Dies ist die Fortsetzung von Jemenkrieg-Mosaik 750, Teil 1 / This is the sequel of Yemen War Mosaic 750, part 1:
https://www.freitag.de/autoren/dklose/jemenkrieg-mosaik-750-yemen-war-mosaic-750
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
cp12 Andere Länder / Other countries
cp13a Waffenhandel / Arms trade
cp13b Söldner / Mercenaries
cp13c Wirtschaft / Economy
cp14 Terrorismus / Terrorism
cp15 Propaganda
cp16 Saudische Luftangriffe / Saudi air raids
cp17 Kriegsereignisse / Theater of War
cp17a Kriegsereignisse: Schlacht um Marib / Theater of War: Marib battle
cp18 Kampf um Hodeidah / Hodeidah battle
cp19 Sonstiges / Other
Klassifizierung / Classification
***
**
*
(Kein Stern / No star)
? = Keine Einschatzung / No rating
A = Aktuell / Current news
B = Hintergrund / Background
C = Chronik / Chronicle
D = Details
E = Wirtschaft / Economy
H = Humanitäre Fragen / Humanitarian questions
K = Krieg / War
P = Politik / Politics
pH = Pro-Houthi
pS = Pro-Saudi
T = Terrorismus / Terrorism
cp7 UNO und Friedensgespräche / UN and peace talks
(A P)
Yemen committee accuses UN humanitarian office of aiding Iran-backed Houthis
Yemen's national Committee for Relief Aid has accused the UN humanitarian office, OCHA, of providing assistance to the Iran-backed Houthi militants who have embroiled the country in a devastating conflict for the past six years.
The Chairman of the Committee's office in Aljawf and the deputy governor of the northern province Abdullah al-Hashidi said the OCHA paid cash assistance to the Houthi fighters as per a Houthi distorted register of the IDPs.
https://www.alsahwa-yemen.net/en/p-47697
(A B P)
UAE@UNSC can help solve many issues
The UAE has gained the acceptance of the international community, winning the non-permanent membership of the Security Council with 179 votes cast by the General Assembly members, thanks to its balanced policies. The recommendation of the Arab League and the Asia-Pacific Group gave more credence to its efforts towards resolving several pending issues in the Middle East.
The UAE carried its diplomatic work under the slogan ‘Stronger United, which has been its principle since the foundation of the union of the seven emirates. The country has also made efforts to reinforce the GCC through unified opinions as it has been instrumental in supporting regional stability by weakening terrorist groups and their ideologies.
UAE Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan has stated that the work is guided by the UAE’s understanding of the crises, besides its close ties with countries.
Some of the top issues expected to be brought to the Security Council this year are escalating conflicts in the region and Iran, which has violated the implementation of Resolution 2231. Let’s not forget Iran’s isolation, which garnered only one vote during the Security Council membership voting. Iran has allies like Russia and China and both enjoy the “Veto power”.
https://www.khaleejtimes.com/opinion-editorial/uaeunsc-can-help-solve-many-issues
My remark: from UAE, biased.
(* B P)
UN’s new envoy has the credentials to resolve Yemen crisis
One should be realistic about the pace, no matter how urgent the situation might be. The crisis in Yemen has regional and international dimensions that should be deconstructed and dealt with in order to guide the peace process in the right direction. Here are some suggestions for the new envoy to consider.
First, a sustainable ceasefire should be prioritized. Previous attempts failed in part because the UN did not have monitors on the ground to report violations. The government of Yemen has welcomed the UN secretary-general’s call last year for a global ceasefire and Saudi Arabia has launched an important initiative that also includes a ceasefire. The UN could help gain greater support for these initiatives, operationalize them and ensure ceasefire sustainability.
Second, the UN should seriously consider establishing a peace mission in Yemen. Starting with ceasefire observers, the mission should extend to peacekeeping and peace building, as it has done in other hotspots around the world, including places less precarious than Yemen.
Third, humanitarian assistance is critical and should continue unfettered. The obstruction or diversion of aid, harassment of aid workers, and looting of supplies or allowing them to rot in warehouses should not be allowed. The new envoy should make it very clear that aid may not be used as a tool for political bargaining or self-enrichment.
Fourth, the search for a political solution should be resumed immediately, without waiting for a ceasefire. The shape of the political outcome must be articulated according to Yemenis’ own wishes: A democratic, secular and decentralized or federal system.
https://www.arabnews.com/node/1889016
My remark: from Saudi Arabia, but moderate.
(A P)
Envoy: Saudis Ought to Accept Talks, Pull Out of Yemen
The Saudi-led military coalition which has suffered successive defeats in the face of Yemeni forces has no choice but to move towards negotiations, withdraw from Yemen, and compensate people of Yemen for the damages caused by seven years of war, Yemen’s envoy to Iran said.
(A P)
Houthis reiterate readiness for prisoner swap with Yemeni gov't
The Iranian-backed Houthi group is fully ready for striking an inclusive prisoner swap deal with the Yemeni government, chief of the Houthi prisoner committee said Sunday.
If the other party agrees, the group is prepared to directly engage in a swap including all prisoners detained by the two parties, Abdul Kader al-Murtadha added at meeting with the ICRC president, Pitter Maurer.
https://debriefer.net/en/news-25957.html
cp8 Saudi-Arabien / Saudi Arabia
(A P)
Activist account says #Saudi Clan govt is releasing 1000s of political prisoners.
https://twitter.com/AliAlAhmed_en/status/1413523616826896389
referring to https://twitter.com/shenko37292918/status/1413517205996806148
(A P)
Authorities in #SaudiArabia raided the home of Dr. Mohmmed bin Ali Al-Haazmi and took him to an unknown location. We demand that the authities explain why he was detained and confirm if he has had access to a lawyer of his choice and his family.
https://twitter.com/SANAD_en/status/1413518747575496705
(A P)
Confirmed: Dr. AbdulAziz AlDhakeel, a leading economist has been released from #Saudi Clan prison, his son @Abdulhakim_01 has confirmed to me. I want to thank certain someone for working on it.
https://twitter.com/AliAlAhmed_en/status/1413321565937221633
(A P)
More photos emerging from behind the wall inside #Saudi controlled #Arabia of people burning pic of foreign-backed dictator @KingSalman in preparation for nationwide protests #July18 (photo)
https://twitter.com/AliAlAhmed_en/status/1413126409451622400
(* A E P)
Saudis May Work Longer, Pay More to Fill Pension Fund Gap
Saudi Arabia is considering revamping the kingdom’s pension system to require citizens to work longer and contribute more, another hit to living standards that could undermine public support for Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s efforts to reshape the oil-reliant economy.
The government -- faced with an estimated actuarial gap of 800 billion riyals ($213 billion) at the state-controlled pension fund -- is weighing proposals to increase the retirement age, according to three people familiar with the matter, who asked not to be identified to discuss confidential deliberations. It could also require workers to contribute more of their salaries to the General Organization for Social Insurance, or GOSI, which manages both public and private sector pensions, the people said.
A final decision on the details of the changes and whether to implement them has not yet been made, the people said.
(A P)
Film: The video is from #Awamiya #Arafat_Day_Protest #Arafah_Day_Protest_People's Revolution
https://twitter.com/AliAlAhmed_en/status/1412496618147008521
cp8a Jamal Khashoggi
(* B P)
Opinion: New Khashoggi revelations show we don’t have the full story about his killing. The Biden administration must disclose what it knows.
Two recent revelations about the murder of Saudi journalist and Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi — including that four members of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s hit team, known as the “Tiger Squad,” received paramilitary training in the United States, and that Egypt allegedly provided them the lethal poison they used to kill Khashoggi — are just tips of an iceberg of information that still remains hidden.
Who else outside of Saudi Arabia was involved in this crime? What did U.S. officials know, and when, about plans to kill him? What else does the Biden administration know that it might not be telling us? Will they question Prince Khalid bin Salman, Saudi Arabia’s former ambassador to the United States and currently its deputy defense minister, during their meetings with him when he comes to Washington this week, about his own role in the murder, including phone records of his communications with Khashoggi?
President Biden has talked a good game about holding Khashoggi’s murderers accountable, even promising during his campaign to end arms sales to Saudi Arabia. But not only has his administration refused to sanction MBS — the chief architect of the murder — and continued arms sales under the moniker of “defensive weapons,” it now seems like it’s keeping a lid on critical information about Khashoggi’s killing.
While the administration gloated about its transparency when it finally released the two-page summary of the Office of the Director of National Intelligence’s report concluding that MBS ordered the crime, it’s still refusing, in a lawsuit pending against the intelligence community, to release the CIA’s records related to the killing. This includes the identities of those responsible and the audio recordings of the murder in the Saudi consulate in Istanbul, which Turkish intelligence gave them.
And the administration has refused, in a second suit, to release documents requested from U.S. intelligence agencies regarding who in the U.S. government might have known about the plans to kill Khashoggi, what they knew and whether they considered warning him. This is required by law, since he was a U.S. resident.
It’s very hard to believe that American officials were not closely monitoring the U.S.-trained Saudi hit men. They were certainly surveilling the top Saudi echelon: The CIA intercepted 11 WhatsApp messages from MBS to his senior henchman, Saud al-Qahtani, who orchestrated Khashoggi’s killing, in the hours before and after the murder, as well as the calls that the crown prince’s brother Khalid bin Salman made to Khashoggi soliciting him to go to Istanbul.
The Biden administration also won’t tell us what the CIA may have known about Egypt’s role, including who in Egypt’s government furnished the Saudis with the illegal narcotics, though it’s hard to imagine that Abbas Kamel, Egypt’s iron-fisted intelligence chief, didn’t know about it.
It’s clear that the Biden administration isn’t really interested in fundamentally altering its relationship with the unaccountable Saudi and Egyptian governments, much less ending its military and political support for both of them. Regardless of the State Department’s occasional, throwaway lines about human rights, values and democracy, the message that the despots ruling both those countries have taken from Washington is they need not worry that anything will radically change. The United States still has their back, no matter how awfully they continue to terrorize their citizens.
But the Biden administration has an absolute duty to protect people in the United States from targeted attacks abroad, like the Saudi plot to lure Khashoggi from Washington to Istanbul in order to kill him, and countless other efforts to spy on and abduct critics of Saudi Arabia in the United States since then.
We need to know what U.S. officials knew about the plot to kill Khashoggi, who those officials were and why they failed to warn him. Much of this information is critical to DAWN’s own civil lawsuit against MBS and his co-conspirators for Khashoggi’s murder, one of the very last chances for judicial accountability.
We also need to know what the Biden administration is doing to protect people in the United States right now from ongoing Saudi and Egyptian attacks on their critics abroad. And will the administration actually end the reckless training of security forces of abusive governments by the U.S. military and private American contractors? In some cases, that training has led to the killing of Americans, such as the 2019 Saudi air force officer’s attack on a U.S. military base in Florida that killed three and injured eight. Persisting in protecting and supporting the Middle East’s worst tyrants will always come back to hurt Americans, too, as we have painfully learned.
(* B P)
'He gave nobody a full view of his life': In his final days, Jamal Khashoggi juggled a secret wife in the U.S. and a fiancée in Turkey
The story of Khashoggi’s complicated personal life during the last year of his life is the subject of “A Tale of Two Women,” Episode 7 in the new season of Yahoo News’ “Conspiracyland” podcast, “The Secret Lives and Brutal Death of Jamal Khashoggi.” It is a story that overlaps with a period in which Khashoggi, as a columnist for the Washington Post, was becoming ever more forceful in his criticisms of the harsh crackdowns of Saudi Arabia’s de facto ruler, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, even comparing him at one point to Russian President Vladimir Putin.
It is also a period in which Saudi electronic surveillance of critics of Crown Prince Mohammed, also known as MBS, became ever more pervasive and oppressive. And, as “Conspiracyland” reveals, that surveillance even extended to Khashoggi’s love life, revealing vulnerabilities that MBS’s operatives were only too happy to exploit.
It is perhaps understandable that Khashoggi — repeatedly harassed online by his Saudi tormentors — wanted to keep his private life exactly that: private. That could well explain his failure to tell many of his U.S. friends about his relationship with Atr. But as she explains it, the Saudis, and their close allies in the United Arab Emirates, apparently did know about it,
and audio: https://play.acast.com/s/conspiracyland/episode7-ataleoftwowomen
and all other podcasts listed there below.
cp9 USA
Siehe / Look at cp1, cp9a
(A K P)
More than 100 groups demand Biden end 'unlawful' drone strikes
More than 100 organizations in the United States and around the world are urging President Biden to end U.S. drone strikes outside of traditional combat zones.
"We write to demand an end to the unlawful program of lethal strikes outside any recognized battlefield, including through the use of drones," the 113 organizations wrote in a letter to Biden obtained by The Hill ahead of its release Wednesday.
“We appreciate your stated commitments to ending ‘forever wars,’ promoting racial justice, and centering human rights in U.S. foreign policy,” they added. “Disavowing and ending the lethal strikes program is both a human rights and racial justice imperative in meeting these commitments. Twenty years into a war-based approach that has undermined and violated fundamental rights, we urge you to abandon it and embrace an approach that advances our collective human security.”
(B K P)
A New War Powers Resolution for the War in Yemen: Frequently Asked Questions
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1M1carEvM4uegfDZXJxL8AclN71w9bujhKIpp2c9bdYI/edit
and
(A K P)
Tell Congress to reintroduce a War Powers Resolution, because Yemen Can't Wait!
Despite Joe Biden's promise that he would end the war in Yemen, after 6 months of his presidency the war continues. We know that the Saudi-led war on Yemen can't continue without US support - logistically and diplomatically. The Saudi warplanes enforcing the deadly blockade are made right here in the USA. They require constant maintenance from US forces and contractors to stay in the air over Yemen. President Biden also continues to recognize a government based in Saudi Arabia as the legitimate government of Yemen.
Joe Biden is dragging his feet on Yemen. He's made promises, but he's yet to deliver. It's time for Congress to step up and reclaim their authority. Click here to tell your members of Congress to introduce a War Powers Resolution, as they did under President Trump.
https://secure.everyaction.com/DYo4JH2Z1UO6IhpCX9pSsg2
(B K P)
Film: For Peace in Yemen, US Must Admit Saudi Lost: Annelle Sheline
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yTN6be0H0og
(* A P)
No ‘Khashoggi ban’: Biden team criticized for hosting MBS brother
Khalid bid Salman is highest ranking Saudi to visit Washington since the US said MBS ordered Khashoggi’s murder.
The United States Biden administration is facing criticism from rights groups and anti-war advocates for its welcome of Saudi Arabia Prince Khalid bin Salman to Washington, DC, for high-level meetings this week.
“It’s tremendous hypocrisy on the part of the Biden Administration to act like it was going to transform the relationship with the Saudis,” said Medea Benjamin, co-founder of Code Pink, a women’s peace advocacy group in Washington, DC.
“The Biden administration is going against everything that it said it was going to do,” Benjamin told Al Jazeera on Thursday.
She added that it said it would have a different relationship with Saudi Arabia. “Biden talked about MBS being a pariah, and how he was going to make sure that the US was not supporting facilities in their war in Yemen.
“Yet in reality, he puts out the red carpet for MBS’s brother. He continues to sell weapons to Saudi Arabia. And he is keeping information from the public about the killing of Khashoggi,” Benjamin said.
Khalid bin Salman was the Saudi ambassador to the US at the time of Khashoggi’s murder. At the time he condemned “malicious leaks and grim rumors” surrounding Khashoggi’s disappearance on October 2, 2018, saying any claims that he was missing in the Istanbul consulate “or that the Kingdom’s authorities have detained him or killed him are absolutely false and baseless”.
“President Biden has talked a good game about holding Khashoggi’s murderers accountable, even promising during his campaign to end arms sales to Saudi Arabia,” Sarah Leah Whitson, executive director of Democracy for the Arab World Now (DAWN), said in an op-ed published in The Washington Post on July 6.
DAWN was founded by Khashoggi who was writing opinion columns for The Washington Post that were critical of Saudi Arabia’s monarchy at the time he was killed.
“But not only has his administration refused to sanction MBS — the chief architect of the murder — and continued arms sales under the moniker of ‘defensive weapons’, it now seems like it’s keeping a lid on critical information about Khashoggi’s killing,” Whitson wrote.
By hosting Prince Khalid, who is a “proxy” for MBS, the Biden administration is seeking to gain Saudi acquiescence to a renewed Iran nuclear weapons ban, and continue profitable arms sales to the oil-rich kingdom, Whitson told Al Jazeera.
“On the one hand they want to appear to be taking a tough stance on the Saudis … and the other hand they are hosting this guy who should have been number one to implement the Khashoggi ban,” Whitson said.
and
(B P)
Saudi Arabia’s Hushed Washington Visit
The visit of Khalid bin Salman has been met with little fanfare and proves Saudi Arabia is far from the “pariah” of Biden’s campaign pledge.
Prince Khalid’s visit was not publicly announced by either U.S. or Saudi officials and is the highest-profile visit by a Saudi official since the Biden administration declassified an intelligence assessment surrounding the killing of the Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi by a Saudi hit squad in Istanbul in 2018.
A recalibration? Biden initially held true to his promise that “America will never again check its principles at the door just to buy oil or sell weapons,” when he announced a pause in proposed weapons sales to the kingdom; the decision will likely be watered down to a suspension in the sale of air-to-ground offensive weaponry.
Yemen negotiations. Aside from bilateral ties, U.S. officials will likely bring up the war in Yemen, where peace plans between the Saudi-led coalition and Houthi rebels have yet to advance.
https://foreignpolicy.com/2021/07/07/saudi-arabia-washington-khalid-bin-salman/
(A P)
Saudi Arabia funds new digital news platform in U.S., launches White House lobbying effort
Saudi Arabia is funding a yet-to-be-announced digital news platform, which will have a studio in Washington, D.C., as the kingdom begins a new lobbying effort aimed at the White House and Congress.
The new effort, which had yet to be reported, is being backed by a subsidiary of the Saudi Technology Development and Investment Co., or Taqnia, according to new foreign lobbying disclosures filed with the Department of Justice.
Journalists and presenters involved in the project have past experience at Fox News, Al Jazeera, NBC and SiriusXM satellite radio.
The creation of what one of the documents calls a “news platform” comes as the kingdom has started hiring a new team of lobbyists as the Saudis seek access to President Joe Biden’s administration and the new Congress.
The subsidiary backing the initiative is Taqnia ETS, a company that focuses on engineering and technological services for Saudi Arabia.
PitchBook says Taqnia is based in Saudi Arabia, which “prefers to invest in the life sciences and health, security and defense, information and communication technology, material sciences, energy and environment and water technology sectors.”
(A P)
A message from Chargé d’Affaires Cathy Westley on the escalation in the southern governorates (text in image)
https://twitter.com/USEmbassyYemen/status/1413197481157009419
My comment: Nice advice by world’s greatest warmonger.
(* B P)
Biden Turns His Back on Yemen
While he is a welcome change from the incompetence, venality, and cruelty of the Trump Administration, Biden has continued the Obama and Trump Administrations' support for the Saudi-led war on Yemen.
Biden could have issued an executive order on his first day in office ending US support for the Saudi coalition. Biden's failure to do so means that Congress must act. In 2019, in an historic move, Congress passed a War Powers Resolution which would have ended all US assistance to the Saudi coalition. President Trump vetoed the resolution. Congress must pass a new War Powers Resolution, this time by veto-proof majorities in the House and Senate.
While he is a welcome change from the incompetence, venality, and cruelty of the Trump Administration, Biden has continued the Obama and Trump Administrations' support for the Saudi-led war on Yemen. Commentators like Jessica T. Matthews give Biden credit he does not yet deserve. We should hold our applause until Biden actually ends US support for Yemen's destruction.
https://www.commondreams.org/views/2021/07/08/biden-turns-his-back-yemen
(* B P)
Houthis unmoved so far by US diplomacy to end Yemen war
Over the last two months, the United States took some measures, which have further infuriated the Houthis.
The latest US pressure on the Houthis was seizing the group's TV channel website, Al-Masirah. On June 22, the US Justice Department said, "The United States seized 33 websites used by the Iranian Islamic Radio and Television Union (IRTVU) and three websites operated by Kata'ib Hizballah (KH), in violation of US sanctions."
These series of actions against the Houthis have added to the group's apprehension about the American role in Yemen. Mohammed Abdul-Salam, spokesman for the Houthi movement, said to Al-Masirah TV June 18 that the United States pursues its interests and plots in Yemen, using the humanitarian issues as a pretext. According to Abdul-Salam, the United States is by no means serious about ending the Saudi-led military aggression and blockade on Yemen.
Regardless of whether the US government is led by Democrats or Republicans, the Houthi rhetoric has maintained the same sense of disapproval of the American role in Yemen.
Mohammed Ali al-Houthi, a Houthi Supreme Political Council member, said the United States had not taken any tangible step to bring peace to Yemen. On June 28, he said in an interview with Al-Masirah TV, "The US officials' remarks regarding peace in Yemen are only for propaganda purposes, and we have not seen any practical action supporting those remarks."
Houthi does not believe that the Saudi-led coalition is the first decision-maker when it comes to the war in Yemen. He attributes the blockade and the war in Yemen to the United States. Houthi added, "It is the United States that has waged war against the people in Yemen, continues to bomb them with warplanes, imposes a siege on them and has occupied parts of Yemen through its allied forces."
The United States has been openly providing military support to the Saudi-led coalition, but Washington has no boots on the ground in Yemen. It also has no direct control of Yemen's ports and airports. Nonetheless, the Houthis see the US direct involvement in the war in Yemen as undeniable.
The Houthi attitude toward the United States has not changed over the past six months, and it does not seem it will alter in the near future. A political researcher in Houthi-controlled Sanaa spoke to Al-Monitor on condition of anonymity, saying that the United States cannot establish good ties with the Houthis now or in the years to come.
He noted, "The Houthis will hold talks with the Americans. But they will never believe or trust Washington. We had little optimism when Biden came to office. We thought his approach would encourage the Houthis to be more flexible and engage in talks in good faith. Sadly, the country has not even seen a lull in the fighting."
The Sanaa-based political researcher concluded, "Though the US has repeatedly urged the Houthis to stop their attacks on Marib, the group did the opposite. Swarms of Houthi fighters keep attempting to seize the city. The new US administration's kindness towards the Houthis has not led to any thaw or softened the group's hostile attitude towards America."
https://www.al-monitor.com/originals/2021/07/houthis-unmoved-so-far-us-diplomacy-end-yemen-war
(B P)
How the FBI played a role in the capture of Princess Latifa of Dubai
Latifa bint Mohammed al-Maktoum's escape plan was dashed in 2018, but how her father found her was a mystery. USA TODAY finds the FBI helped.
How Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid al-Maktoum found his daughter has been a mystery for more than three years – until now.
A USA TODAY investigation established that the FBI, responding to an urgent plea from the powerful Dubai leader's office, provided assistance essential to her capture.
The FBI obtained and provided data about the yacht's location to the Dubai government after officials thereclaimed the princess had been kidnapped and needed emergency aid to secure her release, according to multiple people familiar with the FBI's role in the highly sensitive operation.
https://eu.usatoday.com/in-depth/news/2021/07/07/princess-latifa-dubai-caught-sea-and-fbi-played-key-role/7584218002/ = https://www.yahoo.com/news/fbi-played-role-capture-princess-090042592.html
(A P)
Film, Rep. Ro Khanna: @SenSanders and I will be advocating and introducing again a #WarPowers Resolution to stop any… military support for the Saudis in their campaign in Yemen. That has to take place.” - @RepRoKhanna, Jan. 25, 2021. Rally today at his office in support
https://twitter.com/theactioncorps/status/1412392906426490889
(* A P T)
20 years after 9/11, lawsuit against Saudis hits key moment
As the 20th anniversary of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks approaches, victims’ relatives are pressing the courts to answer what they see as lingering questions about the Saudi government’s role.
A lawsuit that accuses Saudi Arabia of being complicit took a major step forward this year with the questioning under oath of former Saudi officials, but those depositions remain under seal and the U.S. has withheld a trove of other documents as too sensitive for disclosure. The information vacuum has exasperated families who have tried to make the case that the Saudi government facilitated the attacks. Past investigations have outlined ties between Saudi nationals and some of the airplane hijackers, but have not established the government was directly involved.
“The legal team and the FBI, investigative agencies, can know about the details of my dad’s death and thousands of other family members’ deaths, but the people who it’s most relevant to can’t know,” said Brett Eagleson, whose father, Bruce, was among the World Trade Center victims. “It’s adding salt to an open wound for all the 9/11 family members.”
Lawyers for the victims plan to ask a judge to lift a protective order so their clients can access secret government documents as well as testimony from key subjects interviewed over the last year.
https://apnews.com/article/sept-11-saudi-arabia-lawsuit-1b5fec1d2507eb27fffdac25bab79bb4
(* A K P)
Yemen Legitimate Govt Welcomes US Decision to Train Yemeni Forces
The United States revealed plans to assist the Yemeni government with military experts, including officers who train Yemeni forces and help build the army's capabilities while continuing to combat terrorism and child recruitment and prevent weapons from reaching the Houthis.
The State Department's "2021 Trafficking in Persons" report stated that Washington would use the International Military Education and Training (IMET) funding to build capacity within the Republic of Yemen Government (ROYG) military by sending selected military officers for the US for non-technical training.
These courses would focus on the professionalization of military forces and would bolster the rule of law within the Yemeni Armed Forces.
This step represents a significant turning point in the US approach in tackling the Yemeni crisis
(A P)
Biden administration extends protected status for immigrants from Yemen
The Biden administration announced on Tuesday that it is extending temporary protected status (TPS) for nationals from Yemen -- in response to the ongoing humanitarian crisis in the war-torn country.
The Department of Homeland Security announced an 18-month extension and redesignation of Yemen for TPS, from its current expiration in September through to March 2023.
https://www.foxnews.com/politics/biden-administration-protected-status-immigrants-yemen
(A P)
Saudi prince sees Blinken in low-key US reception
Saudi Arabia's deputy defense minister met Wednesday with Secretary of State Antony Blinken on a low-key visit to Washington focused partly on Yemen as the United States takes a greater distance with its ally.
Khalid bin Salman -- the younger brother of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, who US intelligence says ordered the murder of US-based journalist Jamal Khashoggi -- was the highest-ranking visitor from the kingdom to visit Washington since President Joe Biden took office.
The State Department said the prince met senior State Department officials Victoria Nuland and Derek Chollet and that Blinken participated in only part of the meeting -- similar to Prince Khalid's reception a day earlier at the Pentagon.
Blinken spoke with the prince about "efforts to achieve a comprehensive, nationwide ceasefire and transition to a political process in Yemen," where Huthi rebels have mounted a deadly offensive, the State Department said in a statement.
and
(A P)
Saudi official in U.S. for talks on Yemen, Iran, Khashoggi
Saudi Arabia’s deputy defense minister on Tuesday became the highest-ranking Saudi envoy to visit Washington since Joe Biden became president in January, and held talks with senior officials on the Yemen war and threats from Iran.
The minister, Prince Khalid bin Salman, is the younger brother of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, the country’s de facto ruler, who is accused by U.S. intelligence of approving a 2018 operation in which Washington Post columnist and Saudi dissident Jamal Khashoggi was killed, an allegation denied by Saudi Arabia.
White House press secretary Jen Psaki said Khashoggi’s death would also likely come up in the talks.
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-saudi/saudi-official-in-u-s-for-talks-on-yemen-iran-khashoggi-idUSKCN2EC25W = https://www.metro.us/saudi-official-in-u-s/
cp9a USA-Iran Krise: Spannungen am Golf / US-Iran crisis: Tensions at the Gulf
Siehe / Look at cp9
(A P)
Iran's nuclear activity is concerning, says Saudi official
Saudi Arabia is concerned about increased nuclear activities by Iran which threaten regional security, a Saudi foreign ministry official said, after Tehran started the process of producing enriched uranium metal.
(B P)
Where the Abraham Accords are (and aren’t) going
Israel has improved its relationship with the UAE, but what about other Gulf countries?
Beyond the rhetoric and the symbolism, what are this relationship’s substantive elements and what does this partnership truly mean in practice nine months after the accord’s signing?
Bilateral trade since September 2020 has reached around $675 million. The two countries have signed a long list of trade and cooperation agreements. Media, education, and tourism are all promising sectors that are starting to take off. It is significant that amid the global pandemic, which greatly harmed the UAE and all other Gulf Cooperation Council states’ tourism sectors, 200,000 Israeli tourists visited the UAE with most flying to Dubai.
Technology may be the area where the Emiratis have the highest hopes for this relationship.
https://responsiblestatecraft.org/2021/07/07/where-the-abraham-accords-are-and-arent-going/
(* B P)
Saudi-Iran talks could move to Oman, an intriguing shift for Israel
Riyadh and Tehran have held two rounds of Iraqi-hosted talks, narrowly focused on Yemen; the next session may be held in Muscat, which would signal a far broader regional agenda
As negotiations over Iran’s nuclear program trudge forward in Vienna, a parallel set of talks between Tehran and a major rival are expected to pick up again this summer.
No comprehensive regional breakthrough is expected any time soon, and the two sides have yet to agree on any specific measures.
“These talks should be greeted with only cautious optimism and limited expectations,” according to Albert Wolf, assistant professor of political science at the American University of Central Asia.
But the first two rounds have gone well enough to warrant a third round, likely in the next few weeks. If the talks remain narrowly focused on the conflict in Yemen, they won’t have much effect on Israel’s diplomatic or security situation.
But if they move out of Iraq and expand to cover broader regional issues, it could be an encouraging sign for Jerusalem as it deepens its ties with new Arab partners. One potential venue for such expanded talks, The Times of Israel has learned, is Oman — a perennial would-be regional mediator and potential forthcoming signatory to the Abraham Accords.
https://www.timesofisrael.com/saudi-iran-talks-could-move-to-oman-an-intriguing-shift-for-israel/
(* B P)
July Could Be the Last Month to Save the Iran Nuclear Deal
Domestic politics in Tehran and Washington are gradually closing the door.
It was always apparent that the window for negotiations would not stay open forever. Iran’s presidential elections, which were held on June 18, always carried the prospect that a hardliner—either opposed to negotiations or loathe to tether his administration to an agreement that had undermined that of his predecessor—would chart a new course. Indeed, Ebrahim Raisi waltzed to a first-round victory over a field that had been cleared for him by Iran’s Guardian Council. While he has underscored that the JCPOA was an agreement supported by the Supreme Leader, and would not oppose a return to the deal, it is far from clear whether he will take office in August with a mandate to do the hard work of returning to the agreement. The incumbent lame duck, Hassan Rouhani, has repeatedly said the lifting of sanctions is at hand but has frequently hinted that domestic opponents are slowing the path to finalizing an agreement.
The unclear picture extends to America’s domestic politics as well. Biden has sent his diplomats to Vienna with a flexible mandate and sidestepped complaints from Congress on his strategy. Biden is his own President, however, and is clearly focused on a robust domestic agenda while downplaying foreign policy issues that aren’t of significant interest to average Americans. With the second major piece of Biden’s domestic agenda in the infrastructure bill likely to play out in September, the longer the nuclear talks drag on, the less likely Biden is to want a major political fight over a foreign policy issue that will anger some elements of his party right when unity is most necessary.
https://www.defenseone.com/ideas/2021/07/july-could-be-last-month-save-iran-nuclear-deal/183057/
(A P)
European powers decry latest nuclear move by Iran
Germany, France and Britain are voicing “grave concern” over a further move by Iran that they say is a serious violation of its commitments under the 2015 nuclear deal with world powers, warning that it threatens the outcome of talks aimed at bringing the United States back into the agreement.
The three European powers’ foreign ministers issued a joint statement Tuesday over a report by the International Atomic Energy Agency, the U.N. nuclear watchdog, that Iran intends to produce enriched uranium metal.
The IAEA said Director-General Rafael Grossi informed the agency’s board of governors that Iran now intends to use uranium enriched up to 20% in making fuel for its Tehran Research Reactor and that “in doing so, as part of a multi-stage process,” it will also produce uranium metal enriched up to 20%.
Iran on Tuesday told the agency that the enriched uranium will be shipped to the research and development lab at its Isfahan fuel fabrication plant, where it will be converted to uranium tetrafluoride and then to
My comment: The US, and the Europeans had violated the deal – why only Iran should keep to its rules?
(A P)
Iran accuses Israel of June attack on civilian nuclear site
Iran accused Israel on Tuesday of mounting a sabotage attack on a nuclear facility near Tehran last month, the country’s state-run news agency reported as authorities acknowledged for the first time that the mysterious assault had caused structural damage to the site.
Authorities announced in late June that they had prevented saboteurs from attacking a site located in Karaj, a city about 40 kilometers (25 miles) northwest of the Iranian capital.
https://apnews.com/article/israel-middle-east-iran-business-health-8ec88ef0155326e3cad8720c1e945e00
(A P)
Iran says Saudi talks progress but time needed to resolve disputes
Iran reported "good progress" on Tuesday in talks with regional rival Saudi Arabia but said some of their disputes are complex and may take time to resolve.
Saudi Arabia and Gulf allies continue to pressure Iran, which backs the opposite side in conflicts in the region, over its nuclear programme, which Tehran says is entirely peaceful, its ballistic missiles, and its support for militant groups.
Iran has criticised the Gulf Arab states' close ties with Tehran's long-term foe Washington and moves by some of them to normalize relations with Israel, a country that Iran - which supports the Palestinians - does not recognise.
"Good progress has been achieved in these talks ... In some cases, disputes may have complexities that take time to resolve," Iranian government spokesman Ali Rabiei told a news conference carried by state media.
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-iran-politics-saudi/iran-says-saudi-talks-progress-but-time-needed-to-resolve-disputes-idUSKCN2EC0W1 = https://www.todayonline.com/world/iran-says-saudi-talks-progress-time-needed-resolve-disputes
(B K P)
Iraqi militia commander vows to avenge deaths in US strike
The leader of an Iran-backed Iraqi militia has vowed to retaliate against America for the deaths of four of his men in a U.S. airstrike along the Iraq-Syria border last month, saying it will be a military operation everyone will talk about.
Abu Alaa al-Walae, commander of Kataib Sayyid al-Shuhada, said in an exclusive interview with The Associated Press in Baghdad that the electoral victory of Iran’s hard-line judiciary chief Ebrahim Raisi as president will strengthen Iran-backed militant groups throughout the Middle East for the next four years.
cp10 Großbritannien / Great Britain
Siehe / Look at cp1
(* A P)
Cambridge University accused of Faustian pact in planned £400m deal with UAE
Rights advocate says proposed partnership with emirates raises ‘profound concern’ and Cambridge documents note ‘values gap’
The University of Cambridge has been accused of entering “a Faustian pact” over plans for a £400m collaboration with the United Arab Emirates in what would be the biggest deal of its kind in the university’s history.
According to internal documents seen by the Guardian, the 10-year collaboration would help Cambridge, one of the wealthiest higher education institutions in the UK, “weather the challenges faced by universities as a result of Covid, Brexit and a constrained funding environment”.
The documents state that the UAE has pledged to commit £312m – the biggest single donation by far that the university has received – and £90m will be paid in kind through Cambridge staff time.
The deal has yet to go before the university’s general board, the Guardian understands. But if approved, the UAE-Cambridge Innovation Institute will begin as a virtual entity and culminate in “a physical footprint” in the UAE with its own staff and “joint UAE and University of Cambridge branding”. Key areas of focus will include education, Islamic art and culture, engineering and innovation, in particular research into alternatives to fossil fuels.
(A B K P)
Großbritannien finanziert Gruppen, die Menschenrechtsverletzungen in Golfstaaten „schönwaschen“, sagen Abgeordnete MP
Der Regierung wird vorgeworfen, mit „geheimen“ Zahlungen öffentliche Gelder an Institutionen weiterzuleiten, die in der Golfregion „Menschenrechtsverletzungen weiß getüncht“ haben.
Eine parteiübergreifende Gruppe von Abgeordneten, darunter Tory-Abgeordneter und Vater des Hauses Peter Bottomley, sagte, dass Regierungsgelder verwendet worden seien, um zwischen 2016 und 2020 53,4 Millionen Pfund an die sechs Staaten des Golf-Kooperationsrats zu überweisen
Nach Angaben der Allparteien-Parlamentarischen Fraktion (APPG) für Demokratie und Menschenrechte am Golf, die den Bericht erstellt hat, geht das Geld an Institutionen, die sich an Menschenrechtsverletzungen mitschuldig machen.
Und die Abgeordneten beschuldigen die Regierung, „irreführende und irreführende“ Behauptungen über die Art und Weise aufzustellen, wie britische Gelder in der Region ausgegeben werden.
Und es wird behauptet, dass die von der Regierung vorgeschriebenen Folgenabschätzungen zu den Menschenrechten „fehlerhaft sind, unsachgemäß angewendet werden und in einigen Fällen völlig fehlen“.
cp12 Andere Länder / Other countries
(A K P)
Australia pushes close military ties with United Arab Emirates despite war crime concerns
Australian defence officials are working to strengthen military ties with the United Arab Emirates despite the Gulf State being accused of carrying out numerous war crimes in the region.
Australia this week held formal talks on closer defence cooperation with the UAE.
On July 6 Australia's Ambassador to the UAE, Heidi Venamore, led a delegation to meet the country's Minister of State for Defence Affairs, Mohammed bin Ahmed Al Bowardi.
Ambassador Venamore was joined by Australia's top military figure in the Middle East, Rear Admiral Michael Rothwell, as well as Australia's Defence Attache to the UAE.
According to state media reports, Ambassador Venamore "praised the UAE's remarkable progress and development, which serves as a pioneering model for the other countries in the region".
The diplomat also reportedly asserted "that Australia is keen to enhance collaboration with the UAE to serve the common interests of their countries".
(B P)
Why did the UAE evict Italian forces?
The Italian Frecce Tricolori aerobatic squad at the Dubai Airshow in the UAE on Nov. 16, 2009. (Photo via Getty Images)
The eviction of Italian military personnel and aircraft from Forward Logistic Air Base Al-Minhad in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) is the result of a latent diplomatic crisis between the two countries that has been simmering for months. The air base has hosted Italian soldiers since 2015—along with British, Australian, and US forces—and represents a crucial hub not only for the ongoing withdrawal of foreign forces from Afghanistan, but also for operations in the Horn of Africa and Iraq.
https://amwaj.media/article/eviction-from-al-minhad-air-base-sparks-tension-between-italy-and-uae
cp13a Waffenhandel / Arms trade
Siehe / Look at cp1
(* A K P)
New Saudi "ship of death" in Genoa. Dockers: "Does politics have nothing to say?"
The self-employed port workers' Collective, in a post on Facebook, denounced yet another passage of ships loaded with weapons destined for Saudi Arabia for the war on Yemen. The workers denounce the lack of control of the ship by the institutions and the police, but always ready to take action when there are protests against these death shipments.
The umpteenth passage in the port of Genoa of a "ship of death", the Bahri Hofuf of the state fleet of Saudi Arabia, is denounced, loaded with weapons and explosives towards the theaters of civil war in the Middle East. The presence of 12 containers with explosives and Boeing Apache combat helicopters is documented.
The photos are from The Weapon Watch, the Observatory on arms trafficking in European and Mediterranean ports, which received them from dockers forced to operate on the ship and have to check firsthand, at the risk of their own post, the legality and safety of goods handled. In fact, no institution (Prefecture, Port Authority, Public Prosecutor's Office, Border Police, etc.) has presented itself as usual to verify the legitimacy of the cargo despite the law 185/90 states in article 1 c.5: export, transit… of military goods are prohibited when they are in conflict with the Constitution, with Italy's international commitments, with agreements concerning non-proliferation, as well as when adequate guarantees are lacking on the definitive destination of military goods.
(* A K P)
Trotz Verbrechen im Jemen: Italien lockert Beschränkungen für Waffenverkäufe an Saudi-Arabien und VAE
Trotz der Verbrechen der saudischen Kriegskoalition im Jemen hat Italien die Beschränkungen für die Waffenverkäufe an Saudi-Arabien und die Vereinigten Arabischen Emirate (VAE) gelockert, um diplomatische Spannungen mit diesen Ländern zu lindern.
Dies berichtete Reuters am Dienstag unter Berufung auf italienische Regierungsquellen.
Das Verkaufsverbot von 12.700 Raketen bleibe bestehen, aber eine von Reuters eingesehene Direktive des Außenministeriums besagt, dass andere im Jahr 2019 eingeführte Beschränkungen, die den Verkauf von Waffen und Ausrüstung, die im Jemen verwendet werden könnten, effektiv blockierten, nun aufgehoben werden.
„Alle bestehenden Genehmigungen sind auch ohne diese Voraussetzung als gültig zu betrachten“, hieß es in der am Montag unterzeichneten Verordnung.
„Wir kehren jetzt zu einem normalen (Export-)System zurück. Die Waffen können möglicherweise im Jemen eingesetzt werden“, sagte Michele Nones, stellvertretender Präsident des Instituts für Internationale Beziehungen, IAI (Istituto Affari Internazionali).
Im Juli 2019 hatte die italienische Regierung die Waffenverkäufe an die beiden Aggressorregime vorübergehend gestoppt
(* A K P)
Italy eases curbs on arms sales to Saudi Arabia and UAE
Italy has loosened restrictions on arms exports to Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, government sources said on Tuesday, in a move aimed at easing diplomatic tensions with the two Gulf states.
Italy halted the sale of thousands of missiles to Saudi Arabia and the UAE in January, citing at the time Rome's commitment to restoring peace in war-ravaged Yemen and protecting human rights.
That ban will remain in place, but a foreign ministry directive seen by Reuters said that other curbs introduced in 2019, which effectively blocked any sales of arms and equipment that might be used in Yemen, will now be lifted.
"All existing authorisations are to be considered valid even without this requirement," said the brief directive that was signed on Monday.
Export requirements to the two Gulf states were tightened two years ago following public anger over the war, which triggered what the United Nations has called the world's largest humanitarian crisis.
"We are now returning to a normal (export) regime. The weapons can potentially be used in Yemen," said Michele Nones, deputy president of the Italian Foreign Affairs Institute (IAI).
A source at the foreign ministry said the arms licences revoked in January, including the sale of some 12,700 missiles, would remain blocked.
Infuriated by the ban, the UAE asked Italy to withdraw aircraft and personnel from the al Minhad air base in the Gulf state by July 2.
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-italy-arms-saudi-emirates/italy-eases-curbs-on-arms-sales-to-saudi-arabia-and-uae-idUSKCN2EC25L = https://english.alaraby.co.uk/news/italy-eases-curbs-arms-sales-saudi-arabia-and-uae
https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/italy-lifts-ban-arms-sales-saudi-arabia-and-italy-after
cp13b Mercenaries / Söldner
(* B K P)
Kolumbien nennt 13 ehemalige Soldaten unter den Verdächtigen des Attentats auf Haiti
Paul Angelo, ein Stipendiat des Council on Foreign Relations, der sich mit Sicherheitsfragen befasst, sagte, dass Kolumbianer in der Vergangenheit zu kriminellen Missionen eingezogen wurden, weil ihre Möglichkeiten manchmal begrenzt waren, nachdem sie die Streitkräfte verlassen hatten.
“Kolumbien ist ein Land, in dem schon sehr lange die Wehrpflicht besteht, die auf die Schultern der ärmsten Männer des Landes gefallen ist”, sagte er. „Wenn der wirtschaftlichen Unterschicht beigebracht wird, wie man kämpft, wie man Militäroperationen durchführt usw., können diese Fähigkeiten nur im Bereich der privaten Sicherheit auf den zivilen Sektor übertragen werden.“
Ein ehemaliger kolumbianischer Armeeoffizier, der nicht identifiziert werden wollte, sagte, ein Söldner, der ins Ausland reiste, könne leicht etwa 2.700 Dollar im Monat verdienen, verglichen mit einem Militärgehalt von etwa 300 Dollar im Monat – selbst für Soldaten mit jahrelanger Kampferfahrung.
“Es ist nicht nur Haiti, es sind Kabul, Mexiko, Jemen und die Emirate”, sagte er in einem Telefoninterview und bezog sich auf die Orte, an denen die ehemaligen kolumbianischen Soldaten gegangen waren.
(* B K P)
Why were Colombian ex-soldiers in Haiti? Experts say they are popular mercenaries
Highly-trained Colombian soldiers left at a loose end after retirement have frequently been tempted by opportunities to ply their trade abroad as private military contractors from Iraq to Yemen, military officials and experts said on Friday.
At least 17 ex-members of Colombia's military are among the suspects in this week's assassination of Haitian President Jovenel Moise
But for those want to hire mercenaries, Colombia is a popular choice. The South American country's nearly 60 years of internal conflict have provided a prolific training ground for soldiers.
For those trained as part of elite counter-terrorism units, retirement can come as early as their 40s, leaving many with only modest pensions and little idea what to do next.
"The recruitment of Colombian soldiers to go to other parts of the world as mercenaries is an issue that has existed for a long time, because there is no law that prohibits it," armed forces commander General Luis Fernando Navarro told journalists.
"There are a significant number of Colombian soldiers in Dubai, for example."
The United Arab Emirates has been an important client of Colombian ex-soldiers, dispatching them to fight Iranian-backed Houthis in Yemen, alongside fighters from Panama, El Salvador and Chile, according to Sean McFate, a senior fellow at the Atlantic Council thinktank and professor at Georgetown and the National Defense University.
Colombians are often recruited as mercenaries "because of all their experience," army head General Eduardo Zapateiro told Reuters.
"It's a shame because we train them for other things," he said.
Colombian soldiers with experience in counter-insurgency and urban anti-terrorism or who have received training in countries like the United States and Israel are generally those targeted for recruitment, a military source told Reuters.
"They are mercenary in every sense of the word."
cp13c Wirtschaft / Economy
(* B E P9
Audio: TRADE FOR PEACE: VOICES FROM YEMEN
In this episode, our host, Mr. Axel M. Addy, former Minister of Commerce and Industry and Chief Negotiator for WTO accession of Liberia, interviews two practitioners with first-hand experience and knowledge in promoting Yemen’s peace, stability, and economic prosperity through participation in international trade and cross-sectoral collaboration.
Ms. Afrah Al-Zouba, currently Managing Director of the Executive Bureau for Acceleration of Aid Absorption and Support for Policy Reforms, shares her on-the-ground perspective with the audience, drawing upon years of extensive field experience in development, conflict resolution, peacebuilding and research in Yemen. She shares her insights on working with youth and women organizations, with governmental processes such as the National Dialogue Conference, and with donor organizations aimed at capacity building of Yemeni state institutions. Mr. Rafat Ali Al-Akhali, who worked with the WTO Accessions Division after Yemen's accession, is currently the Global Engagement Lead of the State Fragility Initiative at the International Growth Centre. He discusses how private sector development and international trade can contribute to Yemen’s long-term development, address the current humanitarian crisis, and facilitate institution building to promote predictability and transparency.
https://tradeforpeace.podbean.com/e/trade-for-peace-voices-from-yemen/
(A E)
One US dollar nears the 1000 mark versus the Yemeni Riyal as the latter collapsed further this Thursday morning /Yemen Time
https://www.alsahwa-yemen.net/en/p-47760
(A E P)
Southern Yemen: Association orders to suspend trade in foreign currencies in south Yemen
The Yemeni Exchangers Association on Monday ordered to suspend trade in foreign currencies in south Yemen as of Tuesday after the national currency dropped to the lowest level since the war began more than six years ago.
The Yemeni rial is trading at 955 per US dollar, exchangers said today, down from 940 a week ago and from 250 in 2014.
The association has however, allowed exchangers to resume remittances among provinces, a week after the [Aden] Central Bank of Yemen ordered to suspend all transfer services.
https://debriefer.net/en/news-25974.html
cp14 Terrorismus / Terrorism
(A K T)
Houthi official says US trains, arms militants in Yemen
A Houthi official has accused the United States of America of training and arming militants in Yemen to fight Washington's battles.
The US has established camps in southern regions to prepare and arm Al-Qaeda members to fight its war, Tariq Sallam, the group's governor of Aden, said in a statement carried by the Sanaa-based Saba news agency.
https://debriefer.net/en/news-26022.html
(A T)
US Dep. of State: Rewards for Justice: Ibrahim Al-Banna is a member of the leadership of Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, and an obedient servant of his organization's leaders based in Iran. Report this terrorist who left his country #Egypt to wreak havoc in #Yemen and its people.
https://twitter.com/Rewards4Justice/status/1412897207485935630
(A T)
Two senior Al-Qaeda leaders killed during rocket strike in central Yemen
(A T)
Al-Qaeda releases five army officers in Yemen
Al-Qaeda released on Tuesday five army officers via tribal mediation in Yemen's province of Bayda, military sources said.
The officers, from the criminal investigation department, were detained by militants in mid-June in the area of Khourah in the southeastern province of Shabwa and taken to Bayda
https://debriefer.net/en/news-25979.html
cp15 Propaganda
(A P)
Saudi Press: Saudi Arabia is Major Contributor and Supportive Country for UN
Al-Bilad newspaper reported in its editorial that the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia has been the most supportive country for the United Nations (UN) and its various agencies since it has signed its charter in 1945.
In this regard, Saudi Arabia has played pivotal role in all global issues to consolidate the principles of international peace and security, in addition to adopting Good Neighbor policy, the paper said.
Saudi Arabia always rejects interference in the internal affairs of countries, emphasizing coexistence between peoples and civilizations, in addition to strengthening friendly relations, along with helping developing countries and the needy people everywhere, the paper added.
Saud Arabia has remained a major contributor to the United Nations and its agencies in the field of the development assistance,
https://www.spa.gov.sa/viewfullstory.php?lang=en&newsid=2252605
(A P)
Iran uses new route across Gulf to funnel arms to Houthis in Yemen
For the last six months, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) has been using waters between Kuwait and Iran as it looks for new ways to beat an embargo on arms shipments to fellow Shiites in the Houthi movement, western and Iranian sources say
Iran's Revolutionary Guard has started using a new route across the Arabian Gulf to funnel covert arms shipments to their Houthi allies in Yemen's civil war, sources familiar with the matter say.
In March, regional and western sources said Iran was shipping weapons and military advisers to the Houthis either directly to Yemen or via Somalia. This route, however, risked contact with international naval vessels on patrol in the Gulf of Oman and the Arabian Sea.
For the last six months, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) has been using waters further up the Arabian Gulf between Kuwait and Iran as it looks for new ways to beat an embargo on arms shipments to fellow Shiites in the Houthi movement, western and Iranian sources say.
Using this new route, Iranian ships transfer equipment to smaller vessels at the top of the Gulf, where they face less scrutiny. The transhipments take place in Kuwaiti waters and in nearby international shipping lanes, the sources said.
"Parts of missiles, launchers and drugs are smuggled into Yemen via Kuwaiti waters," said a senior Iranian official. "The route sometimes is used for transferring cash as well."
The official added that "what is especially smuggled recently, or to be precise in the past six months, are parts of missiles that cannot be produced in Yemen".
The arms smuggling operation may not turn the tide of the conflict, but it will allow the Houthis to receive stable supplies of equipment that is otherwise hard to obtain.
"The volume of the activity, I don't call it a trade, is not very large. But it is a safe route," a second senior Iranian official said.
"Smaller Iranian ports are being used for the activity as major ports might attract attention."
To avoid detection, the mainly Iranian-flagged vessels switch off their identification transponders, sometimes for days. They rendezvous with other ships or drop supplies close to buoys, so the consignments can be recovered for onward transport, the sources said.
My comment: Kuwait is a Saudi coalition country. And, furthermore: Look how long the distance between Kuwait and Yemen really is – and that you would have to cross Saudi Arabia.
(A P)
Same Houthi Intransience to Face UN's Fourth Special Envoy to Yemen
Nevertheless, given the long history of three special envoys accomplishing so little in their attempts to convince Houthi militias to quit the war, head for a political settlement, and restore transition, any successor to take over after Griffiths will face the same immense challenges their predecessors met in terms of intransigence shown by the Iran-backed group.
Many observers believe that after the bad experience they had with former UN envoys, who held Moroccan, Mauritian, and British nationalities, Houthis are likely to press on with obstructing peace initiatives regardless of how strongly the international community backs the new envoy.
According to Yemeni politicians, having missed many opportunities to establish peace, Houthis probably will not give up gains they found through their armed insurgency in exchange for reconciliation.
(A P)
For years, the international media have spoken in place of the Yemeni people and claimed "there is no military solution to the conflict in Yemen". But as the government's warfronts started acting now, we are seeing swaths of territory being quickly reclaimed. The [foreign actors] compulsion of the government to sit for "talks" with the [Houthi] gang, is what caused the stalemate to drag on and the humanitarian suffering to wrosen. /Al-Hadath Alyemeni website
https://www.alsahwa-yemen.net/en/p-47727
(A P)
The Houthis' mother will step in now
Long plagued by Houthis, Yemen's Al Beidha is finally breathing a sigh of relief.
Now the army is mounting the offensive there in a real clean fight involving no ballistic missiles, no crushing roofs over heads, and no civilian casualties, unlike the Shia terrorist network's way of aggression on government-held cities.
But the international community's motherly instinct will kick in now: One of the international actors will step in soon to save their Shiit baby.
Just wait and see!
https://www.alsahwa-yemen.net/en/p-47730
(A P)
Why Iranian missiles are targeting Makkah
Since 2014-2015, when the Houthis overthrew the internationally recognized Yemeni government in Sanaa, they have been systematically targeting Makkah, with the Saudi air defenses succeeding in shooting down many ballistic missiles aimed at the holy city.
At the start of this period, with the first wave of Houthi attacks on Makkah and the surrounding areas, I wrote several times that the missiles were specifically targeting Makkah rather than Saudi military bases like the one in Taif, as the Houthis claimed. I noted that this first wave of Houthi attacks marked a dangerous development regarding the targeting of sensitive locations deep inside Saudi territory.
As the Houthi attacks have continued in recent years, the Saudi air defenses have again managed — by the grace of God — to shoot down dozens of ballistic missiles. The concerned entities have reiterated that these missiles have all been of Iranian origin and have targeted Makkah. We have seen the angry domestic, regional and broader Islamic response to the reckless behavior of this militia.
As I have previously stated on this matter, the Houthis’ attacks targeting Makkah are not accidental but rather are an integral part of their belief system. Here, I will attempt to clarify this for the broader readership, especially for my Western audience.
https://www.arabnews.com/node/1884936
(A P)
Springer-Blatt sieht in Huthi-Bewegung eine Gefahr für Deutschland
Nun sieht die Bild im Einklang mit der von Saudi-Arabien angeführten Militärkoalition in den von Außenwelt abgeschnittenen Jemeniten eine Gefahr für Deutschland. Jedenfalls betitelt die Zeitung ihr Interview mit dem von der UNO anerkannten jemenitischen Außenminister Ahmed Awad bin Mubarak mit der Überschrift: "Die Huthis sind auch eine Gefahr für Deutschland". Mubarak sagte im Interview, die "Ideologie" der Huthis bedrohe auch Deutschland, Europa und die gesamte Welt. Man müsse sich nur anschauen, wie die Taliban in den Flüchtlingslagern entstanden seien: "Am Anfang gab es nur Religionsunterricht, wohin es am Ende führte, ist bekannt." Aus dem Interview geht allerdings nicht hervor, wie die aufgrund der von den Saudis verhängten Blockade isolierten Jemeniten eine Drohung für Deutschland darstellen könnten.
(A P)
Saudi Arabia reiterates commitment to Yemen’s security and stability
Saudi Arabia has reiterated its commitment to Yemen’s security and stability, and to the legitimate government in that country.
The Kingdom supports efforts to reach a comprehensive political solution to end the crisis, urging “all parties to accept political solutions to unite ranks among all components of the Yemeni spectrum,” the Saudi Press Agency reported.
https://www.arabnews.com/node/1889856/saudi-arabia
(A P)
Violence in Yemen, Gaza, and Iraq Isn’t Coincidental, Even Though the White House Wishes it Was
Recent flareups of violence in the Middle East are the outcome of a major policy shift by an administration that prefers to avert its eyes from the truth.
Successive attacks by related groups in Yemen, Gaza, and Iraq were not coincidental. In the Middle East, there are no coincidences. Instead, the attacks are the outcome of a monumental policy shift in Washington—one that treats Iranian proxies as disconnected actors operating in separate geopolitical vacuums rather than holding their sponsors and grand strategists in Tehran accountable. This new approach is coupled with the Biden administration’s stated intention of rejoining the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), as the 2015 nuclear deal is officially known. Although negotiations are still ongoing, the White House has given every indication that it will make the necessary compromises to revive the agreement. Regardless of the impact on the mullahs’ nuclear program, a return to the JCPOA means the lifting of myriad sanctions on the Islamic Republic, and the influx of billions of dollars. In anticipation, Iran-backed terrorists are already emboldened to attack U.S. allies, expecting increased budgets and rearmament in the weeks ahead. In other words, these eruptions of violence demonstrate not the failure of the previous administration’s policies, but the weaknesses of the current one.
https://www.fdd.org/analysis/2021/07/06/violence-in-yemen-gaza-iraq/
(A P)
More Saudi coalition „We are benefactors“ propaganda
https://www.spa.gov.sa/viewfullstory.php?lang=en&newsid=2254091
https://www.spa.gov.sa/viewfullstory.php?lang=en&newsid=2252487
https://www.spa.gov.sa/viewfullstory.php?lang=en&newsid=2252345
https://www.spa.gov.sa/viewfullstory.php?lang=en&newsid=2252340
https://www.spa.gov.sa/viewfullstory.php?lang=en&newsid=2252299
https://www.spa.gov.sa/viewfullstory.php?lang=en&newsid=2252278
https://www.spa.gov.sa/viewfullstory.php?lang=en&newsid=2252266
http://en.adenpress.news/news/33287
https://www.spa.gov.sa/viewfullstory.php?lang=en&newsid=2251750
https://www.spa.gov.sa/viewfullstory.php?lang=en&newsid=2251628
cp16 Saudische Luftangriffe / Saudi air raids
(* A K pH)
Saudi coalition air raids and shelling day by day
July 3: https://www.facebook.com/lcrdye/photos/a.551858951631141/2063063797177308/
July 2: https://www.facebook.com/lcrdye/photos/a.551858951631141/2063063177177370/ = https://www.facebook.com/lcrdye/photos/a.551858951631141/2063057277177960/
July 1: https://www.facebook.com/lcrdye/photos/a.551858951631141/2063056347178053/
June 30: https://www.facebook.com/lcrdye/photos/a.551858951631141/2063055217178166/
June 29: https://www.facebook.com/lcrdye/photos/a.551858951631141/2063054243844930/
June 28: https://www.facebook.com/lcrdye/photos/a.551858951631141/2063053560511665/
(A K pH)
Child injured in aggression cluster bomb explosion in Hajjah
A child was injured on Friday in a cluster bomb explosion
left by the US-Saudi aggression in Hajjah province.
https://www.saba.ye/en/news3147242.htm
while the other side claims he was injured by a Houthi landmine: https://www.alsahwa-yemen.net/en/p-47790.
(A K pH)
More Saudi coalition air raids
https://www.saba.ye/en/news3147295.htm Marib p.
https://www.saba.ye/en/news3147294.htm Hajjah p.
https://www.saba.ye/en/news3147241.htm Marib p.
https://www.saba.ye/en/news3147198.htm Bayda p.
https://www.saba.ye/en/news3147098.htm Marib p.
https://www.saba.ye/en/news3147097.htm Bayda p.
https://www.saba.ye/en/news3146798.htm Marib p.
https://en.abna24.com/news//saudi-led-coalition-wages-15-air-strikes-on-3-yemeni-provinces_1157276.html Marib p., Bayda p., Hajjah p.
cp17 Kriegsereignisse / Theater of War
Siehe / Look at cp1, cp17a, 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)
Over 2000 mines removed during the 1st week of July, says Masam
Mine-disposal teams of Masam, the Saudi Project for Mine Clearance in Yemen, managed to removed 2008 mines and explosive devices laid by the Iran-aligned Houthis during the 1st week of July, bringing the total of mines removed by the project since it started its mission in mid-2018 to 259.984.
https://republicanyemen.net/archives/28468
(A K pS)
Houthi-laid mine kill two brothers in Al Jawaf
According to the sources, Mohammed La’asham Baqa, 27, and his brother Shamsan La’asham Baqa, 30, were killed on Wednesday when their car ran over a Houthi-laid mine in Al Habeel road, a road that links Al Jawf to government-held Marib city.
https://republicanyemen.net/archives/28465
(A K pS)
Two child sheepherders wounded by Houthi landmine in central Yemen
https://www.alsahwa-yemen.net/en/p-47696
(A K)
Houthis launch desperate attacks to retake regions in central Yemen
The Ansar Allah group, known as the Houthis, on Thursday launched desperate attacks against the forces of the internationally recognised government in an attempt to recapture the district of Az Zahir and other areas in Yemen's Bayda province which it lost in recent days.
It attacked the district from all directions with various weapons, including explosives-laden drones, local sources said.
The government forces repelled the attacks and fought back, they said, adding that fighters from both sides were killed and injured.
https://debriefer.net/en/news-26021.html
and
(A K pH)
[Sanaa gov.] Yemeni forces liberate Al-Zahir from takfiri terrorist control
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vwN7H4gvVqA&t=3s
and
(A K pS)
[Hadi gov.] Army advances in Al-Bayda, secures liberated areas
http://en.26sepnews.net/2021/07/08/army-advances-in-al-bayda-secures-liberated-areas/
(A K pH)
Mohammed Abdulsalam: Defeat of Saudi-led coalition in Bayda province is certain
and
(A K pH)
In video: [Sanaa gov.] Yemeni forces launch two military offensives in central Yemen
The military media of Yemeni army on Wednesday has released video footage showing the army and popular committees launching two military operations in Bayda province, during which they managed to restore a number of military sites, killing and wounding dozens of Takfiri elements.
The scenes showed the army forces repelling a large-scale attack launched by Al-Qaeda and ISIS elements hired by Saudi-led coalition in Al-Zahir and Al-Sawma’ah districts.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Ntt-5nMnos&t=1s
(A K)
Reinforcements arrive for government forces in Yemen's Bayda
https://debriefer.net/en/news-26002.html
and
(A K pS)
My Hilux will be a reward for first soldier to enter Al Beidha: Citizen Journalism Corner
Be a witness God and folks. I announce that my Hilux - of two cabins, model 2017 -will be a reward to the first government soldier to set foot in Al Beidha city [to force out Houthi militants]./Facebook post by Ali Ahmed Al-Saa'di with a photo of the prize enclosed.
https://www.alsahwa-yemen.net/en/p-47745
and
(A K pS)
Photos: Yemeni businessman Mohammad Al-Homayqani returns to his home in Al-Zahir District of Al-Bayda Governorate, after seven years of forced displacement imposed by the Houthis on the people of the area.
https://twitter.com/abduhothifi/status/1412802087495294979
and
(A K pH)
[Sanaa gov.] Yemeni forces kill 80 Saudi-backed mercenaries in Al Bayda
The Yemeni army and Popular Committees forces killed or wounded 80 people in two separate military operations in response to attacks by Saudi coalition mercenaries and al-Qaeda terrorists in Yemen's al-Bayda province.
A Yemeni military official said Yemeni forces had responded strongly to the recent Saudi coalition attacks in central Yemen.
https://en.mehrnews.com/news/175847/Yemeni-forces-kill-80-Saudi-backed-mercenaries-in-Al-Bayda
and also https://www.saba.ye/en/news3147013.htm
and
(A K pH)
US Mobilizing, Commanding Al-Qaeda, Daesh Terrorists in Yemen
Yemeni officials revealed the United States is fanning the flames of violence in the embattled Southern province of Al-Bayda by mobilizing and commanding Takfiri Al-Qaeda and Daesh (ISIL or ISIS) terrorists against the Yemeni Army and allied popular forces, who have been defending the region against Saudi-led militants.
“The United States, which falsely and wrongly claims to be concerned with peace in Yemen, is fueling bitter clashes in the Az Zahir district of the province,” Russia’s RT Arabic television news network quoted Yemeni Information Minister Dhaifullah Al-Shami as saying on Tuesday.
He added, “The bogus peace motto, behind which countries of aggression led by the United States are hiding, is nothing but a ploy, and is meant to advance their agenda of suppressing and controlling Yemeni people.”
and also https://www.saba.ye/en/news3146987.htm
and
(A K pH)
ISIS forces attacked and routed in central Yemen
A number of Daesh (ISIS) members were killed and wounded on Wednesday, when their convoy was exposed to an unknown ambush targeting reinforcements of the group on the way from Aden to the al-Sawma’ah district in Bayda governorate, central Yemen.
This was reported by Yemen News Portal, based on local sources.
According to local sources in Aden, the so-called “Emir of Aden” Farouk al-Adani ordered a military campaign of 18 military pickup vehicles and 5 cars in order to reinforce the positions of Daesh in the al-Sawma’ah district, for fear of an imminent attack by the Armed Forces of the National Salvation Government of Yemen.
However, the reinforcements that came out with the permission of the commander of Saudi forces were subjected to three unknown ambushes in the areas of Al-Alam and Shuqra, targeting them with explosive devices, resulting in the killing and wounding of 12 terrorists, and forcing the rest to return to Aden.
https://hodhodyemennews.net/2021/07/07/isis-forces-attacked-and-routed-in-central-yemen/
and
(A K)
Yemen: Pro-government forces advance towards key city
Government troops, supported by tribesmen, recapture a main district, linking al-Bayda to the south, from the Houthis
Fierce battles raged on several fronts in Yemen’s al-Bayda province on Tuesday, a day after al-Zaher district was overrun by pro-government forces as they pushed to recapture the capital of the central province from the Houthis.
The push is part of a new military operation launched by government forces with the backing of al-Bayda tribesmen and al-Amaliqa Brigades (The Giants Brigades), consisting of tribesmen from southern provinces.
“The military operation started on Friday, with the objective of reaching the city of al-Bayda, the capital of the province, but we refrained from making an announcement to deny the Houthi militia the chance to ramp up their defence,” a fighter with al-Amaliqa Brigades told Middle East Eye on condition of anonymity.
https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/yemen-bayda-government-forces-advance-houthis
and also https://debriefer.net/en/news-25989.html
and
(A K pS)
According to local media, Iran-backed Houthis blew up 3 bridges on the key road leading to the provincial capital of Al-Baydha governorate.
https://twitter.com/Alsakaniali/status/1412544570190090246
(A K pS)
[Hadi gov.] Army continues military operations to liberate Al-Bayda city
http://en.26sepnews.net/2021/07/06/army-continues-military-operations-to-liberate-al-bayda-city/
and
(A K pS)
‘Al Bayda’ Victories Revive Hopes for Ending Houthi Coup in Yemen
Clear-cut victories achieved by pro-government forces against Houthis in Yemen’s central governorate of Al Bayda have revived widespread hopes for defeating the Iran-backed militia once and for all.
Frustrated by battlefield losses, Houthi ranks quickly collapsed against advances mounted by the army and armed popular resistance forces.
Over the last two days, local popular resistance forces and army units such as the Giants Brigade, backed by fighter jets of the Saudi-led Arab Coalition, staged a far-reaching military campaign dubbed “Al-Najm Al-Thaqib” (Piercing Star) against Houthi positions in Al Bayda.
Forces loyal to the internationally recognized governorate are looking to free Al Bayda from Houthis as its strategic location connects it to eight other Yemeni governorates.
and
(A K)
Gov’t forces reclaim swaths of territory in central Yemen
Heavy fighting raged between forces of Yemen’s internationally recognized government and Houthi rebels in central Bayda province, officials said Monday.
Government forces and allied tribesmen, backed by a Saudi-led coalition, reclaimed large swaths of territory in the province, according Information Minister Moammar al-Iryani.
Houthi officials said the rebels suffered heavy losses in the fighting that raged over the weekend, and that they sent reinforcements to the province to repel government attacks. They spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to brief the media.
https://apnews.com/article/middle-east-yemen-5015ef68d89a3b20524eb5ecdaf54086
and
(B K pS)
This offensive wil help reduce military pressure on Marib by forcing Houthis to redeploy some of their forces to defend Baydha instead. Retaking Baydha from Houthis wil weaken them militarily which might force them to rethink their maximalist position in the negotiations.
My local sources are telling me that Houthis already started to reposition some of their forces from Marib to Bayda as they have suffered rapid & unexpected loss in Bayda (40 sq km only over the past 3 days). This is good but not enough to protect Marib.
https://twitter.com/Ndawsari/status/1411769557992280072
https://twitter.com/Ndawsari/status/1412497381820616705
(A K pS)
Al-Qaeda militants killed while fighting alongside Houthis in central Yemen
An Al-Qaeda leader, Abu Obaydah al-Riyami and his escorts, have been killed alongside Houthi militants as they fought together to resist the advancing government forces in the outskirts of central Yemen's Beidha, the provincial capital of Al Beidha province./Multiple websites.
https://www.alsahwa-yemen.net/en/p-47727
(A K)
Four injured in explosion of Houthi-planted mine in west Yemen
Four civilians sustained injuries when a landmine planted by the Houthi group exploded on a raod in the district of Mawza'a in Yemen's southwestern province of Taiz
https://debriefer.net/en/news-25980.html
and also http://en.adenpress.news/news/33288
(A K pS)
Saudi project clears 2,008 more mines in Yemen
The Saudi Project for Landmine Clearance (Masam) dismantled 2,008 mines in Yemen between June 26 and July 2.
The figure comprised 63 antipersonnel mines, 793 anti-tank mines, 1,141 unexploded ordnances, and 11 explosive devices.
https://www.arabnews.com/node/1889121/saudi-arabia
cp17a Kriegsereignisse: Kampf um Marib / Theater of War: Marib battle
Siehe / Look at cp1
(* B K P)
The Battle of Marib: the Challenge of Ending a Stalemate War
Without an exerted international peace effort, the siege on Marib could destroy the possibility of a unified Yemen.
Since February 6, 2021, Yemen’s Houthi rebels and the internationally recognized Hadi government, along with local popular resistance forces, have been locked in a battle for the city of Marib. Despite months of violence, the battle has not yielded clear results on the ground, and the Houthis have neither retreated nor ceased direct attacks on the city.
The reasons for such sustained, desperate combat are clear. For the Hadi government, the battle for Marib may be a matter of existential survival. For the Houthis, Marib represents a potentially critical strategic point if they want to negotiate favorable terms with foreign powers in the future and impose control over northern Yemen. The results of the battle for Marib could therefore dictate the end of the Yemeni conflict. Furthermore, a Houthi victory over Marib could mean added humanitarian catastrophe on top of the existing humanitarian crises throughout Yemen. As such, looking forward, Marib may be the most important episode in the trajectory of Yemen’s civil war.
Prospects for Peace
To understand the prospects for peace, and an end to the fighting in Marib, one must consider the agendas of Saudi Arabia and Iran, the conflict’s two major international stakeholders. To a large extent, the civil war in Yemen can be described as a proxy war between the Saudi-led coalition and Iran, and both sides have contributed to continued humanitarian problems while making a peace process elusive. The total lockdown of the country, a result of this proxy war, makes the choice of joining the any of the fighting forces in Marib a favorable choice for unbiased civilians to earn a monthly salary and keep their families one step further from famine, perpetuating the conflict and contributing to more violence.
On one hand, Saudi Arabia’s continued airstrikes have damaged local Yemeni industries and endangered the local population, with some strikes killing civilians. Moreover, the Saudi-led coalition’s closure of Yemen's air and seaports can be seen as a direct cause for the increasing famine in many areas of Yemen. On the other side, Iranian support for the Houthis increases the Houthis’ motivation to create new battlefronts and to refrain from engaging in any prospective peace process.
A Critical Moment for Yemen
Given the strategic significance and humanitarian ramifications of the battle for Marib, the coming developments in this battle could decide the fate of Yemen’s civil war. If the Houthis are able to take the city, remove the Hadi government from the north, and begin a process of negotiations with the Saudi-led coalition, it would seem unlikely for the Hadi government forces to make any kind of resurgence.
In that event, as the Hadi government struggles to find a foothold in increasingly hostile territory, Yemen would start to resemble its old north-south divide, with the STC controlling territory in the southern provinces, and the Houthis controlling territory in the north. As a result, the battle for Marib could be a final stand for the possibility of a unified Yemen.
https://www.washingtoninstitute.org/policy-analysis/battle-marib-challenge-ending-stalemate-war
(A K)
#Marib's security forces deployed on the streets of the city over the last 2 days. These forces hv managed 2foil mountless plots, mostly by Iran-backed Houthis' sleeper cells, 2 destibalize the governorate, arrest outlaw elements & many suspected AQ mmbrs, a security source said.
https://twitter.com/Alsakaniali/status/1413679794068377601
(A K)
Scores of Houthis killed, wounded in raging battles, airstrikes in Marib
Scores of Houthi fighters were killed and injured in raging battles with the forces of the internationally recognised government and Saudi-led airstrikes in Yemen's northeastern province of Marib on Monday.
The Saudi-led coalition targeted reinforcements and vehicles of the Iran-allied Houthi group while on their way to western parts of the province, killing and wounding dozens of Houthis, local sources said.
https://debriefer.net/en/news-25973.html
(* B H K pH)
Maneen tragedy in Marib, crime against humanity
On July 3, 2019, Maneen Al Hadad Displacement Site south of Ma’rib’s Al-Ashraf sub-district. the city was on a date with a barbaric attack with armored vehicles and tanks.
The perpetrators were groups from the Islah party and al-Qaeda elements loyal to the US-Saudi aggression against the family of Al-Al-Amir family, who live in the area.
The people of the region stood up and fight for more than five days until their ammunition was running out and the siege was imposed on them from all sides, so the mercenaries of aggression took advantage of this to raid the area and wreaked havoc and criminality, burned farms, stole houses and looted as much as they could in a show that revealing the banditry mentality of the Islah militia.
The repercussions of the tragedy did not stop there, but dozens of families were abandoned from their homes to Sana'a and other areas and more than 33 young men, children, and sheikhs from the Al-Al-Amir family, who have been in prison for nearly two years, have been detained and subjected to the most severe torture in the silence of human rights organizations.
Attacking the Authority of the Reform Party for a safe area with tanks and armored vehicles against a family whose history attests to the honorable national positions and good deeds among all tribes, and the subsequent looting of homes and the burning of farms reveals the dehumanization of militias, primarily concerned with creating tragedies and terrorizing civilians.
Their insistence on continuing to arrest more than 33 young people, children, and elders from the same family for nearly two years puts human rights and humanitarian organizations on a real test to rid these detainees of the oppressed they have fallen upon, which the pro-aggression authority insists on continuing, as their lives are in danger after they were declared days before going on hunger strike for failing to respond to their demands and continuing to torture them.
Their insistence on continuing to arrest more than 33 young people, children, and elders from the same family for nearly two years puts human rights and humanitarian organizations on a real test to rid these detainees of the oppressed they have fallen upon, which the pro-aggression authority insists on continuing, as their lives are in danger after they were declared days before going on hunger strike for failing to respond to their demands and continuing to torture them.
https://www.saba.ye/en/news3146703.htm
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)
Pro-government forces repel Houthi assault in west Yemen
https://debriefer.net/en/news-26029.html
(A K P)
Houthis: UNMHA slackens, Coalition deliberately violates truce
The UN Mission to Support the Hodeida Agreement (UNMHA) slackens at the Yemeni forces' breaches of the UN-brokered truce in the Red Sea city, the Iranian-backed Houthi group said Monday.
Daily violations against the Stockholm Agreement leave civilian victims in the Yemeni western port city of Hodeida, meaning the coalition forces care not for the international community, the Houthi-appointed local authority said in a statement carried by Houthi media.
https://debriefer.net/en/news-25990.html
(A K P)
UN mission condemns Saudi airstrikes on Salif port
The UN Mission to Support the Hodeidah Agreement (UNMHA) has stated that it considers the recent air attacks carried out by the Saudi-led coalition on Salif port last Saturday “a violation of the Stockholm Agreement.”
The UN mission said, in a tweet on its account on Twitter, that these strikes threaten the vital point of aid entry in Yemen, and called on all parties to the conflict to exercise restraint following the attacks launched by the coalition on the Salif port.
https://hodhodyemennews.net/2021/07/06/un-mission-condemns-saudi-airstrikes-on-salif-port/
referring to https://twitter.com/UN_Hudaydah/status/1412009050036899843
(A K)
Landmine blast injures two Yemeni children in Mocha
Two Yemeni children were injured on Sunday when a Houthi-planted landmine exploded in the southwestern city of Mocha, Taiz governorate, local sources said.
https://debriefer.net/en/news-25958.html
(A K P)
Houthis taking advantage of Stockholm Agreement for terror activities, minister say
The Houthi militants have been taking advantage of the 2018 Stockholm Agreement with the Yemen government to further their terror activities in the conflict-ridden country, the country’s information minister, Muammar Al-Eryani said.
Al-Eryani cited a failed terror attempt on Saturday of the Iran-backed group in Hodeidah using two explosive-laden boats.
https://www.arabnews.com/node/1888561/middle-east
cp19 Sonstiges / Other
(A)
Photo: But this time, it shook my painting brush And made this painting that depicts the suffering of the innocent victims who are affected by the shells of explosives inside their homes, which are no longer safe
..Their walls and ceilings are not able to protect them Nor do children in the arms of their parents find safety.. Stop the war.. we are tired.." - The Yemeni artist, Suzaneel
https://twitter.com/AnnelleSheline/status/1413264535675416576
Vorige / Previous:
https://www.freitag.de/autoren/dklose/jemenkrieg-mosaik-749-yemen-war-mosaic-749
Jemenkrieg-Mosaik 1-749 / Yemen War Mosaic 1-749:
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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