Washington’s War on Yemen - The Secret Behind the Yemen War - Former Us Diplomats on the Yemen War - The world of Saudi IS members - Peace talks continued, Saudi air raids
Schwerpunkte / Key aspects
Klassifizierung / Classification
cp1 Am wichtigsten / Most important
cp2 Allgemein / General
cp3 Humanitäre Lage / Humanitarian situation
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
cp8 Saudi-Arabien / Saudi Arabia
cp9 USA
cp10 Großbritannien / Great Britain
cp14 Terrorismus / Terrorism
cp15 Propaganda
cp16 Saudische Luftangriffe / Saudi air raids
Klassifizierung / Classification
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**
*
(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
7.5.2016 – Stephen Lendman (** B K P)
Washington’s War on Yemen
Yemen is Obama’s war, partnered with Saudi Arabia, other Gulf States and Israel, orchestrating terror-bombing, choosing targets to strike, committing slow-motion genocide against millions of affected Yemenis.
On May 2, Press TV reported US special forces “arrived in Yemen (on April 25) to fight alongside Emirati forces” on the phony pretext of combating Al-Qaeda terrorists - created and supported by Washington.
On May 6, the Pentagon for the first time publicly admitted US combat troops are operating in Yemen. US warplanes are terror-bombing targets along with Riyadh’s aerial campaign.
Claiming its operations are separate from war on Houthis belies Washington’s aim to defeat them and re-install its former Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi puppet regime.
Despite over a year of intense conflict, Houthi resistance remains resilient. It’s unclear how many US combat troops were deployed so far or if something much larger is planned.
US naval Amphibious Ready Group is positioned offshore, including the 13th Marine Expeditionary Unit. Is a larger invasion coming, backed by naval and air power?
Is greater US war than ever about to be initiated against an already devastated country, the region’s poorest in normal times, its people victimized by US imperial lawlessness.
Endless war continues - perhaps for years as long as Washington rejects peace. To no avail, Amnesty International called on Washington and Britain to halt the “reckless” deliveries of “arms for use in” waging war, civilians harmed most.
They’re “flooding the region with arms,” said AI, including cluster munitions and other banned weapons.
UN-backed peace talks in Kuwait since April 21 accomplished nothing, unlikely to ahead because Washington wants endless wars throughout the region and beyond.
It’s a national sickness, an addiction, an incurable disease threatening humanity’s survival – by Stephen Lendman
http://sjlendman.blogspot.de/2016/05/washingtons-war-on-yemen.html = http://gffreepages.blogspot.de/2016/05/stephen-lendman-washingtons-war-on-yemen.html
7.5.2016 – Consortium News (** B K P)
The Secret Behind the Yemen War
A recent PBS report about the war in Yemen exposed the secret connection between the U.S.-Saudi alliance and Al Qaeda, a reality that also underscores the jihadist violence in Syria, writes Dan Lazare.
PBS Frontline’s “Yemen Under Siege,” which aired on May 3, makes for powerful viewing. A first-hand look at the devastation that the U.S., Saudi Arabia, and other powers have visited on one of the poorest countries in the Middle East, the 35-minute documentary shows families struggling amid the rubble, children dying from mortar attacks, surgeons operating without anesthesia, and other such horrors.
But the most important revelation comes almost as an aside. Interviewing pro-Saudi fighters near the central Yemeni city of Taiz, journalist Safa Al Ahmad suddenly hears shouting. “What’s wrong?” she asks. “Who are they? They don’t want me to be here?”
A soldier explains that the people making a ruckus are Ansar al Sharia, i.e. fighters for shari‘a. “And he just says quite casually, these are Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula,” Al Ahmad says later of the local Al Qaeda affiliate often referred to as AQAP. “And he referred to them by their local name, which is Ansar al Sharia. He revealed what is considered an open secret in the front lines, that they [AQAP] had been fighting with all the different factions, the [pro-Saudi] Yemeni factions and the [U.S.-Saudi] coalition against the Houthis.”
“We don’t accept you,” the Al Qaeda members cry out. “On religious grounds, we do not accept you.” A non-Al Qaeda fighter says dismissively, “They are ISIS.” But a second corrects him: “No, they’re not. They’re worse than ISIS. We can’t coexist with them.”
But coexist they do, as the film makes clear. Yet another non-Al Qaeda fighter explains: “Islam does not allow for people to be overly strict. We must be moderate. But we have a group here who are strict.”
“But you fight together at the front line?” Al Ahmad asks.
“For sure. At the front, we are together.”
With that, the documentary lifts the lid on perhaps the single most incoherent aspect of U.S. policy in the Middle East. On one hand, the United States claims to be fighting Al Qaeda, and indeed AQAP, regarded as one of Al Qaeda’s most aggressive franchises, has been a prime target of U.S. drone strikes ever since the war on terror began.
At the same time, though, the U.S. provides military backing for forces led by Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, and other Persian Gulf petro-states that welcome AQAP fighters into their ranks as full and active participants in the anti-Houthi crusade.
The U.S. opposes Al Qaeda, on one hand, but supports elements that ally with it, on the other.
Continue reading with the following chapters:
Explaining the War in Yemen
As Al Ahmad – a heroic Saudi dissident who has been effectively banished from her homeland for reporting on the plight of the kingdom’s Shi‘ite minority – puts it:
“This is why it’s so difficult to explain the war on Yemen, because there are so many enemies that find themselves on the same front lines fighting the other enemy. A lot of people who wanted to fight the Houthis, that didn’t necessarily agree with Al Qaeda, did join them because that was a ready front for them to go out and fight. And that grew with the ranks of Al Qaeda. And so the situation only got worse from 2012 until now.”
A Broader Pattern
None of this is unique to Yemen, meanwhile. To the contrary, it takes place wherever the U.S. pretends to combat Al Qaeda while in fact doing the opposite. The original model was Afghanistan where Pakistani journalist Ahmed Rashid estimates that the CIA, the Saudis and others poured a total of $10 billion into the anti-Soviet jihad over a ten-year period beginning in mid-1979. .
Exploiting Religious War
Religious war was too good an opportunity to pass up. In June 2012, The New York Times revealed that the CIA was relying on the arch-Sunni Muslim Brotherhood to help channel arms to rebel forces that had already taken the field against Assad.
“Moderate these days is increasingly becoming anyone who’s not affiliated with ISIL,” Director of National Intelligence James R. Clapper Jr. explained in March 2015 – and indeed the White House made no objection a month later when so-called moderates joined with Al Nusra to launch a major offensive in Syria’s northern Idlib province. [See Consortiumnews.com’s “Climbing into Bed with Al-Qaeda.”]
Covering for Salafists - by Daniel Lazare
https://consortiumnews.com/2016/05/07/the-secret-behind-the-yemen-war/
6.5.2016 – The Intercept (** A K P)
Former U.S. Diplomats Decry the U.S.-Backed Saudi War in Yemen
U.S. officials have done little to explain this support [by US for the Saudi Yemen war], have failed to explain the U.S. interests in the campaign, and have made scant mention of the humanitarian toll. In the absence of an official response,The Intercept raised those concerns with half a dozen former senior diplomatic officials, including U.S. ambassadors to Yemen and Saudi Arabia.
But rather than defend or explain the U.S. involvement, most of the former diplomats we interviewed said that the war harms U.S. interests.
“I don’t think you can restore a government, especially an unpopular one, from the air, and I don’t think the use of force in this matter does anything but create long-term enmity,” said Chas Freeman, who served as the ambassador to Saudi Arabia between 1989 and 1992. He noted that former President Hadi’s unpopularity was partly due to his deep ties to Saudi Arabia and the United States. Freeman is currently a senior fellow at the Watson Institute for International and Public Affairs at Brown University.
Barbara Bodine, who served as ambassador to Yemen between 1997 and 2001, directed us to recent remarks she made on the Zogby Show about the impact of the bombings on Yemen’s social fabric.
“It’s just been pushed over the edge,” she told host James Zogby. “It’s been declared a level 3 humanitarian crisis, there’s only four of those in the world. … The devastation of the physical damage, infrastructure damage, … the water system to the extent it has existed has been completely destroyed.” Bodine is currently a professor of diplomacy at Georgetown University.
“The humanitarian situation is as bad as it is in Syria,” said Bill Rugh, who was ambassador to Yemen between 1984 and 1987. “The American press hasn’t paid that much attention to it. But it’s been a disaster particularly as a result of the bombing and … the lack of outside humanitarian assistance as a result of the fighting. It’s really been tragic for the Yemeni people. The country’s always been very poor but to have your hospitals and your schools and your civilian population bombed and killed and injured on a large scale has added to their tragedy.” Rugh is currently a visiting professor at Tufts University Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy.
Helping al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula
All of the diplomats pointed out that, contrary to administration statements that the Saudi war is serving counterterrorism objectives, the war has actually undermined U.S. national security interests. In particular, they noted that the campaign against the Houthis has allowed one of its enemies – al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) – to seize more territory.
Dubious Connection to Iran
Defenders of the Saudi-led war have claimed that the Houthis are Iranian proxies, and that the Saudis are defending a neighboring country against that country’s influence, as Sens. John McCain, R-Ariz., and Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., said when the war began.
But all of the former diplomats we interviewed questioned that premise.
“I would argue that the Houthis were not in the Iranian camp until they were driven into it by necessity,” Freeman said. “When they were attacked by the Saudis – or counter-attacked, depending on how you see it – they needed support from somewhere, and they got it from Tehran. So the Saudi effort to punish the Iranians [for the nuclear deal] by punishing the Houthis ironically cemented the relationship between Iran and the Houthis that otherwise probably would not have existed.”
Khoury also described the Houthi-Iranian relationship as having been advanced by the Saudi-led bombing campaign. “Once the Houthis got there, they thought … they are [also] against the Saudis so they must be good friends to Iran, so they started [cooperating],” he said.
The war has worked out to Iran’s benefit, Rugh said. “The Houthi uprising has been generated by local factors and not by the Iranians. The Iranians are taking advantage of it, in the sense that in their rivalry with Saudi Arabia they don’t mind the Saudis panicking over what’s going on in Yemen.” Plus, Rugh said, “the Yemen intervention by Saudi Arabia has diverted Saudi attention away from Syria and that’s to Iran’s advantage.”
“In many ways the IRGC [Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps, Iran’s elite fighting force] did increase their role in Yemen in direct response to the Saudi-led invasion,” Seche said. “When they saw the Saudis come in, it was like an invitation to come in and choose sides.”
Breaking the Silence
“The Saudis have been implicated, according to U.N. special panels, in war crimes,” Khoury noted. “Given what we in the United States have been doing to support the war effort, we are implicated as well. I think it’s really urgent that we pull back on the support to put pressure on the Saudis to come to terms with the Houthis and to facilitate a Yemeni-Yemeni agreement. I think that would be the best course.” - by Alex Emmons and Zaid Jilani
https://theintercept.com/2016/05/06/former-u-s-diplomats-decry-the-u-s-backed-saudi-war-in-yemen/
7.5.2016 – The Guardian (** A P)
Cameron's attack on George Galloway reflects the west's self-delusions
In an act of supreme projection, the British PM accuses a critic of lending support "wherever there is a brutal Arab dictator": the core policy of the US and UK
Galloway stood to ask Cameron about a seeming contradiction in the policy of the British government (one shared by the US government). He wanted to know why it is that the British government is so intent on fighting and bombing Islamic extremists in Mali, while simultaneously arming and funding equally brutal Islamic extremists in Syria (indeed, although it was once taboo to mention, it is now widely reported in the most establishment venues such as the New York Times that while many ordinary Syrians are fighting against the savagery and tyranny of Assad, Islamic extremists, including ones loyal to al-Qaida, are playing a major role in the war against the regime). The same question could have been posed regarding Libya, where Nato-supported rebel factions were filled with fighters with all sorts of links to al-Qaida.
In lieu of addressing the substance of the question, Cameron unleashed a 10-second snide attack on Galloway himself. "Some things come and go," proclaimed the Prime Minister, "but there is one thing that is certain: wherever there is a brutal Arab dictator in the world, he will have the support of [Galloway]."
As usual, anyone who questions the militarism of western governments is instantly smeared as a sympathizer or even supporter of tyrants. Thus, those who opposed the aggressive attack on Iraq were pro-Saddam; those who now oppose bombing Iran love the mullahs; those who oppose Nato intervention in Syria or Libya harbor affection for Assad and Ghadaffi
The more important point here is that of all the people on the planet, there is nobody with less authority to accuse others of supporting "brutal Arab dictators in the world" than David Cameron and his Nato allies, including those in the Obama administration. Supporting "brutal Arab dictators in the world" is a perfect summary of the west's approach to the Arab world for the last five decades, and it continues to be.
Cameron's so-called "slapdown" of Galloway was predictably celebrated in many precincts. The reality, though, is that it was quite cowardly: he refused to answer Galloway's question, then smeared him knowing that he could not reply, then simply moved on to the next questioner. Galloway was able to respond afterward only by posting an open letter on his website, noting the multiple Arab dictators steadfastly supported not by Galloway but by his accuser, David Cameron.
The more important point here is that this so perfectly reflects the central propagandistic self-delusion amazingly sustained throughout the west. The very same western countries that snuggle up to and prop up the planet's worst dictators are the same ones who strut around depicting themselves as crusaders for democracy and freedom, all while smearing anyone who objects to their conduct as lovers of tyranny. That's how David Cameron can literally embrace and strengthen the autocrats of Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, the UAE, Yemen and so many others, while accusing others with a straight face of lending support "wherever there is a brutal Arab dictator in the world".
In the most minimally rational universe, Cameron's act of extreme projection would provoke a sustained fit of mocking laughter. In the propaganda-suffused western world, it all seems perfectly cogent and even inspiring
[at length: Cameron's cronyship with Arab dictators] – by Glen GreenwaldK
http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2013/jan/31/cameron-galloway-saudis-bahrain-dictators
7.5.2016 – Al Araby (** B T)
Inside the world of Saudi Islamic State members
The New Arab has analysed a cache of leaked 'membership forms' belonging to IS to reveal intriguing information on Saudi Arabian members of the radical jihadist group.
It was via Twitter that a Saudi extremist who went by the nom de guerre, Abu al-Dahdah al-Sharqi, was recruited to join the Islamic State group.
He had been "nominated" for the job by another fellow Saudi jihadist,Sulaiman al-Subaie.
Subaie became famous after defecting from IS and returning to Saudi Arabia, where his "confessions" were aired on television. He had been popular in his homeland for his posts on video-sharing app Keek.
Sharqi went to Syria via the Turkish border, using his brother's passport. He left behind a wife and an infant.
While Subaie returned home in January 2014, and subsequently denouncing IS's "deviant ideology," nothing is known about the fate of Sharqi and 361 other known Saudi members of the ultra-radical group who signed up between mid-2013 and late 2014.
The figure comes from the so-called Mujahid Files, a cache of leaked documents on IS members obtained by The New Arab from Syrian website Zaman al-Wasl.
The documents show 282 of the Saudis are combatants, 48 suicide bombers and 32 inghimassis (suicide commandos).
The documents, which comprise membership forms, contain detailed information on IS's rank and file, distributed into 23 categories.
In addition to name, code name, date of birth, nationality, blood type, marital status and other personal information, the categories include "religious education", progession, countries visited and "history of jihad" as well as "specialty".
The jihadists' hometowns
Shallow religious knowledge
Social background Why do they join?
Who is Abu Muhammad al-Shimali? - by Mohammad Azzam and Badr al-Rashed
http://www.alaraby.co.uk/english/indepth/2016/5/5/inside-the-world-of-saudi-islamic-state-members
cp2 Allgemein / General
7.5.2016 – The talking of the soul (* B K)
Sleepless in Mareb (Yemen)
This is what it feels like to have dear ones in a war zone: the moment you know of a suicide bomber, a bomb explosion, aerial airstrikes and the lapse of time it takes for news from those you care about to reach you, sum up to a long, exhausting, corroding wait.
There was a bomb explosion yesterday, May 6, in the troubled city of Mareb, 156 kms East of Sanaà, Yemen. It happened after Friday prayers at the qat market. Being Friday (weekend), the qat market was packed with people. Virtually everyone in Yemen chews qat, the mild leafy stimulant, on a Friday.
I happen to have a friend in Mareb. The area has been always a nightmare: it rests on Yemen´s richest oil and gas fields and has been the constant battleground between tribes, government, smugglers, AQAP (Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula) fighters and, since 2015, a nevralgic point of fighting between those loyal to former President Hadi´s Saudi backed government (in exile) and Ansarallah militia supported by Yemeni military forces loyal to ex President Saleh.
The war in and on Mareb has been long. Devastating.
Only today my friend replied to my immediate message, making me realise that the explosion of yesterday is only an additional bomb to a daily story of fighting, pain and struggle.
‘The battle is close to me, it is just 3 kilometers away.
God will save us though the war is in all Yemen, it is everywhere ..but in Mareb we have an ongoing war basis.
The battle is from 4 sides. North and West is where they use all kinds of heavy and light weapons: missiles, artillery, Katyusha and aircraft. Sometimes we don’t sleep at night Dear.
We all pray, you pray too Dear.
We will be OK, with God’s will.’
My friend survived, yesterday.
He has not seen his son who lives abroad in more than 8 years. Talking about lapse of time.
https://thetalkingofthesoul.wordpress.com/2016/05/07/sleepless-in-mareb-yemen/
7.5.2016 – Almasdar News (* B K T)
Brotherhood and Al Qaida ‘cooperating in Yemen’
The liberation of Yemen’s Al Qaida-held Al Mukalla city has uncovered “real and concrete evidence” of cooperation and coordination between the Muslim Brotherhood and Al Qaida, a top UAE minister said on Friday. Dr Anwar Mohammad Gargash, UAE Minister of State for Foreign Affairs, said on twitter that the UAE forces found evidence of the cooperation after the city was liberated, adding that the finding shows that the UAE’s conviction is clear regarding the “alliance of opportunism and terrorism”. Al Mukalla, which had been occupied by Al Qaida for almost a year, was liberated by Saudi-led coalition forces and Yemeni forces last month.
The liberation of Yemen’s Al Qaida-held Al Mukalla city has uncovered “real and concrete evidence” of cooperation and coordination between the Muslim Brotherhood and Al Qaida, a top UAE minister said on Friday. Dr Anwar Mohammad Gargash, UAE Minister of State for Foreign Affairs, said on twitter that the UAE forces found evidence of the cooperation after the city was liberated, adding that the finding shows that the UAE’s conviction is clear regarding the “alliance of opportunism and terrorism”. Al Mukalla, which had been occupied by Al Qaida for almost a year, was liberated by Saudi-led coalition forces and Yemeni forces last month.
https://www.almasdarnews.com/article/brotherhood-al-qaida-cooperating-yemen/
Comment: I would be interested in the connections between the brotherhood and the Hadi government.
7.5.2016 – Pars Today (B K)
HRW: Saudi-Arabien setzt in Jemen Streubomben ein
Die Menschenrechtsorganisation Human Rights Watch (HRW) hat den Einsatz von Streubomben durch Saudi-Arabien gegen das jemenitische Volk kritisiert.
Steve Goose, der für die Waffenforschung zuständige Direktor der HRW, verurteilte den Verkauf von Streubomben durch die USA an Saudi-Arabien und sagte: Die Saudis müssen unverzüglich den Einsatz von Streubomben im Jemen oder wo auch immer einstellen.
Anhand vorhandener Dokumente über die Zunahme der Zahl der zivilen Opfer werde klar, dass Saudi-Arabien Streubomben gegen das jemenitische Volk einsetze, so Goose weiter.
Streubomben bestehen aus hunderten kleinen Bomben, die nach dem Verstreuen auf einem weiten Feld explodieren.
Vieler dieser Streubomben detonieren nicht sofort, und verwandeln somit die Region in ein Minenfeld.
http://parstoday.com/de/news/middle_east-i6907-hrw_saudi_arabien_setzt_in_jemen_streubomben_ein
cp3 Humanitäre Lage / Humanitarian situation
6.5.2016 – UNICEF (* B H)
Helping children in Yemen deal with the trauma of conflict
Witnessing intense violence has become commonplace for children in Yemen, where ongoing conflict has forced over 3,500 schools to close. Bismark Swangin who works for Unicef’s regional office in Jordan visited the Al-Fadheelah School, which has recently been able to reopen following Unicef-supported repairs. There, pupils are using drama to overcame the traumas that they’ve experienced.
As the students quietly file in for morning assembly at Al-Fadheelah School in Sana’a, Yemen, there is no indication of the trauma many of them have experienced, or of the innovative way that the school is helping the children deal with it.
As the students settle, five young female students step forward. “Boom… Boom!” shouts one student as the other girls dive to the ground. Once the dust settles, one of the girls begins crying out while rolling on the ground as if in pain. Quickly her friends rise to their feet and start to calm her down.
The dramatic scene ends, and the audience begins to laugh and clap. Sadly, the girls are acting out a scene all too familiar in Yemen. In the past year, the country has witnessed intense violence with many schools and hospitals attacked and hundreds of children killed or maimed.
“These performances are part of coping for the children”, says Mohammed El-fadil, the Director General of Education in Sana’a. “You can see them clapping and engaging as they watch the drama. Such activities help them temporarily forget about the war and concentrate on learning,” he said.
When re-enacted with friends and classmates, the drama at the school engages the students, allowing them to begin to process and move on from their experiences, even as the situation across Yemen remains perilous.
With support from Unicef, the school has been able to reopen, but more than 1,600 schools remain closed due to the conflict, many damaged or destroyed in the violence.
Walking through the school, Mr El-fadil points out the shards of broken glass and rubble strewn on the ground, where the students would usually play. “When we first came to assess the damage there was a lot of broken glass and other dangers for the students,” Mr El-fadil said.
We have been helping the school to mend the damage; fixing broken windows and working to help the school become a safe environment for the students and teachers once again.
For the teachers, it is incredibly important to bring back a sense of normalcy for the children. Following the assembly, the children return to their classrooms for lessons before heading out into the school yard. Here they play games including volleyball, hula-hooping and skipping rope. As the children play outside it is hard to imagine the trauma many of them have experienced.
Ghadeer, 13, said she finds it difficult to concentrate in class with the sounds of bombs and gunshots.
“Sometimes in the middle of a lesson, you hear a boom,” she said. “Some students scream, others run out of the classroom.”
Since the March escalation in the conflict in Yemen, over 3,500 schools have been forced to close, interrupting the education of over 1.8 million children, Despite some improvement, almost 390,000 children are still being deprived of their right to an education.
In addition to helping rebuild and rehabilitate schools across Yemen, we are training teachers and students to help children cope with the horrors of the conflict. Simple activities such as using drama can provide children with means to begin to process their experiences.
Across the world, more than 37 million primary and lower secondary children are out of school and educational facilities are continually forced to close as a consequence of conflicts and of natural disasters – putting millions more at risk. “Education changes lives in emergencies,” says Josephine Bourne, Unicef’s Global Chief of Education. “Going to school keeps children safe from abuses like trafficking and recruitment into armed groups and is a vital investment in children’s futures and in the future of their communities. It is time education is prioritised by the international community as an essential part of basic humanitarian response, alongside water, food and shelter.” -by Bismarck Swangin
https://blogs.unicef.org.uk/2016/05/06/helping-children-yemen-deal-trauma-conflict/
4.5.2016 – Alistair Reign (** B H)
Yemen: Look Into Their Faces – Then Try To Turn A Blind Eye
The anguished, tear-soaked face of a father cradling his baby daughter’s lifeless body has given rise to a global cry of outrage and shaming directed at the United Nations.
Her name is Zainab, and here is her little figure wrapped in a blue, paper shroud, with her tiny face so pale against the cheek of her weeping father – and for the moment media’s attention has turned to the inhumanity of the Saudi-led attack inside Yemen.
Yet, the question remains unanswered, will the world leaders finally hear the cries ofthousands, no, millions of Yemenis begging for mercy and humanity from the United Nations to save their children?
“Silence of the world is killing the children in Yemen,” said Mohammed Alharthy, CEO of Your Ability Organisation for Development in Sana’a, Yemen.
The coalition wars on “terrorism” in the Middle East has been turned into an indiscriminate war on innocent civilians. I make no apology for saying that every death of a Yemeni child in this war is blood spilled on the United Nations Charter of Rights. From the first day of Saudi Arabia’s so-called“war on ISIS“ inside the small Republic of Yemen, evidence to the contrary has been videoed and reported by media; testimony has been filed and presented to the UN Human Rights and Security Council; and social media supplies a constant stream of corroborating accounts of the war crimes committed on civilians inside Yemen.
And all evidence points to a horrific genocide of the Yemeni men, women and children; where not even babies sleeping in their crib are safe from enemy airstrikes.
Little Zainab death has been felt around the world, the rippling effect from the wings of a butterfly stilled before she had a chance to fulfill her destiny.
It was only last month when her father Ibrahim went to sleep one night being blessed with a family; a healthy wife, two handsome young sons, and a beautiful daughter – whom had not yet celebrated her first birthday. He named her Zainab, and when Ibrahim wrote me with his story, I looked up the meaning of her name, and upon reading it, caused me to weep.
Zainab means ‘a fragrant flowering plant‘ or ‘Desert Flower‘ implying that the girl is respectful and beautiful. Zaynab is also the name of the daughter and granddaughter of the Islamic prophet Mohammad. After you read his story, you may understand why her name brought tears to my eyes.
This is the story of how one family’s life was destroyed by an airstrike in the night. He is not a soldier. His family members are not political activists. Nor was his home hiding fighters from either side.
In Ibrahim’s own words, translated from Arabic to English.
https://alistairreignblog.com/2016/05/04/yemen-look-into-their-faces-then-try-to-turn-a-blind-eye/
cp5 Nordjemen und Huthis / Northern Yemen and Houthis
8.5.2016 – Fars News (A K P)
Ansarullah Furious at US Military Build-up in Yemen
Ansarullah Movement's Spokesman Mohammad Abdsulsalam strongly condemned the US for dispatching its military servicemen to a military base in Lahij province in Southern Yemen.
"The presence of the US soldiers in Yemen is blatant violation of Yemen's national sovereignty," Ansarullah Movement's Spokesman Mohammad Abdulsalam wrote on his Twitter account on Sunday and in reaction to the deployment of the US troops in Southern Yemen.
He underlined that the Ansarullah movement condemns the US deployment in Southern Yemen.
Abdulsalam underlined that the occupying forces should leave Yemen and take their military hardware with them.
"When we declared that Al-Qaeda and the ISIL are present in the Southern parts of Yemen and the Yemeni army should take the responsibility to confront them, (fugitive President) Mansour Hadi and Riyadh denied the same; now who is going to be accountable," Ansarullah spokesman said.
In a relevant development on Saturday, Ansarullah in a statement condemned the US deployment in the Southern parts of Yemen.
"This action is in line with Washington's colonial goals and is blatant aggression against Yemen," part of the statement read.
The statement reiterated that the Yemeni people irrespective of their political inclinations are against the US troops' deployment in their country.
"The UN and world countries should not remain silent about the US military intervention in Yemen," it added.
The statement described the US redeployment of special forces in Southern Yemen a dangerous move at a time when political efforts and peace talks are underway in Kuwait for putting an end to war and suffering of the Yemeni people
Ansarullah's statement came after the US Army deployed 100 special forces in Southern Yemen.
http://en.farsnews.com/newstext.aspx?nn=13950219001318
8.5.2016 – NasserArrabyee (A P)
American invaders Must be defeated, SaidYemen acting President N patrol security graduation ceremony N Sanaa2day
https://twitter.com/narrabyee/status/729367690519924737
8.5.2016 – Almanar (A K P)
Yémen: Ansarullah prêt à contrer l’occupant et ses agents
L’équipe du site politique d’Ansarullah a commenté l’infiltration américaine au sud du Yémen en affirmant : « Les Américains ont fait exploser leur destroyer USS Cole sur les côtes d’Aden en 2000 pour s’en servir comme prétexte afin d’occuper le Yémen. Ils sont alors commencés à arriver à Aden, mais ils ont été contraints de faire marche arrière face au plan coranique opposé à la politique américaine brandi par le grand martyr Hussein al-Houthi ».
Saleh Sammad a ajouté que « les Américains ont alors mandaté leurs agents pour faire face à ce plan afin d’occuper le Yémen. Une fois voué à l’échec, ils ont poussé leurs outils dans la région, dont à leur tête l’Arabie, pour faire face au plan coranique qui a longtemps protégé le Yémen face à toute occupation ».
Et de rappeler comment « les Marines ont fui alors Sanaa et la base d’AlAnad pour ne pas s’affronter aux forces yéménites croyantes. Une fois rassurée de la non présence des forces yéménites dans certaines régions du sud du Yémen, ils sont revenus. Raison pour laquelle, il est d’une nécessité que le peuple yéménite perçoit la nature de ce complot et s’apprête à contrer l’occupation sous toutes ses formes internes et directes ».
« L’initiative est aujourd’hui dans les mains des yéménites, d’où la nécessité d’en profiter avant que les Américains n’écrasent le peuple. Les conséquences seront alors douloureuses et semblables à celles ayant frappé l’Irak et l’Afghanistan qui souffrent jusqu’au nos jours des effets de cette occupation, bien que les Américains prétendent qu’ils s’y sont retirés », a encore expliqué M.Sammad.
http://french.almanar.com.lb/adetails.php?eid=301937&cid=76&fromval=1
7.5.2016 – Iran Daily (A K P)
Houthis condemn US troops deployment to Yemen
Yemen’s Houthi fighters in a statement condemned the deployment of US troops to their country, threatened to fight with all means the US and UAE presence in southern Yemen.
The statement posted online said the move is part of an American plot to occupy, plunder and partition Yemen.
http://www.iran-daily.com/News/150937.html
7.5.2016 – Fight Back News (A K P)
Yemen’s Revolutionary Committee vows U.S./Saudi occupation “will be met with resistance”
In a May 7 report, the authoritative Middle East news outlet Al Manar is reporting that Yemen’s Revolutionary Committee, which plays an important role in leading the country’s national democratic forces, has released a statement denouncing the deployment of U.S. troops in Yemen.
"The free Yemeni people with all its tribes, popular committees and army refuse the presence of foreign forces on its territory, as it consider the U.S. presence a clear colonization," the statement said.
"Once again we affirm that the presence of U.S., UAE and other forces is an occupation aimed at spoiling our country and wealth," the statement added, stressing that this occupation will be met with resistance by all means.
The U.S. Defense Department is stating the number of troops sent is small; but the U.S. is rushing arms to the Saudis, refueling their aircraft and supplying intelligence.
7.5.2016 – Yemen News (A P)
Free Political PRISONERS: Activists in #Yemen paint faces for 100s opposing politicians illegally jailed by Houthis.
https://twitter.com/YemenPostNews/status/729006278165532674
cp6 Südjemen und Hadi-Regierung / Southern Yemen and Hadi-government
8.5.2016 – Nasser Arrabyee (A T)
Yemen Qaeda/ISIS Killed now 2 senior security Officials Abdullah Awalaki& Nasser Kazmi in Attak Shabwah south
https://twitter.com/narrabyee/status/729265574820384769 and https://twitter.com/narrabyee/status/729265292275224576 (with images)
8.5.2016 – Nasser Arrabyee (A T)
Yemen Qaeda/ISIS Killed police chief of Dar Saad of Aden south where groups increasingly takeover
https://twitter.com/narrabyee/status/729265292275224576 and also https://twitter.com/narrabyee/status/729233208051703808
8.5.2016 – Yemen Post (A)
2 Countries BY FORCE: Southern troops kick out/arrest 1000s of northern #Yemen nationals seeking independent state.
https://twitter.com/YemenPostNews/status/729304275025858560 and see in film: https://twitter.com/alasaadim/status/729322452703129604
8.5.2016 – Nasser Arrabyee (A)
Saudi-backed Militants deporting1000s of northerners from Aden south Yemen after arrival of US expeditionary forces
https://twitter.com/narrabyee/status/729218952656719872
7.5.2016 – Hisham Al-Omeisy (A)
Over 800 rounded up & "deported" out of "legitimate" gov controlled Aden just because they're from north #Yemen
https://twitter.com/omeisy/status/729179069703688192
7.5.2016 – AFP (A T)
Army colonel gunned down in Yemen's Aden
A Yemeni army colonel was gunned down in Aden Saturday in the latest in a spate of assassinations of senior officers that underlines the persistent insecurity in the city.
A gunman riding on the back of a motorcycle killed Colonel Badr al-Yafei in the city's Khormaksar district, which houses diplomatic missions and the airport, a security official told AFP.
7.5.2016 – Nasser Arrabyee (A T)
Yemen Qaeda/ISIS Killed senior military commander Colonel Badr Yafe'e&2 aidesNAden south
https://twitter.com/narrabyee/status/728878487021432833
6.5.2016 – AFP (A T)
Gunmen kill prison chief in Yemen's Aden
Gunmen on Friday killed the chief of the main prison in Yemen's southern port city of Aden where jihadists remain active, a security source said.
Wahab Nejib Ahmed Aoun and a relative were gunned down by two men on a motorbike in the central district of Mansura where the prison is located.
The incident comes a week after a similar attack claimed the life of a police colonel in the city.
This method of attack is often used by al Qaeda
http://zeenews.india.com/news/world/gunmen-kill-prison-chief-in-yemens-aden_1882857.html = http://www.albawabaeg.com/86998
cp7 UNO und Friedensgespräche / UN and peace talks
8.5.2016 – Xinhua (A K P)
Houthi delegates walk out of Yemen peace talks in protest against Saudi-led airstrike
Yemen's Shiite Houthi delegation on Sunday pulled out of peace talks sponsored by the United Nations in Kuwait in protest against a Saudi-led coalition airstrike that they said killed seven of their followers.
An official with the Houthi group said that "Houthi delegates in Kuwait and their allies of former President Ali Abdullah Saleh's General People's Congress Party withdrew from today (Sunday) talks in protest of the massive ceasefire breach, which is the airstrike in Nihm."
The setback came as Houthi spokesman Abdulsalam Mohammed said on his twitter account that: "Seven of our followers were killed and 13 others wounded in five airstrikes on Sunday on Nihm district."
"That is a clear violation to what had been agreed upon to cease all military actions," he added.
Nihm is located about 30 km northeast of the Houthi-held capital Sanaa. Saudi-backed government forces have been stationing in major parts of Nihm since they advanced early this year to prepare to retake the capital by force once the peace talks failed.
In the meantime, the government delegation, for its part, accused the Houthis of shelling loyal forces in Nihm on Sunday, in addition to continuing shelling on neighborhoods of the southern Taiz city, which has been under a year-long siege by Houthi and Saleh fighters.
The shaky cease-fire has been largely held since it went into effect on April 10, between the internationally recognized government of President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi and their foes Houthi militia and Saleh's group.
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2016-05/09/c_135343251.htm
8.5.2016 – The Peninsula Qatar (A K P)
Yemeni talks to continue Sunday in Kuwait: UN official
UN Special Envoy to Yemen Ismail Ould Cheikh Ahmed affirmed that the Kuwait-hosted, UN-mediated Yemeni peace talks will continue to be held on Sunday.
In a press statement released late Saturday, the envoy stressed the importance of these talks to share different points of view and resolve issues to end the war in Yemen.
Meanwhile, he called on all clashing parties to take into consideration the suffering of Yemeni citizens who are affected by the current conflict.
Yesterday, a source close to Ismail Ould Cheikh Ahmed had denied reports about alleged suspension of the peace talks. "It is normal that consultations
sessions could undergo some difficulties, but they are proceeding," he added.
The Yemeni peace consultations are proceeding, the source told (KUNA) news agency, denying media reports about a decision to suspend the talks.
tatement came in response reports that the UN Envoy has decided to suspend the Intra-Yemeni talks over differences among negotiators over the issues on the agenda.
8.5.2016 – Albawaba (A K P)
Yemen peace talks continue in Kuwait despite tension
A source close to the UN Special Envoy to Yemen, Ismail Ould Cheikh Ahmed, has denied reports about alleged suspension of Kuwait-hosted, UN-mediated Yemeni peace talks.
The Yemeni peace consultations are proceeding, the source told KUNA, denying media reports about a decision to suspend the talks.
"It is normal that consultations sessions could undergo some difficulties, but they are proceeding," he clarified.
The statement came in response to reports that the UN Envoy had decided to suspend the intra-Yemeni talks over differences among negotiators over the issues on the agenda.
Earlier, Yemeni negotiators held a second session of peace talks for the seventh day in a row in a bid to find a solution to the Yemeni crisis.
The delegations, which represent the Yemeni government, the General People's Congress, and Houthi movement, focused on a host of political, security, and economic issues. They exchanged views on a UN-proposed general framework for a comprehensive peace settlement.
http://www.albawaba.com/news/yemen-peace-talks-continue-kuwait-despite-tension-837694
8.5.2016 – Reuters (A K P)
Yemen peace talks struggle as air strikes shake truce
Yemen's Houthi movement accused a Saudi-led coalition of launching air strikes that killed seven people on Sunday, shaking a truce that has largely held through more than two weeks of U.N.-backed peace talks in Kuwait.
The Iran-allied Houthis and Yemen's Saudi-backed exiled government are trying to broker a peace through the talks in Kuwait and ease a humanitarian crisis in the Arabian Peninsula's poorest country.
"The aggressor's planes bombed various districts in the Nehm district, leading to the death of seven martyrs and wounding three," the Houthis said in a statement.
Political sources from the Houthi group's rivals in Yemen's government say the bombing in the Nehm area east of the capital Sanaa was directed at Houthi forces that were massing in the area in violation of a ceasefire that began on April 10.
In a further setback to talks after Sunday's events, Houthi representatives refused to attend a meeting with U.N. Yemen envoy Ismail Ould Cheikh Ahmed, a statement from the office of Yemen's prime minister said.
The meetings of the joint committees have as a result been indefinitely postponed, pan-Arab al Arabiya television reported.
http://www.reuters.com/article/us-yemen-security-talks-idUSKCN0XZ0HR = https://www.yahoo.com/news/yemen-peace-talks-struggle-air-strikes-shake-truce-132427654.html
8.5.2016 – Tasnim News (A K P)
End to Saudi Attacks, Prerequisite for Success in Yemen Talks: Ansarullah
In order for Yemen’s peace talks in Kuwait to succeed, Saudi-led forces must halt aggression against Yemen and completely lift blockade on the country, a member of the Houthi Ansarullah movement stressed.
Speaking to the Tasnim News Agency, Aamer Shane’e, a top member of the Yemeni movement in the UN-brokered peace talks in Kuwait, said the ongoing negotiations to resolve the Yemeni crisis will yield results only if Saudi Arabia ends aggression against the country and lift the blockade on it.
He also emphasized the necessity for a cut in supports for mercenaries and al-Qaeda-linked militants in Yemen for success in the peace talks.
If Saudis give an assurance that they will not take aggressive action against Yemen anymore, then the Yemeni military force and voluntary fighters will contemplate pulling out of the Saudi territories they have succeeded to capture, he stressed.
Ansarullah says while the negotiations are underway in Kuwait, the Saudi-led coalition is still bombarding Yemen’s various regions, like the southwestern province of Taiz.
7.5.2016 – Irna, ABNA (A K P)
UN-Sondergesandter für Jemen: Saudische Luftwaffe bombardiert Zivilisten
Am gestrigen Freitag sagte Valad Scheich Ahmad auf dieser Sitzung über die humanitäre Lage im Jemen: "Millionen sind im Jemen von massiven und hartnäckigen Luftangriffen der saudischen Armee betroffen; ein Beispiel dafür ist die Bombardierung des 9. Stadtbezirks am 27. Februar 2015 in Sanaa, wobei 30 Zivilisten ums Leben kamen und duzende weitere verletzt wurden." Er forderte den Weltsicherheitsrat auf, die saudische Regierung unter Druck zu setzen, um dadurch jemenitische Bürger zu unterstützen und den Weg für humanitäre Hilfe für die Menschen im ganzen Land zu öffnen sowie die Bedingungen für die Wiederaufnahme der Friedensverhandlungen zu schaffen.
http://de.abna24.com/service/middle-east/archive/2016/05/08/752792/story.html
7.5.2016 – Pars Today (A P)
Russland: Drei Kommitees zur Lösung der Jemen-Krise in der UNO gegründet
Die Sprecherin des russischen Außenministeriums Maria Sacharowa zufolge sind laut Initiative der UNO drei Arbeitsgruppen in den Bereichen Sicherheit, Politik und Austausch von Kriegsgefangenen zur Lösung der Jemenkrise gegründet worden.
8.5.2016 – AFP (A K P)
UN envoy bids to break Yemen peace talks impasse
The U.N. special envoy to Yemen held talks Sunday with the country's warring parties in a bid to break an impasse, a day after the government pulled out of direct negotiations.
Ismail Ould Cheikh Ahmed held separate morning talks in Kuwait City with delegates, and plenary or committees' meetings were planned in the afternoon, spokesman for the U.N. envoy Charbel Raji said.
Yemen's government Saturday pulled out of direct negotiations with representatives of the Huthi rebels after there were no signs of any progress.
A source close to the government delegation said the talks had reached a delicate stage after "the rebels backtracked to the starting point."
"That has complicated the situation," the source told AFP, requesting anonymity.
The rebels and their allies have demanded the formation of a consensus transitional government before forging ahead with other issues that require them to surrender arms and withdraw from territories they occupied in 2014.
7.5.2016 – Middle East Eye and AFP (* A K P)
Yemen government delegates pull out of direct peace talks
Yemen's government delegation pulled out of direct negotiations with representatives of the Houthi rebels on Saturday after there was no sign of progress, a member of the delegation said.
UN envoy Ismail Ould Cheikh Ahmed will now have to go back to indirect negotiations in the talks that began in Kuwait on 21 April.
But after two unproductive meetings on Saturday, "direct talks are suspended" and the UN mediator must resume separate consultations with the two sides, the government official said, blaming the Houthis for the impasse.
The rebels "went back on their word" to discuss substantive issues in three joint working groups formed under UN auspices, he said.
The working groups exchanged views on resolving political and security issues and the release of prisoners and detainees, in accordance with UN Security Council Resolution 2216.
This orders the rebels to withdraw from territory they have taken since 2014 and to surrender heavy weaponry they had seized.
However, the delegation from the rebels and their allies was demanding "prior agreement on the establishment of a transitional executive body", the government official said.
In a statement on the sabanews website, a rebel delegate said the three joint teams will resume work "after an agreement on the form of the state and the transitional authority".
Without such an agreement, the talks were "a waste of time" said the rebel delegate, adding that President Abedrabbo Mansour Hadi's government was "an adversary and it is unacceptable that he embodies the state".
http://www.middleeasteye.net/news/yemen-government-delegates-pull-out-direct-peace-talks-1747898485 and https://www.yahoo.com/news/yemen-direct-peace-talks-suspended-again-government-185624452.html
Comment: Something like that was to expect. UN Security Council Resolution 2216 brings all peace negotiations to a fail, again and again, For the Hadi government side, just a de faccto capitulation of the Houthis is „progress“.
7.5.2016 – Saba News (A P)
National delegation demands Riyadh's delegation to agree on roadmap, consensual authority
A joint session of talks was held Saturday in Kuwait between the national delegation and Riyadh’s delegation under the auspices of the UN envoy to Yemen.
At the meeting, the national delegation asked Riyadh’s delegation to agree on a time-bound roadmap and a consensual authority.
During the session, the national delegation pointed to the arrival of US troops in southern Yemen and Al-Anad airbase, as well as the military reinforcements and the continued escalation of the aggression and its mercenaries.
“What is your position from the US forces at military bases in Yemen? Do these forces take permission from you? "the national delegation questioned Riyadh’s delegation.
Riyadh's delegation denied any presence of US forces in Yemen, describing those forces as belonging to the Saudi-led coalition.
The national delegation also touched on the suffering of Yemeni passengers and the obstacles they face at the Saudi and Jordanian airports.
http://www.sabanews.net/en/news427132.htm
Comment: here: „ational delegation“ = Houthi / Saleh delegation; „Riyadh’s delegation“ = Hadi government delegation.
7.5.2016 – Almasdar News (A K P)
Saudi-backed Hadi delegation objects to the stoppage of airstrikes in Yemen
The Saudi-backed delegation loyal to exiled Yemeni president, ‘Abd Rubbah Mansour Hadi, has reportedly objected to the Ansarallah delegation’s demands that all airstrikes must be halted. Ansarallah’s delegation has repeatedly demanded that Saudi Arabia cease its destructive airstrikes over Yemen, unless they were to target Al-Qaeda and the Islamic State of Iraq and Al-Sham (ISIS). When Saudi Arabia conducts airstrikes in Yemen, they rarely hit Al-Qaeda and ISIS groups in the southeastern part of the country.
Ansarallah’s delegation has repeatedly demanded that Saudi Arabia cease its destructive airstrikes over Yemen, unless they were to target Al-Qaeda and the Islamic State of Iraq and Al-Sham (ISIS). When Saudi Arabia conducts airstrikes in Yemen, they rarely hit Al-Qaeda and ISIS groups in the southeastern part of the country.
https://www.almasdarnews.com/article/saudi-backed-hadi-delegation-objects-stoppage-airstrikes-yemen/
Comment: That clearly means they officially refuse to keep the ceasefire.
7.5.2016 – Nasser Arrabyee (B P)
Yemen conflict Is not,has never been,sectarian as portrayed by US&Saudis Foes togetherNKuwait mosque last Friday
https://twitter.com/narrabyee/status/728947233106890752
cp8 Saudi-Arabien / Saudi Arabia
7.5.2016 – Washington Post (* A P)
Saudi King Shakes Up Government as Economic Plan Moves Forward
Troubled by low oil prices and unsettled by a hostile landscape in the Middle East heightened by a growing rivalry with Iran, Saudi Arabia is moving to chart an ambitious new direction for the kingdom.
In a series of sweeping royal decrees announced Saturday, King Salman replaced top ministers and restructured government bodies, the first concrete steps in a bold plan to reduce the country’s heavy dependence on oil, diversify its economy and improve its citizens’ quality of life.
The decrees, which included a restructuring of the oil ministry and the replacement of its longtime minister, Ali al-Naimi, set in motion a plan that was announced last month to great fanfare by the king’s son Mohammed bin Salman, the deputy crown prince. Prince Mohammed has emerged over the last year as a significant influence in Saudi Arabia, overseeing economic and oil policy and heading the Defense Ministry, despite being only about 30.
The moves announced Saturday amount to a significant restructuring of the government at a difficult time for the kingdom – by Ben Hubbard and Clifford Krauss
http://www.nytimes.com/2016/05/08/world/middleeast/saudi-arabia-government-shake-up.html
5.2016 - Delegation of the European Union in Saudi-Arabia (* A P)
Europe Month in Saudi Arabia May 2016
Comment: What is that??? A European Good-Will-Tour to Veiling-Women-Country? For instance, look at the pretty ladies performing in the residences of the Polish and the French ambassadors.
cp9 USA
8.5.2016 – Hussian Albukhaiti ( K P)
#US army is building a prison in Alanad airbase N #Aden S #Taiz #Yemen Will it b like Abu ghraib 0r Guantanamo
https://twitter.com/HussainBukhaiti/status/729306547147448321
8.5.2016 – Press TV Iran (* A K T)
US marines in Yemen to strengthen Saudi hand in war: Analyst
Press TV has conducted an interview with Derek Ford, a scholar and professor from Philadelphia, to discuss the arrival of 200 US marines in the Yemeni port city of Mukalla under the pretext of battling al-Qaeda militants in the impoverished country.
The following is a rough transcription of the interview.
Press TV: What are these people doing there? I mean these 200 US marines.
Ford: That is a good question; it has a complicated answer because on the one hand Saudi Arabia has absolutely no existential conflict with al-Qaeda. In fact there is a long detailed documented history of cooperation between the two entities of course [dating] back to the 9/11 attacks on the World Trade Towers and the Pentagon in 2001. So, the idea that Saudi Arabia has liberated this port city from al-Qaeda is somewhat absurd and also it is important to note that there wasn’t really a battle.
There were negotiations that took place and they were allowed to retreat and regroup. So, under like three dozen people died during this process and so I think that the reason why the United States is there has to do one as a sort of publicity front for popular consumption and I think it is cynical to say that but that is ultimately the reality that the United States has been under a lot of pressure to explain an account for its very close ties to the Saudi government especially with the recent push to declassify the 28 pages of the congressional inquiry on 9/11 which documents and evidences the Saudi government’s cooperation with al-Qaeda and the role in the attacks.
So I think that the United States sort of has to be seen as doing something against al-Qaeda and also in terms of the larger geopolitical context, it is perfectly in line with the United States overall agenda to have more forces in West Asia very close to North Africa.
Press TV: What can you tell us about the timing of the dispatch of these US marines over there?
Ford: Definitely it has a lot do with ongoing peace talks or because the Saudi government and the war in Yemen has been a complete and utter failure and Saudi Arabia as I think is looking for a way out and is looking for a way to strengthen it hand for any negotiated withdrawal or negotiated cessation of conflict and I think this again as a sort of PR move puts the Saudi government and its allies like the United States on something of a better footing for that and also as I said it definitely has to do with the fact that the United States has come under a lot of scrutiny for its relationship with Saudi Arabia over the last couple of weeks.
http://www.presstv.ir/Detail/2016/05/08/464548/Yemen-Mukalla-US-marines-Saudi-Arabia/
7.5.2016 -Military.com (* A K T)
American Troops in Yemen Signals Deepening US Involvement in Mideast
A small team of U.S. troops was on the ground in Yemen and Navy ships with Marinesaboard were offshore to support friendly forces against an al-Qaeda offshoot as the U.S. deepened its involvement in yet another Mideast civil war, the Pentagon said Friday.
Capt. Jeff Davis, a Pentagon spokesman, declined to say how many U.S. troops were in Yemen near the port city of Mukalla, a former stronghold of the al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula terror group, or whether they were Special Forces.
Davis said it was a "very small team" that had been sent into Yemen two weeks ago and was expected to be withdrawn soon. "We view this as short term," he said.
In addition, the U.S. has been conducting anti-terror airstrikes in Yemen against the terror organization apart from the effort to assist local forces on the ground, Davis said. Four airstrikes since April 23 had killed an estimated 10 fighters, he said.
The amphibious assault ship USS Boxer, lead ship for an amphibious ready group with Marines from the 13th Marine Expeditionary Unit aboard, and two Arleigh Burke-class guided missile destroyers, the USS Gravely and the USS Gonzalez, were also positioned off Mukalla, Davis said.
The troops on the ground and the ships offshore together were providing "airborne intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance, advice and assistance with operational planning, maritime interdiction and security operations, medical support and aerial refueling," Davis said.
At a Pentagon briefing, the spokesman was vague on the mission of the troops but stressed that they were not advising and assisting friendly forces much like similar teams embedded in Iraq and Syria.
After some back and forth with reporters on the semantics of how to characterize the troops, Davis said it was appropriate to call them an "intelligence support team. We have a small number of people who have been providing intelligence support."
Davis said that the U.S. troops were supporting forces of the United Arab Emirates, but in a sign of the complexity of Yemen's civil war, forces of Yemen's embattled government and troops from Saudi Arabia were also involved in the drive to oust al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula from Mukalla.
The Saudi Embassy in Washington said in a statement "Saudi forces are also on the ground alongside the UAE forces in Mukalla and that it is a Saudi-led Arab Coalition that is fighting AQAP alongside the U.S. military contingent on the ground." - by Richard Sisk
7.5.2016 – Vanessa Beeley (A P)
Scholars Association warns people to be vigilant and prepared to challenge US soldiers on Yemeni soil.
https://www.facebook.com/vanessa.beeley/posts/10155114401743868?fref=nf
7.5.2016 – Hussain Albukhaiti (A K T)
-200 #US Marines wth full combat gear inc armoured vehicles in Mukala Hadramout S #Yemen -Roosevelt aircraft carrier entered gulf of #Aden
https://twitter.com/HussainBukhaiti/status/729043566534787075
Comment: They are getting more and more... And propaganda downplays this US interference by speaking of just a few – as in the beginning of the Vietnam war as well.
7.5.2016 – FAZ u.a. (A K T)
Amerika schickt wieder Soldaten in den Jemen
Nach mehr als einem Jahr Unterbrechung sind die amerikanischen Streitkräfte wieder mit Soldaten im Bürgerkriegsland Jemen vertreten. Eine „sehr kleine Zahl“ von Armeeangehörigen sei an der Seite arabischer Einsatzkräfte in der Hafenstadt Mukalla stationiert, sagte ein Sprecher des Verteidigungsministeriums in Washington. Die Präsenz der Vereinigten Staaten am Boden begründete der Sprecher damit, „dass es nicht in unserem Interesse ist, dass eine Terrororganisation Kontrolle über eine Hafenstadt ausübt“.
6.5.2016 – The Guardian (A K T)
US military admits troops are operating inside Yemen to combat al-Qaida
Defense department publicly acknowledges for the first time that US troops are aiding Yemen’s government to fight al-Qaida affiliated forces
The US military has for the first time publicly acknowledged that US troops are operating inside Yemen to help the country’s government and a Saudi-backed coalition confront al-Qaida affiliated forces.
Defense department spokesman Navy captain Jeff Davis said on Friday that a “very small number” of military personnel has in recent weeks been working with Yemeni and Arab Coalition forces to push al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) fighters from the port city of Mukalla.
The Pentagon has stepped up air strikes against the jihadists in the war-torn country, Davis said.
“This is of great interest to us. It does not serve our interests to have a terrorist organization in charge of a port city, and so we are assisting in that,” the spokesman added.
He said the troops were helping Emirati forces with “intelligence support”, but declined to say if they are special operations forces.
While the number of US personnel on the ground is limited, the US is also offering an array of assistance to partners in Yemen, including air-to-air refueling capabilities, surveillance, planning, maritime security and medical help.
The US Navy also has several ships nearby, including an amphibious assault ship called the USS Boxer and two destroyers.
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/may/06/yemen-al-qaida-us-troops and by Deutsche Welle http://www.dw.com/en/pentagon-admits-to-us-troops-in-yemen/a-19240952 and see also US Command media release (as circulating in the internet): https://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=1021285097924520&id=961126490607048
6.5.2016 – Reuters (A K T)
Small U.S. military team in Yemen to aid UAE push on al Qaeda
The U.S. military said on Friday it had deployed a very small number of forces to Yemen to offer intelligence support for the United Arab Emirate's so far successful push on the ground against al Qaeda's most dangerous affiliate.
Around 2,000 Yemeni and Emirati troops advanced into the seaport of Mukalla late last month, taking control of its port and airport and meeting little resistance in what had been a stronghold of al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP).
Reuters was first to report UAE's planning for the offensive and its far-reaching request for U.S. assistance.
Pentagon spokesman Captain Jeff Davis told a news briefing the U.S. military had so far provided everything from intelligence support and advice and assistance with operational planning to medical support and aerial refueling.
It was also dedicating airborne intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance assets to support the Gulf ally's push.
"AQAP remains a significant security threat to the United States and to our regional partners and we welcome this effort to specifically remove AQAP from Mukalla and to degrade, disrupt and destroy AQAP in Yemen," Davis said.
The deployment of American personnel to support UAE in this limited operation could show increasing U.S. willingness to re-engage on the ground – by Phil Stewart
http://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-yemen-pentagon-idUSKCN0XX1ZJ
Comment: They are simply pushing Al Qaeda here and there. Who remembers the airplanes from Turkish Airlines, last year, landing in Aden with IS fighters? Check the news, if you don´t. All this is the result of a will to break Yemen. Who pays the price? Yemenis, of course
https://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=1021015047951525&id=961126490607048
6.5.2016 – Military Times (* A K P T)
U.S. reveals troops on the ground in Yemen
A “small number” of U.S troops are deployed on the ground in Yemen to help fight the al-Qaida affiliate there that was controlling a major port city, a defense official said Friday.
A Pentagon spokesman declined to say how many U.S. troops are there supporting operations led by the Yemeni military and the United Arab Emirates around the port city of Mukalla.
“We have a small number of people who have been providing intelligence support,” the spokesman, Navy Capt. Jeff Davis, told reporters Friday.
The U.S. troops deployed about two weeks ago and are at a “fixed location” providing intelligence support as well as “airborne [intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance], advice and assistance with operational planning, maritime interdiction and security operations, medical support and aerial refueling,” Davis said
“We view this as short term,” Davis said of the deployments, noting that AQAP has mostly withdrawn from the city after an attack in late April by about 2,000 Yemeni and Emirati troops.
“This is specifically about routing AQAP from Mukalla, and that has largely occurred,” Davis said.
The deployment marks the first time the Pentagon has publicly disclosed deployment of U.S. troops to Yemen in more than a year.
Additional U.S. support for the Mukalla operations is provided by the amphibious assault ship Boxer, which is staged off the coast of Yemen with about 4,500 Marines from the 13th Marine Expeditionary Unit. The ship is providing medical support to the Emirate troops, Davis said.
Davis said the mission in Yemen is not an “advise and assist” mission like those underway in Iraq and Syria. Instead it would “fall into the category of intelligence support.”
“This is really about the liaison to us for information,” Davis said – by Andrew Tilghman
http://www.militarytimes.com/story/military/2016/05/06/us-reveals-boots-ground-yemen/84024498/
6.5.2016 – RT (* A K T)
US 'boots on the ground' now in Yemen - Pentagon
In addition to helping the Saudi-led coalition invading Yemen, the US has a deployed a small number of troops on the ground to battle Al-Qaeda militants around a key port city, the Pentagon has admitted. A US Navy task force is also on station nearby.
The US military has been “providing limited support” to the coalition led by Saudi Arabia in the fight against Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP), Navy Captain Jeff Davis, a Pentagon spokesman, told reporters Friday.
While Davis would not disclose the number of troops or their location, Pentagon officials confirmed that the US force was deployed near the near the city of Al-Mukalla, a port in the southern Hadramaut region of Yemen under AQAP control.
The US is providing “intelligence, maritime support, airborne intelligence surveillance and reconnaissance, aerial refueling, and medical aid” to forces loyal to the Saudi-backed government in Yemen, as well as Saudi and Emirati forces engaged around Al-Mukalla, The Washington Post reported.
These operations are separate from the Saudi-led campaign against the Houthi rebels, which began in March last year. The US has assisted the Saudis with mid-air refueling and “some reconnaissance capabilities,” Pentagon officials said.
In addition to unspecified ground forces, the US Navy has an Amphibious Ready Group (ARG) off the coast of Yemen, providing medical support. The group consists of the 13th Marine Expeditionary Unit, the USS Boxer amphibious assault carrier, and the two Arleigh Burke-class guided missile destroyers, USS Gravely and USS Gonzalez. It set sail from San Diego on February 12.
http://linkis.com/www.rt.com/usa/5O2mL
6.5.2016 – Washington Post (* A K T)
U.S. forces now on the ground supporting combat operations in Yemen, Pentagon says
Col. Patrick Ryder, a spokesman for U.S. Central Command, said the United States was helping the Arab forces plan operations as part of its “limited” mission in and around Mukalla.
“We welcome operations undertaken by Yemeni Forces, with the support of Arab Coalition Forces, to liberate the Yemeni port city of Mukalla from control by al- Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP),” Ryder said in an email.
A U.S. official, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive operations, said that the U.S. presence, approved at the request of the United Arab Emirates, was “way small.”
Even a tiny military footprint marks a milestone for U.S. involvement in the Yemeni conflict, which brought an end a year and a half ago to a long-running U.S. mission there against AQAP.
The new American advisory team will support the Emirati troops and Yemeni forces loyal to the old government as they seek to capitalize on recent headway against AQAP in Mukalla, which was seized by militants last year. Saudi Special Operations forces have also been taking part in the campaign against AQAP around Mukalla.
Ilan Goldenberg, a senior fellow at the Center for a New American Security, said the U.S. presence would reinforce an encouraging trend. “This is exactly the type of [situation] where a little bit of American support goes a long way,” he said.
President Obama’s preference for using small Special Operations teams to conduct targeted operations or advise partner forces has been a hallmark of his global security strategy.
Military officials declined to say what type of U.S. personnel were on the ground in Yemen or provide their exact location. “They are not in harm’s way,” the U.S. official said. - By Thomas Gibbons-Neff and Missy Ryan
6.5.2016 – Hussain Albukhaiti (A K T)
#USA force build up n #Yemen 15 Apache &5 black hawk #US army helicopters arrivd n AlAnad airbase N #Aden S #Taiz in support2 #Saudi #UAE CO
https://twitter.com/HussainBukhaiti/status/728603534212616192
6.5.2016 – Yemen Real News (A K T)
About 15 Apache copter and 5 Black Hawk belonging to the American army, have just arrived to Al-Anad airbase at Lahj province of Yemen.
https://www.facebook.com/yemen.crisis/posts/603910759775164 see also at https://www.facebook.com/Classy.Yemeni/posts/825118327618350
6.5.2016 – Huffington Post (* A P)
Saudi Prince Urges American Voters To ‘Make The Right Choice’ On Donald Trump
The irony of a member of Saudi’s monarchy offering election advice wasn’t lost on Prince Turki.
With carefully chosen words, Prince Turki al-Faisal, a former ambassador to the U.S., warned against a Trump presidency. “For the life of me, I cannot believe that a country like the United States can afford to have someone as president who simply says, ‘These people are not going to be allowed to come to the United States,’” Turki said on Thursday evening, referring to Trump’s proposal to ban Muslims from entering the country.
“It’s up to you, it’s not up to me,” Turki continued, speaking at a Washington Institute For Near East Policy dinner hosted at the Mandarin Oriental hotel. “I just hope you, as American citizens, will make the right choice in November.”
The former top Saudi intelligence chief is known for his close relationships with U.S. officials and his ability to charm an American audience, even as the United States grows more critical of the Gulf state’s dismal human rights record at home and high-casualty war in Yemen.
“When we have elections in Saudi Arabia, you can vote there too,” Prince Turki assured the crowd, a self-aware joke at his own country’s undemocratic monarchical system of governance – by Jessica Schulberg
6.5.2016 – Human Rights Watch (* A K P)
Dispatch: US Contradictions on Landmines and Cluster Munitions
In UN resolutions, statements, and media interviews, the United States often expresses concern about people killed by landminesand cluster munitions, which disperse explosive submunitions. The US also talks about its contributions as the world’s largest mine clearance donor. Yet current US policy on landmines and cluster munitions prevents Washington from signing on to the widely-accepted international treaties banning these weapons.
The US still produces, exports, and uses cluster munitions. While the US stopped the export, production, and acquisition of antipersonnel landmines, it still retains landmines for use on the Korean Peninsula.
Since 2007, US export law has prohibited recipients of US cluster munitions from using them where people live and farm. Yet for the past year, Saudi Arabia has repeatedly used US cluster munitions in and near civilian areas of Yemen, killing and wounding civilians. The export law also prohibits the export of cluster munitions if more than one percent of the weapons’ submunitions fail to explode upon impact. However, visual evidence and witness accounts in a new Human Rights Watch report show how CBU-105 Sensor Fuzed Weapons, manufactured by Rhode Island-based company Textron and used by Saudi Arabia in Yemen, delivered submunitions that have failed to disperse from the canister or disperse but fail to explode.
“How many generations are going to continue to die because these [cluster munitions and landmines] were used?” Senator Leahy asks. It’s time for Obama, as commander-in-chief of the US armed forces, to tell the Pentagon to end its use of landmines in Korea. He should also stop US production, transfer, and use of all cluster munitions, including CBU-105 Sensor Fuzed Weapons, so that the US can join the 2008 Convention on Cluster Munitions. - by Mary Wareham
https://www.hrw.org/news/2016/05/06/dispatch-us-contradictions-landmines-and-cluster-munitions
cp10 Großbritannien / Great Britain
4.5.2016 – Human Rights Watch (** A K P)
HRW letter to British Foreign Secretary, Philip Hammond
Re: Hammond statement on conduct of Saudi-led coalition
Dear Foreign Secretary,
I am writing to you regarding British government policy towards the war in Yemen and in response to a letter on this same issue that you sent to Stephen Twigg MP, the Chair of the International Development Select Committee. Although this was sent on April 6, it was only posted on-line by the Committee on April 28. Last week, on April 27, four government ministers, including Tobias Ellwood from the Foreign Office, also appeared before the parliamentary committee on arms export control (CAEC) as part of their inquiry into British arms exports and the war in Yemen. Taken together, your letter and their testimony provide the fullest statement to date of the British government’s analysis and policy towards the Yemen conflict.
Drawing on our own field research in Yemen and the best-available information from other credible sources, Human Rights Watch contests several of the claims made by you and your Ministerial colleagues about the conduct of the Saudi-led coalition. Some of the specific claims would appear to be inaccurate; others are seriously misleading. This is not a statement that we make lightly. In this letter, I will illustrate why we have reached this conclusion.
Although the British government continues to deny it, there is overwhelming evidence that the Saudi Arabian-led coalition that you support, including through the supply of £3 billion worth of military weapons and material last year, has conducted strikes in Yemen that have violated the laws of war, including possible war crimes. Human Rights Watch’s own research has specifically identified 43 unlawful strikes by the coalition. At least 670 civilians were killed by these strikes. Human Rights Watch has also identified a further 15 attacks by the coalition involving internationally banned cluster munitions. Amnesty International has identified a further 32 unlawful strikes by the coalition. The United Nations Panel of Experts report, released in January, identified 119 sorties by the Saudi-led coalition which it found to be violations of the laws of war. The Panel concluded that: “the coalition has conducted air strikes targeting civilians and civilian objects, including camps for internally displaced people and refugees; civilian gatherings, including weddings; civilian vehicles, including buses; civilian residential areas; medical facilities; schools; mosques; markets, factories and food storage warehouses; and other essential civilian infrastructure”.
While you have not said this explicitly, the British Government’s position implies that Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International and the UN Panel of Experts have got it wrong in every single case. This is an extraordinary claim, given that our work across the world is regularly cited and commended by the British government for its objectivity and rigour. In the third paragraph of your letter to Stephen Twigg, you say that there is a“considered analysis by MoD of all incidents of alleged IHL [international humanitarian law] violations by the Coalition in Yemen that come to its attention”. Since all of the cases identified by Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International and the UN Panel of Experts have been shared with the FCO (you have had some of this material for over nine months), you appear to be asserting in your letter that each of these cases has been thoroughly investigated by the British government and that the allegations of laws-of-war violations have been dismissed in every instance. But this is not what was said by Ministers before the CAEC. The Defence Minister, Philip Dunne, said it was not for the British government to make conclusions about whether individual strikes had violated the laws of war: this was for the Saudis to determine. By contrast, Mr Ellwood said that cases shared with the FCO were investigated, but he did not know or would not say how many incidents had been looked into or what conclusions the British government had reached in these cases. When asked about a specific incident involving a coalition attack on a ceramics factory in September last year, which involved a British-supplied cruise missile, none of the four Ministers before the CAEC could say whether or not this case had been looked into. Can you confirm whether the British government has investigated this incident and what conclusion has been reached?
Given these conflicting statements, can you clarify the British government’s overall position? Have you investigated the incidents that have been shared with you and what have you concluded in each case? If you have only investigated some of the incidents, how many have been investigated to date and when will you conclude your investigations into the remaining cases? Do your assessments involve site visits, as Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International investigations do? If not, what are your primary sources of information? To what extent are you relying on material provided by the Saudis, a party to the conflict which has an extremely poor record on accountability for rights abuses?
In your letter to Stephen Twigg you also say that the MoD analysis is informed by imagery (presumably from satellites). This is an interesting statement given that Mr Ellwood has been very critical of the UN Panel of Expert Reports for drawing heavily on information from satellites. Mr Ellwood was specifically asked about the UN report before the CAEC. He said that the FCO was looking at it. You have now had this document for nearly four months. When will you conclude your own analysis of the serious claims made in this report?
Towards the end of your letter to Stephen Twigg, you make five specific claims about the conduct of Saudi Arabia in respect to the Yemen conflict. Let me address each of these in turn.
First, you state that “the Saudi-led coalition are not targeting civilians”. But Human Rights Watch and others have identified many cases in which the Saudi-led coalition has attacked markets, hospitals, clinics, schools, factories and wedding parties, as well as private residences. In many of these cases, the attacks failed to discriminate between civilians and combatants or caused disproportionate civilian harm. In other attacks we found no evident military objective in the vicinity and the attacks may have been deliberately attacking civilians. In either case the attacks amounted to serious violations of the laws of war.
Second, you assert that “Saudi Arabian processes and procedures have been put in place to ensure respect for the principles of IHL”. On January 31, the coalition announced the creation of a committee to promote the coalition’s compliance with the laws of war. However, the military spokesman for the coalition specified that the objective of the committee was not to carry out investigations into alleged violations. Since that time there has been no evident reduction in laws-of-war violations by coalition forces.
Third, you assert that “Saudi Arabia is investigating incidents of concern, including those involving civilian casualties”. But to our knowledge the Saudis have not conducted credible investigations into any of these incidents, acknowledged wrongdoing or held anyone to account for violations. This is the view, for example, of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein. Following the coalition airstrike on a market on March 16, 2016, in which at least 97 civilians were killed, Zeid condemned both the “failure of the Coalition forces to take effective actions to prevent the recurrence of such incidents, and to publish transparent, independent investigations into those that have already occurred”. He added that: “despite public promises to investigate such incidents, we have yet to see progress in any such investigations”. How many Saudi investigations into incidents are you claiming have been undertaken and concluded, and what are their findings? And what efforts have you taken to encourage the coalition to make the results of these investigations public?
Fourth, you claim that “Saudi Arabia has throughout engaged in constructive dialogue with the UK about both its processes and incidents of concern”. This is not the view of your Ministerial colleague Tobias Ellwood. He said before the CAEC that he had phoned the Saudi Ambassador to complain that Riyadh was taking too long to investigate incidents, the process was “frustratingly slow” and the Saudi response “had been found wanting”, and he suggested that the Saudi government “needed to put its hands up” about any mistakes made.
Fifth, you state that “Saudi Arabia has been and remains genuinely committed to IHL compliance”. This is a remarkable claim given the reality of ongoing, large-scale violations of the laws of war by the Saudis in Yemen that have continued for over a year, and their refusal to acknowledge these violations or properly investigate them.
While Human Rights Watch and the British government clearly differ sharply in our views about the conduct of the Saudi-led coalition in Yemen, there is one important step that you could take to address concerns about the situation in Yemen and to enhance the prospects for justice and accountability for ordinary Yemenis. That would be to support an international, independent investigation into abuses by all sides to the Yemen conflict. The British government did not back such an investigation when it was proposed by the Dutch government at the September 2015 meeting of the UN Human Rights Council. Given the failure of existing efforts regarding investigations and accountability, I hope that you will now reconsider this position and push for such an initiative. Given that Britain has supported international inquiries in cases such as Syria, Cote D’Ivoire and Sri Lanka, it is hard to see why such a mechanism would not also be appropriate in the case of Yemen.
Thank you for your attention to these important matters. Given the level of media and public interest in this issue, we will post a copy of this letter on our website.
Yours sincerely,
David Mepham, UK Director Human Rights Watch
27.4.2016 – IRIN (* B E K P)
Boom time for British arms exports to Saudi Arabia
UK arms export licences average $11 million per day in 2015
[Interesting infographs]
http://www.irinnews.org/maps-and-graphics/2016/04/27/boom-time-british-arms-exports-saudi-arabia
cp14 Terrorismus / Terrorism
Siehe cp1 Am wichtigsten / See cp1 Most important
7.5.2016 – France 24 (A T)
Video purportedly shows French woman kidnapped in Yemen
A video purportedly showing French-Tunisian Red Cross employee Nourane Houas pleading with French President François Hollande for her life was obtained by FRANCE 24 Friday. Houas was kidnapped in Yemen in early December.
In the short video clip, a pale and visibly distressed Houas, dressed in an all-covering black robe, pleads with French and Yemeni authorities for her life.
"I ask French President François Hollande, the legitimate President of the Republic of Yemen Abd Rabbo Mansour Hadi, the countries of the Arab coalition led by the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and the leaders of the International Committee of the Red Cross in Sanaa and Geneva to save me from near death, as soon as possible, by meeting the demands of my captors because my life and my health are in a very precarious state.”
On the video, Houas states the date of the recording as April 13. She provided no details of her captors or their demands.
http://www.france24.com/en/20160506-yemen-france-kidnapping-video-hostage-hollande and by Reuters http://www.reuters.com/article/us-yemen-security-redcross-idUSKCN0XX1SK
6.5.2016 – Al Araby (A T)
Six killed in attack on Yemen market
Six people were killed when a bomb exploded in a market in Yemen's loyalist-held Marib city on Friday.
The bomb was planted at the entrance of the Qat market – a mild narcotic widely used by locals in Yemen.
The attack, believed to have targeted government forces, killed three soldiers as well as civilians.
A Houthi-affiliated website suggested three bombs had exploded in the market, with the death toll standing at seven, while 15 others were injured.
The blasts were a result of "the chaos in the city which is controlled by militiamen and mercenaries," sabanews said, referring to pro-government forces.
But the news comes as al-Qaeda militants began an operation to withdraw from two cities in Yemen's southern Abyan province on Thursday following tribal mediation to spare destruction.
The militants are expected to completely withdraw from Zinjibar and the nearby city of Jaar within the next week but have warned any attacks would halt the operation.
As part of the deal, weapons are expected to be left behind as the militants pull back towards the mountainous region which separates Abyan from the provinces of Shabwa and Baida, tribal sources said.
"Hundreds of al-Qaeda fighters have begun to hand over to provincial authorities public buildings which they controlled," a tribal mediator told AFP.
Pressure from locals who wanted to spare their cities and homes from destruction forced tribal leaders to mediate and arrive at an appropriate resolution, a tribal elder suggested.
Marib, controlled by government forces, is east of the capital Sanaa which has been under Houthi control since September last year.
https://www.alaraby.co.uk/english/news/2016/5/6/six-killed-in-attack-on-yemen-market
6.5.2016 – Business Standard (A K T)
Recent US strikes in Yemen killed 10 Al-Qaeda operatives
Recent US air strikes in Yemen have killed 10 Al-Qaeda operatives in the war-torn country, a Pentagon official said today.
"We have conducted four counterterrorism strikes against AQAP (Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula) since April 23, killing 10 Al-Qaeda operatives and injuring another," Pentagon spokesman Navy Captain Jeff Davis told reporters.
He added the United States is providing intelligence and a limited number of personnel to United Arab Emirates forces operating in Yemen.
cp15 Propaganda
8.5.2016 – WAM (A H K)
UAE begins aid distribution in Al Mukalla city in Yemen
The UAE has begun sending aid material to Al Mukalla City in Yemen. This is a part of the efforts of the Arab coalition for supporting legitimacy in Yemen to extend humanitarian assistance to the people of Hadramaut, which was recently liberated from the control of the terrorist outfit Al Qaeda.
The first airplane carrying aid for the people of Al Mukalla landed today in Riyan airport. It contained 20 tons of medicines and medical accessories from the UAE Red Crescent. This is aimed at alleviating the sufferings of the people of Al Mukalla, who were facing a brutal siege for several months.
The humanitarian aid from the UAE came as part of the concerted drive to restore the liberated areas of the war-torn country to normalcy, especially in terms of health, education, power, water and sanitation.
The people of Al Mukalla expressed their deep sense of appreciation for the timely humanitarian help from the Arab coalition and the UAE in light of the debilitating challenges facing the country. They stressed that the move by UAE Red Crescent did have a tangible effect on the ground in terms of strengthening the ability of the Yemeni people to deal with the hardships.
The people of Al Mukalla poured out their sincere emotions towards the UAE and its prudent leadership for standing by them during the trying times. They hailed the UAE Red Crescent's outstanding program for ameliorating the plight of the people of the country in diverse spheres of life, including development, health, education, essential services, power and water.
8.5.2016 – The Peninsula Qatar (A P)
Four mistakes in Yemen
Let us go back to May 2012 where the late Abdul Karim Al Aryani, a Yemeni Politician, witnessed all the developments and then chaired the national dialogue committee. Al Aryani announced that Houthis had accepted to be members of the committee assigned to prepare a roadmap paving the way to presidential elections, a parliament and a new constitution to build a civic state.
The acceptance was based upon just the requirements of GCC initiative. This was first mistake committed by the Yemenis and the GCC states who sponsored the initiative. Houthis at that time were neither a political party nor a part of the popular revolution that ousted Saleh. They did not believe in the goal of the revolution because they have their own agenda based on old Zaydi heritage which Yemen overcame after the revolution of 1962.
Somebody could say that politics has its own requirements- it was not possible to refuse these. But how could this happen while the Houthis are still keeping to the same agenda? How could the new roadmap, that aims to build a transparent civic state, be successful while they are partners in this new state, despite still carrying weapons and running sleeper cells in the country, and strengthening the influence they gained during past two years? They had taken control of power and, in collaboration with their ally Saleh,controlled the army, security agency and civic institutions.
We should look at the mistakes that pushed Yemen into this condition,in order not to repeat them. There are four mistakes. The first one was the refusal of the “Arab Spring”,at least in the Yemeni context.
The second mistake was not continuing with the way that was opened after the revolution of 2011. More specifically, I mean the process of democracy and elections. In this regard, the issue that needs to be presented, by Saudi Arabia and GCC states, to the international community, who is pressuring them to stop the war, is the issue of compliance to the UN resolution 2216.
Although the UN resolution 2216 supports the GCC initiative, especially in areas of “political transition”, it requires the election of a president, election of a parliament and preparation of new constitution.
Or perhaps the Western alliance are pressing us to end the war without taking into account the Houthi’s and Ali Saleh’s failure to comply with the UN resolution requirements.
The third mistake is the protection granted to Saleh in the GCC initiative and extended to the influential groups within the government “deep state”. This immunity made Saleh and his group safe and encouraged them to regain power and topple the legitimate government.
The fourth mistake was the marginalisation of the Yemeni Congregation for Reform (Al Islah) which is a mistake that has been remedied wisely by Saudi Arabia and President Hadi by addressing the unjustifiable regional hesitation towards this party. The party was targeted by the Houthis and Saleh who believe that the party clashing with their aims is one of the major political movements in Yemen. - by Jamal Khashoggi, General Manager and Editor-in-Chief of Al Arab News Channel.
http://www.thepeninsulaqatar.com/views/political-views/381241/four-mistakes-in-yemen
Comment: a propaganda piece blaming the Houthis, claiming thjat they should not be part of any peaceful solution in Yemen, and equating the Houthis with the Zaidi monarchy of pre-1962. Not taking intoi account: 1) that in 1962 and following the Saudis themselves had backed this monarchy; b) that it is odd to speculate on a new democratic solution for Yemen when sitting in autocratic Saudi Arabia; c) thinking that the protection granted to Saleh in 2012 has been a mistake, when the Saudis themselves still support a government of Saleh's second and third old cronies (Hadi and Mohsen).
cp16 Saudische Luftangriffe / Saudi air raids
8.5.2016 – Al Masirah TV (A K PH)
Film: Raids Saudi American aggression violated the cease-fire agreement
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E54myV7fSPE
8.5.2016 – Living in Yemen on the Edge (A K PH)
2 Saudi Air raids targeting local cease fire monitoring committee as the committee was about to set up field position with the members of the committee from the enemy side is clear evidence that the aggressors efforts to obstruct the achievement of peace in Yemen. What does the suspicious UN Envoy IOCA say about this flagrant violation of the Ceasefire that never saw light since it's starting date of April 11, 2016? Asolutely nothing. Of course UNSC alarmed, but then so what?
https://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=1022187101167653&id=961126490607048
8.5.2016 – Yemen Post (A K)
New MASSACRE: 7 civilians killed when Saudi airstrike attacked public area in suburb of #Yemen capital Sanaa (Nihm).
https://twitter.com/YemenPostNews/status/729338313891532800
8.5.2016 – Nasser Arrabyee (A K PH)
About 20 Yemenis Killed 2day by US-backed Saudi war criminals air bombings on Maswar Nehm east of Sanaa (images).
https://twitter.com/narrabyee/status/729303554343710721
https://twitter.com/narrabyee/status/729302891874390016
https://twitter.com/narrabyee/status/729303378283659264
https://twitter.com/narrabyee/status/729302991304536064
https://twitter.com/narrabyee/status/729302968210706433
7.5.2016 – Hussain Albukhaiti (A K PH)
High tension in the borders after #Saudi #UAE 5th strike today on Nehim East #Sanaa #Yemen killed 7 civilians and injured13
https://twitter.com/HussainBukhaiti/status/729264689293758464 see also https://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=1022007894518907&id=961126490607048
7.5.2016 – Saba Net (A K PH)
Saudi aggression launches raids on Serwah
The Saudi-led coalition waged on Saturday two air raids on Hailan Mount in Serwah district of Mareb Province.
A security official said that the hostile raids targeted a mediation committee which was there during the raids and it miraculously survived.
The Saudi aggression waged a raid in the western area of Nehm district of Sana'a province, the official added.
http://www.sabanews.net/en/news427085.htm
7.5.2016 – Khalid Ahmed AlRadhi (A K)
I heard the first jet at 10:30 pm last night.. So its straight 12 hours of Saudi war jets madness
https://twitter.com/alradhi_/status/728848847259242496 see also https://twitter.com/HishamAlRadhi/status/728911219436990464
7.5.2016 - Nasser Arrabyee (A K PH)
US-backed Saudi warplanes flying over Sanaa and bombing some places outside Sanaa Around the clock. It's been flying over Sanaa for 24h now
https://twitter.com/narrabyee/status/728857590545833984
7.5.2016 – Yemen Post (A K)
FULL Pledge WAR: 60 Saudi airstrikes attack suburb #Yemen capital Sanaa (Nihm) in 12 hours, 10,000 civilian in fear.
https://twitter.com/YemenPostNews/status/728862805995204608
7.5.2016 – Hisham Al-Omeisy (A K PH)
Dang. Even more jets now in Sana'a sky. Gotta admire Saudi's persistence. Only problem is our kids are in school now. #Yemen
https://twitter.com/omeisy/status/728842400303591424
7.5.2016 – Haykal Bafana (A K PH)
From 11pm last night to now (10am) : Non-stop sorties over #Yemen capital Sanaa by #Saudi jets. Every 2 to 5 minutes, a jet screams low.
https://twitter.com/BaFana3/status/728842473607417856
7.5.2016 – Hisham Al-Radhy (A K)
It's 10am #Sanaa time & for the last 12 hours #Saudi warplanes never stopped hovering & screaming in the skies!
https://twitter.com/HishamAlRadhi/status/728843330474364928
7.5.2016 – Diegenesis (A K)
#Saudi warplanes hovering over #Yemen's capital now .. they kept flying over the city all night last night until early this morning
https://twitter.com/shapban/status/728844399006896132
6.5.2016 – Mohnned Al-Asaadi (A K)
Annoying buzz of jet fighters hovering above Sanaa. Even with no bombardment, the noise itself is disturbing.
https://twitter.com/alasaadim/status/728692705589645317
6.5.2016 – Yemen Real News (A K PH)
Breaking : Warplanes are toughly flying over Sana'a city sky at this moment .
1:00PM
https://www.facebook.com/yemen.crisis/posts/603910953108478
6.5.2016 – Hussain Albukhaiti (A K PH)
Noise of many #Saudi #UAE led CO jets over #Sanaa sky right now 5strikes on Nehim E Sanaa Could be the last straw that breaks #Kuwait talks
https://twitter.com/HussainBukhaiti/status/728703703721578497
6.5.2016 – Almasdar News (A K PH)
Saudi Air Force violates Yemeni truce to strike Saada
The Saudi Royal Air Force has once again violated the Yemeni ceasefire after launching a number of airstrikes over the Yemeni capital and the nearby Saada Governorate on Friday. According to local activists, the Saudi Air Force targeted densely populated areas inside the Old City of Saada, causing severe damage to a number of buildings. These airstrikes were conducted while opposing parties in Yemen agreed to return to Kuwait in order to resume the peace talks under U.N. supervision.
https://www.almasdarnews.com/article/saudi-air-force-violates-yemeni-truce-strike-saada/
Vorige / Previous:
https://www.freitag.de/autoren/dklose/krieg-im-jemen-neue-artikel-zum-nachlesen-140
Neue Artikel zum Nachlesen 1-140: / Yemen Press Reader 1-140
https://www.freitag.de/autoren/dklose oder / or
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