Dies ist die Fortsetzung von Jemenkrieg-Mosaik 722, Teil 1 / This is the sequel of Yemen War Mosaic 722, part 1:
https://www.freitag.de/autoren/dklose/jemenkrieg-mosaik-722-yemen-war-mosaic-722
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
cp12a Katar-Krise / Qatar crisis
cp13 Waffenhandel / Arms trade
cp15 Propaganda
cp16 Saudische Luftangriffe / Saudi air raids
cp17 Kriegsereignisse / Theater of War
cp18 Kampf um Hodeidah / Hodeidah battle
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
(* A P)
Keine Sanktionen gegen beschuldigten Kronprinzen
Wegen des Mordes an Jamal Khashoggi verhängen die USA Sanktionen gegen Saudi-Arabien. Der Hauptbeschuldigte jedoch, Kronprinz bin Salman, bleibt verschont.
Der neue US-Präsident Joe Biden hat den Kurs gegenüber Saudi-Arabien verschärft. Im Zusammenhang mit dem Mord an dem Journalisten Jamal Khashoggi im Oktober 2018 verkündete die Biden-Regierung am Freitag Sanktionen, von denen Kronprinz Mohammed bin Salman aber verschont blieb. Kurz zuvor hatte das Büro der US-Geheimdienstkoordinatorin Avril Haines einen bisher unter Verschluss gehaltenen Bericht zu dem Fall veröffentlicht. Aus ihm geht hervor, dass der Kronprinz Khashoggis Gefangennahme oder Tötung im saudischen Konsulat in Istanbul nach Einschätzung der US-Geheimdienste genehmigt hatte.
Das saudische Außenministerium wies den Bericht umgehend als "falsch" und "inakzeptabel" zurück.
Für Kritik sorgte, dass die US-Regierung keine Sanktionen gegen den Kronprinzen selbst verkündete, obwohl der Demokrat Biden dies im Wahlkampf in Aussicht gestellt hatte. Biden wurde am Samstag vor seiner Abreise aus dem Weißen Haus nach Delaware von einem Journalisten gefragt, ob Bin Salman noch bestraft werde. Der Präsident stellte daraufhin eine Ankündigung zum generellen Umgang mit Saudi-Arabien für Montag in Aussicht.
Unmittelbar nach der Veröffentlichung des Berichts kündigte US-Außenminister Antony Blinken am Freitag Einreisebeschränkungen gegen 76 Bürgern Saudi-Arabiens an. Das US-Finanzministerium setzte zugleich den früheren saudischen Vizegeheimdienstchef Ahmed al-Asiri und eine Eliteeinheit zum Schutz des Kronprinzen auf die Sanktionsliste.
Für Kritik sorgte, dass die US-Regierung keine Strafmaßnahmen gegen den Kronprinzen selbst verkündete, obwohl der Demokrat Biden das im Wahlkampf in Aussicht gestellt hatte. Laut der New York Times sind Biden die potenziellen diplomatischen Kosten einer direkten Bestrafung bin Salmans zu hoch
Außenminister Blinken verteidigte das Vorgehen der Regierung. "Die Maßnahmen, die wir ergriffen haben, zielten also nicht darauf ab, die Beziehung abzubrechen, sondern darauf, sie neu zu kalibrieren, um sie besser mit unseren Interessen und Werten in Einklang zu bringen", sagte er auf einer Pressekonferenz.
Blinken verkündete am Freitag eine Visaneuregelung mit dem Namen "Khashoggi-Verbot".
Blinken bekräftigte am Freitag, dass die US-Regierung Waffenverkäufe an Saudi-Arabien bis zu einer Überprüfung ausgesetzt habe.
https://www.zeit.de/politik/ausland/2021-02/mord-jamal-khashoggi-sanktionen-usa-saudi-arabien
(* B P)
Nawalny und Khashoggi
Putin und Mohammed bin Salman
Im Wahlkampf sagte Joe Biden: „Khashoggi wurde ermordet und zerstückelt. Ich glaube auf Befehl des Kronzprinzen. Wir werden ihnen keine Waffen mehr verkaufen. Wir werden sie dafür bezahlen lassen und sie zu den Geächteten machen, die sie längst sind.“
Jeder Kenner der US-Politik wusste, dass das gelogen war. Das zeigt sich jetzt. Der US-Geheimdienst hat öffentlich bestätigt, dass Mohammed bin Salman für den brutalen Mord verantwortlich ist. Nun müssten die USA den Saudis keine Waffen mehr verkaufen. Aber jeder weiß, dass dieses Versprechen Bidens ein Witz ist. Die Waffen-Industrie hat die US-Politik längst korrumpiert. Und die Saudis werden weiterhin ihren mörderischen Krieg im Jemen führen, selbstverständlich mit US-Waffen. Einige kosmetische Korrekturen, um die Weltöffentlichkeit zu täuschen, wird es geben. Notfalls liefern die „Verbündeten“ die Waffen, die die USA angeblich nicht mehr liefern wollen.
Wieder zeigt sich, wie verlogen die Außenpolitik der „westlichen Wertegemeinschaft“ ist. Bei der Kopf-ab-Diktatur der Saudis führen Menschenrechtsverletzungen zu scheinheiligen Protesten und marginalen Sanktionen. Wenn es um Russland geht, dann ist der Giftanschlag auf einen Oppositionellen wie Nawalny Anlass, um das endgültige Aus für Nordstream 2 zu fordern und Unternehmen aus aller Welt zu bedrohen, die es wagen, sich am Weiterbau dieser Gasleitung zu beteiligen. Der Unterschied zu Mohammed bin Salman: Putin hat den geplanten Ausverkauf russischer Rohstoffe an US-Konzerne zur Zeit der Präsidentschaft des alkoholkranken Jelzin gestoppt.
Biden hat als Vizepräsident Obamas die Bombenkriege, die Handelskriege und den Drohnenkrieg mit zu verantworten. Die US-Politik ändert sich nicht. Menschenrechte werden nur vorgeschoben, um die geostrategische Einkreisung Chinas und Russlands und die Kriege um Rohstoffe und Absatzmärkte zu rechtfertigen - von Oskar Lafontaine
https://www.facebook.com/oskarlafontaine/photos/a.678047548923382/3870068733054565/
(* A B P)
Saudi de facto ruler approved operation that led to Khashoggi's death: U.S.
Saudi Arabia’s de facto ruler approved an operation to capture or kill murdered journalist Jamal Khashoggi in 2018, according to U.S. intelligence released on Friday as the United States imposed sanctions on some of those involved but spared the crown prince himself in an effort to preserve relations with the kingdom.
U.S. President Joe Biden tried to make clear that killings of political opponents were not acceptable to the United States while preserving ties to the 35-year-old crown prince, who may rule one of the world’s top oil exporters for decades and be an important ally against common foe Iran.
In a television interview on Friday, Biden said he told Saudi King Salman that Saudi Arabia has to tackle human rights abuses as a precondition to dealing with the United States.
“(I) made it clear to him that the rules are changing and we’re going to be announcing significant changes today and on Monday,” Biden said on Spanish language network Univision.
Among the punitive steps the United States took on Friday, it imposed a visa ban on some Saudis believed involved in the Khashoggi killing and placed sanctions on others, including a former deputy intelligence chief, that would freeze their U.S. assets and generally bar Americans from dealing with them.
U.S. officials also said they were considering cancelling arms sales to Saudi Arabia that pose human rights concerns and limiting future sales to “defensive” weapons, as it reassesses its relationship with the kingdom and its role in the Yemen war.
“We assess that Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Muhammad bin Salman approved an operation in Istanbul, Turkey to capture or kill Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi,” the U.S. Office of the Director of National Intelligence said in the four-page report.
To see the full document, click here here.
The intelligence agency based its assessment on the crown prince’s control of decision-making, the direct involvement of one of his key advisers and his own protective detail, and his “support for using violent measures to silence dissidents abroad, including Khashoggi,” it added.
and by CNN: https://edition.cnn.com/2021/02/26/politics/biden-administration-khashoggi-report/index.html
BBC: https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-56213528
More: https://www.huffpost.com/entry/saudi-prince-jamal-khashoggi-murder_n_6036e936c5b68379f9855a26
https://www.axios.com/khashoggi-report-365166be-7092-483c-b739-411193a91d2a.html
https://www.huffpost.com/entry/saudi-prince-jamal-khashoggi-murder_n_6036e936c5b68379f9855a26
and the declassified intelligence report in full: https://us.cnn.com/2021/02/26/politics/read-unclassified-report-on-jk/index.html
Comment: Doubtless the classified report has more detail, but the summary contains little that was not already known. What it does do is give the weight of US official backing to those details previously reported
https://twitter.com/Dr_Ulrichsen/status/1365372775540613124
(* B P)
Andy Kim: I just finished reading the declassified memo on killing of #Khashoggi. I’ve read thousands of intel reports in my career in national security, but this one stands out. Here’s why we need to take this seriously and why we need to do more to hold Crown Prince accountable.
HIGH CONFIDENCE: The memo starts with “We assess that…” While that doesn’t seem like a blistering opening, for me, it’s like a hammer. Lack of phrases like “low/medium confidence” is striking and rare. Unusual to have such a clear and definite assessment without modifier
WHO WROTE THIS? The summary says questions to be directed to the NIO for Near East. This is important. NIO stands for National Intelligence Officer who sits on the National Intelligence Committee at the CIA and is the most senior analyst on the Middle East in our government.
WHAT’S MISSING?: Memo leaves out how Khashoggi died. Strangled dismembered with a bone saw, potentially while still alive. Audio of death supposedly shared with CIA and likely listened to by NIO who authored this memo. Killer says “I know how to cut.” None of that in memo
I’ve worked on Middle East diplomacy for years and that work sometimes put me in the same room with people that undoubtedly had blood on their hands. I learned that a willingness to work alongside a country should never translate into a blank check to violate our values
Criticism/penalty are not just for enemies. If America is truly going to be seen as a leader in the world, we need to hold allies accountable. In this case accountability means taking actions against the Crown Prince. Otherwise we need to reassess what it means to be an ally
ABSOLUTE CONTROL: In this memo, those two words stood out to me. Crown Prince had absolute control over security and intel operations. Supported violent measures to silence dissidents. Aides were unlikely to question orders for fear of firing or being arrested
Why did the Crown Prince think he could get away with this? Because he didn’t expect us to act on accountability. That is a sign of a deeply unhealthy alliance. Now some are saying we need to back down to preserve the relationship because too many interests are at stake
Why is it always on us to take steps to preserve the relationship? Why isn’t it on the Crown Prince or others that have betrayed values? His decision to murder a resident of America set this in motion. Should be on him if they want to repair
Yes, sanctions were announced, and that is an important step in the right direction, but the lack of action against the Crown Prince sends a clear message across the globe that those at the top can escape consequences.
When we make exceptions for our allies in situations like this, we project to the rest of the world that our values only go as far as our relationships. We show countries like Russia and China that we may have convictions, but consequences are never guaranteed.
https://twitter.com/AndyKimNJ/status/1365712287336660998
(* A P)
Three names mysteriously removed from Khashoggi intelligence report after initial publication
Shortly after the US intelligence community published its long-awaited report on Friday afternoon on the Saudis who were responsible for the death of Jamal Khashoggi, it was taken down without explanation and replaced with another version that removed the names of three men it had initially said were complicit.
The quiet switch by the Office of the Director of National Intelligence went largely unnoticed as the outcry grew that the Biden administration was failing to punish the prince in any way, despite having just declared in no uncertain terms that MBS was responsible.
The first link to the report that was sent out by ODNI went dead. It was then replaced with a second version that removed three of the men it had just announced "participated in, ordered, or were otherwise complicit in or responsible for the death of Jamal Khashoggi."
The Office of the Director of National Intelligence declined to clarify why the names were originally on the list and what roles, if any, they may have had in Khashoggi's killing.
"We put a revised document on the website because the original one erroneously contained three names which should not have been included," an ODNI spokesperson told CNN.
Yet three of the names that ODNI had first listed had not previously been mentioned in reports about Khashoggi's death.
The first of the three names removed is Abdulla Mohammed Alhoeriny, who has not been previously connected with Khashoggi's death.
According to a person familiar with the inner workings of Saudi intelligence, he's the brother of General Abdulaziz bin Mohammed al-Howraini, a minister who is in charge of the powerful Presidency of State Security which oversees multiple intelligence and counterterrorism agencies. Abdulla (as it's spelled by ODNI) appears in Saudi reports as the assistant chief of state security for counterterrorism.
The two other names that appeared in the unclassified intelligence report and then disappeared are Yasir Khalid Alsalem and Ibrahim al-Salim. It was not immediately clear who they are.
Comment by Sarah Leah Whitson, HRW: The greatest bungled release ever. If the goal was to create global scandal news of weak-kneed wobbling for days, well done
https://twitter.com/sarahleah1/status/1366195238285492232
(A P)
U.S. announces 'Khashoggi ban' for 76 Saudi individuals
My comment: Why the hell do they spare the Crown prince? Look at https://twitter.com/BeijingPalmer/status/1365389566824300556 and learn a lesson about US double standards.
(* A B P)
‘Capture or kill’: U.S. report says Saudi crown prince targeted Jamal Khashoggi
The restrained response to a crime that caused worldwide outrage suggested the limits to how far President Biden will go to reshape relations with Saudi Arabia, a long-standing ally with a dismal human rights record and conflicting goals in the Middle East.
No one other than the crown prince could have directed the operation, the brief report concluded. He has had “absolute control” of the kingdom’s security forces for years, it said, and instilled a level of fear in his subordinates that made them unlikely to “undertake sensitive actions without his consent.”
The 15-member team that traveled to Istanbul to target Khashoggi included seven members of Mohammed’s “elite personal protective detail,” which “exists to defend the crown prince, answers only to him, and had directly participated in earlier dissident suppression operations,” the report said.
Mohammed was known for supporting “violent measures to silence dissidents abroad,” the report said, but it was not clear when the Saudis chose to kill Khashoggi.
“We do not know how far in advance Saudi officials decided to harm him,” the report said. But there was no question that Mohammed “viewed Khashoggi as a threat to the Kingdom and broadly supported using violent measures if necessary to silence him.”
Rep. Adam B. Schiff (D-Burbank) said in an interview he was glad “the administration pulled no punches” with the report’s release. However, he said the administration should go further to directly punish the crown prince.
“It’s discordant, to say the least, to sanction those who were ordered to capture or kill an American resident and journalist but to give a pass to the one who did the ordering,” he said.
Fred Ryan, publisher and chief executive of the Washington Post, also suggested more should be done to hold the crown prince “fully accountable.”
“More than two years has gone by since Jamal’s unthinkable death — it is time the United States and freedom-loving nations around the world ensure there is justice for Jamal,” he said in a statement.
A swift, dramatic change in the relationship is unlikely, said Rajan Menon, a political scientist at the City College of New York and Columbia University who specializes in war, peace and ethics.
“Any fundamental changes in relations that are so long-standing, so entrenched and with deep support from both political parties can’t be made suddenly,” Menon said in an interview. “It’s like an oil tanker; you can’t just turn it around.”
Still, he said, both the disastrous war in Yemen and now the Khashoggi report present an “opportunity” to take stock of the relationship.
Ilan Goldenberg, a Middle East expert at the Center for a New American Security and a former State Department official, said that “to some extent” the Biden administration is returning to traditional diplomacy with the kingdom after “four years of green lights for everything” for the Saudis under Trump.
(* A P)
U.S. imposes sanctions, visa bans on Saudis for journalist Khashoggi's killing
The Biden administration announced sanctions and visa bans on Friday targeting Saudi Arabian citizens over the 2018 killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi, but stopped short of imposing sanctions on Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman himself.
A senior Biden administration official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the approach aims to create a new launching-off point for ties with the kingdom without breaking a core relationship in the Middle East. Relations have been severely strained for years by the war in Yemen and the killing inside a Saudi consulate of Khashoggi, a U.S. resident who wrote columns for the Washington Post critical of the crown prince’s policies.
Importantly, the decisions appear designed to preserve a working relationship with the crown prince, the kingdom’s de facto leader, even though U.S. intelligence concluded that he approved the operation to capture or kill Khashoggi.
“The aim is a recalibration (in ties) - not a rupture. That’s because of the important interests that we do share,” the senior Biden administration official said.
The U.S. Treasury Department placed sanctions on the former deputy Saudi intelligence chief, Ahmed al-Asiri, and announced a sanctions designation on the Saudi Royal Guard’s rapid intervention force, or RIF.
The RIF was singled out in the declassified U.S. intelligence report for its role in Khashoggi’s killing.
The move freezes any U.S. assets that the Saudi individuals held and generally bars Americans from dealing with them.
“Those involved in the abhorrent killing of Jamal Khashoggi must be held accountable,” Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said in a statement.
The United States also announced visa restrictions against 76 Saudi citizens as part of a new policy aimed at nations that carry out activities against journalists and dissidents beyond their borders. Such activities include efforts to suppress, harass, surveil, threaten or harm them.
The visa ban will also be selectively applied to family members, officials said.
Biden administration officials say the decisions on sanctions and visa bans will send a clear message about how the United States wants to see the future U.S.-Saudi relationship.
U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin has already held talks with the 35-year-old crown prince.
Asked about any debate about applying sanctions against the crown prince, the first U.S. official said that the United States has not generally applied sanctions “on the highest leadership of countries.
and from Blinken statement: https://twitter.com/Ndawsari/status/1365462559634165761
My comment: “the United States has not generally applied sanctions “on the highest leadership of countries.” is not true, as in case of Venezuela’s Maduro: https://fas.org/sgp/crs/row/IF10715.pdf and Syria’s Assad: https://www.state.gov/syria-sanctions/ .
Comment: A reminder of how Pompeo selectively answered questions about Khashoggi’s murder. “I have read every piece of intelligence that is in the possession of the US government and ... when you complete that analysis, there’s no direct evidence linking [MBS] to the murder”
https://twitter.com/John_Hudson/status/1365380231637463040
Mike Pompeo is a serial liar.
https://twitter.com/jrezaian/status/1365396629587697664
(* B P)
Factbox: Saudis in spotlight for killing of journalist Khashoggi
Saudi Arabia in 2019 jailed eight people for between seven and 20 years over the killing of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi in the Saudi consulate in Istanbul in 2018.
Following are profiles of some of those who have been held, investigated, or fired in Saudi Arabia over the Khashoggi case, based on media reports and photos, plus information from officials and sources.
Authorities did not name the sentenced people and Reuters has not been able to contact them.
(* A P)
Saudi Arabia rejects U.S. intelligence report on Khashoggi's killing: statement
Saudi Arabia said it rejected completely “the negative, false and unacceptable” assessment of a U.S. intelligence report released on Friday that found Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman had approved the killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi.
“The government of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia completely rejects the .... assessment in the report pertaining to the Kingdom’s leadership, and notes that the report contained inaccurate information and conclusions,” the Saudi Foreign Ministry said in a statement carried by state news agency SPA.
“The crime was committed by a group of individuals that have transgressed all pertinent regulations... and the kingdom’s leadership took the necessary steps to ensure that such a tragedy never takes place again,” the foreign ministry statement added.
and also https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2021/2/26/saudi-arabia-rejects-us-intel-report-on-khashoggi-death
Saudi statement: https://twitter.com/KSAmofaEN/status/1365412140224495617 = https://www.spa.gov.sa/viewfullstory.php?lang=en&newsid=2195179
and
(A P)
Saudi Press: Saudi Arabia Rejects Any Measure Infringing Upon Its Leadership, Sovereignty, and Independence of Judicial System
Al-Riyadh and Al-Bilad newspapers reported in their editorials that Saudi Arabia rejects any measure that infringes upon its leadership, sovereignty, and the independence of its judicial system, as its policy is based on respecting the sovereignty of states and their judiciaries.
The papers added that the statement issued by Saudi Ministry of Foreign Affairs has rejected malicious attempts to politicize the crime of killing citizen Jamal Khashoggi.
The papers said that the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia affirmed that the false report provided to Congress contained incorrect conclusions that are not based on any evidence or firm facts.
https://www.spa.gov.sa/viewfullstory.php?lang=en&newsid=2195450
and
(A P)
Concerted defence of Kingdom & MBS by Saudi media after US #Khashoggi report - column in Saudi-owned Asharq Al-Awsat says: “ Saudi Arabia is not a banana republic shaken by threats... and it is capable of reversing the balance of power in the region and the world”
https://twitter.com/sebusher/status/1366005589051113479
and
(* A P)
In the wake of the CIA release of Khasoggi report dozens of identical tweets per second saying "I am Saudi and proud of this great country and trust and have faith in the wise leadership". So much for Twitter's spam and platform manipulation policy... (images)
The influencers are on board, all repeating the same generic message. Enjoying this healthy debate
https://twitter.com/marcowenjones/status/1365590251654250498
Thread on Saudi bots] 1/ On 25th February, a day before the release of the CIA report on MBS's ordering of #JamalKhashoggi 's murder, the trend 'the people of the kingdom (Saudi) support the crown prince'. No doubt the purpose was to rally support around MBS before bad publicity
Such trends lionizing the Crown Prince are very common. This one demonstrated some interesting inauthentic activity. The following analysis show how the tweet screenshotted below (which says MBS will overcome his enemies), was retweeted by hundreds of fake accounts
Of the 9200 or so accounts in my sample, at least 653 (7%) accounts that are likely fake - designed to boost the appearance of support for MBS, ironic on a hashtag called "the people support the crown prince". This was one of many operations yesterday , and highlights
how pro-MBS platform manipulation is still going strong on Twitter. It shows how Twitter still have a long way to go in improving the quality of conversations on Twitter, so that it is not merely a propaganda device.
https://twitter.com/marcowenjones/status/1365968822788894720
And here's a tweet on the loophole that highlights why this kind of 'advertising' propaganda is permitted by Twitter ....
https://twitter.com/marcowenjones/status/1365751617157533701
Nice class of people on here (image)
https://twitter.com/marcowenjones/status/1365722724690190342
(A P)
From a network analysis POV, this is what the propaganda campaign yesterday supporting Saudi leadership and using legitimate Twitter functionality looks like. Some natural engagement at the top (such as RTs and response), but mostly individual accounts unconnected (image)
https://twitter.com/marcowenjones/status/1365958048360071173
(A P)
Yemen [Hadi gov.] Supports Saudi Arabia's Foreign Ministry Statement, Regarding Report Submitted to Congress About Killing of Saudi Citizen Jamal Khashoggi
https://www.spa.gov.sa/viewfullstory.php?lang=en&newsid=2195305
The Southern Transitional Council (STC) expressed its support for the Saudi Arabia's Foreign Ministry statement regarding the report submitted to the US Congress on Khashoggi's death.
http://en.adenpress.news/news/32346
and also https://twitter.com/HSajwanization/status/1365738855253606404
UAE Supports Saudi Arabia's Foreign Ministry Statement, Regarding US Report About Killing of Saudi Citizen Jamal Khashoggi
https://www.spa.gov.sa/viewfullstory.php?lang=en&newsid=2195263
Oman Expresses its Solidarity with Saudi Arabia in its Position, Regarding Report Provided to Congress About Killing of Saudi Citizen Jamal Khashoggi
https://www.spa.gov.sa/viewfullstory.php?lang=en&newsid=2195361
Arab League Secretary General Supports Saudi Arabia's Foreign Ministry Statement, Regarding Report Provided to Congress About Killing of Saudi Citizen Jamal Khashoggi
https://www.spa.gov.sa/viewfullstory.php?lang=en&newsid=2195335
Arab Ministers of Interior Council Supports Saudi Arabia's Foreign Ministry Statement, Regarding Report Submitted to Congress About Killing of Saudi Citizen Jamal Khashoggi
https://www.spa.gov.sa/viewfullstory.php?lang=en&newsid=2195326
MWL Supports Saudi Arabia's Foreign Ministry Statement, Regarding Report Submitted to Congress About Killing of Saudi Citizen Jamal Khashoggi
https://www.spa.gov.sa/viewfullstory.php?lang=en&newsid=2195325
OIC Secretary General Supports Saudi Arabia's Foreign Ministry Statement, Regarding Report Submitted to Congress About Killing of Saudi Citizen Jamal Khashoggi
https://www.spa.gov.sa/viewfullstory.php?lang=en&newsid=2195318
GCC Secretary General Supports Saudi Arabia's Foreign Ministry Statement, Regarding Report Submitted to Congress About Killing of Saudi Citizen Jamal Khashoggi
https://www.spa.gov.sa/viewfullstory.php?lang=en&newsid=2195288
Arab Parliament Supports Saudi Arabia's Foreign Ministry Statement, Regarding Report Submitted to Congress About Killing of Saudi Citizen Jamal Khashoggi
https://www.spa.gov.sa/viewfullstory.php?lang=en&newsid=2195275
Kuwait Supports Saudi Arabia's Foreign Ministry Statement, Regarding US Report Provided to Congress About Killing of Saudi Citizen Jamal Khashoggi
https://www.spa.gov.sa/viewfullstory.php?lang=en&newsid=2195251
and also https://twitter.com/AliAlAhmed_en/status/1365646620839337991
Djibouti Supports Saudi Arabia's Statement, Regarding Report Provided to Congress on Killing of Citizen Jamal Khashoggi
https://www.spa.gov.sa/viewfullstory.php?lang=en&newsid=2195243
Bahrain Supports Saudi Arabia's Foreign Ministry Statement, Regarding Murder of Citizen Jamal Khashoggi
https://www.spa.gov.sa/viewfullstory.php?lang=en&newsid=2195240
Pakistan Expresses its Solidarity with Saudi Arabia in its Position, Regarding Report Provided to Congress About Killing of Saudi Citizen Jamal Khashoggi
https://www.spa.gov.sa/viewfullstory.php?lang=en&newsid=2195355
and also https://twitter.com/HSajwanization/status/1365764936702586883
Mauritania Expresses Solidarity with Saudi Arabia in its Position Regarding Report Provided to Congress About Killing of Saudi Citizen Jamal Khashoggi
https://www.spa.gov.sa/viewfullstory.php?lang=en&newsid=2195439
Saudi Senior Scholars Council Rejects Report Provided to Congress About Killing of Saudi Citizen Jamal Khashoggi
https://www.spa.gov.sa/viewfullstory.php?lang=en&newsid=2195481
cp9 USA
Siehe / Look at cp8a, cp9a
(A P)
US State Dep.: Houthi Attacks on Saudi Arabia
The United States strongly condemns the Houthis’ attacks on population centers in Saudi Arabia on Saturday, February 27. These attacks threaten not only innocent civilians but also prospects for peace and stability in Yemen. We call on the Houthis to end these egregious attacks and engage constructively with UN Special Envoy Martin Griffiths and U.S. Special Envoy Tim Lenderking with the goal of bringing peace, prosperity, and security to the Yemeni people. The United States remains committed to its longstanding partnership with the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and to helping Saudi Arabia defend its territory as it faces attacks from Iranian-aligned groups.
https://www.state.gov/houthi-attacks-on-saudi-arabia/
My comment: LOL. The US is wariing party in Yemen, miming the role of an outstander, and now even of a peace mediator. Still, they always condemn the (harmless) Houthi attacks against Saudi Arabia while staying silent on much heavier Saudi air raids in Yemen – and while taking part in the US-Saudi blockade of Northern Yemen. The claim that the Houthis should “engage constructively with […] U.S. Special Envoy Tim Lenderking is ridiculous: There still is no idea that Lenderking will come to Sanaa for any talks. And the last sentence finally admits that the US is a warring party in this war. So much propaganda BS in just a few phrases!
(* B P)
Film mit Michael Lüders: Erfindet Amerika sich neu? Wie Washington unter Joe Biden die Welt sieht
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xTGT3KeSIpU&t=338s
(A P)
Film, Rep. Ro Khanna: The US relationship with Saudi Arabia isn’t more important than our morality.
https://twitter.com/RepRoKhanna/status/1365838630539960320
(B P)
Political expert: Tense period awaiting US-Saudi relations
In addition to announcing that he wants an end to the war in Yemen, Biden has also said that he attaches importance to the issue of human rights and domestic politics of those countries. Therefore, this will have a significant impact on the status of US relations with Arab countries, including Saudi Arabia, and regional developments.
Pointing out that the Trump administration has promised to provide the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain with strategic arms on the condition of establishing diplomatic relations with the Zionist regime, he said: However, unlike the Trump administration, the Biden administration does not seem to be very interested in cooperating with Bin Salman, and the issue of assassination of Jamal Khashoggi by Bin Salman is one of the issues that may become the source of serious differences between the US Democratic administration and the Saudi government.
The expert on the Middle East affairs further remarked: The Democratic administration in the United States seeks not to sell strategic weapons to governments like the Saudi government that do not respect human rights and are not within the Democratic Party’s value framework.
Mohebali also referred to the internal rivalries in the United States and said: Supporters of the Trump administration were among the manufacturers and sellers of weapons, but the Democrats are more dealing with software and electronics companies and are seeking to strengthen them.
https://en.abna24.com/news//political-expert-tense-period-awaiting-us-saudi-relations_1119353.html
My remark: From iran, as the following:
(B P)
Secret targets of Biden policy towards Yemen war
In an interview with Seyed Reza Mirabian he stressed: The policy of the United States under Donald Trump was to pursue its own interests by aligning itself with Saudi Arabia in Yemen. That is to say, it did not matter to the Americans whether the war in Yemen continued or did not have a winner. What mattered to the United States was the sale of weapons to Saudi Arabia, therefore, they did not pay attention to the consequences of the war and thus turned a blind eye to all the Saudi activities in Yemen, including human rights abuses, massacre of defenseless people and the siege of Yemen.
Saying that Biden is said to have stopped arms sales to Saudi Arabia, Mirabian added: It should be noted that Biden is pursuing the same policy on arms sales, and what is said about stopping arms sales to Saudi Arabia is not true; because US arms sales to Saudi Arabia is still continued and only two cases of the arms deal, including smart bombs that had been purchased by Mohammed bin Salman in the late Trump era, have been suspended.
The expert continued: Biden’s team has a common view on the continuation of war in Yemen, because on the one hand this war is not fruitful and does not have a winner, and on the other hand Saudi Arabia has sustained damage and lost its position in this war, therefore they must enter to save that country.
According to Mirabian, the Americans are now seeking to find a political solution to the Yemen crisis under Biden and save their ally, Saudi Arabia, from the quagmire in which they have been entangled and its end is not clear.
The expert on the Middle East affairs, pointing out that human rights issues are a pretext for the United States to advance its targets, said: If the United States is really serious about this, why does it not lift the sanctions on Yemen? Or, why does it not stop Saudi Arabia’s bombardment of that country?
https://en.abna24.com/news//secret-targets-of-biden-policy-towards-yemen-war_1119355.html
(* A P)
Biden says Saudi announcement to come Monday; White House plays down new steps
President Joe Biden on Saturday said his administration would make an announcement on Saudi Arabia on Monday, following a U.S. intelligence report that found Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman had approved the killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi.
The Biden administration has faced some criticism, notably an editorial in the Washington Post, that the president should have been tougher on the crown prince, who was not sanctioned despite being blamed for approving Khashoggi’s murder.
Asked about punishing the crown prince, Saudi Arabia’s de facto ruler, who is also known as MbS, Biden said: “There will be an announcement on Monday as to what we are going to be doing with Saudi Arabia generally.”
Biden did not provide details.
But a White House official suggested no new significant steps were expected.
“The administration took a wide range of new actions on Friday. The president is referring to the fact that on Monday, the State Department will provide more details and elaborate on those announcements, not new announcements,” the official said.
(** B P)
Biden won’t penalize Saudi crown prince over Khashoggi’s killing, fearing relations breach
Officials said a consensus developed inside the White House that the price of that breach, in Saudi cooperation on counterterrorism and in confronting Iran, was simply too high.
President Joe Biden has decided that the price of directly penalizing Saudi Arabia’s crown prince, Mohammed bin Salman, is too high, according to senior administration officials, despite a detailed US intelligence finding that he directly approved the killing of Jamal Khashoggi, the dissident and Washington Post columnist who was drugged and dismembered in October 2018.
The decision by Biden, who during the 2020 campaign called Saudi Arabia a “pariah” state with “no redeeming social value,” came after weeks of debate in which his newly formed national security team advised him that there was no way to formally bar the heir to the Saudi crown from entering the United States, or to weigh criminal charges against him, without breaching the relationship with one of the United States’ key Arab allies.
Officials said a consensus developed inside the White House that the price of that breach, in Saudi cooperation on counterterrorism and in confronting Iran, was simply too high.
For Biden, the decision was a telling indication of how his more cautious instincts kicked in, and it will deeply disappoint the human rights community and members of his own party who complained during the Trump administration that the United States was failing to hold the crown prince, known by his initials MBS, accountable for his role.
Many organizations were pressing Biden to, at a minimum, impose the same travel sanctions against the crown prince as the Trump administration imposed on others involved in the plot.
Biden’s aides said that as a practical matter, Crown Prince Mohammed would not be invited to the United States anytime soon, and they denied that they were giving Saudi Arabia a pass, describing a series of new actions on lower-level officials intended to penalize elite elements of the Saudi military and impose new deterrents to human rights abuses.
In an effort to signal wider enforcement of human rights norms, Blinken is also adding a new category of sanctions, a newly named “Khashoggi ban,” to restrict visas to anyone determined to be participating in state-sponsored efforts to harass, detain or harm dissidents and journalists around the world. About 70 Saudis will be designated in the first tranche, officials said.
That review, officials said, would be part of the annual State Department human rights report. The initial bans will apply to Saudis, but officials said they would quickly be used around the world — potentially against Russia and China, and even allies like Turkey that pursue dissidents living beyond their borders.
But in the end, Biden came to essentially the same place on punishing the young and impetuous crown prince as did Trump and the secretary of state at the time, Mike Pompeo. While officials said there was no question Crown Prince Mohammed has ordered the killing and imprisonment of dissidents and other opponents, a ban would make it impossible to deal with the Saudis in the future.
He was, they concluded, simply too important to U.S. interests to punish.
Such bans against world leaders are rare. A study by officials seeking to determine how to deal with the crown prince found that the United States had acted against adversaries like President Bashar Assad of Syria; Kim Jong Un, the leader of North Korea; President Nicolás Maduro of Venezuela; and Robert Mugabe, the former prime minister of Zimbabwe. But none were heads of major allies – by David E. Sanger
https://www.nytimes.com/2021/02/26/us/politics/biden-mbs-khashoggi.html https://indianexpress.com/article/world/biden-wont-penalize-saudi-crown-prince-over-khashoggis-killing-fearing-relations-breach-7207144/
and also https://edition.cnn.com/2021/02/26/politics/biden-mohammed-bin-salman-jamal-khashoggi/index.html
My comment: What a wonderful expression of double standards! And thie even twice: The new “Khashoggi ban” sanctions should to restrict visas to anyone determined to be participating in state-sponsored efforts to harass, detain or harm dissidents and journalists around the world” and “would quickly be used around the world” – just to enforce the old imperialist geopolitics “potentially against Russia and China” – while, if taking these “Khashoggi ban” sanctions seriously, the US leadershipt should santion itself. Just think of Julian Assange.
Comments: Creating a Khashoggi designation and then not using it on the person you accuse of killing Khashoggi is next level.
https://twitter.com/abuaardvark/status/1365401210359005191
One rule for adversaries, another for ‘friends’ = hypocrisy
https://twitter.com/barbaraslavin1/status/1365417739427397637
(* B P)
Mohammed bin Salman Is an Odious Murderer. We Should Help Saudi Arabia Anyway.
Change is coming to Saudi Arabia one way or another, and reform is better than revolution
however, the crown prince—commonly referred to by his initials, MBS—will not be sanctioned. The only move that could affect him is that the State Department will now be empowered to revoke or restrict visas for individuals harassing dissidents and journalists extraterritorially, a fairly clear reference to the crown prince.
Yet, despite these moves, like so many aspects of his nascent presidency, Biden’s approach to Saudi Arabia so far is mostly a reversion to the pre-Trump status quo, rather than an overdue and fundamental shift in policy.
But a fundamental shift in policy is needed. The status quo in Saudi Arabia is unsustainable. As the world shifts away from reliance on Saudi oil, leaders in Riyadh can no longer afford to pay male citizens to sit in an office and female citizens to sit at home, while the real work is done by expat laborers. MBS has accelerated an economic and social transition that is necessary and should be encouraged. Eventually moving toward “normality” will mean either revolution in Saudi Arabia, or a less authoritarian government.
Biden should help support Saudi Arabia in this transition. But to avoid the Iran model, i.e., Saudi Arabia going through a violent revolution and 40 years of hostility toward the U.S., Biden should support Saudi normalization, despite MBS’ murderous despotism.
The dysfunction of the U.S.-Saudi relationship long predates Trump. The most glaring contemporary ignominy was the Obama administration’s support for Saudi Arabia’s war on Yemen
The dysfunction of the U.S.-Saudi relationship also precedes MBS, although his actions have made the incompatibilities harder to overlook. 9/11 was motivated in part by Osama bin Laden’s rage at the stationing of U.S. troops in Saudi Arabia after the first Gulf War.
Decades of U.S. support, predicated on America’s dependence on Saudi oil, assured the ruling Saudis of their secure position, guaranteed by the might of the U.S. military, regardless of setbacks (such as the 1973 oil embargo).
The projection of American military power over the region has traditionally been justified by the need to secure access to Persian Gulf oil; thanks to fracking and other changes in U.S. energy usage, that is no longer necessary.
U.S. security partners in the Middle East, including the UAE and Israel, want the United States to remain the military hegemon in the region to provide backup for their own regional ambitions. Saudi Arabia, the UAE, and Israel all want to fight Iran to the last American.
That is not in the U.S.’ interest.
To avoid being dragged into yet another war in the Middle East, Biden should go further than Obama and pursue a policy that punishes the Saudis in the short term with the goal of rewarding them in the long term.
First, he must address the immediate harm caused by Saudi Arabia under MBS’ leadership. Biden must make clear that the crown prince’s reckless aggression abroad will not be tolerated. Saudi Arabia must stop bombing Yemen, lift the blockade and take the lead on paying for reconstruction.
Biden also must press MBS to end the brutal repression of his subjects
If MBS demonstrates that he is willing to rein in violence abroad and cruelty at home, Biden should then transition to a longer-term strategy: supporting Saudi Arabia in a manner that does not fuel recklessness or repression. He should welcome MBS’ more productive impulses, namely toward diversifying the Saudi economy and reducing societal restrictions – by Anelle Sheline
My comment: This is too much of “realpolitik” for me – the US promote “regime change” around the world, where ever a regime does not fit to US geopolitical and economic interests – while “allies” (even if they are such bloody bedfellos like Saudi Arabia) should be treated different? This is promoting double standards.
(A P)
BIPARTISAN GROUP OF SENATORS CALL ON HOUTHIS TO HALT THEIR MARIB OFFENSIVE
“In 2018, the international community called on the Saudi-led coalition to halt plans to attack the city of Hudaydah due to the massive humanitarian implications. Thankfully, those calls were heeded and we avoided a mass starvation event in Yemen. Today it is the Houthis who risk unleashing a new humanitarian catastrophe on the 3 million people of Marib, the overwhelming majority of whom are internally displaced persons (IDPs) who have sought shelter in the city or nearby camps,” the senators wrote. “We call on the leaders of the Houthis and their supporters in the Iranian government to stop the offensive on Marib and avoid the needless death and destruction that would come from a protracted battle. We urge all parties to agree to a nationwide ceasefire and begin inclusive political negotiations to end the war.”
(* B P)
La Repubblica»: Verlust Saudi-Arabiens wäre Fehler der USA ROM: Nach der Veröffentlichung des CIA-Berichts zum Fall des getöteten Journalisten Jamal Khashoggi schreibt die italienische Zeitung «La Repubblica» aus Rom am Samstag: «Die Entscheidung, einen CIA-Bericht zu veröffentlichen, in dem Prinz Mohammed bin Salman beschuldigt wird, die Ermordung des Journalisten Jamal Khashoggi im Jahr 2018 genehmigt zu haben, ist ein Wendepunkt. Der US-amerikanische Präsident Joe Biden hat beschlossen, mit dem saudischen König darüber zu sprechen, aber nicht mit dem Prinzen, eine klare Geste: Er will denjenigen isolieren und bestrafen, der der wahre starke Mann von Riad ist. Aber das Weiße Haus sagt schnell, dass es das Bündnis mit den Saudis neu kalibrieren und nicht brechen will. Diese Allianz ist eine historische Säule der amerikanischen Strategie im Mittleren Osten, keine Laune von Trump. In einem Mittleren Osten, keine Laune von Trump. In einem Mittleren Osten, der von regionalen Mächten wie dem Iran und der Türkei, ganz offensichtlich China und Russland, begehrt wird, wäre der Verlust Saudi Arabiens ein unverzeihlicher Fehler, den ein alter außenpolitischer Praktiker wie Biden nicht machen will.»
https://der-farang.com/de/pages/zeitungen-kommentieren-das-weltgeschehen-am-samstag-43
(* B P)
NEW DAMNING KHASHOGGI REPORT COULD BLOW UP BIDEN’S RELATIONSHIP WITH SAUDI ARABIA
The president has promised to “recalibrate” our relationship with Saudi Arabia and its de facto ruler, prince Mohammad bin Salman. But what that looks like isn’t totally clear—and things are about to get awkward.
In addition to giving the public a clearer view of and more details about the gruesome killing, Biden is also sending a message in making the report public: Unlike Trump, he has no interest in “saving” MBS. “He will not hold back,” Psaki said Wednesday, “and he will speak out when there are concerns he has about human rights abuses.”
But the press secretary’s remarks also left questions about how Biden’s approach to Riyadh would differ, beyond speaking out about specific offenses. “We have a long relationship with Saudi Arabia,” Psaki acknowledged Wednesday, as Biden prepared for his first conversations with the crown prince’s father, King Salman. The U.S. government has long seen strategic value in the country, in no small part because of the oil it produces. What will it mean to, as Biden promised on the campaign trail, make the regime “pay the price” for their malfeasance? “I hope his message is that we have to sanction MBS with the exact same sanction we imposed on the 17 other Saudi accomplices in this murder,” Sarah Leah Whitson, executive director of the Khashoggi-founded Democracy for the Arab World Now, told the New York Times Wednesday. “The message to the Saudis has to be to get rid of this guy.”
(A P)
Biden should directly punish the crown prince, says House intel chairman
House Intelligence Committee Chairman Rep. Adam Schiff today said President Biden should move to directly punish Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman now that US intelligence agencies have determined he is responsible for Jamal Khashoggi's murder.
"I would like to see the administration go beyond what it has announced in terms of repercussions to make sure there are repercussions directly to the crown prince," said Schiff. "To me it's discordant ... to go after those who followed the orders but not who gave the orders."
(* A P)
Blinken says Biden administration took actions "not to rupture" US-Saudi relationship but to recalibrate it
Secretary of State Tony Blinken said the Biden administration was looking to recalibrate the US-Saudi relationship instead of rupture it, when asked why the administration did not impose a cost on Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman today after a declassified report concluded that the crown prince had ordered the murder of Jamal Khashoggi.
“What we've done by the actions that we've taken is really not to rupture the relationship, but to recalibrate it, to be more in line with our interests and our values. And I think that we have to understand as well that this is bigger than any one person. This recalibration goes to the policies that Saudi Arabia is pursuing, and the actions it has taken,” Blinken said during a news conference at the State Department on Friday.
The actions taken by the Biden administration today – including declassifying the report by the Office of the Director of National Intelligence and rolling out sanctions and visa restrictions on Saudi officials — seek to “prevent future conduct,” Blinken explained. He argued that the US-Saudi relationship is not just about the US relationship with the crown prince.
“I think that we have to understand as well that this is bigger than any one person. This recalibration goes to the policies that Saudi Arabia is pursuing, and the actions it has taken,” Blinken said.
(* A K P)
Biden team considering a halt to 'offensive' arms sales for Saudis
President Joe Biden’s administration is considering the cancellation of arms deals with Saudi Arabia that pose human rights concerns while limiting future military sales to “defensive” weapons, as it reassesses it relationship with the kingdom.
Four sources familiar with the administration’s thinking said that after pausing half a billion dollars in arms deals with Saudi Arabia out of concern over casualties in Yemen earlier this year, officials are assessing the equipment and training included in recent sales to determine what can be considered defensive. Those deals would be allowed.
A State Department spokesperson said, “Our focus is on ending the conflict in Yemen even as we ensure Saudi Arabia has everything it needs to defend its territory and its people,” adding Biden has pledged to end U.S. military support for the military campaign against the Houthis.
“They’re trying to figure out where do you draw the lines between offensive weapons and defensive stuff,” said one congressional aide familiar with the issue, describing the process.
Sales of products deemed defensive - like Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) anti-ballistic missile defense systems made by Lockheed Martin or Patriot missile defense systems made by Lockheed and Raytheon - would still be allowed under such the new policy.
The weapons review also affects $23 billion of deals with the United Arab Emirates, another country that has been an important U.S. partner.
“We should continue to sell military equipment to our partners in the Gulf, but we should make sure that these really are truly defensive arms,” Democratic Senator Chris Murphy said in a speech at the Council on Foreign Relations this week.
Murphy, who is chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee’s Middle East subcommittee, said sales of items like armed Reaper drones to the UAE could fuel a regional arms race.
My comment: What is a “defensive weapon”? Do you lie to yourself (and to the public)?
(* B K P)
Unpacking the fine print of Biden's declaration about the war in Yemen
Our military presence in Yemen covers a number of different roles, most but not all of which are predicated on assisting Saudi Arabia, the country that is technically at war. From the Saudis' perspective, there have never been any "offensive operations" in Yemen. They view the Houthi occupation in Yemen as an existential threat and their role in the conflict as wholly defensive in nature.
The defensive framework is really important here, as they've continually used it to defend the bombing of schools, hospitals and residential areas as necessary defensive measures.
Biden says we are ending the sale of "relevant arms" to Saudi Arabia, so which arms are those? Not all arms, obviously, but relevant arms, implementing a new prohibition on the kinds of weapons relevant to an undefined criteria for what does or does not constitute "offensive" operations.
To explicitly call their bombing campaigns "offensive operations" would be marginally closer in truth to what our military nominally refers to as "defensive measures." But at no point does the president explicitly or even implicitly connect the "offensive operations" in question to our role in Saudi Arabia's six-year bombing campaign in northern Yemen.
Then the president followed up with a disclaimer, saying "At the same time, Saudi Arabia faces missile attacks, UAV strikes, and other threats from Iranian-supplied forces in multiple countries. We're going to continue to support and help Saudi Arabia defend its sovereignty and its territorial integrity."
Statements like this have been the party line for the last six years. It's always been the answer to the question of what exactly we are doing in Yemen. So, what's actually changed?
Pursuing peaceful resolution to conflict is always commendable, especially after four years in which our diplomatic corps was so underutilized. But it's worth keeping in mind the long list of peace agreements in the region, brokered by international governing bodies like the U.N. and the Gulf Cooperation Council, or GCC, that have all, without exception, backfired catastrophically and have unintentionally made the conflict worse. It is also worth noting that one such power-sharing agreement is what sent the country into a civil war to begin with.
I spoke about Biden's announcement on Yemen with Mary Ellen O'Connell, a professor at the University of Notre Dame Law School and a research professor of international dispute resolution at Notre Dame's Kroc Institute for International Peace Studies. Widely recognized for her scholarship on the ethics of military intervention, she has been a vocal critic of America's support for Saudi Arabia in the conflict, and remains adamant that "there is no legal right for the Saudis or the United States to be interfering in a civil war, and that kind of conflict should never involve aerial bombardment."
"There isn't, in reality, any bright line or clear category between offensive and defensive weapons," she told me. "It will be up to us, in consultation with the Saudis, to decide what weapons we are willing to classify as defensive," she said, adding that she hopes the U.S. takes a conservative approach in defining that distinction.
Of the Saudi-backed Hadi regime's shaky claim to legitimacy, O'Connell notes, "If you can't hold on to your own country against your own people, you're not the government. The Houthis are in a better position now first and foremost because they have a lot more popular support. The Hadi regime crushed attempts at democracy in Yemen, and drove people who would not naturally be supportive of the Houthis right to them."
Still, she's optimistic about Biden's renewed efforts for a peace agreement. "The Stockholm agreement gave too much standing to the Saudi-backed forces. They lacked the legitimacy legally, and the control on the ground, to deserve the position they got [from the international community,] but there was really no alternative with how firmly the U.S. was behind Saudi Arabia," she said.
"If we no longer make common cause with the Saudis, there's a real chance to create a new agreement that is respectful of what the Yemeni people themselves want, which leaders they are willing to back," she said.
Even seeing the need for a new posture is an improvement over the last six years. Still, we are clinging to the same old rationale used to enter this proxy war in the first place: that as the world superpower, we can play referee for conflicts we have neither the tools to fix nor the authority, moral or otherwise, to mediate
And there is enough intentionally ambiguous phrasing and doublespeak in his talk of "relevant arms" and "offensive operations" to make us wonder how new this approach is from the course we've been on for the past six years. If we were halting all arms sales to Saudi Arabia, and withdrawing all support for operations in Yemen, he would have said so – by Connor Turque
https://www.ncronline.org/news/opinion/unpacking-fine-print-bidens-declaration-about-war-yemen
(A P)
Houthis Must Return to Negotiating Table
The United States urges the Houthis to halt their advance on Marib - a region controlled by the legitimate government of Yemen – and return to the negotiating table.
“If the Houthis are serious about a negotiated political solution, they must cease all military advances and refrain from other destabilizing and potentially lethal actions, including cross-border attacks on Saudi Arabia,” said State Department spokesperson Ned Price in a statement. “They must commit to constructively participate in the UN-led political process and engage seriously in the diplomatic effort led by U.S. Special Envoy for Yemen Tim Lenderking.”
https://editorials.voa.gov/a/houthis-must-return-to-negotiating-table/5794283.html
My comment: How they should do this??? When Lenderking will finally go to Sanaa??
(A H)
His father taught him English every night. Now, Raleigh man is first Yemeni judge in US
https://www.newsobserver.com/news/local/article249480425.html
(* A P)
Readout of President Joseph R. Biden, Jr. Call with King Salman bin Abdulaziz al-Saud of Saudi Arabia
President Joseph R. Biden, Jr. spoke today with King Salman bin Abdulaziz al-Saud of Saudi Arabia to address the longstanding partnership between the United States and Saudi Arabia. Together they discussed regional security, including the renewed diplomatic efforts led by the United Nations and the United States to end the war in Yemen, and the U.S. commitment to help Saudi Arabia defend its territory as it faces attacks from Iranian-aligned groups. The President noted positively the recent release of several Saudi-American activists and Ms. Loujain al-Hathloul from custody, and affirmed the importance the United States places on universal human rights and the rule of law. The President told King Salman he would work to make the bilateral relationship as strong and transparent as possible. The two leaders affirmed the historic nature of the relationship and agreed to work together on mutual issues of concern and interest.
Comment: Instructive to compare the US and Saudi readouts of President Biden's Feb 25 call with King Salman - the Saudi version omits any mention of human rights issues and the release of Loujain al-Hathloul and focuses on Iran and Yemen.
https://twitter.com/Dr_Ulrichsen/status/1365379903298940928
Saudi news release: https://www.spa.gov.sa/2194994
(B P)
Ending the US’ merciless proxy war in Yemen
Washington’s full complicity in creating the worst humanitarian crisis of the 21st century needs to be held to account, but something can be learned from the new US government’s U-turn
https://www.scmp.com/comment/opinion/article/3123508/ending-us-merciless-proxy-war-yemen
cp9a USA-Iran Krise: Spannungen am Golf / US-Iran crisis: Tensions at the Gulf
Siehe / Look at cp9
(A P)
Sayyed Khamenei: Western States Plan to Prevent Iran from Possessing Any Source of Power, Not Just Uranium Enrichment
Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Sayyed Ali Khamenei stressed the Western States plan to prevent Iran from possessing any source of power, not just the uranium enrichment.
Sayyed Khamenei indicated that the Western States claims about rejecting Iran’s ‘possession of nuclear weapons’ are mere lies, adding that there target is not just the Iranian nuclear program.
“They oppose Iran’s possession of even the traditional weapons and defensive capabilities as the Iranian right to enrich uranium must be taken for granted,” Imam Khamenei said in a tweet posted by his eminence’s press office.
My comment: When he is right, he is right.
(* B P)
Film mit Michael Lüders: Erfindet Amerika sich neu? Wie Washington unter Joe Biden die Welt sieht
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xTGT3KeSIpU&t=338s
(* B P)
Iran rejects meeting as Biden’s slow diplomacy hits predictable snag
Sunday’s news that Iran has rejected a European Union invitation to host talks with the United States is a truly negative and problematic development — complicating already difficult challenges further and jeopardizing the fate of the 2015 nuclear deal.
But it is not surprising. Here’s why:
As I wrote yesterday in The Guardian, the idea that Iran would talk directly with the United States while Washington maintained its current level of sanctions was tried by President Trump for three years. It didn’t work then, and it likely won’t work now.
Don’t take my word for it. This is what Wendy Sherman, Biden’s nominee for deputy secretary of state, said about it in 2019: I “would be shocked if Iran agreed to a meeting without some sanctions relief.” Sherman was right. Iran’s calculation is more simple than one might think. If Tehran agrees to talks while Biden essentially continues Trump’s “maximum pressure” policy, and those talks fail, Iran will be blamed — even though the United States has done nothing to rectify what caused this crisis in the first place: Trump’s 2018 exit from the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, or JCPOA.
So, without changing any of the dynamics that Biden inherited from Trump, the United States will have succeeded in hitting the ball, and the blame, to Iran’s court, if future discussions collapse. Sure, the new administration has stated that it intends to re-enter the JCPOA, something Trump never signaled, and that change in public intent is not inconsequential. But, in a relationship mired in mistrust, publicly stated intent means little if actions fail to match the intent. This is where the last month of childish, trust-eroding squabbles over who must make the first step toward renewed compliance with the JCPOA first comes in.
Washington’s public insistence that Iran take action first by curbing its enrichment activities while at the same time pushing the EU to punish Iran at the International Atomic Energy Agency — even though the United States formally remains outside of the deal and has yet to be sanctioned for it — all erode confidence in Tehran that Biden is serious. It makes the move of joining the talks before receiving any significant sanctions relief all the more risky for the Iranian leadership.
Biden even refuses to allow Iran access to its own money in South Korea, even though the situation has created major problems for Seoul and was the result of an inhumane policy Biden previously lambasted as something that should just not have been done when Iran is coping with the COVID pandemic.
The Biden team of course knows this quite well. So what explains their conduct? It appears to be Biden’s own decision, driven by a refusal to be “pressured by Iran” to give something before talks can begin and the fear that he’ll lose the support of hawkish Democrats whose votes he needs for the COVID relief package. The attacks in Iraq by groups aligned with Iran further hardened Biden’s attitude, which is quite understandable. What we’re witnessing is Biden’s instinctive resistance to pressure, and the fear of coming under attack by hawks in his own party if he was perceived as backing down – by Trita Parsi
(* B K P)
Biden said 'Diplomacy is back!' Then he started dropping bombs
Biden may inadvertently achieve what Trump couldn’t: destroying the Iran deal, Obama’s main foreign policy achievement
Presumably, Biden wanted to signal to Iran that it would pay a heavy price if it ordered attacks against US troops in order to pressure Washington to return to the Iran nuclear deal. But by bombing Syria for this reason, Biden proved how failing to rejoin the nuclear agreement endangers US national security – Iran’s nuclear program continues to advance while the US and Iran glide closer to a military confrontation.
Biden knows these arguments quite well. He made them against Donald Trump only a few months ago. His top officials have spent the past years extensively criticizing Trump’s maximum pressure strategy. They were all correct.
Which makes his steps on Iran in his first month all the more perplexing. While Biden’s intent to return to the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) seems unquestionable, good intentions and good strategy are not the same thing. Rather than bringing diplomacy back, Biden appears to be falling back into old patterns where appearing tough trumps being smart and where diplomacy is merely a slogan sprinkled on policies centered on coercion, not a genuine give and take.
Of course, few doubted that reviving the JCPOA would be without challenge. And the lack of priority given to Iran may simply be due to the plethora of domestic and international crises Biden has to attend to with less than a full staff.
Yet, these exonerating circumstances do not explain the many seemingly unnecessary and counterproductive measures the Biden administration has taken on the JCPOA since taking office.
First, the administration rather unnecessarily decided to create a public feud over whether Iran or the US would have to take the first step towards reviving the JCPOA.
Even if Biden calculated that a small public confrontation could serve the administration’s broader purposes, it should not have been over an issue where the US neither has persuasive moral nor legal arguments.
Second, even before diplomacy has begun, the Biden administration has seemingly initiated a highly unproductive blame game that has further damaged the atmospherics for diplomacy. The administration’s messaging has been to emphasize that Iran is the party out of compliance with the JCPOA – which is technically false – and that the future of the deal hinges on Iran coming back into compliance. Even though it is the US that left the deal while Iran is still in it. While Iran has reduced its obligations in accordance to paragraph 36 of the JCPOA, that is fundamentally different from the US leaving the deal and imposing sanctions on countries that seek to abide by the nuclear accord.
Biden’s attitude has been that the US simply is not responsible for the actions of the Trump administration. America has a new president now and as a result, it starts off with a clean slate unburdened by the many transgressions of Donald Trump.
Even if the US succeeds in shifting the blame to Iran, the question is what the value of that is at this point. In this early stage of diplomacy, the parties should be seeking to create the best possible atmosphere for talks. That is certainly how Biden’s maneuvering has been read in Tehran. Whatever advantage Biden thinks he gains through military signaling in Syria and by playing the blame game in the media, if it sabotages what arguably is the final opportunity to revive an accord that is critical to US national security, then Biden may inadvertently achieve what Trump couldn’t: destroying the legacy of Obama’s main foreign policy achievement – by Trita Parsi
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2021/feb/26/biden-iran-deal-diplomacy-syria
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US Bombs Syria And Ridiculously Claims Self Defense
So we are being told that the United States launched an airstrike on Syria, a nation it invaded and is illegally occupying, because of attacks on “US locations” in Iraq, another nation the US invaded and is illegally occupying. This attack is justified on the basis that the Iraqi fighters were “Iranian-linked”, a claim that is both entirely without evidence and irrelevant to the justification of deadly military force. And this is somehow being framed in mainstream news publications as a defensive operation.
This is Defense Department stenography. The US military is an invading force in both Syria and Iraq; it is impossible for its actions in either of those countries to be defensive. It is always necessarily the aggressor. It’s the people trying to eject them who are acting defensively. The deaths of US troops and contractors in those countries can only be blamed on the powerful people who sent them there.
The US is just taking it as a given that it has de facto jurisdiction over the nations of Syria, Iraq, and Iran, and that any attempt to interfere in its authority in the region is an unprovoked attack which must be defended against. This is completely backwards and illegitimate. Only through the most perversely warped American supremacist reality tunnels can it look valid to dictate the affairs of sovereign nations on the other side of the planet and respond with violence if anyone in those nations tries to eject them.
It’s illegitimate for the US to be in the Middle East at all. It’s illegitimate for the US to claim to be acting defensively in nations it invaded. It’s illegitimate for the US to act like Iranian-backed fighters aren’t allowed to be in Syria, where they are fighting alongside the Syrian government against ISIS and other extremist militias with the permission of Damascus. It is illegitimate for the US to claim the fighters attacking US personnel in Iraq are controlled by Iran when Iraqis have every reason to want the US out of their country themselves.
Even the official narrative reveals itself as illegitimate from within its own worldview. CNN reports that the site of the airstrike “was not specifically tied to the rocket attacks” in Iraq, and a Reuters/AP report says “Biden administration officials condemned the February 15 rocket attack near the city of Irbil in Iraq’s semi-autonomous Kurdish-run region, but as recently as this week officials indicated they had not determined for certain who carried it out.”
This is all so very typical of the American supremacist worldview that is being aggressively shoved down our throats by all western mainstream news media. The US can bomb who it likes, whenever it likes, and when it does it is only ever doing so in self defense, because the entire planet is the property of Washington, DC. It can seize control of entire clusters of nations, and if any of those nations resist in any way they are invading America’s sovereignty.
It’s like if you broke into your neighbor’s house to rob him, killed him when he tried to stop you, and then claimed self defense because you consider his home your property. Only in the American exceptionalist alternate universe is this considered normal and acceptable.
This sort of nonsense is why it’s so important to prioritize opposition to western imperialism – by Caitlin Johnstone
https://caitlinjohnstone.com/2021/02/26/us-bombs-syria-and-ridiculously-claims-self-defense/
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Biden: Strikes in Syria sent warning to Iran to ‘be careful’
President Joe Biden said Friday that Iran should view his decision to authorize U.S. airstrikes in Syria as a warning that it can expect consequences for its support of militia groups that threaten U.S. interests or personnel.
“You can’t act with impunity. Be careful,” Biden said when a reporter asked what message he had intended to send with the airstrikes, which the Pentagon said destroyed several buildings in eastern Syria but were not intended to eradicate the militia groups that used them to facilitate attacks inside Iraq.
Administration officials defended the Thursday night airstrikes as legal and appropriate, saying they took out facilities that housed valuable “capabilities” used by Iranian-backed militia groups to attack American and allied forces in Iraq.
John Kirby, the Pentagon’s chief spokesperson, said members of Congress were notified before the strikes as two Air Force F-15E aircraft launched seven missiles, destroying nine facilities and heavily damaging two others, rendering both “functionally destroyed.”
https://apnews.com/article/us-syria-airstrike-kills-1-34b4d7ac56fa8d0d2db8dc2ec8e921d6
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Iran’s Top Security Official Raps US Attacks on Resistance Forces
The secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council decried the recent “brutal” US strikes on the Iraqi forces in Syria as part of attempts to revive “organized terrorism”, vowing that Iran will not allow a resurgence of Takfiri terrorism in the region.
In a meeting with Iraqi Foreign Minister Fuad Hussein, held in Tehran on Saturday, Ali Shamkhani denounced the US’ recent measures to strengthen the Daesh terrorist group in the region and its brutal attack against the anti-terror resistance forces as an indication of plots for “a new round of organized terrorism”.
“Iran and other countries fighting against terrorism will not allow the affiliated Takfiri terrorism to recover in the region again,” he stressed.
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Iraqi resistance groups condemn deadly US airstrike on border, urge probe
Iraqi resistance groups have denounced a US military airstrike on resistance groups on the Iraqi-Syrian border, calling for an investigation into the aerial assault.
https://www.presstv.com/Detail/2021/02/27/646158/Iraq-resistance-US-strike-Syria
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Syria urges UN Security Council to swiftly end US aggression after recent strike on resistance forces
Syria’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Expatriates has urged the United Nations Security Council to assume its responsibility and put an immediate end to US acts of aggression against the Arab country.
The ministry made the request in a Saturday letter addressed to the UN secretary general and the president of the Security Council with regard to the US breach of the provisions of the international law and the UN Charter following Washington’s recent air raid against positions of Iraqi counter-terrorism forces on the Iraqi-Syrian border, Syria's official news agency SANA reported.
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Iran droht mit Ausschaltung der IAEA-Kameras, falls Sanktionen binnen drei Monaten nicht aufgehoben werden
Der Internationalen Atomenergieagentur, IAEA, wird laut Angaben des Leiters der iranischen Atomenergieorganisation bis zu drei Monate lang kein Zugriff auf die Aufzeichnungssysteme und Kameras gewährt, wenn die Sanktionen nicht innerhalb der nächsten drei Monate aufgehoben werden.
"Ali Akbar Salehi" sagte gestern Abend in einer Fernsehsendung über das Gesetz "Strategische Maßnahmen zur Aufhebung von Sanktionen und zum Schutz der Rechte des iranischen Volkes" sowie bezüglich der Einstellung der freiwilligen Umsetzung des Zusatzprotokolls durch Iran, das Gesetz sehe vor, dass Teheran zwei Monate nach der Verabschiedung des Gesetzes die Umsetzung des Zusatzprotokolls aussetzen werde, wenn die Partner im Gemeinsamen Umfassenden Aktionsplan (JCPoA/Atomabkommen) ihre Versprechen nicht einhalten.
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The Nuclear Deal Disintegrates While Biden Dawdles
The Biden administration is about to make a serious mistake in its handling of the nuclear issue with Iran:
The U.S. is asking other countries to support a formal censure of Iran over its accelerating nuclear activities, a signal that the Biden administration wants to turn up the diplomatic heat on Tehran as it looks to restore a crumbling 2015 accord.
Biden and his team have squandered too much time already. Moving to censure Iran at the IAEA is the wrong move at the worst time. The Iranian government just went out of its way to show flexibility on continuing to allow international inspections. Just before the February 23 deadline when Iran was supposed to suspend its implementation of the Additional Protocol according to a new law passed by the Majlis (a law that has the support of 73% of Iranians), the Iranian government and the IAEA struck a bargain for the next three months that would permit more inspections than would have been possible otherwise.
Rouhani and his government bought the U.S. time to make good on Biden’s promises, and practically the first thing that Biden is going to do after that is complain to the IAEA about Iran’s supposed intransigence. Whatever the technical justification the administration might offer for this, it is politically and diplomatically tone-deaf. It signals to Iran that their patience and willingness to remain in the JCPOA are not going to be rewarded, and it suggests that the U.S. isn’t serious about honoring its commitments. Salvaging the nuclear deal was bound to be difficult, but the Biden administration has needlessly complicated its own task by taking one misstep after another.
The Iranian government sees little reason to trust Biden at this point
Years of economic warfare and relentless hostility against Iran have done their work well: most Iranians don’t trust the U.S. to honor its commitments. 71% of Iranians now conclude that the JCPOA experience shows that it is not worthwhile to make concessions because Iran cannot trust other powers to honor their side of the agreement.
The Iranian government has already stuck its neck out to preserve the agreement. It has been doing so for almost three years. It has faced a swift backlash in the wake of the deal made with the IAEA earlier this week, and its room for maneuver has been reduced more than ever. The U.S. cannot effectively manipulate Iranian internal politics, but it can take more or less constructive actions over the next few weeks. If Biden wants to be known for salvaging the JCPOA, he should be extending olive branches and goodwill gestures rather than censures and additional demands. There is still time to avoid a diplomatic breakdown, but the Biden administration needs to take the initiative and take a few risks to give Iran the incentive to respond in kind – by Daniel Larison
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EU sees must-not-miss chance to revive Iran nuclear deal
The top European Union diplomat supervising the international agreement aimed at curbing Iran’s nuclear ambitions called Friday for a concerted effort to reinvigorate the pact even as Tehran appears to be reneging on some of its commitments.
“This is an occasion that we cannot miss,” to revive the 2015 Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, or JCPOA, EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell told reporters via video-link.
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France and others accused of ‘horrific human rights record’ in Yemen
FRANCE and Iran clashed over human rights at the United today after Paris condemned the arrest of a French national on espionage charges.
Tehran said that France and other Western countries had “horrific human rights records” due to their complicity in the Saudi-led bombing of Yemen and so were in no position to give lectures on morality.
Mohammad Sadati-Nejad, Iran’s representative at the UN on human rights, was speaking after French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian accused the Iranian government of violating rights and demanded the release of a French-Iranian national being held by Tehran.
cp10 Großbritannien / Great Britain
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Dominic Raab: The UK condemns the latest Houthi missile and drone attacks targeted at Saudi Arabia and Marib. These put innocent lives at risk, and show that those responsible are not serious about peace, let alone protecting the Yemeni people
https://twitter.com/DominicRaab/status/1366025251327467520
James Cleverly: I join the Foreign Secretary in condemning the reckless #Houthi missile and drone attacks on Saudi Arabia & Marib. These continued offensives put innocent people at risk and must end. I urge the Houthis to cease such provocations and work urgently towards a political solution.
https://twitter.com/JamesCleverly/status/1366045548927717379
My comment: More examples pf British hypocrisy.
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Britische Waffenverkäufe verlängern den Saudi-Krieg im Jemen
Oxfam hat der britischen Regierung vorgeworfen, den Krieg im Jemen zu verlängern, indem sie den Export von Luft-Luft-Tankgeräten nach Saudi-Arabien erlaubt, die die Luftangriffe auf das arabische Land erleichtern.
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Houthis’ use of sexual violence as a weapon against women is a terrible crime: UK
Britain has denounced the detention, torture, sexual violence, and rape of politically active women in Yemen by the Houthis, according to a foreign office statement, following a UN sanctioning of a top Houthi police official accused of rights abuses.
“Today’s UN Security Council Resolution 2564 (2021) sanctioning Sultan Zabin clearly demonstrates that the international community will not tolerate the atrocious use of torture and sexual violence in conflict zones,” Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon, the UK’s Special Representative on Preventing Sexual Violence in Conflict and Minister of State for South Asia and the Commonwealth, said in a statement.
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To be a ‘force for good,’ the UK must end support for the Saudi war in Yemen
In an address to the Munich Security Conference on February 19, U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson made a claim we have heard before: the U.K. should be a “force for good” in the world. Johnson, alongside Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab, sees this as a key component of the “Global Britain” agenda post-Brexit, and the phrase has been a frequent refrain in their speeches over the past two years.
In practice, however, the government is not living up to this ideal. Just three days after the speech, the director of policy for the major U.K. non-profit Oxfam, Sam Nadel, accused the government of prolonging the war in Yemen through its arms sales to Saudi Arabia. In particular, sales of air-to-air refueling equipment, which allows Saudi planes to fly for longer and conduct so-called “dynamic” strikes on newly acquired targets, have led to an escalation of the destruction, and the war has now displaced 3.6 million people.
Put simply, the U.K. government’s refusal this month to cease sales of offensive weapons is incompatible with its goal to be a force for good. Unless Johnson wants to continue to aid and abet the perpetrators of what many call the world’s worst humanitarian crisis, he must end U.K. weapons sales to Saudi Arabia.
The refusal highlights a tension at the heart of the Global Britain project.
the U.K. is the world’s second biggest arms exporter after the United States, with over £11 billion ($15.5 billion) in sales in 2019. Johnson has used a fig leaf of legality to justify ongoing exports to Saudi Arabia. Lifting a previous ban on exporting technologies like air-to-air refueling last July has enabled the government to export £1.36 billion ($1.9 billion) in arms to Saudi Arabia since then.
Taken together, this incoherent set of policies shines the spotlight on a country still figuring out what its global role should be outside the European Union. The current piecemeal approach makes Britain a less credible partner on human rights issues, and opposition Memb
As the Khashoggi intelligence report only further demonstrates, London is increasingly an outlier on this issue among its allies.
cp11 Deutschland / Germany
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Maas lenkt Blick auf verheerende humanitäre Lage im Jemen
Vor der internationalen Geberkonferenz für den Jemen hat Bundesaußenminister Heiko Maas (SPD) auf die verheerende Lage in dem Bürgerkriegsland aufmerksam gemacht. "Heute geht es nicht nur darum, im Jemen eine akute Hungersnot abzuwenden. Neue blutige Kämpfe um Marib, Cholera- und Polio-Ausbrüche, Heuschreckenplagen – die Not der Menschen sprengt jede Vorstellungskraft", erklärte Maas am Montag. Er kündigte eine "substanzielle neue Hilfszusage" Deutschlands für das Land an.
cp12 Andere Länder / Other countries
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Under Trudeau, Canada Is Saudi Arabia’s Most Dedicated Gunrunner
The Biden administration has now frozen arms sales to the Saudis, but Justin Trudeau’s government seems happy to step into the breach as their gunrunner of choice.
However, during Trudeau’s time as prime minister, Canada has exported more weapons abroad than at any point in its history. Some of these arms sales have been directed to the most repressive regimes in the world.
Canada’s top customer for arms, apart from the United States, is Saudi Arabia
In 2014, Canada’s Conservative government brokered the sale of hundreds of light armored vehicles (LAVs), manufactured by the company General Dynamics Land Systems-Canada (GDLS-C), for the Saudi Arabian National Guard. Worth $14 billion, this arms contract was the largest in Canadian history.
While the Conservative government may have orchestrated the deal, it was the Liberals who actually greenlighted the arms shipments. Government documents published in April 2016 show that Trudeau’s minister of foreign affairs, Stéphane Dion, formally approved the export of the LAVs more than four months after the Liberals took power. The memo describes Saudi Arabia, a state that uses mass executions as a means of political repression, as a “key partner for Canada” and a “regional leader promoting regional security and stability.
Saudi Arabia supplied written guarantees that Canadian LAVs would be used only for internal security purposes. But there are numerous photographs and videos of these LAVs being diverted to the Yemen conflict. Diversion is illegal under Canadian and international law, and awareness of diversion requires Canadian officials to revoke any further export approvals to the offending party.
Canada has also sold other weapons to the Saudis, including thousands of Winnipeg-made sniper rifles. They, too, have been illicitly diverted, in this case to the military forces of the Saudi-aligned Yemeni government.
In September 2020, the UN Group of Eminent Experts on Yemen — the same panel that identified American weapons as directly fueling the war — accused Canada of “helping to perpetuate the conflict” through the provision of arms to the Saudis. Only four other countries have earned this “distinction.”
December 2020 was the first time a Canadian Liberal member of Parliament has deviated from the party line and called for an end to arms exports to Saudi Arabia. Citing the humanitarian crisis in Yemen, MP Adam Vaughan condemned the provision of all arms to the region.
In early February this year, the leader of Canada’s left-wing New Democratic Party, Jagmeet Singh, once again called on the Canadian government to stop LAV exports to Saudi Arabia
Canadian weapons sales are nothing new — the country has sold arms for decades. What is new is the dizzying volume of such exports, and the outsize role they’re playing in some of today’s deadliest conflicts. The Trudeau government has exported more weapons to states accused of war crimes than any other Canadian government on public record.
If even the United States, where the term “military industrial complex” was coined, is willing to curtail its arms exports on human rights grounds, its northern neighbor should be willing to do the same. Until it does, Canada’s self-presentation as a peace broker and beacon of progressive values will be a comforting fantasy, dismissed out of hand by the rest of the world.
https://jacobinmag.com/2021/02/trudeau-canada-saudi-arabia-arms-sales-yemen
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As Biden changes tune on Saudi Arabia, will Canada keep shipping armoured vehicles to the kingdom?
The light armoured vehicle (LAV) deal in question has been a hot potato for the Liberals because of suspicions and video footage indicating the Saudis may have used previously contracted Canadian LAVs in their six-year war in Yemen.
Canada has an extensive history selling weapons, including armoured vehicles, to the desert kingdom.
The current contract, which is for 742 General Dynamics Land Services LAVs, was originally signed by Stephen Harper’s Conservatives in 2014, but deliveries did not start until 2016, after the Liberals took power. Deliveries resulting from this contract are expected to continue until about 2024.
Government officials, including Trudeau,have said Canada would also incur penalties for disclosing the terms of the contract. The Liberals’ accounts have, however, appeared inconsistent at times, with ministers variously estimating that in the event of cancellation, Canada would have to pay “a billion dollars,” “several billion dollars,” or the full value of the contract, at about $14 billion.
Responding to criticism, Global Affairs Canada issued a press release last April announcing it had renegotiated the contract with the Saudis, and that “under the improved agreement … Canadians’ exposure to financial risk will be eliminated where future export permits are delayed or denied if there is an infringement of the permit’s end use assurances.”
But in an email exchange with the Star, the ministry declined last week to comment on what these end-use assurances are, and whether they preclude the use of the LAVs on Yemeni territory.
Some observers imply Trudeau may not want to exit the contract, and is brandishing penalties as an excuse.
In a statement to the Star, Global Affairs said “Canada continues to monitor developments in Saudi Arabia and Yemen, and will take appropriate action should credible evidence be found regarding the misuse of any controlled Canadian good or technology, including to commit or facilitate serious violations of international human rights or humanitarian law.”
“After a thorough review by our officials, we announced last year that permits are now being reviewed on a case-by-case basis.
“These permits are not issued automatically and each of them are carefully scrutinized.
“The Minister will deny any permit application where there is a substantial risk of human rights violation.”
Many would argue that threshold has already been met.
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Australian citizen Usama Al-Hasani arrested in Morocco, faces possible extradition to Saudi Arabia
An Australian citizen has been detained in Morocco and is facing extradition to Saudi Arabia over allegations he was involved in activism, according to human rights bodies.
"Moroccan authorities will put Dr Usama Al-Hasani to trial on 3 March, then he'd be most probably deported to Saudi Arabia, where the real danger lies," Prisoners of Conscience stated in a tweet.
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Regional crises bring Oman back to the forefront of mediation efforts
With an ongoing push towards restoring peace to the region in general and in Yemen in particular, Oman, which has significant experience in leading difficult mediation drives, has become a destination for diplomatic action from inside and outside the region.
The sultanate of Oman has good relations with Tehran, and has intervened as a mediator more than once to resolve the Yemeni crisis over more than six years.
The various contacts in which the Sultanate of Oman was involved coincided with moves by the new US administration on the Iranian nuclear programme, the war in Yemen and the resulting humanitarian crisis.
According to observers, the US administration’s current communication with Oman indicates Washington’s renewed confidence in Muscat as a mediator capable of helping the administration of US President Joe Biden reach settlements to end some of the region’s conflicts.
https://thearabweekly.com/regional-crises-bring-oman-back-forefront-mediation-efforts
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Noury: "Saudi Arabia is the Kingdom of dissidents torn to pieces: Renzi can't say I didn't know"
This was supported by Riccardo Noury, historical and indefatigable spokesperson for Amnesty International Italia, comments on the US 007 report which indicates the crown prince as the instigator of the dissident's murder.
Yet Italian and powerful senators of the Earth continue to pay homage to the prince and the Saud Kingdom. Why?
Because for many years the West has seen Saudi Arabia as a state with a strong tendency to moderation, modernization, reform, forgetting that in that country bloggers were whipped, forgetting that the leaders of the religious opposition were hanged, forgetting the many human rights activists who were rotting in prison for calling for an end to discrimination against women. A country where the entire human rights movement has been silenced through jail. A country that has bombed Yemen with Italian bombs since 2015, and last but not least a country that bears the responsibility of having ordered a barbaric assassination of a dissident abroad like Khashoggi on its leadership.
But what then pushes Italian politicians, such as Senator Renzi, to close both eyes to the crimes perpetrated by the Saudi fundamentalist petromonarchy?
Yes, no one today can say: I did not know. But no one could have said for some time I hadn't known. Now, it is difficult to determine whether it is more serious for a senator and party leader to go to a conference, paid lavishly, or for heads of government who have endorsed the authorizations to export bombs to Saudi Arabia.
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Italian arms to Saudi Arabia: the blockade is not enough, they pass through the United Kingdom
But the UK resumes exports of Paveway IV bombs. It’s components are also produced in Italy
In fact, on January 29th, the Italian government decided to revoke the authorizations for the export of missiles and aircraft bombs to Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates. The Italian Peace and Disarmament Network gave the news and expressed "great satisfaction" for the decision of the Conte government to definitively revoke, and not just extend the suspension, of supplies relating to bombs used in the bloody war in Yemen.
The revocation decided by the executive for this license alone will cancel the supply of over 12,700 bombs .
Bombs from Italy to the United Kingdom: destination Saudi Arabia
Furthermore, the export licenses for components of Paveway IV bombs , also produced by Rwm Italia in Domusnovas, Sardinia, which are sent to the United Kingdom, have not been revoked .
Researchers from the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (Sipri) estimated that from 2013 to 2018, the UK supplied Saudi Arabia with around 2,400 Paveway IV bombs per year. Supplies that had been suspended following the judicial investigation initiated by the Campaign Against Arms Trade (CAAT).
In recent days, the Caat Campaign reported that the British government would resume exports of arms to Saudi Arabia and, among these, also include the Paveway IV bombs.
I carried out an in-depth examination of the Italian government reports regarding the Paveway IV : although the export licenses of these bombs destined for the United Kingdom were in 2019 (latest data available) of less than one million euros, in the years between 2016 and in 2018 they had been released for at least 5,000 bombs worth over 75 million euros . And an examination of Istat's foreign trade data shows that exports of these bombs continued throughout the past year as well.
It is therefore necessary that the Italian Parliament, which voted on the resolution to revoke supplies to Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates of "aircraft bombs and missiles that can be used to hit the civilian population" in Yemen, consult the new government and, specifically, the national licensing authority (Uama), to know the recipient and end user of the Paveway IV bombs produced by Rwm Italia and exported to the United Kingdom.
https://www.osservatoriodiritti.it/2021/02/25/armi-italiane-allarabia-saudita/
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Yemen. Massacre with the bombs of RWM, the investigating judge of Rome order to investigate the company
A family exterminated in 2016 by a bomb produced in Domusnovas, the investigating judge of Rome rejects the filing for the Sardinian company and the Farnesina Authority. The new data: 233 thousand victims of war, 83 billion in arms from Europe to Saudi Arabia
the judge for preliminary investigations has rejected the filing, the prosecutor will have to continue to criminalize Rwm and Uama for the role played in the Deir al-Hajari massacre, one of the many in recent years. the anti-Houthi coalition is stained but becomes a symbol, concrete proof of the global nature of a war that has had residential areas, civil infrastructures, hospitals, schools as its main objectives, with the clear aim of devastating the economic, social and civil network of Yemen.
"We welcome the decision to continue the criminal investigation related to the deadly attack on Deir al-Hajari - the three organizations wrote in a note yesterday - This decision gives hope to all survivors of the deadly air attacks without an identifiable military target. and who instead killed and injured civilians ».
There is no lack of evidence, export data is public (we invite you to browse the European Union database , where it is possible to know which weapons and of what value each member country has sold to a foreign state): in the Italian case 105 million in arms in 2019, 13 in 2018, 52 in 2017 and so on. In total, Europe, from 2013 to 2019, granted licenses to Riyadh for 83.3 billion euros.
It is in this context that on January 29 the Italian government decided to revoke the licenses, already authorized but not delivered, in Riyadh and Abu Dhabi. A historic decision, in line with Law 185 of 1990 which prohibits the sale of arms to countries involved in conflicts or violators of human rights. Among the celebrations of those who have been fighting for years to stop the military business, the opposing voice of the company that has done excellent business with the petromonarchies, the Rwm, has been raised.
https://nena-news.it/yemen-strage-con-le-bombe-rwm-il-gip-di-roma-ordina-di-indagare-lazienda/
cp12a Katar-Krise / Qatar crisis
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#SaudiArabia #Qatar : Sheikh Tamim has phone call with MBS - in which he “affirmed his country's firm support for the government and people of Saudi Arabia and everything that would strengthen the security, stability, and sovereignty of the kingdom”
https://twitter.com/sebusher/status/1366060696388177924
cp13 Waffenhandel / Arms trade
Siehe / Look at cp12
cp15 Propaganda
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What does Biden’s performative rap on Riyadh mean for Israel? - analysis
Israeli officials are concerned that increased pressure on the Saudis, will weaken the regional alliance against Iran.
Still, KAN reported this week that Israeli and Saudi officials have spoken on the phone several times in recent weeks to discuss the Biden administration’s moves towards returning to the Iran deal and its increased focus on human rights violations by Saudi Arabia.
ISRAELI OFFICIALS are concerned that increased pressure on the Saudis, as well as Egypt, will weaken the regional alliance against Iran at a time when the US is showing less willingness to confront the regime of the ayatollahs. Another concern is that Riyadh will be discouraged from strengthening or even maintaining their ties with Jerusalem if they don’t help them in Washington.
There is, however, another possibility. It was during the Obama administration, which was truly soft on Iran, that Israel’s ties with Gulf states intensified, bringing them together to protect themselves against a Tehran whose malign behavior was not constrained and whose nuclear project was only postponed by the 2015 agreement, not prevented.
To be fair, the Biden administration says it won’t lift sanctions until Iran returns to compliance with the nuclear deal’s enrichment limitations, and that it wants to push for a stricter deal that will address the problems with the old one, which Israel pointed out back then and have come true in the ensuing years.
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To defend ourselves we need to prepare for literally endless war
Yemenis defending themselves against Houthis need to know that the terror group will keep fighting literally endlessly. They will only stop if they achieve a full victory or earn themselves a full defeat.
As long as they control one village or any toehold of territory, they will be waging a war to expand.
The highly aware Yemeni observers, myself included, know about this, not just from the militia’s usual vow to fight “until the Day of Judgment,” the recent bragging that they control a “30 million-strong population” and other allusions and clues. But we can also understand this Houthi forever-war inclination from our overall knowledge about the militia.
They have waged dozens of offensives deploying thousands of fighters each time trying to overrun Marib, and the latest attempt – that started on February 6- was the fiercest and biggest in the series of bloodbaths.
Yemenis felt the danger and support to Marib came from all governorates until the invasion was stymied. More than 1400 militants have reportedly been killed and 6,000 others were injured along Marib’s frontlines. But by the maximalist Shiah militants’ own lights, those are not losses.
They have a population of “30 million people” under their control as militant Mohammed al-Bukhaiti once said.
Now they will go to lick their wounds and come back soon with new thousands of militants to launch a bloodier offensive, and will keep repeating the attempts again and again and again forever.
The UN will be standing by in the mood of open-ended patience. To give its beloved Houthi militia a chance to win, however, long it takes.
We, Yemenis, understand the UN’s role and intentions in our country better.
Faced with this monstrous war and dirty international conspiracy to wipe the Yemeni dream out, we are not going to roll over in any way. We have to prepare ourselves for an entrenched warfare that ends either in Yemen’s victory or our martyrdom in dignity.
https://www.alsahwa-yemen.net/en/p-45367
(A P)
Twenty-four hours of Iran’s total war in Yemen, Iraq and Syria
The attack on Saudi Arabia on Saturday included video of an interception over the skies of Riyadh.
Iran is supporting its Houthi rebel allies and proxy in Yemen to conduct an increasing war against Saudi Arabia, the Saudi-led Coalition, and also against Yemen government forces in Marib. Twenty four hours have seen an increased offensive against Marib in Yemen, a reported ballistic missile attack on Saudi Arabia on Saturday night and an attack on a ship in the Gulf of Oman. It is part of a series of tensions across the region linking Iran to conflicts in numerous places. This could be seen as a kind of “total war” that Iran is pushing across the Middle East.
The volume of attacks and the multi-layered nature of them illustrate that this is not a mere happenstance or coincidence. This is not local politics. This is a regional conflict and Iran, which has a foothold in Yemen that has grown since 2015, is seeking to show that it can mobilize on numerous levels through proxies and through its own actions, as well as its advanced technology.
The level of attacks in Yemen also must be paired with rocket attacks in Saudi Arabia and also the airstrikes carried out by the Biden administration over the weekend against Iranian-backed militias in Syria. Add it up and what do you get: Incidents in Iraq, Syria, Saudi Arabia and Yemen, spanning thousands of kilometers.
It’s clear that Iran is seeking maximum pressure across the region on the US and US partners and allies from Israel to Saudi Arabia. The tentacles are also long, stretching from Yemen via the Gulf of Oman to Iraq, Syria and then Lebanon. Iran is also using a plethora of technology it has developed to support its proxies, from 107mm rockets in Iraq, to bases in Syria, as well as ballistic missiles (SRBMs) in Yemen and mines and missiles in the Gulf of Oman.
(A P)
Houthis Reject Latest Security Council Resolution, Vow to Continue War
The legitimate Yemeni government welcomed on Friday United Nations Security Council resolution 2564, renewing its commitment to reach peace that ends the war according to the three references.
My comment: Renewing UNSC 2216 from 2216 means renewing one of the main obstacles to peace in Yemen.
(A P)
My concern is that to avoid taking direct action against MBS, @POTUS will instead pressure him to "end the war in #Yemen," & force Yemeni government to make a political settlement with Houthis, & call it a day. But such a settlement will only make matters much worse for Yemen
Houthis continue to escalate militarily despite demonstrated international momentum to end Saudi military intervention. The have disregarded all calls by UN, US, and the international community asking them to deescalate and to stop their offensive against Marib city.
Suspending Saudi airstrikes & military support in Marib now will tip the scale in favor of Houthis. It will allow them to capture the city which will put the lives of 3 million civilians at risk, further destabilize #Yemen, & throw the country into a cycle of endless conflict
A hasty political settlement with Houthis under th current conditions will seal their military victory with political recognition at the expense of Yemenis. Houthis r not willing to accept power share with others. They show no sign of commitment to ceasefire, much less peace
https://twitter.com/Ndawsari/status/1365405380059267073
Houthis launched their most offensive attack on the city tonight & rained it with at least 7 missiles. Only military force can stop them. The UN & @POTUS must stop pressuring Yemeni govt & Saudis to deescalate in Marib. Else they inadvertently aid the Houthis.
https://twitter.com/Ndawsari/status/1365452069973463040
(A P)
More Saudi coalition „We are benefactors“ propaganda
http://en.adenpress.news/news/32360
https://www.spa.gov.sa/viewfullstory.php?lang=en&newsid=2195581
https://www.spa.gov.sa/viewfullstory.php?lang=en&newsid=2195580
https://www.spa.gov.sa/viewfullstory.php?lang=en&newsid=2195313
https://www.spa.gov.sa/viewfullstory.php?lang=en&newsid=2195301
https://www.spa.gov.sa/viewfullstory.php?lang=en&newsid=2195153
https://www.spa.gov.sa/viewfullstory.php?lang=en&newsid=2195128
https://www.spa.gov.sa/viewfullstory.php?lang=en&newsid=2195096
http://wam.ae/en/details/1395302913896 = https://www.mofaic.gov.ae/en/mediahub/news/2021/2/26/26-02-2021-uae-yemen
cp16 Saudische Luftangriffe / Saudi air raids
(* A K pH)
Saudi coalition air raids and shelling day by day
Feb. 25: https://www.facebook.com/lcrdye/photos/a.551858951631141/1948612535289102/
Feb. 24: https://www.facebook.com/lcrdye/photos/a.551858951631141/1948611435289212/
Feb. 23: https://www.facebook.com/lcrdye/photos/a.551858951631141/1948610668622622/
Feb. 22: https://www.facebook.com/lcrdye/photos/a.551858951631141/1948610278622661/
Feb. 21: https://www.facebook.com/lcrdye/photos/a.551858951631141/1948609858622703/
(A K)
Fünf Zivilisten bei Angriff getötet
In der jemenitischen Hafenstadt Hodeida sind bei einem Angriff auf ein Haus fünf Zivilisten getötet worden.
Regierungstruppen erklärten, das Gebäude sei von Granaten der Huthi-Rebellen getroffen worden. Die Rebellen machten ihrerseits Luftangriffe der Regierungskoalition dafür verantwortlich.
https://www.deutschlandfunk.de/jemen-fuenf-zivilisten-bei-angriff-getoetet.1939.de.html
Mein Kommentar: Die Indizien deuten darauf hin, dass die Version der Huthis wahrscheinlicher ist.
(* A K pH)
Aggression raids kill, injure 8 in Hodeida
5 civilians were killed and 3 others wounded on Sunday in two raids by the US-Saudi aggression on Hodeida province, a security official said.
The official added the US-Saudi aggression fighter jets waged two raids on Saber Feteni's house in al-Rabsa residential neighborhood in al-Hawak district in Hodeida, killing the five civilians and injuring the three others.
https://www.saba.ye/en/news3130411.htm
https://hodhodyemennews.net/2021/02/28/five-civilians-killed-in-saudi-shelling-of-hodeidah/
https://debriefer.net/en/news-23457.html
Map: https://twitter.com/HussainBukhaiti/status/1365816881085579266
Photos, film: https://www.ansarollah.com/archives/414898 = https://alkhabaralyemeni.net/2021/02/28/119990 = https://ye.mainlist.net/86928/
Films: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BB7g0QrAtKM
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7nshcm_UvF8
Comment by Sarah Leah Whitson, HRW: In case you thought that by ending US support for war in #Yemen MBS would stop terrorizing the men, women and children of Yemen? I In case you claimed "he got the message", know that this sadistic deranged dude can't really hear anything but "yes, master, you are right"
https://twitter.com/sarahleah1/status/1366037770607673344
(A K pH)
More Saudi coalition air raids
https://english.almasirah.net/post/18021/US-Saudi-Aggrition-s-Daily-Update-for-Sunday%2C-Feb.28.2021 Several prov.
https://www.saba.ye/en/news3130398.htm Marib p.
https://www.saba.ye/en/news3130250.htm Marib p.
https://www.saba.ye/en/news3130238.htm Marib p.
cp17 Kriegsereignisse / Theater of War
Siehe / Look at cp1, cp4, 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)
Masam Dismantles 1,015 Houthi Mines in February's 4th Week
King Salman Humanitarian Aid and Relief Center (KSrelief)'s Masam Project for Clearing Mines in Yemen dismantled 1,015 Houthi-laid mines in several regions during the fourth week of February 2021.
http://en.adenpress.news/news/32355
(A K pH)
Mercenaries shelling injures 7 civilians in Taiz
7 citizens, including a woman, were injured on Saturday evening by the US-Saudi aggression's mercenaries' shelling on residential neighborhoods in Salah district in Taiz province.
An official in the local authority said three mortar shells were fired by the mercenaries towards residential neighborhoods in al-Qasr, al-Jumlah and al-Sallal areas in Salah causing the injured of the 7 citizens, including the woman, one of them seriously injured.
https://www.saba.ye/en/news3130409.htm
(A K)
Saudi-Arabiens Luftabwehr vereitelt weiteren Angriff über Riad
Saudi-Arabiens Luftabwehr hat über der Hauptstadt Riad erneut einen Angriff abgewehrt. Dort sei eine ballistische Rakete der Huthi-Rebellen abgefangen und zerstört worden, teilte das Militärbündnis am Samstagabend mit, das im Jemen gegen die Huthis kämpft. In einem Video, das den Vorfall zeigen soll, ist eine Explosion am Nachthimmel zu sehen. Stunden zuvor hatte das Militärbündnis nach eigenen Angaben auch eine Drohne abgefangen, mit denen die Huthis die Stadt Chamis Muschait im Süden des Landes angegriffen hätten. Zunächst bekannte sich niemand dazu.
https://www.nzz.ch/international/saudi-arabiens-luftabwehr-vereitelt-weiteren-angriff-ueber-riad-ld.1604164 = https://www.volksblatt.li/nachrichten/International/Politik/sda/6305171/saudi-arabiens-luftabwehr-vereitelt-weiteren-angriff-uber-riad
Film: https://twitter.com/sebusher/status/1365741704259776523 = https://twitter.com/ELINTNews/status/1365730188483563522
Photos: https://www.spa.gov.sa/viewfullstory.php?lang=en&newsid=2195454
https://debriefer.net/en/news-23450.html
https://twitter.com/sebusher/status/1365973171908804616
(A K pH)
Army drone air force carries out Fifth Deterrence Balance operation in Saudi depth
The drone air and missile force carried out a large joint offensive operation towards the Saudi depth, "Operation Fifth Deterrence Balance", Armed forces official spokesman Brig. Gen. Yahya Sare'i said on Sunday.
A ballistic missile (Zulfiqar) and fifteen drones, including nine drones, type of Sammad 3, targeted sensitive locations in the capital of the Saudi enemy, Riyadh, Sare'i said.
Six Qasef-2k drones targeted military sites in the regions of Abha and Khamis Mushait, and the hit was accurate, he added.
He pointed out the fifth deterrent balance process continued from Saturday evening until this morning, stressing that the operations are continuing and will expand more and more as long as the aggression and siege on Yemen continues.
https://www.saba.ye/en/news3130432.htm
and also https://en.mehrnews.com/news/170489/Yemenis-target-Saudi-soil-with-15-UAVs-ballistic-missile
(A K pS)
Coalition to Restore Legitimacy in Yemen: Interception, Destruction of (1) Ballistic Missile Toward (Riyadh), 6 Bomb-Laden UAVs Toward the Kingdom Launched by Terrorist Iran-Backed Houthi Militia to Target Civilians and Civilian Objects
Statement by the Official Spokesman of the Coalition to Restore Legitimacy in Yemen Brigadier General Turki Al-Malki
“Joint Coalition Forces have intercepted and destroyed Saturday night and Sunday morning (27-28 February 2021) (1) ballistic missile toward (Riyadh) launched by the terrorist, Iran-backed Houthi militia, and (6) bomb-laden UAVs toward the Kingdom launched deliberately and systematically to target civilians and civilian objects in the Southern Region, Jazan and Khamis Mushait.
https://www.spa.gov.sa/viewfullstory.php?lang=en&newsid=2195368
Film: https://twitter.com/sebusher/status/1365741704259776523 = https://twitter.com/ELINTNews/status/1365730188483563522
Photos: https://www.spa.gov.sa/viewfullstory.php?lang=en&newsid=2195454
https://debriefer.net/en/news-23450.html
https://twitter.com/sebusher/status/1365973171908804616
My comment: Khamis Mushait hosts Saudi Arabia’s main air force base (fighter jets bombing Yemen start from there), it’s no “civilian target”.
and
(A K pS)
Civil Defense Teams Respond to Scattered Debris of Ballistic Missile Launched by Terrorist, Iran-Backed Houthi Militia
The official spokesman of the General Directorate of Civil Defense Lt Col Mohammed Al-Hammadi stated that civil defense teams in Riyadh have responded Saturday night (27 February 2021) to the scattered debris of the ballistic missile launched by elements of the terrorist, Iran-backed Houthi militia from Yemen toward the Capital Riyadh, and was intercepted and destroyed.
Some of the scattered debris resulted in material damage to one house, and thankfully no human injuries or deaths were sustained.
https://www.spa.gov.sa/viewfullstory.php?lang=en&newsid=2195369
(A K pS)
Up to 8500 Houthi laid landmines, UXO in Shabwa destroyed
Engineering teams of the National Program for Demining (NPD) and Saudi Demining Program in Yemen “MASM” reported to have destroyed 8500 of landmines and unexploded ordnances (UXO) in Shabwa governorate.
http://en.26sepnews.net/2021/02/27/up-to-8500-houthi-laid-landmines-uxo-in-shabwa-destroyed/
(A K pH)
At least one civilian killed in Saudi bombing of Saada
The attacks hit a citizen’s home in Ghamer border district, which led to the death of a citizen, the official explained.
https://hodhodyemennews.net/2021/02/26/at-least-one-civilian-killed-in-saudi-bombing-of-saada/
(A K pS)
The Coalition to Restore Legitimacy in Yemen: Interception, Destruction of Bomb-Laden UAV Launched by Terrorist, Iran-Backed Houthi Militia Toward Khamis Mushait City
https://www.spa.gov.sa/viewfullstory.php?lang=en&newsid=2195201
My comment: At this place there is the main Saudi air force base. Claiming the Houthis had targeted a civilian target there is ridiculous.
(A K pS)
Coalition to Restore Legitimacy in Yemen: Interception, Destruction of Ballistic Missile Launched by Terrorist, Iran-Backed Houthi Militia Toward the Kingdom
https://www.spa.gov.sa/viewfullstory.php?lang=en&newsid=2195176
(A K pS)
The Coalition to Restore Legitimacy in Yemen: Interception, Destruction of Bomb-Laden UAV Launched by Terrorist, Iran-Backed Houthi Militia Toward Southern Region
https://www.spa.gov.sa/viewfullstory.php?lang=en&newsid=2195075
(A K)
Dutzende weitere Tote bei Kämpfen um jemenitische Provinz Marib
Etwa 50 Soldaten und Rebellen wurden in der strategisch bedeutsamen Provinz am Samstag getötet. Unter ihnen auch der Kommandant Abdel Ghani Shaalan
Bei erneuten Kämpfen in Jemens strategisch bedeutsamer Provinz Marib sind am Samstag etwa 50 Soldaten und Rebellen getötet worden. Es seien "mehr als 28" schiitische Houthi-Rebellen sowie 22 Mitglieder der Regierungstruppen in den vergangenen 24 Stunden gestorben, hieß es am Samstag aus Armeekreisen. Unter ihnen sei auch der Kommandant eines Sondereinsatzkommandos, General Abdel Ghani Shaalan.
https://www.derstandard.de/story/2000124533462/dutzende-weitere-tote-bei-kaempfen-um-jemenitische-provinz-marib = https://orf.at/stories/3203276/
und
(A K)
Mehr als 60 Tote bei neuerlichen Kämpfen im Jemen
Bei erneuten Kämpfen in der Provinz Marib im Jemen sind mehr als 60 Kämpfer getötet worden. Nach Regierungsangaben vom Freitag starben 34 Houthi-Rebellen und mindestens 27 regierungstreue Kämpfer. Es seien die verlustreichsten Kämpfe seit dem Beginn der Houthi-Offensive auf Marib vor zweieinhalb Wochen. Die vom Iran unterstützten Houthi-Rebellen versuchen seit über einem Jahr die Stadt, die 120 Kilometer östlich der Hauptstadt Sanaa liegt, unter ihre Kontrolle zu bekommen.
https://www.derstandard.at/story/2000124523592/mehr-als-60-tote-bei-neuerlichen-kaempfen-im-jemen?ref=rss = https://de.nachrichten.yahoo.com/mehr-60-tote-neuerlichen-k%C3%A4mpfen-185024579.html
(* B K P)
Schlacht der Entscheidung: Ansarullah-Bewegung startet große Offensive auf Ma'rib
Die von Iran unterstützten Huthis haben eine Großoffensive auf strategische Stadt Ma'rib gestartet. Für Riad und Verbündete geht es bei dieser Offensive um alles oder nichts.
Die Stadt ist das Herz der jemenitischen Erdöl- und Erdgaswirtschaft, 120 Kilometer östlich der Hauptstadt Sanaa. Die Huthis stoßen seit Tagen von Westen in die Provinz Ma'rib vor. Sie haben bislang geschafft, bis auf 25 Kilometer heranzurücken trotz massiver Luftangriffe der von Saudi-Arabien geführten Militärkoalition.
Ma'rib ist die letzte Hochburg der international anerkannten Regierung von Präsident Abd Rabbo Mansour Hadi im Norden. Sie ist von enormer strategischer Bedeutung, da hier die letzte verbliebene Straße auf Regierungsgebiet nach Saudi-Arabien verläuft. Wenn die Stadt fällt, ist die von Saudi-Arabien geführte Militärkoalition faktisch in ihrer Mission im umkämpften Jemen gescheitert. Saudi-Arabien dürfte insofern alles daransetzen, um den Fall von Ma'rib zu verhindern. Für Riad und US-Verbündete geht es um alles oder nichts. Mit ihrer Großoffensive will die Ansarullah-Bewegung den Bürgerkrieg für sich entscheiden
Der jemenitische [Sanaa-Reg.] Informationsminister Dhaifallah al-Shami sagte, die Vereinigten Staaten hätten al-Qaida- und IS-Takfiri-Terroristen nach Ma'rib entsandt, um zu verhindern, dass Ansarullah weitere Gewinne erzielen könne, vermeldete Press TV.
https://de.rt.com/der-nahe-osten/113708-schlacht-entscheidung-ansarollah-bewegung-startet/
(* A K)
Fighting in war-torn Yemen's Marib province between government forces and Houthi rebels killed around 50 combatants, including a special forces commander, a government source said Saturday.
"Twenty-two members of the government forces and more than 28 rebels have died in the last 24 hours in the fighting that continues unabated on the fronts in Marib province," a government source was quoted as saying by the Agence France-Presse (AFP).
A Saudi-led coalition launched more than 12 airstrikes in support of government forces on the ground, according to rebel channel Al Masirah.
and
(A K pH)
Yemen: Marib witnesses fierce battle in dam areas
Marib province on Monday witnessed fierce battles between the Yemen army of Sanaa on the one hand, and between militant Salafi groups and al-Qaeda elements on the other hand.
Local sources in the Marib reported that Yemen army had responded to a large advance of armed groups affiliated with the coalition forces in the direction of Jabal al-Balq tribal.
The sources reported that Yemen army advanced towards the sites of the coalition forces backed by Salafi fighters and al-Qaeda operatives in the Central Balk and Western Balq, surrounding the Marib Dam, after carrying out a successful detour, as it witnesses fierce battles between the two sides.
https://en.abna24.com/news//yemen-marib-witnesses-fierce-battle-in-dam-areas_1119457.html
and
(* A K pS)
Houthis lost more than 3000 militants in three weeks offensive: Source
https://www.alsahwa-yemen.net/en/p-45389
and
(* A K pS)
Civilians feel the impact as Yemen rebels press offensive in Marib
Houthi missiles hit Marib city, while families in displacement camps are forced to flee once again
Missiles fired by Yemen's Iran-backed Houthi rebels hit residential areas in the city of Marib at the weekend, as fierce fighting forced thousands of families displaced by the civil war to flee once again.
Two of the weapons fell in the Yemen Gas Company neighbourhood of Marib city on Saturday night, while four missiles hit Al Rawdha neighbourhood in the city centre the night before, residents told The National.
"One of the missiles fired by the Houthis fell near my house. It caused huge destruction to a grocery store and minor damage to our houses," a resident of Al Rawdha said.
The missile strikes came as fierce clashes took place around Al Balaq mountain west of the city between the rebels and tribal fighters backed by the Saudi-led coalition supporting the government.
The pro-government forces regained full control over the mountain, which overlooks the city and the Marib Dam.
"Our fighters, along with divisions from the pro-government forces, drove out the Houthis from around Al Balaq and secured the whole mountain chain west of the city," a tribal source told The National on Sunday.
"Dozens of Houthi fighters were killed in the clashes, their bodies are still scattered around the mountain."
(A K pH)
Salvation Government Ensures Support to Marib's Battle
Yemeni Prime Minister, Abdulaziz bin Habtoor, affirmed that the battle to liberate what remains of Marib Governorate is one of the most important strategic battles that the Yemeni People have fought against the forces of US-Saudi aggression, for six years.
and
(A K pH)
[Sanaa gov.] Marib Governor: Islah Party Transformed Parts of Marib into Camps for Terrorist Groups
Governor of Marib governorate confirmed on Saturday that the Islah Party has transformed parts of the governorate into camps for US-Saudi aggression, takfiri and criminal individuals.
Ali Mohammed Tuaiman said that Marib is currently witnessing a battle for Yemen's victory, defeating aggression and expelling the invaders and occupiers.
The governor said, "The US-Saudi crimes against Yemeni People are obvious, which include the abduction of women and men, their torture, their absence from their families, and the displacement of the people of the province."
and
(A K pH)
US-Saudi Aggression Focuses Its Targeting on Marib for Its Importance for Yemen
The head of the [Sanaa gov.] Military Intelligence Authority, Major General Abdullah Al-Hakim, confirmed on Saturday that the US-Saudi aggression focused its targeting of Marib governorate more than other governorates, as it is an important power center for the country and the importance of the role of its people.
and
(A K pS)
Fighting ystrday in #Marib's Serwah wr unprecedent. Houthis attacked with around 500 fighters, using ballistic missiles, drones, & mortars, but without ground gains. Army media said around 350 Houthis killed & dozens captured. While around 70 killed & injured from govt forces (photos)
https://twitter.com/Alsakaniali/status/1365755508553093121
and
(* A K pS)
[Hadi gov.] Ministry of Foreign Affairs accuses INGOs of double standards in dealing with the humanitarian crisis in Yemen
Yemen’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Expatriates accused on Saturday International Non-Government Organizations (INGOs) of turning a blind eye to risks facing IDPs and civilians in Marib, home to over two million IDPs, which has been under constant attacks by the Iran-backed Houthi rebels since early February.
“Since the Houthi Coup in September 2014, the governorate of Marib has become a home for more than two million displaced people who fled the brutality and oppression of the Houthi militia in search of safety., the ministry said in a statement. “Since the beginning of February 2021, Marib has endured the largest and fiercest offensive in which Houthis used all kinds of heavy weapons, including artillery, drone bombs, and ballistic missiles, and in
https://republicanyemen.net/archives/27338
and full text: https://twitter.com/yemen_mofa/status/1365675907579604996
and
(A K pS)
Films; Houthis shelling resident districts
https://twitter.com/RepYemenEnglish/status/1365730921580621826
https://twitter.com/abduhothifi/status/1365806620056440832 = https://twitter.com/mabaabbad/status/1365719787649855511
https://twitter.com/Alsakaniali/status/1365721019349151744
Photo: https://twitter.com/EuroMedYemen/status/1365915913212620800
and
(A K pS)
[Hadi gov.] Army retakes Marib outskirts
https://www.alsahwa-yemen.net/en/p-45365 = https://www.alsahwa-yemen.net/en/p-45357
and
(* A K pH)
Analysis: Saudi coalition’s last breaths in battle against Yemenis in Marib
Latest reports from the battle of the Yemeni army and popular committees against mercenaries and militants loyal to the resigned Yemeni President Abd Rabbuh Mansour Hadi suggest that the Yemeni nationalist forces have tightened Ma’rib encirclement and repelled heavy push by the opposite side to retake what it lost over the past few days
In an interview with Islamic Republic News Agency (IRNA) on Thursday, Major General Abdullah Hassan al-Jafari of Yemeni army said that the whole of Ma'rib province is under the control of the army and popular committees, and only Ma’rib the city is held by the Saudi mercenaries and terrorist groups.
“A short time separates us from its liberation,” he added
and
(A K)
Marib battles leave scores killed, injured
Tens of people were killed or injured in the fiercest battles seen by the Yemeni northeastern city of Marib late on Friday and early Saturday between the official government troops and Houthi fighters.
The battles raged in the western fronts of Sirwah, Mass, al-Kasara and Hailan, local sources said, after Houthi attacks aimed to surprise and confuse the national army so as to advance towards the oil-rich city.
https://debriefer.net/en/news-23430.html
and by the Hadi gov. army: http://en.26sepnews.net/2021/02/27/dozens-of-houthi-militants-killed-northwest-of-marib/ and http://en.26sepnews.net/2021/02/27/34-houthi-militants-killed-dozens-injured-in-sarwah-west-of-marib/
(A K pS)
SAM's monitoring team has documented numerous tweets, statements, and some interviews that have implications of Houthis’ actual orientation of conducting a large military operation in #Marib city, relying on their speeches arousing the fighters' religious emotions.
https://twitter.com/SAM4rights/status/1365274953919078401
and
(A K pH)
[Sanaa gov.] Yemeni forces make rapid advances near Ma’rib
https://hodhodyemennews.net/2021/02/26/yemeni-forces-make-rapid-advances-near-marib/
and
(A K pH)
Dozens of mercenaries reported dead after heavy explosion in coalition camp
Dozens of Saudi-led coalition recruits were killed and others were wounded on Thursday, in a huge explosion hitting their camp in Sahn al-Jin area, north of Ma’rib city.
Local sources reported that the explosion, the causes of which were not known yet, occurred in the joint operations room of the coalition forces in the Sahn al-Jin camp.
The explosion occurred during a meeting of senior commanders loyal to the coalition led by Saghir bin Aziz, chief of staff of the “Hadi government” forces, the sources explained.
The sources noted that the explosion caused a number of deaths and injuries among the coalition forces, including military leaders. No details have been released by the invading coalition as to their losses.
and
(A K pS)
In 6 hours, 9 missiles fell on #Mareb via @EntsarAli. #Houthis intensify attacks ignoring UNSC calls to cease escalations. Houthis control internet in Mareb making it weak, affecting reports on what’s happening. So follow @EntsarAli @AlqadhiYasmin bravely reporting from inside.
https://twitter.com/RashaJarhum/status/1365612499635212290
and
(A K pS)
Houthis shell Marib populated areas defy UNSC: [Hadi gov.] Info minister
The Houthi group shelled residential quarters in the Yemeni northeastern city of Marib on Friday, blatantly defying the international will and the UN Security Council's resolutions, the Yemeni information minister tweeted.
The group continues escalating its suicide attacks on Marib's different fronts and fired five ballistic missiles at populated quarters and civilians in Marib, Moammar al-Eryani added.
https://debriefer.net/en/news-23427.html
and
(A K pS)
[Hadi] Government forces reach strategic Mas military camp in Marib, says minister
https://debriefer.net/en/news-23396.html
and
(A K pS)
More than 60 killed in Yemen as Iran-backed Houthi militia continues offensive
The dead included at least 27 pro-government forces and 34 Houthi fighters, a government source told AFP, adding it was the “most violent” day of clashes since fighting erupted earlier this month.
and also https://www.france24.com/en/live-news/20210226-over-60-fighters-killed-in-clashes-in-yemen-s-marib = https://www.dailymail.co.uk/wires/afp/article-9305389/Over-60-fighters-killed-clashes-Yemens-Marib.html
(A K)
Officials: Heavy fighting kills 27 people in central Yemen
Heavy fighting between rebels and government forces in Yemen’s oil-rich Marib has killed at least 27 people, tribal leaders and security officials said Friday, amid a resurgence of violence in the area.
The officials, speaking on the condition of anonymity as they were not authorized to talk to the media, said the uptick in violence came over the past twenty-four hours, adding that most of the dead were rebel fighters.
https://apnews.com/article/civil-wars-middle-east-yemen-sanaa-4348a0eebe3e8229dcd057d467ad5736
(A K pH)
Several Killed as [Sanaa gov.] Yemeni Army, Allies Fighters Launch Missile Strike on Saudi-Led Forces in Ma’rib
Yemeni army forces and allied fighters from Popular Committees launched a missile strike against a position of Saudi-led militants in Yemen's strategic central province of Ma’rib, killing and wounding scores of them.
Yemeni military sources, speaking on condition of anonymity, told Lebanon-based and Arabic-language al-Mayadeen television news network that the missile struck with precision a gathering of Saudi-led military commanders and officers in the so-called Third Military Region of Ma’rib on Thursday.
The sources added that a number of senior Saudi-led mercenaries were killed and wounded as a result.
Earlier in the day, an unnamed source said the Yemeni military forces and Popular Committees fighters had repelled an attack by Saudi-backed militants loyal to Yemen's former president Abd Rabbuh Mansur against al-Zour area in the Sirwah district.
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)
Fünf Zivilisten bei Angriff getötet
In der jemenitischen Hafenstadt Hodeida sind bei einem Angriff auf ein Haus fünf Zivilisten getötet worden.
Regierungstruppen erklärten, das Gebäude sei von Granaten der Huthi-Rebellen getroffen worden. Die Rebellen machten ihrerseits Luftangriffe der Regierungskoalition dafür verantwortlich.
https://www.deutschlandfunk.de/jemen-fuenf-zivilisten-bei-angriff-getoetet.1939.de.html
(* A K pH)
Aggression raids kill, injure 8 in Hodeida
5 civilians were killed and 3 others wounded on Sunday in two raids by the US-Saudi aggression on Hodeida province, a security official said.
The official added the US-Saudi aggression fighter jets waged two raids on Saber Feteni's house in al-Rabsa residential neighborhood in al-Hawak district in Hodeida, killing the five civilians and injuring the three others.
https://www.saba.ye/en/news3130411.htm
https://hodhodyemennews.net/2021/02/28/five-civilians-killed-in-saudi-shelling-of-hodeidah/
https://debriefer.net/en/news-23457.html
Map: https://twitter.com/HussainBukhaiti/status/1365816881085579266
Photos, film: https://www.ansarollah.com/archives/414898 = https://alkhabaralyemeni.net/2021/02/28/119990 = https://ye.mainlist.net/86928/
Films: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BB7g0QrAtKM
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7nshcm_UvF8
while the anti-Houthi side claims Houthi shelling did it:
(A K pS)
Houthi shelling kills 5 civilians south Hudaydah
At least five civilians were killed and three others wounded Saturday when a Houthi-launched shell landed in a residential area, south of the port city of Hudaydah.
A shell hit a civilian home Saturday night in Al-Hook district, south of Hudaydah, leaving five civilians killed and three others wounded, a local source said.
According to a medical source, who requested to be unidentified, two of the civilian causalities were women.
https://republicanyemen.net/archives/27346
and also https://www.arabnews.com/node/1817501/middle-east
https://www.alsahwa-yemen.net/en/p-45414
in Arabic: https://al-ain.com/article/1614487632 and https://www.yemenakhbar.com/2719369
My comment: But, the place is in Houthi-held territory – they hardly would shell themselves. The victims have been brought to a hospital in Houthi-held territory. The Hadi gov. official “sharing graphic images of the dead” took them from Ansarullah Media Center. And, abnother point: The earliest recording of this attack was by the Houthi side; it seems the anti-Houthi story just emerged to counter the Houthi side’s objections. here the tweet by the Houthi governor of Hodeidah: https://twitter.com/mohammed_quhim/status/1365795869367410689 .
and meanwhile, Houthi forces had downed the drone which had bombed this house:
(A K pH)
This is the spy drone, laden with bombs, that was downed today, by Houthi fighters, over Hayss, Hodeida, west of Yemen, after it had violated the Stockholm agreement (film photos)
https://twitter.com/narrabyee/status/1366405485520445440
https://en.abna24.com/news//latest-updates-on-yemen-2-march-2021_1119885.html
and here, the Sanaa government governor of Hodeidah (at the very left in the 1. photo) and UN personal is visiting the site (photos): https://twitter.com/MediaHodeidah/status/1366437195784089607
and
(A K P)
U.N. condemns attack in Yemen's Hodeidah that killed five civilians
UNMHA, the mission overseeing a fragile peace deal in the Red Sea coastal area, did not specify the source of the attack that hit a house in Al Hawak residential area late on Saturday.
It said in a statement that the district had witnessed increasingly intense exchange of fire in recent months between the Saudi-led military coalition that backs the internationally recognised government and the Iran-aligned Houthi movement.
Pro-government website alsahil.net said the house was struck by Houthi mortar fire. The Houthi-run Al Masirah channel blamed coalition air strikes.
UNMHA strongly condemns killing of civilians in Hodeidah
the UN Mission to Support the Hodeidah Agreement (UNMHA) wrote on its official Twitter account on Sunday.
"UNMHA strongly condemns such acts of violence that breach the Hodeidah Agreement and demands that the parties refrain from hitting residential areas and causing more suffering to a population in an already dire situation."
http://en.adenpress.news/news/32357
and UNMHA tweet. https://twitter.com/UN_Hudaydah/status/1365972322369343489
(A K pS)
Film: Al Houthi militia targeting citizens' homes in Hays, south of Hodeidah
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1_9FDwiq6Rc
(A K pH)
Daily violations, as claimed by the Houthi side
Vorige / Previous:
https://www.freitag.de/autoren/dklose/jemenkrieg-mosaik-721-yemen-war-mosaic-721
Jemenkrieg-Mosaik 1-721 / Yemen War Mosaic 1-721:
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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