Dies ist die Fortsetzung von Jemenkrieg-Mosaik 720, Teil 1 / This is the sequel of Yemen War Mosaic 720, part 1:
https://www.freitag.de/autoren/dklose/jemenkrieg-mosaik-720-yemen-war-mosaic-720
Schwerpunkte / Key aspects
Kursiv: Siehe Teil 1 / In Italics: Look in part 1
Klassifizierung / Classification
Für wen das Thema ganz neu ist / Who is new to the subject
cp1 Am wichtigsten / Most important
cp1a Am wichtigsten: Coronavirus und Seuchen / Most important: Coronavirus and epidemics
cp2 Allgemein / General
cp2a Allgemein: Saudische Blockade / General: Saudi blockade
cp3 Humanitäre Lage / Humanitarian situation
cp4 Flüchtlinge / Refugees
cp5 Nordjemen und Huthis / Northern Yemen and Houthis
cp6 Separatisten und Hadi-Regierung im Südjemen / Separatists and Hadi government in Southern Yemen
cp7 UNO und Friedensgespräche / UN and peace talks
cp8 Saudi-Arabien / Saudi Arabia
cp8a Jamal Khashoggi
cp9 USA
cp9a USA-Iran Krise: Spannungen am Golf / US-Iran crisis: Tensions at the Gulf
cp10 Großbritannien / Great Britain
cp11 Deutschland / Germany
cp12 Andere Länder / Other countries
cp12b Sudan
cp13a Waffenhandel / Arms trade
cp13b Kulturerbe / Cultural heritage
cp14 Terrorismus / Terrorism
cp15 Propaganda
cp16 Saudische Luftangriffe / Saudi air raids
cp17 Kriegsereignisse / Theater of War
cp18 Kampf um Hodeidah / Hodeidah battle
cp19 Sonstiges / Other
Klassifizierung / Classification
***
**
*
(Kein Stern / No star)
? = Keine Einschatzung / No rating
A = Aktuell / Current news
B = Hintergrund / Background
C = Chronik / Chronicle
D = Details
E = Wirtschaft / Economy
H = Humanitäre Fragen / Humanitarian questions
K = Krieg / War
P = Politik / Politics
pH = Pro-Houthi
pS = Pro-Saudi
T = Terrorismus / Terrorism
cp8a Jamal Khashoggi
(* B P)
New Findings: Abu Dhabi Involved in Khashoggi's Killing
An informed American source revealed the expected date for US President Joe Biden’s administration to publish the intelligence report on the killing of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi in his country’s consulate in Istanbul more than two years ago.
The source, whose identity was not revealed by Arabi21, said that the publication of the report will take place in the first week of next March.
The American source indicated that it will not be fully published, and that the US administration will take into account some political and security considerations in the volume of what will be revealed from the report.
In the context, the famous singer “Boughanim” referred to an Emirati role in the case of Jamal Khashoggi’s murder, which will be revealed by the secret report, which will be published early next month. Boughanim said, in a tweet monitored by “Watan”: “A political friend residing in America told me a short while ago that the CIA leaks, which will be published next week, have an Emirati role linked to Khashoggi’s assassination.”
Boughanim continued: “Especially since one of the planes landed in the Emirates after his assassination, and this part is very disturbing to the Abu Dhabi government, and God Almighty knows best.”
The aforementioned report concludes that the Saudi crown prince, Mohammed bin Salman, ordered the killing of the late journalist, according to what the Washington Post learned.
(* B P)
Khashoggi confidant Omar Abdulaziz: 'I’m worried about the safety of the people of Saudi Arabia'
The close associate of the journalist killed by the Saudi regime is determined to speak out in a new documentary, despite the arrest of family members.
Omar Abdulaziz, 29, lives in exile in Montreal, Canada, where he has been, before and after Khashoggi’s death, among the most vocal critics of the Saudi regime that killed his friend.
And he is left in no doubt of their potential consequence: death threats are routine; both of his younger brothers and dozens of his friends have been arrested and imprisoned in Saudi Arabia in failed attempts to silence him.
Much of this story is set out in the film The Dissident, made by documentary director Bryan Fogel
Fogel’s film establishes how the smiling Khashoggi, who had left his fiancee Hatice Cengiz to wait for him in the street outside, was greeted inside the consulate by a hit squad of Saudi government agents who had flown in from Saudi Arabia the previous day. Using the transcripts of tapes obtained from the Turkish government, which had bugged the offices, and in interviews with the forensic team that searched the building, the documentary pieces together exactly how the Saudi operatives suffocated Khashoggi, and a government physician dismembered him with a bone saw in the consulate’s media room.
Despite the fact that the film received a standing ovation when it was premiered at the Sundance festival and has received universally positive reviews, neither Amazon nor Netflix chose to distribute Fogel’s film. Now streaming through smaller independent networks, it is near the top of the iTunes download chart.
I spoke to Abdulaziz on a video link to an anonymous apartment in Montreal last week.
Not long after Khashoggi arrived in Washington, and started writing articles for the Washington Post critical of the growing authoritarianism in Riyadh, he contacted Abdulaziz to connect with a younger generation of dissidents. To begin with, Abdulaziz’s group was sceptical of these overtures. But the more Khashoggi criticised abuses at home, the more he was trusted.
Fogel’s film documents how parliament in Saudi Arabia is really Twitter. Eight out of 10 Saudis use the platform (as opposed to 20% of Americans). In order to control that narrative, the ruling royal family has flooded it with propagandists pushing the government line, and armies of trolls who seek out negative coverage and overwhelm it.
When Khashoggi discovered that his articles were swarmed over by government “flies” in this way, he and Abdulaziz came up with a plan to form their own “army” of Twitter activists to force their statements to keep trending.
At around the same time that this war between bees and flies was being waged, Abdulaziz received a call from someone who claimed to represent Mohammed bin Salman, inviting him to return home, where he would enjoy royal protection. When he declined this offer, two government envoys flew out to meet him in Montreal, in the company of his younger brother Ahmad. Khashoggi instructed him to meet them only in public places, and to record the encounters (these recordings also feature in Fogel’s film).
The envoys begin by promising Abdulaziz his own chatshow in Saudi Arabia, the opportunity to become the voice of the youth. He replies: “You have just arrested many people who said nothing really. And you’re telling me that you want me back in Saudi and nothing is going to happen to me?”
Having failed to make this case, the pair try to insist that he at least accompany them to the Saudi embassy, where he can renew his passport. Again he declines, at the same time trying to seek assurances that nothing will happen to his brother, witness to all these negotiations, on his return home.
Subsequent investigations carefully outlined in the film suggest that a month or so later Saudi authorities hacked his phone. “It was then,” he recalls, “at the beginning of August 2018 that they started to arrest my friends, my brothers, my relatives. Every two, three hours I was receiving a new phone call from someone in Saudi telling me that someone was getting arrested. I was in shock. I made a YouTube broadcast and I said: ‘Guys, this behaviour shows me that something bigger than just arresting my brothers and friends is going to happen. I do believe MBS is going to do something huge.’”
“They were trying to use my brothers and friends to silence me,” he says. “Jamal was still alive then. I asked him. I said: ‘What do you think about that?’ And he said: ‘Listen, if you stop now and give in, they will only go harder [against dissidents].’ It turns out that they must have been listening to that conversation too. I asked other activists, and they said the same.” If anything, he says, knowing so much about the unlawful detention means that he is more determined to be heard.
Is the internet war between flies against bees also continuing?
He has faith that the film will help to show that to a wider audience.
(* A P)
Biden administration to release report on Khashoggi assassination
The Washington Post reported on Friday that the US administration intends to release an intelligence report revealing the implication of Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman in the assassination of journalist Jamal Khashoggi, at his country's consulate in Turkey in 2018.
The newspaper quoted informed sources stating that the report, which is an unclassified summary of the findings published by the office of Director of National Intelligence, will be released early next week.
The report concluded, according to the newspaper, that Bin Salman "ordered Khashoggi's assassination."
The newspaper pointed out that a senior Saudi Foreign Ministry official had refused to comment on the timing or content of the US report.
The Washington Post disclosed that in early 2019, Congress passed legislation giving Trump's administration 30 days to present an unclassified report from the Office of the Director of National Intelligence to reveal the names and roles of all current and former Saudi officials linked to Khashoggi's murder. However, Trump ignored this order.
David Ottaway, an expert on Saudi affairs at the Woodrow Wilson Centre, told the newspaper: "The release of the Khashoggi report could push the tense relations between Saudi Arabia and the US to very low levels."
(A P)
Film: “Congress has passed a law actually mandating that the admin release an unclassified version of the report of accountability & responsibility for the brutal and grisly murder of Jamaal Khashoggi. We intend to comply with that… soon,” says @jakejsullivan
https://twitter.com/DAWNmenaorg/status/1362889682829389825
(* B P)
Al Jazeera Anchor, Victim of Pegasus Spyware, Sees 'Campaign of Terror' by Rulers
Ghada Oueiss has filed a suit against the crown princes of Saudi Arabia and the UAE ‒ Mohammad Bin Salman and Abu Dhabi Muhammad Bin Zayed ‒ for allegedly leading a cyberattack on her.
Two months ago, Ghada Oueiss, a senior news presenter at Al Jazeera, did something that raised eyebrows. Not just in the Arab world but within the global journalist fraternity.
The Lebanon-born journalist, associated with the news broadcaster as a principal presenter, took on – legally – the powerful crown prince of Saudi Arabia, Mohammad Bin Salman (MBS) and the crown prince of Abu Dhabi, Muhammad Bin Zayed (MBZ). She sued them at a court in the US in December 2020, charging them with masterminding a vicious online attack on her and invading her privacy by using the Israeli spyware Pegasus to break into her cell phone.
Oueiss chose to speak up particularly because fellow Arab journalist and columnist for the Washington Post, Jamal Khashoggi, was killed, allegedly at the behest of the Saudi crown prince, inside the Saudi consulate in Istanbul in 2018. In an email interview with The Wire, Ghada said, “I saw what happened to Jamal Khashoggi and thought that could happen to me too.”
This past January, the court in Florida issued summons to the royals, including through Twitter, to ensure that they were informed about it.
While the American government’s report on Khashoggi’s assassination was not made public by the Donald Trump administration, with a new presidency in place, Ghada hopes that Biden’s “Democratic values” apply to journalists too, “who are targeted and attacked, murdered, abducted, harassed, intimidated”.
Edited excerpts from the interview.
GO: Well, I believe the attack was part of a concerted campaign planned against me and several other critics of the regimes organised by the leadership of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and the UAE, acting at the instruction of MBS and MBZ.
I was targeted not only on Twitter but also on Instagram, Telegram, YouTube, Facebook and through some of their television stations. They used all the platforms available to defame me and damage my reputation, destroy my self-confidence, ruin my career, cost me opportunities both personal and professional.
cp9 USA
Siehe / Look at cp9a
(A K P)
US calls on Houthis to halt all military operations in Yemen
The US urged Yemen’s Houthi militia on Tuesday to halt their advance on the government-held city of Marib and take part in international efforts to find a political solution to the violence in the country.
“The Houthis’ assault on Marib is the action of a group not committed to peace or to ending the war afflicting the people of Yemen,” the State Department said.
https://www.arabnews.com/node/1810506/middle-east
(B P)
What the US has wrought in Yemen
Biden’s announcement of the end of American involvement is refreshingly clear and straightforward—assuming it pans out.
That said, it’s possible that Biden’s announcement will turn out to be largely symbolic. Arms sales to Saudi Arabia might continue uninhibited, and US drone strikes on Yemen may proceed with counterterrorism as the excuse. If so, this will further undermine trust in the United States in the region. The next stage for the country remains unclear. Divisions have only widened over the last six years of civil conflict, and US-sponsored actions have created deep wounds. There remains only a shred of real hope.
https://www.christiancentury.org/article/editors/what-us-has-wrought-yemen
(A P)
US envoy heads back in push to end Yemen war
The US envoy seeking to end Yemen's brutal war headed back to the region Monday as Huthi rebels press ahead with an offensive to take the government's last northern toehold.
Tim Lenderking, named by President Joe Biden in his first days in office in a sign of renewed US effort to address the humanitarian catastrophe, will visit several Gulf nations on a trip that will last through March 3, the State Department said.
His discussions "will focus on the United States' dual-track approach to end the conflict in Yemen: a lasting political solution and humanitarian relief for the Yemeni people," a statement from the State Department said, without specifying his exact stops.
https://www.france24.com/en/live-news/20210222-us-envoy-heads-back-in-push-to-end-yemen-war = https://www.rfi.fr/en/middle-east/20210222-us-envoy-heads-back-in-push-to-end-yemen-war
My comment: When will he come to Sanaa?
(* B P)
Biden says he will listen to experts. Here is what scholars of the Middle East think.
Last week, we fielded a unique survey of scholars with expertise in the Middle East, the first of our new Middle East Scholar Barometer. Drawing on the membership of the Middle East Studies Association, the American Political Science Association’s MENA Politics Section and the Project on Middle East Political Science at George Washington University, we identified 1,293 such scholars. The vast majority speak regional languages, have spent significant time in the Middle East, and have dedicated their professional lives to the rigorous study of the region and its politics. Within three days, 521 scholars had consented and responded (a 40% response rate), divided almost equally between political scientists and nonpolitical scientists.
We asked these experts descriptive questions, not what they thought should happen — or would probably happen — in the Middle East. The survey asks for their assessment of the region as it currently exists and might exist a decade hence. It did not ask about their preferences on outcomes or policies.
The results of the survey paint a fascinating picture of the Middle East, and valuable insights that the Biden administration — which has said it aims to take the views of experts seriously — might consider as it crafts U.S. foreign policy for the region.
IRAN AND THE NUCLEAR DEAL
The United States returning to the Iran nuclear agreement (the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, or JCPOA) as it’s currently written would make it less likely that Iran would get a nuclear weapon within the next decade — that’s what 75% of our survey respondents say. And 21% say returning to the JCPOA would make no real difference — only 2% say a return would make an Iranian nuclear weapon more likely.
Perhaps unsurprisingly, the scholars overwhelmingly oppose either military action against Iran or a continuation of the Trump administration’s “maximum pressure” policy.
(B K P)
Audio: @narrabyee on the Biden administration's apparent support for ending the war on Yemen
https://twitter.com/east_podcast/status/1363854958999834624
(* B K P)
There have been zero reported US drone strikes since Joe Biden took office
President Joe Biden, it appears, has been different. Under his watch, there has been just one declared US airstrike: a February 9 attack in Iraq that, the military claims, "resulted in the deaths of two Daesh terrorists."
And in stark contrast to his immediate predecessors, there have been no immediate reports of civilian casualties — this, following months of escalated US attacks, from Central Asia to Africa, during his predecessor's last couple months in office.
Clandestine operations, by their nature, cannot be ruled out. What we know for sure, though, is that "there have been zero local or official reports of US drone or other strikes in Somalia, Libya, Yemen, or Pakistan so far under Biden," Chris Woods, director of the monitoring group Airwars.org, told Insider.
and
(* A K P)
Biden Launches Classified Review of Drone Strikes and Counterterror Raids
President Biden has placed lethal U.S. counterterrorism efforts under review while his administration determines the scope of his efforts in the nearly 20-year-old War on Terror, the White House has confirmed to The Daily Beast.
Biden issued interim guidance on the United States’ “use of military force and related national security operations” on his first day in office, and reiterated it on Friday, according to Emily Horne, the chief spokesperson for the National Security Council.
The guidance is classified, but its purpose is to give Biden “full visibility on proposed significant actions in these areas,” Horne said. Such actions typically involve drone and other strikes against suspected terror groups and infrastructure, as well as special-operation raids. The administration notified Congress of the change on Monday.
(A K P)
@PentagonPresSec swats down a question about whether the US military will do anything to stop the Houthis from taking Mareb: "Our military operations in Yemen are designed to go after ISIS. It’s a counter-IS mission." Says US supports a political solution to Yemen's civil war.
https://twitter.com/JM_Szuba/status/1363943864697032709
(A P)
[Bahrain] Foreign Minister receives call from US Envoy to Yemen
Foreign Minister Dr. Abdullatif bin Rashid Al Zayani, received a phone call from the US Special Envoy to Yemen, Timothy A. Lenderking and congratulated him on assuming his diplomatic position.
He reiterated Bahrain’s keenness to provide all forms of support and assistance to support US-led efforts aimed at achieving peace and security in Yemen and in the region as a whole.
https://www.bna.bh/en/news?cms=q8FmFJgiscL2fwIzON1%2bDrugSrtouX7wyBV9HWuCqQk%3d
(B P)
Saudi War on Yemen: Decline of America’s Moral Integrity?
During Obama’s presidency that claimed to advocate human rights in all parts of the world, Washington was the primary supplier of arms to Saudi Arabia.
Embroiled in a years-long American-Saudi-Israeli genocide, the Yemenis firmly believe that the reasons behind Biden’s decision to revoke Ansarullah terrorist designation is not the moral guilt and sense of complicity of American leaders in Washington or American apathetic public opinion, rather, it is an assiduous effort to extricate the United States’ closest ally in the Middle-East, Saudi Arabia, from the Yemeni quagmire.
In other words, Biden seeks to put an end to Saudi Arabia’s miserable fiasco in Yemen by making insincere humane gestures to soften the blow of reality. But no matter how masterful Biden’s chicanery, the Yemeni humanitarian crisis shall remain an indelible stain on the United States foreign policy record.
The Yemeni nation is optimistic because they rely only upon God to achieve peace and prosperity and not this or that American phony peace initiative.
https://iqna.ir/en/news/3474038/saudi-war-on-yemen-decline-of-america%E2%80%99s-moral-integrity
My remark: From Iran.
(B P)
Report: Biden Decisions Against Saudi Arabia Political Blockade of Mohammad Bin Salman
A Russian newspaper considered the Biden administration's decisions to sideline Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman as a political siege of bin Salman, which it described as a "reckless criminal."
Nezavisimaya Gazeta said in an article written by Igor Sobotin that the Biden administration preferred to communicate with King Salman rather than the crown prince.
In an interview with Bloomberg, Aaron David Miller, who worked as a Middle East settlement advisor to a number of foreign ministers, said that recent White House statements indicate that relations between Washington and Riyadh have returned to “regular and routine channels.” The former diplomat concluded, “This is an attempt to besiege Mohammed bin Salman, whom the administration considers reckless and ruthless.”
A White House spokesman, who was not named by the agency, also indicated that Psaki’s statements indicate that the United States is returning to the healthy diplomatic process in contacts with Middle Eastern players.
What can be said with certainty is that they will try to block the way bin Salman attempts to use unofficial channels of communication during the Biden era, the writer added.
In this regard, CNN said that the statement of Biden's press secretary just landed a sharp jab on the jaw of Saudi Arabia's heir apparent.
Whether strict protocol or intended diminution of MBS's ranking, the move reflects Biden's public disapproval of the ruler in waiting
(* B P)
Will Biden Really End Our Endless Wars?
His pledge to end US support for the Yemen war and to prioritize diplomacy was a good start—but there’s much more to be done.
These are all positive moves, but a more effective and progressive foreign policy requires more than just undoing the damage of the Trump years. It means putting the real risks to human security—from the pandemic to climate change to racial and economic injustice—front and center. A good place to start would be reducing the Pentagon’s bloated budget, which at nearly three-quarters of a trillion dollars per year is at one of the highest levels since World War II and accounts for well over half of the government’s discretionary budget. Biden has been silent on this point, but he will need to address it if he wants to make the enduring investments in public health, environmental protection, and fighting poverty and inequality that we urgently need.
Biden’s most encouraging specific announcement was his pledge to end “all American support for offensive operations in the war in Yemen, including relevant arms sales.”
Biden’s policy shift is a victory for human-rights, humanitarian, arms-control, peace, and foreign-policy reform organizations, which have worked closely with groups in Yemen and the Yemeni diaspora, such as Mwatana for Human Rights and the Yemen Relief and Reconstruction Foundation, joined at key moments by congressional leaders like Representative Ro Khanna and Senators Chris Murphy, Mike Lee, and Bernie Sanders. They have worked for years to end US support for the war and to find an inclusive, peaceful resolution to the conflict.
While encouraging, Biden’s announcement raised as many questions as it answered. What constitutes “offensive operations,” and which arms sales are “relevant”? At a minimum, the new policy should block all major arms sales to Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates and prohibit targeting assistance, intelligence sharing, and the maintenance and support of US-supplied weapons systems. Over 80 progressive groups and individuals, led by Win Without War, the Yemeni Alliance Committee, MADRE, and the Center for International Policy, have called on the administration to permanently cancel dozens of arms deals, worth tens of billions of dollars, with the two Persian Gulf monarchies.
Yemen is only the most egregious case of the use of US-supplied weapons to cause civilian harm. Biden’s promise to reverse the negative consequences of US arms and military support should extend beyond Yemen and address the actions of other reckless and authoritarian regimes, such as those in Nigeria, Egypt, Bahrain, and the Philippines.
Biden also pledged in his speech to review the US global military posture. This will offer an opportunity to debate whether Washington really needs 800 overseas military bases, nearly 200,000 troops stationed abroad, scores of global deployments of special forces, and routine drone strikes in areas of conflict. A thorough discussion of the issue—one that involves both the public and Congress—is imperative if we are to give meaning to the goal of “ending endless wars.”
Biden’s speech was a refreshing change from the erratic, transactional approach of the past four years. But there is much that needs to be fleshed out if Washington is really going to set a new course in which diplomacy indeed comes first and we abandon once and for all the militarized approach to foreign affairs that has characterized US policy for so many years – by William D. Hartung
https://www.thenation.com/article/society/biden-military-yemen-war/
(* B P)
Six Years after Obama-Biden Approved Aggression against Yemen, Why is Yemen Biden's Priority?
In a letter signed by members of Joe Biden's team, Secretary of State Antony Blinken and National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan convey that "the United States owes itself and the victims of the war (in Yemen) to learn something from the disaster."
The thing that the Biden administration learns from the disaster is the recognition of the US responsibility in the tragedy of Yemen for moral and strategic reasons, in the words of Blinken, who said will return the file of the war on Yemen to the US State Department, and restore the relationship with Saudi Arabia to what it was in Barack Obama period.
Despite condemning the defense of Ansarullah and the Yemeni army in Marib and Al-Jawf, and the attacks of Abha airport and Khamis Mushait, Tim Lenderking is discussing with Saudi Foreign Minister Faisal bin Farhan what he called the "Yemeni political solution", in reference to the cut off the backstage link between bin Salman and Trump.
This trend caused the UN envoy Martin Griffiths for the first time to visit Iran, seeking help in putting pressure on Ansarullah, seeking cheering Biden and waiting for the promised US hopes. However, Tehran guided him to Sana’a, which decided a solution and confronted the aggression, and he heard the Iranian initiative.
On the other hand, Mohammad Ali Al-Houthi clarifies that Sana'a does not accept wishes unless the Biden administration goes to stop the siege and aggression and acknowledge practical steps indicating atonement for crimes.
Tehran and Sanaa are indicating that the Biden administration should solve this crisis resulting from the US responsibility in the crime of aggression and the biggest humanitarian disaster in Yemen. This aggression led to a rift in the US Democratic Party between the Bernie Sanders wing, described as progressive on the left, and the traditional wing, as well as other sectors represented by Chris Murphy.
It is the rift that forces Biden to solve the Democratic Party’s crisis in the first place, hoping to overcome the crisis of his split
The US’s crisis that Biden hopes to alleviate in the same context, was caused by the Yemeni issue, not only before the Democratic Party, but also before the people of the world, especially the European peoples.
The United States is the one who covered the participation of European governments in crimes with Trump, and as soon as the coverage reduced the rhetoric so far, the European Parliament issues a resolution calling on the European Union to commit to halting the arms supplies for Saudi Arabia and to work for the withdrawal of Saudi Arabia and the UAE from Yemen.
The deeper crisis that exposed America's racism inside and outside it is the loss of what Biden calls the US values. These values, exemplified by the theses of human rights, individual freedoms, and democracy ... are a weapon in the hands of the US administration, to divert attention from the results of its brutality model in the misery of mankind and threatening the life of the planet.
Mohammed bin Salman is the man whom Biden seeks to hang America's dirt on; The front of the aggression against Yemen and America's most brutal partner in killing. Biden is using him to relieve this heavy burden, not only because of the Yemen disaster, but also because of the human rights weapon.
In fact, Biden does not only turn the page of Trump, but also turns part of Obama's page with Saudi Arabia and the partnership of Mohammed bin Salman.
My remark: A Houthi viewpoint.
(A P)
US-Verteidigungsminister: Saudis laute Stimme über Einstellung der US-Unterstützung im Jemenkrieg gehört
Laut dem US-Verteidigungsminister hätten die Saudis die Botschaft des neuen US-Präsidenten Joe Biden laut und deutlich gehört, dass Washington ihre Offensivoperationen im Jemen nicht länger unterstützen werde.
Lloyd Austin machte die Bemerkungen auf seiner ersten Pressekonferenz in Washington am Freitag nach einem virtuellen Treffen der Verteidigungsminister der NATO. Austin, erklärte, er habe ein gutes Telefonat mit dem saudischen Kronprinz Mohammed Bin Salman über diese Angelegenheit gehabt.
"Ich werde jetzt hier keine Einzelheiten zum Telefongespräch mit dem saudischen Kronprinz und unseren Beziehungen zu Riad mitteilen".
"Wie Sie wissen, ist Präsident Biden klar, dass wir die saudische Invasion im Jemen nicht länger unterstützen werden", sagte Austin.
(A P)
Film: Defense Secretary Austin Holds News Conference
Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin held a briefing at the Pentagon where he talked about recent meetings with NATO allies.
https://www.c-span.org/video/?509163-1/defense-secretary-austin-holds-news-conference
(* B P)
Film: Biden's Move to End the War in Yemen
Lead Mideast Lobbyist for the The Friends Committee on National Legislation Hassan El-Tayyab speaks with Ryan Grim on The Conversation about the remaining questions concerning Biden's plan to end the war in Yemen.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q3kDnohfiu4
(* B P)
Film: Can Biden help end the war in Yemen?
Activist Tawakkol Karman, 2011 Nobel Peace Prize winner, and journalist Robert Worth explain what it will take to end the world's worst humanitarian crisis
(B P)
Tim Louis: Joe Biden’s latest move bodes well for desperate Yemenis
It's anyone's guess what immediate impact his latest move will have. Nonetheless, it's a step in the right direction and one thing is certain. His decision to end support for the war and to pause arms sales to Saudi Arabia—even if only temporary—is yet another promising sign in these early days of his administration that he may go on to become a progressive Democrat.
https://www.straight.com/news/tim-louis-joe-bidens-latest-move-bodes-well-for-desperate-yemenis
(* B P)
Lawmakers call Biden's Yemen policy a 'historic shift' in US foreign relations
When President Joe Biden announced the US will end support for Saudi Arabia's offensive operations in Yemen, Rep. Ro Khanna felt the decision was a vindication of a fight he's been engaged in for years.
In an interview with CNN, Khanna called the move "a profound and historic shift" that marks a new chapter in the US relationship with Saudi Arabia.
"We're being explicit and bold and open to the Saudis saying, 'no, this is not a war we support,'" the congressman said. "Now I think that President Biden has made a clear statement that relationship is no longer what it once was."
Sen. Chris Murphy, a Democrat from Connecticut who has been outspoken in calling for an end to American military intervention in Yemen, said in an interview that he believes the move will strengthen US national security, particularly if it makes the region less volatile as a result.
Democrats are optimistic the Biden administration will prioritize diplomatic and humanitarian efforts to bring an end to the conflict and point to the fact that career diplomat Timothy Lenderking has been appointed as special envoy for Yemen as a promising sign.
Sen. Mike Lee, a Utah Republican who co-sponsored the Yemen War Powers resolution in the Senate, said in an interview that he is "thrilled" by the policy announcement, but added that if Congress needs to provide a check on the executive branch over the conflict in the future, lawmakers could always push again to pass a new version of the resolution.
"I'm really looking forward to the Biden administration providing some of these additional details to Congress on exactly what support they would consider to be defensive in nature that might remain in place," Lee said. "What do they mean by that? I look forward to learning more about that."
"I plan to be pretty vigilant to make sure we don't end up selling weapons to the Saudis that are going to get used through a back door in the Yemen conflict," said Murphy, who was also a co-sponsor of the Yemen War Powers resolution.
The senator said, "I hope that Congress won't have to intervene here, but I brought resolutions to the floor under the last Democratic administration to object to arms sales.
Democratic Rep. Mark Pocan of Wisconsin, a co-sponsor of the Yemen Resolution in the House, told CNN that Congress can play an oversight role to ensure swift action.
Lee believes that passage of the resolution helped show that there is a growing bipartisan coalition on Capitol Hill that supports safeguarding the legislative branch's constitutional role in authorizing war. The Utah Republican hopes that, in turn, may already be bringing about a shift in the way the US approaches war.
"We've gotten into too many wars in too many parts of the world and one of the things that's facilitated that has been the fact that we've drifted away from the Constitution's Article I focus on the need for Congress to declare war," Lee said. "It's not a partisan political issue. We don't care whether it's a Republican or a Democrat in the White House, if they're taking us to war without authorization from Congress, that's a problem."
Khanna feels encouraged by what he views as an emerging "left-right consensus" that is skeptical of American foreign military interventions. "In terms of a recognition that military interventionism has been harmful to American strategic interests, I think that is something that has really grown in the United States Congress," he said. (with film)
https://edition.cnn.com/2021/02/20/politics/yemen-congress-biden-announcement/index.html
(* B P)
America’s Middle East Policy Is Outdated and Dangerous
A New Approach to the Gulf States Needs a Better Foundation
But it’s not 1980 or 2001 anymore. Today, the United States produces as much oil as it gets from abroad, and only 13 percent comes from Gulf countries. The United States now imports more oil from Mexico than it does from Saudi Arabia.
Yet even as the driving rationale for the so-called Carter Doctrine has become obsolete, it continues to shape the United States’ approach to the Gulf—emblematic of a broader failure of U.S. policy to catch up with the broader changes to U.S. interests in the region since the 1980s. President Joe Biden should acknowledge new realities and reset the United States’ relationships in the Gulf in a way that promotes American values, keeps Washington out of unnecessary foreign entanglements, and prioritizes regional peace and stability.
There are myriad reasons for strong relations between the United States and the countries of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC)—Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates.
But it is past time to admit that there is a central design flaw in the United States’ current approach to the Gulf: the top two GCC priorities for the relationship—sustaining U.S. military assistance to fight regional proxy wars and maintaining U.S. silence on domestic political repression—will, in the long run, destroy the GCC countries themselves. The United States’ objective must be to replace this broken foundation with a new system that supports a peaceful Gulf replete with stable, diversified national economies and responsive governments—the kind of future that leaders such as Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman staunchly claim the Gulf is seeking. A U.S.-Gulf relationship built on economic, diplomatic, and governance ties, rather than just brute security partnerships, will accrue to the benefit of both U.S. and Middle Eastern interests.
The first step is for the United States to disengage from the GCC’s proxy wars with Iran. The Iranian government is a U.S. adversary, but the festering series of hot and cold conflicts in the region—in Iraq, Lebanon, Syria, and Yemen—has simply served to strengthen Iran’s influence and create cataclysmic levels of human suffering. A pullback from U.S. intervention in places such as Syria and Yemen will, no doubt, cause immediate consternation in the Gulf. By now, however, the enormous costs of the false belief that the United States can indirectly steer the outcomes in Syria and Yemen are crystal clear. In both theaters, the United States’ tepid, halfway military involvement was never substantial enough to tip the balance and has served instead to extend the conflicts. Washington suffers from a hubristic confidence in its ability to accomplish political goals through military interventions. Instead, the most significant effect of recent U.S. Middle East adventurism has been to fuel perpetual wars that embolden extremist groups and allow anti-American sentiment to grow.
Although the United States should retain its security partnerships with Gulf nations, the U.S. footprint should be smaller – by Chris Murphy
My comment: Hmmm. This does not sound so bad and would be better than what we got in the last 40 years. But, nevertheless, Murphy takes US hegemony for granted, just “, the U.S. footprint should be smaller”. And “The Iranian government is a U.S. adversary”: Actually why? Iran is 7,000 miles away from the US, it will never bomb US cities and invade US territory, so what?
and
(* B K P)
Defining Endless Wars
The First Step Towards Ending Them
Some critics ask why ending endless war matters. They point to the low fatality rate of America’s counterterrorism wars following the troop drawdowns in Iraq and Afghanistan and warn of the risks abandoning the war.141 They call for militarized management, accepting the framework of “mowing the grass.”142
Such a stance requires a response, because while an embrace of endless war should perhaps evoke moral disgust, waging war without an imaginable end is not necessarily irrational for certain decision makers.143 Aside from the possibility of immoral but rational thought processes and issues of miscalculation, the assertion that endless war is necessarily immoral or irrational is often made by those who live where the strategic context for decision making is less than stark. Where the choice being made is between fighting without an end in sight and submitting to extermination, sustained oppression, or the destruction of one’s polity, the moral objection becomes less clear.144 This is not to suggest the United States can reasonably lay claim to such a position with regard to its counterterrorism wars. However, such examples emphasize the need to make the case for why embracing endlessness while waiting for unpredictable systemic change is not a proper choice and not simply presume that embracing endlessness is necessarily irrational or immoral.
It is true that so far, America’s counterterrorism wars have had limited direct costs for Americans in terms of service member deaths—that is if you start counting after the height of the Iraq and Afghanistan troop deployments. Yet, to accept endless war on this basis is to make a profound temporal error of analysis—calculating the costs before the war is over. Mowing the grass is less a strategy as it is an embrace of strategic incoherence, and it leaves the United States vulnerable to sudden increases in cost when conditions change.145 Endless or protracted warfare tends to erode protections for civilians and restraints over time, an issue visible in the way endlessness warps detention policies and the treatment of detainees.146
Already, America’s endless wars are showing signs that they could escalate and expand rapidly in such a way that would radically increase the costs of the war. In Yemen, where the endless counterterrorism war continues, the United States conducted an airstrike targeting an Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps figure in retaliation for the killing of an American by an Iran-backed militia in Iraq.147 In Iraq and Syria, U.S. forces have clashed with a range of forces well beyond ISIS. This includes direct clashes with Iranian forces and Iranian-backed militias.148 U.S. forces have also exchanged fire with Russian semi-state mercenary forces tied to international far-right extremist mobilizations.149 The United States even deployed more forces to Syria to counter Russia, despite Trump’s claims to be ending endless war.150 The United States has also exchanged fire in Syria with pro-Syrian regime forces and Turkish-backed rebels.151
Even if the wars don’t escalate or increase in cost and the United States is sufficiently powerful to persist in its strategic incoherence, the acceptance of endless war warps American domestic politics, encouraging the militarization of American policing and society.152 Moreover, the impact of a constant American military presence in shaping Middle Eastern politics and the casualties attributable to American war must also be examined, even if the cost to Americans remains low.
For those committed to ending America’s endless wars, it is essential to reject the continuation of endless war as militarized management, whether rhetorically framed as an acceptance of ongoing war or by the perversion of the rhetoric of ending endless war into cover for special forces raids and drone strikes. That task will require establishing endless war as an analytic category and always challenging those who say their objective is the defeat of a particular terrorist group to spell out exactly what they mean in measurable terms.
https://www.newamerica.org/international-security/reports/defining-endless-wars/conclusion
My comment: And again: This does not sound bad on the fitst glimpse. But do the authors really reject US warfare? Only on a very modest scale, if we are honest.
(A P)
Tell Your Representative to Ask for More Information about US Support for the Yemen War!
The Biden Administration announced it was ending US “offensive” support for the war in Yemen. We still need answers as to what “offensive” really means. Representatives Khanna and DeFazio are calling on Biden to give them some specifics and we need as many representatives to sign on as possible!
https://oneclickpolitics.global.ssl.fastly.net/messages/edit?promo_id=11195
(B P)
President Biden Aims to End War in Yemen
[short overview, but omitting doubts and obstacles]
https://editorials.voa.gov/a/president-biden-aims-to-end-war-in-yemen/5784816.html
and
(* B P)
Film: How Biden can end the war in Yemen
US President Joe Biden has taken the first crucial steps to try and bring peace to Yemen. Standing by the Saudis and UAE - giving them a green light to run amok in Yemen - runs counter to our national interests. The only way to truly end the violence, and the only way America can show leadership in the Middle East, involves bringing all the Yemeni factions to the table. That also includes the UAE, Saudi Arabia and Iran.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VIkQZ4zCKf8
(* B P)
Readout of Secretary of Defense Lloyd J. Austin III's Call With Saudi Minister of Defense His Royal Highness Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman
On February 18, Secretary of Defense Lloyd J. Austin III spoke by phone with Saudi Minister of Defense His Royal Highness Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman to reaffirm the strategic defense partnership between the United States and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.
The Secretary condemned the recent Houthi cross-border attacks on Saudi Arabia and expressed his commitment to assisting Saudi Arabia in the defense of its borders. Secretary Austin reiterated recent changes in U.S. policy toward the Saudi-led Coalition in Yemen, discussed the importance of ending the war, and thanked the Crown Prince for Saudi Arabia’s commitment to a political settlement.
He underscored Saudi Arabia’s role as a pillar of the regional security architecture in the Middle East and the importance of sharing the responsibility of regional security and stability.
Secretary Austin noted US and Saudi shared commitment to countering Iran’s destabilizing activities and defeating violent extremist organizations in the region.
My comment: LOL.
(B P)
Why Biden’s foreign policy may not differ much from Trump
Although Biden signed a slew of executive orders in his first days in office, domestic problems will keep him from sparking massive changes in foreign policy
In fact, it appears that demands at home and the urgency to focus on them now — the record death tolls from COVID-19 in recent weeks, increased racial tensions in our communities, economic hardship across the country, and the deep political divisions within our nation — will make it extremely difficult for Biden to unleash America’s full foreign policy potential and energy.
Regardless of Biden’s abiding interest in foreign affairs and actions currently undertaken, the new administration will be heavily consumed by demands at home.
(B P)
Brownstein Hyatt is a registered agent for the Saudi & Egyptian governments, & assigned this former state department officials to lobby for those two regimes, see
https://twitter.com/AASchapiro/status/1363289063948759050
referring to https://efile.fara.gov/docs/5870-Short-Form-20210216-168.pdf
cp9a USA-Iran Krise: Spannungen am Golf / US-Iran crisis: Tensions at the Gulf
Siehe / Look at cp9
(* B P)
Geringe Chancen im Atomkonflikt um Iran
Den USA, Europa und Iran bleibt nur wenig Zeit, um die Lage im Nahen Osten zu entschärfen – ein Überblick über die Konfliktzone.
Das Zeitfenster ist eng: Wenn die USA und die am sogenannten Atomabkommen mit Iran beteiligten drei westeuropäischen Länder (Deutschland, Frankreich, Grossbritannien) die mittelöstliche Zeitbombe entschärfen wollen, bleiben ihnen für konkrete Schritte knappe vier Wochen. Denn in Iran soll etwa im Mai ein neuer Staatspräsident (also der Nachfolger von Hassan Ruhani) gewählt werden, und zwischendurch stellt sich das Land rund zwei Wochen lang, während der traditionellen Nouruuz (Neujahrsfeierlichkeiten), praktisch selbst lahm: Rund um diesen 21. März ist ein normales politisches Leben schlicht nicht möglich. Und gleich danach konzentriert sich vieles auf die bevorstehenden Wahlen.
Also wieder wenig Chancen, mit Verantwortungsträgern in Teheran „zur Sache“ zu kommen. Und nachher? Nachher ist alles offen, aber kaum in positivem Sinne. Alles spricht dafür, dass Ruhanis Nachfolger entweder selbst ein Hardliner ist oder dass er zumindest – das muss man als gesichert annehmen – bedeutend mehr als Ruhani auf die Wünsche der Hardliner eingehen muss.
https://www.infosperber.ch/politik/geringe-chancen-im-atomkonflikt-um-iran/
(A P)
Zarif: Talks will begin once all JCPOA signatories fulfill their obligations
Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif tells Press TV that the Islamic Republic will be open to negotiations on reviving the historic 2015 nuclear accord once all signatories begin fulfilling their obligations.
The senior diplomat made the remarks to Press TV’s Marzieh Hashemi on Sunday.
He also said US President Joe Biden has spurned predecessor Donald Trump’s Iran policy in words, but has so far pursued the same course of action in practice.
(* A P)
Joint statement by the Vice-President of the Islamic Republic of Iran and Head of the AEOI and the Director General of the IAEA
The Atomic Energy Organization of Iran (AEOI) and the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) recalled and reaffirmed the spirit of cooperation and enhanced mutual trust that led to the Joint Statement in Tehran on 26 August 2020, and the importance of continuing that cooperation and trust.
The AEOI informed the IAEA that in order to comply with the act passed by the Parliament of the Islamic Republic of Iran called “Strategic Action to Cease Actions and Protect the interest of Iranian Nation” (The “Law”) Iran will stop the implementation of the voluntary measures as envisaged in the JCPOA, as of 23 February 2021.
In view of the above and in order for the Agency to continue its verification and monitoring activities, the AEOI and the IAEA agreed:
- That Iran continues to implement fully and without limitation its Comprehensive Safeguards Agreement with the IAEA as before.
- To a temporary bilateral technical understanding, compatible with the Law, whereby the IAEA will continue with its necessary verification and monitoring activities for up to 3 months (as per technical annex).
- To keep the technical understanding under regular review to ensure it continues to achieve its purposes.
Film: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LlCGNTKS8P0
and
(* A B P)
Trita Parsi: @rafaelmgrossi's agreement with Iran enables a crisis to be evaded. The Iranian law can go forward without completely killing talks. But the fundamental problem remains: The US is out of the deal and out of compliance. Trump's Max Pressure is still US policy.
The Iranian fear of just returning to talks while Trump's sanctions continue is rooted in the fear that if talks fail and Iran withdraws, Iran will be blamed - even though the US never even returned to the deal. Biden pursues Trump's policy - yet Iran will be at fault.
This Iranian fear could likely have been dispelled from the outset had the Biden admin not publicly toyed with idea of using Trump's sanctions as leverage (meaning, explicitly adopting Trump's policy) or if unhelpful public messaging about who goes first had been avoided.
Choreography of who goes first could have been handled smoothly in the background without anyone ever knowing it even was an issue. Instead, it was turned into a public fued that fueled Tehran's fears that Biden wasn't serious about diplomacy.
Which made it even more difficult for it to agree to talks without sanctions being lifted because it would enable Biden to shift the blame to Iran if talks failed.
Going forward, there should be no more US statements about who goes first. No Iranian tweets about Israel's nukes. Instead, only constructive public statements emphasizing the desire and need for a quick and equitable diplomatic solution. Nohting more, nothing less.
https://twitter.com/tparsi/status/1363583923473829888
Medea Benjamin: Bravo @PeterBeinart on @FareedZakaria. He said US should return to Iran deal FIRST and that when we talk about “malign activity” in region, we must also include the destabilizing activities of the Saudis, UAE, Israel and Turkey. Too bad he left out #1 destabilizer: the US.
https://twitter.com/medeabenjamin/status/1363513329050935297
and an 18. Jan. report by Beinhart: https://twitter.com/PeterBeinart/status/1362586357537923073
and
(* A P)
UN nuclear chief says Iran to grant ‘less access’ to program
Iran will begin to offer United Nations inspectors “less access” to its nuclear program as part of its pressure campaign on the West, though investigators will still be able to monitor Tehran’s work, the U.N. atomic watchdog’s chief said Sunday.
Rafael Grossi’s comments came after an emergency trip to Iran in which he said the International Atomic Energy Agency reached a “technical understanding” with Tehran to continue to allow monitoring of its nuclear program for up to three months. But his remarks to journalists underlined a narrowing window for the U.S. and others to reach terms with Iran, which is already enriching and stockpiling uranium at levels far beyond those allowed by its 2015 nuclear deal with world powers.
“The hope of the IAEA has been to stabilize a situation which was very unstable,” Grossi said at the airport after his arrival back in Vienna, where the agency is based. “I think this technical understanding does it so that other political consultations at other levels can take place and most importantly we can avoid a situation in which we would have been, in practical terms, flying blind.”
Grossi, the IAEA’s director general, offered few specifics of the agreement he had reached with Iranian leaders. He said the number of inspectors on the ground would remain the same but that “what changes is the type of activity” the agency was able to carry out, without elaborating further. He stressed monitoring would continue “in a satisfactory manner.”
My comment: It’s quite interesting what AP is making out of this story. – One main question remains: When the US finally will return to the Nuclear Deal (as it is; it’s International Law) and fulfill its obligations?? They got 3 months more to finally do so.
and
(A P)
Iran Foreign Ministry: New deal with IAEA ‘in complete conformity’ with new nuclear law
(* B K P)
THE CASE FOR WITHDRAWING FROM THE MIDDLE EAST
KEY POINTS
The Middle East is a small, poor, weak region beset by an array of problems that mostly do not affect Americans—and that U.S. forces cannot fix. The best thing the U.S. can do is leave.
The immense cost and evident fruitlessness of U.S. wars in the Middle East are widely lamented in American politics, but not enough to extricate U.S. troops. And even beyond the wars, U.S. policy in the region is an expensive and unnecessary disaster.
The cost of maintaining forces to protect the Middle East from itself is extraordinary, even in peacetime. Conservatively, attempting to control the Middle East costs Americans on the order of $65–70 billion each year, apart from the trillions spent on wars there. The number should be closer to zero.
Nothing about the Middle East warrants the U.S. investment there over the past 30 years. The few important interests there—preventing major terrorist attacks, stopping the emergence of a market-making oil hegemon, curbing nuclear proliferation, and ensuring no regional actor destroys Israel—do not require American troops.
The roughly 60,000 U.S. troops in the region should leave. American efforts to manage the Middle East make nothing about oil, Israel, or terrorism better. The U.S. would be better off withdrawing all forward-deployed troops from the region, while maintaining access agreements for naval ports with the consent of host countries.
Withdrawing ground forces from the Middle East will make it harder for the U.S. to start or join any wars there. Shrinking the U.S. armed forces to reflect the lack of threat from the Middle East will free up resources for any number of higher priorities at home or abroad.
https://www.defensepriorities.org/explainers/the-case-for-withdrawing-from-the-middle-east
(* B P)
Film: Qi's Trita Parsi on Biden signals it wants to reviver Iran nuclear talks
Qi's Trita Parsi discusses the Biden administration's latest signals that it wants to re-engage diplomatically with Iran over its nuclear program.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NXref9zdq1U = https://twitter.com/QuincyInst/status/1362879311175438342
(B P)
Win Without War Statement: Offer to Restart Nuclear Talks a Promising Step. Now We Must See it Through.
cp10 Großbritannien / Great Britain
(* B K P)
Oxfam: Britische Waffenverkäufe an Saudi-Arabien verlängern Krieg im Jemen
Die internationale Hilfsorganisation Oxfam hat der britischen Regierung vorgeworfen, den Krieg im Jemen zu verlängern, indem sie den Export von Waffen und Luft-Luft-Tankgeräten erlaubt, die die Luftangriffe auf das arabische Land erleichtern.
Das Volumen der militärischen Transaktionen zwischen den beiden Ländern betrug im Zeitraum 2015-2017 mehr als 13 Milliarden Pfund, und die meisten Transaktionen umfassten Waffen, Munition und militärische Ausrüstung.
Sam Nadel, der Leiter der Abteilung "Politik und Anwaltschaft" bei der Oxfam, sagte: "Während die USA ein Ende des Konflikts im Jemen forderten,geht Großbritannien in die entgegengesetzte Richtung und verstärkt seine Unterstützung für den brutalen,von Saudi-Arabien angeführten Krieg, indem es den Waffenverkauf zur Erleichterung der Luftangriffe steigert.
Obwohl der saudische Kronprinz Mohammad bin Salman während seines letzten Besuchs in Großbritannien keinen Vertrag zum Kauf von 48 Taifun-Kämpfern unterzeichnen konnte, haben die Gespräche zwischen Riad und London aber erhebliche Fortschritte gemacht.
"Großbritannien behauptete wiederholt, eine Friedenslösung im Jemen zu unterstützen. Es kann damit beginnen, den Verkauf aller Waffen, die gegen die Zivilisten eingesetzt werden könnten, sofort zu beenden und die humanitäre Krise nicht zu verschärfen", fügte Nadel hinzu.
(B K P)
British arms sales prolonging Saudi war in Yemen, says Oxfam
UK exports including air-to-air refuelling equipment will prolong conflict, say campaigners
Oxfam has accused the British government of prolonging the war in Yemen by allowing the export of air-to-air refuelling equipment that it fears could be used to help the Saudi air force conduct indiscriminate bombing in the country.
The technology was licensed to Riyadh last summer when arms restrictions were lifted, alongside £1.4bn of other sales, and can be used to help war planes fly longer missions at a time when the conflict is intensifying.
Sam Nadel, head of policy and advocacy at Oxfam, said: “As the US has called for an end to the conflict in Yemen, the UK is heading in the opposite direction, ramping up its support for the brutal Saudi-led war by increasing arms sales and refuelling equipment that facilitate airstrikes.”
(* B K P)
The UK Must Follow Biden in Withdrawing Support for Saudi-Led Yemen Offensive
the UK’s responsibility in the Yemen humanitarian crisis, arguing that the only way to promote peace is to withdraw its support for Saudi Arabia
The role of the UK and the US in bringing this about is often described as ‘quiet.’ We support our ally Saudi Arabia, not by bolstering Saudi troops with British boots on the ground, but with arms sales – and the British maintenance, training and logistical support needed to put them to use. It is British bombs that fall out of the sky upon Yemeni hospitals, schools, funerals and marketplaces, and it is British technicians that keep the bombers running. The UK is not the gun-toting psychopath destroying everything in sight, but the gun-selling, gun-maintaining third party that does everything but point the gun and pull the trigger.
But now, perhaps, there is hope.
The UK is already monstrously hypocritical when it comes to Yemen; airstrikes were ordered against the Assad regime in 2018 under the justification that ‘the UK is permitted… to take measures in order to alleviate overwhelming humanitarian suffering.’ Apparently British standards of human rights only come into play when it is the UK’s enemies, rather than its allies, causing this suffering. Now, with its closest ally drawing away from the conflict, the UK risks becoming diplomatically isolated as well as morally compromised.
It is important that we do not buy into the theory peddled by Tory ministers that the withdrawal of British support for the intervention will have no effect in bringing peace to Yemen. If the then Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt is to be believed then ceasing arms sales to Saudi Arabia would mean that the UK loses leverage and influence on Yemeni leaders that could be used to bring about peace. The logic in this line of thinking is patently ridiculous. Should the UK arm any state committing human rights abuses – and thereby become complicit in the atrocity – just so it has the leverage to try to make it stop?
The UK is increasingly out of step with the efforts of the international community to secure peace in Yemen, with Italy, Germany and now the US ceasing arms sales to Saudi Arabia. This – compounded with the domestic and potential international unlawfulness of British actions – has led to the assertion by some that it is within the UK’s self-interest to follow suit. Whilst this may be true, the predominant argument for withdrawing any and all support for the Saudi-led intervention must be the moral reasons for doing so. To be a country that claims to be a bastion of human rights that contributes to such devastation is a disgrace. This disgrace can and must be ended.
(* B K P)
NEWS SPECIAL: A war made in Scotland… Reports detail the exported arms used to ravage Yemen
Saudi Arabia’s armed forces in Yemen use armoured vehicles, missiles, anti-tank rockets and warplane targeting systems made in Scotland, according to new research.
The report by Campaign Against Arms Trade Scotland also reveals the millions of pounds of taxpayers’ money given to arms firms by Scottish Enterprise and the extent of lobbying at Holyrood by arms firms.
The human rights group, which has been nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize, also claims there is an “insidious relationship” between the Saudis and Westminster politicians.
Its report says MPs have registered £323,659 in donations from Saudi Arabia since the war started, and that 90 politicians enjoyed funded trips thanks to nations part of a Saudi-led coalition.
CAAT Scotland’s report says that 16 companies in Scotland have applied for military export licences to Saudi-led coalition members or worked directly with its forces. “Many of the active warplanes can only function with critical systems and targeting equipment made in Scotland,” the report says. “Saudi Arabia operates 72 Eurofighter Typhoons.”
The Typhoon relies on radar systems made and designed in Scotland. Italian arms firm Leonardo, which has a base in Edinburgh, is one of three partners in the Eurofighter project and makes 60% of the electronic and radar systems on these warplanes.
Glasgow-based Thales Optronics worked with Leonardo to create the Pirate infrared target tracking device for Eurofighters. The radar finds and locks on to missile and bomb targets. The report mentions Paveway IV bombs made by Raytheon in Glenrothes, Fife. Raytheon’s smart-bombs have been linked to atrocities in Yemen including a 2016 incident when 97 civilians were killed in Mastaba.
Another weapons system part-made by Raytheon in Fife, currently in operation with the Saudi forces, is the TOW missile. In 2018, Saudi Arabia purchased 6,600 of these anti-tank rockets. Raytheon’s shoulder-mounted Javelin missiles are also part-made in Fife, CAAT says, with 150 sold to the Saudis.
On the ground, the Saudi-armed forces rely on armoured vehicles part-made in Dumfries by Penman.
https://www.sundaypost.com/fp/yemen-made-in-scotland/
(A P)
Ending hostilities and averting famine in Yemen
Statement by Ambassador Barbara Woodward at the Security Council briefing on Yemen
https://www.gov.uk/government/speeches/ending-hostilities-and-averting-famine-in-yemen
My comment: Hypocrisy by Saudi Arabia*s second largest arms supplier and supporter of Saudi warfare.
(A P)
Theresa May paid £115k to speak at event founded by Dubai ruler accused of kidnapping
The Tory Maidenhead MP and former Prime Minister Theresa May flew out to the Gulf last year to speak at the Global Women's Forum event - which was founded by Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum
Former PM Theresa May accepted £115,000 to address a women’s forum founded by the Dubai ruler accused of kidnapping his daughter.
Mrs May flew to the Gulf in February last year to speak at the Global Women’s Forum event.
She was pictured shaking hands with Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum – ruler of Dubai and Vice President of the United Arab Emirates.
https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/politics/theresa-paid-115k-speak-event-23536890
(* B P)
On Not Being a Princess
Dominic Raab and numerous Tory MPs never showed the slightest concern when British bombs and missiles supplied to the United Arab Emirates killed thousands of Yemeni women and children. Those bombs and missiles were dropped and fired from British planes with British trained pilots, maintained by British engineers, and often acting in concert with British special forces secretly deployed in Yemen. The Tories roared all this on as excellent for British exports and the balance of payments. I am quite certain Dominic Raab could not name a single woman or child we have killed in Yemen.
But he knows the name of Princess Latifa because, well she is a Princess. The Royal Family of Dubai are close mates with our Royal Family and seen at all the best racecourses. They are good allies of the USA and Israel and can be depended on to fund the extermination of Shia minorities pretty well anywhere, which is helpful in keeping Iran weak (though Tories are less good at explaining just why Iran is viewed as our enemy, and the sponsors of 9/11, Al Qaeda, ISIS etc as our friends. We are simply meant to take that as read – indeed querying this doctrine brings massive mainstream derision).
There are thousands of ordinary Emirati women whose oppression has been worse and lives have tragically often been cut shorter than that of Princess Latifa. This sudden concern for human rights has not extended very far “down” into them. The millions of imported workers, many from Pakistan, who have built and sustained the elite lifestyle of the shiny and soulless monstrosity for the rich that is modern Dubai, have never received any of the concern for Princess Latifa. They have toiled in conditions of slavery, died of unsafe construction practices, and thousands of female domestic workers have been subjected to what amounts to systemic mass rape by Dubai employers.
But then, none of them are Princesses.
https://www.craigmurray.org.uk/archives/2021/02/on-not-being-a-princess
cp11 Deutschland / Germany
(A K P)
Die Linke: Das Geschäft mit dem Tod: Schleswig-Holstein bei Kriegswaffen-Exporten bundesweit vorne
Besonders skandalös sind die Exporte in Krisenregionen und an kriegführende Staaten: Alleine in Schleswig-Holstein wurden im vergangenen Jahr Rüstungsexporte nach Ägypten in Höhe von 626 Millionen Euro genehmigt. Dabei handelte es sich überwiegend um Kriegswaffen (586 Millionen Euro). Dass Ägypten am Jemen-Krieg und an den Konflikten in Libyen beteiligt ist, scheint die Bundesregierung nicht zu interessieren.
cp12 Andere Länder / Other countries
(A P)
French Newspaper Criticizes Paris Military Support for Saudi Arabia in its Aggression against Yemen
The French newspaper "Limanti" criticized Paris for ignoring demands to end its military cooperation with Riyadh, and stressed the need to stop the war in Yemen
(* B P)
A decade after 2011 protests, Bahrain suppresses all dissent
A decade after demonstrators massed in Bahrain’s capital to call for the downfall of their government in 2011, authorities continue to suppress all signs of dissent. Activists behind those turbulent days say the memory of the protests that threatened the Sunni monarchy’s grip on power is all but extinguished.
But many live with the consequences.
“That was the start of the dark era,” said Jawad Fairooz, an exiled former leader of the now outlawed Al-Wefaq Shiite political party, who was stripped of his nationality for his political work in 2012.
Although many activists and protesters have escaped into exile or been imprisoned, the threat of dissent persists in this tiny kingdom with a majority-Shiite population off the eastern coast of Saudi Arabia.
In contrast to neighboring Gulf Arab monarchies, low-level unrest has plagued Bahrain over recent years. Police have been out in force in city streets over the past week, residents say, taking no chances on renewed demonstration.
(A P)
Anerkennung des Skandals um verschwundene Kinder
Das Kapitel um die verschwundenen Kinder jemenitischer Einwanderer aus den ersten Jahren nach Israels Staatsgründung ist eines der tragischsten in der Geschichte des Landes. Am Montag war es Thema einer Knessetsitzung. Dabei wurde beschlossen, dass der Staat den Skandal offiziell anerkannt – sieben Jahrzehnte später. Die Regierung drückt ihr Bedauern über das Geschehene aus und wird Entschädigung an die betroffenen Familien zahlen
https://www.juedische-allgemeine.de/israel/anerkennung-des-skandals-um-verschwundene-kinder/
(A P)
Israel offers compensation to families of missing children
The Israeli government on Monday approved a plan to offer $50 million in compensation to the families of hundreds of Yemenite children who disappeared in the early years of the country’s establishment.
But the announcement received a cool reception from advocacy groups that said the government had failed to apologize or accept responsibility for the affair.
Stories about the missing children have circulated in Israel for years. Hundreds of newborn babies and young children of Jewish immigrants from Arab and Balkan countries, most of them from Yemen, mysteriously disappeared shortly after arriving in the country.
Many families believe their children were taken away and given to childless couples of European backgrounds, both in Israel and abroad. Although previous inquiries have dismissed claims of mass abductions, the suspicions have lingered and contributed to a long-simmering fault line between Jews of European origin and those of Middle Eastern backgrounds.
(A P)
Ukraine joins UNSC sanctions against Mali, Yemen
President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky has introduced into action the decisions of the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine, by which Ukraine joined the sanctions imposed by the UN Security Council against the Republic of Mali and the Republic of Yemen.
https://en.interfax.com.ua/news/general/725300.html
(A P)
Saudi-Arabien kann im Jemen nicht gewinnen
Der Außenminister der Islamischen Republik Iran sagte am Sonntagabend: „Saudi-Arabien kann im Jemen keinen militärischen Sieg erringen.“
„Saudi-Arabien kann weder einen militärischen Sieg im Jemen erringen, noch wird es durch Verhandlungen das erreichen können, was es militärisch nicht erreichen konnte“, betonte Mohammad Javad Zarif in einem Interview mit dem libanesischen Fernsehsender Al-Manar.
https://de.irna.ir/news/84239417/Saudi-Arabien-kann-im-Jemen-nicht-gewinnen
(A P)
FM Zarif: Saudi Arabia can not achieve goals in Yemen
Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said on Monday that Saudi Arabia can not achieve a military victory in Yemen or a victory through negotiations what it has not been able to achieve militarily.
https://en.irna.ir/news/84239095/FM-Zarif-Saudi-Arabia-can-not-achieve-goals-in-Yemen
and
(A P)
Iran tells UN of readiness to help end Yemen war
Iran's Foreign Minister has said that his country has informed the UN Envoy to Yemen, Martin Griffiths, that it is ready to help end the war in Yemen.
"Saudi Arabia and its allies will not defeat the Yemeni people," explained Mohammad Javad Zarif, "and Riyadh should end its war on Yemen." He added that Iran does not want to control the region. "Rather, it seeks to establish good relations with its Arab neighbours."
Zarif said that Iran has not received any proposal to stop its support for the Houthis, in return for Washington stopping its support for the Saudi-led coalition's military operations in Yemen.
https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20210222-iran-tells-un-of-readiness-to-help-end-yemen-war/
(B P)
MFA, Russia: Russia and Saudi Arabia hold identical or close positions on the majority of international and regional issues. Bilateral relations are making steady progress in a constructive vein
https://twitter.com/mfa_russia/status/1362856411076710401
Comment: #Saudi #MBS predictably responded to #Biden admin pressure by reaching out to #Russia, which is welcoming it.
https://twitter.com/AliAlAhmed_en/status/1363250917294882820
(B K P)
UN experts: Trump ally, UAE firms violated Libya sanctions
merican security contractor Erik Prince, a close ally of former U.S. President Donald Trump, violated the U.N. arms embargo against Libya along with three United Arab Emirates-based companies and their top managers during an operation to help a rebel military commander take the capital Tripoli, U.N. experts said.
(B K P)
Arancha Gonzalez Laya: Are Spanish arms fuelling war in Yemen? | Talk to Al Jazeera
As her country’s top diplomat, Arancha Gonzalez Laya has had to navigate and respond to questions about Spain’s foreign policy on a variety of issues. Gonzalez Laya’s first official trip of 2021 was to the Gulf region: the UAE, Saudi Arabia and Qatar. In Abu Dhabi she conveyed her government’s hopes for a solution to the war in Yemen. In Riyadh, the foreign minister worked to strengthen Spain’s arms deals with the kingdom. But are Spanish arms fuelling the war in Yemen? Spain’s Foreign Minister Arancha Gonzalez Laya talks to Al Jazeera.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_PDfbauDPl4
My comment: Of course they do.
(* B P)
Sheikh Mohammed: disturbing glimpses beneath a refined public image
Dubai ruler cultivates an image as a business visionary and poet, but haunting videos and court rulings offer a shadow biography
“Not all that hurts you is evil,” he wrote of the episode. “Sometimes pain teaches us and protects us.”
It is one of the origin myths of a man who would go on to transform the modest port town his family ruled into the glimmering, ultramodern metropolis of Dubai, a city whose grand spectacles – an indoor ski resort, the world’s tallest building – have never quite obscured its controversies. Over the past three years, Sheikh Mohammed himself has become one of them.
Though he is one the wealthiest royals in the world, with a fortune estimated at $4bn (£2.86bn), and oversees a city at the heart of global capitalism, surprisingly little is known of a figure described by a British judge last year as “an intensely private individual”.
Most of the public information about Sheikh Mohammed has been fashioned by his own hand: three memoirs, extensive collections of poetry and a 2017 guidebook to cultivating happiness and positivity.
Then there are the darker glimpses of the man. They first emerged two decades ago in desperate phone call to a British solicitor by a young woman, Shamsa bint Mohammed al-Maktoum, claiming to be estranged from her father, the sheikh. A few weeks later she was snatched from a street in Cambridge and has disappeared from public view. In early 2018, footage was published of a second daughter, Latifa, telling the camera she was planning her own escape attempt. “If you are watching this video, it’s not such a good thing. Either I’m dead or I’m in a very, very, very bad situation,” she said.
In the three years since, with the emergence of more haunting videos and damning court judgments, this shadow biography of Sheikh Mohammed has become clearer.
His wives receive comparatively less coverage in the official narrative, and the story of just one, his sixth and youngest wife, Princess Haya, has been extensively documented. After their marriage faltered, Haya, 46, said she became concerned about the fate of Shamsa and Latifa. Soon, she said, she started finding guns left in her home and a note that warned: “We will take your son – your daughter is ours – your life is over.”
A UK court found last year that these and other claims of threats and harassment, along with the allegations Sheikh Mohammed had organised for the forcible returns of Latifa and Shamsa, were on the balance of probabilities, factual. The judgment and publicity appear to have had little impact so far on the UAE’s defence and trade ties with London, nor Sheikh Mohammed’s extensive personal relationships in the UK.
“He’s closely integrated into the top echelon of society through horse racing,” said Kristian Coates Ulrichsen, an associate fellow specialising in the Gulf at Chatham House. “He moves in the highest circles with members of the UK royal family, and to some extent that might give him respectability.”
(A P)
UN asks Emirates for ‘proof of life’ for missing princess
The U.N. human rights office said Friday that it has asked the United Arab Emirates for evidence that an Emirati princess held against her will for almost three years is still alive.
and
(A P)
Film: The UN can call for the release of Dubai #PrincessLatifa and sister Shamsa so they can "speak more freely about what is happening to them", Human Rights Watch's @Rothna_Begum tells @yveyong
https://twitter.com/abcnews/status/1362003045639475203
and
(A P)
Now is the time to pressure Dubai emir for releasing his two daughters from jail
(B P)
Film: GeoTalk: Israel's relations with the Gulf States
In the wider Arab region there is a trend toward normalizing relations with Israel. Dr. Andreas Krieg, a lecturer at the School of Security Studies at King's College London, Royal College of Defence Studies, explains the dynamics shaping the United Arab Emirates and Israel's bilateral relationship and the future of the Abraham Accords.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CtaUfE8icPo
cp12b Sudan
(A P)
Egypt helps Sudan confront Brotherhood ideology through missionaries
Egypt sent a missionary convoy of imams and preachers to several Sudanese regions, most notably the Darfur region, where protests and violence broke out amid accusations by the Sudanese government that the Muslim Brotherhood and members of ousted Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir's regime were behind them.
(A E P)
Sudan announces managed currency float to revive economy
https://apnews.com/article/sudan-omar-al-bashir-middle-east-economy-1c99c35782a4a45427ae344671a8d09f
cp13a Waffenhandel / Arms trade
(* A K P)
SAMI and Lockheed Martin to Form Joint Venture to Cooperate in Advancing Saudi Military Industries Sector
Saudi Arabian Military Industries (SAMI), a wholly owned subsidiary of the Public Investment Fund (PIF), and Lockheed Martin today inked a strategic agreement to form a joint venture to facilitate cooperation between the two companies in enhancing Saudi Arabia’s domestic defense and security capabilities and supporting the industrialization and economic development objectives of Saudi Vision 2030.
The agreement was signed in Abu Dhabi, UAE, on the sidelines of the International Defense Exhibition and Conference (IDEX) by Eng. Walid Abukhaled, CEO of SAMI, and Timothy Cahill, Senior Vice President, Lockheed Martin International.
The joint venture, in which SAMI will have a 51-percent shareholding and Lockheed Martin will hold the remaining stakes, is aimed at developing localization capabilities through the transfer of technology (ToT) and knowledge (ToK) and training of Saudi nationals to manufacture products and provide services to the Kingdom’s armed forces.
Commenting on the signing of the agreement, Eng. Walid Abukhaled, CEO of SAMI, said: “In keeping with the objectives of the Saudi Vision 2030 program, SAMI has been exploring avenues to help build a sustainable, self-sufficient military industries sector in the Kingdom, and our strong and enduring partnership with Lockheed Martin underpins our commitment. The agreement to establish a new joint venture represents a major step forward to realizing our ambitious goals, and we look forward to tremendous outcomes in the near future. It also supports PIF’s efforts through SAMI in localizing cutting-edge technology and knowledge, as well as building strategic economic partnerships.”
Timothy Cahill, Senior Vice President, Lockheed Martin International, said: “Today marks a major milestone in our strategic relationship with SAMI and comes as part of our longstanding commitment to supporting Saudi Arabia’s industrialization and economic development plans. This agreement is in line with Lockheed Martin’s strategy to expand its partnership with the Kingdom by providing reliable defense and security solutions that will support security and prosperity for decades to come.”
The SAMI-Lockheed Martin Joint Venture will develop capabilities in manufacturing technology, software technology, and systems integration, as well as the production, maintenance, and repair of rotary and fixed-wing aircraft, and missile defense systems, as well as naval and land systems.
https://www.sami.com.sa/en/node/96168
and
(* A K P)
Biden's Arms Freeze on Saudi Arabia Rings Hollow as Lockheed Signs Deal With Kingdom
US President Joe Biden's vaunted freeze on arms sales to Gulf Arab kingdoms has been belied by a deal between Lockheed Martin and Saudi Arabia.
Saudi Arabian Military Industries (SAMI) announced a joint venture with the US aerospace and defence firm on Sunday to develop Riyadh's "domestic defence and security capabilities"
(* A K P)
UAE weapons show draws major deals, traders amid pandemic
In spite of the surging coronavirus pandemic, major arms makers descended Sunday on a convention center in Abu Dhabi, the capital of the United Arab Emirates, hoping to make deals with militaries across the Middle East.
The UAE unveiled $1.36 billion in local and foreign arms deals to supply its forces with everything from South African drones to Serbian artillery. Although the figure surpasses the 2019 show’s opening announcement, defense experts anticipate a drop in military spending this year as the pandemic and slumping global oil prices squeeze budgets in the Persian Gulf.
The biennial trade fair, the International Defense Exhibition and Conference, is Abu Dhabi’s first major in-person event since the outbreak of the virus — a sign of its significance to the oil-rich sheikhdom that has maintained tight movement restrictions in recent months. Zoom wouldn’t suffice for the 70,000 attendees and 900 exhibitors who rely on the largest weapons expo in the Mideast to scout for potential clients and hawk their latest wares, from armored vehicles to ballistic missiles.
Top Emirati officials, including Abu Dhabi’s powerful crown prince, Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, were on hand, wandering between displays of rifles, rockets and bombs.
But with hand sanitizer as ubiquitous as sterile drone displays, the pandemic’s effects remained visible. Significant national pavilions were absent, including the United States, the world’s largest arms exporter.
Big American companies turned up but kept a low profile. Lockheed Martin representatives standing beside models of stealth F-35 fighters were tight-lipped amid the Biden administration’s review of several major foreign arms sales initiated by former President Donald Trump, including a massive $23 billion transfer of the F-35s to the UAE.
(* A K P)
SAMI and NIMR Sign Teaming Agreement to Transfer Armored Vehicle Production and Technology to Saudi Arabia
Saudi Arabian Military Industries (SAMI), a wholly owned subsidiary of the Public Investment Fund (PIF), signed today a teaming agreement with NIMR, a United Arab Emirates (UAE)-based leading manufacturer of combat-proven light- and medium-weight wheeled military vehicles, to supply armored vehicles to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.
The agreement was signed at IDEX 2021 in Abu Dhabi by Chairman of the NIMR Board Staff Major General Pilot Faris Khalaf Al-Mazrouei and CEO of SAMI Eng. Walid Abukhaled, in the presence of Governor of the General Authorities for Military Industries (GAMI) Eng. Ahmed A. Al-Ohali, Saudi Ambassador to the UAE Turki bin Abdullah Al-Dakhil, CEO and Managing Director of EDGE Faisal Al-Bannai and other leading representatives of the two entities.
Under the agreement, SAMI will work exclusively with NIMR, the original equipment manufacturer (OEM) of JAIS 4x4 MRAP (Mine-Resistant Ambush Protected) vehicles, to produce the armored vehicles locally in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Although completely built units will initially be produced in the UAE by NIMR, the agreement stipulates the transfer of production and technology to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and develop its supply chain capabilities to enable the two companies to jointly manufacture all the JAIS vehicles that will be provided to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia in the future.
https://www.spa.gov.sa/viewfullstory.php?lang=en&newsid=2193749
(A K P)
GAMI, State Authority for Military Industry of Belarus, Co-Sign MoU in Field of Military Industries
Saudi General Authority for Military Industries (GAMI) signed here today a memorandum of understanding (MoU) in the field of military industries with the State Authority for Military Industry of the Republic of Belarus, on the sidelines of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia's participation in IDEX 2021.
https://www.spa.gov.sa/viewfullstory.php?lang=en&newsid=2193766
(* B K P)
Saudi Arabia arms sales: Which countries are still exporting?
Following US pause on weapons deals to Riyadh and Abu Dhabi, MEE looks at how other major military exporters have responded
Since Washington’s decision, pressure has mounted on other Western countries that sell arms to Riyadh and its allies.
Middle East Eye breaks down which other major military exporters continue to arm the Saudi-led coalition, which countries have cancelled contracts, and what action is being taken by campaigners across the globe.
UK
Despite its US allies halting arms sales to the Saudi-led coalition, the UK - the second largest military exporter to Saudi Arabia - has refused to follow suit.
“The decisions the US takes on matters of arms sales are decisions for the US. The UK takes its own arms export responsibilities very seriously, and we continue to assess all arms export licences in accordance with strict licensing criteria,” James Cleverly, a foreign office minister, said.
The UK authorised the sale of $1.88bn worth of arms - including missiles and bombs - between the period of July and September 2020, according to figures released by the Department of International Trade last week.
London paused all new arms sales to the Saudi-led coalition in June 2019, after the UK Court of Appeal ruled that the government had failed to make an assessment of whether there was a risk that the weapons could be used to breach international humanitarian law in Yemen.
However, the transactions started up again in July last year, with international trade secretary Liz Truss stating that any breaches of international law were “isolated incidents”.
Saudi Arabia represented 40 percent of British arms exports between 2010 and 2019, and sources told The Times that the UK’s Typhoon aircraft programme would no longer be financially viable if the Saudis lost interest.
France
Last week, the European Union voted overwhelmingly to end the sale of European security equipment that fuels conflict in Yemen, and demanded accountability for member states that violate EU arms export rules.
However, several French legislators were notable abstainees. Twenty-two of the 23 French MEPs in the liberal “Renew Europe” political bloc, including several members of President Emmanuel Macron’s En Marche party, abstained on the vote.
France is the third largest exporter of arms to Riyadh, with Paris accounting for 4 percent of the kingdom’s arms imports between 2015 and 2019, behind the US (73 percent) and UK (13 percent), according to the most recent figures released by the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI). Over the same period, France was the second largest exporter of arms to the UAE.
An investigation by EU Observer in November found that French companies were training Saudi soldiers despite concerns about the war in Yemen.
Human rights groups, including Amnesty and Human Rights Watch, have called on the French government to hand over control of arms sales to the country’s parliament, which has little oversight on the issue. However, there has been no indication from Macron’s government of any change of course.
https://www.middleeasteye.net/saudi-uae-coalition-arms-sales-country-breakdown
cp13b Kulturerbe / Cultural heritage
(A)
The cute, who is Hamad bin Abdullah Al Thani, cousin of the Emir of Qatar ,,, and who included the two statues looted from Yemen to his famous group "Al Thani Group", which includes pieces of the most valuable and rare antiquities and jewelry, These two statues are currently on display in the Tokyo National Museum, and they are over a year old.
https://twitter.com/alobaly/status/1363825224412631041
cp14 Terrorismus / Terrorism
(A T)
Hizb ut-Tahrir al-Islami (Islamic Party of Liberation) is going on a media blitz calling for an Islamic Caliphate. Leaflets even appeared in #Mukalla #Yemen and other parts of the world. Also pushing these hashtags: #ReturnTheKhilafah #YenidenHilafet
https://twitter.com/BashaReport/status/1363910489856757762
referring to https://twitter.com/sadamplpheth/status/1362906418412740610 (photo)
(A T)
#AlQaeda's official #Yemen wire issues 1st operational claim in 3 months. What's interesting: -Nothing to do with #Marib. Just a minor ambush on Houthi bike in Bayda -Striking lack of formal op claims despite heavy media output recently -Allah is praised for 1st time since 4/2020
https://twitter.com/Dr_E_Kendall/status/1363596040142733321
cp15 Propaganda
(A P)
Film: Yemenis are looking for peace. Do Americans and Europeanse understand the reality of the internal conflict in Yemen?
https://twitter.com/AdelDashela/status/1363610867590438913
(A P)
USG Op-ed: Let’s work together to avert imminent famine in Yemen
The following op-ed, written by the Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator, Mark Lowcock, was published online today by Al-Sharq Al-Awsat:
On February 4, President Joe Biden announced the new US position on Yemen, focusing on a diplomatic solution to the conflict and alleviating the suffering of the Yemeni people.
The new US initiative creates the best chance yet to end the war.
The ball is now in the court of the Yemeni parties. It is the responsibility of the Yemeni government as well as Ansar Allah, the Houthis, and the Southern Transitional Council and all their allies and partners to seize this opportunity. All their regional allies should push them to do the right thing.
Yemen is teetering on the edge of a precipice. Six years of conflict have killed thousands of civilians and devastated the economy and the public sector. Two out of every three Yemenis need humanitarian aid to survive.
Yemen and its people are exposed to brutality and exhaustion.
But the most pressing problem in Yemen today is famine. Half a million children under the age of five could die of hunger in the coming weeks if they do not get urgent treatment. Five million more people are one step away from famine.
Gulf nations have played an important role in providing funding for the humanitarian operation in Yemen.
In recent years, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia has consistently been one of the largest donors, while the United Arab Emirates, Qatar and Kuwait have also made significant contributions.
This generosity was crucial in averting famine and saving millions of lives there two years ago. The time has come to do it again. The situation is now worse.
The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia has also shown itself to be a global leader in adopting an innovative approach to humanitarian aid.
https://www.unocha.org/story/usg-op-ed-let%E2%80%99s-work-together-avert-imminent-famine-yemen
My comment: Why does UN’s Lowcock prostite himself in favour of Saudi PR?? – A similar piece for “Global Britain”, just once mentioning Britain’s horrific role in Yemen, otherwise bootlicking it:
(A P)
As Yemen teeters on the edge, Global Britain must reprise its role as a responsible world leader
Aid keeps people alive. While food alone cannot solve problems which create humanitarian need, it makes the prospect of peace more likely
The UK helped stave off famine two years ago with generous funding, by sounding the alarm, and by using its pivotal role in the United Nations Security Council. It needs to do it again. The situation is now worse.
As a principled global power, Britain takes seriously its responsibility to help end the war in Yemen. As Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab said last year when he pledged to stand by the people of Yemen, a political solution is the only lasting way to alleviate suffering.
Like all major global players, Britain has various interests to weigh. It is well reported that the UK has licensed the sale of at least $5 billion worth of arms to Saudi Arabia since 2015.
Every day children are killed or maimed in Yemen because of the conflict. This is not the moment to walk away from the suffering children of Yemen. To deny them food as they starve would be adding insult to injury.
On March 1 the UN is convening this year’s high-level pledging event for the aid operation in Yemen. What happens that day will send a big signal.
More money for the aid operation is the fastest, most efficient way to prevent a massive famine. Maintaining the funding status quo is not enough.
In June 2020 Dominic Raab announced UK funding for the year would be £160 million. This money helped enormously, but it was a significant drop from the previous year. The UK and other major donors need to go back to the funding levels of 2018 and 2019 at the absolute minimum.
Anything less is not enough. Anything less would be catastrophic for the prospects for peace in the country. If you’re not feeding the people, you’re feeding the war.
For a relatively small price, the UK can help avert mass famine in Yemen and help bring peace closer. Decisions driven by British values will drive others to do the right thing. The alternative is leaving Yemen to its grim downward spiral.
(A P)
Will Riyadh, Manama be Iran's next targets? - opinion
Iran is more patient than the West, willing to wait years for the right opportunity to pounce, and American policy-makers underestimate this desire to export its revolutionary message.
Today, Iran effectively controls Beirut, Lebanon through its Hezbollah division. Baghdad, Iraq is under Iranian influence through control of the Iraqi Parliament’s pro-Iranian majority, and their affiliated Iraqi militias under the Iranian Republican Guards Corps’ authority. Damascus, Syria is in the Iranian camp because Syrian President Assad acquiesces in Iranian control throughout southern Syria being grateful for them saving his despicable regime, and also powerless to resist their entrenchment there anyway.
And in Sanaa, Yemen, the Iranian proxy Houthis are on the march again, looking to permanently control the vital Bab El Mandeb passage between the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden. This strategic choke point connects the Mediterranean Sea with South Asia and the Far East through the Suez Canal.
The Iranians next Arab capital to target could be Manama, Bahrain. Iran considers Shiite majority Bahrain its own. If the Iranians feel empowered by American weakness over time, Bahrain may be targeted by Iran to test America’s resolve to curb Iran’s imperialist ambitions. If this occurred and America did not back Saudi efforts to fight an Iranian incursion on the western bank of the Persian Gulf, a stone’s throw from Saudi territory, it would be a major destabilizing development for the region. The JCPOA’s sanction relief fuels the fire – by Eric R. Mandel, senior editor for security at The Jerusalem Report. He is the director of MEPIN, the Middle East Political Information Network.
https://www.jpost.com/opinion/will-riyadh-manama-be-irans-next-targets-opinion-659824
(A P)
Battle for Yemen's Marib Reveals Iran’s Expansionist Plot in Region
The interest of Iran and its proxies in the Arab world in the battle for the Marib province reveals the extent the Tehran regime and its militias are involved in Yemen.
Many of its proxies view it as a “decisive” battle that will determine the fate of their expansionist agenda in the region.
Yemenis believe the battle in Marib pits Iran and its regional proxies against them and the Arabs. Yemen, which Iran was seeking to transform into a platform for its regional agenda, has become a solid obstacle in achieving its ambitions.
Yemeni Chief of Staff Sagheer bin Aziz vowed in statements to the media that the military will be victorious against the “rabid” Houthi militias, which are being spurred to battle by Iran. Its terrorist representative Hasan Irlu is leading these battles.
(A P)
(Jamal Bin Omar) UN Envoy At Misleading Mission !
Bin Omar ignores all these events carried out by the Houthis and Saleh, who do not care about any of the national or international agreements in favor of their expansion project for the sake of controlling Yemen. But all of Bin Omar's preoccupation is the Saudi intervention and the UN Security Council resolution, where he said in his article that the International Resolution 2216 is catastrophic. 2216 resolution is the resolution that imposes sanctions on Houthi leaders and demands them to withdraw from the areas that they have controlled by the force of arms, Bin Omar demands to change it by the facts of reality. These comments from him are very dangerous and contain a lot of misinformation, what we need is an additional international resolution based on International Resolution 2216 to expand the sanctions circle against the leaders of the Houthi militia and the rest of the militias that obstruct the efforts of the Yemeni government seeking stability and an end to the conflict. More international support of the Yemen government and return them to Sanaa to resume the political process, the referendum on a new constitution, and the country's entry into parliamentary and presidential elections. But Bin Omar demands to enable the Houthi militia and hand Yemen over to Iran.
How long he will continue to falsify this misguided world awareness?
https://hussami2324.blogspot.com/2021/02/jamal-bin-omar-un-envoy-at-misleading.html
(A P)
The UN indicates the government has to de-escalate in Marib too!
Instead of explicitly calling on Houthi invaders to withdraw and put an end to the seemingly endless genocides on the city’s outskirts, the UN has called on “all parties to the conflict to de-escalate the situation.”
Everyone knows the UN can never single out Houthis with a demand or a blame, no matter what.
https://www.alsahwa-yemen.net/en/p-45250
(A P)
Yemen is suffering from the rebellion of a group that ‘doesn’t believe in dialogue’
Yemen’s Foreign Minister said on Saturday is country is “suffering from the rebellion of a racist group that doesn’t believe in dialogue,” in reference to the Houthis.
Addressing a model UN conference organized by 100 young men and women in the eastern city of Mukalla, Ahmed Bin Mubarak said the group “does not believe in dialogue and solving disputes, but it has chosen violence and war to impose its will upon the people of Yemen.”
(A P)
Why is Washington obsessed with Yemen?
Yemen has been at the top of Washington’s foreign policy agenda over the last month. Most Americans find this surprising. Our trade with Yemen is minimal, there isn’t a large Yemeni American community, and few of us have Yemen on the top of our vacation list. Yet, while Yemen is far from the hearts and minds of most Americans, the reverse is not true. And we need to try to understand why.
In the heart of the war and famine, we see every day the immense suffering of ordinary people, every one of them as precious as our own family. U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres correctly states that today in Yemen, we face the risk of a famine that “would probably have had no parallel in recent history, except for the famous famine in Ethiopia many decades ago.”
This means what is happening in Yemen touches every American. We are a generous people. When confronted with mass suffering, our values and our faith compel us to help. But, unlike the 1980s, this time we can’t wait for music superstars to record a “We are the World” anthem to shock us out of our complacency. We need to act now to avert a major humanitarian catastrophe. If we don’t, millions of lives may be lost.
The U.S. is currently working to foster a solution. We are advocating for peace, ending support for the war, and reducing the barriers to humanitarian assistance. These are tough, complicated, and at times imperfect decisions in a very difficult environment, and each move has advantages and disadvantages. However, we need to remind ourselves that these are necessary decisions meant to prevent mass starvation that would undoubtedly shock our consciences. Before it is too late, we need to rally together to support necessary food and humanitarian aid to save innocent lives.
https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/op-eds/why-is-washington-obsessed-with-yemen
(A P)
Mike Pompeo: As SoS, I led a response to the Iranian threat that protected the American people from its terror and supported Israel. If this administration decides to adopt the European Union model of accommodation, it will guarantee Iran a path to a nuclear arsenal.
https://twitter.com/mikepompeo/status/1363152031385550848
Comment: Dude, your Iran policy was an utter disaster. More Iranian aggression in the region. More centrifuges. More nuclear R&D. Greater uranium stockpile. Other countries viewing us as a joke at the UNSC. And most importantly, higher risk of war. What universe are you living in?
https://twitter.com/DanDePetris/status/1363163598999203844
(A P)
Oversimplifying the Yemen War Teaches the Wrong Lessons
The U.S. desire to end its complicity in the conflict is a noble sentiment, but it need not blind decisionmakers to the fact the tipping the balance in the Houthis’ favor could have disastrous repercussions not only for regional security but for the people of Yemen condemned to live under the ruthless Houthi dictatorship.
However, a strategic rather than ideological view of the conflict indicates that the lessons from Yemen, which Malley and Pomper claim the United States ought to learn, are far more complex than the authors let on.
Malley and Pomper lament the continued U.S. role in Yemen while acknowledging that America’s guidance to the Royal Saudi Air Force, however imperfect, may have done some good.
For the sake of comparison, an August 2020 report by the UK government on the Syrian Civil War noted that Russian forces alone were responsible for nearly 7,000 civilian deaths over the course of the conflict, while Syrian regime forces had killed almost 200,000 civilians. A U.S. Department of State report from March 2020 noted that in April 2019 alone pro-Assad aerial and ground forces killed thousands of civilians in Northwest Syria. This comparison is in no way intended to minimize the tragedy of innocents killed in Yemen, rather to shed light on the fact that without the guidance of a government like the United States, which insists on abiding by the rules of war, then the fallout from the civil war in Yemen might have been much, much worse.
Nevertheless, the authors go on to explain that Washington has a responsibility to alleviate the misery in Yemen because “without U.S. support, Saudi Arabia would have found it harder to wage war and, arguably, would have been more eager to find a way out.” If this is their view of better policy, then they should certainly elaborate on the end-state that it might realistically achieve. In the absence of U.S. support, what follows a brief, brutal, and unsuccessful Saudi-led campaign as envisioned by the authors?
If “ending U.S. complicity” is the top priority for American policymakers, then they may view a Houthi takeover of Yemen as an acceptable result of their withdrawal from the ongoing civil war. But if improving the lives of Yemen’s people is the top priority, then leaving the country to a fate of Houthi rule is unconscionable.
Malley and Pomper then propose a strategy of pressuring Saudi Arabia to reach a negotiated political solution and asking Iran to reciprocate vis-à-vis the Houthis. But at this point the two sides of the conflict are not symmetrical. Riyadh has sought to achieve a political solution to the Yemen conflict since at least 2019 – by Ari Heistein, Research Fellow and Chief of Staff to the Director at Israel’s Institute for National Security Studies
https://nationalinterest.org/feature/oversimplifying-yemen-war-teaches-wrong-lessons-178477
(A K P)
Iran envoy leads Houthi campaign on Marib: [Hadi gov.] Yemeni army CoS
Iran's envoy for the Houthi group, Hassan Irloo, is leading the Houthi battles in Marib, chief of staff of Yemen's national army said Friday, vowing that his troops would "crush the group" in fighting currently seen by the northeastern governorate.
https://debriefer.net/en/news-23279.html
and
(A K P)
[Hadi gov.] Army’s Chief of Staff: Battle against the Iran terrorist Houthi militia is the battle of all Yemenis
(A P)
Even children can understand the UN’s games in Yemen
Houthis controlled the capital of Aljawf, Alhazm, at the beginning of March 2020. By April 8 the government forces had besieged it and were ready to take it again. The UN took urgent behind-the-scene moves and by the next morning a ceasefire burst onto the stage! The ceasefire was declared by the government forces and the Arab Coalition from one side!
Ever since, the army has - a number of times – made it to the city’s gates and stopped there. It is there now for a while and not trying to march a meter further.
For a reason many ignore: The UN is effectively wielding behind-the-scene influence to keep the city under Houthi control. Just the same as it is doing in Hodeidah.
Whatever Houthis capture, the UN does not allow to slip out of their hand again. If the army is progressing, however, the UN comes in the way under the banner of concerns about “civilians.” It always has its effective methods of stopping it: It issues warnings and follows them with real pressures on the government and the Coalition that we see instantly effective.
https://www.alsahwa-yemen.net/en/p-45212
(A P)
Biden can’t negotiate with Iran as its proxies attack U.S. troops
On Monday, armed militants launched rockets at a U.S. air base in northern Iraq. The Biden administration still hadn’t weighed in on who was responsible as of Thursday evening, even though an Iranian-linked Iraqi Shiite militia quickly claimed credit. As the United States commences its new …
(A P)
US thanks Crown Prince for Saudi Arabia’s commitment to political settlement in Yemen
US Secretary of Defense Lloyd J. Austin has thanked Crown Prince Muhammad Bin Salman, deputy premier and minister of Defense, for Saudi Arabia’s commitment to a political settlement in Yemen in a phone call early Friday.
My comment: As the Saudis tell it. And they are not wrong – Austin actually told this.
(A P)
Biden's Saudi Policy Betrays a Loyal Ally | Opinion
While the war has brought catastrophe—including more than 110,000 deaths from violence and famine—the manner and timing of Biden's decision represents a betrayal, scapegoating a Saudi Arabia that, despite its lingering war, has recently championed reform and aided U.S. Middle East policy amid intensifying security threats. Biden's declaration could not have been more insensitive, especially given his aspirations to rejoin a nuclear deal with Iran, Saudi Arabia's existential enemy.
Placed in context, Biden's declaration is only the latest unwarranted suggestion that Saudi Arabia bears the greatest responsibility for regional instability.
Though Biden has censured Saudi Arabia's role in Yemen, he has remained rather mum on Houthi wrongdoing, the war's source.
https://www.newsweek.com/bidens-saudi-policy-betrays-loyal-ally-opinion-1569971
(A P)
Saudi Press: Iran-Backed Terrorist Houthi Militias Continue Their Attacks with Missiles and a Bomb-Laden UAV on Civilian and Civilian Objects in Saudi Arabia
Saudi newspapers highlighted in their editorials today a number of issues at local, regional and international arenas.
Al-Bilad newspaper reported in its editorial the Iran-backed terrorist Houthi militias continue their attacks, using missiles and a bomb-laden UAV against civilian and civilian objects in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, in addition to its crimes against the Yemeni people.
Such ongoing war crimes requires the international community to assume its responsibilities to deterring militias that did not respond to the UN efforts towards re-negotiating a peaceful solution, based on the three references have been agreed upon, the paper added.
https://www.spa.gov.sa/viewfullstory.php?lang=en&newsid=2192931
(A P)
More Saudi coalition „We are benefactors“ propaganda
https://www.spa.gov.sa/viewfullstory.php?lang=en&newsid=2193827
https://www.spa.gov.sa/viewfullstory.php?lang=en&newsid=2193798
https://www.spa.gov.sa/viewfullstory.php?lang=en&newsid=2193774
https://www.spa.gov.sa/viewfullstory.php?lang=en&newsid=2193715
https://www.spa.gov.sa/viewfullstory.php?lang=en&newsid=2193435
https://www.spa.gov.sa/viewfullstory.php?lang=en&newsid=2193370
https://www.spa.gov.sa/viewfullstory.php?lang=en&newsid=2193162
https://www.spa.gov.sa/viewfullstory.php?lang=en&newsid=2193142
https://www.spa.gov.sa/viewfullstory.php?lang=en&newsid=2193006
cp16 Saudische Luftangriffe / Saudi air raids
(* A K pH)
Saudi coalition air raids and shelling day by day
Feb. 20: https://www.facebook.com/lcrdye/photos/a.551858951631141/1944370515713304/
Feb. 19: https://www.facebook.com/lcrdye/photos/a.551858951631141/1943548372462185/
Feb. 18: https://www.facebook.com/lcrdye/photos/a.551858951631141/1942760792540943/
Feb. 17: https://www.facebook.com/lcrdye/photos/a.551858951631141/1942759419207747/
Feb. 16: https://www.facebook.com/lcrdye/photos/a.551858951631141/1942759035874452/
Feb. 15: https://www.facebook.com/lcrdye/photos/a.551858951631141/1942757439207945/
Feb. 14: https://www.facebook.com/lcrdye/photos/a.551858951631141/1942755855874770/
Feb. 13: https://www.facebook.com/lcrdye/photos/a.551858951631141/1942755199208169/
Feb. 12: https://www.facebook.com/lcrdye/photos/a.551858951631141/1942754299208259/
(A K pH)
Saudi fighter jets heavily bomb Yemen’s Ma’rib
Saudi fighter jets heavily bombed the city as resistance forces advanced on Ma'rib front in Yemen, Almasirah reported.
According to the report, the main goal of Saudis in the massive bombing of the city of Ma'rib was to prevent continuation of advancement of Yemen’s resistance forces in this city
https://en.mehrnews.com/news/170257/Saudi-fighter-jets-heavily-bomb-Yemen-s-Ma-rib
My comment: I doubt they bombed tge cty, whicgh is still held by pro-Hadi government fighters, but targets at the front-line and at Houthi routes.
(A K pH)
More Saudi coalition air raids
https://www.saba.ye/en/news3129749.htm Marib p.
https://english.almasirah.net/post/17905/US-Saudi-Aggression-s-Daily-Update-for-Monday%2C-Feb.-22.2021 Marib p., Jawf p.
https://english.almasirah.net/post/17894/US-Saudi-Aggression-s-Daily-Update-for-Sunday%2C-Feb.-21.2021 Marib p., Saada p.
https://www.saba.ye/en/news3129593.htm Marib p.
https://www.saba.ye/en/news3129457.htm Marib p., Jawf p.
https://english.almasirah.net/post/17871/US-Saudi-Aggression-s-Daily-Update-for-Saturday%2C-Feb.-20.2021 Marib p., Jawf p., Saada p.
https://www.saba.ye/en/news3129233.htm Marib p.
cp17 Kriegsereignisse / Theater of War
Siehe / Look at cp1, cp18
Im Jemen herrscht ein militärisches Patt. Eine größere Offensive mit größeren Erfolgen und Geländegewinnen für eine Seite bleiben seit der Offensive der saudischen Koalition gegen Hodeidah im Jahr 2018 aus. Kleinere Offensiven, ständige gegenseitige Angriffe und Gefechte mit Toten auf beiden Seiten und Opfern unter der Zivilbevölkerung gibt es aber ständig. Besonders betroffen sind die Provinzen Hodeidah, Taiz, Al Bayda, Al Dhalea, der Bezirk Nehm in der Provinz Sanaa, die Provinzen Al Jawf, Marib, Hajjah und Saada.
There is a military stalemate in Yemen. A larger offensive with greater successes and territorial gains for one side has been absent since the Saudi coalition's offensive against Hodeidah in 2018. Smaller offensives, constant mutual attacks and skirmishes killing fighters of both sides and causing victims among the civilian population are constant. The provinces of Hodeidah, Taiz, Al Bayda, Al Dhalea, the district of Nehm in the province of Sanaa, the provinces of Al Jawf, Marib, Hajjah and Saada are particularly affected.
(A K pS)
Houthi booby-trapped toy kills 11-year-old boy
https://www.alsahwa-yemen.net/en/p-45266
(A K pH)
Saudi shelling kills man in Sa'ada
https://www.saba.ye/en/news3129598.htm
(A K pS)
KSrelief's Masam Project Dismantles more than 1,500 Mines in Yemen During One Week
King Salman Humanitarian Aid and Relief Center (KSrelief)'s Masam Project for Clearing Mines in Yemen demined 1,531 mines, planted by the terrorist Houthi militia, during the third week of February 2021, including 100 anti-personnel mines, 388 anti-tank mines, 1,041 unexploded ordnance and two explosive devices.
https://www.spa.gov.sa/viewfullstory.php?lang=en&newsid=2193377
(A K pS)
Taiz: one child killed, four others wounded in Houthi indiscriminate shelling on residential areas
At least one child was killed and four others wounded on Saturday in indiscriminate shelling on residential areas in the six-year besieged city of Taiz, Yemen’s third-largest city.
The Iran-backed Houthi militia fired artillery shelling on Al-Moshiky neighborhood, killing one child and leaving 4 others wounded, local and medical sources said.
A medical source in Al Rawdah Hospital, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, said 10-year-old Mohammed Abdulwahed was killed and his brother,9, sustained serious injuries.
https://republicanyemen.net/archives/27243
and also https://www.alsahwa-yemen.net/en/p-45235
http://en.26sepnews.net/2021/02/20/houthi-rocket-kills-one-civilian-injures-three-in-taiz/
Photos: https://twitter.com/RepYemenEnglish/status/1363205516533587970
Film: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M9CztGq0imo
and Save the Children statement: https://www.savethechildren.net/news/least-one-child-killed-and-two-injured-artillery-shelling-taiz
(A K pH)
Saudi shelling injures man in Sa'ada
https://www.saba.ye/en/news3129328.htm
(B K)
Aerial Attacks on Saudi Arabia Expose Vulnerability of U.S. Ally
Drones and missiles launched in the past month from Yemen and Iraq show gaps in air defenses, as Biden reconsiders U.S. policy
Saudi Arabia is facing more frequent and increasingly precise airborne attacks as Iran-linked groups in neighboring Yemen and Iraq exploit persistent gaps in the kingdom’s defenses and the Biden administration reconsiders the U.S. approach to the region.
Fixed-wing drones laden with explosives and launched from Iraq smashed into the main royal complex in the Saudi capital Riyadh in one such strike on Jan. 23, according to U.S. officials and other people familiar with the incident.
New disclosures about the incidents show the limits of Saudi Arabia’s defenses and the expanding reach of the country’s foes, even though none of the incidents have produced significant casualties. Although the kingdom’s military capabilities have improved in recent years, current and former U.S. officials say Saudi Arabia still has much work to do to better integrate its radars, Patriot batteries, short-range air defense guns and F-15 jets into an effective defensive system.
They also point to the difficulties of stemming attacks by Iranian-backed groups in Iraq, which continue to present a security threat despite vows by Iraqi Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi to rein them in.
(A K)
Jemen [Hadi-Regierung] beschuldigt Rebellen, Zivilisten als menschliche Schutzschilde eingesetzt zu haben.
Kämpfer, die der von Saudi-Arabien unterstützten Regierung des Jemen treu ergeben sind, widersetzen sich einem erneuten Angriff der Huthi-Rebellen auf die strategische Stadt Marib in der Wüste östlich der von Rebellen gehaltenen Hauptstadt Stadt Marib, 120 Kilometer östlich der von Rebellen gehaltenen Hauptstadt Sanaa.
Aber die Kämpfe haben Ängste für die Hunderttausenden vertriebener Zivilisten geweckt, die in Lagern in der umliegenden Wüste, die sich bis zur saudischen Grenze erstreckt, Schutz suchen.
Loyalistische Militärbeamte teilten AFP mit, die Rebellen hätten die Bewohner des Al-Zor-Lagers im Sirwah-Distrikt der Provinz seit ihrer Eroberung des Gebiets in der vergangenen Woche als "menschliche Schutzschilde" benutzt.
Die Beamten sagten, die Kämpfe hätten nicht nachgelassen.
In den letzten 24 Stunden seien mindestens 12 loyalistische und 20 Rebellenkämpfer bei Zusammenstößen nördlich und westlich von Marib getötet worden.
Es gab keine Möglichkeit, die Zahl der Todesopfer unabhängig zu überprüfen, aber es ist klar, dass beide Seiten im erneuten Kampf um die Stadt schwere Verluste erlitten haben.
(B K pS)
Yemen's most stable city threatened by Houthi takeover
Houthi militias have renewed their military campaign to take over Marib, Yemen. Nadwa al-Dawsari, a scholar at the Middle East Institute, tells The World what’s at stake with this new push to take control of Marib.
"Marib is the last stronghold of the Yemeni government. It is also a city that hosts 3 million civilians, including almost a million IDPs who fled mainly from the north, from Houthi persecution, but also from the war in general. Marib also sits on much of Yemen oil and all Yemen gas," Dawsari told The World.
Carol Hills: So, you mentioned IDPs, internally displaced persons. How many people have fled to Marib during the civil war?
Nadwa Al-Dawsari: Displaced people living in camps — almost a million. The numbers reported are 800,000 civilians. But a lot of people also relocated to Marib and rented homes and bought homes because the city has become an example of stability. There are services, there is electricity 24 hours, there are jobs. So, it has created a lot of opportunities during the war that other parts of the country did not have.
Given how strategic Marib is and the concern over a humanitarian disaster there, if the Houthis take over, who is defending Marib? Who is aiding the people of Marib to keep that from happening?
The people who are defending Marib now are the tribes; they are defending their homes because they know that if Houthis take over, they'll do to them what they did to other tribes in areas they captured. They'll blow up their homes, they'll execute their tribal leaders, they'll rule with repression. So, they understand the risk, and they're willing to defend their homes to their death.
What if the Houthis do besiege the city? What happens then?
If Houthis besiege the city, I think they're going to try to enter the city by force. I'm sure they will be faced with a lot of armed resistance. So, I think we're likely to see an escalation in fighting within the city and around the city for at least a while, because, again, Houthis are superior militarily, and they will be able to crush resistance. But I think it will come at a high cost.
https://www.pri.org/stories/2021-02-19/yemens-most-stable-city-threatened-houthi-takeover
and
(* A K pH)
Yemen: Weekly report on Marib fronts, 15 to 22 February (Map Update)
Ansar Allah operation to liberate Marib province from Saudi coalition continues in western and southern fronts.
In the second week of the operation in Marib province, most of the ground conflicts concentrated in east of Sarwah, Raghwan district and east of Madghal fronts.
An important news was dispatching of vast number of ISIS and Al Qaeda terrorists and also two brigades of National Resistance (commanded by Tariq Saleh) by Saudi coalition to west of Marib city front.
and
(A K pH)
New terrorist forces brought in from southern Yemen to fight on Saudi side in Ma’rib
Tariq Salam, governor of Aden in the National Salvation Government, has revealed on Monday that the Islah Party has brought terrorist groups from the southern provinces to Ma’rib.
He warned of the danger that the Coalition might be mobilising groups of takfiri extremist elements towards Ma’rib.
Salam stressed that the terrorist groups found an outlet to stay in southern Yemen, under the auspices of the coalition countries.
(A H K pS)
Euro-Med Monitor and 33 Yemeni orgs send an urgent appeal to EU on Marib attack risks
The Euro-Mediterranean Human Rights Monitor and 33 other Yemeni human rights organizations have sent an urgent letter to the European Union’s High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, Josep Borrell, calling for an urgent intervention to stop the dangerous humanitarian repercussions in Marib city northern Yemen, as result of the Houthi attack.
The organizations said in their letter that in the last two weeks, the Houthis have escalated their military campaign to control Marib and have increased their indiscriminate attacks without regard to the basic principles of international humanitarian law and the dangers posed to the civilian population.
The organizations expressed their concern about the risks of an impending humanitarian catastrophe that may befall the city as a result of the military attack. Since the city was considered relatively safe, it has more than 90 camps inhabited by about two million displaced persons, including 965,000 children and 429,000 women, who fled from neighboring governorates during the years of conflict.
The Houthis’ attack has obstructed the access of aid for the displaced, and directly threatened their lives, and may force them to flee en masse from the city without safe corridors or any guarantees that they will not be subjected to reprisals if the Houthis take control.
My remark: By anti-Houthi organisations.
and
(A K pS)
Houthi militias keep suffering massive casualties in Marib Fronts
20 Houthi militants killed in Serwah, western Marib
http://en.26sepnews.net/2021/02/22/20-houthi-militants-killed-in-serwah-western-marib/
(A K pS)
Marib police thwart Houthi attempt to recruit women and children for Yemen attacks
Marib police authorities have uncovered evidence that the Houthi militia are attempting to recruit women and children for bomb attacks and assassinations in the government-controlled northern Yemeni city.
Videos of women confessing to have been recruited by the Houthis, trained on improvised explosive devices, and sent to Marib to plant such bombs were shown by Brig. Yahya Homeid, the Director General of Marib Police, a report from Saba News Agency added.
The targets include a Sports Hall in Marib, which accommodates hundreds of wounded army personnel, ambulances, and civilians and members of the military traveling in vehicles.
Homeid said the women, who come from poor families, were recruited through blackmail, with the Houthis implicating them in honor-damaging acts to get them to do what the militia wants.
Yemeni authorities previously foiled a similar Houthi attempt to deploy female assassins after it uncovered a cell of eight women plotting to military and security officers.
https://www.arabnews.com/node/1813501/middle-east
and also https://debriefer.net/en/news-23309.html
https://www.alsahwa-yemen.net/en/p-45265
My comment: This sounds like a fabricated propaganda story.
and
(A K pH)
[Sanaa gov.] Interior ministry spokesman reveals details of security operation inside Ma’rib city
Yemen’s interior ministry spokesman, Brigadier General Abdulkhaleq Al-Ajri, on Sunday revealed a special security operation through which a team of the Ministry managed to free nine captives from a prison in Ma’rib city.
Brig. Gen. Al-Ajri said the Ministry’s team was able to storm a prison of the Saudi-led coalition forces in Ma’rib city and liberate nine captives of the army and popular committee, who were inside the prison.
and also https://debriefer.net/en/news-23297.html
https://www.saba.ye/en/news3129604.htm
and
(A K pS)
[Hadi gov.] Yemen’ army regains three sites from Houthis
https://www.alsahwa-yemen.net/en/p-45251
(A K pH)
Pro-Hadi Battalion Defects to [Sanaa gov.] Yemeni Army
According to the reports on Saturday, the battalion from the pro-Hadi 117th infantry brigade had surrendered itself and all its military equipment to the Yemeni forces.
The development comes as the Yemeni forces are advancing against Saudi-led coalition forces and their mercenaries in the central province of Ma’rib.
https://www.farsnews.ir/en/news/13991203000818/Reprs-Pr-Hadi-Baalin-Defecs-Yemeni-Army
and
(A K pH)
[Sanaa gov.] Yemeni forces advance on Hadhramaut province and border crossing into Saudi Arabia
(A K pS)
Yemeni gov't troops retake new sites, kill 56 Houthis in Marib
https://debriefer.net/en/news-23276.html
and
(A K pS)
[Hadi gov.] Army liberates key sites western Marib
http://en.26sepnews.net/2021/02/20/army-liberates-key-sites-western-marib/
and
(A K)
[Hadi] Yemen govt accuses rebels of using civilians as human shields
Yemen's Saudi-backed government accused Huthi rebels Saturday of using civilians as human shields in their renewed offensive against its last major toehold in the north.
Loyalist military officials told AFP the rebels had been using residents of Al-Zor camp in the province's Sirwah district as "human shields" since their capture of the area last week.
The officials said there had been no let-up in the fighting.
Over the past 24 hours, at least 12 loyalist and 20 rebel fighters had been killed in clashes north and west of Marib, they said.
https://www.france24.com/en/live-news/20210220-yemen-govt-accuses-rebels-of-using-civilians-as-human-shields = https://www.rfi.fr/en/middle-east/20210220-yemen-govt-accuses-rebels-of-using-civilians-as-human-shields
and also https://www.thenationalnews.com/mena/yemen-houthi-militias-use-refugees-as-human-shields-1.1169626
My remark: Exactly the same, the other way round: Houthis accuse hadi government troops of using civilians as human shields
and
(A K pS)
40 Houthi militiamen killed in army’s shelling north of Marib
http://en.26sepnews.net/2021/02/20/40-houthi-militiamen-killed-in-armys-shelling-north-of-marib/
and by Xinhua: http://www.xinhuanet.com/english/2021-02/20/c_139755294.htm
and
(A K pH)
[Sanaa gov.] Yemeni forces advance towards Marib’s eastern outlet
Yemeni army forces, backed by popular committees on Friday advanced towards the eastern outlet that links Marib province, Hadhramaut province and the border crossing with Saudi Arabia, local sources said
According to the local sources, the army forces fought fierce battles against coalition forces in the past hours, during which they managed to advance from the north towards the east of Marib city.
and
(A K pH)
Yemen: Saudi-led coalition forces continue to suffer heavy casualties in Marib
and
(A K pS)
Updates on #Marib's battle, 19 February. Fighting continued in most of the fronts, particularly northwest in al-Kasarah & Haylan where govt forces cud repel violent attacks.16 #Houthis killed & 13 captured. While govt troops lost 4. Another Houthi drone shot down in al-Mashjah.
https://twitter.com/Alsakaniali/status/1362922992452395009
and
(A K pS)
Corpses everywhere in Marib’s desert as Houthis escalate war, sources
Corpses of fallen fighters are seen everywhere in the deserts of Marib where fighting is raging between government forces and the UN-backed Houthi militants, different media outlets reported. The chief editor of Alyemen Al-Yowm daily said in a tweet that “the scene of corpses scattered everywhere in Marib breaks hearts.”
No statistics are available since the war is raging fiercely and journalists can’t make it deep into the battlefield. But reports say the Houthis have buried 300 bodies of their fighters this week.
https://www.alsahwa-yemen.net/en/p-45210
and
(A K pS)
How many militants were killed in the attempted invasion of Marib?
The latest Houthi attack on Marib was one of the biggest in the Shia theocratic militia’s series of invasion attempts on the government-held city since the beginning of 2020.
A Yemeni news website said more than 500 Houthis were killed, attributing the information to “sources in Sana’a.”
While no sources spoke of the casualty toll on the army’s side, the Houthi militants, being the attackers, lose more fighters.
https://www.alsahwa-yemen.net/en/p-45211
and
(A K pS)
Media organization condemns Houthi attack against journalists in Marib
The National Organization for Yemeni Media People has condemned a Houthi attack that attempted to kill several journalists covering the war on Sorwah front in Marib on Wednesday.
The Houthi militants fired mortar rounds on the correspondent of Yemen TV Channel’s correspondent and other journalists and cameramen as they were reporting the developments in a calm part of the mountainous warfront north of Maib city. The journalists luckily escaped as the deliberately targeted shell missed them.
https://www.alsahwa-yemen.net/en/p-45209
(* A K pH)
Yemen: Marib dam was liberated; ISIS, al-Qaeda still could not stop Ansarallah!
Following Ansar Allah’s operations against the Saudi coalition in Marib province of Yemen, the strategic Marib dam, as well as al-Balaq mountain were liberated from the control of the Saudi-led forces.
Ansar Allah managed to liberate the Marib dam and al-Balaq mountain after clashes with the Saudi-led forces, al-Qaeda and ISIS terrorists on the western front of Marib city.
Also the southern heights of the Kufil base, such as Dahwan and Athaf mountain, Kholan area, etc. came under Ansar Allah control after gradual retreat of Saudi-led forces from these area during the past week.
Currently, clashes continue in the Tala’at al-Hamra area and east of Hilan, and al-Qaeda and ISIS militants are still stationed on these fronts.
Saudi coalition warplanes have bombed the front more than 11 times in the past 48 hours.
Map: https://twitter.com/BinCoronavirus/status/1363241726505287680
(A K pH)
[Sanaa gov.] Yemeni forces take control over major road to Ma’rib city
https://hodhodyemennews.net/2021/02/19/yemeni-forces-take-control-over-major-road-to-marib-city/
(A H K)
Red Cross concerned over rebel offensive in central Yemen
The International Committee of the Red Cross in Yemen said Friday it was “extremely concerned” by the recent escalation of violence between Iran-backed Houthi rebels and government forces in in the oil-rich Marib province.
“The ICRC urges all parties to the conflict to take every possible measure to protect the civilians, their properties and all civilian essential infrastructures,” the humanitarian agency tweeted.
The ICRC said it has provided medical supplies, including surgical kits, to hospitals treating the wounded, vowing to continue with the provision of medical needs.
https://apnews.com/article/middle-east-yemen-iran-ed2ec246f59a7617fcb8fb0698e52fac
and
(A H K)
CARE concerned hundreds of thousands displaced people are at risk due to Marib fighting
CARE is extremely concerned for hundreds of thousands of internally displaced people (IDPs) whose safety is being put at risk during the current escalation of fighting in Yemen's Marib governorate.
CARE urgently calls on all parties to take immediate, comprehensive measures to ease the suffering of Yemenis, including protecting civilians from attack and displacement in Marib and across Yemen by initiating a ceasefire, lifting all restrictions on ports and airports, and renewing inclusive and sustainable peace talks
cp18 Kampf um Hodeidah / Hodeidah battle
Seit dem Abkommen von Stockholm vom 13. Dezember 2018 gibt es einen Waffenstillstand für Hodeidah. Zwar bleiben größere Offensiven aus, kleinere Gefechte gibt es aber laufend, und beide Seiten werfen sich ständig Verstöße gegen den Waffenstillstand vor.
Since the Stockholm Agreement of December 13, 2018, a ceasefire has been in place for Hodeidah. There are no major offensives, but smaller battles are going on and both sides constantly are accusing each other of violating the ceasefire.
(A K pH)
Daily violations (as claimed by the Houthi side)
cp19 Sonstiges / Other
(A P)
Joining the Club: New Trends in Gulf Social Media
The new app Clubhouse is providing a much-needed space for contesting views and continuing debates that have been suspended for years in the Gulf.
https://agsiw.org/joining-the-club-new-trends-in-gulf-social-media/
(* C)
“Yemen used to be” the different side in the war country
Yemen lived in the early 1990s, 1980s a prosperous period
a journey of living in beautiful details were in Yemen in the past varied between culture, arts, customs, and diverse popular traditions…
“Yemen used to be” is an online art platform on social media, Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Instagram, and aims to correct the stereotype about Yemen, founded by young Yemeni Ahmed Al-Hagri, a filmmaker who studies electronic media in Malaysia.
Al-Hagri says:
“Yemen has a wrong stereotype because of the circumstances of the war, as most search engines are negative for Yemen. It's the same in social councils, but we think there is a lot of beauty that we can share with others.”
The idea began with a short film by Ahmed Al-Hagri at his university in Malaysia, which in turn was the spark of launching the platform.
Al-Hagri began to form a team through a post on his Instagram account, a group of young people interacted with the topic from several countries such as Malaysia, Yemen, The Netherlands, UAE, Qatar, and Egypt to form a team of 15, and the tasks are divided into several sections as a team of sources, writing team, translation team, editing team, design, and drawing to launch the platform in January 2019, and aims to reach the widest possible audience by adopting Arabic and English in addition, spreading the culture of art, knowledge of the old popular heritage, and what lived in Yemen in the period Prosperity…
Yemen lived in the early 1990s, 1980s and before, a prosperous period in several areas, particularly in culture, arts and heritage, but at the end of the 1990s until now this prosperity has completely ended, so the recollection and nostalgia remain of what Yemen has experienced in the past.
The team has difficulties in searching and collecting information, as the content on the platform from the 1970s and 1980s, finding visual content is not easy, and it takes a long time to find and verify the information.
The “Yemen used to be” platform aims to introduce Yemen's history in English and Arabic to reaches Arabs and foreigners as well as publishing and introducing Yemen that it is not only a country of war. However, there are arts, culture, traditions, and artists who have emerged in many areas that are unknown.
In addition, it is a message of foresight in the past, to take the benefit of that golden time to complete the artistic, literary, and cultural approach that was then.
https://community.globalvoices.org/2020/12/yemen-used-to-be-the-other-side-in-the-war-country/
Film: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cFWh_QkF6Cc
Yemen Used to be:
https://www.facebook.com/yemenusedtobe/
https://twitter.com/yemenusedtobe
Vorige / Previous:
https://www.freitag.de/autoren/dklose/jemenkrieg-mosaik-719-yemen-war-mosaic-719
Jemenkrieg-Mosaik 1-719 / Yemen War Mosaic 1-719:
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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