoor: Nein, Biden kann einige dieser Schritte nicht sofort zurückdrehen. Diese politischen Klassifizierungen können wieder rückgängig gemacht werden, aber nur mit Hilfe bürokratischer Verfahren, die ihre Zeit brauchen.
Und im Falle der Hutis im Jemen erschwert das die Arbeit humanitärer Organisationen, die in einem Land, das an Hunger und Krankheit leidet, Hilfe leisten.
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Designierter US-Aussenminister will Beschluss zu Huthis überprüfen
Der designierte US-Aussenminister Antony Blinken will die umstrittene Einstufung der jemenitischen Huthi-Rebellen als Terrororganisation auf den Prüfstand stellen. Die künftige Regierung von Joe Biden wolle die Entscheidung "umgehend überprüfen", kündigte Blinken am Dienstag bei einer Anhörung im Senat an. Er befürchte, das die Einstufung keinen praktischen Nutzen mit Blick auf die Huthis bringe, dafür aber die dringend benötigte humanitäre Hilfe für die Menschen im Jemen enorm erschwere.
und auch https://www.dw.com/de/blinken-bleibt-auf-trumps-china-kurs/a-56281216
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US to review Yemen Huthi terrorist label, end Saudi support: Blinken
US President-elect Joe Biden's administration will quickly revisit the designation of Yemen's Huthi rebels as terrorists and end support to the devastating Saudi offensive on the country, his pick for secretary of state, Antony Blinken, said Tuesday.
At his confirmation hearing, Blinken said he would "immediately" review the outgoing Trump administration's labelling of the Iran-linked insurgents, fearing the move was worsening a humanitarian crisis.
"At least on its surface, (the designation) seems to achieve nothing particularly practical in advancing the efforts against the Huthis and to bring them back to the negotiating table while making it even more difficult than it already is to provide humanitarian assistance to people who desperately need it," Blinken told the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.
Blinken said that the Saudis have "contributed to what is by most accounts the worst humanitarian situation anywhere in the world".
"The Huthis bear significant responsibility for what's happened in Yemen, but the way the campaign has been conducted has also contributed significantly to that situation. And so our support should end," Blinken said.
and
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Biden State pick to review Yemen Huthi terrorist label 'immediately'
President-elect Joe Biden's pick to be secretary of state, Antony Blinken, said Tuesday he would quickly revisit the outgoing administration's designation of Yemen's Huthi rebels as terrorists, fearing it could make the humanitarian crisis there far worse.
"We would propose to review that immediately to make sure that what we're doing is not impeding the provision of humanitarian assistance," Blinken said at his confirmation hearing before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.
https://www.france24.com/en/live-news/20210119-biden-state-pick-to-review-yemen-huthi-terrorist-label-immediately = https://news.yahoo.com/biden-state-pick-review-yemen-205541992.html
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Yemen’s Leningrad: The Unforeseen Consequences of the State Department’s Houthi Designation
The recent US designation of Yemen’s Houthis all but guarantees a resurgence of Saudi-backed extremists in the region and could serve to galvanize the group as a stalwart against US-Israeli designs for the Middle East, reports Ahmed Abdulkareem from Yemen.
The move effectively eliminates any ray of hope for the more than 24 million people struggling for survival amid war, siege, famine, and countless diseases and epidemics, according to the United Nations.
Of note is the fact Ansar Allah does not own a single company, nor does it own a single bank account outside of Yemen. In fact, ranking members rarely even travel outside of the country’s borders. Pompeo’s announcement was met with alarm by the United Nations, international aid groups, and diplomats who warned that the move would further inflame the situation on the ground, upend any hope for peace talks and exacerbate the country’s humanitarian crisis.
Predictably, Pompeo’s move treats Saudi Arabia as a victim instead of the perpetrator, and perhaps of no surprise to many historians, Saudi Arabia and the militant groups that it backs in Yemen appear to have already taken that message to heart. Since Pompeo’s statement was issued, Saudi warplanes have launched over 200 airstrikes targeting the Sana’a International Airport and the provinces of Marib, Sadaa, Hajjah, and Al-Jawf. Local prisoner exchange deals have stalled and UNICEF has announced plans to stop supplying some water pumps in Sana’a with fuel, according to the Sana’a-based Ministry of Water, who went on to say that the move could potentially harm up to four million people, including the many displaced people taking shelter in the city.
Not surprisingly, the decision will impact Ansar Allah-controlled areas of northern Yemen the most, but eh the effects will be felt across the entire country – delaying or even halting not only the import of food, medicine, and other humanitarian goods but commercial goods as well, according to the UN.
To compare Secretary of State Pompeo’s decision to that of Adolf Hitler’s intentional starving of Leningrad is no exaggeration.
Paving the way for an al-Qaeda Resurgence
The designation of the Houthis was predictably met with ire from the group’s allies and supporters in Yemen and abroad. It is being seen as an attempt to balkanize the country and subject its western half to the sort of perpetual famine and suffering endured by nearby Somalia.
There are also fears that the move will hamper the ability of the Houthis to combat Saudi-backed extremist forces in Yemen, especially al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula and IS, allowing them to use Yemen and a launching group to plan and carry out terrorist operations inside the United States and the European Union, according to Yemeni security experts who spoke to MintPress.
What’s behind a designation?
The Trump administration’s assessment of the situation in Yemen, officials say, is flawed, as the Houthis have never threatened the United States unlike al-Qaeda, IS, or the Taliban. And unlike those groups, the Houthis are well-armed with ballistic missiles, drones, and gunboats and Houthi attacks on the Saudi-led Coalition have always been retaliatory and not preemptive.
Moreover, they warn, any U.S. military action against the Houthis under the pretext of fighting terrorism will serve to gain the group even more supporters in the Middle East, as it is one of the few left in the Arab world to stand in opposition.
Ultimately, the decision to designate the Houthis seems aimed at stirring chaos in an already chaotic theater. It spurs on violence by using a political decision as a gruesome tactic to incite Yemenis against the Houthis by compounding the suffering of those in their midst. It is an alternative to the six-year-long failed attempt to take over the whole country by brute military force, despite the fact that that attempt has been fueled with billions of dollars worth of advanced weapons, intelligence information, and training, in addition to active participation in the blockade – by Ahmed Abdulkareem
https://www.mintpressnews.com/yemen-unforeseen-consequences-us-houthi-terrorist-designation/274438/
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Iran condemns inclusion of Yemen's Ansarullah in terrorist blacklist
Foreign Ministry spokesman Saeed Khatibzadeh on Wednesday strongly denounced inclusion of Yemen's Ansarullah in the US list of terrorist groups, saying that the move will worsen the most catastrophic humanitarian crisis of the current century and disrupt efforts to resolve the political crisis in Yemen.
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The Risks of the U.S. Dash to Declare Houthis Terrorists in Yemen
The former administration of U.S. President Donald Trump’s last-minute move to designate Houthi rebels as terrorists will leave its successor to manage the fallout in Yemen, which will likely include a more severe humanitarian crisis, more complicated intra-Yemeni political negotiations, and ultimately, a more entrenched civil conflict (paywalled)
https://worldview.stratfor.com/article/risks-us-dash-declare-houthis-terrorists-yemen
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Trump’s Foreign Policy Farewell
In Yemen, his administration has decided to designate the Houthis a foreign terror group. Now aid agencies and the UN fear the country’s already devastating humanitarian crisis is about to get much worse and any chance of peace has been dealt a heavy blow. And Cuba’s back on the US’ state sponsor of terrorism list. We’ll look at Trump’s motives and examine how his changes to foreign policy will affect the incoming president Joe Biden.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MvoAs4oPyOc
Snippet: https://twitter.com/The_Newsmakers/status/1351871677542629379
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Biden urged to reverse Pompeo-Trump move on Houthis
Calls are growing for President-elect Joe Biden to reverse the eleventh-hour decision by the Trump administration to label Yemen’s Iranian-backed Houthis a terrorist organization.
Republican and Democratic lawmakers, experts and aid groups are warning of mass starvation in the country, already the location of a major humanitarian crisis, if the decision is not reversed.
The designation took effect on Tuesday, but those calling for a reversal say Biden could avert a mass crisis with immediate action.
“This is coming at the absolute most difficult time when over 16 million Yemeni women, children and men are living in severe and worsening food insecurity,” said Michelle Nunn, CEO of CARE USA, an international nongovernmental organization focusing on combating global poverty and world hunger.
“This particular designation is tantamount to a cease-and-desist order for the humanitarian response in northern Yemen and its impacts will lead to more despair and lives lost across the whole of the country.”
Biden has yet to comment on the Houthi terrorist designation, first announced last week, but his incoming national security adviser, Jake Sullivan
Antony Blinken, Biden’s nominee for secretary of State, has the power to take action against the designation, said Dave Harden, a former senior State Department official focused on Yemen in both the Obama and Trump administrations and managing director of the Georgetown Strategy Group.
“My understanding is that the acting secretary of State or secretary of State can amend, modify, or rescind on the authority of their own signature,” he said.
Democrats and Republicans both oppose labeling the Houthis as a terrorist group, though members of both parties see the organization as a destructive force in Yemen and accuse it of gross atrocities.
Amid the immediate dire warnings, stakeholders see a slight silver lining in the opportunity to elevate U.S. engagement on Yemen that would otherwise be pushed down the list of priorities for an overwhelmed Biden administration.
The Yemen crisis might not otherwise get more attention until May 1, the due date for a congressional report drawn up by the Departments of State, Defense and director of national intelligence reviewing U.S. policy toward Yemen. The report is required under the 2021 National Defense Authorization Act.
“If Pompeo wouldn’t have done this designation, the law requiring a policy review is still on the books,” said Harden, the former senior State Department official. “The Biden administration has lots of things to deal with and this would have been one of the top ones, but because of Pompeo’s actions, it actually elevates it.”
https://thehill.com/policy/international/534779-biden-urged-to-reverse-pompeo-trump-move-on-houthis
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State Dep.: In the Matter of the Designation of Ansarallah (and other Aliases) as a Foreign Terrorist Organization
Based upon a review of the Administrative Record assembled in this matter, and in consultation with the Attorney General and the Secretary of the Treasury, I conclude that there is a sufficient factual basis to find that the relevant circumstances described in section 219 of the Immigration and Nationality Act, as amended (hereinafter “INA”) (8 U.S.C. 1189), exist with respect to Ansarallah, also known as Ansar Allah; also known as Ansarullah; also known as Partisans of God; and also known as Supporters of God. Therefore, I hereby designate the aforementioned organization and its aliases as a foreign terrorist organization pursuant to section 219 of the INA.
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U.S. exempts aid groups from blacklisting of Yemen's Houthis
The United States has exempted various aid groups, including the United Nations and the Red Cross, from Yemen-related sanctions, according to a notice posted to the U.S. Department of Treasury website on Tuesday.
The exemptions to the blacklisting of Yemen’s Houthis aim to allow aid groups to support humanitarian projects, democracy building, education and environmental protection, according to the notice.
and also https://en.qantara.de/content/us-exempts-un-and-aid-groups-from-effort-to-cut-off-yemens-houthis
My comment: This is not enough. A simple calculation. A Yemeni misses 1/3 of his nutrition, but he will survive with 2/3, half of which is supplied by aid groups, half by commerical import. Commerical imports now will be banned. With 1/3 , he will die.
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Houthi terror designation could set off Yemen’s oil tanker 'time bomb'
Experts say the terrorism label will complicate efforts to secure a decaying oil tanker in the Red Sea that could rupture at any moment and unleash another humanitarian and environmental catastrophe.
Off war-battered Yemen’s western coast lies a rapidly deteriorating storage vessel that could at any moment become an oil spill of catastrophic proportions. Experts say it’s not too late to avert disaster, but an eleventh-hour decision by the outgoing Donald Trump administration to blacklist the militants who control the tanker has raised the stakes.
The designation is likely to produce a chilling effect.
The move could also complicate negotiations over the FSO Safer, a 45-year-old, single-hull storage tanker on the verge of leaking 1.14 million barrels of light crude oil into the Red Sea — about four times the amount released in Alaska’s Exxon Valdez spill in 1989.
The terror designation is "probably the most stupid decision one could ever make if you really are interested in the future of Yemen,” said Sir Alan Duncan, who served as the United Kingdom’s special envoy to Yemen from 2014 to 2016. “It freezes out the Houthis from any kind of dialogue.”
“What we need to do at this crucial moment is to talk to the Houthis and solve this problem, even if you don’t solve the entire conflict,” he said.
The Houthis haven’t performed proper maintenance on the tanker since they seized it from the state-run oil company in 2015, leaving seawater and salty air to corrode the pipes and valves. Highly flammable gases have also accumulated in the cargo tanks, fueling fears of an explosion.
A leak in the cooling system sent seawater gushing into the vessel's engine room in May.
The United Nations has tried for years to send an inspection team to assess the damage, but the Houthis kept coming up with reasons to deny them access. Finally in November, the rebels gave UN experts the green light to board the ship and determine the risk of an explosion or leak. If all goes smoothly, the technical team should be on site by mid-February.
But the Trump administration’s recent terror designation could unravel that delicate diplomacy, said Ian Ralby, CEO of I.R. Consilium, a global consultancy on maritime and resource security.
The Houthis, who have long accused the UN of favoring Yemen’s Saudi-backed government, “have used the slightest pretext for reneging in the past. This is quite a significant one,” Ralby said.
Pompeo framed the designation as one that will further peace prospects in Yemen after nearly six years of bitter conflict. But Abdulghani al-Iryani, a senior researcher at the Sanaa Center for Strategic Studies, says the move will only embolden the extremists within the Houthi movement.
“This is shooting the moderates in the back. They will be disarmed to argue their wisdom of cooperating with the international community on any file, including the FSO Safer,” al-Iryani said.
Pompeo, who previously referred to the tanker as a "ticking time bomb," said the US would provide licenses and waivers to lessen the designation’s impact on the work of the UN and certain international organizations in Yemen.
The licenses published by the Treasury Department on Tuesday made no mention of the FSO Safer, only broadly authorizing “activities to support environmental protection in Yemen.”
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Designating the Houthis a Foreign Terror Organization Is a Bad Idea
It is not in America’s interest to further sink itself into the morass of Yemen’s civil war by picking one side against the other—and it is farcical to suggest such a designation will, in any way, contribute to achieving peace.
The Shia Houthis are an indigenous part of the civil society of Yemen and have been in conflict in one form or another with their Sunni neighbors for many decades. Their objectives and goals have been from the beginning, and remain now, to govern themselves, without interference from external powers or from internal Sunni actors. More importantly to the United States, the Houthis are a domestic party to a civil war—they are not an international terror organization that seeks to attack the United States.
Pompeo’s designation will also fail in its stated purpose to help bring peace. First, it will complicate the international efforts to get humanitarian aid to the innocent populations on all sides of the conflict because the designation includes penalties to countries or organizations who engage with the Houthis, who control roughly 70 percent of Yemen’s population. Second, it will make finding a diplomatic solution almost impossible. If one of the main parties is designated as a terror organization, the other parties won’t negotiate with them. Regardless of whether one likes or dislikes the Houthis, they are a part of Yemen’s civil society and will have to be part of any negotiated settlement.
There is nothing to gain by designating the Houthis as a terror group. It won’t help America negotiate an end to their civil war. It won’t improve America’s national defense, and it will continue to drain resources and focus from the U.S. military—which would be better used in ensuring America’s security.
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US ‘terrorist’ designation of Yemen’s Houthis comes into effect
US Treasury Department releases limited exemptions to designation, but aid group says measure is ‘not a panacea’.
The designation came into effect on Tuesday, just as the US Treasury Department released details of limited licensing exemptions to the restrictions.
The department said licences would be available, among other things, to authorise “the official activities of the US government and certain international organizations, such as the United Nations and the International Committee of the Red Cross”. It also said the export of agricultural commodities, medicine, and medical devices would be exempt.
But the Houthis control large swathes of territory in Yemen – and Joel Charny, executive director of Norwegian Refugee Council USA, told Al Jazeera on Monday that the licensing system “is not a panacea”.
“The key is that material support is broadly defined,” Charny said. “There’s no licence … that provides cover for all types of support that might be provided to an organisation that controls territory the way the Ansar Allah movement [the Houthis] does in northern Yemen.”
Charny said the “terrorist” designation would hamper the work of humanitarians working in Houthi-controlled areas, as well as have a chilling effect on private companies bringing in critical supplies.
“This designation is going to put the fear of God in the private sector and food deliveries,” Charny told Al Jazeera, explaining that Yemen imports 90 percent of its food.
“So if you’re a shipowner in the Gulf or if you’re a shipowner that’s been working with the [World Food Programme] to carry food into Yemen, are you going to want to continue to do this under the threats that are posed by US sanctions?”
He also said it remained unclear whether banks would still be willing to transfer money to Yemen, or whether Yemenis abroad would be able to send money to their relatives inside the country, once the designation is enforced.
A United Nations spokesman also expressed ongoing concern on Tuesday about the consequences of the designation.
Human rights and humanitarian groups, as well as US lawmakers, are also urging incoming US President Joe Biden, who will be inaugurated on Wednesday, to rescind the designation.
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2021/1/19/us-houthi-terrorist-designation-comes-into-effect
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LABELS THAT CAUSE MORE HARM THAN GOOD
Designating the Houthis as a foreign terrorist organization is a mistake.
Indeed, the result is likely to be quite the opposite of what Pompeo espoused: more hunger, more deaths, and more war.
Designating the Houthis as a foreign terrorist organization will criminalize any contact with them, and these essential humanitarian organizations will be unable to continue their operations in the areas that desperately need their assistance. In other words, Yemenis hemmed in by Houthi restrictions on the ground and a large-scale Saudi-led blockade in the air and at sea are now also forced to contend with US-imposed restrictions.
The US State Department’s assertion that humanitarian shipments will be exempted from sanctions associated with the terrorism designation is positive rhetoric — and not really enforceable. For example, those exemptions do little if the humanitarians delivering assistance to Houthi-controlled territory remain petrified of being held criminally liable for their work.
US criminal penalties associated with providing material support to terrorist organizations range from asset freezes to 20 years in federal prison. Those found to be working with a US-designated group directly or indirectly are at high risk of being iced out of the US-dominated financial system, a death sentence for the reputation and balance sheets of any respectable business or non-profit organization. As discovered first-hand in Iran and Venezuela, the deterrent effect of US sanctions and criminal prosecution are often more powerful than humanitarian or economic carve-outs. Financial institutions are extremely conservative and risk-averse; no compliance risk officer worth his or her salt is going to recommend their employer sacrifice access to the US market in order to operate in Yemen, a country with minimal economic potential.
Some will argue that designating the Houthis as a terrorist organization will provide the UN-accepted Yemeni government and the Saudi-led coalition with additional leverage at the negotiating table. But this is faulty reasoning because it ignores the reality that hardliners in the Houthi movement, who believe fighting is the best way forward, will use the US designation to lobby against diplomacy.
The United States should be extricating itself from Yemen’s civil war, a hellish conflict where no discernible direct national security interest is at stake.
https://inkstickmedia.com/labels-that-cause-more-harm-than-good/
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About Suffering: A Massacre of the Innocents in Yemen
The United States is contributing to the violent attacks on Yemen, while cutting back its humanitarian relief efforts.
For more than five years, Yemenis have faced famines while enduring a naval blockade and routine aerial bombardment. The United Nations estimates the war has already caused 233,000 deaths, including 131,000 deaths from such indirect causes as lack of food, health services, and infrastructure.
Systematic destruction of farms, fisheries, roads, sewage and sanitation plants, and health-care facilities has wrought further suffering. Yemen is resource-rich, but famine continues to stalk the country, the United Nations reports. Two-thirds of Yemenis are hungry and fully half do not know when they will eat next. Twenty-five percent of the population suffers from moderate to severe malnutrition. That includes more than two million children.
Equipped with U.S.-manufactured Littoral Combat Ships, the Saudis have been able to blockade air and sea ports that are vital to feeding the most populated part of Yemen—the northern area, where 80 percent of the population lives.
Yemeni children are not “starving children.” They are children being starved by warring parties whose blockades and bomb attacks have decimated the country. The United States is supplying devastating weaponry and diplomatic support to the Saudi-led coalition, while additionally launching its own “selective” aerial attacks against suspected terrorists and all the civilians in those suspects’ vicinity.
For several months at the end of 2020, the United States threatened to designate Ansar Allah as a “Foreign Terrorist Organization.” Even the threat of doing so began affecting uncertain trade negotiations, causing prices of desperately needed goods to rise.
On January 13, journalist Iona Craig noted that the process of delisting a “Foreign Terrorist Organization”—removing it from the government’s list—has never been achieved within a timeframe of less than two years. If the designation goes through, it could take two years to reverse the terrifying cascade of ongoing consequences.
The Biden Administration should immediately pursue a reversal. This war began the last time Biden
Sanctions and blockades are devastating warfare, cruelly leveraging hunger and possible famine as a tool of war.
Leading up to the 2003 “Shock and Awe” invasion of Iraq, U.S. insistence on comprehensive economic sanctions primarily punished Iraq’s most vulnerable people, especially the children. Hundreds of thousands of children died tortuous deaths, bereft of medicines and adequate health care.
Throughout those years, successive U.S. administrations, with a mainly cooperative media, created the impression that they were only trying to punish Saddam Hussein. But the message they sent to governing bodies throughout the world was unmistakable: If you do not subordinate your country to serve our national interest, we will crush your children.
Today, children in Yemen are being starved by monarchs and presidents colluding to control land and resources. “The Houthis, who control a large part of their nation, are no threat whatsoever to the United States or to American citizens,” declares James North, writing for Mondoweiss. “Pompeo is making the declaration because the Houthis are backed by Iran, and Trump’s allies in Saudi Arabia and Israel want this declaration as part of their aggressive campaign against Iran.”
Children are not terrorists. But a massacre of the innocents is terror. As of January 19, 268 organizations have signed a statement demanding an end to the war on Yemen. On January 25, “The World Says No to War Against Yemen” actions will be held worldwide.
We must not turn away. We must decry the terrible war and blockade. Doing so might help spare the lives of at least some of Yemen’s children. The opportunity to resist this massacre of the innocents rests with us – by Kathy Kelly
https://progressive.org/dispatches/massacre-of-innocents-yemen-kelly-210119/ = https://www.commondreams.org/views/2021/01/19/about-suffering-massacre-innocents-yemen
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CARE calls for reversal of Ansar Allah designations to be urgent humanitarian priority for Biden administration
As the outgoing US government administration’s terrorist designations of Ansar Allah take effect, CARE urges the incoming Biden administration to immediately reverse this short-sighted policy and avoid the worst-case humanitarian consequences in Yemen. Reversing this terrorist designation is the only way to avoid what will at best be a disruption to humanitarian aid and the import of vital goods like food, fuel, and medicine, or at worst a tipping point that leads to widespread famine.
Yemen is suffering from a combination of six years of war, a woefully under-funded humanitarian response and economic collapse exacerbated by Covid-19
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Oxfam: 13.5 million people face starvation if US designation of Houthis blocks aid and food delivery
13.5 million people in Yemen will be pushed towards starvation by the US designation of Ansar Allah, commonly known as the Houthis, as a terrorist organization. The designation comes into effect today and will seriously affect vital food imports to the country and humanitarian assistance, Oxfam warned.
Muhsin Siddiquey, Oxfam’s Country Director in Yemen, said: “Around 50,000 Yemenis are already facing starvation. This designation is devastating for them and for the millions more who rely on food aid. The tragic fact is that people will die if food imports are disrupted.
“We desperately need the US to immediately reverse this decision in order to avert catastrophe. Yemen imports 88% of its food supply but food importers have told us that the designation means they can no longer operate. I’ve also been told by a major grain importer that there is less than one month’s supply in their warehouse. People need food – if it can’t be brought into the country how can they eat?”
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Yemen: “These sanctions have to make clear that they do not apply to humanitarian aid”
MSF is concerned about these sanctions because the way they have been put together by the US government means that we do not know for sure how they will affect humanitarian work. That uncertainty could discourage or prevent humanitarian organisations and the companies they rely on from working in Yemen, which would then have dire effects on the many Yemenis who need aid.
The picture people have of aid is the doctor attending to the patient, but it is much more than that: it is the plane that gets the doctor to the country; the bank transfers that mean pay her local colleagues can be paid; and the ship that brings the medicines and other medical equipment.
If the airlines, banks and shipping companies do not know for sure that the US will not seek to punish them for helping us move items or money to Yemen, then they might refuse to provide us with their services, disrupting the ability of that doctor at the end of the supply chain to look after the patient.
There are a lot of worries about how the sanctions might further raise the cost of living people that are already struggling to make ends meet. Contrary to some, we have never seen evidence of a famine in Yemen, a situation where there is simply no food in the market.
There is food in the country, but its price has been increasing throughout the last years, making it more and more unaffordable for many people. The prospect that these sanctions could simultaneously make food yet more expensive and make humanitarian aid scarcer is obviously deeply worrying.
We are calling on the US government to immediately grant the broadest possible exemptions for humanitarian activities so as to lessen some of the expected consequences of the sanctions.
https://www.msf.org/msf-worried-us-ansar-allah-sanctions-will-have-detrimental-impact-yemen
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Norwegian Refugee Council: Effective tomorrow 19 January 2021: US sanctions on Yemen will fuel the flames of war and starvation for millions
“This decision will fuel the flames of war and starvation for millions of Yemenis. Incoming U.S. President Joe Biden must make Yemen a top priority and reverse these sanctions immediately. To jeopardise aid and supplies for a population already engulfed in the world’s largest humanitarian crisis is irresponsible, indefensible and inhumane.
These designations were rushed through, against the advice of key UN officials, diplomats and analysts, and major aid agencies working in Yemen. For months we have warned Secretary of State Pompeo that such a decision would sabotage aid, paralyse the pipeline of lifesaving food, fuel and medicine, and possibly tip the country into full-blown famine.
Importers and financial service providers have been thrown into chaos and aid agencies don’t know if they can continue operating. The U.S. simply cannot produce exemptions to the sanctions wide-ranging enough to shield the country from a major shock, at a time when people are already starving and struggling to make ends meet.
Incoming president Joe Biden must reverse this decision immediately
(* B P)
Film: Pompeo’s new designation of the Yemeni Houthis as terrorists is “clearly a misuse of the foreign terrorist designation,” says @sarahleah1. The Trump admin cited a Houthi airport bombing as proof, but by that metric, she says, “the Saudis should also be designated as terrorists.”
@shireen818 takes Biden at his word that he'll pull the U.S. out of the Yemen "war that Obama and Biden began," and that America continues to prop up: "It's a U.S. war as much as it is a Saudi and a UAE war."
https://twitter.com/MehdiHasanShow/status/1351338110676852737
Comment: By the metrics of climate change, the US should be designated as terrorists. On the day scientists warned 1M species are at risk due to global warming, Pompeo looked at the melting Arctic and saw oil, gas, gold, diamonds. "Golum”.
https://twitter.com/MoistureVapor8r/status/1351408976936660994
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Trump’s policy in Yemen is leading to genocide
By their latest terrorist designation, the U.S. will make it more difficult to aid the 14 million-plus people in need of life-saving aid.
It is not legal or just to starve the innocents of Yemen only to further isolate Iran.
Trump, in his final days, is not waging a war on terror; he is hastening a genocide.
(* B P)
The Trump administration is risking famine in Yemen
Move against Houthis is part of a series of dangerous final policy decisions
Even on its final day in office, the Trump administration intends to unleash a thunderbolt in the Middle East that will imperil the lives of millions.
Mr Pompeo said the designation would provide “tools” to counter terrorist activity and “advance efforts” to achieve a peaceful and united Yemen. But it is an irresponsible act that will complicate UN efforts to broker a resolution to Yemen’s war and deepen the suffering of millions in a nation devastated by nearly six years of conflict. The timing of the designation is no coincidence. Rather, it seems part of a cynical effort to scupper Mr Biden’s ability to ease Middle East crises and reset US policy. In addition, Mr Pompeo no doubt has an eye on his own political future and a self-serving desire to make Mr Biden appear weak on Iran, which supports the Houthis.
https://www.ft.com/content/dc17482c-db2b-4dc3-afc6-76d9bbafe3c3
(* B H P)
Film: Will Washington’s Decision To Label Yemen’s Houthis Terrorists Kill Any Chance For Peace?
Yemen’s Houthi rebels control large parts of the country including the capital, but President Donald Trump has labelled the rebel group a foreign terrorist organization. The UN has warned the designation could lead to the country’s worst famine in four decades, and others fear Trump’s Yemen policy will hurt any attempt to broker peace.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fmuUS80ULJo
(* B P)
Calling Houthis “Terrorists” Won’t Bring Peace to Yemen
“It is simplistic and inaccurate to say that the Houthis are a proxy group that reflexively do Iran’s bidding”, said a senior research analyst at the National Iranian American Council (NIAC), speaking to Fanack.
“It is important to remember that the Houthis are a local political group that represent a large constituency in Yemen, namely the Zaydi Shia, which is an offshoot of the branch of Shiism practiced in Iran,” added the analyst. “This constituency has had its own grievances within Yemen and with respect to Saudi Arabia for years without any reason having to do with Iran”.
“Iran’s relationship with the Houthis has grown closer as a direct result of the Saudi war in Yemen”, said NIAC, “As the war has continued and the humanitarian crisis in Yemen worsened, Iran’s ties with the Houthis have deepened and the Houthis have developed a more sophisticated arsenal of weapons, including missiles developed inside Yemeni territory seemingly with Iranian assistance.”
It could also make getting aid in the most precarious of situations even more challenging, despite Pompeo’s promise that licences would be issued to NGOs operating in the Houthi-controlled space where 70 percent of Yemenis live.
“The designation threatens to further shrink the space and access we need to deliver hu-manitarian assistance”, said Abeer Etefa, spokesperson for the UN World Food Programme.
“The humanitarian response does not operate in a vacuum: we work with banks, commercial traders and transporters, who in turn have links to global insurers and so on”, continued Etefer.
“The Houthis are likely to become more bellicose and make up any income they lose from taxing local markets by increasing tariffs on goods, pushing the cost of living to even more unsustainable levels for ordinary Yemenis,” wrote the International Crisis Group in a state-ment on their website.
It added that it could also lead the Houthis to further rely on Iran’s support while unlikely to bring them to the negotiating table.
(* B H P)
Audio: U.S. blocks humanitarian aid to Yemen as millions starve
Red Lines host Anya Parampil speaks to Rune Agerhus, General Director of the Yemen Solidarity Council, about the Trump Administration's recent decision to classify the Houthi movement as a terrorist organization. In response to the decision the Yemen Solidarity Council announced it would cease operations in the United States, while other international aid groups have denounced the move as the deliberate criminalization of humanitarian work. Agerhus explains why the designation makes it difficult for aid organizations to provide humanitarian relief to Yemen while providing historic context on the rise of the Houthi movement as well as Saudi Arabia's geopolitical interests in the country.
https://soundcloud.com/redlinesanya/us-blocks-humanitarian-aid-to-yemen-as-millions-starve
(* A H P)
Yemen’s [Hadi] government vows to mitigate effects of Houthi terrorism designation
Yemen’s prime minister has vowed to address any impact on humanitarian assistance or the remittances of citizens abroad following the US move to designate the Iran-backed Houthis as a terrorist organization.
Maeen Abdul Malik Saeed also urged the international community not to surrender to “Houthi blackmailing” and intimidation.
Saeed defended his government’s strong support of the designation during a virtual interview with foreign journalists sponsored by the Sanaa Center for Strategic Studies.
He said that his government had formed a committee to handle any effects on the delivery of humanitarian assistance inside Houthi-controlled areas and the remittances of Yemenis abroad.
“We are determined to prevent any impact of the decision on the Yemenis. We have formed a committee to mitigate effects of the decision,” he said.
https://www.arabnews.com/node/1794346/middle-east
My comment: This certainly will not work – and it’s little more than a deflection.
(A P)
Bidens Sicherheitsberater kritisiert Einstufung der Huthis als Terrororganisation
Der designierte Nationale Sicherheitsberater des neuen US-Präsidenten Joe Biden hat die Pläne der scheidenden Regierung zur Einstufung der Huthi-Rebellen im Jemen als Terrororganisation kritisiert. Huthi-Kommandeure müssten für ihre Vergehen in dem Bürgerkriegsland verantwortlich gemacht werden, schrieb Jake Sullivan am Samstag (Ortszeit) im Onlinedienst. Die Huthi-Rebellen insgesamt als Terrororganisation einzustufen, werde aber "nur mehr Leid über das jemenitische Volk bringen und die für eine Beendigung des Krieges entscheidende Diplomatie behindern".
(A P)
Biden aide slams Trump move on Yemen rebels
"Huthi commanders need to be held accountable, but designating the whole organization will only inflict more suffering on Yemeni people and impede diplomacy critical to end the war," Biden's pick for national security advisor, Jake Sullivan, tweeted.
https://www.france24.com/en/live-news/20210116-biden-aide-slams-trump-move-on-yemen-rebels = https://www.rfi.fr/en/middle-east/20210116-biden-aide-slams-trump-move-on-yemen-rebels
Sullivan: https://twitter.com/jakejsullivan/status/1350550304333438981
Comment: A few observations regarding this tweet. This is a clear signal that the Biden administration will factor the humanitarian consequences of its policies in complex crises.
https://twitter.com/Dave_Harden/status/1350808142372855809
Comment: If you think about canceling their classification as a terrorist group, that should be in return for their acceptance of a comprehensive and just peace that restores the state and its institutions and establishes the security and stability of #Yemen and world security as well.
https://twitter.com/Hooria_Mashhour/status/1350728713407787009
(A P)
Biden wird aufgefordert Benennung von Houthi als "Terroristen" abzulehnen
Fünfzig Organisationen haben einen Brief an den gewählten US-Präsidenten Joe Biden geschrieben, in dem sie ihn aufforderten, die Ausweisung der jemenitischen Houthi-Ansarullah-Bewegung durch die Trump-Regierung als "Terroristen" abzulehnen, mit der Begründung, der Schritt sei ein "Rezept für mehr Konflikte" in dem vom Krieg zerstörten Land.
"Unsere Koalition schließt sich einem Chor wachsenden Widerstands gegen die Benennung an, darunter einer überparteilichen Gruppe von Kongressmitgliedern, mehreren vor Ort im Jemen tätigen humanitären Organisationen und ehemaligen Berufsdiplomaten, die sowohl republikanischen als auch demokratischen Präsidenten gedient haben"
(A P)
Abdulsalam: US Classification of Ansarullah Has No Political, Economical Impact But Adds to Our Pride
The spokesman for Ansarullah and head of the National Delegation, Mohammad AbdulSalam, sees the American classification of Ansarullah, as a "terrorist organization," a testimony which Ansarullah are proud of.
(* A P)
Yemen: UN condemnation of Houthi terror designation sparks campaign against envoy
UN special envoy to Yemen accused by government supporters of taking sides, while others warn of humanitarian issues at stake
The reaction of Martin Griffiths, the United Nations special envoy for Yemen, to US plans to designate Yemen's Houthi movement as a foreign terrorist organisation has created a campaign against Griffiths by pro-government figures.
the denunciation of the US move has created anger among supporters of exiled Yemeni President Abd Rabbuh Mansour Hadi, as pro-government activists, journalists and politicians have zeroed in on Griffiths and accused him of serving the Houthi rebels, who have been fighting pro-government forces since 2014.
A social media campaign under the Arabic hashtag "Martin Griffiths supports terrorism" has spread widely in Arabic, while some cartoonists have drawn caricatures to express anger against the UN envoy.
But some have rejected the campaign against Griffiths, pointing out the alleged war crimes by Hadi's own allies, as others highlighted that humanitarian considerations ought to take precedence over political point-scoring.
Saleh Nabil was one of those angered upon hearing that Griffiths opposed the designation Houthis as a terrorist organisation, citing allegations of crimes committed by Houthis in his governorate Taiz.
"There are daily attacks and crimes by the Houthis around the whole country nowadays, especially in Taiz, but Griffiths doesn't consider such attacks to be terrorism!" the Yemeni man told Middle East Eye. "I don't know what terrorism means for the UN. If the UN envoy doesn't consider killing civilians for six years to be terrorism, that means we can't reach a solution in Yemen at all."
But in the country where war has raged for around six years, not all agreed with the campaign against Griffiths.
Mujahed, a trader who requested not to have his surname used, told MEE that he was happy to hear that the UN was calling for the reversal of the designation, calling it a dangerous step by the US that would have devastating consequences on Yemenis.
"Regardless of the humanitarian impact of this step by Trump's administration, there is no solid evidence to consider Ansar Allah as a terrorist group," he said, using another term for the Houthi rebels.
"The USA didn't mention attacks by the Saudi coalition on wedding halls, homes and other civil institutions," he noted, arguing that if Houthis were deemed terrorists, "the Saudi coalition should be also a terrorist group".
"The Saudi air strikes killed and destroyed more than Ansar Allah, and if there are sanctions they should be on both sides," he said.
https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/yemen-un-houthi-terrorism-designation-griffiths-campaign
and by a pro-Islah Party news site: https://www.alsahwa-yemen.net/en/p-44530
and
[Hadi gov.] Dep. Info Minister says Griffiths plays the role of the Houthis’ lawyer
https://www.alsahwa-yemen.net/en/p-44529
and also https://debriefer.net/en/news-22522.html
cp2 Allgemein / General
(* A K P)
Interactive Map of Yemen War
(* A K)
Main military events / Map updates
Jan. 20: https://southfront.org/saudi-backed-forces-ambushed-houthi-fighters-in-yemens-al-bayda/
Jan. 17: https://southfront.org/houthis-saudi-arabia-cannot-expect-to-stay-safe-as-long-as-it-attacks-yemen/
Jan. 16: https://southfront.org/uae-backed-forces-claim-they-repelled-houthi-attack-in-al-hudaydah-video/
(B K P)
Yemen: A Pawn in the Game of Middle Eastern Checkers?
Yemen continues to suffer from the world's worst humanitarian crisis. The crisis is not only a concern to the Middle Eastern neighbours of Yemen but fuels the threat perception pertaining to that of the West's War on Terror against terrorism at large, particularly Al-Qaeda and ISIS. Yemen enjoys superior strategic significance, located as it is geographically on the strait linking the Red Sea with the Gulf of Aden which constitutes the zone from which most of the world's oil cargo travels. Many had blamed Saudi Arabia for its lack of security provisions on the day of the Aden airport blast, yet this might be considered as the tip of the iceberg of a deep-seated problem concerning the 'unity government.' What needs to be understood is that in more ways than one, Yemen has become a pawn in the clutches of the broader strategic dynamics of the Arab world and Uncle Sam’s War on Terror.
https://thepangean.com/Yemen-A-Pawn-in-the-Game-of-Middle-Eastern-Checkers
(* B P)
World Says No to War on Yemen – Global Online Rally
This protest is timed to take place just days after the inauguration of Joe Biden, who has promised to end US support for the war. This is our one central aim – to hold him to his word and force fellow governments to follow suit.
Over 230 organisations from 17 countries have signed up for a call to action against the war on Yemen so far, making this the biggest international anti-war co-ordination since the campaign against the Iraq war. Unfortunately, due to the circumstances in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic many of the planned physical protests have had to be postponed but our global movement will not be silenced.
For the World Says No to War on Yemen Global Online Rally we have brought together a group of prominent voices from across the world to speak out against this utterly brutal war and call for its immediate end.
Register for the livestream here: https://us02web.zoom.us/…/reg…/WN_a1UiRQgwS_Kk-sBG86bv-A
Call To Protest Internationally on Monday January 25th, 2021. Please add your organization here!
https://masspeaceaction.org/event/international-day-of-action-on-yemen/
(A P)
Shot, terrorised and forced to flee: Yemeni Jewish family reunited in UAE tell of persecution at Houthi hands
The Al Chabib family, which along with other Jews were targeted by the Iran-backed militia, were reunited in Abu Dhabi last week after two decades apart
A Yemeni Jewish family reunited in Abu Dhabi after decades apart told of how they escaped persecution in their home country after being spat on and shot because of their religion.
The majority of the family fled Yemen for the UK two decades ago. Only the grandparents and uncle remained in the north-western city of Saada until recently.
The uncle, Yusef Al Chabib, told The National of their family's plight and how grateful they were to the UAE government for bringing them together.
Mr Al Chabib, 45, said he was shot while sitting in front his shop in Yemen a few years ago for being identifiably Jewish. The men in the family wear kippahs and have long sidelocks, known as peyot.
He said he was lucky to survive the attack, which left scars on his legs.
My comment: By an UAE news site. The UAE uses such stories for a “We are the good and tolerate ones” PR story.
(A P)
Iran Objects to Saudi Participation in Disarmament Conference
The Islamic Republic of Iran’s ambassador to the United Nations Office at Geneva denounced the “destructive” presence of Saudi Arabia as an observer in the Conference on Disarmament (CD), pointing to the kingdom’s dark record of military aggression against Yemeni civilians.
In remarks on Tuesday, January 19, Iran’s ambassador and permanent representative to the UN Office at Geneva, Esmaeil Baqaei Hamaneh, deplored Saudi Arabia’s record of creating instability and its destructive role in the region and in the formation of a military coalition against its neighbouring state which has slaughtered civilians, devastated Yemen’s infrastructures, and led to the spread of insecurity and instability in the region.
https://ifpnews.com/iran-objects-to-saudi-participation-in-disarmament-conference
(* B P)
With Yemen on the precipice, 'unity' is the only path to survival
The success of Yemen's new government will rest on building trust between factions, as well as the actions of the incoming US administration
Yemen's new unity government got a rough welcome on the eve of the New Year, highlighting how the political stability and safety of this new arrangement lies on a knife's edge as it begins to take control of southern Yemen.
But there is more than violence that threatens this new government. They need to hold the various coalition partners together long enough to effectively engage the Houthis, who are in control in the north. What we can say, is that this cabinet offers a new opportunity to build trust between the various factions sufficiently enough to ensure that none is tempted to resort to violence to gain leverage again. As more factions are given a voice and opportunities to share power within this government, less contentious initiatives like supporting suffering Yemenis and restoring basic services can also resume.
It is also important to examine where and how things can go wrong. The lack of trust between factions stems from long standing local rivalries that predate the most recent conflict, as well as influence exerted by external actors, notably the Saudis and the Emiratis. For example, the Al-Islah party has historical ties to the Saudi ruling class while STC has been actively supported through military training and arms distribution by the United Arab Emirates.
As political arrangements in the agreement are set, the implementation of the military and security forces is vital for the new government's survival and success. Battles between the former government and STC forces have led to much bloodshed and bad faith in the Aden, Abyan, and Shabwa regions.
President Biden will have the opportunity to reduce arms sales to the Saudis and press them to maintain the balance of power in the new unity government, and focus on diplomacy to end the conflict with the Houthis. The Saudis must understand they no longer have a blank cheque from Washington. As the UAE ended its official military presence in Yemen and abandoned its aim of a separatist southern Yemen in 2020, so must pressure build on Crown Prince Mohhammed bin Salman to compromise. The present situation offers Biden an opportunity to throw his weight behind UN-mediated diplomacy and a legitimate coalition government that is made up of various factions, not just the former Hadi government.
https://english.alaraby.co.uk/english/comment/2021/1/18/unity-in-yemen-is-the-only-path-to-survival
My comment: And? This “unity” government still does not include the Houthis – and the author stays more than vague and does not explain what he really thinks (and wishes) to happen in 2021.
(* A P)
[Hadi gov.] Yemeni Prime Minister speaks to international media as part of the Yemen Media Call program
Yemeni Prime Minister Maeen Abdelmalek Saeed said on Friday that missiles that struck a runway at Aden international airport December 30, 2020, were an attempt by the armed Houthi movement to target the airplane carrying members of the new government that had just landed.
The prime minister’s remarks came as part of a Yemen Media Call briefing held by the Sana’a Center for Strategic Studies. The program aims to increase the quality and depth of international media coverage of Yemen and the surrounding region.
Saeed said that the airplane had landed at an alternative runway, right before missiles fell on runway No. 1, which was the plane’s initial landing spot. Debris collected from the site indicated the missiles were identical to some fired earlier in Marib for which the Houthis had taken responsibility. The Houthis have not claimed responsibility for the airport attack, and figures within the authority have variously blamed Saudi or UAE factions within the new government.
The attack was unexpected, Saeed added, given that the airport is a civilian facility and media were present to welcome the new government to Aden.
According to Saeed, the attack raised the stakes and pushed the government to call for the designation of the armed Houthi movement as a terrorist organization, adding that the group was responsible for a large number of violations affecting civilians in the past five years. The US State Department announced on January 10 its intent to do so; the move becomes effective January 19.
https://sanaacenter.org/publications/news/12934
and
(A P)
Aden airport bombing US crime to pass classification against Ansarullah: Governor
[Sanaa gov. “Lackland”] Aden governor Tariq Salam confirmed on Monday that the bombing of Aden airport, which killed more than 20 civilians and injured 60 others, was an American crime and prepared in advance to pass the American classification against Ansarullah.
In a statement to Saba, the refusal of US and Israeli forces and their agents in the region led to the passage of the normalization deal, linking the term terrorism to forces that reject hegemony and injustice.
https://www.saba.ye/en/news3125008.htm
and
(* B P T)
In Focus: How I Narrowly Escaped Death at Aden Airport
Only a limited number of journalists and government officials were supposed to be present at Aden International Airport on December 30, 2020. However, to our surprise, hundreds of citizens had flocked since the early hours of the morning to welcome the new cabinet members, and some to celebrate the return of former Aden security director and prominent Southern Transitional Council (STC) figure, Major General Shalal Ali Shaye’a, to the interim capital. Large crowds gathered at the airport’s main gate in a festive atmosphere.
Inside the airport’s lounge, the crowd was divided in two: to the right were STC supporters, who made up a majority of the crowd; and to the left were supporters of the internationally recognized government. However, the groups soon mingled and exchanged greetings and complimentary remarks
Ahead of the arrival of the plane carrying the new cabinet, journalists and government officials went out to the airport’s runway. Meanwhile, citizens had pushed their way through the lounge’s gate and managed to make it to the runway.
Five minutes and just 20 meters saved us from certain death. A loud explosion rocked the airport lounge, where we were supposed to go to carry out live coverage on television. All eyes and cameras turned toward the scene of the explosion. We heard gunfire and, for a while, we thought a booby-trapped bomb had gone off, followed by armed clashes. This was the most frustrating moment in my life, and I thought: “Are we truly this infiltrated?”
Before we could wrap our heads around what was happening, a second explosion went off, forcing everyone to run east. A few seconds later, there was a third explosion, confirming to everyone that these were the result of missile strikes. Panicked, everyone, including officials unable to maintain their poise, ran for their lives.
Escaping seemed like an absurd choice as we had no idea what the nature of the threat was and how to avoid it.
https://republicanyemen.net/archives/26856
(* B K P)
A 'synchronised attack' on life: the Saudi-led coalition's 'hidden and holistic' genocide in Yemen and the shared responsibility of the US and UK
Since the Saudi-led coalition (Coalition) began its military campaign in Yemen in March 2015, upwards of 13,000 Yemen civilians have been killed, including nearly 2000 women and 3000 children. Additionally, Coalition aerial attacks have intentionally targeted Yemen’s civilian infrastructure, economic infrastructure, medical facilities and cultural heritage. Combined with the ongoing air and naval blockade, which has impeded the ability of Yemenis to access clean water, food, fuel and health services, the violence visited upon Yemen has created near-famine conditions. Furthermore, United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) predicts another imminent outbreak of cholera, with the potential to be as deadly as last year’s which infected more than one million children and killed a child every 10 minutes. Through engagement with genocide studies literature, this article applies a holistic conception of genocide to the Coalition military campaign. It finds that the Coalition is conducting an ongoing campaign of genocide by a ‘synchronised attack’ on all aspects of life in Yemen, one that is only possible with the complicity of the United States and United Kingdom.
This article explores whether the Coalition has committed genocide during its operations in Yemen, and whether the US and UK share responsibility for it. It begins by critically engaging with genocide studies literatures in establishing the concept of genocide by which the Coalition’s actions will be analysed. Next, using this concept of genocide, the Yemen Data Project’s documentation of 16,749 coalition air attacks between 26 March 2015 and 25 March 2018, and the impact of the coalition’s air and naval blockade of Yemen’s ports, it evaluates the Coalition’s tactics in Yemen to determine whether it is responsible for genocide. Finally, it reviews the role of the US and UK in the Coalition’s ability to conduct its attacks on Yemen to determine whether they share responsibility. It is concluded that the Coalition has engaged in a ‘synchronised attack’ on all aspects of life in Yemen, constituting the crime of genocide, which would not be possible without the material and logistical support of the US and UK, making them complicit.
cp3 Humanitäre Lage / Humanitarian situation
(A H P)
ICESCO Stands with Yemen in Year of Recovery
The Islamic World Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (ICESCO) and the Yemeni Prime Minister held on January 19, a virtual working session to explore existing cooperation between ICESCO and Yemen and the programs and projects for the upcoming period as part of Yemen’s proclamation of 2021 a Year of Recovery.
Dr. Maeen Abdulmalek Saeed, Yemeni Prime Minister, presided over the Yemeni party in the presence of Mr. Azzedine Al-Asbahi, Ambassador of Yemen to Morocco, while Dr. Salim M. AlMalik, ICESCO Director-General (DG), presided ICESCO’s team of heads of sectors, advisors, and experts.
ICESCO DG reaffirmed the Organization’s willingness to extend assistance to Yemen, particularly in the reform of education policies, the training of educational staff, rehabilitation of educational leaderships, scholarships for Yemeni students enrolled at prestigious universities, the training of Yemeni students on leadership, and overcoming learning loss.
https://www.icesco.org/en/2021/01/20/icesco-stands-with-yemen-in-year-of-recovery/
(B H)
WFP Yemen Situation Report #12, December 2020
In Numbers
24.3 million people in need of humanitarian assistance*
3.6 million people internally displaced
16.2 million people are food insecure (IPC 3+)
*According to the Jun-Dec Humanitarian Response Plan (HRP) extension
Highlights
WFP targeted 5.3 million Yemeni people with general food assistance under December distributions.
2,101 confirmed cumulative cases of COVID-19 were reported by the end of December.
WFP requires USD 430 million to continue operations unimpeded over the next six months (January 2021 – June 2021).
https://reliefweb.int/report/yemen/wfp-yemen-situation-report-12-december-2020
(B H)
Shining a spotlight on local heroes in Yemen
Heba works as a Public Health Promotion Officer for Oxfam in her hometown of Aden, southern Yemen. In the four years that Heba has worked for Oxfam, she feels as though her work has never been more important. Her current position helping Oxfam involves raising awareness around the importance of good hygiene, and training community health volunteers to deliver hygiene awareness sessions. This position puts her on the frontlines of the Covid-19 response in Yemen.
“I am proud to be part of Oxfam and have the opportunity to contribute to supporting people in my country. We are humanitarians. We are needed more than ever in times like these; if we don’t stay to help and support people, who will?”
Her courage and sentiments are a source of inspiration for the Disaster Environment Committee’s (DEC) Coronavirus Appeal. Its appeal has been set up to raise urgent funds to help people fleeing war and living in fragile states, such as Heba’s.
https://oakfnd.org/shining-a-spotlight-on-local-heroes-in-yemen/
(B H)
Map: Yemen: Access Constraints as of 19 January 2021
https://reliefweb.int/map/yemen/yemen-access-constraints-19-january-2021
(B H)
Yemen: Education Cluster Humanitarian Response Dashboard (January - December 2020)
and more: https://reliefweb.int/report/yemen/yemen-education-cluster-coverage-and-gap-analysis-dec-2020
https://reliefweb.int/report/yemen/yemen-education-cluster-partners-achievement-december-2020
https://reliefweb.int/report/yemen/yemen-education-cluster-activities-partners-presence-jan-dec-2020
https://reliefweb.int/report/yemen/yemen-education-cluster-gap-analysis-january-december-2020
(* B H)
Film: Yemen on the brink of starvation
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mCrzRs7247A = https://abcnews.go.com/International/video/yemen-brink-starvation-75331982?fbclid=IwAR0RVzLie-4QHotyqoYQxDstbJXNT4-XQNNz27gF7Wbve8jQSrM00owVz5s = https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=722644858639451
(A H)
QRCS Supports Water Projects in Yemen
Qatar Red Crescent Society (QRCS) announced Sunday that it recently launched a new project to dig wells and rehabilitate water projects in Yemen. About 120,000 people will benefit from it in five governorates Taiz, Dhale, Saada, Hajjah, and Raymah, at a total cost of $1,097,870.
https://reliefweb.int/report/yemen/qrcs-supports-water-projects-yemen-enar
(B H)
The dialysis center of the Republican Hospital in #Taiz city is threatened to interruption and expose 180 patients who reach the center weekly to danger due to the lack of solutions and the severe shortage of medical supplies.
https://twitter.com/BelqeesRights/status/1350836276510019587
(B H)
Cash Consortium of Yemen (CCY) - Price Monitoring Tool: December 2020
https://reliefweb.int/report/yemen/cash-consortium-yemen-ccy-price-monitoring-tool-december-2020
(* B H)
Yemeni Development Network for NGOs (YDN) Monthly Bulletin, November-December 2020
Highlights
Health and Nutrition Program:
Rehabilitating targeted HFs in Kharif and Raydah district in Amran governorate.
Field visits to the targeted HFs in Kharif and Raydah districts of Amran governorate.
Supporting the targeted health facilities with medicines from the Yemen medicine bank (YMB).
Participating in the integrated phase classification for acute malnutrition (IPC AMN) analysis workshop.
WASH Program:
Starting civil works in the constructions of concrete water tank and rehabilitation of water network in Al-Udayn district of Ibb governorate.
Conducting the regular cleaning campaign rounds in Al Udayn district of Ibb Gov Conducting hygiene awareness sessions in Al Udayn district of Ibb Gov.
Distribution of CHKs in (Ahwal AlAjooz – AlRawdhah – Wahas) IDPs Camps- Dhi As Sufal Districts of Ibb Gov.
Shelter Program:
The second and third rounds of rental subsidies was distributed for 500 households of vulnerable IDPs, in Al Udayn, Mudhikhera and Jiblah Districts, Ibb Governorate in November & December.
Participating in the sessions of Integrating Gender-Based Violence Interventions in Shelter/NFIs and RMMs Programs.
FSL Program:
Needs Assessment to rehabilitate the damaged wells in Far Al-udyeen district.
Full document: https://reliefweb.int/sites/reliefweb.int/files/resources/Monthly%20Bulletin%20Nov-Dec2020.pdf
(A H)
Photo: An urgent humanitarian appeal to the organizations defending the rights of children: This child will get marry after one month in Aldhale governorate. #Yemen. Please tag organizations to stop this!
https://twitter.com/AhmadAlgohbary/status/1350553062306418692
cp4 Flüchtlinge / Refugees
(B H)
CCCM Cluster Yemen: IDP Hosting Sites Overview (December 2020)
https://reliefweb.int/report/yemen/cccm-cluster-yemen-idp-hosting-sites-overview-december-2020
(B H)
UNHCR Kharaz Refugee Camp, Yemen - Fact Sheet December 2020
Located in Lahj Governorate, south of Yemen, Kharaz camp opened in 2001 and remains the only refugee camp in Yemen.
As of end of August 2020, the camp is home to over 9,200 refugees and asylum seekers, mostly from Somalia and Ethiopia.
UNHCR and partners provide protection and assistance to refugees and host communities.
UNHCR works closely with the authorities of Lahj Governorate, the Ministry of Health, the Ministry of Education, the UN World Food Programme (WFP), aid organisations, and community-based committees, to provide protection and essential services to refugees living in Kharaz camp, and their host community.
https://reliefweb.int/report/yemen/unhcr-kharaz-refugee-camp-yemen-fact-sheet-december-2020
(B H)
UNHCR Yemen Situation: 2020 Funding Update (as of 5 January 2021)
https://reliefweb.int/report/yemen/unhcr-yemen-situation-2020-funding-update-5-january-2021
cp5 Nordjemen und Huthis / Northern Yemen and Houthis
Siehe / Look at cp1
(* B P)
CCHBV: Houthis lately destroyed, blew up 25 civilian homes in Taiz
Civil Commission for Houses Bombing Victims (CCHBV) has accused the Iran-backed Houthi rebels, who have been lately designated as a foreign terrorist organization by the U.S., of destroying and blowing up 25 of civilian homes in Al Hayma village, northeast Taiz city, Yemen’s third-largest city.
In a statement, the CCHBV said the Houthi militia has destroyed over 10 civilian homes in Al Hayma village by artillery shelling and burned 3 more homes this month.
The commission also noted that it has received reports about blowing up civilian homes by Houthi gunmen in the village.
Not only did the militia destroy and blow up homes, but it also abducted 95 civilians, 13 of whom are children, Abductees’ Mothers Association said last Sunday.
Early this month, the Houthi group launched attacks on Al Hayma village after clashes that erupted between the Houthi militia and residents who picked up arms against them.
Reports indicate that the Iran-backed Houthi militia has destroyed and blown up about 816 homes across Yemen since 2014, 200 of which in Taiz province.
https://republicanyemen.net/archives/26870
and also https://www.alsahwa-yemen.net/en/p-44630
and
(* B P)
After the massacre: Houthi militants storm houses, loot women’s jewelry from homes in Taiz villages
Houthi militants have “stormed houses, kidnapped more people and looted women’s jewelry” in central Yemen’s villages of al-Haymah where they committed a massacre at the beginning of this month, various media outlets reported on Tuesday quoting local sources and eyewitnesses.
The Shia extremists including Zaynabiat, female militants, raided the village, in Taiz governorate, in a convoy of tens of military patrol trucks, the sources told Seera Post news website. “They (the militants) kidnapped male villagers, severely assaulted the women and looted their jewelry and the furniture and fixture of the houses including solar panels on the roofs.”
https://www.alsahwa-yemen.net/en/p-44601
and the newest:
(A P)
Citizen killed, 11 others kidnapped including 3 women by Houthis northern Taiz
The Iran-backed Houthi terrorist militia on Tuesday, killed a citizen and kidnapped 11 others in Al-Hayma area, north of Taiz province, southwestern Yemen.
According to Taiz Center for Human Rights, the Houthi terrorist militia killed Habib Ali Saeed al-Hajj in the village of Shahra in Al-Hayma area.
Taiz Center for Human Rights confirmed that Houthi militia deliberately tracked the citizen while driving a motorcycle and killing him.
and also https://www.alsahwa-yemen.net/en/p-44634
(A P)
Hundreds protest in Yemen capital against US terrorist label
Hundreds of supporters of Yemen's Huthi rebels took to the streets of the capital Sanaa Wednesday to protest against the US labelling their movement as terrorists in one of the final acts of outgoing President Donald Trump.
"We've come out to say the United States is the mother of terrorism and doesn't have the right to classify anyone as terrorist," a demonstrator told AFP, hours before President-elect Joe Biden was to take over from Trump.
Hizam al-Assad, a member of the Huthis' political office, condemned "the continued aggression against the Yemeni people by US administrations".
(A K P)
10 deceived soldiers return home
https://www.saba.ye/en/news3125170.htm
My remark: „Deceived” = former anti-Houthi fighters.
(A P)
Terrorist designation exposes US hostility towards Yemen, says Houthis
The political bureau of the Houthi group on Tuesday considered the US designation of the group exposed the US hostility towards Yemen
After decades of hiding behind fake slogans and headlines and regional instruments, the US has come out as the first enemy of the Yemeni people, it said in a press release, a copy of which was obtained by Debriefer.
The statement was made as US sanctions on the group came into effect today.
That desperate US administration should have been busy with US problems, not with a designation which brings it nothing but stands as new evidence that it is against the will of other nations to be free and desperately supporting regional proxies and Israel, the statement said.
https://debriefer.net/en/news-22579.html
(A P)
Iran-Houthis envoy: Intl groups practice suspicious activities in Yemen
International agencies practice suspicious acts in Yemen, the Iranian envoy for the Houthi group said Tuesday.
"Some international organizations working in Yemen practice suspicious activities," IRNA quoted Hassan Irloo
https://debriefer.net/en/news-22570.html
(* B P)
Yemen: Imprisoned Journalists Face Abuse and Death
Houthi authorities should release four unjustly convicted journalists
(Beirut) - Four journalists arbitrarily detained by Houthi authorities in Yemen since 2015 are facing the death penalty and are not receiving adequate medical care. On April 11, 2020, the Specialized Criminal Court, run by the Houthis, ruled on Sana'a, four Yemeni journalists must be executed after an unfair trial on politically motivated charges of treason and espionage for foreign countries due to their work as journalists Houthi authorities should immediately abolish death sentences and release the journalists unconditionally.
Houthi authorities arrested the four journalists - Abd al-Khaliq Omran, Akram al-Walidi, Harith Hamid, and Tawfiq al-Mansouri - along with five other journalists during a raid on a hotel room in Sana'a, on June 9, 2015, where they were working because the hotel was one of the few locations in the city available. They have internet and electricity, according to what their relatives told Human Rights Watch by phone. Throughout their detention, even before the outbreak of the Coronavirus, journalists were allowed only irregular and restricted family visits, and were not provided with legal aid or adequate medical care. On October 15, the Houthis released five journalists as part of a prisoner exchange deal with the internationally recognized Yemeni government, but they refused to include the four on death row.
“Houthi authorities are using questionable courts to punish journalists for carrying out their work,” said Afrah Nasser , Yemen researcher at Human Rights Watch, adding to the armed group’s appalling record of violations. These journalists should not have been arrested in the first place, let alone faced the death penalty.
Human Rights Watch opposes the death penalty in all circumstances because of its inherent cruelty and irreversibility.
https://www.hrw.org/ar/news/2020/11/06/376971
(A P)
Photo: #Houthi leader Mohammed al-Bukaiti carrys out divine instructions in #Yemen's Dhamar. Though some won't believe Houthis want to rule in the name of God.
https://twitter.com/Alsakaniali/status/1351330094879485952
(A P)
Ansarullah committed to Stockholm Peace Agreement: Spox
Following a phone conversation with the Swedish envoy in Yemen, Ansarullah Spokesman Mohammad Abdul-Salam reaffirmed the movement’s commitment to the provisions of the Stockholm Peace Agreement.
https://en.mehrnews.com/news/168712/Ansarullah-committed-to-Stockholm-Peace-Agreement-Spox
(* A H P)
Houthis threaten to halt WHO work north Yemen
The Houthi health ministry on Monday threatened to stop the World Health Organization's work in Yemen's northern areas held by the group.
The WHO decided to halt providing fuel for health facilities as of next March, meaning that 141 health facilities would stop services, the ministry said in a statement seen by Debriefer.
WHO decision "is irresponsible and indicates the weakness experienced by the organization that cannot continue providing vital oil derivatives to operate health facilities and save patients' life," the statement read.
The health ministry is currently reconsidering its partnership with the WHO and studying other options, since it cannot count on a partner that reneges its responsibilities amid crises, it added.
https://debriefer.net/en/news-22551.html
and
(* A H P)
International Organizations Continue Their War Against Yemen in the Name of Humanity
International organizations are continuing their war on Yemen in the name of humanity, including the World Health Organization, which announced the cessation of support for oil derivatives from health facilities, starting next March.
The decision comes in conjunction with the Saudi-led aggression prevention of fuel ships from arrival to the port of Hodeidah. That means there is a systematic plan to create a major humanitarian disaster within the framework of the economic war that the US-Saudi aggression is waging on Yemen.
The World Health Organization’s decision today is a continuation of the steps taken to target the health sector, which began in September 2020 with the announcement of international health organizations to lift support for the health sector, in February 2020 the United Nations announced a 75% reduction in humanitarian aid in Yemen, bowing to the US pressure.
and
(* A H P)
Yemen warns for disastrous consequences of WHO suspension of fuel subsidies
The Yemeni Ministry of Public Health and Population has on Monday warned of the consequences of the World Health Organisation’s decision to stop subsidising oil derivatives to health facilities.
The ministry indicated that it would reconsider its partnership with the WHO as a result.
Spokesman for the Ministry of Health, Dr. Najeeb Al-Qubati, denounced in a statement the organisation’s decision to stop subsidising oil derivatives to health facilities, starting from next March, according to the official news agency Saba.
Dr. Al-Qubati explained that “this irresponsible decision will lead to stopping the services of 141 health facilities from working.”
“The inability of the United Nations system to facilitate the arrival of oil derivatives and their continued flow due to the aggression and blockade, that has continued for six years, is in itself a failure to fulfill basic obligations guaranteed by international humanitarian law,” he said.
(A P)
Deputy Foreign Minister of Yemen: Hadi is a multi-purpose tool of our enemies
Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs in the Yemeni government, Hussein Al-Ezzi, has on Monday verbally attacked the exiled Hadi presidency, the Islah Party and the Southern Transitional Council, saying that they are “multi-use tools.”
Al-Ezzi wrote that: “Hadi has no legitimacy, he is a peg and a multi-purpose person. You can wear him as a tie, and that’s what the thieves do.”
(A P)
Wut auf USA
In der jemenitischen Hauptstadt Sanaa haben am Montag Anhänger der Ansarollah (»Huthi«) vor der US-Botschaft gegen die Einstufung als »terroristische Organisation« protestiert.
https://www.jungewelt.de/artikel/394614.krieg-im-jemen-wut-auf-usa.html
(A P)
Supporters of Yemen’s Houthis protest outside US embassy
US designation of Houthi rebels as terrorist organization will go into effect on Jan. 19
Hundreds of supporters of Yemen’s Houthi rebels staged a demonstration Monday in front of the US embassy in the capital Sana’a against Washington’s decision to designate the group as a foreign terrorist organization.
The demonstrators held banners denouncing the US move. They also accused the US of "killing the Yemenis" since the start of the war in the country.
and also https://debriefer.net/en/news-22549.html
(A K P)
Yemen to unveil new military equipment
The Yemeni defense minister said that new military equipment would be unveiled soon, adding that these systems would bring about major changes in the war strategy and counter-aggression of the Saudi-Emirati coalition
https://en.abna24.com/news//yemen-to-unveil-advanced-military-systems-defence-minister_1107105.html
and also https://debriefer.net/en/news-22558.html
https://en.mehrnews.com/news/168701/Yemen-to-unveil-new-military-equipment
(A K P)
Bayda receives 15 deceived soldiers
Mukairas district director in Bayda province Yasser Jahlan received on Monday 15 deceived soldiers of al-Abdiya district of Marib province.
Among the deceived soldiers two military leaders belonging to forces of the mercenary Saif al-Shadadi.
https://www.saba.ye/en/news3125015.htm
(A K P)
20 deceived soldiers return home
Marib province undersecretaries Mohammed Alwan and Nasser al-Shandaqi have received 20 deceived soldiers who are from al-Abdiyah district in Marib.
https://www.saba.ye/en/news3124850.htm
My remark: “Deceived” = former anti-Houthi fighters.
(* A P)
The mothers of the kidnapped in Taiz demand the release of 95 civilians among them
In a statement, the mothers of the kidnapped held a protest stand that they carried out this morning in front of the governorate building, the Houthi armed group, fully responsible for the life and safety of all kidnapped civilians.
The statement called on the United Nations, the Security Council, and local and international human rights organizations to stand with the sons of al-Hima until the fate of dozens of them is revealed, and to oblige the Houthi group to release the kidnapped and disappeared civilians without restrictions and conditions.
http://ama-ye.org/?no=1580&ln=Ar
and
(* A P)
Houthi militia crack down on survivors of Al-Hayma massacre, kill one, injure three
A Houthi military campaign cracking down on survivors of Al-Haymah massacre in Taiz killed one man and injured three others today. The three men had escaped to the neighboring Aljandiya region. Last week the Shia extremists killed 35 people and mutilated the bodies some of them, and injured and kidnapped hundreds others in a heavy offensive on al-Hayma villages after refusing to pay exorbitant religious taxes.
https://www.alsahwa-yemen.net/en/p-44528
and
(A P)
A number of civilians in al-Hayma area, north of #Taiz governorate held a protest in front of the local authority building demanding to halt the violations committed against them since the beginning of the war.
https://twitter.com/BelqeesRights/status/1350433829673185280
(A P)
Head of #Houthi Exec. Council: "we r nothing without Axis of Resistance (Iran & its affiliated regimes & militia) & soon a manifest victory would bring us together." Probably he means by "manifest victory" a military op. This term was used by #Iran during war with Iraq in 1982
https://twitter.com/Alsakaniali/status/1350916652687306761
(B P)
Film: Children chant the #Houthi slogan in a school under the control of #Houthis. The slogan reads: “Death to America … Death to Israel … Damn the Jews … Victory to Islam.”
https://twitter.com/RepYemenEnglish/status/1351167465032724488
My comment: What about? Compare how it’s elsewhere: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M9b0ymIqmSc or https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XNgfUHE-nvo
(B P)
Film: Watch how #Houthis instill the culture of gun violence into kids
https://twitter.com/RepYemenEnglish/status/1350842331738550272
(B H)
If you want to understand the #Houthi movement's roots & contradictions (given #Trump's #terror designation), the research of Dr Marieke Brandt @oeaw is excellent. If short of time, just read Brandt's chapter in @MarieHeinze "#Yemen & the Search for Stability" by @BloomsburyBooks ( 2pages in image)
https://twitter.com/Dr_E_Kendall/status/1351862613093842946
cp6 Südjemen und Hadi-Regierung / Southern Yemen and Hadi-government
(A P)
Cabinet reviews latest developments
The Cabinet held session in the temporary capital Aden on Wednesday, presided over by the Prime Minister Dr. Ma'een Abdulmalik, the Yemeni news agency Saba said.
The meeting devoted to discuss the latest developments about the military, security, political and services situations and to review the ongoing efforts to deal with the challenges on the ground.
http://en.adenpress.news/news/32034
(A E P)
Fuel stations in occupied Aden shut down for fourth day in row
The price of a 20-liter fuel gallon of benzene has reached more than 10,000 riyals in Aden and the rest of the southern provinces, controlled by Saudi-led coalition.
“The current fuel crisis resulted from a strike carried out by workers of the Aden Refineries Company,” said Mona Manea, financial director of the petroleum company’s branch in Aden.
(A P)
Hadi receives GCC secretary general
President Abdrabbuh Mansur Hadi on Tuesday received the secretary general of the Gulf Cooperation Council Nayef Al-Hajraf and discussed the latest developments in Yemen since the new government returned to Ade
https://debriefer.net/en/news-22580.html
and also https://english.aawsat.com/home/article/2752146/hajraf-reiterates-gulf-support-legitimate-govt-yemen
(A E P)
Aden port resumes operations through Maersk shipping line
The administration of Aden Airport has resumed operations through the Maersk shipping line after years of suspension triggered by security and political turmoil in Yemen.
Manager of the berths at the port of Maulla Shafi'a Mohsen said the Kiel Trader Container Ship affiliated with the Maersk line arrived on Monday at the port.
https://debriefer.net/en/news-22557.html
(A P)
Yemeni Shura chairman, PP sworn in despite STC vows
Dr. Ahmed Obaid Bin Daghr and Dr. Ahmed Saleh al-Musai on Tuesday were sworn in before President Hadi as chairman of Yemen's Shura Council and Public Prosecutor, respectively.
In addition, Abdullah Mohamed Abul Ghaith and Wahi Taha Abdullah Jafar Aman were sworn in as Shura Council vice-chairmen.
https://debriefer.net/en/news-22572.html
and also http://en.adenpress.news/news/32031
My remark: At Riyadh, as the location shows.
(A P)
STC reiterates rejection of Hadi's unilateral decrees
The Southern Transition Council (STC) reiterated its rejection of any unilateral decisions that contradict the Riyadh Agreement and the principle of partnership, referring to the decrees issued last Friday by the president, Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi, appointing high-ranking government officials.
The STC spokesman, Abdullah Al Kathiri said in a statement on Tuesday that the STC reserves the right to take what it takes to protect the South, its people, its cause and its achievements.
The capital, Aden and all the southern governorates will not be the scene of any controversial actions, Al Kathiri warned.
http://en.adenpress.news/news/32026
(A P)
STC hails political parties for rejecting Hadi's unilateral decisions
Southern Transitional Council (STC) highly praised the courageous positions of the Nasserist Unionist People's Organization (NUPO), Yemeni Socialist Party (YSP) and General People's Congress (GPC) regarding the one-sided decisions made by the President, Abd Rabbu Mansour Hadi last Friday.
http://en.adenpress.news/news/32033
(A P)
Yemeni gov't calls EU to address Iranian meddling
The Yemeni UN-recognized government calls on the European Union to practice more pressures on Iran to stop support for the Houthi group, deputy foreign minister said on Monday.
Yemen's official government made many concessions throughout rounds of talks in order to make peace, Mansour Bajjash added at virtual meeting with EU deputy envoys for Yemen, according to the Aden-based Saba.
Tehran's interference in Yemen and support for the Houthis impede peace process in the war-torn country, he added.
https://debriefer.net/en/news-22553.html
My comment: And more propaganda BS. Ok, the EU should adress foreign meddling in Yemen. Obviously, Saudi Arabia, UAE, US and UK are meddling much, much more in Yemen – and the EU itself also does, by arms exports to Saudi coalition countries. And, secondly, the Hadi government hardly made any “concessions” in any talks with the Houthis – it still insists that the Houthis must capitulate – labeling this as their “three references”.
(A K P)
[Hadi gov.] Army’s Chief of Staff: Our battle will continue till end Houthi militia coup
(* A P)
STC escalates anti-government rhetoric following presidential decrees
The southern transitional council has escalated its media attacks against Yemen's internationally recognised government, a few weeks after forming a new government in which it held five portfolios.
In a statement on Sunday, it accused the government of turning against the Riyadh agreement and attempting to thwart the government's activities.
The latest presidential decrees represented a blatant renenging on the content of the Riyadh agreement and the reconciliation process, it said, threatening to take appropriate steps in response to the unilateral decrees in case they were not reconsidered.
https://debriefer.net/en/news-22536.html
and
(* A P)
Yemen's southern council rejects president's decrees on appointments
The Southern Transitional Council (STC) that's part of Yemen's new power-sharing government opposed on Sunday new appointments issued by the country's President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi.
In a brief press statement, the Aden-based STC strongly rejected dealing with republican decrees issued recently by Hadi to appoint a new attorney general and Shura Council head in the war-ravaged Arab country.
The STC's statement described Hadi's decrees as "unilateral decisions," accusing that they "constituted a blatant departure from what has been agreed upon according to Riyadh deal, and are undermining the consensus process and partnership established between the two parties."
The STC vowed "to take escalating steps in the event that the presidential decisions (appointments) taken without prior agreement are not addressed."
http://www.xinhuanet.com/english/2021-01/18/c_139675473.htm
and more from STC sites: https://en.smanews.org/main-slider/the-southern-transitional-council-issues-an-important-statement/
http://en.adenpress.news/news/32004
and statement in Arabic: https://twitter.com/Dr_E_Kendall/status/1351465003724001282/photo/1
and
(A P)
STC's meeting discusses constraints encountered Riyadh Agreement
The Presidency of the Southern Transitional Council (STC) held in Aden on Sunday, its regular meeting under the (online) chairmanship of President Aidroos al-Zubaidi.
The meeting focused on means to address the newly-made constraints encountered the implementation of the Riyadh Agreement and the attempts to derail the power-sharing government's work, in particular the decisions made by the President of Yemen, Abd Rabbu Mansour Hadi last Friday.
Earlier the same day, the STC expressed total disapproval of the unilateral republican decrees issued last Friday by President Hadi appointing high-ranking government officials, including the Attorney General.
The STC strongly condemning the repeated attempts to disrupt the implementation of the Saudi-brokered deal signed by the Yemeni legitimacy and the STC, a statement said, adding that the STC reiterates its commitment to honour all the terms of the Riyadh Agreement.
http://en.adenpress.news/news/32009
and
(A P)
Yemeni Socialists, Nasserites see Hadi decrees as unconstitutional
https://debriefer.net/en/news-22530.html
and
(A P)
Yemeni Judge Club dismisses Hadi appointment as breach
The Yemeni Judges Club on Sunday expressed rejection to President Abd Rabbu Mansour Hadi's decree appointing a new public prosecutor, dismissing the move as gross violation of constitution and law.
This illegal decree reflects how the supreme judicial council's chairman and members refrains from playing their role constitutional stated in securing the legal guarantees for the Judiciary, the Club added in a statement obtained by Debriefer.
https://debriefer.net/en/news-22533.html
(A P)
Shura will be strength factor for state institutions, bin Dagher
The newly appointed head of the Shura Council Ahmed Ubaid bin Dagher on Saturday said the council will be a legislative umbrella assisting the Parliament and a strength factor for state institutions.
https://debriefer.net/en/news-22523.html
(A P)
Lamlas: I was forced to accept the post of governor and soon you will not see armed in Aden
(A P)
Premier: We will activate anti-corruption systems to control revenues of ports
Prime minister Maeen Abdulmalik on Sunday said land, air and sea ports are one of the arteries of the national economy and that the government will activate all anti-corruption systems to control state revenues.
What the national economy is passing through requires building a real economy that does not depend only on conventional revenues, he said at a meeting on national ports in the interim capital Aden.
https://debriefer.net/en/news-22535.html
and also https://english.aawsat.com/home/article/2749061/yemeni-pm-declares-war-corruption-land-air-sea-ports
(A K P)
Aden presidential palace comes under drone attack: Sources
The presidential palace of al-Maasheeq in Aden where the government returning from exile resides has come under a new attack by armed drones, local sources.
Air defenses managed to repel the attack, said the sources.
https://www.alsahwa-yemen.net/en/p-44527
(* A P)
Appointment of Attorney General sparks new crisis between Yemen government, STC
A presidential decree appointing a new Attorney General has sparked anger of UAE-backed southern factions, raising questions about their outcry and the future relationship between the legitimate government and the southern transitional council.
The club of the southern judges criticised the Friday's decrees, which included one appointing former prime minister Ahmed Ubaid bin Dagher as the head of the Shura Council.
The club said the appointment of the new Attorney General violated the Yemeni constitution and judicial authority law.
There should have been a proposal by the president of the supreme judicial council for the appointment of the Attorney General as the judicial authority law and its procedural amendments state, the club said.
In its a statement, it threatened to take appropriate measures against the decree and the council if it approves the decree and disrespects the constitution.
Hani bin Breik, vice president of the STC and a Salafist leader, commented on the appointment of the Attorney General, writing on Twitter: "Judiciary is an independent power and has its own sanctity".
"Honest and dishonest rulers have always reiterated that judiciary is independent and the executive power has no authority over it," he said.
Politicising judiciary is a great crime, he added.
Observers argued that the STC's rejection of the appointment of the Attorney General stems from its aspiration to hold this post. Some observers however said the STC's concern stems from issues the new Attorney General will address, on top of which is the file of assassinations that have rocked the interim capital Aden in recent years.
Yemeni activists accuse the United Arab Emirates of being responsible for assassinations of politicians, security and military officers, clerics and activists through STC officials including Hani bin Breik. Bin Breik has been put on terror list.
https://debriefer.net/en/news-22514.html
and more https://debriefer.net/en/news-22510.html
and from pro-STC websites: https://en.smanews.org/south-arabia/the-southern-transitional-council-confirms-its-rejection-of-one-sided-decisions/
http://en.adenpress.news/news/32004
Fortsetzung / Sequel: cp7 – cp19
https://www.freitag.de/autoren/dklose/jemenkrieg-mosaik-710b-yemen-war-mosaic-710b
Vorige / Previous:
https://www.freitag.de/autoren/dklose/jemenkrieg-mosaik-709-yemen-war-mosaic-709
Jemenkrieg-Mosaik 1-709 / Yemen War Mosaic 1-709:
https://www.freitag.de/autoren/dklose oder / or http://poorworld.net/YemenWar.htm
Der saudische Luftkrieg im Bild / Saudi aerial war images:
(18 +, Nichts für Sensible!) / (18 +; Graphic!)
http://poorworld.net/YemenWar.htm
http://yemenwarcrimes.blogspot.de/
Liste aller Luftangriffe / and list of all air raids:
http://yemendataproject.org/data/
Untersuchung ausgewählter Luftangriffe durch Bellingcat / Bellingcat investigations of selected air raids:
Untersuchungen von Angriffen, hunderte von Filmen / Investigations of attacks, hundreds of films:
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