Krieg im Jemen-Neue Artikel zum Nachlesen 112

Yemen Press Reader 112: Amerikanische Kriege im Nahen Osten - Jemen: Währung und Regierungsinstitutionen gefährdet - Saudis und UNO Hilfsorganisation MONA - Verhandlungen zw. Huthis und Saudis

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Schwerpunkte / Key aspects

Klassifizierung / Classification

cp1 Am wichtigsten / Most important

cp2 Allgemein / General

cp3 Humanitäre Lage / Humanitarian situation

cp4 Kulturerbe / Cultural heritage

cp5 Nordjemen und Huthis / Northern Yemen and Houthis

cp6 Südjemen und Hadi-Regierung / Southern Yemen and Hadi-government

cp 7 UNO / UN

cp7a Saudi-Arabien und Iran / Saudi Arabia and Iran

cp9 USA

cp11 Deutschland / Germany

cp12 Andere Länder / Other countries

cp 13a Mercenaries / Söldner

cp 13b Blockade

cp14 Terrorismus / Terrorism

cp15 Propaganda

cp16 Saudische Luftangriffe / Saudi air raids

cp17 Kriegsereignisse / Theater of War

cp18 Schöner Jemen / Beautiful Yemen

Klassifizierung / Classification

***

**

*

(Kein Stern / No star)

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

cp1 Am wichtigsten / Most important

4.3.2016 – Chas W. Freeman (*** B K P)

America’s Persian and Arabian Wars
Remarks to Diplomatic and Consular Officers, Retired (DACOR)

Ambassador Chas W. Freeman, Jr. (USFS, Ret.)
DACOR Bacon House, Washington, DC 4 March 2016

The United States has now been engaged in a cold war with Iran – Persia – for thirty-seven years. It has conducted various levels of hot war in Iraq for twenty-six years. It has been in combat in Afghanistan for fifteen years. Americans have bombed Somalia for fifteen, Libya for five, and Syria for one and a half years. One war has led to another. None has yielded any positive result and none shows any sign of doing so.

The same might be said for the wars of others we Americans subsidize and supply. Israel’s wars to subdue the Palestinians and deter other Arabs from challenging its ongoing dispossession of them are now sixty-eight-years-old – and counting. U.S. drones have been killing Yemenis for fourteen years, Pakistanis for twelve, and Somalis for nine. Saudi Arabia’s bloody effort to reinstall an ousted government in Yemen is almost a year old. In none of these wars is an end in sight.

It’s hard to put a price tag on these inconclusive misadventures. The unsuccessful Afghan and Iraq pacification campaigns alone have cost the United States an estimated $6 trillion in outlays and obligations. Over 7,000 Americans have died in combat since these wars kicked off in 2001. At least another 50,000 have been maimed. A million have filed claims for war-related disabilities. And well over two million Afghans, Arabs, Persians, and Somalis have perished. This is a great deal of sacrifice and suffering for no apparent gain in the region and continuously escalating risks to our homeland. Perhaps a bit of reflection is in order, followed by a change of course.

Unraveling the tangle of wars in which the United States is now engaged with or against Arabs, Berbers, Hazaras, Israelis, Kanuris, Kurds, Palestinians, Persians, Pashtuns, Somalis, Syrians, Tajiks, Tuaregs, Turkmen, Turks, and Uzbeks – as well as Alawites, Christians, Druze, Jews, secular Muslims, Salafis, Shiites, Sunnis, and Yazidis – will not be easy. In large measure through our involvement, their conflicts have become interwoven. Ending one or another of them might alter the dynamics of the region but would not by itself produce peace.

The unending contention between Israelis and Arabs has also become a major factor in both Iran’s regional role and its estrangement from the United States. Iranian support for Hezbollah and its Arab Shiite constituency during and after Israel’s assaults on Lebanon has given Iran significant sway in Lebanese politics.

The partnerships of the United States with Saudi Arabia and others in the Gulf are also in increasing jeopardy, as the Gulf Arabs double down on foreign policies based on sectarian intolerance of Shi`ism as well as rivalry with Iran, the self-proclaimed protector of Shi`ites everywhere. Like Israeli Jews, Saudi Muslims react badly to even the most well-meant criticism by outsiders. They talk about their problems only to themselves, reinforcing their self-righteous self-perceptions and failing to understand the way others see them. (It couldn’t happen here!)

Islam is inherently among the most tolerant and humane of faiths. But Saudi Islam is intolerant of other traditions within Islam, the other Abrahamic religions, and actively hostile to faiths not rooted in Judaism like Animism, Buddhism, Hinduism, Shamanism, Shintoism, Yazidism, or Zoroastrianism. And it is adamantly opposed to secularism and secular doctrines like Confucianism.

More to the point, Saudi Salafism – pejoratively labeled “Wahhabism” abroad – is kin to the xenophobic doctrines espoused by Islamist extremists, like Daesh or al Qaeda, even if it clearly lacks the zeal for bloody massacres that is their hallmark. This theological affinity makes Saudi Arabia either a reluctant opponent or even clandestine collaborator with Islamist extremists or the ideal partner to combat the perverted Salafism of Daesh. It has been hard for either Americans or Saudis to sort out which it is. That’s a problem.

Saudi and American values never coincided. The European Enlightenment occurred while Arabia was remote from it and in an Islamic Reformation, inspired by Mohammed ibn `Abd al-Wahhab. The Saudis are Muslim originalists and profoundly anti-secular. They are not impressed by democracy as a political system – especially in its current dysfunctional state in America – and do not aspire to adopt it. These differences never mattered in the past because U.S. and Saudi interests coincided in so many ways. But they matter now.

Until recently, the United States had no political or ideological agenda of its own in the Middle East. It was satisfied to enjoy preferred access to the region’s oil and to provide the Saudis and others protection in return for this. A grateful Saudi Arabia had America’s back on foreign policy issues affecting its region or the realm of Islam. On occasion, it was helpful farther afield.

For decades, the shared American and Saudi obsession with countering Soviet communism sidelined differences over Israel and its policies as well as human and civil rights in the Kingdom. No more. Since 9/11, the entrenchment of U.S. Islamophobia, American unilateralism, and Saudi ambivalence about Salafi jihadism have soured the undemanding friendship of the past.

American policies in the Middle East have produced a mess in which we are estranged from all the key actors – Arab, Iranian, Israeli, and Turkish – and on a different page than the Russians. The state of our relations with the region is symbolized by the sight of U.S. diplomats cowering behind barriers surrounding fortress embassies that resemble nothing so much as modern-day Crusader castles. Diplomacy is all but impossible when we must ask host governments to protect our diplomats from their people by placing our embassies under perpetual siege by police. The fact that other countries don’t have to do this is suggestive of something. After so many years, it should be obvious that bombing, drone warfare, and commandos just make things worse. It is time for Americans to end our wars and support for the wars of others in the Middle East and to try something else.

What might that be? Well, we might start by recognizing a few unpalatable realities.

Americans neither understand nor have any interest in involving ourselves in theological rivalries between Sunnis and Shiites. When it is in our interest to do so, we should feel free to cooperate with Iran, as we do with Israel, rather than automatically deferring to Gulf Arab (or Israeli) objections. Our policies in Syria are the palsied offspring of an unholy marriage of convenience between liberal interventionists and Gulf Arab rulers obsessed with deposing Bashar al-Assad, establishing Sunni dominance in Syria, and breaking Syria’s alliance with Iran.

It is time to restructure U.S. relations with the Gulf Cooperation Council countries and Iran to reflect the challenges of the post-Sykes-Picot and Cold War eras, the need for mutual accommodation between Arabs and Persians, and the rise of Daesh.

Greater flexibility in the U.S. relationship with the Gulf Arabs as well as with Iran is essential to end our cold war with Iran and our hot wars elsewhere in the region. It is necessary to restore a basis for a balance of power in the Persian Gulf that can relieve us of the burden of permanently garrisoning it. We should be looking to internationalize the burden of assuring security of access to energy supplies and freedom of navigation in the region. We should be using the United Nations to forge a coalition of great powers and Muslim states to contain and crush Daesh, criminalize terrorism, and build effective international structures to deal with it.

It is time to cut a knot or two in the Middle East. Enough is now enough – by Chas W. Freeman

http://chasfreeman.net/americas-persian-and-arabian-wars/

Comment: This are only excerpts from a very long and profound article, also dealing at length with Israel and the US-Israelian relationship as well, which is crucial for the whole development of the Middle East. Thus, read it in full at the original site, when you got the time. Chas W. Freeman is an American ex-diplomat, scholar, chairman and author: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_W._Freeman,_Jr.

Feb. / März 2016 – Sanaa Center (** B K P)

The imminent critical threats to the Yemeni riyal and government institutions

In whatever post-conflict scenario eventually prevails in Yemen, the domestic currency and the institutions of state will be essential to the rebuilding process. To date, both have persevered despite the enormous pressure of a vicious civil war and foreign bombing campaign. The Central Bank of Yemen’s actions have successfully protected the value of the Yemeni riyal against the American dollar – essential in a country that imports 90% of its food requirements – while the central government, which even at the best of times held tenuous authority over large swathes of the country, has managed to keep the structures of its institutions intact by operating them at a minimum capacity.

None of the local, regional and international stakeholders in Yemen have in interest in seeing the currency or state institutions collapse – the only potential beneficiaries of the chaos that would follow such a collapse would be Al Qaeda or other extremist groups. Due to the intensity and length of the conflict, however, both the Yemeni riyal and government operations now face imminent, critical threats to their continuity. For stakeholders, preserving Yemen’s currency and state structures now will save the enormous expense and effort of resurrecting them later. More importantly and more immediately, it will help stave off incredible suffering for millions of people in Yemen.

Many of the weakness in Yemen's public finances are structural and predate the current conflict. Government revenues have for some time been undiversified and overly dependant on oil exports, while expenditures have been inflated by endemic corruption and sprawling patronage networks. The current civil war – which effectively began in September 2014 and escalated when the Saudi-led military intervention began in March 2015 – has dramatically intensified these weaknesses and their consequences.

The budget deficit and basic state functions

Estimated public revenues in the 2015 general government budget proposal was $10.3 billion, with the contribution of the oil sector set at 46%, taxes and customs 31.8%, anticipated external grants 8%, and the rest from other local resources. Since the beginning of the civil war, foreign companies, NGOs and international institutions have evacuated their personnel and capital, putting pressure on the riyal and economic activity generally. The Saudi-led military intervention in March 2015 was accompanied by a land, sea and air blockade of the Yemen which, along with the exodus of foreign oil companies, cut energy exports to zero. Customs receipts were also reduced to near zero, international grants largely ceased and lost economic activity (in large part due to widespread fuel shortages) has decreased general tax revenues. Aside from the war’s massive humanitarian toll and destruction of infrastructure, it has also ballooned the government’s budget deficit by well more than half, threatening its ability to carry out even the most basic functions and survive to a post-conflict scenario.

Government revenues are also being syphoned off as the warring parties in the conflict plunder the different state apparatuses. For instance, Houthi militias have taken control of the National Tobacco & Matches Company, among other public companies, pocketing revenues without releasing accounting data. Black market dealers have also usurped the Yemen Petroleum Company (YPC) as the country’s primary handler of commercial fuel products. Under normal economic conditions – when Yemen would also be receiving foreign currency in exchange for oil exports – the country would send roughly $300 million abroad each month to cover fuel imports. Following the current conflict and the cessation of oil exports, the CBY escalated measures to secure the Yemen’s foreign currency reserves. This included, since the spring of 2015, only partially fulfilling YPC requests for foreign currency to purchase its monthly fuel imports. Facing massive fuel shortages, the Houthis then effectively deregulated fuel imports by issuing fuel importation licenses to the local market.

The consequences of this have been myriad. First, these black market licences have been extremely lucrative for both the Houthis, in the form of licence fees, and the new importers, who have effectively become a new class of business elite through the war.

Depending on the parameters of the data analysis, estimated government revenue actually available for collection in 2015 was $4.6 billion, 44% of the budget projection. It should be noted that official government statistics regarding the status of the Yemeni economy have not been made public since the last Central Bank Monetary Development Newsletter in January 2015. Thus, this analysis of the 2015 fiscal year has relied on extrapolations and estimations based on available official data, and reliable unofficial sources.

Estimated budget expenditure in the 2015 budget was $13.4 billion, of which 80% ($10.72 billion) was operational expenditures. This best-case-scenario estimate already projected a budget deficit of $3.1 billion, where spending was slated to be 30% more than revenues.

Even if the war had stopped January 1, 2016, the resources available to the Yemeni government to fulfil its debt obligations would have been almost non-existent. Yemen’s commercial banks have also already parked most of their excess liquidity in T-bills. Thus, the government’s only other option is its lender of last resort, the country’s central bank, which has been under intense pressure in trying to maintain the value of the country’s currency.

Declining XE reserves and threats to the riyal

The scale of Yemen’s import needs is clear from the 2013 bill, which stood at $10.8 billion, representing 32% of the GDP (, according to Central Bank Monetary Development Newsletter in December 2014). Crucially important is that nearly 90% of Yemenis’ nutritional needs are met by food imported from abroad. To limit suffering and the possibility of famine among the population, it has been essential for the CBY to maintain the value of the riyal and keep down the cost of basic food imports on the Yemeni market. While the CBY has been relatively successful at this on a macroeconomic level, on a microeconomic level the cost and availability of basic commodities has varied wildly across different areas of the country, depending on local conditions such as the intensity of the conflict, and the availability fuel and transportation networks.

Being both the prime supporter of the riyal and the government’s lender of last resort has put the CBY in a precarious, and costly, position for the last several years.

As of February 2016, the CBY had maintained the official exchange rate at US$1 to 215 YER, while on the black market the riyal traded at 250 YER to US$1, a difference of only 16%.

Potential policy interventions:

The cessations of hostilities would be the largest single measure to take in stabilizing Yemen, however the various parties to the conflict have to date failed to reach a negotiated settlement. Thus, the following recommendations are steps stakeholders can pursue to help preserve the domestic currency and minimum state functions until peace is achieved: – by Mansour Rageh

http://sanaacenter.org/publications/item/30-ensuring-yemen%E2%80%99s-state-structures-survive-the-conflict.html

Comment: A very interesting article that tackles the importance of all warring parties to preserve Yemen's financial infrastructure. Without this Yemen will be a totally failed state

https://www.facebook.com/yemennewstodayenglish/posts/1107881172697706

7.3.2016 – Vice News (** A P)

After Dropping Thousands of Bombs on Yemen, Saudi Arabia Is Freaked Out by the UN's Interest

The Saudi ambassador to the United Nations was not pleased. On Friday, with barely any notice, he'd called a press conference in the UN briefing room, and was fielding questions on his own. The diplomat, Ambassador Abdallah Al-Mouallimi, wanted to set the record straight on Yemen.

A day earlier, the Security Council had met on the humanitarian situation in the country

The goal of the session, said diplomats, was to discuss a possible Security Council resolution aimed specifically at aid access and safeguarding civilians.

But on Friday, in the briefing room, Mouallimi was striking a different tune. "Senior" officials at the UN's Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), he said, had relayed to the Saudis that such a resolution was unnecessary.

"We asked OCHA about whether they feel that there was any need for further involvement on the part of the Security Council or any new product out of the Security Council to help facilitate the humanitarian situation," said Mouallimi. "The answer from the OCHA senior leadership was that they did not feel that there was a need for any such intervention. They said that they have not requested, neither directly nor indirectly, for the Security Council to issue any new product."

"You can quote them on that," he later added.

The ambassador's remarks put OCHA in a difficult position — and not for the first time. Not only was Mouallimi probably breaking diplomatic protocol by divulging and articulating the alleged private remarks of a UN agency, but he perhaps knew that OCHA would not directly contradict his account, even if it was false or exaggerated.

But an added wrinkle, which Mouallimi pointed out himself, is that the UN's operations in Yemen are largely funded by Saudi Arabia — the same country the UN has cited for contributing to the humanitarian calamity it's trying to staunch. "With all due respect," said Mouallimi, "very little has come from other sources."

Last April, nearly a month into the deadly Saudi-led intervention against Houthi rebels and their allies loyal to former President Ali Abdullah Saleh, Saudi Arabia announced it would meet the UN's emergency humanitarian appeal of $274 million for Yemen in its entirety. What followed was five months of negotiations between Riyadh and the UN, as Saudi officials angled for conditions on where and how aid could be distributed. That money has now reportedly been delivered —and largely spent — but the individual memoranda of understanding that Riyadh reached with nine UN agencies remain unpublished – by Samuel Oakford

https://news.vice.com/article/after-dropping-thousands-of-bombs-on-yemen-saudi-arabia-is-freaked-out-by-the-uns-interest

Comment: As already stated elsewhere: USD 274 million is the equivalent of 1 day 9 hours aerial war against Yemen. We now are in its 347. day.

8.3.2016 – Shafaqna (** B H)

Shafaqna Exclusive Interview with Dr Riaz Karim, Director of the Mona Relief Organization

Dr Riaz Karim, the Director and co-founder of the Mona Relief Organization is one those friends Yemen has been relying on to win this war of attrition against its land and its people. Armed with only compassion, and a sense of duty for those less fortunate, Dr Karim has made it possible for Yemenis to run the Saudi-made blockade, and ensure that rain or shine food would be made available to those most in need.

Dr Karim’s fundraising efforts allowed for the distribution of 2 million meals across North Yemen, an area blocked off by Riyadh on account its population is majority-Zaidi (Shia Islam).

Dr Karim opened up to Shafaqna in an exclusive interview this March:

SHAFAQNA – Dr Karim, the Mona Relief if I understand it correctly is one of the very few truly independent charitable organizations operating in Yemen at the moment? Can you explain what obstacles, if any you have faced in trying to assist Yemen’s poorest communities in such times of war?

DR RIAZ KARIM – Yes indeed, the Mona Relief Organization is somewhat of a rarity in terms of its funding independence. From the very beginning we chose to stir free from politics, to ensure that our approach to humanitarian assistance will remain true to its goals: helping those in needs regardless of their background, their ethnicities, their faiths … all we care about is assistance, all we want to offer is aid, compassion and of course hope. Yemen has already been fractured by war, we need now to help Yemen heal and survive the horrors its people were put through.

Our road has been a difficult one … independence comes at a price. We have solely relied on private donors, and of course this has meant that our means have been limited. But we believe that in time we will manage to rise a powerful organization. Our work is a work of collaboration and social cooperation. We help communities help themselves, we use communities to assist us in our efforts, allowing for our network of local volunteers to grow … this of course means that all our funds are used for supplies, freeing precious resources. In time we intend to develop medical and educational programs at a local level, employing people from within the community.

Yemen needs to be reconstructed, it doesn’t need perpetual assistance. Yemenis are perfectly capable of rebuilding their communities if only they are given the tools.

Of course we have many hardships and difficulties, but our determination always prevailed. We are now looking to secure regular donations from ours sponsors to plan our aid distribution more efficiently. We need an average of £10 000 per month to meet people’s immediate food need.

SHAFAQNA – Saudi Arabia it was reported has targeted food convoys in Yemen, were you directly affected by the violence?

DR RIAZ KARIM – Yes we were. Our team has been shot at, bombed and altogether targeted by pro-Saudi militias and al-Qaeda terrorists. Yemen is a dangerous place to be! It is very difficult for people to comprehend just how violent Yemen has become under Saudi Arabia’s influence. Communities have been torn apart, set against their neighbours on account of faith and/or politics.

Regions have been denied humanitarian aid on account of their allegiance to the Resistance or their religion.

Millions of people have been left to starve on account they refused to bend a knee to Saudi Arabia. We are fighting against this reality by offering generosity, compassion, and tolerance. Our team of volunteers is like Yemen: multi-coloured. All we ask is a true heart … the rest we leave for God!

SHAFAQNA – How desperate is the situation in Yemen? How are people coping with depravation?

DR RIAZ KARIM – That’s the problem they are no longer coping. People sold all their possessions to feed their families … people have stopped purchasing medicine to buy their children bread … the situation is quite heart-breaking. It is the sight of starving children which I find most upsetting as we owe them protection.

Yemenis have been outstanding in their resistance and their resilience, but there is a point when too much is simply too much! I’m running out of words when it comes to describe Yemen’s suffering. People face death every day … it hovers over Yemen like a vulture stealing hope away … It needs to stop. We need to bring life back to this land. We cannot possibly look on and do nothing as a people is being annihilated.

How many more times will the world allow for innocent women and children to be buried under the rubbles of their homes before we say: “enough”?

SHAFAQNA – How can people help?

DR RIAZ KARIM – People can donate directly through the website on our GoFundMe page. We are currently running a special coffee challenge where we are asking people to donate £2 – less than a cup of coffee – and help Yemen beat the blockade.

We are also working on a marketing campaign to raise our social media profile. This cost money of course and we are hoping donations will help cover such cost. Visibility is absolutely necessary if we are to reach more potential donors and succeed in building our network.

Luckily because our overheads are kept to a minimum, 90% of all our funds are utilized to buy food and other essentials.

http://en.shafaqna.com/news/29990

Comment: Mona Relief is one of the few organisations that has been offering humanitarian aid in the northwest of Yemen. Most of the aid money donated to Yemen has been from GCC countries who stipulate that no aid should go north of Sanaa. So the independence of this organisation is important almost of Saada City has been destroyed and much of Saada governate, and with it schools, hospitals, factories, and employment.

https://www.facebook.com/yemennewstodayenglish/posts/1108523755966781

6.3.2016 – Al Monitor (** B K)

How much more can Yemen’s heritage sites take?

One of the oldest civilizations in the world in one of the poorest and most troubled countries of the Middle East is facing a tough cultural crisis. Yemen, which extends over a surface area of 528,000 square kilometers (204,000 square miles), abounds with the antiquities of various cultures, the oldest of which dates back 3,000 years. The civil warthat the Arab coalition, led by Saudi Arabia, is participating in, alongside President Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi’s government, is a scar in humanity’s civilization.

Amt al-Rzaq Jhaf, the undersecretary of the General Authority to Maintain Historic Sites, told Al-Monitor, “The coalition airstrikes destroyed 52 archaeological sites, notably Asaad al-Kamal cave in Ibb province, the Cairo Citadel in Taiz province, Awam Temple, the Temple of the Sun, the Temple of Bran, Baraqish graveyard, the Great Dam of Marib and the historical walls of the city of Saada.”

Jhaf accused Saudi Arabia of violating the Hague Convention, stressing the need to protect cultural property during armed conflict. “Saudi Arabia is disregarding the feelings of millions of people passionate about Yemeni architecture,” she said.

Amid the raging war in Yemen, and following UNESCO’s calls not to target historical sites, one can only bank on the ethics of the fighting parties.

The Kawkaban fortified citadel, 45 kilometers (28 miles) north of Sanaa, has managed to preserve its strength and beauty for 18 centuries, but on Feb. 14 it was destroyed by the shelling from missiles of the coalition aircraft.

The General Authority to Maintain Historic Sites condemned the destruction of the citadel in a statement published Feb. 15 and said that it targeted history, heritage and human values.

On Nov. 21, the Islamic State claimed responsibility for the blast near the archaeological old walled city of Shibam, in eastern Yemen's Hadramawt province, 990 kilometers (615 miles) from the capital Sanaa. The blast that targeted a military checkpoint of Yemeni troops wreaked havoc in the city that dates to the 16th century and is famous for its fenced mud-brick high-rise buildings that rise up to more than 30 meters (98 feet) in the middle of a vast desert.

Hassan Aideed, director general of the General Authority to Maintain Historic Sites in Hadramawt, told Al-Monitor, “The blast caused the historical city serious harm. The city’s walls and mud houses were damaged.”

Aideed called on the international organizations supporting the Yemeni architectural heritage, such as UNESCO, to intervene quickly to save around 160 damaged houses in Seiyun.

Aideed told Al-Monitor, “Due to the bombing, the historical buildings nearby suffered from cracks and several families have been displaced while they wait for the buildings to be renovated.”

[and more damaged sites] – by Ahmed Alwly

http://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/originals/2016/03/yemen-civil-war-saudi-strikes-destroy-historical-buildings.html = http://www.globalresearch.ca/yemen-one-of-the-oldest-civilizations-crimes-against-humanity-saudi-bombings-of-yemens-heritage-sites/5512617

cp2 Allgemein / General

8.3.2016 – Voices for Change (* A K)

And the political war against humanity gets dirtier and more horrific by the day. They'll tell you it's for oil, but it's not as simple as that, read the article and watch the videos, then ask yourself some questions like where does the money come from. Take a closer look at the world, the entire economics monopoly system is build around the war and war arsenal together with the consumables and commodities air, sea and road transport industry. Who or what is this for, who or what has the God given right to destroy any life on this Earth at all.

The war on Yemen is not a forgotten war, like Iraq, Afghanistan, Syria, Sudan, Palestine, the entire South African Continent, Central Europe and South America, this is the same war gone on for millenniums, the same war to which people close their eyes because no one can bear the thought that we're all responsible. This society is in dire need to ask itself some moral questions and come up with answers instead of lies and self deceit. You cannot live in a fake fantasy world and a war torn world where lives are relentlessly destroyed every day at the same time.

Bob Oort, administrator VOICES FOR CHANGE and 1.5 Billion FB Voices for World Peace

https://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=982230178496679&id=961126490607048

8.3.2016 – Strategy Page (B K P)

Yemen: Going Through The Motions

Government forces are fighting on the outskirts of Sanaa but most of the action is now in the negotiations with the Shia tribes that have always lived in the “tribal belt” around the national capital. These Shia tribes are not as political or unpredictable as the Shia tribes in the far north that started and still lead the rebellion. The Sanaa Shia did not fight the Shia rebels but they have not been staunch supporters either. The government is offering the Sanaa Shia tribes and the rebels are trying to counter that. The government offer is more likely to be accepted as it is clear that the rebels have lost. At this point it’s just a matter of what kind of surrender terms can the rebels get.

In the north (Jawf province) pro-government Sunni and rebel Shia tribes continue fighting for control of territory and the pro-government Sunni forces continue winning. Since the Sunni tribes gained air support from the Arab coalition and access to training and supplies (weapons, ammo, medical) in early 2015 they have been able to drive Shia tribesmen out of most of Jawf. To the west of Jawf is Saada province, the Shia tribal homeland. North of Jawf is Saudi Arabia. Going into Saada will be a much more difficult fight but the Sunni tribes want revenge for several years of heavy fighting with the Shia. So far this year the Shia resistance has been more determined but the pro-government forces are still taking back control of towns and areas containing key roads.

http://www.strategypage.com/qnd/yemen/20160308.aspx

Comment: A rather strange look at the war from the US.

8.3.2016 – Katehon (B K P)

Saudis are collapsing in Yemen, Iran is winning

The Houthi forces recaptured Al-Kabeen region in Lahij province on Sunday night. Dozens of Saudi soldiers were killed and injured from the Yemeni forces' assault. Meanwhile, the Yemeni army and popular forces made considerable advances in Marib province, killing a large number of Saudi forces and injuring many others.

The Saudi strategy in Yemen is suffering a complete collapse. Whilst multiple enemies are defeating Saudi forces, Houthi-rebels are aiming to occupy the southern provinces of Saudi Arabia.

Strategical importance of Yemen

The Shia Crescent on the Arabian Peninsula

Yemen war

Saudi Defeat in Yemen

Saudi Arabia cannot win the war in Yemen. The efforts of the Saudi-led coalition have not brought real success. The war reveals the military and strategic impotence of the Saudi command and leadership.

The kingdom cannot defeat the main enemy – the Houthi led government. The Houthis control the Yemeni capital Sana, and most of the former Northern Yemen.

The Saudi proxy, Al-Qaeda of the Arabian Peninsula, acts more independently. It is capturing more and more cities previously controlled by the Hadi-government supported by Riyadh.

At the same time, Southern separatists from the former PDRY have cut off the entire Hadhramaut region.

Houthi success

Not one of the Saudi’s strategical aims has been completed. Both Saleh and Houthi commanders are alive, and control large parts of Yemen, moving freely through the country. Houthi rebels use tactical ballistic missiles including SCUD, Tochka, and Qaher-1 against interventionist forces, hitting bases on Saudi territory and destroying the ships of the coalition. Jizan airport, Aramco oil installations, and the Faisal military base were all attacked.

According to independent sources, support for the Houthi movement in Yemen is growing. They managed to present themselves as the only independent force that opposes Saudi aggression and defends the principles of traditional Islam without Wahhabi perversions. In October 2015, they urged prominent tribesmen, intellects, and religious leaders from all parts of Yemen to sign the “tribal honor charter” to deter Saudi aggression.

War on Saudi soil

Forecast

Saudi Arabia is forecasted to lose the war. The impasse that is the Yemeni war could be the beginning of the collapse of the kingdom. This could lead to drastic changes in the region.

According to Yemeni army spokesman Brigadier-General Sharaf Ghalib Luqman, further attacks on Saudi provinces would be considered a political decision, not a military one, and the principal decision will be made in Tehran, not Sanaa.

http://katehon.com/article/saudis-are-collapsing-yemen-iran-winning

Comment: This is the total opposite to the previous article, and it is not realistic either. What should be the characteristics of a Houthi victory and a Saudi defeat? The Saudis, despite their great superiority, could not reach their goal of defeating and smashing the Houthis. The Houthis up to now where able to resist. Is that enough for the authors conclusions? The Saudis might be will have problems to get through this stalemate – but the Houthis also will.

6.3.2016 – The American Conservative (*A K P)

The Saudi-led intervention has been going on for over eleven months, and in that time it has failed in all of its stated objectives. The Houthis have not been driven from the capital, the former president has not be restored to power (not that most Yemenis would want him there now anyway), and the intervention certainly hasn’t produced the stability that the Saudis laughably claimed to be bringing. Those objectives were never realistic to begin with, and restoring Hadi and driving out the Houthis were not going to be achieved at a remotely acceptable cost. Since the intervention began, the people of Yemen have been put through hell, thousands have been killed, tens of thousands injured, and hundreds of thousands displaced internally or forced to flee the country. Far from making Saudi Arabia more secure, the intervention has exposed southern Saudi territories to attack.

Yemenis have been sorely deprived of basic necessities for almost an entire year thanks to the Saudi-led blockade, and the majority of the population is starving or at great risk of doing so. At least four-fifths of the population is in need of humanitarian assistance. The country’s health care system has all but collapsed, medical facilities are coming under repeated attack (including repeated bombings by coalition aircraft), medicine and fuel are in short supply, and the lack of access to clean water has made the spread of disease much worse. Every problem Yemen had before the intervention has grown far worse than it was, and the country’s infrastructure has been wrecked by the coalition bombing campaign that the U.S. supports. The Saudis and their allies continue trying to carry out a failed strategy in a bad cause, and it doesn’t appear that they will stop anytime soon.

Since the Saudis and their allies started pummeling Yemen with indiscriminate bombing and the use of inherently indiscriminate cluster munitions last March, the U.S. has been reliably backing the Saudis in this unnecessary and indefensible war with weapons, refueling, and intelligence. The U.S. has helped the Saudis to whitewash and obscure their crimes, and the Obama administration has done this despite credible reports from multiple human rights organizations and the U.N. that the Saudi-led coalition is likely guilty of war crimes and possibly even crimes against humanity. It isn’t just Yemenis who can see no moral or legal justification for what has been done to their country, for there is no justification for it to be found. The U.S. should immediately halt its deplorable support for this war and apply whatever pressure it can to get the Saudis and their allies to stop the intervention – by Daniel Larison

http://www.theamericanconservative.com/larison/eleven-months-of-the-appalling-war-on-yemen/

6.3.2016 – Veterans Today (* A K P)

UN does nothing while Saudis starve Yemen

Yemen has been in a chokehold for a year, with a blockade that is a disgrace to the International Community, and the UN has failed miserably to do anything about it.

In 2016, to have a situation like this where a medieval tribal family can use all the weapons and technical expertise of the West to impose collective punishment on the Yemeni people over the current dispute is something right out of the Israeli Gaza playbook.

The Saudis seem to feel they cannot continue politically without crushing Yemen, so as to discourage those inside Saudi Arabia from having any democratic aspirations. All the Western countries selling arms to SA and their hefty service contracts to keep everything working means they are fully on board crushing the Yemenis to demonstrate they are not only loyal arms suppliers, but also have SA’s back covered in the UN Security Council.

The so called “Western values” — especially freedom and democracy — have become nothing more than cheap slogans for neo-colonialist hustlers who will do anything to make a buck. The worst of us have managed to get to the top and have the rest of us in tow, in terms of doing what they want internationally — whether we like it or not.

As Gordon so loves to say, “Welcome to how the world really works.”

Banking and trading sources say vital supplies are being choked because lenders are increasingly unwilling to offer letters of credit amid security concerns. The lenders are unwilling to process Yemen’s payments because ports have turned into battlegrounds and the financial system is coming to a halt under the Saudi onslaught.

The Saudi naval blockade of Yemen is making things even worse. This while Yemen relies on seaborne shipments for its food imports. According to the United Nations, over half of the Yemeni people are suffering from malnutrition – by Jim W. Dean

http://www.veteranstoday.com/2016/03/06/interview-un-does-nothing-while-saudis-starve-yemen/ and Dean interviewed by Press TV Iran: http://www.veteranstoday.com/2016/03/06/interview-un-does-nothing-while-saudis-starve-yemen/

5.3.2016 – The Real News (*B K P)

2016 Summit on Saudi Arabia: Oil, weapons sales, and U.S.-Saudi Ties

Film: William Hartung, Center for International Policy, Raed Jarrar, American Friends Service Committee, Robert Vitalis, author and professor at University of Pennsylvania, Phyllis Bennis, Institute for Policy Studies

http://therealnews.com/t2/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=31&Itemid=74&jumival=15814

1.2.2016 – UAV Systems

Yemen Drone Laws

Yemen drone laws are constantly changing. To stay up to date on the latest drone laws changes, sign up for our drone law notifications here. To learn about everything drone visit our Drone School. *

General Yemen Drone Laws

Drone use is allowed in Yemen, but there are several Yemen drone laws that need to be followed when flying in the country. Operators must ensure that they follow the following laws when flying in Yemen,

Do not fly your drone over people or crowds

Respect other peoples privacy when flying your drone

Do not fly your drone over military installations, power plants, or any other areas that may concern local authorities

You must fly during daylight hours and only fly in good weather conditions

Do not fly your drone near airports or in any area were aircraft are operating

https://uavsystemsinternational.com/drone-laws-by-country/yemen-drone-laws/

Comment: ??????

cp3 Humanitäre Lage / Humanitarian situation

7.3.2016 – Arab 24 (A K)

Yemen: Taiz destruction statistics

The Yemeni group for Development and Reconstruction are working on the reconstruction of scientific, cultural, and vital regions that was destroyed by the war as they are trying to illuminate the lives of Taiz people

Taiz and families there are suffering from misery and hard life conditions but as an attempt to return life to the city, a group of Yemeni people are cooperating with Yemeni group of development and Reconstruction decided to return the life to the people of Taiz.
Local companies are working with government and with local and foreign support of Arabs and friends to rebuilt the city and return life to it after all its suffering so a the Yemeni group decided to start and the first goal is to do a Comprehensive inventory for shops, commercial centers and facilities for the city before rebuilding and Reconstruction.
This is achieved by the cooperation of Taiz members to be able to construct 1997 private facility, 161 service facility and 83 vehicles where some are partially or completely destroyed (with film)

http://arab24.com/portal/index.php/en/%D9%82%D8%B5%D8%B5-%D9%88%D9%85%D9%88%D8%A7%D8%B6%D9%8A%D8%B9-%D9%85%D9%82%D8%AA%D8%B1%D8%AD%D8%A9-2/bahrain-2/item/1339-yemen-taiz-destruction-statistics

7.3.2016 – Go Fund Me (* B H)

Buying medicines for the children

Blessla is a children wellfare association in Barcelona and Madrid, Spain giving aid to children of over the world. We have now a big emergency for medicines and related items in Sana'a, Yemen, for the children injured in the war.
On the night of 26 March 2015 a coalition of 9 countries headed by Saudi Arabia decided to declare war on Yemen, one of the poorest countries in the world. The aim was to restore the government of resigned and fugitive President Abo Mansoor Hadi who had, in the meantime, fled to Saudi Arabia.
Since 2 am of that same night, airstrikes began hitting the country with devastating consequences.
According to humanitarian agencies, 11 months of war waged on the country have led to the worst humanitarian crises of our times.
Out of a population of 25 million people, 21 millions of Yemenis are food and water insecure, have no access to medical care.
300,000 homes have been destroyed, 2.5 million people are internally displaced.
Yemen has been under an imposed siege since March 2015. Almost no food enters the country, along with no fuel, medicines, building material, basics for every day life.
Few NGOs and humanitarian relief agencies are allowed to enter and operate in the country. And the ones operating inside Yemen are being bombed (see the pounding on 3 MSF hospitals in the region of Saada).
Over 8000 people have died, 30.000 injured.
While the war continues with the use of illegal arms (documented the use of cluster and chemical bombs) wiping Yemen off the map, we ask the international community to help us raising money to help buy medicines and prosthetics for the Yemeni Relief Fund for the Handicapped and Disabled.
The Fund, which is 100% Yemeni and operates on the entire territory, is appealing to the international community to receive medicines and be able to assist, on the spot, all those in need.
Even a few dollars or euros could make a huge difference in someone else´s life.
We really need your support to make their life a little bit better providing them with the medicines they require.

https://www.gofundme.com/fzskpyf4

Comment: Yemen needs help. Desperately. Crowd funding for medicines
Please help if you can, also with few dollars or euros
Please do share this message and help us in helping children of war
Blessla is a children wellfare association in Barcelona and Madrid, Spain giving aid to children of over the world. We have now a big emergency for medicines and related items in Sana'a, Yemen, for the children injured in the war.
Few NGOs and humanitarian relief agencies are allowed to enter and operate in the country. And the ones operating inside Yemen are being bombed (see the pounding on 3 MSF hospitals in the region of Saada).
Over 8000 people have died, 30.000 injured.
While the war continues with the use of illegal arms (documented the use of cluster and chemical bombs) wiping Yemen off the map, we ask the international community to help us raising money to help buy medicines and prosthetics for the Yemeni Relief Fund for the Handicapped and Disabled.
The Fund, which is 100% Yemeni and operates on the entire territory, is appealing to the international community to receive medicines and be able to assist, on the spot, all those in need.
Even a few dollars or euros could make a huge difference in someone else´s life.
We really need your support to make their life a little bit better providing them with the medicines they require.

https://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=981600761892954&id=961126490607048

6.3.2016 – Mona Relief (B H)

Film: Mothers Day in Yemen

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W8QMIwWO7Zg&feature=youtu.be

8.3.2016 – World Food Programme (A P)

Yemen Market Situation Update - February 2016

As a result of intensified conflicts and airstrikes during the month, several governorates including Taiz, Sa'ada, Marib, Al Jawf, Sana'a and Al Bayda continued to face severe shortage of basic commodities. However, the level of food imports in January 2016 was reportedly the highest since July 2015 which together with the domestic crop production harvested in December 2015 may likely to improve the supply and availability in local markets 1, 2, 3.

The national average price of wheat flour was 7% higher than the pre-crisis period, and varies across governorates. With 70% increase in wheat prices, Taiz governorate continued to suffer the most from the ongoing crisis. Prices of other food items were also persistently more than the pre-crisis levels.

Despite better fuel imports in January 2016 , scarcity of fuel persisted across all governorates due mainly to challenging movements and insecurity that slowed down the supply to fuel stations in local markets. The national average price of fuel remained to be over 55% higher than pre-crisis period although prices have continued to decline since December 2015. The prices of fuel in Taiz is still the highest due to the ongoing active conflict.

The level of food insecurity remained at its highest level ever regardless of some improvements on market situation. Unless the conflict comes to an end and millions of vulnerable Yemenis revive their income sources to cover their needs, the food security situation will only deteriorate further.

http://reliefweb.int/report/yemen/yemen-market-situation-update-february-2016 and in full http://reliefweb.int/sites/reliefweb.int/files/resources/wfp282159.pdf

6.3.2016 – World Food Programme (A H)

WFP Yemen Situation Report #20, 6 March, 2016

In Numbers

21.2 million (82 percent of population) in need of humanitarian assistance (2016 Yemen Humanitarian Needs Overview)

7.6 million severely food insecure (HNO) 2.4 million internally displaced (HCT Task Force on Population Movement, February 2016)

92,500 refugee and migrant arrivals in Yemen from the Horn of Africa, Oman and Saudi Arabia in 2015 (UNHCR)

Highlights

Since December 2015 and until at least May 2016, WFP is distributing individual food entitlements amounting to 75 percent of its full individual entitlements (1,542 kcal per person per day) to 3 million beneficiaries per month between March-May due to a reduced pipeline. WFP urgently needs USD 335.8 million for its life-saving operations in March-August 2016.

WFP conducted a mission to the conflict-affected Al Qahira district of Taizz City on 13 February. WFP Country Director Purnima Kashyap met with the Deputy Governor of Taizz governorate to highlight the mounting food needs in the city, where she oversaw the offloading of 186 mt of WFP food assistance, sufficient for 18,000 people for one month.

WFP introduced commodity-based vouchers in selected governorates in Yemen on 14 February. In February, WFP targeted 116,600 beneficiaries with vouchers in four districts of Sana’a city, and as of 05 March, 98,700 people had redeemed their vouchers for food entitlements. The voucher programme provides beneficiaries with cereals, pulses, vegetable oil, salt, sugar and wheat soya blend, while leveraging Yemen’s private sector supply chain network. Subject to the security situation, WFP aims to expand the voucher programme to selected areas across Yemen where markets are functioning.

Situation Update

The security situation in Yemen remains very tense. Coalition-backed pro-government forces have captured a military base in the Furdhat Nahm area of Sana’a (40 km south of Sana’a) and in neighbouring Al Jawf governorate. Clashes are ongoing in Taiz, and pro-government forces continue to clash with militants of Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) in Aden. There has been a rise in attacks on high-profile individuals, including an assassination attempt on the Governor of Aden and assassinations of senior governorate officials in Aden and Lahj.

According to the seventh report of the Task Force on Population Movements, the number of internally displaced persons (IDPs) in Yemen has decreased by 79,000 people since December 2015, to 2.43 million in February 2016. Taizz governorate now hosts the largest number of IDPs (550,000), followed by Hajjah (353,000) and Sana’a (253,000). WFP continues to prioritise its food assistance in districts hosting more than 1,000 IDPs, irrespective of the general level of food insecurity of the governorate.

http://reliefweb.int/report/yemen/wfp-yemen-situation-report-20-6-march-2016 and in full http://reliefweb.int/sites/reliefweb.int/files/resources/WFP%20Yemen%20Situation%20Report%20%2320%2C%2006%20March%202016.pdf

6.3.2016 – Yemen on the Edge (A H)

Sam Alqdimy, The youngest displaced in Yemen may not make it
Sam Alqdimy is a newly born Yemeni. He was born with half heart due to the Saudi-led/US-backed aggression which dropped hundreds of banned bombs such as cluster bombs and used chemical weapons dropped in the highly `populated residential areas and provinces around the country.
Yemeni capital Sana'a constantly receives homeless, internally displaced people from other provinces which faced hysterical air attacks by the jet fighters of the Saudi-led coalition or people escaping from Al-Qaeda militants or heavy frontline clashes that spread everywhere around the country.
But today Sana'a capital has received a newly born who is already a medical case related to the remnants of hundreds of cluster bombs and other internationally banned bombs: Sam is another baby born with a congenitally deformed organ due to the bombs dropped on Yemen.
Medical reports referred that " Sam is suffering from a complex congenital heart malformation – single ventricle heart with occlusion in pulmonary valve- and requires an urgent an open heart surgery. For this, he needs to be transferred outside Yemen´´.
The child's father hopes the diagnosis not to be accurate .
The doctors told him that "such case s occur as a result of the of the changes of the atmosphere in war areas´´, and that there are only 6 cases known in the world of babies born with half a heart.
Not only Sam is just a baby and already internally displaced. His half heart might not last for long

https://www.facebook.com/961126490607048/photos/a.961595153893515.1073741828.961126490607048/981175125268851/?type=3

cp4 Kulturerbe / Cultural heritage

Siehe auch “Am wichtigsten” / See also “Most important”

7.3.2016 – Living in Yemen on the Edge (* B K)

Saudi-led/US-backed coalition jet fighters launched two airstrikes targeting the historical city of Baraqish.
The airstrikes hit the city of Baraqish again, resulting in severe destruction of its walls and its temple.

According to local sources, the warplanes of the Saudi-led coalition had already targeted the area with seven aerial raid destroying the walls and Temple on 18th of August of last year and, before, on July 1, 2015.

Baraqish is the oldest Mainnean city and the first capital of the Kingdom of Main around 400 BC. It was also the most important religious center for the Maineans. This site is situated in the desert-like area on al-Hazm Road, 125 km away from Sanaa. It was considered to be the best preserved among the walls of the ancient Yemeni cities.

The hysterical airstrikes of the Saudi-led jet fighters continue targeting Yemeni historical monuments, disregarding the global appeal launched by UNESCO.
In this last year, Yemen has seen its patrimony vanish. The jet fighters have indiscriminately bombarded private homes in the Old City of Sana'a, the town of Baraqish, and the Sabaean dam of Marib, Dar el Hajjar surrondings, Kawkaban, the Archaeological Museum of Dhamar, Taiz, the Cairo Citadel and Castle in Taiz, archaeological Masirah in Aden, Sanaa Al qishleh Castle, and other dozens of monuments, castles, forts, mosques, schools and museums around the country.
This adds up to the constant targeting of Yemeni civilians and destruction of their Infrastructure. Left on the ground: thousands of martyrs and wounded, mostly women and children

https://www.facebook.com/yemennewstodayenglish/posts/1108268972658926

cp5 Nordjemen und Huthis / Northern Yemen and Houthis

8.3.2016 – Reuters (A P)

Gespräche zwischen Saudi-Arabien und jemenitischen Rebellen

Eine Delegation der jemenitischen Huthi-Rebellen ist nach Informationen von Insidern derzeit zu Friedensgesprächen in Saudi-Arabien.

Dabei handelt es sich um den ersten derartigen Besuch seit Beginn des Krieges zwischen den Aufständischen und einer von Saudi-Arabien angeführten Allianz arabischer Golfstaaten im März vergangenen Jahres.

Saudi-Arabien wollte die Gespräche mit den Huthi-Vertretern zunächst nicht bestätigen. Zwei Angehörige der Huthi-Führung erklärten, das Treffen finde statt.

http://de.reuters.com/article/jemen-saudi-arabien-gespr-che-idDEKCN0WA20T

8.3.2016 – Reuters (A P)

Yemen's Houthis in Saudi for talks on ending war: sources

A delegation from the Houthi movement is in Saudi Arabia for talks on ending Yemen's war, two senior officials said, in what appeared to be the most serious attempt to date to end the conflict.

The visit is the first of its kind since the war began in March last year between Iran-allied Houthi forces, and an Arab military coalition led by Saudi Arabia, Iran's main regional rival.

The visit began on Monday at the invitation of Saudi authorities, following a week of secret preparatory talks, said the two senior officials from the administrative body that runs parts of Yemen controlled by the Houthis.

The Houthi delegation in Saudi Arabia is headed by Mohammed Abdel-Salam, the Houthis' main spokesman and a senior adviser to Houthi leader, Abdel-Malek al-Houthi, the officials said.

A regional diplomat who follows Yemen confirmed that "there were direct contacts and talks between Saudis and Houthis".

The Houthi visit coincides with an apparent lull in the fighting on the Saudi-Yemeni border, one of the bloodiest fronts in the conflict, and in Arab coalition air strikes on the Yemeni capital Sanaa.

Although the Houthis' al-Masirah news channel has continued to report attacks on what it calls "the Saudi-American forces of aggression" inside Yemen, including a rocket attack on Monday, it has not reported any operations on the border since March 1.

"I also know that there were no new clashes or hostile movements on the Saudi-Yemeni border during the last few days," said a senior regional diplomat who follows Yemen – by Mohammed Ghobari

http://www.reuters.com/article/us-yemen-security-talks-idUSKCN0WA1HX and by AFP http://news.yahoo.com/yemen-rebels-saudis-talks-border-truce-181727775.html

8.3.2016 – Press TV Iran (A P)

Houthis, Saudi Arabia involved in negotiations: Report

A London-based newspaper says Saudi Arabia has held direct secret talks with Yemen’s Houthis and agreed to more negotiations in the Jordanian capital.

The Rai al-Youm newspaper, edited by prominent Palestinian journalist Abdul Bari Atwan, said on Tuesday that the two sides may hold their next negotiations in a week.

According to the paper, UN special envoy to Yemen Ismail Ould Cheikh Ahmed has informed the United Nations' under-secretary general for political affairs Jeffrey Feltman of the talks in a secret letter. The daily says it has received a copy of the letter.

Two senior Houthi officials confirmed to Reuters that a Houthi delegation was in Saudi Arabia for talks on ending Yemen's war.

The visit reportedly began on Monday at the invitation of Saudi authorities, following a week of secret preparatory talks, the two officials said.

The two unnamed officials said the Houthi delegation in Saudi Arabia is headed by Mohammed Abdel-Salam, who is a senior adviser to Houthi leader Abdel-Malek al-Houthi,.

Last year, Abdel-Salam led Houthi delegates in talks in Oman that laid the foundation for UN-sponsored talks in Switzerland.

Saudi King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud reportedly supervises the talks which have excluded Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi.

Hadi has resigned as president but Saudi Arabia has been carrying out attacks on Yemen from the air, ground and sea for a year now to restore him to power.

The alleged negotiations suggest Riyadh's submission to Houthi demands. The group had long maintained that any talks must be held with the Saudis as their main adversary in the war, and not with Hadi.

http://www.presstv.com/Detail/2016/03/08/454474/Yemen-Houthis-Talks-Jordan/ and nearly the same http://www.almanar.com.lb/english/adetails.php?eid=259345&cid=31&fromval=1&frid=31&seccatid=259&s1=1

8.3.2016 – Middle East Eye (A P)

Houthis travel to Saudi Arabia for Yemen peace talks: Sources

A source close to Saleh, who was toppled by a popular uprising in 2012, told Middle East Eye that a Houthi delegation had travelled to Saudi Arabia but without representation from the former president.

Saleh fought several wars against the Houthis during his more than three decades in power, but has recently formed a loose alliance against Yemeni forces loyal to President Abd Rabbuh Mansour Hadi and their allies the Saudi-led coalition.

Reuters reported that the Houthi-Saudi talks began after “a week of secret preparatory talks”.

The Saleh source, who asked to remain anonymous, said the absence of any representation from Saleh’s General People’s Congress proved the weakness of the Saleh-Houthi alliance, which they said was “one of convenience”.

A Saudi activist in Riyadh who asked to remain anonymous told MEE that a prisoner exchange had taken place between the Houthis and Saudi Arabia before the talks began.

Footage sent by the activist, which MEE could not verify, is said to show Houthi vehicles crossing into Saudi Arabia to complete the prisoner swap, of which no further details are known.

A spokesman for the Saudi-led coalition did not respond to Reuters when asked to comment on the talks, and Saudi officials in London did not respond to Middle East Eye.

Yemeni journalist Hussain al-Bukhaiti, who has close links to the Houthis, told MEE that the talks will seek to circumvent UN efforts to broker peace talks.

"There will be talks between Saudi and Houthis to seek a way to build trust and end the war in Yemen because all previous negotiations with UN mediation saw lots of things lost in translation, so it is better to meet directly for all side to talk about steps to stop the war."

However, he added that the central motivation for the meeting was about further prisoner exchanges.

"It's also a tribal meeting to open channels of trust for any future prisoners exchange. Sheiks from both side of the borders have met and this has happened during previous borders tensions throughout the two countries histories," he said.

"Because the fight on the border [between Yemen and Saudi] is mainly impacting the tribes there, so they have met to see what could they do to help bring understanding and trust between the two sides." – by Rori Donaghy

http://www.middleeasteye.net/news/houthi-delegation-saudi-arabia-yemen-peace-talks-1748637487

8.3.2016 – Ahram (A P)

Yemen's Houthi delegation arrives in Saudi Arabia for talks: Sources

A Houthi delegation has arrived in the Saudi city of Abha for talks with Saudi security officials on Monday, Yemeni sources told Ahram Online.

According to the sources, the Saudi officials who met with Houthi representatives are neither responsible for leading the military operation in Yemen nor involved in the conflict settlement process, adding that the militants demanded direct talks with Saudi leaders.

The sources, speaking anonymously to Ahram Online from Riyadh, Dubai, and Aden, stated that Saudi Arabia has not yet reached a decision regarding the Houthi demand, especially as the former lacks trust in both the Houthis and ex-president Ali Abdullah Saleh.

A Saudi-led coalition along with fighters loyal to Yemen's President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi are battling Houthi militias and loyalists of the country's former leader Saleh in a war that has drawn on for a year and resulted in the death of over 6,000.

One of the sources revealed that the leading Houthi figure Mohamed Abdel Salam is heading the delegation to Saudi Arabia, pointing out that Houthi forces have released a Saudi hostage without prior negotiations and without the return of any Houthis currently detained by Saudi authorities.

Another source stated that talks of a settlement this time around will be based on a Saudi plan, which stipulates that Saleh's troops and the Houthis will give up their control over Sanaa.

The source added that many details are yet to be examined, especially those related to the future of Saleh's party and the issue of the military that should supposedly undergo restructuring.

According to the sources, such development is related to the "state of attrition" that Saleh's troops and the Houthis are suffering from.

http://english.ahram.org.eg/NewsContent/2/8/190459/World/Region/Yemens-Houthi-delegation-arrives-in-Saudi-Arabia-f.aspx

8.3.2016 – Aljazeera (A P)

In an interview with Al Jazeera, Luciano Zaccara, professor on Gulf Studies at Qatar University, said the latest move by the Houthis was "surprising".

"It could be that the Houtis are losing ground, and that they are doing it now before it's too late to save face," Zaccara said.

He said Saudi has also not signaled willingness to negotiate until the Yemeni capital Sanaa is recaptured by government forces.

http://www.aljazeera.com/news/2016/03/reports-yemen-houthis-talks-saudi-arabia-160308144937532.html

8.3.2016 – Gulf news (A P)

Yemen denies secret Saudi-Al Houthi talks reports

Only communication between Al Houthis and Saudi Arabia was over prisoner release, Yemen minister says

Dubai: Yemeni Foreign Minister Abdul Malek Al Mekhlafi has denied reports of secret talks between Saudi Arabia and the Al Houthi militia, and said that the only channel of communication with the group is through the United Nations’ Yemen envoy.

Speaking to Gulf News on the phone from Saudi Arabia, Al Mekhlafi said on Tuesday evening that the Yemeni government was informed by Saudi Arabia that there was an exchange of prisoners of war between the Saudi government and Al Houthis in the “past two days”.

“Our position is announced and clear. There is no secret or back channel, or any other form of talks [with Al Houthis] apart from the talks sponsored by the [UN envoy] Esmail Ould Shaikh Ahmad,” stressed Al Mekhlafi.

“The only and basic way of talks we support are the talks to implement the UN resolution 2216 ... There are talks through Ould Shaikh Ahmad to arrange for a new round of talks, which we hope will be held soon,” he added.

“We also hope that they [Al Houthis] will respond to the requirements agreed on in [previous rounds of talks] in Switzerland, because the Yemeni government has been waiting since January 14 for Al Houthi confidence-building measures, and that the Yemeni government is asserting its readiness to [agree] on the time and venue of the new talks,” he said.

http://gulfnews.com/news/gulf/yemen/yemen-denies-secret-saudi-al-houthi-talks-reports-1.1686843

Comment: “Yemen”: what a stupid wording when just the Hadi government is meant! Any real negotiations between the Houthis and the Saudis would weaken the position of the Hadi government – therefore such a statement is not astonishing at all. I am also not astonished by the steady repeating of the claim “to implement the UN resolution 2216” in the sense of the capitulation of the Houthis – a claim which never would bring peace to Yemen but only an eternal extension of the war.

8.3.2016 – Nasser Arabyee (A P)

Yemenis handing over(March 7) first Saudi war prisoner AlKabi after KSA agreed2talk directly with Yemenis(Sanaa Gov).

Yemenis handing over 1st Saudi war prisoner&30 dead bodies Mon Alab crossing After KSA agreed on direct talks.

https://twitter.com/narrabyee/status/707194954590904321 and https://twitter.com/narrabyee/status/707223595014029313

7.3.2016 – Elder of Ziyon (A K)

Houthis force Jewish children to fight in Yemen, one killed

On Friday, Jewish 17-year old Aaron Albouha was killed in fighting with the Houthis against Saudi Arabian forces in Yemen. He was killed in the southern region of Najran.
Albouha's family, which had managed to escape Yemen for the US, were shocked to learn of his death, Arab media is reporting.

According to reports, the Houthis are forcing the few remaining Jews in Yemen, even children, to fight with them - and they are placing them on the front lines as cannon fodder.
Albouha is not the first Jew to be killed while being forced to fight for the Houthis. Jacob Ahamim was killed about a week ago at the Yemen/Saudi Arabia border.

http://elderofziyon.blogspot.de/2016/03/houthis-force-jewish-children-to-fight.html#.Vt2MVuaSn3E

7.3.2016 – Middle East Monitor (A P)

Hospital rumours add to speculation over Saleh's future in Yemen

Source tells MEE that former president is seeking to negotiate exit to UAE, but others close to him say he intends to stay in Houthi-held Sanaa

A Yemeni source close to President Abd Rabbuh Mansour Hadi has told Middle East Eye that former president Ali Abdullah Saleh is in hospital and seeking to negotiate an exit from the country to the United Arab Emirates for himself and his family.

But sources close to Saleh, who was toppled from power in 2012 but is currently in Sanaa, the Houthi-rebel-held capital, said he had no intention of leaving.

Saleh's close links to the Houthis, who overran Sanaa and forced Hadi into temporary exile in 2015, and the UAE's involvement in the Saudi Arabia-led coalition currently fighting on the ground and conducting air strikes against Houthi rebels in Yemen, render the unusual contacts highly sensitive.

But a source told MEE that Saleh was in communication with Emirati officials about a possible departure.

One possible avenue for communications could be Saleh's son Ahmed Ali who was appointed ambassador for Yemen to the UAE shortly after his father was toppled.

Although no longer the country's ambassador, he has remained resident there ever since.

Soldiers loyal to Saleh have played a key role in Yemen's civil war since late 2014 fighting alongside Houthi militias.

The alleged contact between Saleh and the UAE comes amid speculation concerning an impending ground offensive in northern Yemen by Yemeni forces backed by Saudi Arabia and the UAE.

The offensive is expected to be led by General Ali Mohsen, who Hadi recently appointed as deputy commander of the Yemeni armed forces and who orchestrated Saleh's removal from power.

But two members of Saleh's General People's Congress (GPC) party played down speculation about Saleh's future and said he had no intention of fleeing the country.

http://www.middleeasteye.net/news/yemen-saleh-negotiating-exit-258148119

7.3.2016 – Eurasia News (A K P)

Jemen: Foltervorwürfe gegen Huthi-Milizen

Die jemenitische el-Islah-Partei hat die schiitischen Huthis beschuldigt, einen ihrer politischen Führer durch Folter getötet zu haben. Der Vorfall soll sich in der westlichen Küstenstadt el-Hudeydah ereignet haben.

Die offizielle Webseite der Partei gab an, dass „Parteivertreter Suleyman Ali Hammoud am Dienstag durch Folter gestorben ist, zwei Monate nachdem er von den Huthis in el-Hudeydah entführt wurde“.

„Der Offizielle, der auch als Berater in el-Hudeydah arbeitete, wurde aus dem Gouvernement-Gebäude von Baiel entführt. In einem ihrer Gefängnisse wurde er festgesetzt und starb nach anhaltender Folter“, hieß es vonseiten der el-Islah. Weitere Details gingen aus den Berichten nicht hervor.

Die zaiditisch geprägten Huthis gaben ihrerseits noch keine Stellungnahme ab. Unabhängige Quellen konnten sich zu diesem Zwischenfall ebenfalls nicht äußern.

Die Huthi-Rebellen haben in den letzten Wochen und Monaten zahlreiche Mitglieder der El-Islah-Partei entführt, darunter hochrangige Offizielle. In der Regel wurden zahlreiche jedoch wieder freigelassen.

http://eurasianews.de/blog/jemen-foltervorwuerfe-gegen-huthi-milizen/

cp6 Südjemen und Hadi-Regierung / Southern Yemen and Hadi-government

7.3.2016 – Living in Yemen on the Edge (A T)

ISIS militants in Aden give parents of girl students three days to change the girls uniforms.

Aden, southern Yemen´: ISIS militants declared in a statement that the girls' uniforms must change in accordance to the the implementation of the rulings of Islam, and said "the dress of Jews and Christians, is unequivocal to the infidels, not of Islam."
ISIS warned on Sunday that, " the dress must be judged within the laws of God and all the needful will be done to accomplish it"
In the statement it was added that "The law of God means we will scatter and burn the girls´bodies with bombs. We warn the girls' parents to change their dresses before they collect the remains of their girls' bodies."
The militant groups are in control of large areas of the city of Aden, and claimed several bloody attacks and assassinations of dozens of military and security officers

https://www.facebook.com/961126490607048/photos/a.961595153893515.1073741828.961126490607048/981911005195263/?type=3 = https://www.facebook.com/yemennewstodayenglish/posts/1108268429325647

7.3.2016 – Clarion Project (A T)

"Warning to the female students in Aden, Yemen: Whoever dares to continue wearing the short clothes of the Jews and Christians ... The mouths of our rifles are thirsty and we shall water them with the blood of whoever violates the law of Allah ... We shall roast your body with explosives ..."

http://www.clarionproject.org/content/islamic-state-letter-female-students-aden-yemen-re-dress#

6.3.2016 – Nasser Arrabyee (A T)

Today is end of ultimatum given by Yemen Qaeda/ ISIS to female students in Aden south where groups are ruling. Qaeda/ISIS would kill female students&cut themN2pieces if they keep wearing clothes of Jews&Christians like pic

https://twitter.com/narrabyee/status/706724793928851456 and https://twitter.com/narrabyee/status/706727016763097088

7.3.2016 - F Carvajal (A T)

Statement 33 frm ISIS, nt AQAP, in Aden

https://twitter.com/CarvajalF/status/706872642561642496

7.3.2016 – Nasser Arabyee (A T)

Yemen Qaeda/ISIS closed schools where female students still wearing clothes of Jews&Christians" not their clothes!

https://twitter.com/narrabyee/status/706905490152923136

cp7 UNO / UN

8.3.2016 – UNCHR (A H)

IOM, UNHCR Joint Statement on Yemen Crisis

Yemen conflict leaves 2.4 million forcibly displaced, situation likely to worsen

Briefing Notes, 8 March 2016

This is a summary of what was said by UNHCR spokesperson Leo Dobbs – to whom quoted text may be attributed – at the press briefing, on 8 March 2016, at the Palais des Nations in Geneva.

After almost one year of conflict in Yemen, more than 2.4 million people are forcibly displaced by the fighting, some of them in hard-to-reach areas. And the situation is likely to get worse, amid increasingly dire humanitarian and socio-economic conditions and with no political settlement in sight.

The figure of 2,430,178 internally displaced people in Yemen appears in the latest report of a special Task Force on Population Movement, which is led jointly by UNHCR and the IOM as part of the humanitarian response to the Yemen crisis, which escalated in late March 2015.

Although down slightly from the 2.5 million displaced people reported by the last task force report, in December (due to improved methodology and returnees identified in the south), the number of people displaced within Yemen remains staggeringly high and a cause for grave alarm. The figures also mask the human face of the conflict and the continuing suffering and growing needs.

UNHCR and IOM believe it is crucial to keep humanitarian access open for deliveries of essential services. At the very least we implore all sides to allow humanitarian access to the hardest hit-areas, where most of the displaced are located. This is feasible, as demonstrated last month, when aid was delivered to Taizz.

The latest report shows increased levels of displacement in areas where the conflict has escalated, notably in the governorates of Taizz, Hajjah, Sana'a, Amran, and Sa'ada, which together account for 68 per cent of all IDPs in Yemen.

Taizz, where parts of Taizz city have been under siege for several months, has the largest number of internally displaced (555,048 individuals, or 23 per cent), followed by Hajjah (353,219), Sana'a (253,962), Amran (245,689) and Sa'ada (237,978). In addition, Sa'ada, Sana'a and Amran have the highest displaced people-to-host-community ratios; 33 per cent, 21 per cent and 20 per cent, respectively.

The latest report, based on data through January 31, highlights the continuing human suffering of those forced to flee their homes in a desperate search for safety, often without possessions and often finding themselves in areas where even the most basic services have been affected by the conflict.

Most seek shelter with relatives and friends, in schools, public or abandoned buildings, makeshift shelters – or out in the open, with little or no protection. Despite the severely restricted humanitarian access and security constraints, organizations such as UNHCR and IOM have delivered household items and emergency shelter to more than 740,000 internally displaced people.

The Yemen Humanitarian Response Plan, launched in Geneva last month, seeks US$1.8 billion for more than 100 humanitarian partners to provide critical and life-saving assistance to 13.6 million people in need. It is currently just 2 per cent funded.

The report is available at:

http://reliefweb.int/sites/reliefweb.int/files/resources/Protection%20Cluster_TFPM%207th%20Report_February%202016_FINAL.pdf

http://www.unhcr.org/56de9ad56.html and also http://www.iom.int/news/iom-unhcr-joint-statement-yemen-crisis = http://reliefweb.int/report/yemen/iom-unhcr-joint-statement-yemen-crisis

cp7a Saudi-Arabien und Iran / Saudi Arabia and Iran

7.3.2016 – Al Monitor (B K P)

Six reasons why Iran won’t join the war in Yemen

For nearly a year now, Saudi Arabia has been bombarding its southern neighbor, Yemen, while diverting the world’s attention toward Iran. Saudi military forces invaded Bahrain using this very tactic and have been aiding extremist forces in Syria and Iraq, all while pointing the finger at the Islamic Republic.

With the help of its extensive media machine, Riyadh has continued to push the line that it is engaged in a “confrontation” with Iran, and still finds an audience for this message in the West, regardless of its own actions.

Iran has repeatedly showed that it has no desire for a military campaign in Yemen for six main reasons.

First, maintaining the status quo for Iran is more important than seeking to obtain a more favorable situation. The first rule of investment is to protect your assets before you can rely on them and make a profit. Hence, for Iran — which has seen its position, and that of its allies, being constantly challenged by the threat of terrorism emanating from Syria and Iraq — exploring a new realm such as Yemen is not a priority.

Second, Iran has learned through history that overstretching one’s presence in different regions will lead to a state collapse.

Third, given the regional threats to Iran’s national security, the fight against extremism has been made a priority in the country’s foreign policy. President Hassan Rouhani and Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif have used every opportunity to highlight this priority. In their view, following the conclusion of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, there is no bigger challenge facing the country than regional terrorism, and especially the Islamic State, which by targeting Tehran’s regional allies had begun to come close to Iran’s western borders. Therefore, even if one considers Yemen as an opportunity for Iran, averting the crisis there at hand is more important than directly entering it.

Fourth, the Rouhani administration is of the belief that improving Iran’s regional and international standing begins through responsible actions. A military attack on Yemen can in no way be viewed as responsible. In fact, such a move will only aid in covering up Saudi Arabia’s irresponsible action in attacking the country. Iran learned this lesson when a group of youths earlier this year attacked the Saudi Embassy in Tehran, l only to see their actions lead to a halt in the regional and international outcry over Riyadh’s execution of dissidents. Iran does not want to give Saudi Arabia the opportunity to free itself from the burden and responsibility of the war in Yemen.

Fifth, Iran will not militarily engage in Yemen because it will confirm the line touted by Saudi Arabia’s media machine. Riyadh has tried hard to create a regional consensus against Tehran by increasing Iranophobia. Any military action by Iran against Yemen will thus not only aid Riyadh in its anti-Iran campaign, but also divert global attention away from the Saudi-led war on Yemen — especially at a time when the international community is starting to take notice of the developments there.

Sixth, Iran and its allies know that Yemen is not in need of manpower but more than anything needs fighter jets, medium- and long-range missiles, helicopters and heavy military equipment. Iran would never provide for these needs, assuming that it has the means to do so, for two main reasons. First and foremost, it would endanger the nuclear agreement it signed with the six world powers, and second, it would place Iran in direct confrontation with Saudi Arabia. Neither of these two outcomes would be desirable for Iran. After resolving the nuclear issue, Tehran’s goal is to alleviate its economic problems and deal with the threat of regional extremism. Thus, entering the war in Yemen will not aid Iran in achieving either of these two objectives.

Still, the international community has been somewhat inattentive to this war, perhaps because Yemen is far from the European Union and the West, and can’t trigger situations such as the current refugee crisis emanating from Syria. Or perhaps, because of its media machine and petrodollars, Saudi influence is still effective in Western societies. However, neither of these two factors have an effect on Iran, which has never skipped an opportunity to increase international pressure on its Saudi rivals. by Hassan Ahmadian

http://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/originals/2016/03/iran-saudi-yemen-war-military-involvement.html

cp9 USA

8.3.2016 – Tageblatt (B K)

USA wollen Opferzahlen veröffentlichen

Seit US-Präsident Barack Obama das Drohnenprogramm drastisch ausgeweitet hat, steht es in der Kritik. Doch nun verspricht er mehr Transparenz geben.

Die USA wollen erstmals Opferzahlen ihres umstrittenen Drohnenprogramms bekanntgeben. In den kommenden Wochen würden die geschätzten Zahlen "außerhalb von aktiven Kampfgebieten" getöteter Kämpfer und Zivilisten durch unbemannte Kampfflugzeuge weltweit seit 2009 veröffentlicht, sagte die Anti-Terror-Beraterin von Präsident Barack Obama, Lisa Monaco, am Montag (Ortszeit) in Washington.

Von da an werde es künftig regelmäßig einmal im Jahr eine Mitteilung zu den Opferzahlen von US-Drohnenattacken geben. US-Präsident Barack Obama hatte das Drohnenprogramm seit Beginn seiner Amtszeit 2009 drastisch ausgeweitet. Der Einsatz von unbemannten und mit Waffen bestückten Drohnen ist hoch umstritten.

http://www.tageblatt.lu/nachrichten/story/10791984

Kommentar: Dass wir hier die Wahrheit erfahren werden, wird wohl niemand glauben. Die Relation von ca. 43 (Kollateralschäden) zu 1 (Terrorist) wäre gar zu grausig.

5.3.2016 – Strategic Culture (** B K P)

America’s Psychopathic Establishment

It’s not only the right-wing think tanks (such as the Hudson Institute and the Rand Corporation) that urge America to invade countries that pose no threat against the US, but also liberal think tanks (such as the Open Society Foundation and the Brookings Institution) that urge firebombing of cities and even ethnic cleansing in order to defeat foreign leaders whom the American aristocracy want to overthrow.

Though there is space here to mention just a few examples of these «liberal» psychopaths, these will be representative ones.

In 2002, Kenneth Pollack of the Brookings Institution came forth with his book, The Threatening Storm: The Case for Invading Iraq. As the Council on Foreign Relations promoted it:

«This highly influential book, written as the Bush administration turned its sights on Saddam Hussein's regime, takes the reader back to the pre-war days of uncertainty about Saddam's weapons and his ties to major terrorist organizations, outlining a powerful case for a US invasion of Iraq. Senior Fellow Kenneth Pollack argues that to prevent Saddam from acquiring nuclear weapons, the United States has little choice [but] to topple the regime, eradicate its weapons of mass destruction, and rebuild the country as a prosperous and stable society».

In March 2012, Pollack co-authored along with two other similar Brookings ‘experts,’ a 16-page «Middle East Memo», titled «Saving Syria: Assessing Options for Regime Change».

Again, there were «five options available to the United States»; and, yet again, the final one was invasion, about which he had this to say, this time around:

«There are at least four pieces of 'good news' when it comes to contemplating an American-led invasion of Syria. First, as in Iraq, the initial invasion is likely to be easy. In fact, it would probably be even easier than it was in Iraq because the Syrian military is smaller, weaker, and less-experienced than was the Iraqi military, and it is already tied down fighting an internal opposition. Second, the United States would probably do a better job of handling the essential post-war reconstruction because it has learned from the many mistakes it made in Iraq. What’s more, after Iraq and Afghanistan, the United States has a large cadre of personnel with the skills needed to handle the challenges of reconstruction».

Whereas in domestic affairs, America’s aristocracy is far from united, that aristocracy displays a stunning unanimity in regards to foreign affairs: they want to conquer the world. As US President Barack Obama constantly says, «The United States is and remains the one indispensable nation». All others are ‘dispensable’. His Republican opponents in 2008 and 2012, John McCain and Mitt Romney, couldn’t have said it any better. In international affairs, they all serve the same masters. And the American public tolerate that agenda, conquest, because the ‘experts’ and the ‘news’ media serve those same masters: the aristocracy. Regarding the CIA, ‘Defense’ Department, State Department, etc., it’s the ‘respectable’ position to advocate. After all: other countries are ‘dispensable’. So: they might as well be consumed, not simply wasted. Isn’t that what they’re there for? To serve «the one indispensable nation»? – by Eric Zuesse

http://www.strategic-culture.org/news/2016/03/05/america-psychopathic-establishment.html

4.3.2016 – Rhode Island Future (* B K)

Human Rights Watch condemns use of Textron-made cluster bombs

Rhode Island-based Textron sold to Saudi Arabia cluster bombs that, according to a new Human Rights Watch report, “are being used in civilian areas contrary to US export requirements and also appear to be failing to meet the reliability standard required for US export of the weapons.”

The CBU-105 Sensor Fuzed Weapons produced by Textron, according to HRW, have been deployed dangerously close to civilian populations as Saudi-led military strikes have targeted Yemen in 2015 and 2016.

Textron spokesman David Sylvestre confirmed that Textron produced the CBU-105 Sensor Fuzed Weapons.

The bombs passed rigorous inspection before being handed over to the US military for delivery to Saudi Arabia. “No company can put that on a boat and deliver it to a foreign government,” he said, noting that Textron can’t be held liable if the weapon was misused. “We’re not in the plane dropping the bomb. If it was dropped in an area that is perhaps too close to a civilian population, that is not supposed to happen.”

Sylvestre made a point to differentiate the CBU-105 Sensor Fuzed Weapons from what he called “Vietnam-era cluster bombs.” The modern version are “intelligent” and only target tanks, he said. “They are not intended to target human beings at all,” he said. “They are made to target armored-vehicles.”

About half of the weapons Textron produces are sold to governments other than the United States, said Sylvestre. He did not know how much business Textron does with Saudi Arabia, or how much it paid for the Sensor Fuzed Weapons. A recent report from the Congressional Research Service says Saudi Arabia spent more than $100 billion since 2010 on US military equipment and training.

“It’s an important program for us,” Sylvestre said.

Headquartered in Providence, Textron employs about 300 people in Rhode Island and has more than 34,000 employees across the globe. The cluster bombs were most likely assembled in Oklahoma while individual parts might be manufactured elsewhere, according to Sylvestre. Textron Systems, a division of Textron Inc. headquartered in Wilmington, Massachusetts, is responsible for the military products, which represent about 11 percent of Textron’s total revenue, Sylvestre said. The company also makes Cessna airplanes, Bell helicopters, golf carts, gas tanks and power tools, among other products. At one time, it owned Gorham, Speidel and A.T. Cross – themselves iconic Rhode Island companies.

http://www.rifuture.org/human-rights-watch-condemns-use-of-textron-made-cluster-bombs.html

2.6.2015 – National Review (** B P)

The Clinton Foundation Took Money from Saudi Propagandists

The Clintons and Their Royal Saudi Friends: More Dubious Donations to the Family’s Foundation
December 2008, as Hillary Clinton prepared for the hearings that would confirm her as the next U.S. secretary of state, the Clinton Foundation disclosed a list of its donors — separated into tiers by amount given — to reassure the public and Congress that the former first lady would avoid any potential conflicts of interest in her new perch atop Foggy Bottom. “I agree that these are matters that have to be handled with the greatest of care and transparency,” Clinton said during her confirmation hearing.

A look at one organization that made a donation in the range of $1 million to $5 million shows how the Clintons’ gestures toward transparency often revealed little. Meet Friends of Arabia, or FSA, a thinly veiled public-relations organ of the repressive Saudi regime. In a testament to the Clinton Foundation’s confusing, tangled, and secretive finances, Friends of Saudi Arabia’s former CEO, Michael Saba, denies that the nonprofit ever made the contribution. He suggests, rather, that the group’s founders, which included members of the Saudi royal family, made the donation before filing papers with the IRS. For three years, the now-defunct FSA functioned as a propaganda tool for the Saudis, a mission that put it at odds not only with some parts of the State Department’s assessment of the regime, but also with Hillary Clinton’s attempts to position herself as a champion for women’s rights across the globe.

FSA was closely tied to the Saudi regime. A 2005 tax form identified Dr. Selwa Al-Hazzaa, head of the ophthalmology department at King Faisal Specialist Hospital, as chairman of the board. Saudi King Abdullah appointed her to the Saudi legislature in 2013, shortly after women were allowed to join the body.

[…]

Questions about foreign-government donations to the Clinton Foundation have dogged 2016 Democratic frontrunner Hillary Clinton for months. The Wall Street Journal reported in February that the foundation had accepted such donations throughout Clinton’s tenure as the nation’s top diplomat; the scandal expanded with the publication of Peter Schweizer’s book, Clinton Cash, which chronicles a pattern in which governments and private entities with business before the State Department donated heavily to the foundation and then received favorable treatment. In the case of FSA, Saba warns against overstating its ties to the Saudi royal family, despite the connection to Prince Alwaleed and a 2008 news account suggesting that the group was founded at the behest of King Abdullah. “It was more minor princes that were involved in it,” says Saba, who described himself as a personal friend of the late king earlier this year. RELATED: Will the Clinton-Cash Scandal Doom Hillary’s White House Bid? In the judgment of Alyami, of the Center for Democracy and Human Rights in Saudi Arabia, FSA’s apparent donation to the Clinton Foundation shows how the Saudi Arabian regime uses money to gain support in the United States. “Our government and our people are for sale, and the Saudis know how to buy,” he says. FSA has closed its doors, but Saba maintains his Saudi ties. A presentation for a recently formed business venture touts Saba’s “unparalleled access to Saudi Arabia and other Middle East and overseas markets.” It features a photo of Saba, King Abdullah, and the pilot who was honored by FSA, with a simple caption: “access.” – by Joel Gehrke
http://www.nationalreview.com/article/419178/clinton-foundation-took-money-saudi-propagandists-joel-gehrke

cp11 Deutschland / Germany

7.3.2016 – NWZ (A P)

Sorge vor Dauerkrieg im Jemen

Die internationalen Friedensappelle an die Konfliktparteien im Jemen, dem ärmsten Land der Arabischen Halbinsel, werden immer dringlicher. Bundesaußenminister Frank-Walter Steinmeier warnte am Dienstag bei einem Besuch im Nachbarland Oman alle Seiten vor einer „militärischen Lösung“. „Wir müssen aufpassen, dass der Krieg sich nicht in einem Stillstand festfrisst und dort weitere radikalisierte Elemente Einzug halten.“

Omans Außenminister Jussuf bin Abdullah äußerte sich zuversichtlich, dass die Gespräche einen Durchbruch bringen könnten. „Wir sehen sehr gute Chancen, dass die Konfliktparteien sich einigen können. Alle spüren zur Zeit, dass der Jemen Frieden und Wiederaufbau braucht.“

Steinmeier lobte Oman ausdrücklich für die Vermittlung. Zugleich mahnte er weitere Anstrengungen an, um zu einer politischen Lösung zu kommen. „Es ist jetzt vielleicht noch zu früh um zu sagen, dass der Weg in die Schweiz wieder offen ist. Aber es mehren sich doch die Zeichen, dass das möglich scheint.“

http://www.nwzonline.de/politik/sorge-vor-dauerkrieg-im-jemen_a_6,1,908555059.html siehe Auch http://www.faz.net/aktuell/politik/ausland/naher-osten/steinmeier-zur-lage-in-syrien-die-feuerpause-ist-die-positivste-nachricht-seit-fuenf-jahren-14112374-p2.html

4.3.2016 – Qatar news Agency (A P)

The German government has called for a ceasefire in Yemen in order to enter humanitarian aid to the country.

A government spokesperson said Germany believes the conflict in Yemen can only be settled through political means, expressing concern over the high number of casualties among civilians and the catastrophic conditions in the country. She added that agreeing a truce and the unrestricted delivery of humanitarian aid are first priorities.

German Foreign Minister Frank Walter-Steinmeier is due to start a three-day visit to the UAE and Oman on Sunday, where his talks in Abu Dhabi and Muscat are set to focus on efforts towards a peaceful settlement for the Syrian conflict as well as the dispute in Libya and Yemen.

http://www.qna.org.qa/en-us/News/16030417180029/Germany-Calls-for-Yemen-Truce

cp12 Andere Länder / Other countries

7.3.2016 – RT (* A P)

„Für Verdienste im Kampf gegen Extremismus“ – Frankreich verleiht Saudi-Kronprinz die Ehrenlegion

Der französische Präsident François Hollande hat dem saudischen Kronzprinzen und Innenminister des wahhabitischen Königkreichs, Mohammed Bin Najef, den höchsten französischen Verdienstorden, die Ehrenlegion, verliehen. Begründung: „Für die Verdienste im Kampf gegen Terrorismus und Extremismus“. Bin Najef zelebrierte die Verleihung in seiner ganz eigenen Art.

Die Ehrung durch den französischen Präsidenten erfolgte am 4. März. Nur zwei Tage später ordnete Najef die 70. Hinrichtung des noch recht jungen Jahres durch Schwertköpfung an. Das französische Präsidialbüro rechtfertigte die Verleihung mit dem Verweis auf „gewöhnliche protokollarische Praxis“ und betonte, dass auch Präsident Hollande bereits Träger der höchsten Auszeichnung der absolutistischen Golfmonarchie sei.

Während Hollande die Verleihung zunächst in aller Diskretion vornahm und die französischen Medien den Vorfall ebenso diskret verschwiegen, reagierte die staatliche saudische Nachrichtenagentur SPA sehr zeitnah und brachte umgehend eine Agenturmeldung über die Auszeichnung „wegen der Verdienste des Kronprinzen Najef im Kampf gegen Terrorismus und Extremismus“ in Umlauf.

Saudi-Arabien gilt als wichtiger Verbündeter und als einer der wichtigsten Abnehmer von Rüstungsgütern Frankreichs. Gleichzeitig lassen auch französische Geheimdienstberichte keinen Zweifel an der „subversiven“ Rolle Saudi-Arabiens in Syrien und daran, dass das Königreich dschihadistische Gruppierungen in Syrien und im Jemen direkt wie indirekt unterstützt.

https://deutsch.rt.com/europa/37161-fur-verdienste-im-kampf-gegen/ dazu auch http://de.abna24.com/index.php/service/europe/archive/2016/03/08/739596/story.html

7.3.2016 – Zerohedge (* A P)

Saudis Awarded France's "Highest National Honor" For "Fight" Against Terrorism

ere is perhaps no more perverse relationship in the world than that which exists between the West and Saudi Arabia - or, “the ISIS that made it,” as Kamel Daoud, a columnist for Quotidien d’Oran, and the author of “The Meursault Investigation” calls the kingdom.

We’ve been over and over the glaring absurdity inherent in the fact that the US and its partners consider the kingdom to be an “ally” in the fight against terrorism and you can read more in the article linked above, but the problem is quite simply this: the Saudis promote and export an ultra orthodox, ultra puritanical brand of Sunni Islam that is virtually indistinguishable from that espoused by ISIS, al-Qaeda, and many of the other militant groups the world generally identifies with “terrorism.”

Wahhabism - championed by the Saudis - is poisonous, backward, and fuels sectarian strife as well as international terrorism. That’s not our opinion. It’s a fact.

But hey, Riyadh has all of the oil, so no harm, no foul right?

Even as the very same ideals exported by Riyadh inspire the ISIS jihad, the kingdom is so sure it has the political world in its pocket that it sought a seat on the UN Human Rights Council, even as the country continues to carry out record numbers of executions.

They even had the nerve to establish what they called a 34-state Islamic military alliance against terrorism in December. Of course the members don’t include Shiite Iran (the Saudis’ mortal enemy) or Shiite Iraq, both of which are actually fighting terror rather than bombing civilians in Yemen and engaging in Wahhabist proselytizing.

But while everyone in the world is well aware of just how silly the “alliance” is, the farce will apparently continue as French President Francois Hollande on Friday awarded Crown Prince Mohammed bin Naif France’s highest national honor, the Legion of Honor for “for his efforts in the region and around the world to combat extremism and terrorism.”

This is the same Francois Hollande whose country was attacked not four months ago by fighters inspired by the very brand of Islam the Saudis teach.

This would be like pinning a Blue Ribbon on Kim Jong-Un for his efforts to promote sanity and maturity in international relations. There are no words – by Tyler Durden

http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2016-03-06/saudis-awarded-frances-highest-national-honor-fight-against-terrorism

4.3.2016 – Huffington Post (* B K P)

Everything Must Go: Somalia Sells Its Dignity

The dramatic fall in the price of oil has had some unusual effects on the petro-economies of the Persian Gulf. Countries like Saudi Arabia have grown dependent on importing cheap foreign workers to do the jobs its citizens won't. Now, traditional sources of domestic labor like South Asia have become uneconomical in straightened times. Saudis have had to look for cheaper alternatives, and no one can be bought more cheaply than the government of Somalia.

Despite notoriously appalling working conditions and examples of horrific abuse awaiting domestic staff, Saudi recruiters are believed to be seeking as many as 15,000 housemaids, a move that is thought to be welcomed with open arms by Somalia's president, Hassan Sheikh Mohamud. His enthusiasm is in stark contrast to many other African leaders. Only last month the Ugandan government banned its citizens from taking up domestic work in Saudi Arabia after evidence of the torture of a Ugandan maid went viral.

When criminals seek to supply cheap labor across borders for abusive and exploitative employers, it is called human trafficking. When governments do the same it is apparently called creating jobs.

Some nine million foreigners work in Saudi Arabia, but the region is not only importing workers to build its cities, clean its homes and drive its enterprises. The war currently being prosecuted by the Saudis and their allies in Yemen has shone a light on the fact that for some time now, the influx of foreign labour has included soldiers recruited to fight and die in local wars. Indeed, so many mercenaries from Latin America have been recruited in the region that the Colombian government reportedly tried to reach an agreement to limit numbers.

The deployment of foreign fighters in Yemen has been a closely guarded secret. Likely this is not simply because the policy may prove controversial politically, but that its extent may actually break international law. The United Nations Monitoring Group on Somalia and Eritrea recently found 400 soldiers recruited in the Horn of Africa embedded with coalition forces in Yemen, which would be in violation of Security Council resolutions. They join troops recruited from Sudan and other African nations fighting under the Saudi flag.

Though not officially part of the Saudi-led coalition in Yemen, the Somali government has provided logistical support in the conflict. Somalia is providing Saudi forces with access to its territorial waters and land. Even Somalia's airspace has been given up to Saudi warplanes that have been accused by the UN of conducting "widespread and systematic" attacks on civilian areas.

The Saudis are thought to have paid president Hassan Sheikh Mohamud's government for its cooperation, but what does it say about the man that his complicity in the murder of innocent men, women and children can be bought at any price?

A foreign policy based on buying support and influence is not sustainable, it can last only as long as the cash reserves exist to fund it. It is not based on mutual interest, shared ideals or any positive notion--just short-term greed. It is one that demonstrates not only the poverty of a country where influence can be bought and sold, but the poverty of ambition of the leaders who, in exchange for cash, carry out policies that are not in the interest of their people.

To this fire sale of dignity we can also add the very humanity of our government, which is prepared to accept cash as it watches alleged war crimes conducted on its neighbors prosecuted from its own land – by Hibaaq Osman

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/hibaaq-osman/everything-must-go-somalia-sells-dignity_b_9358738.html

cp13a Mercenaries / Söldner

7.3.2016 – Press TV Iran (A K)

DynCorp mercenaries to replace Blackwater in Yemen

The first batch of mercenaries from the private US military firm DynCorp has arrived in the Yemeni city of Aden to replace paid militants from another American company.

Under a USD-3-billion contract between the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and DynCorp, mercenaries from the company are to be deployed to Yemen, where UAE forces are fighting against the Yemeni army and Popular Committees on Saudi orders, Khabar News Agency quoted an official with Yemeni Defense Ministry as saying.

The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the first group of the mercenaries recently arrived in the port city of Aden to replace those of Blackwater, a notorious American group now renamed Academi.

He added that the new militants included special naval forces, who entered the port of Ras Omran southwest of Aden.

DynCorp is a rival of Blackwater, which hires mercenaries and sends them to fight in foreign countries on paid missions.

Blackwater had decided to withdraw from Bab-el-Mandeb region after the Yemeni forces inflicted heavy losses on them. The UAE was forced to bring in the new mercenaries from DynCorp for the same reason.

http://presstv.com/Detail/2016/03/07/454304/Yemen-mercenaries-Blackwater-DynCorp/ = http://www.albawaba.com/news/new-american-private-military-contractors-arrive-yemen-814106

Comment by “Justice” at this site: So it is an open fact that US is the hub of paid mercenaries who are sent to foreign countries.

cp13b Blockade

5.3.2016 – Sultana (*A E H K)

Info from a Yemeni importer about the commissions & bribes to Coalition & Gov to allow their ships to enter port of Hodeida

If the load is 91k-100k tons, the Coalition's commission is $900k + $50k to Gov (they end up splitting by half) transferred to Dubai

Min load is 1k -6k tons, Coaition's commission is $135k + $20k to Gov, to authorize the ship to enter Hodeida port to dock & unload

https://twitter.com/SultanetZman/status/706134119206494212

Comment: That’s a further way to prevent and block imports of necessary goods to Houthi hold areas and even to make money with it.

cp14 Terrorismus / Terrorism

8.3.2016 – Vocativ (* B T)

AQAP Borrows From ISIS' State-Building Playbook (with photos)

Al-Qaeda employs the Islamic State's methods of public outreach to talk up its state building in Yemen

Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula is putting down roots in the southeast of Yemen, and it’s using public relations tactics employed by the Islamic State to talk about it.

Fading from the international spotlight as ISIS uses its Internet savvy to connect with followers and supporters around the world, AQAP has set up its own news agency in Yemen designed to win the hearts and minds of Yemenis living in the areas the group now controls.

AQAP took over a critical tract of coastline in Yemen’s southeast last year, including the strategic port city of Mukallah, and established its own Hadramout Province, named after that area.

Since then it’s been focusing on broadcasting positive propaganda, sending out its dispatches through the news agency called “Alathir.” Like ISIS, with its own media networks, Alathir focuses on highlighting activities AQAP purport to have carried out for the benefit of the local population. Some of the campaigns the group has been promoting through the agency include its policing activities, from confiscating drugs to destroying artifacts belonging to other religions, to orchestrating and funding charity events. Like ISIS, which talks up its social services, AQAP says it too has been repairing critical infrastructure – by Amit Weiss and Vladi Vovcuk

http://www.vocativ.com/news/294255/aqap-borrows-from-isis-state-building-playbook/

7.3.2016 – Gulf News (A T)

23 men on trial for joining Al Qaida

One on trial for writing ‘Daesh’ on coffee shop’s feedback card

A total of 23 men were on Monday charged at the Federal Supreme Court with joining Al Qaida. Some of the men are also being charged with forging immigration documents.

The suspects — 21 Yemenis and two Emiratis — were accused of joining the terrorist organisation by the Public Prosecutor.

http://gulfnews.com/news/uae/crime/23-men-on-trial-for-joining-al-qaida-1.1685840

7.3.2016 – CAN (A T)

Hoffnung für den im Jemen entführten Pater Tom

Auch wenn es keine Neuigkeiten gibt und sich die Verhandlungen in einer unübersichtlichen Situation wie bei den Jemeniten als schwierig erweisen können, haben die Salesianer noch Hoffnung, dass Pater Tom Uzhunnalil, der am 4. März nach den Anschlägen auf das Kloster der Missionarinnen der Nächstenliebe im Jemen entführt wurde, noch am Leben ist.

Am 4. März waren das Kloster und das Pflegheim der Missionarinnen der Nächstenliebe Ziel eines Anschlags, bei dem vier Nonnen und zwölf Gäste getötet wurden.

Zum Zeitpunkt des Anschlags befand sich Pater Tom – ein Salesianer aus Kerala, Indien – in der Kapelle des Klosters zum Beten und wurde dort von den Attentätern entführt.

Pater Francesco Cereda, Vikar des Generaloberen der Salesianer, Pater Angel Fernandez Artime, sagte der CNA am 7. März, dass "es schwierig ist, zu verstehen, warum sie Pater Tom entführt haben."

"Das Ministerium für Auswärtige Angelegenheiten von Neu-Delhi hat bestätigt, dass gemeinsam mit Pater Tom auch eine der indischen Schwestern, die zur Gemeinschaft von Aden gehört, verschwunden und dass auch ihr Aufenthaltsort unbekannt ist", sagte er weiter – von Andrea Gagliarducci

http://de.catholicnewsagency.com/story/hoffnung-fur-den-im-jemen-entfuhrten-pater-tom-0576

7.3.2016 – Southfront (A T)

A large rally hosted by Al-Qaeda held in Yemen

It is reported by a US think tank that a media group run by Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) has released dozens of new images from the city of Mukallah, the capital of Yemen’s eastern province of Hadramout.

Mukallah city was captured by Ansar al Sharia- an AQAP affiliate, in April 2015.

According to the report, on Jan. 23, Al Ather “news” agency started to publish high-quality images of Ansar al Sharia’s supposed good works.

Al Ather published several images from the event in Mukallah. Two of the photos show Khalid al Batarfi, an al Qaeda veteran freed from a Yemeni jail last year, delivering a talk on a widescreen. The words “O Aqsa, We Are Coming,” a reference to Jerusalem, can be seen on the al Qaeda banner on the main stage.

https://southfront.org/large-rally-hosted-al-qaeda-held-yemen/

6.3.2016 – CNN (A T)

Film: Hakim Almasmari on CNN on militant attack on retirement home in Aden Yemen

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yUcODfFK6HA&feature=youtu.be

6.3.2016 – Catholic News Agency (A T)

There's no question – the Missionaries of Charity 'died as martyrs'

After a recent attack at a Missionaries of Charity convent in Yemen claimed the lives of four of the sisters there, the bishop overseeing the area said he has no doubt they died as martyrs.

“For me there is no doubt that the sisters have been victims of hatred – hatred against our faith,” Bishop Paul Hinder told CNA March 6.

“The Missionaries of Charity died as martyrs: as martyrs of charity, as martyrs because they witnessed Christ and shared the lot of Jesus on the Cross,” he said, pointing to one of the prayers they recited daily – by Elise Harris and Alan Holdren

http://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/theres-no-question-the-missionaries-of-charity-died-as-martyrs-52544/

25.2.2016 – The World Weekly (* B T)

Al-Qaeda expands in Yemen

Reports this week said al-Qaeda militants in Yemen have joined the Saudi-led coalition in the battle for the besieged city of Taiz. The group, seen as the deadliest part of the franchise, has also expanded its territory in recent months.

Indeed, although US-led drone strikes have targeted senior al-Qaeda members over the last months, most of the international community’s attention has been focused on the campaign to push back the Houthis and their allies and, eventually, regain Sanaa, the capital. Gulf-based media outlets have been covering the situation virtually on a daily basis.

This week, however, al-Qaeda was back in the spotlight after a documentary filmmaker working for the BBC found evidence that AQAP and its allies were joining the Saudi Arabia-led coalition in the fight against Houthi rebels in the southern city of Taiz.

The BBC report said pro-government militiamen and jihadis were supported by soldiers from the United Arab Emirates (UAE), a leading force on the ground in Yemen.

The 10-country-strong coalition led by Saudi Arabia has denied any tactical cooperation with Sunni extremists and the coalition’s members see AQAP as a terrorist organisation. Saudi Arabia has long been engaged in a struggle against the group within the kingdom.

But similar reports, while difficult to independently verify, have appeared before. The Wall Street Journal reported in July 2015 that al-Qaeda fought alongside pro-government tribal fighters and Emirati special forces in the “liberation” of Aden, now the temporary capital of Yemen.

According to the Critical Threats Project report, the cities under the militant group’s control are spread throughout four provinces.

“AQAP seems to have developed a multi-prong strategy that places the main leadership in charge of holding and administering al-Mukalla in Hadramawt, solidifying their role on the ground,” veteran Yemen analyst Fernando Carvajal tells The World Weekly.

While the Popular Resistance, a loose confederation of southern tribes opposed to al-Qaeda, is confronting the group, the broader military campaign is not focused on AQAP. “Saudi Arabia and other Gulf Cooperation Council states fighting in Yemen appear far more committed to combatting the Houthi rebels and al-Saleh loyalists than countering AQAP,” Giorgio Cafiero, co-founder of Gulf State Analytics, tells The World Weekly.

If the Gulf states involved in Yemen label al-Qaeda as a terrorist organisation, this begs the question: Why are they not confronting it - and potentially even cooperating with it - in Yemen?

“The line from Riyadh is that the coalition must first defeat the Houthi and al-Saleh fighters and restore Yemen’s 'legitimate' government before taking on AQAP,” Mr. Cafiero says.

“Yet given the dismal realities on the ground in Yemen, this goal appears entirely unrealistic in the near-term. Therefore, a number of experts have posited that Saudi Arabia and AQAP’s common interest in crushing the Houthi rebel movement has led the kingdom and the al-Qaeda division to maintain a tacit relationship throughout the foreseeable future.”

The Gulf expert says that this does not create conditions for a long-term alliance, however, because of AQAP leaders’ repeated calls for the overthrow of the ruling al-Saud family.

While AQAP’s main base has always been Yemen, its ambitions extend to all of the Arabian Peninsula, as its nomenclature indicates. But the turmoil in Yemen has provided a fertile ground for al-Qaeda to expand, despite the ongoing US drone strike campaign. – by Manuel Langendorf

http://www.theworldweekly.com/reader/view/magazine/2016-02-25/al-qaeda-expands-in-yemen/6867

cp15 Propaganda

7.3.2016 – El Balad (A P)

Yemen : Saudi Arabia spends 1 bln riyals in Yemen aid in less than a year

Saudi Arabia's King Salman Humanitarian Aid and Relief Center (KSRELIEF) has carried out a number of programs in less than a year to alleviate the sufferings of the poor and needy in different countries, including Yemen. AFP said.
King Salman has allocated SR1 billion to finance the center’s humanitarian activities, in addition to the allocation of SR1 billion to fulfill the relief and humanitarian needs of the Yemeni people.
The center is designed to become a leading international relief agency to support afflicted communities with the aim of alleviating their sufferings and providing them with a decent and respectable living condition.

http://www.el-balad.com/2039913

Comment: That sum already had been promised by the Saudis in a very early phase of the war, as a hypothetical balance for damages in Yemen. What has been destructed after that? The help was not given for a long time because of the political preconditions required by the Saudis. And, looking again at the sum: This sum of ca. 275 million USD really is peanuts compared to all the damage the Saudis have caused in Yemen. And it is just the cost of 1 day and 9 hours aerial war against Yemen, which is estimated to cost 200 million USD a day. That shows the real preferences of the Saudis.

cp16 Saudische Luftangriffe / Saudi air raids

03.2016 – Legal Center for Rights and Development (A K PH)

Saudische Luftschläge Tag für Tag / Saudi air raids day by day

6. März / March:

https://www.facebook.com/551288185021551/photos/a.551858951631141.1073741828.551288185021551/599241663559536/?type=3&theater

7. März:

https://www.facebook.com/551288185021551/photos/a.551858951631141.1073741828.551288185021551/599566233527079/?type=3&theater

cp17 Kriegsereignisse / Theater of War

8.3.2016 – ABNA (A K PH)

Eight Saudi mercenaries killed in Yemen's Jawf

Around eight Riyadh's hirelings were killed or injured in an ambush in Yemen's Jawf province.
The army and popular committees ambushed the hirelings when they were trying to advance towards al-Mahshama area in the district of Khab and al-Sha'ab, the official explained.
The official said three armored vehicles of the mercenaries were burnt.

http://en.abna24.com/service/middle-east-west-asia/archive/2016/03/08/739680/story.html

7.3.2016 – Right.is (A K PH)

3 films (fights; Huthi successes) and an article placed in cp12 above.

http://right.is/politics/2016/03/yemen-update-3062016-france-awardes-saudis-highest-national-honor-for-fight-against-terrorism-54469.html

8.3.2016 – Bild (A K)

Tausende illegale Waffen beschlagnahmt

Riesiger Waffenfund vor der Küste Omans: Der australischen Marine ist es Ende Februar gelungen, Tausende illegaler Waffen in einem Schmugglerboot zu beschlagnahmen!

Den Marinesoldaten auf dem Schiff „HMAS Darwin“ war das staatenlose Fischerboot 170 Seemeilen vor der Küste Omans verdächtig vorgekommen. In der Tat, als sie den Kahn stoppen und in den Laderaum blicken, trauen sie ihren Augen kaum...

Dort liegen keine Fische, sondern über 2000 Kriegswaffen, unter anderem 1989 Kalashnikows und 100 Granaten, wie „CNN" berichtet.

Nachdem sie die Waffen sicherstellen, lassen sie die 18-köpfige Crew des Schmugglerbootes weiterfahren.

Noch sind die Hintergründe der Waffenlieferung unklar. Möglicherweise stammte die Ladung aus dem Iran und sollte schiitische Huthi-Rebellen im Yemen oder in Somalia erreichen. Jetzt ermitteln US-Behörden.

http://www.bild.de/news/ausland/waffenschmuggel/vor-der-kueste-omans-aufgeflogen-44847066.bild.html

Kommentar: Über Herkunft und Zielort: Nichts Genaues weiß man nicht. „Jetzt ermitteln US-Behörden“: Was soll das denn? Die USA spielen sich wieder als Weltpolizist auf. Warum nicht „Jetzt ermitteln nordkoreanische Behörden“? Hätte genauso viel oder genauso wenig Berechtigung.

7.3.2016 – CNN (A K)

Weapons seized by Australia may have come from Iran, intended for Houthis

An Australian naval ship has seized a large arms cache that may have come from Iran and headed to Yemen by way of Somalia.

The Australian Navy said that one of its ships patrolling the region, the HMAS Darwin, intercepted a small, stateless fishing vessel about 170 nautical miles off the coast of Oman when it made the discovery.

On board they found more than 2,000 pieces of weaponry -- including 1,989 AK-47 assault rifles and 100 rocket-propelled grenades.

According to a U.S. assessment, the weapons were believed to be initially sent from Iran and were likely intended for Houthi rebels in Yemen, Lt. Ian McConnaughey with the U.S. Navy told CNN.

U.S. Central Command is still gathering more information to determine the arms' final destination, McConnaughey said.

An Australian Defense Ministry spokesman told CNN there were 18 people of various nationalities on board the ship, but officials could not initially confirm that their identification documents were valid.

Authorities believe the weapons were headed for Somalia based on interviews with crew members, but that information is preliminary and may change as the investigation continues, the spokesman said.

The crew was allowed to depart after the weapons were seized, in accordance with international maritime law.

Australia is part of a multinational naval partnership, the Combined Maritime Forces, that helps police more than three million square miles of international waters.

CMF routinely conducts boardings to determine the origin of unmarked vessels (so-called "flag verification boardings") on a "regular basis," according to McConaughey. A similar number of weapons was seized in September by coalition forces – by Joshua Berlinger

http://edition.cnn.com/2016/03/07/middleeast/middle-east-weapons-seizure/index.html

Comment: A lot of 'maybes' here for such a big headline. People can't even get food in + #Yemen already flooded with weapons.

https://twitter.com/JamilaHanan/status/706836096324399104

7.3.2016 – Moon of Alabama (* A K)

Someone bought 2,000 old AK47s and some RPGs, maybe in Iraq or elsewhere in the Gulf, to sell them in Somalia. That makes sense. There is an ongoing civil war in Somalia and selling weapons there has little risk.

But here is the U.S. Central Command making up nonsense about the Australian find:

According to a U.S. assessment, the weapons were believed to be initially sent from Iran and were likely intended for Houthi rebels in Yemen, Lt. Ian McConnaughey with the U.S. Navy told CNN.

U.S. Central Command is still gathering more information to determine the arms' final destination, McConnaughey said.

There is zero evidence for that claim that these are weapons from Iran on their way to Yemen. Indeed the circumstances as reported by the Australians seem to make that unlikely. But the CNN report, from which the above is taken, is headlined Weapons seized by Australia may have come from Iran, intended for Houthis thus supporting the false Saudi claims.

Yemen is flooded with weapons. The Saudi have several times dropped thousands of new weapons to their proxy forces in south Yemen. Many of those weapons were seized by the Houthis and those that reached the Saudi proxies were immediately sold off to the highest bidder. Every modern assault rifle one might think of is available in Sanaa's weapon markets. Why would anyone ship old AK47 to Yemen where even the poorest households already have better weapons?

Remarks a Yemeni analyst:

Hisham Al-Omeisy @omeisy

So Iran sent 1989 low grade AK47s & 100 RPGs to a #Yemen already flooded w/ better AK47s & RPGs! What am I missing?

And another one:

Haykal Bafana @BaFana3

2nd time the US is claiming that Somalia-bound arms are "Iran weapons to Houthis Yemen" delivery. Almost as if DC is prodding Saudi Arabia.

http://www.moonofalabama.org/2016/03/us-central-command-promotes-the-war-on-yemen-where-al-qaeda-is-the-only-winner.html

Comment: Also read the comments at this site, interesting!!

7.3.2016 – UPI / Muhit El-Yemen (A K)

Australian navy seizes 2,000 weapons possibly en route to Yemen's rebels

The Australian Navy seized a small fishing vessel carrying more than 2,000 weapons in the Gulf of Aden that may have been sent from Iran to Yemen's Houthi rebels.

The Australian HMAS Darwin naval ship, performing counter-terrorism operations under the international Combined Task Force 150, was patrolling the region when it intercepted the stateless fishing vessel about 170 nautical miles off the coast of Oman that was heading to the coast of Somalia.

More than 2,000 weapons were found aboard, including 1,989 AK-47 assault rifles and 100 rocket-propelled grenades. The U.S. Navy's Lt. Ian McConnaughey told CNN the weapons were initially sent from Iran and were ultimately intended for Houthi rebels in Yemen.

The weapons were seized under a U.N. sanction allowing the interception of illegal weapons on the seas if headed toward Somalia. There were 18 people of various nationalities aboard the ship, but officials could not confirm their identification documents were authentic.

"Australia worked as part of the multinational Combined Maritime Forces to discover and seize these illegal weapons," Chief of Joint Operations Vice Admiral David Johnston said in a statement – by Andrew V. Pestano

http://www.upi.com/Top_News/World-News/2016/03/07/Australian-navy-seizes-2000-weapons-possibly-en-route-to-Yemens-rebels/4131457349495/ = http://muhitelyemen.net/en/news/30210.html

Turkish C4 Defense stays abstinent of any speculations regarding the Hputhis:

7.3.2016 – C 4 Defense (A K)

No details were given as to which group may have ordered the weapons believed to be heading for Somalia, a still war-torn nation riven by conflict between multiple militia forces, including the Al-Qaeda linked Shebab, as well as a national army and regional militaries. If it had not been stopped, the boat would also have passed by the coast of Yemen, also in civil war.

http://www.c4defence.com/AFP/Somalia-unrest-weaponry-Australia-Oman-Yemen/9354/3

7.3.2016 – TRT (A K)

Gewalt im Jemen eskaliert

Bei Gefechten zwischen Huthi-Rebellen und Anhängern von Staatspräsident Hadi sind 32 Menschen getötet worden.

Bei Kämpfen zwischen Huthi-Rebellen und Anhängern von Staatspräsident Abdurabbu Mansur Hadi, den Kräften des Volkswiderstands, sind in der Stadt Beyda 32 Menschen getötet worden.

Nach Behördenangaben hätte man in der Stadt Beyda, den Huthis in einem Fahrzeug aufgelauert. Bei dem Angriff seien ein Huthi-Kommandant und sieben Leibwächter getötet worden.

Bei Kämpfen in einer anderen Region, seien 24 Menschen getötet worden, darunter 20 Huthi-Rebellen.

In der Region Zub gibt es seit fünf Tagen heftige Gefechte. Huthi-Rebellen versuchen das Gebiet zu erobern.

http://www.trt.net.tr/deutsch/welt/2016/03/07/gewalt-im-jemen-eskaliert-445717

6.3.2015 – Saba Net (A K PH)

Eight mercenaries killed in Jawf

Around eight Riyadh's hirelings were killed or injured in an ambush in Jawf province. The army and popular committees ambushed the hirelings when they were trying to advance towards al-Mahshama area in the district of Khab and al-Sha'ab, the official explained. The official said three armored vehicles of the mercenaries were burnt.

http://sabanews.net/en/news421488.htm

cp18 Schöner Jemen / Beautiful Yemen

Photos: Crossing the stunning Shahara Bridge in Yemen

Perched between mountains hanging 300 feet above the canyon, the Shahara Bridge is a stunning sight to behold, a limestone arch crossing connecting villages. Tourists from all over the world are said to flock to the Shahara village to marvel at this bridge.

http://thegallivantpost.com/snapshot-crossing-the-stunning-shahara-bridge-in-yemen/

Vorige / Previous:

https://www.freitag.de/autoren/dklose/krieg-im-jemen-neue-artikel-zum-nachlesen-111

Neue Artikel zum Nachlesen 1-111: / Yemen Press Reader 1-111:

https://www.freitag.de/autoren/dklose oder / or

http://poorworld.net/YemenWar.htm

Dieser Beitrag gibt die Meinung des Autors wieder, nicht notwendigerweise die der Redaktion des Freitag.
Geschrieben von

Dietrich Klose

Vielfältig interessiert am aktuellen Geschehen, zur Zeit besonders: Ukraine, Russland, Jemen, Rolle der USA, Neoliberalismus, Ausbeutung der 3. Welt

Dietrich Klose

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