Hunger of children - Religious eugenics in Yemen - Yemen: The silent war - How the Arab Spring led to civil war - Children and death - Again: US bombs on market - and more
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
cp7 UNO und Friedensgespräche / UN and peace talks
cp7a Saudi-Arabien und Iran / Saudi Arabia and Iran
cp8 Saudi-Arabien / Saudi Arabia
cp9 USA
cp10 Großbritannien / Great Britain
cp11 Deutschland / Germany
cp12 Andere Länder / Other countries
cp13a Waffenhandel / Arms trade
cp13b Mercenaries / Söldner
cp13c Flüchtlinge / Refugees
cp14 Terrorismus / Terrorism
cp15 Propaganda
cp16 Saudische Luftangriffe / Saudi air raids
cp17 Kriegsereignisse / Theater of War
cp 18 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
9.4.2016 – ABNA (*** B H) K)
Fotos: Hunger der Kinder im Kriegsland Jemen (Warnung: verstörende Fotos)
http://de.abna24.com/service/pictorial/archive/2016/04/09/746075/story.html
9.4.2016 – Shafaqna (** B K P)
Religious Eugenics in the Yemen – Remapping Yemen’s religious make up to reflect Wahhabism totalitarian agenda
While Yemen’s ongoing military conflict is rooted in imperialism – the physical manifestation of very capitalistic ambitions, Yemen’s war also speaks of a despicable religion agenda – one which seeks to re-engineer the region according to Wahhabism’s rule of absolutism. In this Arabia al-Saud wants to rule over, Wahhabism will be the only faith any individual or community will ever know. To achieve such goals, the kingdom has worked to criminalize, terrorize, and otherwise ostracize Yemen’s formerly vibrant religious communities – wielding fear, intolerance and persecution to better wipe out a tradition anchored in pluralism, and respectful interfaith collaboration.
I am in no way denying that sectarian tensions have not populated Yemen’s history – that would equate to white-washing history books … What I’m saying is that Riyadh’s desire to rise its Islamic dogmatism over all other schools of thoughts has led to a series of frictions which ultimate goal has been to disappear all religious minorities.
Under Riyadh’s impetus, Yemen has suffered a religious erosion which stands today to claim not just its independence but its very sense of identity. Ever since 1994, when the-President Saleh agreed to open up Yemen to Wahhabi clerics, in exchange for military support against southern secessionists, Yemen has been colonized, and its faith harvested for radicalization.
From that moment on, the infamous Muslim Brotherhood – under the convenient banner of al-Islah (itself a coalition of tribes and political factions) imprinted its Saudi-sponsored version of Islam, to hell with Yemen’s traditions, betraying those very principles of tolerance and inclusion Yemen once held so dear.
To manifest such a covert religious takeover Riyadh operated behind a series of smokescreen – buying off tribal loyalties, and officials’ ears so that its agenda will meet no resistance. Ironically, if not for the so-called Arab Spring, if not for Riyadh’s attempted coup against President Saleh – a very corrupted Saleh I might add, this one former stooge of al-Saud would not have reneged against Riyadh. If not for Saudi Arabia’s desire to rise al-Islah the only political power in Yemen, Saleh would never have brokered a peace with the Houthis, and the Resistance might never have burgeoned into a fierce liberation movement.
It is important to remember that if South Yemen quickly fell to Riyadh’s dogma on account its own religious identity was never strong to begin with – in between Britain’s imperialism, and communism’s rejection of the religious South Yemen has had a hard time defining its allegiance; North Yemen knew exactly who it was, and what Islam echoed strongest.
Allow me to quickly retrace Yemen’s Islamic history, since al-Saud has been so intent on redacting its truth.
Since 2011 Yemen has undergone a religious revival. Driven by a need to reinvent their nation and more importantly the principles that command and define them as a nation-state following decades of blind nepotism, Yemenis have cried out in rejection of Sunni radicalism aka Wahhabism, bent on reclaiming their heritage – Shia Islam.
From both a purely historical and religious perspective, such a revival of Shia Islam in Yemen has absolutely nothing to do with politics and rather everything to do with the principles that have always driven and defined Shia Islam. When I speak of Shia Islam, do not read Iran. While Iran is in fact majority Shia, its land does not hold a monopoly on faith, nor did it ever claim to … that would be the tall tale one prejudiced Kingdom of Saudi Arabia told the world so you would learn to fear its enemy.
To better understand Yemen’s highlands Houthi movement (a Shia group led by Sheikh Abel-Malek al-Houthi), one needs to look back over a millennium ago.
[…]
Before I further get into Riyadh’s eugenics agenda in Yemen I would like to introduce readers to Wahhabism itself – maybe then this assumption that Islam and Wahhabism are in fact one and the same will be laid to rest. Although Wahhabism claims itself of Islam, its tenets, its statement of faith, and its practice stand in negation of Islam teachings. Yet it has been hailed one of its expression.
[…]
Wahhabism is no more than an engineered perversion, a division, and an abomination which has but spread like a cancer onto the Islamic world and now threatens to destroy all religions.
Wahhabism and its legions: Al Qaeda, ISIS, Boko Haram, are but the manifestations of a reactionary atheist movement which seeks the death of all faiths.
Wahhabism is not of Islam and Islam will never be of Wahhabism – it is a folly to conceive that Islam would ever sanction murder, looting and atrocious barbarism. Islam opposes despotism, injustice, infamy, deceits, greed, extremism, asceticism – everything which is not balanced and good, fair and merciful, kind and compassionate.
Wahhabism is merely the misguided expression of one man’s political ambition – Muhammad ibn Abdul Wahhab, a man who was recruited by Empire Britain to erode at the fabric of Islam and crack the unity of its ummah (community).
As Wahhabism began its land and mind grab in the Hijaz – now known as Saudi Arabia – one family, al Saud saw in this violent and reactionary school of thought a grand opportunity to claim and retain power. This unholy alliance has blotted the skies of Arabia for centuries, darkening the horizon with its miasmas.
Wahhabism has now given birth to a monstrous abomination – extreme radicalism; a beast which has sprung and fed from Salafis and Wahhabis poison, fuelled by the billions of al-Saud’s petrodollars; a weapon exploited by neo-imperialists to justify military interventions in those wealthiest corners of the world.
[…]
After ibn Wahhab’s death, Wahhabism became more violent, an instrument of state terror. As Al Saud sought to establish an independent kingdom, Abd al-Aziz Ibn Muhammad, Ibn Saud’s son and successor, used takfir to justify the wholesale slaughter of resistant populations. In 1801, his army sacked the holy Shia city of Karbala in what is now Iraq, plundered the tomb of Imam Hussain, and slaughtered thousands of Shias, including women and children. A few years later, in 1803, in fear and panic, the holy city of Mecca surrendered to the Saudi leader, wary of that his army would do to the population.
There is a symmetry to the sacking of the holy city of Medina in the 19th century, and that of Yemen altogether today since it is pluralism too which al-Saud seeks above all to crush under its boots.
Then, al-Saud’s army murdered hundreds of men, women and children. Today thousands have been sacrificed so that Wahhabism alone would remain.
Imams too then pleaded for the most sacred relics of Islam to be protected … Today Yemen’s religious heritage lies in ruins, its libraries burnt to the ground, and its mosques exploded.
Blanketed by its wealth and protected by political alliances, Saudi Arabia has covertly run and promoted a new movement in the Middle East: religious eugenics, under the false pretence of opposing the rise of Iran. From Syria to Bahrain and Yemen the evidence is overwhelming.
Saudi Arabia’s foreign policy in the Middle East is betraying a disturbing and rather ominous covert agenda, one which resonates with ethnic engineering and religious eugenics.
And if so far few have connected the dots, their hands tied by Riyadh’s overbearing and overarching control on media outlets and the grand political narrative, it is high time we learn to recognize al- Saud’s campaign for what it really is: a concerted effort to cleanse the region of all religious minorities, beginning with Shia Islam, its self-appointed nemesis.
To put it in simple terms – under Saudi Arabia’ suffocating grip, religious minorities are dying a slow and painful death.
From Syria to Bahrain, the kingdom’s eugenics campaign threatens the region’s religious and ethnic patrimonies, in a fashion reminiscent of Nazi Germany, when Jews and Gypsies were labelled undesirables.
In an interview back in April 2015, the Saudi ambassador to the United States, Adel Al-Jubeir lifted the veil on Riyadh’s determination to carry through its agenda, no matter the price, no matter the impact. He asserted: “This campaign is having a huge impact in Yemen and it is not over yet. For us failure is not an option. We will destroy the Houthis if they do not come to reason.”
If subtitles were running they would read – the Houthis will be destroyed because they represent a religious challenge to Wahhabism’s hegemony in the region. The Houthis, and the majority of all northerners in Yemen are Zaidis, a branch of Shia Islam.
Is it then a surprise that while South Yemen has benefited from humanitarian aid, North Yemen has witnessed a spike in violence, its seaports targeted to prevent food and medicine to be ferried in? Riyadh is quite simply profiling aid to carry out its religious cleansing, punishing millions for their rejection of Riyadh’s religion.
Saudi Arabia is an absolute theocracy, and as such its very raison d’ être is rooted within its violent and reactionary interpretation of Islam: Wahhabism. One of the main tenets of Wahhabism actually calls for the destruction of all religious sects, Islamic or otherwise. For Wahhabis there can be no greater glory than to massacre “apostates.”
And while Riyadh’s neo-eugenics movement has taken on different forms, operating under various denominations depending on the countries it has targeted, the underlying current has been the destruction of religious pluralism.
Is there a real difference between Manama’s campaign to strip Shia Bahrainis from their nationality because the House of al-Khalifa seeks to eliminate all political and religious competition, and Daesh’s murderous rampage against religious minorities in Iraq and Syria? And though Bahrain’s campaign might appear more “elegant” in that it is more covert and pernicious, the intent remains the same.
Why have Yemen’s religious minorities been systematically targeted if not to engineer their destruction?
From the language used to the policies it has carried out in the Middle East, Riyadh has pushed the sectarian card, christening the resistance movement against its eugenics movement, the so-called Shia crescent threat.
The real threat here lies with Riyadh’s twisted crusade and sickening sectarian agenda. But Yemen’s Shia are not alone in their persecution: Christians too have suffered a great deal … although their story has gone mainly unreported.
A majority Muslim country it may be, Yemen is also home … or at least was home, to thriving Jewish and Christian communities. It is this history, this rich and vibrant patrimoine the likes of Saudi Arabia – the world’s most violent, and reactionary theocracy, has worked to obliterate.
For several decades now – since 1962, if one wants to be precise – the kingdom has run a vengeful campaign against Yemen’s religious pluralism, reshaping this once proud, and tolerant nation of Arabia to its own vengeful image. Of this war you most likely have never heard anything about … you most probably remain under the impression that Yemen was only ever a Muslim state … that no other faith before that ever graced its shores and populated its mountains.
For several decades now Saudi Arabia has exerted its suffocating influence onto Yemen, breeding hate and intolerance where there was once brotherhood and respect. Thanks to a covert campaign of Wahhabization Yemen has been turned into a hotbed for extremism, where violent radicals’ understanding of the Scriptures is limited to bloodshed.
A minority now living in fear, Yemen’s Christians have been reduced to practice their faith underground. Such a sad state of affair ever only took place under Rome’s murderous oppression of early Christians. How far have we fallen?!
Under Riyadh’s strict patronage the Yemeni government does not permit the establishment of buildings or worship places without prior permission.
This reality Yemen’s Resistance movement ambitions to overturn.
Oppressed in their faith for they do not follow Wahhabism, the Houthis of Yemen understand what it is to suffer religious intolerance. And such intolerance they are bent on eradicating – by Catherine Shakdam
http://en.shafaqna.com/news/31844
Comment: In many parts, an interesting article dealing with Saudi wahabism, the Saudi efforts of “Wahabisation” of Yemen. The long parts dealing with special theological themes of islam will be hard to follow for Non-muslims. Bringing together Wahabism with Marxism and Atheism, certainly is a total mistake. And, at the end of the article: certainly, there is more religious freedom in Iran than in Saudi Arabia. And even there, she limits this statement to the “People of the Book” – and I would like to ask her of Bahai in Iran, for instance. And within the limits of the Iranian political system, the sentence “Iran’s legitimacy draws from its people’ sovereign will” cannot stay without objection. Critisising Saudi Arabia cannot be a good reason for praising Iran.
8.4.2016 – International Journalism Festival (** B K)
Film: Yemen: the silent war.
Source: International Journalism Festival. Date Published: April 8, 2016.
Yemen is presented by the Western media as the hideout of al-Qaeda and the kingdom of child brides. But it is also a nation with a millenary culture and youthful creativity, both back in vogue during the 2011 revolution which was the most peaceful among the so-called Arab springs. Yemen is currently being destroyed by a terrible war, largely ignored by the media, despite its centrality, along with Syria and Iraq, to the Middle Eastern crisis. In this war scenario, in which Western countries participate by selling weapons to Saudi Arabia, the Yemeni population has been extremely resilient and local artists have tried to recount the conflict by showing its consequences on civilians and on a unique cultural and architectural heritage.
Con: Laura Silvia Battaglia (freelance journalist), Malachy Browne (Europe anchor Reported.ly), Iona Craig (freelance journalist), Abdurahman Hussain (film-maker and producer), Sara Ishaq (film director ), Sara Ishaq
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3SsB6EdOP10
15.3.2016 – The Conversation (** B C K P)
Explained: how the Arab Spring led to an increasingly vicious civil war in Yemen
The war in Yemen is partly the result of the failure to deal with the grievances that fuelled Yemen’s uprisings during the Arab Spring. That uprising itself should be read in the context of the Yemen’s political system, where power was distributed not through formal institutions, but through a web of tribal and regional patronage.
The Arab Spring protests allowed all those who were excluded from access to political power to demand redress. The movement was unique because it allowed those with no access to weapons to protest alongside their heavily armed compatriots. It is not a coincidence, therefore, that women were at the forefront of the uprising since they had always been excluded from public life, despite promises made to them upon the country’s 1990 unification.
When you realise this, it makes the involvement of such a motley array of groups in Sanaa’s Change Square in 2011 less peculiar than it might have initially appeared.
The deal brokered by the Gulf Co-operation Council, which provided for the removal of Saleh from the presidency and led to the establishment of a National Dialogue Conference and the restructuring of the army, was ostensibly intended to address these exclusions. However, the deal was negotiated and agreed among Yemen’s established elites, who were also the only ones with access to political office in Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi’s interim government. This foretold the deal’s death, which was sealed in 2014 by the fragmentation of the Southern movement and the assassination of Houthi delegates to already fraught reconciliation talks.
The growing discontent with the new political process in Yemen was compounded by regular American drone strikes against suspected members of al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, who in turn had taken to bombing military targets in Sanaa and beyond. Capitalising on this, the Houthis were able to march into Sanaa in September 2014.
Past experience dictates that an effective and sustainable peace-building effort in Yemen should address the grievances which fuelled the Arab Spring. In short, it should give everyone a stake in the political system by allowing them peaceful access to political power. However, doing so has now become even more difficult.
The war is predominately a conflict between two uneasy alliances. One the one hand are the Houthis and Saleh, the former president, who still commands the allegiance of parts of the Yemeni army despite the interim government’s efforts to strip him of his influence. On the other is the side made up of the interim government, the Southern movement and the Saudi-led alliance. This alliance is only sustained by the presence of a common enemy, and is just as liable to dissolve into internal conflict as the Houthi-Saleh alliance.
So it’s hardly surprising that all attempts to get all belligerents to the table have fallen apart, since the individual groups that make up these broad alliances have wildly different goals.
The Houthis and the Southern movement (which is itself split into different factions) will only be satisfied once their exclusion from the political system is effectively redressed. Saleh is only interested in acquiring a position which allows him unchecked access to power; Hadi’s government is vehemently opposed to that, and favours any solution that would offer it access to political power, and thus access to international aid funds.
Saudi Arabia, meanwhile, is principally interested in regaining its power over the Yemeni government, which it previously manipulated with patronage.
Most commentators within and outside Yemen still view the conflict as a sectarian affair. But before a viable peace can be built, the war must be understood for what it actually is: a political conflict about the terms of political exclusion and inclusion.
Meanwhile, international actors, particularly the UK and US, must stop fuelling the conflict and withdraw their support for Saudi Arabia, pressuring their ally to end its campaign and make serious moves towards a settlement.
Instead of fuelling this conflict, the international community must work with Yemenis to support a real economic recovery – impossible at present given the fragmented Yemeni state’s inability to reach much of its territory – by Sophia Dingli
Comment: Well, not only civil war, but from the intervention of Saudi Arabia international war as well.
cp2 Allgemein / General
10.4.2016 - Junge Welt (A P)
Waffenstillstand im Jemen
Im Jemen ist am Sonntag um Mitternacht ein allgemeiner Waffenstillstand in Kraft getreten. Am nächsten Montag sollen in Kuwait Friedensgespräche zwischen der nicht demokratisch legitimierten, aber international anerkannten Regierung von Präsident Abed Rabbo Mansur Hadi und der schiitischen Organisation Ansarollah, die meist als »Huthis« bezeichnet wird, beginnen. Für die mit Ansarollah verbündeten Anhänger des früheren Präsidenten Ali Abdullah Saleh, die vor allem in der Hauptstadt Sanaa und in den regulären Streitkräften stark sind, ist kein Platz am Verhandlungstisch vorgesehen. - von Knut Mellenthin
https://www.jungewelt.de/loginFailed.php?ref=/2016/04-11/030.php
10.4.2016 – Zentralplus (A K P)
Waffenstillstand in Jemen eingetreten
In Jemen gilt seit 0 Uhr in der Nacht auf Sonntag eine Waffenruhe. Ob diese nach mehr als einem Jahr Krieg auch eingehalten wird, ist unklar.
http://www.zentralplus.ch/de/news/politik/5427386/Waffenstillstand-in-Jemen-eingetreten.htm siehe auch https://www.tagesschau.de/ausland/jemen-feuerpause-103.html
10.4.2016 – Humanitarian organizations (A P)
Yemen: Ceasefire must hold or thousands more will die
Today's agreed cessation of hostilities in Yemen comes at a crucial moment when an entire country is on the brink. Humanitarian agencies warned today that should the ceasefire break down again, as previous ones did, the consequences would be catastrophic.
This last year of escalated violence has meant that each day, around 6610 people were forced to flee their homes and around 25 civilians are killed or injured. A school or health facility has been attacked every three days. The number of children dying daily from preventable diseases has risen to 137, an additional 28 a day since the start of the war. More than 82 per cent of Yemenis, or 21.2 million, now depend on humanitarian aid.
In just the last two months, more than 325,700 people were displaced by the conflict, raising the total number of displaced to a staggering 2.75 million.
"This is a moment of truth for Yemen’s millions of civilians. A real ceasefire could be the first step towards ending this staggering yet forgotten crisis," said the Secretary General of the Norwegian Refugee Council, Jan Egeland. "If it doesn't hold, those breaking it must be held accountable for the bloodshed. The figures speak for themselves. Every day of war is another day of massive death, displacement and despair."
While an immediate cessation of hostilities is essential, it is just the first of several measures needed to stop the crisis and pave the way for long-lasting peace and recovery.
"The widespread destruction of Yemen's houses, factories, schools and hospitals will require decades to rebuild; the destruction of Yemen's social fabric and the trauma millions of innocent people are suffering will take even longer to heal," said Sajjad Mohammad Sajid, Oxfam's Country Director in Yemen. "In the more than three decades that we've been working in Yemen, we have never witnessed a crisis of this scale. The blockade, war and now a looming banking crisis risk pushing millions into famine."
The humanitarian agencies reiterated their call on international governments to fully fund the humanitarian response so that millions of civilians receive essential aid and services like food, water, medicine and housing as an immediate priority. Parties to the conflict need to allow aid agencies to reach those most in need caught in the fighting, and the most vulnerable to reach the services they need. The commercial blockade needs to be lifted so that commercial supplies are allowed into Yemen.
Save the Children's Country Director in Yemen Edward Santiago said: “As long as parties to the conflict continue to wage war and obstruct aid, millions of children will continue to go hungry or without healthcare, clean water and education. Yemenis must not be let down yet again, with more empty promises of ceasefires that fail to stop the killing. Yemeni children need more than words this time, they need action and a genuine commitment to end the violence once and for all."
The agencies warned that the upcoming UN-sponsored peace talks, due to start on 18 April, are the only real opportunity to end the suffering. Long-term solutions however must include the voices and concerns of Yemeni civil society in a representative and inclusive process.
“All Yemenis need their voices to be heard if there is any hope for these peace talks to be sustainable,” said Daw Mohammed, CARE Country Director in Yemen. “Women, youth and minority groups must be included because they will be critical to rebuilding Yemen in the years to come.”
http://reliefweb.int/report/yemen/yemen-ceasefire-must-hold-or-thousands-more-will-die-enar
10.4.2016 – Albawaba (A P)
Yemen ceasefire to be implemented at midnight a ‘moment of truth’ for civilians
A truce, scheduled to go into effect in Yemen at midnight Sunday, is "a moment of truth" for the nation where thousands are displaced daily in fighting, humanitarian groups said Sunday in a joint statement.
"This is a moment of truth for Yemen's millions of civilians. A real ceasefire could be the first step towards ending this staggering yet forgotten crisis," said Jan Egeland, head of the Norwegian Refugee Council, one of the groups issuing the statement.
A Saudi-led military coalition has been fighting Iran-allied rebels in Yemen for more than a year, causing a massive humanitarian crisis in the nation on the southern tip of the Arabian Peninsula.
"This last year of escalated violence has meant that each day, around 6610 people were forced to flee their homes and around 25 civilians are killed or injured," the watchdogs said in Sunday's joint statement.
The ceasefire is due to start throughout Yemen at midnight on Sunday (2100 GMT) ahead of UN-brokered peace talks scheduled for April 18 in Kuwait.
10.4.2016 – AFP (A P)
Yemen ahead of midnight ceasefire
Analysts are more optimistic this time after mediation efforts have largely silenced guns along Yemen's border with Saudi Arabia, while a Huthi delegation visited Riyadh for talks.
"For the first time, the groups that can end major military operations, particularly the Saudis and the Huthis, appear to be more willing to do so," said April Longley Alley, a Yemen specialist at the International Crisis Group.
But "even if major combat ends, the road to peace in Yemen will be long and difficult and internal conflict is likely to continue for some time," she said.
Yemenis appear to have learned not to get their hopes up after previous ceasefires failed.
"I do not expect the truce to succeed," says Zayed al-Qaisi, a resident of Marib. "The Huthis have not honoured their commitments during the wars against the state since 2004."
The Huthis fought six wars with the central government between 2004 and 2010 that killed thousands. Their main foe then, veteran president Ali Abdullah Saleh who was ousted in 2012, is now their ally fighting the government.
"Even the government cannot force us to respect a ceasefire as we have not liberated our territories" seized by the rebels, said Qaisi, armed with a Kalashnikov rifle like most tribesmen in Yemen.
Others in Sanaa voiced doubts that Saudi Arabia would commit to the truce.
"Saudi Arabia is just procrastinating and being deceptive," said 50-year-old Sanaa resident Ali Mohsen.
Umm Mohammed, waiting for her children outside a school in central Sanaa, agreed that the truce is "a deception. We tried it unsuccessfully before." "I want a real end to the war," she added – by Fawaz al-Haidari
http://reliefweb.int/report/yemen/sporadic-fighting-yemen-ahead-midnight-ceasefire
10.4.2016 – NRC (* A K)
A fragile ceasefire kicks off in Yemen today, a year since the escalation of the conflict and a blockade that has crippled the country. A staggering 82% of Yemenis today depend on humanitarian aid. Ali, who lost his entire family, says why it is essential that the ceasefire holds and that it leads to long lasting peace (film)
https://www.facebook.com/NRCMiddleEast/videos/608695572612663/?fref=nf
9.4.2016 – Talking of the Soul (* B H K)
Landmines and wheelchairs in Sanaá
There is one basic fact difficult to divulge and get through: prior to the aggression on Yemen by Saudi Arabia and coalition of mercenaries with the silent approval and support of US Intelligence, situation in Yemen was already unbearably difficult.
What is known as the current Yemen had been a battle field of almost 20 conflicts, some overlapping, others extremely long, few still continuing.
A General I briefly met in 2011 prior to the revolution which ousted President Ali Abdullah Saleh told me his job was to ´mine-clear certain areas of Yemen´. He had been working on it since 1992, almost 20 years.
Every personal memory now makes reference to prior and during the war (during because the war is still raging on Yemen).
There is one scene I have clear in mind. It belongs to the end of 2014.
As part of a national effort to reach those less fortunate, the Yemeni government had bought wheelchairs, crutches, walkers, prostethics and cranes for the disabled and was doing medical checkups in Sanaá. Those who could not be helped in Yemen were going to be flown either to India or Egypt for medical treatment.
The maimed were all from prior wars. Sanaá had been invaded by buses coming from almost all the governorates.
In our hotel we were hosting people coming from the villages (mainly from Hajjah and Amran). Some could barely walk, others were crawling. Limbs were missing in children and adults alike (mines do not stop exploding simply because a war is declared over).
In the lobby, in our offices, we had mountains of folded, shining, new wheelchairs ready to be distributed.
It was hectic, with loud voices.
Until I heard no more: before my eyes the scene of mothers taking pictures of the family united in front of the new gift, the wheel chair. They were smiling, they were joyous.
Who, in Europe, would take a selfie with a wheelchair?
I had to rush to the back of the office crying and suffocating in tears. I was strangling myself with tears. I had just realised some families required 2, 3, 4 wheelchairs just for their children.
These same people are being bombed, every day, in Yemen. With an abundance of infamous, internationally banned cluster bombs.
Alhmdulillah, Yemenis say.
https://thetalkingofthesoul.wordpress.com/2016/04/09/landmines-and-wheelchairs-in-sanaa/
9.4.2016 – Katehon (C K P)
YEMEN: HISTORY OF CONFLICTS
[Chronological timeline 1967–2015] – by Catherine Shakdam
http://katehon.com/article/yemen-history-conflicts
9.4.2016 – Jerusalem Online (B K)
Not only Syria: eye-witnesses tell their stories from Yemen’s bloody civil war
Not only is Syria in the midst of a humanitarian crisis, but Yemen is too. For more than five years, Yemen’s civil war has led to great instability in the country. This past year, Saudi Arabia led a coalition aimed at slowing down the Houthi rebels’ progress. But it seems that the civilians’ suffering is increasing, and they’re the ones paying the price. Eye-witness reports on life in the country that has turned into a battlefield.
Comment: Overview article with video showing eye-witnesses. More striking than the article itself: where it is published.
9.4.2016 – Deutsche Welle (* A B K P)
Im Jemen haben die Kriegsparteien einen Waffenstillstand vereinbart. Auch haben sie sich vorgenommen, sich zu Friedensgesprächen zu treffen. Noch aber wird heftig gekämpft. Leidtragende sind die Zivilisten.
Gekämpft wird bis zum Schluss. Noch zwei Tage vor Beginn des Waffenstillstands am Sonntag haben sich die Kriegsparteien im Jemen schwere Gefechte geliefert.
Saudi-Arabien wirft Iran seit Längerem vor, den Jemen in seine Einflusssphäre ziehen zu wollen. Das hätte für das Königreich strategisch erhebliche Konsequenzen. Als sich die Huthis vor anderthalb Jahren gegen die Regierung in Sanaa erhoben und bald erste Geländegewinne verzeichneten, war die Regierung in Riad alarmiert. "Der Albtraum wurde wahr und Jemen fiel in den Dunstkreis Irans", umreißt die Zeitung Sharq al-Awsat die Sicht der Saudis. "Dadurch sahen diese sich im Süden vom Jemen und im Norden von Syrien und dem Irak bedroht." Alle drei Länder sind derzeit schiitisch dominiert.
In welchem Maß Iran die schiitischen Huthis unterstützt, ist allerdings umstritten. In einer kürzlich veröffentlichten Studie hat der Think Tank "International Crisis Group" (ICG) das iranische Engagement im Jemen untersucht. Demnach werden die Huthis vom Iran und der ihr verbundenen libanesischen Hisbollah tatsächlich militärisch unterstützt. Einschränkend heißt es allerdings: "Die Unterstützung ist wesentlich geringer als jene, die die Staaten des Golfkooperationsrates den Gegnern der Huthis zukommen lassen. Auch ist sie für die Kampffähigkeit des Huthi/Saleh-Lagers nicht entscheidend", so die Studie weiter. Vielmehr entstammten die meisten der von den Huthis eingesetzten Waffen aus geplünderten Regierungsbeständen.
Die ICG zitiert einen auf Anonymität bestehenden iranischen Offiziellen mit der Bemerkung, der iranische Einfluss im Jemen werde überschätzt. "Tatsächlich ist er minimal, und das wissen auch die Saudis. Jemen ist von unserer Küste weit weg. Wir brauchten bereits vor dem Krieg keine Waffen dorthin zu schicken. Jetzt ist das praktisch unmöglich geworden." Allerdings, so der Offizielle weiter, sei der Krieg für Iran strategisch von Nutzen: "Saudi-Arabien geht im Jemen unter. Der Krieg legt dem Königreich einen hohen Blutzoll auf. Auch kostet er das Land Ansehen und bringt es finanziell in erhebliche Bedrängnis." – von Kersten Knipp
http://www.dw.com/de/neue-hoffnung-für-den-jemen/a-19174995
9.4.2016 – Snapchat (* B K)
Der Snapchat-Krieg: Wie der Kampf um den Jemen im Netz begleitet wird
Er ist ein vergessener Krieg: Obwohl im Jemen seit bald zwei Jahren der Bürgerkrieg tobt und das Land seit mehr als einem Jahr von mehreren arabischen Staaten aus der Luft bombardiert wird, findet das Schicksal der Jemeniten kaum Beachtung. Zumindest auf Social Media werben Jemeniten verzweifelt für die Situation in ihrem Land.
Drei Social-Media-Aktionen, die auf den Krieg aufmerksam machen
Diejenigen Jemeniten, die Zugang zum Netz haben, versuchen mit verschiedenen Aktionen, die Lage im Jemenkrieg abzubilden. Und auch Saudi-Arabien will sein Bild vom Krieg verbreiten.
1. Die Tiere von Taiz2. Der Snapchat-Held aus Riad
Majid al-Sabah ist im arabischen Raum ein populärer Social-Media-Aktivist, Zehntausende folgen ihm auf Twitter und Snapchat. Saudi-Arabien lud ihn daher in seine Kommandozentren und an die Front in den Jemen ein (Arab News). Es folgten Feel-Good-Fotos vom Krieg.
Auch andere Instagramer und Twitter sprangen auf; besonders beliebt sind heroische Fotos der Spezialeinheiten.
Saudi-Arabien wird von unabhängigen Beobachtern scharf kritisiert: Menschen hungern und fliehen, Tausende Zivilisten sind gestorben. Das Königreich selbst hat keine richtige Strategie, wie es im Jemen kämpfen soll. Gerade deshalb versucht es, mit starken Bildern Erfolge zu inszenieren.
3. Tage zählen auf Twitter
Immer wieder versuchten Aktivisten, mit Hashtags wie#300DaysOfWar oder #10MonthsOfWar – oder gleich#ForgottenWar – auf sich aufmerksam zu machen.
Bilder von zerstörten Schulen wurden geteilt, aber auch Fotos von Kinderleichen oder zerfetzten Körpern.
http://www.bento.de/politik/jemenkrieg-wie-kaempfer-auf-snapchat-und-twitter-agieren-480194/
Kommentar: Sollte man mit den Bildern ansehen.
8.4.2016 – Arte (* B K)
Im Jemen soll am Sonntag eine Waffenruhe in Kraft treten. Und am 18. April sollen in Kuwait Friedensgespräche beginnen. Der Vorsitzende der Organisation "Ärzte ohne Grenzen" war gerade im Jemen. Er spricht über die Notwendigkeit einer Waffenruhe und über die aktuelle Lage im vom Krieg verwüsteten Land.
http://info.arte.tv/de/die-bevoelkerung-traegt-die-konsequenzen
7.4.2016 – Shafaqna (* B K)
The war THEY want you to forget: Yemen
A grand devourer of sovereignty, and people, the House of Saud has systematically, calculatingly, and purposely worked to destroy Yemen’s state, military, and civilian institutions, so that nothing could resist its imperious will.
The forgotten war of the decade, Yemen’s war has also been an unspoken tragedy – THE unspoken genocide Western powers, and their Arab allies have carried out, so that the world oil route could finally fall within their control.
Yemen’s conflict speaks of geopolitical ambitions, and an insane religious remapping.
If Saudi Arabia ambitions indeed to make Yemen kneel to its will, it also wants to remap, and reengineer its faith, so that Arabia would finally accept Wahhabism, as the only form of Islam.
Wahhabism is what allowed for the likes of al-Qaeda, and ISIL to rise plagues over nations. Wahhabism is the very extremism upon which the House of Saud has anchored its source of power and legitimacy upon … For Saudi Arabia to stay Saudi Arabia, al-Saud need for the flame of Wahhabism to burn brighter still.
To ensure that its House will withstand the test of time, to ensure that power remains within its grasp, the House of Saud had to reinvent the region to its own Islamic extremism – its own deviation.
Within this narrative of genocidal imperialism, before this most extreme form of unfettered capitalism Yemen was offered for the slaughter.
If again Yemen remains too far of a country for you to care, there is one group of people, one organization you absolutely should learn about: the Mona Relief Organization.
The unsung heroes of a war of attrition which has claimed more lives than anyone should have had to stomach, the Mona Relief Organization has operated in Yemen’s most dangerous and remote regions – often in the heat of battles … too often risking their own lives so that humanitarian aid could be delivered.
Completely independent from the UN, and Western sponsors, the Mona Relief Organization has relied on private donors to power its operations and beat Saudi Arabia’s blockade.
Thanks to the dedication of its director: Dr Riaz Karim, the Mona Relief Organization has distributed over 2 million meals in less than a year, and cared for the most destitute.
The Mona Relief Organization has reached this April the northern province of Hajja, an area which has suffered most of Riyadh’s wrath.
Hajja has been turned into a moratorium – together an open air death camp, and a prison. And since no relief has been allowed in, Hajjah has withered away … awaiting for the powerful, and the mighty to be done playing their game of thrones.
The Mona Relief Organization needs your help, and your donations. Without you, no hand will be extended to Yemen.
Without you Yemen will truly stand alone.
I will urge you to look not at Yemen as a foreign Islamic nation which you might have nothing in common with, but a living breathing soul which yearns like you to live free and with dignity.
Let us not allow for the hate of others, and the prejudice of others to cloud our judgement and taint our ability to value human life.
Regardless all which separate us as people, we are united in our common, compounded humanity.
http://en.shafaqna.com/news/31794
Comment: The achievements of MONA Relief, this small private organization, for human aid in Yemen are great. And it’s not only food baskets they have brought to the people in Yemen. Compare that to the “human aid” of the greatest killer in Yemen – Saudi Arabia, which had trumpeted out every 1000 food baskets they distributed in Yemen.
7.4.2016 – RT (* B K)
Yemen’s Forgotten War - Caleb Maupin on "Watching The Hawks"
Caleb Maupin is interviewed for RT’s “Watching the Hawks” on the origins of the Yemeni “civil war.” Yemen has been in constant conflict since the Arab Spring action of 2011. Yemeni, and the horrendous disproportional conflict happening there, rarely make U.S. news, and Saudi Arabia has utilized the military toys of the U.S. to indiscriminately bomb both military and civilian targets.
Caleb Maupin is an American journalist and political analyst.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w8FbbAycCms
5.4.2016 – Arte (* B K)
Wer kämpft im Jemen an welchen Fronten? Wer besetzt welche Gebiete? Welche Kriegsverbrechen finden statt? Und wie sieht die humanitäre Lage vor Ort aus? Unsere interaktive Animation bietet einen Überblick.
http://info.arte.tv/de/jemen-ins-elend-gebombt
Kommentar: Gut gemachter Überblick!
cp3 Humanitäre Lage / Humanitarian situation
10.4.2016 – Pars Today (A H)
Die Weltgesundheitsorganisation (WHO) hat die humanitäre und medizinische Situation in Jemen als katastrophal beschrieben.
Der Vertreter der Organisation, Ahmed Schadoul, sagte zum Sender Al-Alam: Etwa ein Drittel der Krankenhäuser und Behandlungszentren in Jemen sind bei den saudi-arabischen Luftangriffen zerstört worden. Andere Zentren kämpfen gegen den Mangel an Medikamenten und Ärzten.
http://parstoday.com/de/news/middle_east-i5005-who_warnt_vor_verschlechterung_der_lage_im_jemen
10.4.2016 – Saba News (A H)
ICRC sends medical aid to Sana'a
A plane of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) loaded with medical aid arrived on Saturday in Sana'a International Airport. The aid shipment contains ten tons of medical aid and equipment, drug and veterinary vaccines.
http://www.sabanews.net/en/news424570.htm
5.4.2016 – Saba News (A H)
UNICEF sends tons of medical aid to Yemen
Two planes of UNICEF loaded with tons of medical aid arrived on Tuesday in Sana'a International Airport.
UNICEF spokesman in Yemen, Mohammad al-Asadi said that the aid shipments contain 7.532 tons of vaccines for children and over 37 tons of medical assistances and supplies.
http://www.sabanews.net/en/news424177.htm
10.4.2016 – Living in Yemen on the Edge (A H K)
In Yemen you can be 3-4 years old and die of kidney failure as a result of fear.
Collateral damage? Side effect? Words change nothing as the point is: What if Amaymah Moihammed Rezk was your daughter?
9.4.2016 – Middle East Eye (B H)
Bombed-out Yemenis turn to herbal remedies as war grinds on
Sick and elderly, including diabetics, turn to potions and lotions as medicines disappear or costs soar due to war and Saudi blockades
Such concoctions, unproven in their effectiveness, are all many residents of Taiz have.
"There is lack medicine in Taiz, and 80 percent of hospitals have been closed," said Soroori. "And the people do not have much money, so I kept my shop open to help those in dire need."
Yemen is blockaded from the sea and air by the Saudi-led coalition as it fights for President Abd Rabbuh Mansour Hadi against the Houthi movement and allies of former president Ali Abdullah Salah.
Herbal medicine has been used for thousands of years in Yemen, but its popularity waned as medical science advanced and hospitals spread across the country. During the past 10 years, however, the industry has grown.
Many shops have been closed in Taiz because of war, but business is booming for herbalists.
Soroori has worked in his shop since 2002, and in August of last year opened a new branch as desperate residents turned to alternative treatments.
He only has a secondary school certificate, and he learnt how to prepare the herbal medicines from his cousin, who runs a shop in Aden.
Akram Ameen, a renal specialist in al-Kuwait hospital in Sanaa, said herbal medicines may help but many have not been proven.
Adnan al-Maqtari, a general practitioner at al-Thawra hospital in Taiz city, said some herbal medicines can alleviate certain symptoms, but they also carried the danger of side effects.
In Sanaa, importers and pharmacists say the Saudi blockade has left the country short of desperately needed medical supplies. There is no sign that things will return to normal any time soon.
A source in the Health Ministry told MEE that local factories used to produce 15 percent of medicines required for the local market, but the war has cut production by two thirds.
Sohaib al-Homaid, the owner of al-Baraka company for medicines in Sanaa, told MEE: "The coalition has changed this process of importing - everything has to go to Saudi Arabia first for inspection. This means we pay more for the medicines to arrive in Yemen, and sometimes the medicines take months to get to Sanaa.
"In addition, we face the instability of the US dollar against the riyal. Sometimes its price rises to 300 riyals on the black market, so the price of medicines has increased." – by Nasser Al-Sakkaf
http://www.middleeasteye.net/news/yemen-taiz-taez-medicine-1714124003
8.4.2016 – The Talking of the Soul (** B H)
Yemeni children take death as a part of life
No food, no medical aid and medicines allowed to enter Yemen thanks to the Saudi-led land-air-sea siege on Yemen. A siege which has entered its second year, just like the war.
What was meant to be a brief military campaign carried out mainly by airstrikes, has turnt into a catastrophe which is paving the way to a genocide.
Yemeni children wonder what have they done wrong to the King of Saudi Arabia and how they, just children, can pose a threat to the Kingdom´s security.
Many children have starved to death, 320.000 are food insecure and malnourished and many children have already died of illnesses. Hard to get any more horrific than this in a country where, since memorable times, 58% of the population lives with less than 2$ per day.
Yemen is rich in culture, history, scenery, landscapes, traditions but when it comes to money, the vast majority of its inhabitants barely reach the end of the day while next meal remains uncertain.
According to the synthesis of the latest UNICEF´s report on the impact of the war on Yemeni children on NPR´s The Deadly Consequences To Children Of Yemen’s War : [figures]
To keep on bombing and wage war on the country, with this reality on the ground, implies a will to destroy Yemen. Thoroughly.
Yemenis may be strong and resilient. They accept anything as everything is a will of God, but the country collapsed immediately during the first month of bombardments.
Numbers and statistics are appalling.
In Sanaá, the story of Ahmed is just emblematic of the situation inside Yemen.
He is thirteen years old. He has experienced, already, being under thousands of bombs since the war on his country erupted. He has experienced enough fear, sadness and desperation since March 26 of last year.
But Ahmed is not like any other kid. He has hepatitis and no medicine in sight. Ahmed has grown fast and accepts his fate. There are no medicines in the few operating and still standing hospitals in Yemen (95% of hospitals have either been bombed or had to shut down due to lack of gasoline, water and medicines) and clock is ticking against him.
Absurd as it seems, there is no way of helping him.
Most likely Ahmed will leave us and the world will never know that there was a kid called Ahmed, Yemeni, and had dreams like any other kid and that our silence against this genocide inflicted on the Yemeni population helped him on his last journey.
Someone will have to explain all this to his parents.
Ahmed, on the contrary, accepts his fate. The afterlife cannot be worse than this last year.
Abdullah and Ali Qassim are two Yemeni brothers, both with cancer.
Luckily, they managed to leave Yemen and are currently being treated in Jordan.
Today, Friday, the first Friday of the month of Rajab which marks the anniversary of Yemenis entering Islam, some called on the nation to pray for them.
Abdullah and Ali are fighting a double battle: beat the cancer and, once they return to Yemen, survive the war.
They accept whatever comes and never complain.
And then there is Ammal Awaddh. Her words would break any soul.
Take a deep breath, read and look at those eyes.
You may cry, afterwards
‘My father bought me these new earrings for Eid.
I convinced him to let me wear them today because no one knows if I will still be alive when Eid comes’
(Ammal Awaddh, 5 years old)
https://thetalkingofthesoul.wordpress.com/2016/04/08/yemeni-children-take-death-as-a-part-of-life/
8.4.2016 – Aljazeera (* B H)
Film: War-torn Yemen faces water emergency
With pipes, storage tanks and pumping facilities destroyed in the fighting, as high as 80 percent of the population struggle to find drinking water daily.
http://video.aljazeera.com/channels/eng/videos/war-torn-yemen-faces-water-emergency/4837903396001
cp6 Südjemen und Hadi-Regierung / Southern Yemen and Hadi-government
10.4.2016 – Nasser Arrabyee (A T)
Yemen Qaeda/ISIS killed head of local authority official, Ahmed Haidari &his son today in Aden south where they rule (with graphic image)
https://twitter.com/narrabyee/status/719106461649997825
9.4.2016 – Blick / Swissinfo (A T)
Al-Kaida-Kämpfer töten im Jemen 20 regierungstreue Soldaten
Al-Kaida-Kämpfer haben im Süden des Jemen mindestens 20 Soldaten getötet. Nach Angaben der Armee griffen die Extremisten am frühen Samstagmorgen in der Stadt Ahwar in der Provinz Abyan einen Konvoi der regierungstreuen Truppen aus dem Hinterhalt an.
Demnach stoppten sie die drei zivilen Fahrzeuge, zwangen die Soldaten zum Aussteigen und erschossen mindestens 20 von ihnen. Bei den Soldaten handelte es sich den Angaben zufolge um Rekruten, die in den Regionen unter der Kontrolle der Regierung die Sicherheit wieder herstellen sollten. Im Süden des Jemen ist auch das dortige Al-Kaida-Netzwerk sehr aktiv.
http://www.blick.ch/news/ausland/jemen-al-kaida-kaempfer-toeten-im-jemen-20-regierungstreue-soldaten-id4900154.html = http://www.swissinfo.ch/ger/al-kaida-kaempfer-toeten-im-jemen-20-regierungstreue-soldaten/42077798
9.4.2016 – Deutsche Welle (A T)
Im Süden des Jemen sollen Kämpfer der Dschihadistenmiliz Al-Kaida mindestens 20 Soldaten getötet haben. Nach Angaben der Armee griffen die Extremisten am frühen Morgen in der Stadt Ahwar in der Provinz Abjan einen Konvoi der regierungstreuen Truppen aus dem Hinterhalt an. Demnach stoppten sie die drei zivile Fahrzeuge, zwangen die Soldaten zum Aussteigen und erschossen mindestens 20 von ihnen.
Den Angaben zufolge handelte es sich bei den Soldaten um Rekruten, die in den Regionen unter der Kontrolle der Regierung die Sicherheit wiederherstellen sollten. Die Terrororganisation dementierte für den Angriff verantwortlich zu sein. Neben Al-Kaida sind auch andere Gruppen im Süden des Landes aktiv.
http://www.dw.com/de/tote-bei-gefechten-im-jemen/a-19175842
9.4.2016 – Aljazeera (A T)
Yemen: Gunmen ambush troops, execute 20 by firing squad
Killings come as ceasefire between Yemen's warring parties is due to begin on Sunday.
At least 20 government soldiers were kidnapped and executed in southern Yemen on Saturday, local officials and residents said.
The troops were seized while travelling from the southern port of Aden to al-Mahra province in eastern Yemen via Ahwar, a city in Abyan province that has been under al-Qaeda control.
Officials and residents said the captive soldiers, who were aligned with President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi, were taken to a remote area and killed by firing squad.
Seventeen other soldiers were wounded in the incident, with some managing to escape and get help from local tribal leaders, they added.
A military source told the AFP news agency that the executions had been carried out by al-Qaeda fighters.
"Armed members of al-Qaeda ambushed a group of young soldiers travelling in three civilian vehicles in the province of Abyan, killing at least 20 of them," the source, who requested anonymity, said
But Ansar al-Sharia, an al-Qaeda affiliate in Yemen, later issued a statement denying responsibility for the attack and blamed a local armed fighter named Ali Aqeel.
"We entered Ahwar around two months ago to chase this corrupt individual and his gang," the statement said.
9.4.2016 – Vice News (A T)
17 Soldiers Captured and Executed by al-Qaeda 'Gang' in Yemen
Suspected al-Qaeda militants in southern Yemen seized and executed 17 soldiers loyal to President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi on Saturday, local officials and residents said.
The soldiers were detained while traveling from the southern port of Aden to al-Mahra province in eastern Yemen via Ahwar, a city in Abyan province under al-Qaeda control.
The militants took them to a remote area and killed them by firing squad, the officials and residents said. They said 17 other captive soldiers were wounded in the incident and some managed to escape and get help from local tribal leaders.
Ansar al Sharia, an al-Qaeda affiliate in Yemen, later issued a statement denying responsibility for the attack and blamed a local armed fighter named Ali Aqeel.
"We entered Ahwar around two months ago to chase this corrupt individual and his gang," the statement said.
The soldiers had been visiting family in Aden and were returning to their base in al-Mahra to draw their salaries, security sources said. They were not dressed in military uniform and were not riding in military vehicles.
https://news.vice.com/article/17-soldiers-captured-and-executed-by-al-qaeda-gang-in-yemen (also with film by Vice News: Inside War-Torn Yemen: Sanaa Under Attack)
cp7 UNO und Friedensgespräche / UN and peace talks
10.4.2016 – TRT (A P)
Friedenverhandlungen in Jemen: Hadi wird an Verhandlungen in Kuwait teilnehmen.
Der jemenitische Staatspräsidenten Abd Rabbo Mansur Hadi wird an den für den 18. April geplanten Friedensverhandlungen in Kuwait teilnehmen.
Nach Angaben der jemenitischen Nachrichtenagentur SABA fand in der saudi-arabischen Hauptstadt Riad ein Treffen zwischen Staatspräsident Hadi, seinem Stellvertreter al-Ahmar und Ministerpräsident Ahmed bin Dagher statt.
Hadi erklärte bei dem Treffen, um Frieden zu gewährleisten, damit die Huthis die Waffen niederlegen, um den politischen Prozess wieder aufzunehmen sowie um die bei den Verhandlungen für nationalen Dialog vereinbarten und vom Volk bestätigten Beschlüsse umzusetzen werde er an den Friedenverhandlungen in Kuwait teilnehmen.
http://www.trt.net.tr/deutsch/welt/2016/04/10/friedenverhandlungen-in-jemen-468068
Kommentar: Hadi weiß, es geht bei den Verhandlungen auch um seine Präsidentschaft. Ein Frieden wird mit seiner Person kaum möglich sein. Ohne ihn stünden die Chancen besser. Sein Vize Bahah wäre ein möglicher Kandidat gewesen, mit dem die Chancen für eine gemeinsame Übergangsregierung größer gewesen wären. Also hat er konsequent kurz vor den Verhandlungen Bahah entlassen. In Kuwait wird er bei den Verhandlungen jede Lösung ohne seine Person (und damit jede Lösung) blockieren. Wie er das machen wird, hat er schon angedeutet: Er wird darauf bestehen, dass die Huthis kapitulieren, und da sie das nicht tun werden, lässt er die Verhandlungen platzen. Das einzige, was Hadi an der Zukunft im Jemen wirklich interessiert, ist: Hadi.
10.4.2016 – Al Arabiya (A P)
Dialogue paving the way for conflict resolution in Yemen
The crisis in Yemen cannot be settled without genuine dialogue between the warring parties. If the conflict persists, it will only lead to further destruction and thousands of deaths.
The interview might disappoint those who see regional instability as their only chance to undermine the structure and concept of the state.
Comment: What does he want to tell us? Apart from citing prince Salman, the greatest war monger in the Yemen war who now is speaking of a political solution: “Yemenis should seek to be governed by a legitimate civil state” is certainly right, or just a repetition of Saudi propaganda of Hadis government as a “legitimate” government, when it is clear that either in the North or in the South 90 % of the population want to get rid of him. And: “There should not be any entity outside this state, threatening it or having greater powers”: Where should this relate to? Just to the Houthis, as in normal Saudi propaganda? Or to all armed forces in Yemen, which includes all militia, also the so-called “Resistance”, whether newly labeled by Hadi as “army” or not? What the author says with this sentence off course only would be true if it relates also to all foreign forces who interfere in Yemen – the Saudis in the first place. Antonini whom he is citing, and the author’s last sentence, just are wise, if he wanted to tell this also to his Saudi compatriots. “what will happen with the accumulated aggressiveness” will be a real problem for the Saudi society in the future. And we must be aware that it had been exactly the politics of Prince Salman – whom the author had cited above – which had increased this Saudi aggressivity in Saudi foreign relations.
9.4.2016 – Almanar (A P)
Yemen’s Ansarullah: We’ve Handed Our Notes on Ceasefire Draft to UN
Yemen’s, Ansarullah, said it had received draft on ceasefire agreement, adding that the revolutionary movement had handed its noted on the draft.
On his account on Facebook, Ansarullah spokesman, Mohammad Abdulsalam, said that discussions regarding the ceasefire agreement was still underway, noting that it has not been agreed by Ansarullah yet.
Abdulsalam’s remarks come a day after Saudi-backed fugitive president, Abd Rabbu Mansour Hadi’s Prime Minister Abdulmalek al-Mekhlafi announced he will take part in Kuwait talks aimed at finding solution for the current crisis in Yemen.
Al-Mekhlafi claimed that Ansarullah has agreed on the ceasefire draft set by UN Yemen envoy Ismail Ould Cheikh Ahmed.
https://www.facebook.com/vanessa.beeley/posts/10155035557273868?fref=nf
8.4.2016 – AP (A P)
Spokesman Says Saudi-Led Force Will Commit to Yemen Truce
The Saudi-led coalition behind a year-long military campaign against Yemen's Shiite rebels is ready to commit to a cease-fire as long as the rebels abide by a U.N. Security Council resolution that calls for their pullout from Yemeni cities, the alliance's spokesman said Friday.
Brig. Gen. Ahmed al-Asiri told The Associated Press that the Yemeni rebels known as Houthis should "show commitment" to the upcoming April 18 peace talks that could yield a political settlement. The rebels must also recognize the government of Yemeni President Abed-Rabbo Mansour Hadi and hand over their heavy weapons, he said.
If talks fail, al-Asiri said the military option remains on the table.
"The two tracks are parallel: the political and the military. Whatever way leads to the restoration of the internationally-recognized government, we will take," al-Asiri added
http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/spokesman-saudi-led-force-commit-yemen-truce-38257128 and also at http://www.arabnews.com/featured/news/908256
Comment: You really cannot take anything for serious Assiri says. Somewhat crazy the sentence: “The rebels must also recognize the government of Yemeni President Abed-Rabbo Mansour Hadi and hand over their heavy weapons”. That means: he demands no peace talks in the real sense of the word, but capitulation.
cp7a Saudi-Arabien und Iran / Saudi Arabia and Iran
7.4.2016 – Press TV Iran (A P)
Saudi Arabia officially invites Iran to discuss upcoming Hajj
Saudi Arabia has officially invited an Iranian delegation to discuss new arrangements for this year’s Hajj pilgrimage, says the head of Iran’s Hajj and Pilgrimage Organization.
On Wednesday, Saeed Ohadi said if the Iranian delegates’ visas are issued, they will travel to Riyadh for the April 14 meeting.
He noted that similar to former procedures, a letter of agreement will be signed over sending Iranian pilgrims to Mecca if the two sides agree on its terms.
“In previous years, we held a meeting with the Saudi Hajj minister about eight months before the pilgrimage, but this year's meeting has already been delayed for three months," he said, adding that Saudi Arabia had promised to issue the Iranian delegates' visas on Wednesday.
We hope Saudi authorities end their "paradoxical" stance on accepting Iranian pilgrims in a timely manner, he added.
Ohadi stressed that issues such as Saudi Arabia’s plans for insuring the security of this year’s pilgrims and compensation for the relatives of the Iranians killed in last year's tragedy will be high on the agenda during the meeting.
http://www.presstv.com/Detail/2016/04/07/459495/saudi-iran-hajj-delegation-invite/
cp8 Saudi-Arabien / Saudi Arabia
10.4.2016 – Oilprice.com (A E)
Something Just Snapped In Saudi Money Markets
Away from the headlines about The Panama Papers, global financial markets turmoiled quietly this week with a surge in equity and FX volatility and banks suffering more death blows. However, something happened in Saudi Arabia's banking system that was largely uncovered by anyone in the mainstream... overnight deposit rates exploded to their highest since the financial crisis in 2009...
It is clear that that the stress in Saudi markets has spread from the forward derivatives markets to actual funding problems.
This suggests one of the two main things: either Saudi banks are desperately short of liquidity or Saudi banks do not trust one another and are charging considerably more to account for the suspected credit risk.
Either way, not good. So what is going on behind the scenes in Saudi Arabia? – by Zerohedge
http://oilprice.com/Latest-Energy-News/World-News/Something-Just-Snapped-In-Saudi-Money-Markets.html
10.4.2016 – The New York Times (B P)
Inside Saudi Arabia’s Re-education Prison for Jihadists
The “guests” are issued key cards for their rooms, receive three catered meals per day and sleep in luxury suites outfitted with big-screen TVs, king-size beds and shiny wallpaper.
They call it the Family House, and it feels like a boutique hotel, if you can overlook the lack of windows, the towering walls outside and the location — inside one of Saudi Arabia’s high-security prisons for jihadists.
The house is designed to give jihadists who behave well a respite from inmate life and help them reconnect with their wives and children, and perhaps even conceive new ones.
That positive reinforcement is emblematic of the Saudi approach to its homegrown jihadists, which would not translate well to the West. Those who have done their misdeeds abroad and have not participated in attacks at home are generally regarded as misled Saudi sons who need to have their thinking corrected so they can return to society as good, obedient subjects.
That philosophy was clear during a recent tour of al-Ha’ir Prison south of Riyadh, one of Saudi Arabia’s five facilities holding its more than 5,000 inmates charged with terrorism-related offenses – by Ben Hubbard
Comment: Just compare how opponents like Badawi are treated. This difference makes evident one thing: For the Saudi regime, jihadists are their brothers, people like Badawi are foes.
8.4.2016 – CBS (A P)
Top secret "28 pages" may hold clues about Saudi support for 9/11 hijackers
Former Senator Bob Graham and others urge the Obama administration to declassify redacted pages of a report that holds 9/11 secrets
cp9 USA
8.4.2016 – NPR (** A P)
U.S. Bombs Used In Airstrike On Yemeni Market, Rights Group Says
The Saudi-led coalition battling Shiite rebels dropped bombs on a market in northwest Yemen. Steve Inskeep talks to Sarah Leah Whitson of Human Rights Watch about U.S. involvement in the war in Yemen. [The HRW report: see YPR 126, cp1 Most important]
WHITSON: It's a smart bomb. It has guidance. So it's extremely unlikely that this was done in error, hit the wrong thing, but that this - it was the intended target.
INSKEEP: OK, and I'm just trying to think this through from the Saudi perspective. We can imagine that they were aiming at something they believed to be a legitimate target and hit it. We can imagine that they aimed at a legitimate target but didn't know where it was and sent the bomb to the wrong place. Or could we imagine something worse than that?
WHITSON: Well, I think the most obvious calculation was they saw 10 -perhaps more - Houthi fighters assembled at a marketplace and thought that they would therefore strike them. But that doesn't make it a legitimate target just because there are Houthi fighters there. The laws of war require that you be able to distinguish and discriminate. And so if you have a military leader in a football stadium surrounded by civilians, you can't drop a 2,000-pound bomb in that stadium with the hopes that you're going to hit that military leader.
WHITSON: Well, there's two levels. The one very, very apparent level is that Saudi Arabia and the UAE are using American weapons to carry out a disastrous war in Yemen that has indiscriminately targeted civilian sites. The less well-appreciated part is the role that the United States is playing as a participant - providing the Saudis with what it says is targeting assistance, in addition to providing refueling and other technical, technological support for the weapons. And what we have repeatedly asked the U.S. government and the Defense Department to tell us is, what are they targeting? Did they target Sanaa University? Did they target the MSF clinic? What are they targeting? And they haven't told us.
INSKEEP: To the best of your knowledge, how is the United States providing targeting assistance?
WHITSON: Well, we know from the little they've said that the American advisers are sitting in the Riyadh control center from where targeting lists are reviewed and decided on. How they're involved in the Riyadh command center, what targeting assistance they're providing, we don't know. We have heard that they have generated a no-target list saying these are things we should not target, but we've also heard that advice has not been followed. And, you know, as I'm sure you know, the United States has sort of a long record of picking targets in Yemen and attacking them with drone strikes over the past decade, really. We just don't know what the extent of their involvement is in this past year.
INSKEEP: What do you make of the U.S. explanations for being involved in Yemen, which I can summarize as helping a vital ally, Saudi Arabia, that's feeling insecure right now; pushing back against Iran, which is believed to have some kind of involvement with one of the sides in this civil war; and also trying to get some kind of a handle on a country that has been a terrorist haven?
WHITSON: Well, I would say those are really bad reasons to kill 3,000 civilians in Yemen, and a bad story to help tell the Yemeni people. And the reality is is that President Obama repeatedly makes the links between authoritarian governments, abusive governments, and violent extremism, and connects the dots. Surely there needs to be some dots connected between mass indiscriminate airstrikes in Yemen that have killed thousands of civilians and the violent extremism that it's, you know, nearly certain to produce. And if you walk around the streets of Sanaa today, you will see graffiti and posters that say U.S. kills Yemenis.
8.4.2016 – AFP (* A P)
US says it is not responsible for civilian deaths in Yemen
US military officials insisted Friday they bear no responsibility for civilian casualties in Yemen, where Washington is providing support to a Saudi-led coalition carrying out military strikes.
The US military provides intelligence and logistical information to the coalition led by Riyadh, which coordinates air strikes on rebels waging a civil war against the Yemeni government.
Human Rights groups say the United States bears responsibility for March 15 strikes on Yemen that killed 97 civilians, among them 25 children and infants.
A spokesman for US Central Command (Centcom) stressed that the Saudis are the ones who decide which targets to strike.
"The decisions on the conduct of operations to include the selections and final vettings of targets" are being made by the Saudi-led coalition, said Centcom spokesman Colonel Patrick Ryder.
"We are confident that the information that we relay and that the support we provide to Saudi Arabia is sound, and provide them with the best option for military success consistent with international norms and mitigating civilian casualties," Ryder said.
"The joint combined planning cell meet regularly with the Saudi military leadership and provide recommendations about being in compliance with the law of armed conflicts," Ryder said.
Comment: Always repeating the same. But all this tries of withwashing cannot help any more. It is evident what the US has done in this war.
8.4.2016 – Cato (* B K P)
America’s Contradictory Yemen Policies
Reuters has an investigation today of the ways in which the Saudi-led War in Yemen has empowered Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP), the group’s local affiliate. While it’s been relatively obvious to observers for some time that AQAP had benefitted from the conflict, the extent of their newfound control and wealth as detailed in the article is fascinating.
But it should not be surprising. The ongoing GCC-backed military campaign has effectively ignored AQAP in its single-minded focus on the Houthi rebels and their allies. There is even evidence that AQAP fighters have fought alongside the Saudi-backed militias.
Meanwhile, the Saudi-led campaign – designed to restore exiled President Hadi and his government – has been bloody and ineffectual. Not only has it created one of the world’s worst humanitarian crises, its forces have stalled south of the capital without meeting their key objectives.
Today’s report really highlights the inherent contradictions in America’s Yemen policy. By backing the Saudi-led campaign, the U.S. is allowing Al Qaeda to accumulate wealth and territory, effectively undermining at least a decade of counterterrorism work inside Yemen. Adding another wrinkle to this is the fact that the Houthi rebels have often fought against AQAP inside Yemen.
While much criticism of the war in Yemen has focused on humanitarian issues, the sheer reactiveness of our Yemen policy and utter lack of any overarching strategy is worrying. Indeed, the effectiveness of some of those past policies, particularly drone strikes, is itself debatable. Studies actually suggest that there are only limited situations in whichdecapitation strikes are effective.
Yet the gains made by AQAP serve to highlight that any benefit produced by U.S. attacks on AQAP training camps or other counterterrorism work during the last decade is being rapidly undermined by our support for the current war – by Emma Ashford.
http://www.cato.org/blog/americas-contradictory-yemen-policies
Comment: Just telling things as they are – in a very few words.
8.4.2016 – The American Conservative (B K P)
Al Qaeda Is the Only Winner in Yemen
AQAP has been benefiting from the Saudi-led coalition’s war for many months. The coalition and anti-Houthi Yemenis have been preoccupied with fighting the Houthi/Saleh forces elsewhere in the country, which has allowed jihadists to operate more freely, to seize and hold territory, and occasionally to cooperate with the coalition-backed forces on the ground against their mutual enemy. Because the territory it controls has been spared from attacks by the coalition’s bombing campaign, AQAP-controlled parts of Yemen are in relatively better shape than the rest of the country. This has created the unusual situation in which many of the inhabitants of the area controlled by AQAP prefer to ruled by the jihadists.
The U.S.-backed, Saudi-led war on Yemen has made it so that AQAP not only controls considerable territory and thrives on the revenue it can extort and raise there, but so that the people living there would rather remain under the control of fanatics than be subjected to the chaos, deprivation, and misery that the rest of Yemen’s civilian population has had to endure. If that continues, AQAP would become even more of a threat than it already is:
A regional diplomat who follows Yemen says that if al Qaeda manages to successfully root itself as a political and economic organisation, it could become a more resilient threat, much like al Shabaab in nearby Somalia.
“We may be facing a more complicated al Qaeda,” the diplomat said, “not just a terrorist organisation but a movement controlling territory with happy people inside it.”
After more than a year of the reckless Saudi-led intervention, the only winner from this conflict is Al Qaeda – by Daniel Larison
http://www.theamericanconservative.com/larison/al-qaeda-is-the-only-winner-in-yemen/
8.4.2016 – Press TV Iran (B K P)
US directly involved in Yemen war: Analyst
Press TV has conducted an interview with Don DeBar, a radio host, journalist and political activist, about the use of US-made weapons in the Saudi attacks in Yemen, including in a March attack on a market in Sana’a that killed at least 97 civilians.
The following is a rough transcription of the interview.
Press TV: How do you feel about this call for the US to stop selling arms to the Saudis?
DeBar: Well, let’s see. What do you have going on? First, you have these massive arms contracts that have been going on with the Saudis for many years. When I was preparing for this interview, I took a look at some of the arms sales and I saw one article in Haaretz in 2010 talking about a 60-billion-dollar purchase. So, there’s a huge volume of arms that have been sold above board by the US to the Saudis.
In addition to that, you have the actual use of these weapons. For example, in Yemen, the targeting of various victims of the Saudi bombing campaign — more than a year old now — requires targeting from the US directly.
So, even though the arms sales enable the Saudis to do what they’re doing, the US is actually involved in the target identification and acquisition aspect, and so they are directly involved as well.
That’s sort of analogous to all of the other arms sales by the US to the Saudis, for example if you look at the fact that Daesh and some of the other terrorist groups operating in Iraq and in Syria end up with US arms, well, a lot of those, you can bet, were sold to the Saudis and delivered by the Saudis along with training and pay to those terrorist groups.
Press TV: Where does this leave the US’s moral stance when it comes to these things? Both the US and the UK have said that they look into arms sales and they’re sure that these arms are not used illegally, but certainly many of the arms that the Saudis are using are legally banned anyways around the world?
DeBar: Well, they were going to look into the source of the fleet of Toyotas that Daesh paraded in around in two years, I guess now, and they haven’t come up with that yet. Now if you park your car on the streets of New York City and NYPD had to find it, they could find it in a heartbeat, but a fleet of SUVs in the middle of a desert, they’re not able to identify. I’m assuming they’re going to have the same problems with the weapons.
http://www.presstv.ir/Detail/2016/04/08/459687/Yemen-Saudi-Arabia-US-DeBar/
7.4.2016 – CNN (A P)
John Kerry works to smooth relations with Gulf allies amid Iran tensions
U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry met with Gulf state ministers Thursday as differences over Iran and a host of regional conflicts cloud the relationship between the countries ahead of a summit between President Barack Obama and Gulf leaders in Saudi Arabia later this month
Kerry's meetings were meant to assure his counterparts from the six-member Gulf Cooperation Council, a group of critical allies disappointed by what they see as a continued deterioration of their relationship with the United States amid Iran's changing role in the region.
The United States wants to see the Gulf countries do more to take on ISIS, which it views as the paramount concern in the region.
But the Gulf states see Iran as the biggest regional threat, driving their stances on conflicts ranging from Syria to Yemen, and have expressed frustration that the United States hasn't done more to counter Iran since a landmark nuclear deal eased tensions between the two sworn enemies.
The United States generally views the Saudi-led intervention in Yemen, whose government is under attack from Iran-backed rebels, as a diversion of Gulf resources and political attention from the fight against ISIS.
Washington initially endorsed the campaign against Houthi rebels. But Gulf officials have been frustrated that they haven't received more support from the United States in their battle to restore Abdu Rabu Mansour Hadi to power.
Coupled with continued U.S. pressure to end the intervention, the Gulf sees it as yet another data point illustrating how the United States doesn't understand the threat Iran and its proxies and allies pose to them, even as they have supported American operations in their region for years.
http://edition.cnn.com/2016/04/07/politics/john-kerry-gulf-bahrain-iran/index.html
8.4.2016 – We are Anonymous (B K P)
The Impact of US Involvement In The Yemen Civil War
[Shorter Overview Article]
http://anonhq.com/impact-us-involvement-yemen-civil-war/
8.4.2016 – Telepolis (A P)
US-Wahlen: Wen unterstützt die Rüstungsindustrie?
Clinton erhält von den Angestellten und den Konzernen am meisten, Trump am wenigsten - eine Überraschung ist der linksdemokratische Kandidat Bernie Sanders
http://www.heise.de/tp/artikel/47/47900/1.html
28.3.2016 – Mother Jones (** B P)
Hillary Clinton Oversaw US Arms Deals to Clinton Foundation Donors
An investigation finds that countries that gave to the foundation saw an increase in State Department-approved arms sales.
The Saudi transaction is just one example of nations and companies that had donated to the Clinton Foundation seeing an increase in arms deals while Hillary Clinton oversaw the State Department. IBT found that between October 2010 and September 2012, State approved $165 billion in commercial arms sales to 20 nations that had donated to the foundation, plus another $151 billion worth of Pentagon-brokered arms deals to 16 of those countries—a 143 percent increase over the same time frame under the Bush Administration. The sales boosted the military power of authoritarian regimes such as Qatar, Algeria, Kuwait, the United Arab Emirates, and Oman, which, like Saudi Arabia, had been criticized by the department for human rights abuses.
From the IBT investigation – by Bryan Schatz
http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2015/05/hillary-clinton-foundation-state-arms-deals
Comment: More of that will be exactly what is awaiting the US and the world after the US Presidential elections.
cp12 Andere Länder / Other countries
6.4.2016 – Sardinia Post (* A K P)
Armi, export in crescita in Sardegna: terra promessa dell’industria bellica?
L’export di armi, bombe comprese, diminuisce nei distretti storici di Brescia e La Spezia, ma aumenta in Sardegna, terra promessa dei produttori di ordigni. E con 31 milioni di armamenti spediti oltremare nel corso del 2015, la provincia di Cagliari è la nona in Italia nella speciale classifica dei territori che confezionano armi e munizioni. Sono questi alcuni dei dati emersi nell’analisi condotta dall’osservatorio Opal Brescia incrociando dati Istat ed Eurostat relativi all’anno appena trascorso.
Dalla Sardegna sempre più bombe ai paesi in guerra. Sardiniapost ha messo in luce l’incremento dell’export isolano di ordigni poco meno di un mese fa. Ma oggi, grazie all’osservatorio bresciano, è possibile analizzare l’andamento dell’export sardo rispetto a quello italiano, che secondo gli analisti ha fatto registrare una contrazione del 3,5% nel 2015.
Se, infatti, nel complesso, le esportazioni italiane di armamenti verso i paesi che bombardano lo Yemen – vietate dalla legge 185/90 – hanno fatto registrare un calo di 35 milioni di euro tra il 2014 e il 2015 – la diminuzione non è, in ogni caso, riconducibile ad una volontà politica -, quelle sarde presentano il segno opposto. È così che il valore degli ordigni made in Sardinia destinati all’Arabia Saudita è cresciuto dai 18 milioni di euro del 2014 ai 19,5 del 2015. In pratica, nell’anno appena trascorso, l’Isola, che a Domusnovas ospita gli stabilimenti della Rwm Italia spa, ha esportato circa la metà degli armamenti italiani destinati agli Al Saud di Ryad (in tutto, 41 milioni di euro per Opal). Vale lo stesso per gli Emirati Arabi Uniti, che nel 2015 hanno importato armamenti dall’Italia per un valore di 29,5 milioni di euro inferiore a quello del 2014 (41 contro i 70 dell’anno precedente). Al contrario, l’export di bombe dalla Sardegna verso gli E.A.U è aumentato di 1,5 milioni di euro, passando dai 4,7 milioni del 2014 ai 6,2 del 2015.
A distanza di un anno esatto dall’inizio della guerra nello Yemen, i civili uccisi dalle bombe della coalizione a guida saudita sono oltre tremila, i feriti oltre 21.000. Ecco perché i dati divulgati da Opal non hanno un semplice valore statistico. Né si prestano ai facili entusiasmi degli adoratori del prodotto interno lordo.
Che l’Isola si stia trasformando in un hub internazionale per la produzione di armamenti destinati a mietere vittime in giro per il mondo? Difficile rispondere a questa domanda con i soli dati dell’export relativo al 2015 – di Piero Loi
cp13a Waffenhandel / Arms trade
7.4.2016 – Middle East Eye (* A K)
Chinese drones: Cheap, lethal and flying in the Middle East
Iraq, Egypt, the UAE and Saudi Arabia have bought armed drones from China, widening the use of such weapons in regional conflicts
The Middle East is no stranger to drones flown by the US, which have killed thousands of people over the last decade.
But more nations are entering the game thanks to a new player in the market: Chinese manufacturers offering cheap hardware with a no-questions-asked sales policy.
China has been aggressively marketing the CH-4, which bears a striking resemblance to the US MQ-9 Reaper and has similar capabilities.
Where the US has refused sales, China has stepped in: Iraq, Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Egypt are now believed to operate variants of Chinese armed drones.
Unlike the US, China has not signed the international Arms Trade Treaty, or ATT, meaning it has fewer restrictions on the sale of drone technology.
The US has attempted to maintain its drone advantage by limiting sales. China has no such qualms.
And while a US Reaper costs up to $30m each, some armed Chinese drones sell for as little as $1m.
According to analysts, the disparity in price and availability has led to governments with questionable human rights records obtaining some of the world's most advanced military technology.
“[Chinese drones] provide a cheaper alternative to US systems, which also aren't available for sale to as many countries due to US limitations,” said Peter Singer, a drone warfare expert from the New America Foundation.
“Countries with less-than-ideal human rights records tend to use their weapons in less-than-ideal human rights manners, whether it’s a drone or a water cannon."
The CH-4 has a range of about 3,500km, can carry precision-guided bombs and missiles and can loiter over target areas for up to 40 hours.
Rasha Abdul-Rahim, an arms control adviser at Amnesty, said that China's non-signatory status to the ATT meant it could ignore any concerns held against buyers.
Saudi Arabia and the UAE are believed to have used the drones in their war in Yemen. While there are not verified reports of drone attacks, evidence of their use includes satellite photographs, as well as images of a drone resembling a CH-4 shot down by Houthi fighters.
The Saudi coalition has also lost four planes in its year of operations - one each from the air forces of Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Bahrain and Morocco.
Such losses would compel the coalition to consider the use of drones.
“There is concern that drones lower the perceived risks of an operation, and therefore lower the barriers to entry for it," said Singer. "Policymakers may be more willing to use drones than risk putting pilots in harm's way."
And while drones offer safety for operators, leaked reports from the US drone programme suggest that up to 90 percent of those killed in drone strikes may be unintended targets, or "collateral damage".
Abdul-Rahim said there was a "substantial risk that drones could be used in Yemen" – by Michael Cruickshank
http://www.middleeasteye.net/news/china-drones-1492124367
10.4.2016 – Ça n'empêche pas Nicolas (* B K P)
Conflit au Yémen : les livraisons d’armes françaises et européennes à l’Arabie saoudite se poursuivent malgré les controverses
« En continuant à vendre des armes à un pays qui commet des violations sans faire grand-chose pour empêcher ces abus, les États-Unis, le Royaume-Uni et la France risquent d’être complices d’actes illégaux entraînant la mort de nombreux civils », dénonce donc Philippe Bolopion, de Human Rights Watch. En 2015, selon les chiffres compilés par l’ONG, les États-Unis ont vendu pour 12 milliards de dollars d’armement à l’Arabie saoudite en 2015, le Royaume-Uni pour 3 milliards, et la France pour 500 millions - en l’occurrence la vente de 23 hélicoptères Airbus H145, qui s’ajoutent aux hélicoptères français déjà utilisés sur le terrain. D’autres contrats plus importants seraient sur les rails.
Second importateur mondial d’armement après l’Inde, l’Arabie saoudite reçoit 59% de ses armes de l’Union européenne, et notamment de la France. Comme le rappelle Amnesty international, notre pays « a depuis 2010 délivré 1305 autorisations d’exportations de matériels de guerre (AEMG) à l’Arabie saoudite pour plus de 5 milliards d’euros et a livré le pays pour plus de 2,5 milliards d’euros ». « La France équipe les forces armées saoudiennes (terre, air et mer) mais aussi, plus récemment, les unités de la Garde nationale. L’ensemble dispose ainsi de nombreux matériels militaires français : électronique de défense, systèmes de missiles et de défense anti-aérienne, artillerie, blindés, frégates et bâtiments de premier rang, hélicoptères et aéronefs de ravitaillement en vol, fusils, fusils automatiques… »
Rien qu’en 2014, les firmes françaises ont vendu au royaume saoudien 70 missiles de type non précisé, des véhicules blindés et des systèmes d’artillerie. S’y ajouteront bientôt les 2,8 milliards d’armement initialement prévus pour le Liban dans le cadre du contrat dit « Donas » (lire ici), que l’Arabie saoudite s’est finalement appropriés [2].
L’Arabie saoudite est ainsi de loin le premier importateur d’armement français sur la période 2010-2014, objet du dernier rapport au parlement sur les exportations d’armement de la France. Deux autres pays de la coalition emmenée par l’Arabie saoudite, les Émirats arabes unis et le Maroc, figurent à la quatrième et à la sixième place de cette liste. Et ces chiffres datent d’avant les gros contrats de ventes d’armes annoncés en 2015 à d’autres nations belligérantes au Yémen, comme le Qatar et l’Égypte. Sur les 16 milliards de contrats d’armement obtenus par les firmes françaises en 2015, les trois quarts concernent le Moyen-Orient. Au-delà même du secteur de l’armement, la France et ses entreprises misent énormément sur cette région du monde, dont les fonds souverains dont d’ailleurs présents au capital de nombreuses multinationales tricolores.
Premier Ministre français Manuel Valls, qui s’était ainsi justifié l’automne dernier après l’annonce de ventes d’armes françaises à l’Arabie saoudite : « Est-il indécent de se battre pour notre économie, nos emplois, notre industrie ? » En l’occurrence, beaucoup de monde répondrait sans doute oui à cette question – par Olivier Petitjean
cp13b Flüchtlinge / Refugees
10.4.2016 – UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, UN Humanitarian Coordinator in Yemen
Strategy for IDP response in Yemen
The current conflict in Yemen has led to an increasing number of internally displaced persons (IDPs), most recently reported as 2,430,178. The Humanitarian Country Team (HCT) in Yemen has agreed to develop its initial guidance on the emergency response for IDPs in Yemen and agree on a strategic framework for its IDP response, within the broader humanitarian response, in order to achieve a consistent and needs-based approach to the IDP population throughout all phases of displacement (including, where relevant, return4 or protracted displacement). This framework should reflect that IDPs are a specific category of concern who may have specific needs or vulnerabilities.
Main objectives of the strategy
Provide a framework for the coordinated humanitarian response for IDPs in Yemen, taking into consideration the specific needs and vulnerabilities of children and adults at all phases of internal displacement.
Use experiences from the immediate emergency response to inform and further strengthen the ongoing response.
Ensure the response is entrenched in humanitarian principles and maintains protection and human rights principles at its core.
http://reliefweb.int/report/yemen/strategy-idp-response-yemen and in full http://reliefweb.int/sites/reliefweb.int/files/resources/idp_response_strategy_hct_yemen_final_march_2016.pdf
8.4.2016 – International Organisation for Migration (* B H K)
Internal Displacement Spikes in Yemen
One year into the conflict, internal displacement in Yemen is still rising, according to the 8th and most recent report of a special Task Force on Population Movement (TFPM), a technical working group of the Yemen Protection Cluster.
The Cluster, which is led jointly by IOM and UNHCR, counts some 2,755,916 people who now have been internally displaced in Yemen since the crisis erupted in late March 2015. This figure represents a significant increase of 325,738 from the previously reported figure of 2.4 million IDPs in March 2016.
An increase in the number of IDPs was reported in 13 governorates; Taizz, Shabwah, Sanaa, Sa’ada, Marib, Lahj, Ibb, Hajjah, Amran, Amanat Al Asimah, Al Maharah, Al Hudaydah, and Al Dhale’e.
“I would like to underscore the importance of the upcoming cessation of hostilities, expected to begin on 10th April, and implore all sides of the conflict to allow humanitarian access to the hardest hit areas, where most of the displaced are located,” said Chissey Mueller, IOM Representative ad interim in Yemen.
This message was echoed by the UNHCR Representative, Johannes Van Der Klaauw, who added: “I hope that the upcoming cessation of hostilities will create a humanitarian space to address the needs of IDPs and an environment conductive to safe and sustainable return.”
The TFPM reports that 66 percent of the identified IDP population has sought refuge in Taizz (620,934 individuals), where the needs of both the IDP and host community populations are becoming increasingly desperate. Large IDP populations are also found in Hajjah (367,007), Amran (295,620), Sana’a (272,589).
Sa’ada governorate is hosting 245,897 IDPs, while over a third of its own population have fled to other areas. As a result over a third of people remaining in Sa’ada have suffered displacement.
While displacement continues to increase in the northern areas of Yemen, the IDP figure in some southern areas has been stabilized and 472,338 returnees were identified. IOM and UNHCR confirm 68 percent of the returnee population has been identified in Aden (300,912).
The report, based on data ending March 31, shows that most displaced families have sought refuge with relatives and friends, although some have found shelter in collective centers or spontaneous sites, including public buildings and schools. Some people are living in the open.
For further information, please contact IOM Yemen. Bekim Ajdini, Tel: +967 739 633 887, Email: bajdini@iom.int or Duncan Sullivan, Tel: + 962 079 6145044, Email: dsullivan@iom.int
http://www.iom.int/news/internal-displacement-spikes-yemen
cp14 Terrorismus / Terrorism
10.4.2016 – heavy (A T)
PHOTOS: al-Qaeda Publicly Punishes 3 Men in Yemen
In a new photo report purportedly released by Ansar al-Sharia, part of al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, two men accused of stealing and one man accused of murder are publicly punished in Hadhramaut, Yemen. The photos were shared by international terrorism watchdog group Terror Monitor.
8.4.2016 – RT (B T)
Al-Qaeda gaining power & money from Saudi-led intervention in Yemen – report
https://www.rt.com/news/338967-al-qaeda-yemen-intervention/
Comment: Referring to the Reuters investigation presented in YPR 126.
3.10.2011 – Combating Terrorism Center at Westpoint (* B T)
The report attempts to disaggregate the threat posed by al-Qa`ida in the Arabian Peninsula from the sources of instability surrounding it, by examining the group’s strategy, tactics and objectives from a local perspective. The report specifically concentrates on events and actors in Yemen’s Eastern governorates, often described as the most “tribal” parts of Yemen and an epicenter of AQAP activity. This discussion of the tribes of Marib and al-Jawf is informed by 12 months of research conducted in Yemen including fieldwork in the governorate of Marib. The author’s network of contacts and dozens of interviews with tribal leaders and tribesmen suggest that although tribes have long been cited as a primary resiliency mechanism for AQAP, the group enjoys no formal alliance with tribes in either Marib or al-Jawf and there is ample evidence to suggest that, contrary to popular analysis, the group’s strength and durability does not stem from Yemen’s tribes. By refocusing the emphasis on the group’s operations in Yemen, this report provides a new assessment of AQAP’s sources of resiliency, the constraints and opportunities inherent in the local political context and implications for the group’s regional and global ambitions.
Analysis of AQAP’s history and center of gravity suggests that a refocus on the group’s local capabilities is especially appropriate as Yemen faces mounting instability. If local dynamics are not sufficiently weighed in this crucial period, the United States runs the risk of miscalculating the efficacy of military action, inflaming anti-American sentiment and potentially giving AQAP the opportunity to overcome the triple bind that has curtailed the organization to date. Rather than poverty, political repression or even civil war, only U.S. military intervention in Yemen has the potential to unite the otherwise competing local, regional and global agendas that constitute AQAP’s central challenges – by Gabriel Koehler-Derrick (Ed.)
https://www.ctc.usma.edu/posts/a-false-foundation-aqap-tribes-and-ungoverned-spaces-in-yemen and in full: https://www.ctc.usma.edu/v2/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/CTC_False_Foundation3.pdf
Comment: The conclusion that the instability in Yemen is a main reason for the upcoming of AQAP is certainly right. In any case, it just has been the US themselves who had contributed a lot to this instability. And, seen from 5 years later: US interventions certainly were the worst remedy possible, all the intervention only led to more instability and to more strengthening AQAP: Thus, this 2011 report is a document of a totally US fail.
cp15 Propaganda
9.4.2016 – Huffington Post / The National UAE (A P)
Could Yemen’s nightmare be close to an end?
For decades now, the Yemeni people have suffered from bad governance, underdevelopment and prolonged civil conflict.
During the past year, Yemen’s pain has been compounded by a devastating air war.
Mr Hadi laid out a reform agenda that Mr Saleh worked to obstruct. It was at that point that the government was overthrown by a band of rebels in coalition with elements of Yemen’s army who had remained loyal to Mr Saleh.
As the rebels moved southward, Saudi Arabia and its GCC partners became concerned. They were angered that the compromise they had worked to achieve had been undone. What heightened their upset were the boasts coming from some in Iran who claimed that Tehran now had a presence in four Arab capitals (Baghdad, Damascus, Beirut and Sanaa).
While there had been some debate as to the extent of Iranian support for the Houthi takeover, the Iranian claims and reports of shipments of arms and supplies to Sanaa created a reality that Saudi Arabia would not ignore or tolerate.
Already reeling from the perception that Iran had become an ascendant power in Iraq and from Iran's political and military involvement in supporting the Assad government in Syria, the Saudis were determined to draw the line in Yemen.
Compounding their concern were the P5+1 negotiations with Iran over that country's nuclear programme. Saudi Arabia and other GCC countries feared that this process would not only result in a nuclear agreement, but would legitimise Iran in the eyes of the West, end sanctions and free up billions of dollars, providing the Iranians with resources to pursue their quest for regional hegemony.
That the warring sides have come to the conclusion that this madness must end and that negotiations will usher in a process of political compromise and national reconciliation.
At this point, the real agenda for Yemen will not only include political reform and a unifying of Yemeni and regional forces to defeat Al Qaeda, but reconstruction and a major international effort, led by the GCC and the US, to address the fundamental needs of Yemen’s long suffering people – by James Zogby, the president of the Arab American Institute
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/james-zogby/hints-of-an-end-to-yemens_b_9647520.html = http://www.thenational.ae/opinion/comment/could-yemens-nightmare-be-close-to-an-end
Comment: The beginning of this article is remarkable for to be read even on an Emirati website. The article repeats the well-known Iran story for Saudi propaganda, but in itself showing how ridiculous it must be. Or how could any of the points named by the author (and cited above) could legitimate only a little part of the nightmare the Saudis had achieved in Yemen?
cp16 Saudische Luftangriffe / Saudi air raids
10.4.2016 – Mehr News (A K PH)
VIDEO: Saudis continue bombing Yemen despite ceasefire
Following recent losses and failed advance, the Saudi regime was forced to offer a ceasefire deal with the Yemeni forces - a deal that was violated as the Saudis continue their airstrikes in various parts of Ta'iz province. According to a report by HRW, Saudis had used US-made bombs on March 15 attack on a crowded market in the village of Mastaba which killed nearly 100 civilians.
http://en.mehrnews.com/news/115684/VIDEO-Saudis-continue-bombing-Yemen-despite-ceasefire
9.4.2016 – Legal Center for Rights and Development (A K PH)
The team of #Legal_Center_for_Rights_and_Development documented the incident of targeting and bombing civilians by the warplanes of Saudi Arabia and its alliance.
* Casualties and Damages: #Taiz_Province #AL_Dhabab_and_AL_Rawdh_areas
Yesterday, the warplanes of Saudi-led Coalition targeted a civilian's house with 2 airstrikes.
-The airstrikes led to kill 5 civilians including 2 children and 3 women and injure 4 others including children and woman.
-The airstrikes also destroyed the house and damaged 14 others.
-The warplanes also targeted marginalized people with 1 airstrike in AL_Rawdh area, #AL_Rabei_district.
-The airstrike led to kill 11 marginalized people and injure 8 others (graphic images)
https://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=617690768381292&id=551288185021551
9.4.2016 – Press TV Iran (A K PH)
Five civilians die as Saudi jets hit new areas in Yemen
At least five civilians have been killed in a new series of Saudi airstrikes against Yemen’s southwestern province of Ta’izz.
Saudi Arabia launched an aerial assault against the Dhubab district of the province, located about 350 kilometers (217 miles) south of the capital, Sana’a, on Saturday, leaving five people dead, Yemen's al-Masirah TV channel reported.
The report added that there were three women as well as a child among the victims.
Also on Saturday, Saudi warplanes launched two airstrikes against al-Ghil district in the northern Yemeni province of Jawf. A similar assault was also carried out in al-Aqaba area of the province.
There were no immediate reports of possible casualties and the extent of damage inflicted in the latter airstrikes.
Separately, Saudi jets hit several areas in the Sirwah district of the central Yemeni province of Ma’rib, though no information on possible fatalities and the scope of damage was available.
http://www.presstv.ir/Detail/2016/04/09/459859/Saudi-airstrikes-civilian-death-toll-Dhubab/
8.4.2016 – Saba News (A K PH)
Hostile fighter jets target Serwah
The Saudi-led coalition has waged four air raids on Serwah district in Mareb province.
A local official said Thursday the hostile warplanes launched three sorties on al-Ashqari mount and a raid on al-Matar area in Serwah.
No human casualties were reported in the raids.
http://www.sabanews.net/en/news424400.htm
8.4.2016 – Saba News (A K PH)
Saudi airstrikes kill eight citizens in Taiz
At least eight citizens were killed and others were injured by air raids waged by the Saudi aggression war jets on al-Wazeiah district of Taiz province on Friday.
A local official told Saba that the aggression warplanes launched two raids on al-Wazeiah district, targeting a car carrying citizens in al-Raqah area in central of the district, which led to the killing of eight people including women and injuring others.
The number of victims could rise because there are people with serious injuries, the official said.
He pointed out that the victims were targeted while they were trying to flee to a neighboring area from the intense air raids on the different parts of the district.
Another raid targeted Sukinah School in the district, leaving large damage to the school building, the official added.
http://www.sabanews.net/en/news424463.htm
8.4.2016 Legal Center for Rights and Development (A K PH)
The team of #Legal_Center_for_Rights_and_Development documented the incident of targeting and bombing civilians by the warplanes of Saudi Arabia and its alliance.
- The violator: Saudi Arabia, Emirate, Kuwait, Qatar, Bahrain, Egypt, Sudan, Jordan, Morocco and United States
Casualties and Damages: #Taiz_Province #AL_Wazeia_district
Yesterday, the warplanes of Saudi-led Coalition targeted civilians' houses.
-The airstrikes led to kill more than 10 civilians including children and women and injure 10 others including children and woman (with images (graphic)
https://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=617222791761423&id=551288185021551
8.4.2016 – Katehon (A K PH)
YEMEN: 10 CIVILIANS KILLED BY SAUDI AIRSTRIKE
At least ten civilians, among them women and children, have reportedly lost their lives after Saudi military aircraft launched an airstrike in Yemen’s southwestern province of Ta'izz.
Saudi fighter jets struck a vehicle as it was travelling along a road in Wazi'iyah District of the province, located about 350 kilometers (217 miles) south of the capital, Sana’a, on Friday, leaving all those on board dead, Yemen’s Arabic-language Khabar news agency reported.
Saudi warplanes also carried out two airstrikes against a school in the same Yemeni district. There were no immediate reports of possible casualties and the extent of damage inflicted.
Separately, Saudi jets hit several areas in Sirwah District of the central Yemeni province of Ma'rib, though no information on possible fatalities and the scope of damage was available.
Also on Friday, Saudi military aircraft fired a number of missiles into al-Hafa military base on the western outskirts of Sana'a. The Sabaha district of the capital was also bombarded several times. There were no reports of casualties.
http://katehon.com/news/yemen-10-civilians-killed-saudi-airstrike
8.4.2016 – Hussain Albukhaiti /A K PH)
#Saudi #UAE CO backed forces have conductd 4 mass attacks on 1-Sirwah #Marib 2-Esaylaan N Shabwa 3-Alzaaher n Al-Bayda 4-Almasloob n Aljawof
https://twitter.com/HussainBukhaiti/status/718473721556688896
8.4.2016 – Nasser Arrabyee (A K PH)
A total of 17 Yemeni civilians were killed today by US-backed Saudi war criminals jets bombing their cars in Wazeyah Taiz central Yemen
https://twitter.com/narrabyee/status/718409267418689536
cp17 Kriegsereignisse / Theater of War
10.4.2016 - Deutschlandfunk (A K)
Tote bei neuen Kämpfen kurz vor Beginn der Waffenruhe
Kurz vor Beginn der vereinbarten Waffenruhe für den Jemen sind mehr als 20 Menschen bei Kämpfen getötet worden.
Die Gefechte zwischen den Regierungstruppen und den Huthi-Rebellen ereigneten sich Medienberichten zufolge nahe der Hauptstadt Sanaa und im Landesinneren.
10.4.2016 – Middle East Eye (A K P)
Continuing clashes throw Yemen ceasefire plan into doubt
Fierce fighting was reported in several areas of Yemen on Sunday just hours before a UN-brokered ceasefire aimed at laying the groundwork for upcoming peace talks was due to take effect.
Local sources told Middle East Eye the ongoing violence had cast doubts on whether the ceasefire would go ahead as planned.
"Fierce clashes are still ongoing on more than one front in Taiz and al-Jawf provinces," local journalist Nasser Al-Sakkaf told MEE.
"The ceasefire is supposed to take place tonight, but the clashes are still ongoing and there has not been an official statement about the beginning of the ceasefire. Thus, it seems that the ceasefire will not take place tonight."
But army commanders and tribal leaders loyal to the government of President Abd Rabbuh Mansour Hadi told Gulf News that rebel fighters had stepped up their military operations in Marib, Jawf, Taiz, Shabwa and Lahj, apparently to regain control of new areas before the halt of fighting.
Ali Al Ghoules, a spokesperson for the governor of Marib, said the continuing amassing of forces and military equipment inside Houthi-controlled areas in the province did not indicate that the rebels would commit to the ceasefire.
Fighting also raged on Sunday in regions surrounding Sanaa, while the rebel-held capital itself, which has been regularly bombed by warplanes of the Saudi-led coalition, was quiet, the AFP news agency reported.
Houthi rebels, based in the north of the country, and their allies exchanged mortar and artillery fire with pro-Hadi forces in the Sarwah region of Marib province, east of Sanaa, an AFP correspondent said.
Houthis on Saturday night reportedly fired a ballistic missile from a remote village in the province of Sanaa but residents said it failed to reach its target and exploded too soon after it was launched.
Coalition warplanes carried out fresh air strikes to stop rebels seeking to take back a military base that pro-government forces had recaptured in late 2015, military sources said.
http://www.middleeasteye.net/news/fighting-breaks-out-hours-yemen-ceasefire-due-start-1382395599
10.4.2016 – AFP (A K)
Sporadic fighting in Yemen ahead of midnight ceasefire
Sporadic fighting gripped parts of Yemen on Sunday, just hours before a UN-brokered ceasefire aimed at laying groundwork for upcoming peace talks was due to take effect.
Fighting raged on Sunday in regions surrounding Sanaa, while the rebel-held capital itself, which has been regularly bombed by coalition warplanes, was quiet.
Huthi rebels and their allies exchanged mortar and artillery fire with pro-Hadi forces in the Sarwah region of Marib province, east of Sanaa, an AFP correspondent said.
Coalition warplanes carried out fresh air strikes to stop rebels seeking to take back a military base that pro-government forces had recaptured in late 2015, military sources said.
Clashes also went on further north in Nihm, around 40 kilometres (25 miles) from Sanaa, witnesses said.
Residents of Sanaa spent a quiet night without the sound of coalition aircraft – by Fawaz al-Haidari
http://reliefweb.int/report/yemen/sporadic-fighting-yemen-ahead-midnight-ceasefire
10.4.2016 – ABNA (A K PH)
Yemen artillery bombing targets mercenaries’ gatherings in Thubab
The artillery force of the Yemeni army and popular committees pounded gatherings of the aggression hirelings in the southern village of Thubab city in Taiz province on Saturday.
A military official explained that the artillery bombing on the village resulted in killing and injuring a number of the mercenaries and destroying an armored vehicle belonging to them.
http://en.abna24.com/service/middle-east-west-asia/archive/2016/04/10/746285/story.html
9.4.2016 – Almasdar News (A K PH)
Yemeni Army, Houthi forces route the Saudi Army at Kofal: 40+ killed
On Friday, the Saudi-led Coalition – backed by Hadi loyalists – attempted to recapture the Kofal Camp in the Mareb Governorate after losing this imperative military installation in December 2015. However, the Saudi-led Coalition and their allies ran into the Yemeni Army’s brick wall defense at the Kofal Camp on Friday, resulting in the death of over 40 enemy soldiers, including several Saudi military personnel. The attack was officially repelled by Friday evening when the Saudi-led Coalition forces finally withdrew their units from the Kofal Camp’s perimeter.
https://www.almasdarnews.com/article/yemeni-army-houthi-forces-route-saudi-army-kofal/
9.4.2016 – Fars News (A K PH)
Yemeni Army Repels Saudi Forces' Attack to Capture Key Military Camp in Ma'rib
The Yemeni army and popular forces foiled an attempt by the Saudi forces to win back a strategic military camp in Ma'rib province after losing it in December 2015.
The Saudi forces attempted to take control of Kofal military camp in Ma'rib province, but were pushed back by the Yemeni army and popular forces.
At least 40 Saudi troops were killed in the Yemeni army's counteroffensive on Saturday.
In a relevant development on Wednesday, scores of Saudi mercenaries in Yemen were killed in an Ansarullah Rocket attack on their position in the war-hit country’s Northern province of al-Jawf, local reports said.
The rocket hit a building of the Saudi mercenaries late Tuesday and killed 70 of them. At least 100 others were injured in the attack, Yemen's al-Masirah TV reported.
Local sources said the death toll may increase as the position was targeted while the mercenaries were distributing arms and munitions among themselves.
http://en.farsnews.com/newstext.aspx?nn=13950121001391 see also http://en.abna24.com/service/middle-east-west-asia/archive/2016/04/10/746247/story.html
8.4.2016 – Der Standard (A K)
Mindestens zwölf Tote bei schweren Gefechten im Jemen
Regierungstruppen kämpfen kurz vor geplantem Waffenstillstand gegen Rebellen Marib – Zwei Tage vor Beginn des geplanten Waffenstillstands hat es im Jemen schwere Gefechten zwischen regierungstreuen Truppen und Rebellen gegeben. Bei den Kämpfen in der Provinz Marib östlich der Hauptstadt Sanaa seien am Freitag mindestens zwölf Kämpfer getötet worden, verlautete aus Militärkreisen. Die Regierungstruppen versuchen seit Monaten, die Ortschaft Sarwah westlich der Stadt Marib von den Houthi-Rebellen zurückzuerobern, um von dort weiter nach Sanaa vorzurücken. Nach Angaben aus Militärkreisen wurden bei den Gefechten am Freitag mindesten sieben Kämpfer der Regierungsseite und fünf Rebellen getötet. Nach Angaben der Rebellen wurden 35 regierungstreue Kämpfer getötet oder verletzt.
http://derstandard.at/2000034508547/Mindestens-zwoelf-Tote-bei-schweren-Gefechten-im-Jemen
8.4.2016 – The Peninula Qatar (A K PS)
Clashes kill at least 12 ahead of Yemen ceasefire
At least 12 fighters died on Friday in clashes between loyalists and rebels in Yemen's Marib province east of Sanaa, two days ahead of a UN-announced ceasefire, military sources said.
They said the clashes, which according to a preliminary toll killed seven pro-government fighters and five rebels, broke out around the town of Sarwah which loyalists have been trying for months to recapture from Shiite Huthi rebels.
Saudi-led Arab coalition warplanes circled overhead but did not drop any bombs or fire missiles, an AFP correspondent at the scene said.
The rebels said on their website, sabanews.net, that a three-pronged government offensive was repelled with the loss of 35 loyalists.
cp18 Schöner Jemen / Beautiful Yemen
27.6.2013 – Hadrahmouts
The Women Goat Herders of Hadhramout
Herding is still a very important part of Hadhrami life. Especially for Bedouins and rural dwellers. It is mainly goats and a few sheep that are kept. In Hadhramaut, with Bedouins - tasks between men and women are clearly defined and strictly divided; the job of tending, herding and caring of/for goats is exclusively left to women. It is women, mainly young, unmarried women, who are most responsible for the herd. This responsibility needs much hard work, all day long. Everyday. Men could/would not have the patience and the tenderness required for this.
http://hadhramouts.blogspot.de/2013/06/the-women-goat-herders-of-hadhramout.html
Vorige / Previous:
https://www.freitag.de/autoren/dklose/krieg-im-jemen-neue-artikel-zum-nachlesen-126
Neue Artikel zum Nachlesen 1-126: / Yemen Press Reader 1-126:
https://www.freitag.de/autoren/dklose oder / or
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