Der Krieg im Jemen geht weiter. Die Luftangriffe der Saudis fordern immer mehr zivile Opfer. 62 getötete Kinder hat UNICEF für den Zeitraum einer Woche gemeldet.
Die hier zusammengestellten Artikel berichten die neuesten Ereignisse, zeigen Hintergründe und Zusammenhänge auf. Dabei sind die Autoren keineswegs alle derselben Meinung. Die Verantwortung für die Entwicklung wird bei Saudi-Arabien und den USA gesehen. Dabei wird durchaus sehr unterschiedlich gewichtet: Sind nun mehr die USA oder mehr Saudi-Arabien für die Eskalation der letzten Woche verantwortlich? Eines sollte ja wohl sicher sein: Ohne die moralische wie auch sonstige Unterstützung der USA (Aufklärung) hätte Saudi-Arabien wahrscheinlich viel zurückhaltender agiert. Und würden die USA womöglich unter Androhung von Sanktionen die Saudis zu einem Ende der Aktionen auffordern, dann wären sie sehr rasch zu Ende.
Eine Variante, um Saudi-Arabien wie die USA von der Verantwortung zu entlasten, scheint jetzt zu sein, auf den Iran zu zeigen. Doch das ist wohl eher ein Ablenkungsmanöver, dazu auch der verlinkte Artikel von Sharmine Narwani.
Ältere Artikel zeigen, dass das, was jetzt eskaliert, eine lange Vorgeschichte hat. Was jetzt passiert, haben kluge Beobachter schon vor Jahren kommen sehen. Immer schon vorne dabei: Saudi-Arabien und die USA.
Wikipedia-Artikel zum aktuellen Jemenkrieg: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Southern_Yemen_offensive_(2015) und http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2015_military_intervention_in_Yemen
Wikipedia-Artikel zur Machtergreifung durch die Houthi-Rebellen: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2014%E2%80%9315_Yemeni_coup_d%27%C3%A9tat und zu den Folgen : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aftermath_of_the_2014%E2%80%9315_Yemeni_coup_d%27%C3%A9tat
Wikipedia-Artikel zu den Kämpfen um den Flughafen von Aden am 19. März: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Aden_Airport
Wikipedia-Artikel über die Selbstmordanschläge auf Moscheen in Sanaa am 20. März: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2015_Sana%27a_mosque_bombings
Wikipedia-Artikel zum Bombenanschlag in Sanaa im Januar: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/January_2015_Sana%27a_bombing
1.4.2015 – Washington Post
Ex-Dictator’s Support as Key for Yemen’s Rebels
http://www.pressreader.com/usa/the-washington-post/20150401/281732677991523/TextView
1.4.2015 – Global and Mail
Air strikes in Yemen kill 23 in factory, witnesses say
An air strike on Yemen’s Red Sea port of Hodaida destroyed a dairy factory on Tuesday night, killing 23 workers, medical sources said, in what appeared to be one of the biggest cases of civilian deaths in a Saudi-led campaign against Houthi militia.
1.4.2015 – Reuters
Yemen air strikes kill 23 in factory: residents
An air strike on Yemen's Red Sea port of Hodaida destroyed a dairy factory on Tuesday night, killing 23 workers, medical sources said, in what appeared to be one of the biggest cases of civilian deaths in a Saudi-led campaign against Houthi militia
1.4.2015 – Pakistan Today
62 children killed in Yemen in past week: UNICEF
At least 62 children have been killed and 30 injured in Yemen over the past week as fighting has escalated with a Saudi-led air campaign, the UN children’s agency UNICEF said Tuesday.“Children are in desperate need of protection, and all parties to the conflict should do all in their power to keep children safe,” said UNICEF’s representative for Yemen, Julien Harneis
http://www.pakistantoday.com.pk/2015/04/01/national/62-children-killed-in-yemen-in-past-week-unicef/
1.4.2015 – CNN
Civilian Casualities are Mounting in Yemen (Film)
Saudi-led airstrikes have been hammering Houthi rebels in Yemen for a week and civilian casualties are on the rise. CNN's John Vause reports
31.3.2015 – Times Republican and other
Yemen civilians shudder, bristle under bombing campaign
Yemeni civilians shuddered in fear and bristled with anger under an intense Saudi-led bombing campaign against Shiite rebels on Tuesday, day six of fighting that prompted international aid organizations to express alarm over high civilian casualties from the strikes and violence roiling the country. Residents of the capital, Sanaa, sought shelter and got little sleep during the night, while some took to the rooftops in anger or frustration, firing automatic rifles skywards toward the roar of warplanes. Schools, universities and government offices were all closed, along with most shops. Few cars ventured onto the mostly deserted streets – by Associated Press
http://www.timesrepublican.com/page/content.detail/id/821263/Yemen-civilians-shudder--bristle-under-bombing-campaign.html?isap=1&nav=5015 = http://news.yahoo.com/iran-sends-aid-yemens-rebels-amid-saudi-led-072102862.html
31.3.2015 – Washington Post
Saudi generals use Yemen war to showcase their new swagger
A report on the daily press conference of the spokesman of the Anti-Yemen Arab coalition, Brig.Gen. Ahmed Asseri – by Brian Murphy
31.3.2015 – CNN
Saudi-led coalition tightens grip on Yemen; casualties rise
The onslaught on Houthis rebels in Yemen continued Tuesday, with the Saudi-led coalition asserting increasing control while locals fled the chaos and casualties piled up -- dozens of civilians among them. The International Red Cross said that intense fighting had brought "disturbing reports of civilian casualties," with some of the worst violence around the port city of Aden. Erich Ogoso, a spokesman with the United Nations' humanitarian agency, reported 182 dead and hundreds more wounded just between last Wednesday and Sunday. Some 75,000 people have been displaced in the past week, many health facilities shut down and food prices have skyrocketed –by Greg Botelho, Nic Robertson and Don Melvin
http://edition.cnn.com/2015/03/31/world/yemen-crisis/
31.3.2015 – New York Times
Saudi Arabia’s Ominous Reach Into Yemen
The Saudi-led military intervention in Yemen threatens to turn what has been a civil war between competing branches of Islam into a wider regional struggle involving Iran. It could also destroy any hope of stability in Yemen. Even before the Saudis and their Arab allies started the bombing, Yemen was in severe distress … Unlike that Qaeda affiliate, the Houthis are indigenous to Yemen and won’t be defeated militarily, or at least not without destroying the country. It would be a catastrophic mistake for Saudi Arabia and other Arab states to allow the Yemeni civil war to become the catalyst for a larger sectarian Shiite-Sunni war with Iran. President Obama should press this fact upon the Saudi leadership – by Editorial Board
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/04/01/opinion/saudi-arabias-ominous-reach-into-yemen.html
31.3.2015 – RT
Will Yemen kick-off the 'War of the two Blocs?'
This is not just a regional fight – it is a global one with ramifications that go well beyond the Middle East. The region is quite simply the theatre where it is coming to a head. And Yemen, Syria and Iraq are merely the tinderboxes that may or may not set off the conflagration. The battle, at its very essence, in its lowest common denominator, is a war between a colonial past and a post-colonial future. For the sake of clarity, let’s call these two axes the Neo-Colonial Axis and the Post-Colonial Axis. The former seeks to maintain the status quo of the past century; the latter strives to shrug off old orders and carve out new, independent directions. If you look at the regional chessboard, the Middle East is plump with governments and monarchies backed to the hilt by the United States, Britain and France. These are the West’s “proxies” and they have not advanced their countries in the least – neither in self-sufficiencies nor in genuine democratic or developmental milestones. Indebted to ‘Empire’s’ patronage, these states form the regional arm of the Neo-Colonial Axis. On the other side of the Mideast’s geopolitical fault line, Iran has set the standard for the Post-Colonial Axis – often referred to as the 'Resistance Axis.' Based on the inherent anti-imperialist worldview of the 1979 Islamic revolution, and also as a result of US/UK-driven isolating sanctions and global politics, Tehran has bucked the system by creating an indigenous system of governance, advancing its developmental ambitions and crafting alliances that challenge the status quo. … The Saudis (and the US) identify the Houthis as ‘Shiites’ and ‘Iranian-backed’ in order to galvanize their own bases in the region. But Iran has had little to do with the Houthis since their emergence as a political force in Yemen. And WikiLeaks showed us that US officials know this too. A 2009 cable from the US Embassy in Riyadh notes that Yemen’s former Saudi-backed President Ali Abdullah Saleh provided “false or exaggerated information on Iranian assistance to the Houthis in order to enlist direct Saudi involvement and regionalize the conflict.”
Saleh was deposed in 2011 as a result of Arab Spring pressures, and in a twist worthy of the complicated Middle East, the wily former president now appears to be backing his former adversaries, the Houthis, against his old patrons, the Saudis. The Houthis are adherents of the Muslim Zaydi sect – which falls somewhere between Sunnism and Shiism, and is followed by around 40 percent of Yemenis. Saleh, who fought the Houthis in half a dozen wars, is also a Zaydi – evidence that Yemen’s internal strife is anything but sectarian. In fact, it could be argued that the Houthi – or Ansarallah movement – are a central constituency of Yemen’s ‘Arab Spring.' Their demands since 2003 have, after all, largely been about ending disenfranchisement, gaining economic, political and religious rights, eliminating corruption, railing against the twin evils of America and Israel (a popular Post-Colonial Arab sentiment), and becoming stakeholders in the state. To ensure the balance continued in their favor during the Arab Spring, the Neo-Colonial Axis installed a puppet transitional leader upon Saleh’s departure – an unelected president whose term ran out a year ago. … Despite a global ban, the United States has sold the Saudis $640 million worth of cluster bombs over the past two years, some of which have been used to carpet bomb parts of Yemen in the past few days. The cluster munitions were part of an overall $67 billion worth of arm deals with Saudi Arabia since the Arab uprisings kicked off in 2011 – by Sharmine Narwani
http://rt.com/op-edge/245585-us-yemen-policies-middle-east/
31.3.2015 – Foxtrot Alpha
Saudis Fear Iranian Control Of Yemen Due To This Strategic Choke Point
There is no doubt that the idea of Iran controlling Yemen via their Houthi Rebel proxies is a nightmare for Saudi Arabia. A large part of this nightmare is the possibility that Iran could deny access to the Red Sea and the Persian Gulf simultaneously, cutting off Saudi Arabia's main avenues for energy exports and causing hell for global commerce. The issue of Iran strangling Sunni-ruled Arab States' oil exports has existed for decades. At any time, Iran can launch throngs of anti-ship and ballistic missiles into and across the Persian Gulf and the Gulf of Oman, along with executing swarming fast boat attacks and deploying hundreds of sea mines. Such an action, which could occur quickly, would in effect shut down the Persian Gulf and choke off 20% of the world's oil supply and about 88 percent of the region's energy exports with a massive impact on the global economy. If Houthi Rebels were to consolidate their power and territorial gains in Western Yemen, and had time to stabilize and establish formal rule there, Iran could step in and begin to build up its proxy with similar weapons and tactics as it uses in the Persian Gulf.
It all takes money. Lots and lots of money, and in order to keep making that money, and for Saudi Arabia, the stability of the one thing that produces any substantial income, that being oil and natural gas exports, needs to be assured at all costs. Even if their exports were interrupted of temporarily, the economic and security effects could be damning. As a result, anything that will ensure that Iran does not get a second way to shut off the Kingdom's oil spigot to the outside world is worth the cost of an open check in blood and treasure, and seeing how volatile the situation is on the ground right now in Yemen there isn't a more complicated or deadly place for which to cash that check – by Tyler Rogoway
http://foxtrotalpha.jalopnik.com/saudis-fear-iranian-control-of-yemen-due-to-this-strate-1694709328
31.3.2015 – German Foreign Policy
In Flammen
Auch nach den jüngsten Luftschlägen vom gestrigen Montag billigt die Bundesregierung den Krieg eines von Saudi-Arabien geführten Militärbündnisses gegen Aufständische im Jemen. Man habe "Verständnis" für die bewaffnete Intervention, heißt es im Auswärtigen Amt. Saudische Luftschläge trafen gestern unter anderem ein jemenitisches Flüchtlingslager; dabei starben mindestens 45 Personen. Riads neuer Krieg richtet sich gegen einen angeblichen Machtzuwachs Irans, dem gute Verbindungen zu den schiitischen Huthi-Rebellen nachgesagt werden. Er entspricht den Interessen der NATO-Staaten: Man wolle verhindern, dass Teheran mit Hilfe der Huthis "neben der Meerenge von Hormuz auch noch die Meerenge zwischen dem Jemen und Afrika kontrollieren könnte, durch die jeden Tag Millionen Barrel Erdöl transportiert werden", erläutert ein renommierter Kommentator. Für ihren Krieg stehen den saudischen Streitkräften deutsche Kriegswaffen zur Verfügung, darunter Tornado- und Eurofighter-Kampfflugzeuge sowie - für den Fall eines Einmarschs saudischer Bodentruppen im Jemen - Sturmgewehre der Modelle G3 und G36. Beobachter halten eine vollständige Entgrenzung des jemenitischen Bürgerkriegs für durchaus wahrscheinlich. Die arabische Welt steht nach zahlreichen offenen oder verdeckten militärischen Interventionen des Westens unkontrollierbar in Flammen - vom Süden der Arabischen Halbinsel bis Nordsyrien, von Libyen bis Irak.
Bereits vor Beginn der aktuellen Luftangriffe auf Stellungen der Huthi-Rebellen hatten die westlichen Großmächte und ihr regionaler Hauptverbündeter Saudi-Arabien zur Eskalation des innerjemenitischen Konflikts beigetragen. Dies geht aus Analysen von Experten hervor. So weist die International Crisis Group, ein internationaler westlicher Think-Tank, darauf hin, dass Washington "und andere westliche Regierungen" den jemenitischen Staatspräsidenten Abd Rabbo Mansur Hadi um jeden Preis an der Macht zu halten suchten, da er im "Anti-Terror-Krieg" stets bereitwillig mit ihnen kooperierte. Hadi stellte etwa den Vereinigten Staaten den Stützpunkt Al Anad unweit der Hafenstadt Aden zur Verfügung - für Drohnenoperationen aller Art, aber auch für die Ausbildung jemenitischer Spezialkräfte. Dass der kooperationswillige Präsident weithin dringend gewünschte Reformen verschleppte und in der Bevölkerung kaum noch Rückhalt hatte, sei im Westen ignoriert worden, heißt es bei der Crisis Group.[2] Im Herbst letzten Jahres berichtete die Büroleiterin der Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung (SPD) im Jemen, Hadis "politisches Überleben" werde "derzeit nur noch durch die internationale Gemeinschaft garantiert".[3] Wie die Crisis Group schildert, hat Saudi-Arabien zuletzt sogar mehrfach denkbare Verhandlungslösungen in dem eskalierenden Konflikt sabotiert. So habe sich Hadi im Februar einem Teilkompromiss per Flucht aus der Hauptstadt Sanaa nach Aden entzogen - "unterstützt von den Saudis", berichtet der Think-Tank.[4] Noch in diesem Monat habe Riad erneut eine Einigung unmöglich gemacht, indem es Gespräche an Vorbedingungen geknüpft habe, die für die Huthis unerfüllbar gewesen seien.
http://www.german-foreign-policy.com/de/fulltext/59081 = http://principiis-obsta.blogspot.de/2015/04/yemen-in-flammen.html
Ein Artikel von Stephen Lendman im Counterpunch vom 31.3.2015, « Obama’s Dirty War in Yemen“, wird hier nur erwähnt, aber nicht verlinkt, wegen zu großer Polemik.
31.3.2015 – BBC
Yemen on verge of total collapse, UN human rights chief warns
The UN high commissioner for human rights has warned that Yemen is "on the verge of total collapse", as Houthi rebels battle a Saudi-led coalition backing the government. "The killing of so many innocent civilians is simply unacceptable," Mr Zeid said. "The principles of proportionality, distinction, and precaution fully apply in this context. International human rights law and humanitarian law should be fully respected."
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-32133203
31.3.2015 – The Week
Don't cheer Saudi Arabia's foolhardy war in Yemen
Indeed, Saudi insistence on the sanctity of global order and stability might surprise more than a few, seeing as its fingerprints can be found on decades of uprisings, insurgencies, and acts of terrorism. The monarchy's reliance on a radical class of Wahhabi clerics to ensure its hold on power has resulted in chaos all across the globe. Loath to tolerate yet another Tehran-friendly government along its border, the Saudis have cobbled together an alliance of like-minded governments to help it wage what has become a turf war for power and influence in the Middle East. Its battlefields include the civil war in Syria, thehighly sectarian campaign against the Islamic State in Iraq, and now Yemen. Saudi Arabia has been meddling in Yemeni affairs for decades now, often using its oil wealth to buy off rival tribes and warring factions. What plagues this incredibly poor country is largely local and inherently tribal, but none of that has stopped many in American media and government from painting the crisis in absurdly broad strokes – by Kevin B. Sullivan
http://theweek.com/articles/546977/dont-cheer-saudi-arabias-foolhardy-war-yemen
31.3.2015 – Qantara.de
Der Jemen und die Büchse der Pandora
Beinahe stündlich verschlechtert sich die Lage im Jemen. Die saudischen Luftangriffe heizen den Konflikt weiter an. Es droht die Destabilisierung einer ganzen Region. Es ist kaum absehbar, in welche Richtung sich die Geschehnisse im Jemen entwickeln. Um ein vergleichbares Schicksalsmoment in der Geschichte des Landes zu finden, muss man die Zeit bis zur Ära nach der Revolution gegen das jemenitische Königreich im Jahr 1962 zurückdrehen. In dem in diesem Jahr beginnenden Bürgerkrieg rangen ähnlich viele Akteure um die Macht wie heut. Einen Ausweg kann einzig ein friedlicher Dialog bieten. Weder Saudi-Arabien, noch der Iran, noch die USA, und selbstverständlich auch nicht die Jemeniten selbst, profitieren von einer Ausweitung des Konflikts. Doch die Zeit für Gespräche ist möglicherweise bereits verstrichen. Durch ihren Angriff könnte die Anti-Huthi-Koalition bereits die Büchse der Pandora geöffnet haben: Eine Tat, die das Potenzial hätte, die Arabische Halbinsel und die Region in den kommenden Tagen, Wochen und Monate bis in die Grundfesten zu erschüttern – von Adam Baron
http://de.qantara.de/inhalt/krise-im-jemen-der-jemen-und-die-buechse-der-pandora
31.3.2015 – Der Standard
Erneut 35 Tote bei saudi-arabischen Luftangriffen im Jemen
Bei einem Luftangriff der von Saudi-Arabien geführten Koalition auf schiitische Huthi-Rebellen sind im Jemen mindestens 35 Menschen getötet worden. Kampfjets hätten rund 140 Kilometer südlich der Hauptstadt Sanaa einen Kontrollpunkt der Huthis bombardiert. 20 Opfer seien Kämpfer der Rebellen gewesen, weitere 15 Zivilisten. Dutzende Menschen seien bei dem Angriff in der Stadt Yarim verletzt worden
http://derstandard.at/2000013669771/Jemen-Chinesen-per-Schiff-nach-Dschibuti-gebracht
31.3.2015 – World Socialist Web
(Hört sich zwar nach Altkommunisten an, aber trotzdem verlinkt, da doch m. E. ganz gut die Zusammenhänge erklärt werden)
Der Krieg im Jemen und Amerikas Streben nach Weltherrschaft
Das Ziel des Kriegs ist die Zerschlagung der Houthi-Rebellen, die vom Iran unterstützt werden, und der Truppen, die auf der Seite des langjährigen Diktators Ali Abdullah Saleh kämpfen und einen Großteil der westjemenitischen Provinzen erobert haben. Die USA wollen außerdem den Luftwaffenstützpunkt Al Anad zurückerobern, der als Basis für Drohnenangriffe innerhalb des Jemen benutzt wurde. Bei diesen Angriffen wurden seit 2009 mehr als eintausend Menschen getötet. Der Luftwaffenstützpunkt wurde vergangene Woche am Mittwochmorgen von Houthi-Rebellen erobert, kurz bevor Saudi-Arabien seine Luftangriffe begann. Warum ist die amerikanische Regierung daran interessiert, den Jemen zu kontrollieren? Die Antwort ist einfach: wegen Öl. Die Meerenge Bab el-Mandeb, die zusammen mit dem ägyptischen Suezkanal das Mittelmeer mit dem Indischen Ozean verbindet, liegt zwischen dem Jemen auf der Arabischen Halbinsel und Dschibuti und Eritrea am Horn von Afrika. Ein Großteil des Öls, das vom Persischen Golf nach Europa, in die USA und Asien exportiert wird, muss durch diese Meerenge transportiert werden. Mit anderen Worten, es geht in diesem Krieg um geostrategische Vorteile und um Weltmacht
http://www.wsws.org/de/articles/2015/03/31/pers-m31.html
30.3.2015 – Telepolis
Jemen: Internationaler Kampfplatz. Eine ganz große Kriegskoalition beim "Sturm der Entschlossenheit"
Einen Militärschlag mitsamt Androhung noch massiverer Einsätze und in so breiter Beteiligung von "willigen" Staaten hat es in der arabischen Welt bisher nicht gegeben: Saudi-Arabien bombardiert den Jemen, Kriegsschiffe stehen bereit und 150.000 Mann Bodentruppen, die USA leisten "logistische Hilfe", 10 arabische Staaten haben ihre militärische Unterstützung angesagt, die britische Regierung gibt dem Rückhalt, das deutsche Auswärtige Amt erklärt die kriegerische Operation für legitim.
Auf der Gegenseite: Die so genannten "Huthi-Rebellen", einige Zehntausende, keineswegs modern ausgerüstet. Eine Weltgefahr? Saudi-Arabien, wie Thomas de Maizière es dem deutschen Publikum in Sachen Waffenlieferung dargelegt hat, "ein Anker der Stabilität" im Nahen Osten? – von Arno Klönne
http://www.heise.de/tp/artikel/44/44526/1.html
30.3.2015 – Foreign Policy
Make No Mistake — the United States Is at War in Yemen. The White House just doesn’t want to admit it.
To see Yemen exclusively through the lens of U.S. counterterrorism goals, and thus deem it a foreign-policy “success,” is not only insensitive to the chaos Yemenis are experiencing, it is incredibly shortsighted — if not downright disingenuous. … As Fred Iklé wrote in his 1971 classic Every War Must End, “[I]t is the outcome of the war, not the outcome of the campaigns within it, that determines how well their plans serve the nation’s interests.” The manner and speed with which the Obama administration decided to wholly back one side in Yemen’s latest proxy civil war — with no clear outcome — should be alarming. Unfortunately, this has become standard operating procedure for how the United States keeps going to war – by Micah Zenko
30.3.2015 – Global Research
US-Sponsored Slow-Motion Genocide in Yemen
Bush and Obama administrations murdered Yemenis for years – through drone terror-bombings and internal subversion killing mostly civilians. On the one hand, it ousted Ukraine’s democratically President Viktor Yanukovych – replacing him with putschist Nazi thugs. On the other, it supports illegitimate Yemeni president Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi – coronated in a 2012 election with no opposing candidates. … Yemen is Washington’s latest imperial high crime against peace – by Stephen Lendman
http://www.globalresearch.ca/us-sponsored-slow-motion-genocide-in-yemen/5439548
30.3.2015 – taz
Krieg im JemenViele Tote in Flüchtlingslager
Die jemenitische Nachrichtenseite Barakish.net meldete, Flugzeuge der von Saudi-Arabien geführten Koalition hätten das Lager im Nordwesten des Landes bombardiert. Zunächst war von 45 Toten gesprochen worden. Jemenitische Sicherheitskreise berichteten am Montag, Kampfflugzeuge hätten vier Angriffe auf das Flüchtlingslager Al-Masrak nahe der Grenze zu Saudi-Arabien geflogen. Unter den Toten seien auch Frauen und Kinder, hieß es weiter. In dem Lager leben laut der Hilfsorganisation Ärzte ohne Grenzen vor allem Menschen, die vor Kämpfen zwischen schiitischen Huthi-Rebellen und der Armee geflohen sind. In den vergangenen zwei Tagen seien 500 Familien eingetroffen, die vor den saudischen Luftangriffen geflohen seien.
30.3.2015 – Middle East Eye
45 dead in air strike on Yemen refugee camp: IOM
On day five of Saudi strikes on Yemen, 45 refugees are killed in a tented camp in northern Yemen
At least 45 people were killed on Monday when an air raid struck a camp for displaced people in northwest Yemen, the International Organization for Migration said.
"IOM is reporting 45 dead among internally displaced persons, 65 injured (and counting)," spokesman Joel Millman told AFP by email. Earlier Doctors Without Borders reported at least 15 dead in the strike. Al-Mazrak Camp is home to at least 17,000 people displaced by the fighting between the Houthis and Yemeni government from 2004 to 2010, largely in the northern Sa'dah governorate.
http://www.middleeasteye.net/news/45-dead-air-strike-yemen-displaced-camp-iom-1242339590
31.3.2015 – WTAE
How Yemen could spiral into regional war: Saudi, Iranian influence prods local political maneuvers
Foreign intervention in Yemen's chaos has dramatically raised the stakes in the Arabian Peninsula, threatening to expand what is already a civil war into a conflict pitting Iran against Saudi Arabia and an Arab coalition … Many analysts were surprised at the speed and scale of the Saudi air campaign, which the Kingdom said would continue until the Houthis -- a Shia minority that has swept across the country in the last six months -- retreated and laid down their arms. Essentially the Saudis are trying to bomb the Houthis to the negotiating table. The Houthis have responded by threatening a campaign of suicide bomb attacks inside Saudi Arabia. Iran, which has supported the Houthis as fellow Shia, described the Saudi offensive as a "dangerous move that would kill any chance at peaceful resolution of the crisis." Yemen is becoming the latest battleground in a contest for regional superiority between Saudi Arabia and Iran that goes back to the overthrow of the Shah during Iran's Islamic Revolution in 1979. It now resembles Syria, or Bosnia 20 years ago. "This combination of proxy wars, sectarian violence, state collapse and militia rule has become sadly familiar in the region. Nobody is likely to win such a fight," the ICG says. – by Tim Lister, CNN
http://www.wtae.com/national/how-yemen-could-spiral-into-regional-war/32082996
30.3.2015 – Daily Sabah
The power struggle in Yemen
While looking for answers to these questions, we need to resort to the historical background of the matter that goes back centuries. The origin of Houthis, who have risen against the Yemeni government, goes back to Hussein, the grandson of Prophet Muhammad. Hussein's grandson, Zaid, was killed when he revolted against the Umayyads, and the caliph of the Umayyads hung his body from a tree where it stayed for years. Those who followed Zaid's lead were called Zaidis, also known as the "Fivers" branch of Shia.The Zaidis' struggle for sovereignty in Yemen dates back to the ninth century. They did not submit to Ottoman domination, and their insurgency continued for many years. The Ottoman Empire could never achieve full domination over Yemen due to the Zaidis and withdrew from the country during World War I. Although the ongoing turmoil stopped temporarily when South Yemen was united with North Yemen in 1993, it reappeared in the course of time.
What we call the Houthi movement, or Ansar Allah (Supporters of God), hails from such a historical background – by Nagehan Alci
http://www.dailysabah.com/columns/nagehan-alci/2015/03/31/the-power-struggle-in-yemen
30.3.2015 – Washington Post
Dozens killed in airstrike at refugee camp in Yemen
An airstrike killed dozens of people Monday at a camp for displaced people in northern Yemen, in what appeared to be the single deadliest attack since a Saudi Arabia-led coalition sent warplanes to target Shiite insurgents advancing across the country. As many as 40 people died and about 200 were wounded in the attack on the Mazraq camp in Hajjah province
http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/saudi-led-airstrikes-shake-sanaa-for-fifth-day-as-rebels-push-towards-aden/2015/03/30/0f3b3b76-d6bf-11e4-8103-fa84725dbf9d_story.html see also http://www.newsweek.com/strike-refugee-camp-yemen-kills-45-317762
30.3.2015 – Vox
Obama's love of the "Yemen model" sums up his disastrously shortsighted foreign policy
The Obama administration's approach to Yemen has all along exemplified some of its worst foreign policy instincts in the Middle East: treating drone strikes and armed proxies as the solution for everything, finding short-term solutions to long-term problems, and refusing to deal seriously with the underlying issues that keep creating crises in the region. But this model failed in Yemen — just as it has failed, and will continue to fail, in the rest of the Middle East. The "Yemen model" of counterterrorism is all about achieving short-term goals. It focuses on treating the symptoms of terrorism — going after specific militant targets and attempting to disrupt specific plots — but does nothing to address the underlying political problems that allow terrorist organizations to flourish. The US partners with whichever local group or dictator will help fight our counterterrorism enemies today, then throws in some drone and air strikes to back them up. And sometimes that does bring short-term successes! But evidence is mounting — not that it should have been difficult to see this coming — that the long-term costs of this model outweigh the short-term gains. Obama seems to assume the only two options are either short-term thinking or hubristic, Bush-style attempts to remake the region in America's interests. But surely there is some middle ground available that takes underlying political problems into account, and accepts short-term costs in exchange for pursuit of long-term gains. But instead, we get the continuous insistence that the Yemen model is super-duper awesome in the face of its obvious, significant, demonstrable failures – by Amanda Taub
http://www.vox.com/2015/3/30/8309797/obama-yemen-model
30.3.2015 – Zee News
Scarcity of food, water in Yemen: Indian returnee
There is a shortage of food and water in Yemen and continuous bombing and shelling is taking place in the country, an Indian expatriate has said on returning to Kerala.
http://zeenews.india.com/news/india/scarcity-of-food-water-in-yemen-indian-returnee_1570150.html dagegen http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/03/30/us-yemen-security-food-idUSKBN0MQ1M620150330
30.3.2015 – Deutsche Welle
Airstrikes hit refugee camp in northern Yemen
An airstrike in the northwest of Yemen has killed a number of people in a camp for displaced people. A Saudi-led coalition has been pounding Shiite Houthi rebels positions for days.
http://www.dw.de/airstrikes-hit-refugee-camp-in-northern-yemen/a-18349667 dazu http://www.yementimes.com/en/1872/news/5011/Strike-hits-IDP-camp-on-Saudi-Yemeni-border-dozens-feared-dead.htm
30.3.2015 – Zeit Online
Jemen: Viele Tote bei Luftangriffen auf Flüchtlingslager
Die saudische Luftwaffe bombardiert Stellungen der Huthi-Rebellen im Norden des Jemen. Doch auch ein Flüchtlingslager nahe der Grenze wurde getroffen, es gab viele Tote. Durch einen Luftangriff auf ein Flüchtlingscamp im Jemen sind nach Angaben von Beobachtern mindestens 45 Menschen getötet worden. 65 weitere Menschen seien bei dem Angriff auf das Lager im Nordwesten des Landes verletzt worden, sagte ein Sprecher der Internationalen Organisation für Migration (IOM). In dem Camp sollen sich rund 700 Flüchtlinge aufgehalten haben. Unter den Toten seien auch Frauen und Kinder, hieß es aus jemenitischen Sicherheitskreisen.
http://www.zeit.de/politik/ausland/2015-03/jemen-angriff-fluechtlingslager dazu auch http://www.tagesschau.de/ausland/jemen-271.html
29.3.2015 – Yemen Times
Deadly Strikes Hit Yemen for Forth Night
aturday evening the fourth round of Saudi-led air raids began in Sana’a, at 8 p.m. striking the 48th Command Headquarters, housing the military’s elite Reserve Forces, in the south of the capital. Hussam Mujahed, a soldier inside the camp, said the bombing killed several soldiers and injured many others, leaving the 48th Command in a blaze.
http://www.yementimes.com/en/1871/news/5009/Deadly-strikes-hit-Yemen-for-fourth-night.htm
29.3.2015 – Tagesschau
Luftangriffe im Jemen: Sanaas Airport angeblich lahmgelegt
Seit vier Tagen bombardieren Saudi-Arabien und seine Verbündeten Huthi-Stellungen im Jemen. Dabei seien alle Kampfflugzeuge zerstört worden, hieß es. Auch der Flughafen sei nicht mehr benutzbar. Beobachter rechnen mit dem Einmarsch von Bodentruppen
http://www.tagesschau.de/ausland/luftangriffe-jemen-101.html dazu http://www.blick.ch/news/ausland/jemen-flughafen-von-sanaa-bei-luftangriffen-schwer-beschaedigt-id3611651.html
29.3.2015 – Global Research
The Geopolitics Behind the War in Yemen: The Start of a New Front against Iran
The truth has been turned on its head about the war in Yemen. The war and ousting of President Abd-Rabbuh Manṣour Al-Hadi in Yemen are not the results of a «Houthi coup» in Yemen. It is the opposite. Al-Hadi was ousted, because with Saudi and US support he tried to backtrack on the power sharing agreements he had made and return Yemen to authoritarian rule. The ousting of President Al-Hadi by the Houthis and their political allies was an unexpected reaction to the takeover Al-Hadi was planning with Washington and the House of Saud … While the House of Saud has long considered Yemen a subordinate province of some sorts and as a part of Riyadh’s sphere of influence, the US wants to make sure that it could control the Bab Al-Mandeb, the Gulf of Aden, and the Socotra Islands. The Bab Al-Mandeb is an important strategic chokepoint for international maritime trade and energy shipments that connects the Persian Gulf via the Indian Ocean with the Mediterranean Sea via the Red Sea. It is just as important as the Suez Canal for the maritime shipping lanes and trade between Africa, Asia, and Europe … Saudi Arabia was visibly afraid that Yemen could become formally aligned to Iran and that the events there could result in new rebellions in the Arabian Peninsula against the House of Saud. The US was just as much concerned about this too, but was also thinking in terms of global rivalries. Preventing Iran, Russia, or China from having a strategic foothold in Yemen, as a means of preventing other powers from overlooking the Gulf of Aden and positioning themselves at the Bab Al-Mandeb, was a major US concern … The US is also involved and leading from behind or a distance. While it works to strike a deal with Iran, it also wants to maintain an alliance against Tehran using the Saudis. The Pentagon would provide what it called «intelligence and logistical support» to the House of Saud. Make no mistakes about it: the war on Yemen is also Washington’s war – by Mahdi Darius Nazemroaya
28.3.2015 – Foxtrott Alpha
Second Air War Erupts In Middle East With Wide Ranging Implications
Both the Shiite Houthi and President Hadi's backers, which are largely Sunni, are by and large against Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula and the Islamic State. Still, there is no love-lost between staunchly Sunni Saudi Arabia and the Shiite Houthi Rebels. Saudi Arabia has said it will focus its efforts to see that Aden does not fall into Houthi, Al Qaeda or IS hands. They have made true on part of this statement when Saudi fighter aircraft struck a large armored column making its way from the Capital of Sanaa to Aden, destroying what appeared to be the core mechanized force of Houthi Rebels that would have assaulted the embattled port city. … The key take away from these rapid developments is multi-fold. On one hand, you have an Arab-centric coalition finally leading the way against extremists and instability in the region. Yemen has largely been an "American problem" over the last decade or so, with local Arab states, especially neighboring Saudi Arabia, providing logistical and intelligence support. These roles have now switched drastically, with the US only playing a supporting role in this new military coalition. … There appears to be a very strong tint of proxy warfare in regards to Saudi Arabia's leap into this new front on the war against Islamic Extremism. The Houthi Militias are Shiite. The Arab states involved in this new air campaign are predominately Sunni. Iran is a known supporter of the Houthi.
So currently the state of affairs in the Middle East goes something like this: The US is fighting ISIS in Iraq and Syria in tacit conjunction with Iran to some degree. The US is not directly fighting against, but wants to depose the Assad regime in Syria which is backed by Iran. Iran is fighting via Shiite militia proxy against a pro-US established and Sunni dominated government in Yemen, while Saudi Arabia, our closest Arab ally, along with other Sunni Arab nations, the majority of which are close US allies as well, are now fighting this Iranian backed Shiite militia. Meanwhile, mostly everyone in the region is hoping that Iran is not allowed to reach nuclear breakout capability. The whole situation is a total mess, where murky intentions abound and the real chance of deepening hostilities exists around every bend. Even worse, this all could be just a weak preview of what is to come should Iran move forward with its nuclear program. As for trying to identify a firm US foreign policy in the region, you can't, unless we are just going to go with the age old and dangerous adage: The enemy of my enemy is my friend – by Tyler Rogoway
http://foxtrotalpha.jalopnik.com/second-air-war-erupts-in-middle-east-with-wide-ranging-1694268668
5.10.2010 Bibliothecapleyades
Yemen – The Covert Apparatus of the American Empire
Yemen is perhaps an excellent example of America being on the “wrong side of a world revolution,” as the secret war in Yemen being exacerbated in the name of “fighting al-Qaeda” is in actuality, about the expansion and supremacy of American power in the region. It is about the suppression of natural democratic, local, revolutionary elements throughout the country seeking self-autonomy in changing the nation from its current despotic, authoritarian rule sympathetic to American interests, into a nation of their own choosing. It is about repressing struggles for liberation. This brings in the involvement of Saudi Arabia, itself interested in ensuring Yemen is a loyal neighbor; so they too must suppress indigenous movements within Yemen seeking autonomy, especially those that are Shi’a Muslims, as the Saudi state is a strict Wahhabist Sunni Muslim regime. Shi’as are primarily represented in the region through the state of Iran, Saudi Arabia’s “natural” enemy; both vying for influence in Iraq and both vying for influence in Yemen. Through this we see another key American imperial aim in this war, that of seeking to stir up a conflict with Iran, perhaps through a proxy-war within Yemen. This essay examines the American war in Yemen as a war of empire, as a war against the rising tide of people’s movements and the “global political awakening” that is taking place around the world – by Andrew Gavin Marshall
http://www.bibliotecapleyades.net/sociopolitica/sociopol_globalmilitarism67.htm
7.2.2010 – Wikileaks
SAUDI ARABIA: RENEWED ASSURANCES ON SATELLITE IMAGERY
Ambassador met with Assistant Minister of Defense and Aviation Prince Khaled bin Sultan to relay U.S. concerns about sharing USG imagery with Saudi Arabia in light of evidence that Saudi aircraft may have struck civilian targets during its fighting with the Houthis in northern Yemen. Prince Khaled described the targeting decision-making process and while not denying that civilian targets might have been hit, gave unequivocal assurances that Saudi Arabia considered it a priority to avoid strikes against civilian targets. Based on the assurances received from Prince Khaled, the Ambassador has approved, as authorized in reftel, the provision of USG imagery of the Yemeni border area to the Saudi Government. End summary.
https://wikileaks.org/plusd/cables/10RIYADH159_a.html
7.1.2010 – Ari Rusila
Yemen – the next target for the War on Terror?
Yemen’s southern provinces have recently been the scene of US air strikes which Washington claims to be aimed at uprooting an al-Qaeda cell operative in the Persian Gulf state. But the residents of the area dismiss the claims that al-Qaeda members are being targeted in the US-sponsored air strikes, while Yemen’s government says the strike targeted militants and their relatives.
The Yemen-based group, which claims to be affiliated with Osama bin Laden’s organisation, had earlier claimed responsibility for the failed attack and called for strikes on embassies in Yemen.
The US operation in southern Yemen comes on top of a joint Saudi-Yemeni military campaign in the country’s war-weary north where Sana’a and Riyadh forces are engaged in a fierce fighting against the Houthi fighters. The Houthis, who accuse the Sunni-dominated Sana’a government of discrimination and repression against Yemen’s Shia minority, were the target of the army’s off and on attacks before the central government launched an all-out fighting against them in early August. Saudi Arabia joined the operation later following alleged clashes between its border guards and the Houthis, carrying out regular air strikes and ground incursions against the fighters.
The actual reason for planned U.S. involvement can be the fact that the U.S.-backed dictator, Yemen’s President Saleh, increasingly is losing control after two decades as despotic ruler of the unified Yemen. Economic conditions in the country took a drastic downward slide in 2008 when world oil prices collapsed. For U.S. Yemen is important for two energy related issues: one is Yemen’s geopolitical location as one of the world’s most important oil transport routes and the other is undeveloped – some say one of the world’s largest – petroleum reserves in the territory.
http://arirusila.blogactiv.eu/2010/01/07/yemen-the-next-target-for-the-war-on-terror/
7.7.2009 – US Congressional Research Service
Yemen: Background and U.S. Relations
As the country’s population rapidly rises, resources dwindle, and terrorist groups take root in the outlying provinces, the Obama Administration and the 111th Congress are left to grapple with the consequences of Yemeni instability. Traditionally, U.S.-Yemeni relations have been tepid, as the lack of strong military-to-military ties, commercial relations, and cross cultural exchange has hindered the development of strong bilateral ties. During the early years of the Bush Administration, relations improved under the rubric of the war on terror, though Yemen’s lax policy toward wanted terrorists has stalled large scale U.S. support. As President Obama and the 111th Congress reassess U.S. policy toward the Arab world, the opportunity for improved U.S.-Yemeni ties is strong, though recurring tensions over counterterrorism cooperation and lack of U.S. interest in Yemen within the broader foreign policy community persist. – by Jeremy M. Sharp
http://fpc.state.gov/documents/organization/128389.pdf
Zum saudisch-jemenitischen Verhältnis auch:
1.5.2000 – Der Überblick
Saudi-Arabien und Jemen erkennen ihre Grenzen: Mit einem Vertrag werden alte Rivalitäten begraben
Das Verhältnis zwischen den Nachbarn Jemen und Saudi-Arabien war lange durch die unterschiedliche Lebensbedingungen und politische Auseinandersetzungen belastet. Jetzt regelt ein Vertrag den Grenzverlauf. Darin wurde der spezifischen Wirtschaftsweise der nomadisierenden Grenzstämme Rechnung getragen. Um künftige Konflikte um die Nutzung bislang noch unentdeckter Rohstofflager im Grenzgebiet zu vermeiden, wurde festgelegt, dass bei Entdeckung neuer Reserven Verhandlungen mit dem Ziel der gemeinsamen Ausbeutung geführt werden sollen –von Victor Kocher
Mehr zum Thema, mehr Links im früheren Beitrag vom 30.3.2015:
https://www.freitag.de/autoren/dklose/ukraine-und-jemen-doppelmoral-vom-feinsten
Weitere Links zu Artikeln, eingestellt am 4.4.2015:
https://www.freitag.de/autoren/dklose/jemen-mehr-links-zum-weiterlesen-2
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