US: Masters of Mankind - US policy in Yemen - Mercenaries in Yemen - Children in War - Hunger crisis - Evictions from Aden - IS: Attack against naval base - and more
Schwerpunkte / Key aspects
Klassifizierung / Classification
cp1 Am wichtigsten / Most important
cp2 Allgemein / General
cp3 Humanitäre Lage / Humanitarian situation
cp4 Kulturerbe / Cultural heritage
cp5 Nordjemen und Huthis / Northern Yemen and Houthis
cp6 Südjemen und Hadi-Regierung / Southern Yemen and Hadi-government
cp7 UNO und Friedensgespräche/ UN and peace talks
cp8 Saudi-Arabien / Saudi Arabia
cp9 USA
cp12 Andere Länder / Other countries
cp13a Mercenaries / Söldner
cp13b Flüchtlinge / Refugees
cp14 Terrorismus / Terrorism
cp15 Propaganda
cp16 Saudische Luftangriffe / Saudi air raids
cp17 Kriegsereignisse / Theater of War
Klassifizierung / Classification
***
**
*
(Kein Stern / No star)
A = Aktuell / Current news
B = Hintergrund / Background
C = Chronik / Chronicle
D = Details
E = Wirtschaft / Economy
H = Humanitäre Fragen / Humanitarian questions
K = Krieg / War
P = Politik / Politics
PH = Pro-Houthi
PS = Pro-Saudi
T = Terrorismus / Terrorism
cp1 Am wichtigsten / Most important
10.5.2016 – Tom Dispatch (*** B K P T)
The remarkable Noam Chomsky has a new book out: Who Rules the World? It’s almost too obvious to say, but it’s a must-read! I’m particularly pleased that TomDispatch is excerpting the book's final, monumental essay, “Masters of Mankind,” as a two-parter.
American Power Under Challenge
Masters of Mankind (Part 1)
We cannot gain a realistic understanding of who rules the world while ignoring the “masters of mankind,” as Adam Smith called them: in his day, the merchants and manufacturers of England; in ours, multinational conglomerates, huge financial institutions, retail empires, and the like. Still following Smith, it is also wise to attend to the “vile maxim” to which the “masters of mankind” are dedicated: “All for ourselves and nothing for other people” -- a doctrine known otherwise as bitter and incessant class war, often one-sided, much to the detriment of the people of the home country and the world.
In the contemporary global order, the institutions of the masters hold enormous power, not only in the international arena but also within their home states, on which they rely to protect their power and to provide economic support by a wide variety of means. When we consider the role of the masters of mankind, we turn to such state policy priorities of the moment as the Trans-Pacific Partnership, one of the investor-rights agreements mislabeled “free-trade agreements” in propaganda and commentary.
The Second Superpower
The neoliberal programs of the past generation have concentrated wealth and power in far fewer hands while undermining functioning democracy, but they have aroused opposition as well
The rising opposition to the neoliberal assault highlights another crucial aspect of the standard convention: it sets aside the public, which often fails to accept the approved role of “spectators” (rather than “participants”) assigned to it in liberal democratic theory.
There is far more to say, of course, about the factors in determining state policy that are put to the side when we adopt the standard convention that states are the actors in international affairs. But with such nontrivial caveats as these, let us nevertheless adopt the convention, at least as a first approximation to reality. Then the question of who rules the world leads at once to such concerns as China’s rise to power and its challenge to the United States and “world order,” the new cold war simmering in eastern Europe, the Global War on Terror, American hegemony and American decline, and a range of similar considerations.
Western Power Under Pressure
There is far more to say, of course, about the factors in determining state policy that are put to the side when we adopt the standard convention that states are the actors in international affairs. But with such nontrivial caveats as these, let us nevertheless adopt the convention, at least as a first approximation to reality. Then the question of who rules the world leads at once to such concerns as China’s rise to power and its challenge to the United States and “world order,” the new cold war simmering in eastern Europe, the Global War on Terror, American hegemony and American decline, and a range of similar considerations.
The Challenges Today: East Asia
The Challenges Today: Eastern Europe
The Challenges Today: The Islamic World
Let us turn to the third region of major concern, the (largely) Islamic world, also the scene of the Global War on Terror (GWOT) that George W. Bush declared in 2001 after the 9/11 terrorist attack. To be more accurate, re-declared. The GWOT was declared by the Reagan administration when it took office, with fevered rhetoric about a “plague spread by depraved opponents of civilization itself” (as Reagan put it) and a “return to barbarism in the modern age” (the words of George Shultz, his secretary of state). The original GWOT has been quietly removed from history. It very quickly turned into a murderous and destructive terrorist war afflicting Central America, southern Africa, and the Middle East, with grim repercussions to the present, even leading to condemnation of the United States by the World Court (which Washington dismissed). In any event, it is not the right story for history, so it is gone.
The success of the Bush-Obama version of GWOT can readily be evaluated on direct inspection. When the war was declared, the terrorist targets were confined to a small corner of tribal Afghanistan. They were protected by Afghans, who mostly disliked or despised them, under the tribal code of hospitality -- which baffled Americans when poor peasants refused “to turn over Osama bin Laden for the, to them, astronomical sum of $25 million.”
There are good reasons to believe that a well-constructed police action, or even serious diplomatic negotiations with the Taliban, might have placed those suspected of the 9/11 crimes in American hands for trial and sentencing. But such options were off the table. Instead, the reflexive choice was large-scale violence -- not with the goal of overthrowing the Taliban (that came later) but to make clear U.S. contempt for tentative Taliban offers of the possible extradition of bin Laden. How serious these offers were we do not know, since the possibility of exploring them was never entertained. Or perhaps the United States was just intent on “trying to show its muscle, score a victory and scare everyone in the world. They don’t care about the suffering of the Afghans or how many people we will lose.”
That was the judgment of the highly respected anti-Taliban leader Abdul Haq, one of the many oppositionists who condemned the American bombing campaign launched in October 2001 as "a big setback" for their efforts to overthrow the Taliban from within, a goal they considered within their reach. His judgment is confirmed by Richard A. Clarke, who was chairman of the Counterterrorism Security Group at the White House under President George W. Bush when the plans to attack Afghanistan were made. As Clarke describes the meeting, when informed that the attack would violate international law, "the President yelled in the narrow conference room, ‘I don’t care what the international lawyers say, we are going to kick some ass.'" The attack was also bitterly opposed by the major aid organizations working in Afghanistan, who warned that millions were on the verge of starvation and that the consequences might be horrendous.
The consequences for poor Afghanistan years later need hardly be reviewed.
The next target of the sledgehammer was Iraq. The U.S.-UK invasion, utterly without credible pretext, is the major crime of the twenty-first century. The invasion led to the death of hundreds of thousands of people in a country where the civilian society had already been devastated by American and British sanctions that were regarded as “genocidal” by the two distinguished international diplomats who administered them, and resigned in protest for this reason. The invasion also generated millions of refugees, largely destroyed the country, and instigated a sectarian conflict that is now tearing apart Iraq and the entire region. It is an astonishing fact about our intellectual and moral culture that in informed and enlightened circles it can be called, blandly, “the liberation of Iraq.”
Pentagon and British Ministry of Defense polls found that only 3% of Iraqis regarded the U.S. security role in their neighborhood as legitimate, less than 1% believed that “coalition” (U.S.-UK) forces were good for their security, 80% opposed the presence of coalition forces in the country, and a majority supported attacks on coalition troops. Afghanistan has been destroyed beyond the possibility of reliable polling, but there are indications that something similar may be true there as well. Particularly in Iraq the United States suffered a severe defeat, abandoning its official war aims, and leaving the country under the influence of the sole victor, Iran.
The sledgehammer was also wielded elsewhere, notably in Libya, where the three traditional imperial powers (Britain, France, and the United States) procured Security Council resolution 1973 and instantly violated it, becoming the air force of the rebels. The effect was to undercut the possibility of a peaceful, negotiated settlement; sharply increase casualties (by at least a factor of 10, according to political scientist Alan Kuperman); leave Libya in ruins, in the hands of warring militias; and, more recently, to provide the Islamic State with a base that it can use to spread terror beyond. Quite sensible diplomatic proposals by the African Union, accepted in principle by Libya’s Muammar Qaddafi, were ignored by the imperial triumvirate, as Africa specialist Alex de Waal reviews. A huge flow of weapons and jihadis has spread terror and violence from West Africa (now the champion for terrorist murders) to the Levant, while the NATO attack also sent a flood of refugees from Africa to Europe.
Yet another triumph of “humanitarian intervention,” and, as the long and often ghastly record reveals, not an unusual one, going back to its modern origins four centuries ago – by Noam Chomsky
http://www.tomdispatch.com/blog/176137/
10.5.2016 – Tom Dispatch (*** B K P T)
Masters of Mankind: the Costs of Violence
[This piece, the second of two parts, is excerpted from Noam Chomsky’s new book, Who Rules the World? (Metropolitan Books). Part 1 can be found by clicking here.]
In brief, the Global War on Terror sledgehammer strategy has spread jihadi terror from a tiny corner of Afghanistan to much of the world, from Africa through the Levant and South Asia to Southeast Asia. It has also incited attacks in Europe and the United States. The invasion of Iraq made a substantial contribution to this process, much as intelligence agencies had predicted. Terrorism specialists Peter Bergen and Paul Cruickshank estimate that the Iraq War “generated a stunning sevenfold increase in the yearly rate of fatal jihadist attacks, amounting to literally hundreds of additional terrorist attacks and thousands of civilian lives lost; even when terrorism in Iraq and Afghanistan is excluded, fatal attacks in the rest of the world have increased by more than one-third.” Other exercises have been similarly productive.
More generally, studies carried out by the Oslo Peace Research Institute show that two-thirds of the region’s conflict fatalities were produced in originally internal disputes where outsiders imposed their solutions. In such conflicts, 98% of fatalities were produced only after outsiders had entered the domestic dispute with their military might.
The evidence reviewed by political scientist Timo Kivimäki indicates that the “protection wars [fought by ‘coalitions of the willing’] have become the main source of violence in the world, occasionally contributing over 50% of total conflict fatalities.” Furthermore, in many of these cases, including Syria, as he reviews, there were opportunities for diplomatic settlement that were ignored. That has also been true in other horrific situations, including the Balkans in the early 1990s, the first Gulf War, and of course the Indochina wars, the worst crime since World War II. In the case of Iraq the question does not even arise. There surely are some lessons here.
The general consequences of resorting to the sledgehammer against vulnerable societies comes as little surprise. William Polk’s careful study of insurgencies, Violent Politics, should be essential reading for those who want to understand today’s conflicts.
Polk reveals a pattern that has been replicated over and over. The invaders — perhaps professing the most benign motives — are naturally disliked by the population, who disobey them, at first in small ways, eliciting a forceful response, which increases opposition and support for resistance. The cycle of violence escalates until the invaders withdraw — or gain their ends by something that may approach genocide.
Obama’s global drone assassination campaign, a remarkable innovation in global terrorism, exhibits the same patterns. By most accounts, it is generating terrorists more rapidly than it is murdering those suspected of someday intending to harm us.
Another characteristic feature of such interventions is the belief that the insurgency will be overcome by eliminating its leaders. But when such an effort succeeds, the reviled leader is regularly replaced by someone younger, more determined, more brutal, and more effective.
Careful studies of al-Qaeda and ISIS have shown that the United States and its allies are following their game plan with some precision. Their goal is to “draw the West as deeply and actively as possible into the quagmire” and “to perpetually engage and enervate the United States and the West in a series of prolonged overseas ventures” in which they will undermine their own societies, expend their resources, and increase the level of violence, setting off the dynamic that Polk reviews.
And if we continue to wield the sledgehammer, tacitly following the jihadi script, the likely effect is even more violent jihadism with broader appeal. The record, Atran advises, “should inspire a radical change in our counter-strategies.”
Repeated Western interventions since then in the Middle East and Africa have exacerbated the tensions, conflicts, and disruptions that have shattered the societies. The end result is a “refugee crisis” that the innocent West can scarcely endure.
Returning to the opening question “Who rules the world?” we might also want to pose another question: “What principles and values rule the world?” That question should be foremost in the minds of the citizens of the rich and powerful states, who enjoy an unusual legacy of freedom, privilege, and opportunity thanks to the struggles of those who came before them, and who now face fateful choices as to how to respond to challenges of great human import – by Noam Chomsky
http://www.tomdispatch.com/blog/176138/tomgram%3A_noam_chomsky%2C_what_principles_rule_the_world = http://www.counterpunch.org/2016/05/10/masters-of-mankind-the-costs-of-violence/
This is like a comment to this article: US lies for war - from Vietnam to Syria. With assistance from the media and compliant NGOs - the programme for US regime change has been couched in euphemistic phrases like 'Humanitarian intervention' and 'R2P - Responsibility to Protect' using equally euphemistic terms such as 'No fly zone' or 'Safe Zone', the former entailing the destruction of the target nation's airforce bases, giving the 'Humanitarian interventionists' supremacy in the skies to bomb at will, while the latter provides zones where proxy forces funded, armed and trained by the US and its allies in NATO and the Gulf Petromonachy states can hide among civilian refugees out of reach of the military forces of the targetted nation. We have to wise up to lies before more countries are devastated and their populations murdered by way of soundbites for imperialism.
https://www.facebook.com/Classy.Yemeni/posts/827555107374672
11.5.2016 – RT (** B K P)
‘Yemen instability represents failed US policy throughout region’
Despite the Pentagon’s claims that the deployment of US forces in Yemen has to do with fighting Al-Qaeda, their main objectives there are to prevent and contain the influence of Iran, said Abayomi Azikiwe, editor at Pan-African News Wire.
The US sends so-called advisers to Yemen. Pentagon officials claim that the move is aimed at tackling Al-Qaeda, which has been quietly gaining strength there.
RT: Washington is again avoiding the term “boots on the ground,” and now goes for “advisers” and “limited support.” Why is that?
Abayomi Azikiwe: There has been this denial in regard to escalating a military intervention by the Pentagon in various Middle Eastern states due in large part to the disasters over the last 25 years. We can look at Iraq, we can look at Afghanistan, we can look at the situation in Libya and also the situation in Syria, and of course in Yemen. The US some 14 months ago withdrew special forces; they evacuated their embassy in Yemen. That signaled the Saudi and Gulf Cooperation Council [GCC] coalition to begin a bombing campaign, which has continued for over the last 14 months not against Al-Qaeda and other Islamist extremist organizations, but against the [Jund] Ansar Allah. The Houthi movement… is in alliance with Islamic Republic of Iran – their objective is to stop the Houthi movement across Yemen. If you look at the alliances that were formed against the advances of the Houthi, [they] have nothing to do with the fight against Al-Qaeda. In fact, Al-Qaeda- linked organizations in Yemen were allying with the Saudi GCC forces – and that has been the case now since last year.
RT: The State Department confirmed that the rise of Al-Qaeda in Yemen is being caused by the chaos on the ground. But what contributed to this instability in the first place?
AA: It’s been a failed US policy in Yemen. It’s been several years that they have been carrying out this so-called targeted associations against Al-Qaeda of the Arabian Peninsula. But mostly people who have been killed were not the Al-Qaeda operatives – many of them were innocent civilians, or people who could not be directly linked to Al-Qaeda. What we have in Yemen is a representation of a failed US policy throughout the region. It’s absurd for Peter Cook, the spokesperson for the Pentagon, to even suggest that this redeployment of US forces has anything to do with fighting Al-Qaeda. Their main objectives there are to prevent and contain the influence of Iran. This ties in with their foreign policy in Syria, where they’ve backed these extremist organizations which have caused tremendous death and destruction in Syria, and of course they are reentering Iraq. They have deployed additional troops to Syria. As well, they are jockeying for another deployment into Libya in North Africa. So this is a representation of the same policy that emanates from successive US administrations – both Democratic, as well as Republican.
RT: The news about sending the military into Yemen quietly emerged on Friday evening. The decision was taken without public debate or the approval of Congress. What do you think about the timing and the way the decision was taken?
AA: These are the tactics that are utilized now. They don’t want this in the public view. It could prompt debate among newspaper, editorial boards, among public, intellectuals, independent media personnel. So these are the people they do not want to inform about the actual policies in Yemen.
At the same time there is an election here in the US. Most of the corporate media and the government-controlled media are covering what is going on with Donald Trump, with Hillary Clinton. That is a diversion from the actual foreign policy that is taking place. And foreign policy hasn’t been a major point of discussion in the debates or in the overall campaign over the last several months.
RT: The UN has described what's going on in Yemen as a 'humanitarian catastrophe' as a result of the Saudi-coalition air campaign there. How do you assess the fact that America actively supports the Saudis’ bombardments of Yemenis, while at the same time tries to support Yemen in fighting Al-Qaeda?
AA: Well, I don’t believe they are supporting the Yemenis against Al-Qaeda, because Al-Qaeda has been supported by Saudi Arabia and its allies. The US is providing intelligence to the Saudi GCC coalition, which has been bombing Yemen for the last 14 months, resulting in the deaths of at least 10,000 people, the displacement of two million people inside the country... And they are also providing refilling technology to the GCC air campaign, which is utilizing US-made F-16 fighter jets and other forms of Arab bombardment technology against the people of Yemen. These are the people on the ground who’re being targeted by this US-backed and coordinated coalition, and that is the real struggle as far as US imperialism is concerned in Yemen.
https://www.rt.com/op-edge/342676-terrorists-yemen-us-war-troops/
12.5.2016 – Arabian Rights Watch (** B K)
USE OF FOREIGN MERCENARIES
Complaint[1] to the Working Group on the Use of Mercenaries regarding the hiring of mercenaries by the Saudi-led Coalition to violate human rights in Yemen and impede the exercise of the Yemeni people’s right to self-determination.
Historical Background
6. On 21 January 2014, the same political parties and factions that signed off on the GCC Initiative extended Hadi’s term for another year in the last month before expiry of his two year term. On 17 January 2015, Hadi managed to issue a draft constitution towards the last month of his extended term but it was unpopular and he never managed to hold general elections. He resigned on January 22, 2015 and did not withdraw his resignation before expiry of his extended term despite calls by the political parties and factions for him to do so. He then left Sanaa for Aden where he claimed he was still the President despite having resigned and his mandate expiring as well. He attempted to move the government to Aden but then was chased out of Yemen army Yemeni army due to what they claimed was a dereliction of duty He became a fugitive on the run managing to escape to Riyadh, Saudi Arabia where he allegedly requested the Saudi Arabian government to conduct a war on Yemen in order to re-install him as President of Yemen.
Statement of Facts and Allegations
10. On 4 May 2015, Senegal’s Foreign Minister Mankeur Ndiaye confirmed that Senegal would be sending 2,100 troops to Saudi Arabia to fight alongside the Coalition against the people of Yemen and suppress their right to self-determination. According to a Washington Post article, Andrew Lebovich - a security and political analyst focused on West Africa - stated that the “most obvious potential benefit of a Senegalese military engagement alongside Saudi Arabia would be in the form of closer political and economic ties between the two, and almost certainly direct cash payments from Saudi Arabia to Senegal.”[6]
11. The Coalition was able to find a paid partner in Sudan. According to some media reports, Sudan received USD 2.2 billion in financial grants from Saudi Arabia and Qatar and in return sent a reported 6000-10000 Sudanese troops to Yemen to fight alongside the Coalition.[7] The participation of Sudan in the Coalition against Yemen was based on a decision made by Mr. Omar Albashir and his Minister of Defense, Mr. Abdulrahim Hussein,[8] without justification warranting such aggression and without a supportive UN mandate.
12. The Coalition was also able to hire mercenaries from Reflex Responses, a private company connected to Erik Prince, the founder of the private company known as Blackwater.[9] On 25 November 2015, The New York times reported that some of the mercenaries now in Yemen, “… handpicked from a brigade of some 1,800 Latin American soldiers training at an Emirati military base, were woken up in the middle of the night for their deployment to Yemen last month. They were ushered out of their barracks as their bunkmates continued sleeping, and were later issued dog tags and ranks in the Emirati military. Those left behind are now being trained to use grenade launchers and armored vehicles that Emirati troops are currently using in Yemen.” [10] According to the New York Times article, the mercenaries received salaries ranging from USD $2,000 - $3,000 per month while training in Zayed Military City, compared to their $400 monthly salary they would make in Colombia. In addition to the monthly salary, $1,000 per week was received by the mercenaries who agreed to fight in Yemen alongside the Coalition, according to a person involved in the project and a former senior Colombian military officer.
13. On 26 November 2015, the Colombian daily El Tiempo reported that around 100 Colombians had arrived in Yemen in early October, as part of a bigger contingent that was to follow. It is alleged that the soldiers are being lured to Yemen by a higher salary and better conditions than they endured during years of fighting at home against FARC.[11]
14. On or about 1 December 2015, sources on the ground including military, security and anonymous sources, reported a contingent of hundreds of Sudanese troops and foreign mercenaries marching towards Taiz from their bases in Aden after arriving at the port city a month before. This contingent of mercenaries was supported by Coalition armored vehicles, heavy weaponry, and air cover provided by Apache helicopters.
15. On 7 December 2015, three Sudanese mercenaries were killed by the Yemeni Army and Popular Committees in the Lahj province.
16. On or about 8 December 2015, seven Blackwater mercenaries with different nationalities were killed by the Yemeni Army and Popular Committees near the Alomari Military Base in Taiz. Among these mercenaries were six Columbians and an Australian commander.[12]
17. On or about 8 December 2015, another seven Blackwater mercenaries with different nationalities were killed by the Yemeni Army and Popular Committees in Thubab, Taiz. Leading the group of mercenaries was a retired British Colonel provisionally named Arthur Kingston.[13] Among these mercenaries were a Frenchman, a Mexican commander by the name of Macias Bacneba,[14] and several Columbians.
18. On or about 10 December 2015, the Yemeni Army and Popular Committees killed tens of Blackwater mercenaries in the Hadeed area in Kirsch, Lahj. Among those mercenaries was an Argentinean by the name of Ferdinand Lamos[15] who died while on board a US Navy vessel from serious injuries sustained during the battle in Lahj. Lamos was reportedly a former member of the “Foreign Legions,” a military contracting company with ties to the Blackwater group. Another mercenary by the name of Ezel Goldstein was among the dead.[16]
19. On or about 13 December 2015, 16 Sudanese mercenaries were killed in the Lahj Province.
20. On or about 14 December 2015, the Yemeni Army and Popular Committees killed tens of Blackwater mercenaries in the Bab Almandeb area in Shaab Aljinn, Taiz with a Tochka missile that targeted the gathering of Coalition troops, mercenaries, and members of known terrorist groups such as al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (also known as AQAP). Among the 42 Blackwater mercenaries killed were the following:
a. George Edgar Mahoney, American, who according to a Yemeni security source was implicated in the Blackwater crimes committed in Iraq;
b. Carlos Nicholas, commander of the Columbian mercenary brigade; and
c. Moshe Kabirov, Israeli of Russian origin.
21. On or about 17 December 2015, an additional four Blackwater mercenaries with different nationalities were killed by the Yemeni Army and Popular committees. The identity of these mercenaries are as follows:
a. Abetti Carboni, Italian
b. Jaweed Altaf Khan, American of Pakistani origin
c. Wasmoo’eel Baribootatana, Rwandan
d. Mazoolu Kinyati, South African
22. On or about 22 December 2015, the Yemeni Army and Popular Committees targeted a gathering of invading troops in Thubab, Taiz with rocket and artillery fire. Among the dead was a Blackwater mercenary named Alexandro Torinas whose nationality is unidentified.[17]
23. On or about 24 December 2015, unidentified assailants targeted a Blackwater convoy with mortars in Aden. The attack resulted in the injury of senior Blackwater mercenary, Nicholas Buttros, an American of Lebanese origin.[18]
24. On or about 31 January 2015, the Yemeni Army and Popular Committees targeted a gathering of invading troops in Alanad Air Base with a Tochka missile that killed tens of foreign troops and mercenaries including the new leader of the Blackwater mercenaries in Yemen, Nicholas Buttros.[19]
25. On 7 February 2015, the Yemeni Army and Popular Committees killed seven Blackwater mercenaries and seriously injured 39 while three have gone missing, an Australian, Columbian and Venezuelan. Among the dead were the following:
a. Alfonso Bernario, Columbian
b. Alfareez Bensiros, Chilean
c. Pablo Jarko Vitalis, Columbian
d. Jack Richardson, Australian
e. Casias Banwater, Venezuelan
f. Carrera de Nora, Columbian
g. Vasilev Si Serg, Ukranian
26. On 9 February 2015, the chairman of the Commission of the Knights of Malta (Blackwater) decided to withdraw the so-called “strike force” from the front lines in around Al-Omari military base as a result of the casualties sustained in their ranks in the past two months.[20] And are alleged to have withdrawn completely from Yemen.
27. Reports have surfaced that the Saudi-led Coalition contracted the services of DynCorp in order to send thousands of mercenaries to Yemen. Investigation is ongoing.
Legal Analysis
28. The International Convention against the Recruitment, Use, Financing and Training of Mercenaries affirms that the recruitment, use, financing and training of mercenaries should be considered as offenses of grave concern to all states and that any person committing any of these offenses should be either prosecuted or extradited.[21] The mercenaries used were specially recruited abroad from countries like Columbia after their selection was made by officials from the United Arab Emirates. According to the New York Times article cited above, most of the recruiting of former troops in Colombia is done by Global Enterprises, a Colombian company run by a former special operations commander named Oscar Garcia Batte who is also alleged to be co-commander of the brigade of Colombian troops in the Emirates, and is part of the force now deployed in Yemen. Furthermore, the mercenaries that were killed by the Yemeni army and Popular Committees were of various nationalities as shown in the statement of facts. The mercenaries were motivated by private gain as demonstrated by their salaries which are alleged to be upwards of USD 6000 a month. This motivation has caused what is called a “gun drain” in Columbia as mercenaries flock to Yemen in search of better wages and benefits. The individuals used as mercenaries are not nationals or members of the armies of any of the state parties to the Coalition nor are they residents of the state of Yemen, where the attacks are directed.
29. Article 1 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) recognizes the right to self-determination and accordingly recognizes the right of all peoples to freely determine their political status. Additionally, Article 6 recognizes the inherent right to life and provides that no one shall be arbitrarily deprived of his life. The recruitment of Blackwater mercenaries by the Coalition has impeded the right of the people to self-determination and has played a role in the suppression of Yemen’s peaceful transition to a new government inclusive of all parties and factions in violation of Article 2(4) of the UN Charter.
30. We request the Working Group on the Use of Mercenaries to work alongside the Office of the High Commissioner to ensure the perpetrators are punished by appropriate penalties which take into account the grave nature of these offenses. We also request the Office of the High Commissioner to apply pressure on the Coalition, particularly the United Arab Emirates, to take all practicable measures to prevent preparations in their respective territories for the commission of those offences within or outside their territories, including the prohibition of illegal activities of persons, groups and organizations that encourage, instigate, organize or engage in the perpetration of offences and to coordinate the taking of administrative and other measures as appropriate to prevent the commission of those offenses.
http://arwarights.org/foreign-mercenaries-file
10.5.2016 – Doctors Without Borders (** B H K)
The effect of war on children, narrated by a pediatrician
Mohammed Musoke, is a pediatrician who works with MSF in Yemen as the activities medical coordinator since January 2015. Here he narrates the impact of war on children from his experience.
“I first worked in Yemen in 2011 in Al-Talh hospital in Sa’ada and then later in the MSF Emergency Surgical Hospital in Aden in 2012. This time, I came to Yemen a few months before the war broke out. At that time, most of our activities were regular and stable projects.
When the war broke out in March 2015, I was in Sana’a. The needs in the fields grew bigger and needs in frontlines emerged so we changed from a stable regular mission to an emergency mission. For instance our activity increased by over 200% in Aden. We also started new activities that did not exist before the war such as supporting internal displaced people and supporting health centres in several governorates in Yemen.
The load on our hospitals was increasing as many other hospitals stopped functioning because of the war or because it was dangerous for patients to move to hospitals. We were receiving children from areas as far as Sa’ada, which is five hours away from Khamer. Unfortunately, if the patients were not hospitalized in the right time, some diseases can be fatal.
We were receiving complicated maternity cases throughout 2015 as women used to take very long time to come to us. Eventually many of them had complicated deliveries caused by high blood pressure, excessive bleeding or other causes. This made us start supporting the referral system and emergency rooms in areas where patients were not able to come to our hospitals. People were not able to move because of lack of fuel or the high prices of transportation they were not able to afford. Sometimes, what was making people stay home without treatment was the fear of airstrikes or ground conflict.
During my work time in Al-Salam Hospital in Amran, I saw many complicated paediatric cases because of severe chest infections, and children with severe dehydration due to diarrhea. What was frustrating for me as a paediatrician was to see children with deteriorating health condition that could have been avoided if these children had earlier access to primary healthcare when they needed it. The results were fatal sometimes. I remember receiving some children who had chest infections, which spread to the brain to become meningitis. As a consequence of meningitis there some children who had regression of their developmental milestones and were no longer able to walk, play or even able to sit and talk because they became mentally retarded, . These complications could have been easily prevented if had come earlier to the hospital and received appropriate treatment..
The war has affected babies before they were born. In July, we received a 21 year old mother who had been in labour for almost two days. She was not able to go to the health centre because the road was not safe. By the time, she arrived to Al-Salam Hospital; she was in obstructed labour with foetal distress. When this mother arrived to the hospital, the baby was alive but with brain damage that was caused by the prolonged labour. The mother had to stay in the hospital for two weeks to prevent more complications that happened to her urinary bladder but the baby is not going to live a normal life because of the brain injury.
All I have mentioned above was about the north. The situation in the south was complicated in a different way. To start with, I was supposed to have a field visit to Aden in late March but the security situation worsened and I was not able to move as the airport was closed and some roads between Sana’a and Aden were cut because of tense fighting. When I finally managed to travel to Aden on March 27th, I could see the impact of the conflict right from the beginning. Among the war wounded we received were civilians; including women and children as old as nine months. We received a nine-month baby with a shrapnel injury in the abdomen. The mother told us that she was carrying her baby while running away when there was shelling. The child had an operation in our hospital and he responded well to the treatment.
Not all the stories I know had happy endings though. I remember we received in the early days of the war a family of five members after a rocket landed in their home. The father lost both legs; the mother had abdomen and head injury, their seven year old boy lost one leg and the five years old daughter lost her hand. Unfortunately the family lost their 10 year old child in the incident. The father was giving up on life after losing his child and after what happened to him and his family.
Although it’s sad for me to remember that incident, I was relieved and glad to see the family again in February this year during my visit to our hospital in Aden. The father, his son and his daughter came to receive physiotherapy after they had prosthetic limbs.
It was a great moment for me to see the father smiling again after he almost lost hope in life – by Mohammed Musoke
12.5.2016 – IRIN (** A H)
WFP warns money running out to feed Yemen
With ongoing violence and peace talks on fragile ground, Yemen’s population faces a new threat: the World Food Programme has warned that a funding shortfall may soon force it to halt operations in the country.
“We are on the edge,” WFP’s country director in Yemen, Purnima Kashyap, told IRIN. “By July we will have no resources available and will not be able to deliver [food] starting in August.”
At the moment, Kashyap explained, WFP is only able to provide food or food vouchers to a fraction of those who need it – 3.59 million in March. If the funding runs out, “even they will be without food,” she said.
Even if the WFP were at full funding, Kashyap said, it is “still only able to fill in the gaps.”
Local solutions
Some locals are stepping in to help out where they can. In Sana’a, where Saudi Arabia earlier this week threatened to send troops if peace talks fail, anonymous donors have sent a dozen refrigerators to restaurants across the city.
They’re filled with donations from locals who have extras, leftovers from the restaurants themselves, and with purchases from customers who can pitch in extra cash.
At al-Saeed, a restaurant with a new fridge, cashier Faisal Taher said they’re able to give some 31 people three meals a day.
“Some people give us money and ask us to buy food [to add], others bring it from home, and the restaurant [also donates some],” he explained.
26-year-old Madian al-Daghour is one of the beneficiaries. Originally from Taiz, he’s been living in the capital for two months while his father undergoes treatment for lung cancer.
Life was so expensive in Sana’a that Daghour said he couldn’t afford food anymore, and was considering ending his father’s treatment and heading home.
He doesn’t know who installed the fridge in a restaurant near the hospital (several are near medical centres), but “they told people they can get free food from here.”
Daghour and his father now have enough to eat, and his father can continue receiving treatment.
Locals like Mohmmad al-Omari have taken notice. He’s got extras at home that he used to toss, but “these days I bring them to the fridge” at Al-Saeed.
Multiple hits
The fridges are a drop in the bucket, and Mohammed Khallid, who helped install the fridges, knows it. But he said that despite the poverty and war, “there are charitable people in Yemen.” He just wanted to help them spread the wealth.
It’s much needed. The WFP’s Kashyap says she’s heard reports of Yemenis cutting down on meals, prioritizing within families who needs basic foodstuffs, borrowing money, and sending women and children out to beg for food.
The organization has funding shortfalls worldwide, and the donor response to Yemen’s crisis hasn’t been particularly quick. The UN has received only 16 percent of the $1.8 billion it says it needs to cover the country’s needs for 2016, including $710.4 million for WFP alone.
Prices of basic foodstuffs are significantly higher than they were before the fighting began in earnest last March – by Nasser Al-Sakkaf
https://www.irinnews.org/news/2016/05/12/wfp-warns-money-running-out-feed-yemen
10.5.2016 – Middle East Eye (** A K P)
Hadi loses control of Aden security as separatists stamp their authority
Southern Movement begins expelling northern Yemenis against president-in-exile's wishes, exposing lack of trust in government
It was mid-afternoon when a group of soldiers came to take Natheer Ahmed al-Masah while he was working on a house in Aden's Khour Makser district on Saturday. The building labourer was dragged to a truck after they found he was originally from Taiz.
Seven labourers were working with the 36-year-old at the time - three were from Taiz, in Yemen's north, but Masah was targeted for not having a sponsor from Aden, in the south of the country.
"I appealed to the soldiers to let me go to my room in Aden and take my belongings, but they refused and told me that Aden does not need me and I should return to Taiz to fight the Houthis," he told Middle East Eye.
More than 20 northerners were on the same truck that brought Masah and his friends to the army's Fourth Brigade barracks, where they were held by the security forces. From there, they were taken to Toor al-Baha area bordering Taiz province.
"After the security forces brought us to Toor al-Baha, we were forced to return to our homes; I had 1,000 riyals in my pocket ($4), while I need 4,000 ($16) to get to my house, so I had to walk around 20km with some others."
Masah is now with his family in Taiz's al-Shimayateen district and is looking for a southern guarantor to return to Aden and find work.
He is one of 800 northern Yemenis pushed out of Aden, the former capital of South Yemen, in the last few days. The campaign is against the wishes of president-in-exile Abd Rabbuh Mansour Hadi, but he could do nothing to stop them.
Hadi who?
Aden security sources told MEE that the expulsions were part of a plan to eliminate "suspicious people" who do not have guarantors in the province.
He stated the governor and the police chief of Aden decide what happens in their city.
"We do not care about the decisions of Hadi or the prime minister, Ahmed Bin Dagher, we only go after the directions of the governor and the police chief who know Aden's interests very well."
The source added: "Hadi has already brought the Houthis to Aden, and then brought al-Qaeda, so we are not stupid to trust him anymore."
Hadi appointed the governor of Aden, Aidarous al-Zabidi, and the police, chief Shallal Shaei, but they are originally members of the Southern Movement that demands independence.
As a consequence, the Southern Movement now calls the shots in Aden.
UAE, the top dog in Aden
The Fourth Brigade's Aden barracks is also home to forces from the United Arab Emirates, which under a Saudi-led coalition are fighting the Houthi movement and al-Qaeda to ostensibly reinstate Hadi in Yemen.
They have done nothing to back the president and prevent the expulsion of the northerners, however.
Mohammed al-Hassani, a political analyst and the former managing editor of al-Tagheer, said Aden's governors listened to the Emirati forces and no one else.
"The leadership of Aden listens to the Emirati forces and ignores Hadi. The Emirates helped the rehabilitation of Aden and train the security forces," he said.
North-south divide
Many southern residents welcomed the expulsion of northerners from Aden, while the northern people consider the move to be an infringement of their human rights.
Fadhl al-Rabei, a political analyst and the head of Madar Strategic Studies Centre in Aden, said Aden residents viewed the expulsions as a step towards an independent south – by Nasser Al-Sakkaf
Comment: Hadi, a “president” who has nothing to say even in his capital city. His “government” is a joke, having no power at all, nor any “legitimacy” in the eyed of nobody in Yemen. This government still exclusively representing “Yemen” (as in Saudi / Western wording) in the Kuwait peace talks is another joke which shows that these talks will fail.
10.5.2016 – Kyle Orton (** B K P T)
Yemen and Al-Qaeda’s Long-Term Strategy
In Yemen, at the end of last month, al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) was cleared from al-Mukalla, their major urban stronghold. This ends a year of occupation and brings to a close what is effectively the third emirate or statelet AQAP has either set up or attempted to set up in Yemen since 2011. These projects offer some insights into al-Qaeda’s methodology in getting to an Islamic state, including its rebranding in opposition to the Islamic State (IS).
Bin Ladin’s ancestral homeland is in Hadramut in southern Yemen and he had tried to foment Islamist revolution there since 1989-90. Al-Qaeda’s first terrorist attack against America took place in Yemen on 29 December 1992, with the bombings in Aden of the Gold Mohur Hotel and the Aden Mövenpick Hotel targeting American Marines—who were on their way to Somalia to help alleviate the suffering of a (Muslim) population afflicted by famine and war. Much to Bin Ladin’s disappointment, the Yemeni population bought into Yemeni unification and the tribal and patronage networks of the new system. With the hopes of an Islamist statelet in Yemen dashed, al-Qaeda nonetheless maintained Yemen connections as a throughway and fundraiser.
Picking through the wreckage after al-Qaeda’s attempts at state-management had ended in catastrophe in Iraq, Somalia, Yemen, and Mali, the change of direction Bin Ladin had been advocating in his final days now took hold among his subordinates. Al-Wuhayshi, al-Qaeda’s general manager as well as AQAP’s leader, understood that the project in Yemen had gone wrong. On 21 May 2012, weeks before AQAP was ejected from Ja’ar and its statelet disbanded, al-Wuhayshi wrote to Abdelmalik Droukdel (Abu Musab Abdul Wadud), the leader of al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM), which had invaded northern Mali in January 2012 and received an enormous boost after the military overthrew the government in March, leaving Bamako a shambles as the jihadists dug in. Still, al-Wuhayshi sensed danger, warning AQIM of the need to “keep the [media] message under control,” and cautioning that AQAP had learned lessons from its mistakes that had now united tribes, the Muslim Brotherhood, and Salafists against them.
The themes of al-Qaeda’s new model were sharpening into view: Muslim societies had been stripped of real religious understanding (the notion of Sayyid Qutb that this was a new age of jahiliya, ignorance and paganism) and therefore had to be led gradually back into it; applying the full shari’a immediately would lead to a rejection of the jihadists and their ideas, not least because so many enemies were waiting for the jihadists to falter in order to take advantage and extinguish the true Islam; and the key to success was to make the population and al-Qaeda co-dependent—al-Qaeda would solve the population’s most pressing needs (whether that was fighting the government or social services) so that population felt its interests were coterminous with al-Qaeda’s and would protect the group, providing a bodyguard and durable roots for al-Qaeda’s global agenda.
These lessons had been assimilated when AQAP overran al-Mukalla on 3 April 2015, capturing large amounts of American-supplied equipment, the day after AQAP had systematically seized key facilities, including Hadramut Province’s security headquarters, the local police station, provincial administrative offices, a branch of the central bank, and the Central Prison, breaking free more than three-hundred people, including Khaled al-Batarfi, an AQAP military operations chief for Abyan and Baydah Provinces when he was captured in March 2011. This time, AQAP would “pose as a local protector-savior rather than an overlord in Mukalla,” as Yemen researcher Elisabeth Kendall noted. AQAP’s ideology was not widely shared in the areas it captured, but the creation of a pseudo-state where “even its detractors grudgingly acknowledged that AQAP was approachable, had some sense of justice and got things done,” meant AQAP “succeed in building tolerance for [its presence], if not outright support,” Kendall adds.
AQAP’s capture of al-Mukalla came just over a week after a Saudi-led coalition launched Operation DECISIVE STORM on 25 March 2015, which was designed to push back the Houthis and restore the political process. With other priorities, the Saudi-led forces had, until April 2016, essentially ignored AQAP and AQAP had kept very quiet about its holdings, not claiming any kind of state or emirate, and worked to embed itself within the wider insurgent movement in Yemen. AQAP is not as powerful as al-Qaeda’s Syrian branch, Jabhat al-Nusra, the self-conscious culmination of al-Qaeda’s refinement to its model of durable governance, but AQAP has made itself virtually indistinguishable from large sections of the Yemeni insurgency.
Moreover, when AQAP was removed from al-Mukalla on 24 April 2016, it is more precise to say it removed itself. There was a major ground operation of more than 2,000 foreign troops and local forces led by the United Arab Emirates into al-Mukalla, but while the Coalition claimed that 800 AQAP jihadists had been killed, the real figure is probably closer to sixty. AQAP itself said that it had withdrawn—ostensibly to protect civilians—rather than having been routed. In short, after a year of controlling the city, embedding itself into social networks, proselytizing, collecting taxes, looting arms munitions and banks, AQAP pulled out of al-Mukalla and lived to fight another day. Thus, the suggestion this is as big a victory as if IS had been driven from Mosul or Raqqa is at best misleading.
The DECISIVE STORM operation now seems to have moved against al-Qaeda, as well as Iran’s instruments in Yemen, but how sustained that effort will be—and how successful, given how powerful AQAP was allowed to become—remains to be seen – by Kyle Orton
https://kyleorton1991.wordpress.com/2016/05/10/yemen-and-al-qaedas-long-term-strategy/
cp2 Allgemein / General
11.5.2016 – Alwaght (A K P)
Saudi Arabia to Perform Major Military Operation with Direct Support of US: Yemeni Commander
A senior Yemeni Commander has reported that Saudi Regime is preparing for a major military operation with direct support of America.
Mohamad Salman al-Salman, Yemeni commander, in a talk with Fars News Agency announced the preparation of Saudis for a major military operation with US direct backup.
Considering the deployment of hundreds of American forces to Yemen’s south, Mohamad Salman al-Salman said that the presence of US forces caused a surge in growth of terrorists and mercenary soldiers in regions adjacent to their Basement.
Also on Monday Sadeq abu-Shwareb, the member of Yemen’s Supreme Revolutionary Committee, stressed the Support of US for spreading terrorism in the region and in an interview with Alwaght said: “the US intervention in Yemen is not to confront Al-Qaeda; they have created Al-Qaeda and they have empowered it in some parts of Yemen’s southern and eastern provinces, and I repeat that the reason is to cover up the scandal of the US as it backed the Saudi regime militarily and logistically and also by intelligence assistance.”
http://alwaght.com/en/News/53325
cp3 Humanitäre Lage / Humanitarian situation
12.5.2016 – ICRC (A H)
Children can keep their childhood thanks to Red Crescent volunteers in Yemen
Life has forever changed for Yemenis and non-Yemenis in the country, and for children, coping with the situation has been particularly difficult. In an attempt to allow children in Yemen to just be children, and to relieve some of the stress that these uncertain times have brought upon them, Yemen Red Crescent Society is providing psychosocial support at six schools in the Beni Hushaish district in the governorate of Sana’a.
In the first month of the project, which is supported and funded by the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC), 242 young students will take part in daily activities with trained Red Crescent volunteers. Rooms at the six schools have been renovated for the use of the programme, and completed with a huge collection of games to encourage expression in the safe space provided for girls and boys. The volunteers of the Red Crescent also held psychosocial support sessions for children at district level.
“Students in Yemen have been feeling disconnected from school and are not motivated to continue their education - many have withdrawn from classes. They are overwhelmed by the conflict and did not feel safe hearing the sounds of bombs and warplanes,” said Mr Adel Thamer, a Red Crescent volunteer who oversees the psychosocial programme.
“Our programme helps them express themselves. They were reluctant at first, but then they started interacting more and more with us. The number of returnees to schools has increased since the beginning of the programme. Now we are also engaging with more children, including those that are successful students as they are going through the same stresses and also need a safe environment.”
The project was inaugurated on 25 April 2016, in the presence of a psychosocial support team from the Yemen Red Crescent Society, representative from the local Beni Hushaish branch, the principals of the schools taking part, and officials representing the ministry of education at the governorate.
During the tour of the schools, the Red Crescent noted the poor conditions of these educational institutions and the lack of available equipment. The National Society plans on renovating classrooms and toilets, establishing first aid posts and supporting schools by providing swings, slides as well as climbing frames.
Despite the lack of resources and the challenging security situation across many parts of the country, Yemen Red Crescent Society continues to be the main community-based humanitarian actor in Yemen. The aid provided by the volunteers go beyond the mere delivery of relief items, to the provision of basic medical services and psychosocial support to communities, to ensure that their health and mental well-being is cared for amid the instability surrounding them.
Yemen Red Crescent Society works with the support of the ICRC, IFRC, and many National Society partners from overseas – By Soraya Dali-Balta, IFRC
12.5.2016 – UN News Centre (B H)
Yemen’s food situation on verge of ‘humanitarian disaster’ – UN
The food security and nutrition situation in Yemen will turn into a humanitarian disaster unless urgent funding is accessible for the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) to deliver timely aid in the April/May cereal and vegetable planting season and the summer fishing season, and vaccinate livestock before winter, the United Nations agency has warned.
Around 14.4 million people – over half of Yemen's population – urgently need food security and livelihood assistance, FAO reported earlier this week. The volume of food required in Yemen is far greater than humanitarian actors can provide. Agriculture must be an integral part of the humanitarian response to prevent Yemen's dire food security situation from worsening.
Increasing households' resilience to food security threats will contribute to saving many lives. Emergency agricultural interventions are critical to preserving household. Food production and income generation are especially vital in hard-to-reach areas where aid access is limited.
The factors negatively affecting the food security include a reported desert locust outbreak, which threatens the livelihoods of more than 100,000 farmers, beekeepers and herders in five governorates, and the April flooding, which put 49,000 people in need of urgent assistance, the FAO said.
http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=53912#.VzTDj_mLSUm
12.5.2016 – World Food Programme (B H)
WFP Yemen Situation Report #21, 11 May 2016 (covering the period 10 March—11 May)
In Numbers
21.2 million (82 percent of population) in need of humanitarian assistance (2016 Yemen Humanitarian Needs Overview)
14.4 million food insecure of which 7.6 million severely food insecure (2016 HNO)
2.8 million internally displaced (HCT Task Force on Population Movement, 8th Report,
April 2016)
92,500 refugee and migrant arrivals in Yemen from the Horn of Africa, Oman and Saudi Arabia in 2015 (UNHCR)
Highlights
In April 2016, WFP exceeded its monthly General Food Distribution (GFD) target of 3 million beneficiaries, reaching 3.18 million people in 19 governorates. 225,515 people in Sana’a, Aden and Taizz benefited from 2,352 mt of food assistance received through commodity vouchers. In March, WFP distributed food for 3.4 million beneficiaries in 17 governorates, surpassing its monthly GFD target of 3 million people assisted. In addition, 195,000 people received food received 2,364 mt through WFP’s commodity vouchers distributed in Sana’a and Aden.
WFP Yemen will face shortfalls for its GFD and commodity vouchers activities under EMOP 200890, starting July 2016. Given the long lead times, potentially up to 4.5 months, urgent resources are required immediately to prevent a pipeline break/drastic reduction in food assistance. WFP Yemen’s Nutrition programme is facing a similar shortfall, causing treatment of malnourishment activities to be prioritised over prevention activities.
WFP Response
During April and May, WFP conducted field monitoring missions to the southwestern city of Dhamar and within Sana’a governorate to inspect food distribution points and meet with cooperating partners and local leaders. WFP monitors also visited Amran to assess damage caused by April flash floods that affected over 49,000 people in seven governorates. The WFP Country Director led missions to Ibb and Taizz and oversaw the distribution of food to over 3,000 households (approximately 18,000 people) in Taizz City’s besieged Al Qahira area and neighbouring Attaiziah.
Together with its flood assessment missions, WFP assisted 1,741 flood-affected families (10,500 people) in Amran and 150 families (900 people) in Hajjah with oneoff food entitlements. In addition, as part of the April GFD, WFP reached 543,000 people in Hajjah, 205,400 people in Hudaydah, 117,300 people in Amran and 233,600 people in Sana’a.
http://reliefweb.int/report/yemen/wfp-yemen-situation-report-21-11-may-2016-covering-period-10-march-11-may and in full http://reliefweb.int/sites/reliefweb.int/files/resources/wfp283852.pdf
cp4 Kulturerbe / Cultural heritage
12.5.2016 – Beautiful Yemen (D)
The Yemeni Ministry of Culture, the Beautiful Yemen team and the Istituto Veneto per I Beni Culturali are proud to announce that the Republic of Yemen will be represented for the first time at the 15th International Architecture Exhibition – La Biennale di Venezia. The preview for press and professionals will take place on May 26th and 27th, 2016. The 15th International Architecture Exhibition will be open for public from 28 May until 27 November 2016.
The Yemeni participation at the Biennale Architettura 2016 coincides with a difficult period for the country -the country is in war – with dramatic human consequences and the destruction of architectural heritage. The title of the 15thInternational Architecture Exhibition “REPORTING FROM THE FRONT” is unfortunately directly applicable to the Yemen pavilion. The Ministry of Culture in Yemen hopes that a shared concern for the preservation of heritage will contribute to peace building.
“One must reach Sana’a, no matter how long the journey takes” is a well-known saying used to refer to the stunning image of the old city of Sana’a, the capital of the Republic of Yemen. Michele Lamprakos also mentions in her bookBuilding a world heritage city: “it is difficult to walk through the old city of Sana’a – and countless other old towns in Yemen – and remain unmoved by the creative vision that produced it”. The Yemeni participation at the 15th International Architecture Exhibition in Venice offers a fascinating journey through the current state of the unique, sophisticated and impressive architecture realized by master builders.
For many years cordial and close relations exist between the Netherlands and Yemen. The Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands to Yemen confirmed this relation again by kindly financing the hospitality fee of the Yemen pavilion in the Artiglierie at the Arsenale in Venice.
Financial support is still very welcome check out http://beautifulyemen.nl/fundraising/
http://beautifulyemen.nl/press-release/
cp5 Nordjemen und Huthis / Northern Yemen and Houthis
12.5.2016 – International Federation of Journalists (A P)
Yemen: Detained journalists on hunger strike
Ten journalists detained by the Houthis began a hunger strike on 9 May to protest against their maltreatment. The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ), the world’s largest organisation of journalists, backed its affiliate the Yemeni Journalists Syndicate (YJS) in calling for their immediate release and condemned the continuous harassment of journalists.
Taoufik el Mansoury, Hasan Anab, Akaram am waledy, Essam belghayth, Hareth Hamid, haytham Shehab, Hesham Al youssify, Hesham tarmoum, Salah al Qaady and Abdelkhalek Omran have been detained by the Houthis in al Habra prison in Yemen’s capital Sana'a for over a year. Their families informed YJS that they began a hunger strike on 9 May and claim that they will not stop until they are released.
Reports published by the YJS and the IFJ have documented numerous cases of torture and maltreatment of detained journalists. The YJS claims that the journalists are being denied visits, healthy nutrition and access to medicines. A number of journalists have fallen ill.
On 8 May military forces also stormed into the headquarters of Al-Shomo’ Press Corporation and newspaper in Akhbar al Yawm in Aden city, southwestern Yemen, and seized equipment.
The YJS said: “ We call on all human rights and international organisations to show their solidarity with the detained journalists and to work for their release and to provide them protection.”
12.5.2016 – Nasser Arrabyee (A P)
Yemen acting President Mohammed Houthi Along with army commandersN Midi west,saudi borders,2day Checking alertness
https://twitter.com/narrabyee/status/730831603807715328
Comment: Don’t forget, there are two governments in Yemen, not one.
12.5.2016 – Nasser Arrabyee (A P)
Obama Added to list of accused, Yemen popular court Continues 2day in Sanaa trials of war criminals.
https://twitter.com/narrabyee/status/730827966880600065 and https://twitter.com/narrabyee/status/730827860928299009 and https://twitter.com/narrabyee/status/730827791218921472
11.5.2016 – Bild (A P)
Video: Protest im Jemen: Tausende demonstrieren für Ende der Luftangriffe
Kommentar: Am 11. erst eingestellt, am 11. morgens um 6.27 schon „Dieses Video ist nicht mehr verfügbar“. Es war wohl nicht opportun für „Bild“, Proteste gegen die Saudis zu zeigen.
10.5.2016 – Nasser Arrabyee (A K P)
Yemen clerics & tribal leaders decrying American invasion & calling for Jihad to drive them out from the nation.
https://twitter.com/narrabyee/status/730262865802866688
cp6 Südjemen und Hadi-Regierung / Southern Yemen and Hadi-government
Siehe auch cp 1 Am wichtigsten / See also cp1 Most important
12.5.2016 – Nasser Arrabyee (A P)
Saudi-appointed Yemen prime minister Ahmed Obaid arrived in Mukalla east where Qaeda/ISIS killed about40soldiers
https://twitter.com/narrabyee/status/730716341360037888
12.5.2016 – ORF (A T)
13 Soldaten bei Anschlag im Jemen getötet
Bei einem Anschlag im Südjemen sind mindestens 13 Soldaten der Regierungstruppen getötet worden. Kämpfer des Al-Kaida-Netzwerks attackierten heute einen Armeestützpunkt in der Hafenstadt Mukalla, wie das Militär mitteilte.
Einer der Attentäter habe sein mit Sprengstoff beladenes Fahrzeug am Eingangstor zur Explosion gebracht. Ein zweiter Angreifer sprengte sich dann mitten auf dem Gelände in die Luft.
Daraufhin kam es zu Gefechten zwischen Soldaten und Al-Kaida-Kämpfern vor dem Stützpunkt. Ein dritter Selbstmordattentäter attackierte außerdem die nahe gelegene Residenz eines Generals, der den Angriff aber unbeschadet überstand.
http://orf.at/stories/2339105/ siehe auch http://www.n-tv.de/ticker/Al-Kaida-Anschlag-im-Jemen-toetet-13-Soldaten-article17678506.html
12.5.2016 – Sputnik News (A T)
Al-Qaeda Terrorists Attack Military Camp Near Yemeni Port, Kill 15 Soldiers
At least 15 Yemeni soldiers were killed and dozens wounded as a result of an attack by al-Qaeda militants on a military camp near the southern Yemeni port city of Al Mukalla, Arabic media reported Thursday.
According to the Sky News Arabia TV broadcaster, suicide bombers blew up three cars after managing to drive inside the camp. Following the explosions, the Yemeni military engaged the militants in armed clashes, according to the broadcaster.
http://sputniknews.com/middleeast/20160512/1039487885/al-qaeda-yemen.html
12.5.2016 – Reuters (A T)
Islamic State in Yemen said it carried out a suicide bombing that killed ten soldiers in the provincial capital Mukalla on Thursday, hours before the prime minister was due to visit the city, which until two weeks ago was a militant stronghold.
Prime Minister Ahmed Obeid bin Daghr is on his first visit to Mukalla, a port city on the Arabian Sea, since it was recaptured by government soldiers in April after a year-long occupation by Al Qaeda.
Islamic State said in an online statement that one of its members had blown himself up in a car near government troops.
Medical sources said ten soldiers had been killed at a naval camp near the port of Khalaf in Mukalla when a car exploded. About 15 soldiers were wounded, they said.
"The explosion is not going to affect the visit or its aims," a government source told Reuters.
http://www.reuters.com/article/us-yemen-security-idUSKCN0Y30XM
12.5.2016 – AFP (A T)
Yemen Qaeda suicide bombers kill 13 troops near Mukalla
Militants, including suicide bombers, killed at least 13 Yemeni troops outside the southeastern port city of Mukalla on Thursday, the army said, in an attack claimed by the Islamic State group.
An army official spoke of three suicide bombings and held rival jihadists of Al-Qaeda responsible, but an IS statement posted online said one of its militants was behind the attack.
It was a rare intervention by IS in the city which was held by rival jihadists of Al-Qaeda for a year until they were driven out by government troops last month.
"A knight of the knights of martyrdom, brother Hamza al-Muhajir... was able to detonate his explosives-laden car at a post of the apostates of the militia of (President Abedrabbo Masour) Hadi," the IS statement said.
Several soldiers were also wounded in the attack on the eastern outskirts of the Hadramawt provincial capital, the military official said.
The deadly assault came shortly before Prime Minister Ahmed bin Dagher arrived in Mukalla with several ministers on a one-day visit aimed at reviving government institutions in the city, a local official said.
One suicide bomber rammed a vehicle packed with explosives into the gate of a base in the Khalf district, followed immediately by a second who blew up a car in the centre of the camp, the military official said.
Jihadists clashed with soldiers outside the base immediately after the bombings.
A third suicide bomber targeted the nearby residence of the commander of Hadramawt's second military region, General Faraj Salmeen, but he escaped unharmed, the official said.
12.5.2016 – Al Araby (A T)
Bomb blasts kill Arab coalition troops in Yemen's Mukalla
Triple suicide attacks killed more than a dozen navy soldiers from the Saudi-led coalition when it struck a military navy camp in Mukalla on Thursday.
More than a dozen Arab coalition-backed troops were killed when multiple explosive-laden cars detonated at a military camp in east Mukalla, just a few weeks after coalition forces claimed to kill 800 militants in the port city.
United Arab Emirates soldiers, as well as Yemeni troops are understood to be among the dead in the attack, local sources told The New Arab.
The number of dead, as well as the nationalities of the soldiers, have yet to be confirmed.
Black smoke was seen billowing above the city, shadowing the nearby Mukalla port as uniformed dead bodies lay scattered across the floor at the scene.
The Islamic State group claimed responsibility for the attack in a statement which names the suicide bomber as Hamza al-Muhajer.
General Abdul Kareem al-Zumha was among those wounded in that attack, which rocked al-Batinah in the al-Qutn directorate.
A chief security guard as well as lower-ranked soldiers stationed at the centre were also injured in the attack, a military source told The New Arab.
12.5.2016 – Nasser Arrabyee (A T)
Yemen ISIS Claimed now responsibility for suicide bombing of today in Mukalla east where US-backed UAE invading
https://twitter.com/narrabyee/status/730687233058033664 and see also
12.5.2016 – Nasser Arrabyee (A T)
12.5.2016 – Nasser Arrabyee (A T)
https://twitter.com/narrabyee/status/730722811191398400
12.5.2016 – Nasser Arrabyee (A T)
Yemen death toll Raised to more than 39 By Qaeda/ISIS 3 car bombings on navy camp & region1 command HQ Mukalla east
https://twitter.com/narrabyee/status/730680310346747905 and https://twitter.com/narrabyee/status/730679503400341504 and https://twitter.com/narrabyee/status/730672778924441601 and https://twitter.com/narrabyee/status/730672672791777280 (images; still more, graphic)
Comment: I did not find other confirmations for this high figure.
11.5.2016 – Khabar News Agency (A K)
#Yemen: Four UAE brigades arrived in #Aden
http://khabaragency.net/lasten60321.html
11.5.2016 – Reuters (A T)
Suicide bomber kills eight, wounds senior army commander in Yemen attack
A suicide bomber killed eight people and wounded a senior army commander in an attack on his convoy in eastern Yemen on Wednesday, President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi's state-run news agency reported.
No one claimed responsibility for the attack, which appeared to resemble recent bombings carried out by Islamic State or al Qaeda militants against military and security forces in southern and eastern Yemen.
A local security official said the suicide bomber targeted General Abdul-Rahman al-Halili, commander of Yemen's First Military Region, which has its headquarters in the city of Seyoun, while on a trip to inspect his forces.
The blast near the city of al-Qatan killed six members of Halili's security team and two civilians, and wounded 17 other people, including Halili, the official said.
Hadi's state news agency said Halili later visited wounded soldiers at Seyoun hospital and vowed to keep pushing to "uproot this malicious plant from our midst".
The agency had earlier reported that only three people were killed in the attack -- one soldier from Halili's security and two civilians – by Mohammed Mukhassaf
http://www.reuters.com/article/us-yemen-security-attack-idUSKCN0Y21L1
Comment: This is the security they bring to this region they praised themselves for.
11.5.2016 – NASSER Arrabyee (A T)
10 soldiers At least killed by Yemen Qaeda/ISIS Car bomb targeting top military commander Of Hudhrmout east at Qutn Sayoun
https://twitter.com/narrabyee/status/730340612709453825
12.5.2016 – Al Araby (* A H P)
Ethnic hatred in Yemen
Heavy handed Aden security forces have undermined police authority, which in turn instigates disorder and deepens ethnic hatred between north and south
On Saturday 7 May 2016, there were reports of security authorities in the southern city of Aden, carrying out a raid and arresting 842 citizens from the north – mainly from Taiz - who had no ID papers. The campaign targeted male labourers who work on daily wages in several Adani districts, and transferred them to military camps in preparation for deporting them from the city.
The news solicited much heated debate. Even the president and his newly appointed prime minister, who are both from the south, condemned this move on the part of Aden security, and termed it an instigation of racial hatred, claiming that it "further supports former president Saleh's cause and his militia, who are trying to come back to power".
However, upon closer inspection of what really happened, it turns out that not all the arrested men were from the north. In fact, some were from southern cities including Aden, Lahj, Abyan and Yafe. Moreover, those who presented a civilian ID were released and those who failed to present any ID or had a military/security IDs were sent out of the city to their home towns.
The raids targeted gatherings of daily workers who lived in garages, workshops and motels. Aden's security had received intelligence about sleeping cells affiliated with the Political and Central Security Bodies who are still controlled by former president Saleh. This caused them to panic and raid some areas, in order to expel anyone not in possession of a legitimate ID or proof of residence.
While I am not a security expert, plain common sense is enough to see this is a bad move. And finally, the most important aspect of security, I believe, is public trust. The backlash among the public following the incident not only undermines police authority, but also instigates disorder and deepens ethnic hatred between north and south.
Moreover, condemnation on the part of the president and prime minister - both of whom are residents of Aden - of the conduct of Aden's governor and chief of security, sends a strong message that the two groups are not working together, an even more disturbing prospect than having Saleh's sleeping cells in the city – by Nadia al-Sakkaf
https://www.alaraby.co.uk/english/comment/2016/5/12/ethnic-hatred-in-yemen
11.5.2016 – Almanar (* A K P)
Yémen: Qui est derrière l’épuration ethnique et confessionnelle à Aden ?
L’observatoire yéménite des droits de l’Homme a condamné dans un communiqué officiel publié ce mercredi les pratiques des forces de l’ordre yéménite alliés à la coalition, dont entre autres : le transfert forcé des yéménites qui ne sont pas originaires d’Aden vers les provinces de Taez et les autres villes du nord.
« Des centaines de citoyens yéménites ont été entassés comme les animaux dans des bus et dans les coffres des camions », s’est indigné le rédacteur en chef du journal panarabe Rai al-Yom, Abdel Bari Atwan.
« Le prétexte avancé par les autorités proche la coalition c’est que ces citoyens yéménites ne portent pas de carte d’identité. Une allégation infondée vu que plus de la moitié des habitants du Yémen se baladent sans carte d’identité dans toutes les régions de leur pays… Des Yéménites issus des diverses régions du Yémen vivent dans la capitale Sanaa, et sont prêts à défendre leur ville jusqu’à la mort », explique-t-il.
« Les mercenaires de Black Water dépêchés par la coalition pour combattre sur le sol yéménite, détiennent-ils des cartes d’identité yéménites ? », s’est en outre interrogé M.Atwan.
Et de conclure : « il s’agit du début de la division ethnique et régionale au Yémen…La coalition cherche-t-elle à reproduire le scénario de l’épuration et de la division ethnique et confessionnelle qu’elle soutient en Syrie, en Irak, en Libye, au Liban et au Yémen ? ».
http://french.almanar.com.lb/adetails.php?eid=302432&frid=76&seccatid=30&cid=76&fromval=1
Northeners expelled from Aden and even killed, images:
11.5.2016 – Ms Jwaahr (A)
Aden Harra zonal qualifiers and murders and assassinations
Nov credited girl from Taiz was found dead in a deserted area of Sheikh Othman district.
https://twitter.com/Ms_Jwaahr/status/730343819623944192
and
https://twitter.com/alezzisa/status/730273642211356672
and
https://twitter.com/narrabyee/status/730345012223983616
and
11.5.2016 – Ali Mugalli (A)
we received report of murder of shada alslwi, she work as youth activities in Aden and she from Taiz
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=874196976023551&set=p.874196976023551&type=3&theater
11.5.2016 – F Carvajal (A)
Reliable source in Aden says she died of a heart attack, not gunned down...??..
https://twitter.com/CarvajalF/status/730467622706274304
Comment: A little bit young for a heart attack, see also:
12.5.2016 – Yemen Post (A(
COLD BLOOD: Female activist Shatha Selwi found dead in streets of #Yemen city Aden
https://twitter.com/YemenPostNews/status/730693691011170304
cp7 UNO und Friedensgespräche / UN and peace talks
12.5.2016 – Der Standard (B K P)
Auch den Jemen kann keiner allein regieren
Auch in der saudisch-geführten Allianz, die die Huthis und ihren Verbündeten, Ex-Präsident Ali Abdullah Saleh, bekämpft, haben sich Bruchlinien aufgetan, konkret zwischen Saudi-Arabien und den VAE. Die einzige Hoffnung für den Jemen ist das – theoretische – Wissen aller, dass niemand das Land allein regieren kann. - derstandard.at/2000036776911/Auch-den-Jemen-kann-keiner-allein-regieren
http://derstandard.at/2000036776911/Auch-den-Jemen-kann-keiner-allein-regieren
Kommentar: Die Feststellung in der Überschrift ist richtig. Die Hadi-Regierung besteht in den Friedensverhandlungen freilich auf einem Alleinvertretungsanspruch und fordert die Kapitulation der Huthis. Damit wird sie die Verhandlungen zum Scheitern bringen. Die Huthis wollen dagegen über eine nationale Einheitsregierung verhandeln.
12.5.2016 – AFP (A P)
Yemen foes discuss military pullouts, arms handovers: UN
Yemen's government and Iran-backed rebels have discussed the crucial issues of military withdrawals, the handover of weapons and the restoration of state institutions during peace talks, the UN said Thursday.
Negotiators on Wednesday also debated the logistical details of a release of prisoners and detainees announced a day earlier, UN envoy Ismail Ould Cheikh Ahmed said in a statement.
It was their third day of consecutive face-to-face meetings -- the longest run yet in the three-week-old talks.
"Parties began to present their visions on the withdrawals and the handover of weapons, especially mechanisms of withdrawal and assembling of forces," Ould Cheikh Ahmed said.
He did not say if the teams made any progress on these issues, which are central to any peace settlement in the impoverished Arab nation.
A working group focused on political issues meanwhile discussed "specific aspects for the restoration of state institutions and the resumption of the political dialogue," Ould Cheikh Ahmed said.
12.5.2016 – WAM (A P)
Yemen negotiators meet in parallel committees
UN envoy urges media to avoid disseminating rumours that could disrupt the peace process
The Yemeni delegations to the peace talks in Kuwait have discussed specific issues in three parallel committees, the Office of the UN Special Envoy for Yemen, Esmail Ould Shaikh Ahmad, said on Wednesday night.
The agenda of the political committee includes the aspects of the resumption of operation of the state institutions, the political process, and the need to provide an enabling political environment.
The security committee discussed the vision of each party for the withdrawal of gunmen and the laying down of weapons.
The committee on prisoners reviewed the proposal to release 50 per cent of all detainees held by the hostile parties before the advent of the Holy Month of Ramadan, according to a statement of the UN envoy.
The delegations reaffirmed commitment to the three reference points of the GCC initiative and its implementation mechanism, the outcomes of the National Dialogue and the UN Security Council Resolution No. 2216.
Commenting on Thursday’s talks, Ould Shaikh Ahmad said, “I’m pleased by the seriousness demonstrated by all parties. We are hopeful that the consultations will lead to peace.”
According to the Kuwait News Agency, KUNA, the UN envoy urged the media to avoid disseminating rumours that could disrupt the peace process. “I call upon everyone to support Yemen during this critical phase,” he stressed.
Earlier on Wednesday, the UN envoy met with the members of the De-escalation and Coordination Committee, DCC, who briefed him on the challenges facing their mission. He also met with the GCC Envoy for Yemen, Saleh Al Qunaieer.
http://gulfnews.com/news/gulf/yemen/yemen-negotiators-meet-in-parallel-committees-1.1826569
11.5.2016 – Middle East Monitor (A K P)
Yemeni security official: Houthis refuse to lift the siege on Taiz
Yemen’s Houthis and troops affiliated with former President Ali Abdullah Saleh yesterday refused to lift the siege on the central city of Taiz, in spite of them agreeing to do so under the terms of a ceasefire agreement reached earlier.
Houthis fired at Abdul Karim Shiban, the head of the local committee that supervises the implementation of the ceasefire agreement in the city, flatly refusing to lift the siege on civilians, according to a senior security official.
The security director of Taiz province, Brigadier Abdul Wahid Sarhan, told the Anadolu Agency that Shiban and his team came under fire in Zaid Almuchki by Houthi rebels, who are stationed near the eastern crossing, adding that the incident did not result in casualties.
He said Houthi rebels insist on blockading Taiz, defying agreements signed earlier with the supervisory committee. They are also deploying many armed vehicles and military reinforcements, taking advantage of the truce.
“The problem with the rebels is that they believe that lifting the siege is a military loss for them,” he explained.
[This work by Middle East Monitor is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License]
Comment by Judith Brown: I daresay there is much more to this story than is written here. The trouble with all sides in this disgusting war is that they care about saving face more than they care about saving Yemen. And that goes for the Saudis as well as their opponents. After all, Saudi doesn't want to appear to give in to the Houthis unless it can definitely demonstrate that it has actually done something in Yemen - and so far, there is nothing they can point to. And Taiz militia leaders say they won't accept a political solution in their city - they only will accept a military solution. Its a desperate situation.
https://www.facebook.com/judith.brown.794628/posts/10154348353498641
11.5.2016 – Pars Today (A P)
Die Konfliktparteien im Jemen bestätigen Einigung über Gefangenaustausch
Der UN-Sondergesandte für den Jemen bestätigt die Einigung zwischen jemenitischen Konfliktparteien über die Freilassung der Hälfte der Gefangenen.
Dazu teilte Ismail Ould Scheich Ahmad am Mittwoch mit, die jemenitischen Verhandlungsparteien hätten sich auf die Freilassung der Hälfte der gefangen genommenen Soldaten und Ansarollah-Kämpfer sowie die Anhänger des resignierten Präsidenten Jemens, Abd Rabbo Mansur Hadi noch vor dem Fastenmonat Rammadan geeinigt.
Nasser Beghezghouz, Ansarollah-Mitglied des Gefangenen-Komitees, erklärte: Die Delegation der jemenitischen Ansarollah-Bewegung bestätigte bei einem Treffen mit dem saudischen Botschafter im Jemen die Einigung unter den Mitgliedern des Gefangenen-Komitees über die Freilassung der Gefangenen auf beiden Seiten.
Es sagte dazu weiter: Falls die Ansarollah-Delegation und die Delegation von Mansour Hadi ihren guten Willen zeigen, wird diese Prozedur bis zur Freilassung aller Gefangenen fortgesetzt.
Die Einigung über die Freilassung der Gefangenen markiert einen Wendepunkt bei diesen Gesprächen in Kuwait.
11.5.2016 – Al Araby (A K P)
Yemen's warring parties agree on prisoner swap
Yemen's government and Houthi rebels agreed Tuesday to free half of the prisoners and detainees held by both sides, in the first breakthrough in peace talks that began last month.
Officials from the two delegations told AFP that a working group formed by the UN special envoy Ismail Ould Cheikh Ahmed, had reached an agreement to release the prisoners and detainees within 20 days.
The government's official news agency Saba also confirmed the deal, citing the official delegation.
The UN envoy said the two sides were expected to finalise the agreement on Wednesday.
"They agreed in principle to explore a proposal to release 50 percent of all detainees held by each side ahead of the holy (Muslim fasting) month of Ramadan and eventually release all detainees," said Ould Cheikh Ahmed.
"They agreed to continue discussions in the next session scheduled for 11 May," he said in a statement.
The issue was discussed as part of confidence-building measures.
"It was agreed during the meeting to release 50 percent of the prisoners and detainees within the next 20 days," said Mane al-Matari, media adviser to Yemen's foreign minister who heads the government delegation.
A source close to the Houthi rebel delegation also said an agreement had been reached, describing it as "an exchange of prisoners".
The two sides would meet again on Wednesday to finalise the mechanism on how and when the exchange will take place, Matari said.
Matari estimated that their number is in the "thousands", but the rebel source said there may be only hundreds of prisoners involved.
Following a two-day interruption, the two delegations resumed face-to-face talks on Monday after mediation efforts and an appeal by the UN envoy.
Two other working groups, spanning military, security and political issues, also discussed on Tuesday more complicated issues.
Those issues include implementing a UN Security Council resolution which orders the Houthis to pull out of territory they occupied in a 2014 offensive and surrender heavy arms they captured.
Ould Cheikh Ahmed described the discussion as "constructive" as "common grounds" emerged but acknowldged differences were still substantial.
http://www.alaraby.co.uk/english/news/2016/5/10/yemen-warring-parties-agree-on-prisoner-swap
Comment by Judith Brown: They agree on releasing men who can go on killing on both sides. What they don't agree is how to stop killing. Disgusting.
https://www.facebook.com/judith.brown.794628/posts/10154347772283641
11.5.2016 – Asharq al-Awsat (A K P)
Despite the relative progress made with regards to the issue of prisoners, a source close to the government delegation said that “there is no significant progress in the consultations, although great efforts are being made by the UN envoy, the Kuwaitis, the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) and the international community”.
While consultations continue, informed sources revealed to Asharq Al-Awsat that the rebel delegation continues to be obstinate in dealing with political and security issues, especially the issues of regaining the state, surrendering heavy and medium weapons and withdrawing from cities and institutions according to the terms of resolution 2216.
The sources also revealed that the UN envoy Ismail Ould Cheikh Ahmed is seeking help from Omani mediators to put pressure on the rebel delegation to implement the resolution and the agreements that were agreed upon during the last three weeks at the Kuwait consultations – von Arafat Marabish
http://english.aawsat.com/2016/05/article55350617/yemen-consultations-progress-made-prisoners-deal
Comment: That is the reason why the talks will fail.
3.5.2016 – New York Times (A P)
U.N. Security Council Condemns Attacks on Health Workers in War Zones
On Tuesday, the Security Council unanimously adopted a resolution to remind warring parties everywhere of the rules, demanding protection for those who provide health care and accountability for violators. The measure urged member states to conduct independent investigations and prosecute those found responsible for violations “in accordance with domestic and international law.”
But the resolution also raised an awkward question: Can the world’s most powerful countries be expected to enforce the rules when they and their allies are accused of flouting them?
There is plenty of blame to go around. In 11 of the world’s war zones, between 2011 and 2014, the International Committee of the Red Crosstallied nearly 2,400 acts of violence against those who were trying to provide health care. That works out to two attacks a day.
Peter Maurer, the president of the International Committee of the Red Cross, who attended the Security Council vote, commended members for what he called a “strong” resolution, even if only to remind combatants of longstanding rules of war.
He warned members not to grow accustomed to attacks on hospitals and ambulances. “These are not sad realities we have to get used to,” he said. “They are abominations to fight and trends to roll back.”
The United States said it had punished the American soldiers implicated in the Kunduz hospital bombing. Russia said it could not “corroborate accusations leveled” against Russian forces in Syria.
http://www.nytimes.com/2016/05/04/world/un-security-council-hospital-attacks.html?_r=0
Comment: This is a joke looking at the Kunduz hospital bombing and the Saudis in Yemen. In the case of Syria, this is still just unproofed blames against Russia and the Assad government by mainly Western propaganda.
cp8 Saudi-Arabien / Saudi Arabia
12.5.2016 – Islam Unveiled (A P)
Saudi Militant to TV Host I Will Behead You with a Knife
Al-Qaeda Militant threatens Saudi TV Host and says that the Prophets Grave in Saudi must be destroyed. He demands Jihadists give up their Jihad in Afghanistan, Yemen, and Iraq and instead focus their efforts against Saudi Arabia. The Saudi TV Host attempts to convince him to go commit acts of terrorism in other countries instead.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ysRoXLs9b6c
11.5.2016 – Independent UAE (A P)
Saudi Arabia’s foreign minister says: ‘Assad will be removed’
Saudi Arabia’s Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir told a France24’s reporter in an exclusive interview that Syria’s President Bashar al-Assad “will be removed, either through a political process or through military force”.
In the interview, focusing on the Syrian crisis, Saudi Arabia’s foreign minister also asserted that the ceasefire was holding fairly well in Syria and that humanitarian access had improved in recent days.
However, Adel al-Jubeir repeated that Bashar al-Assad must leave power.
“The Syrian crisis will end and it will end without Bashar al-Assad. It will end with a country that is unified, that has a civil society government and that has equality. It could take six months, it could take three months or it could take three years”, he said.
“The choice is Bashar al-Assad’s. He will be removed, either through a political process or through military force”.
He added that Saudi Arabia will continue to push for more military support to the opposition. “We should provide the opposition with more weapons and more lethal weapons, including surface to air missile and more sophisticated anti-tank weapons so that we can change the balance of power on the ground”, he explained.
“If the United States sends ground troops into Syria to fight Daesh, Saudi Arabia would be prepared to send special forces alongside those troops, but we will not be sending troops unilaterally,” Saudi Arabia’s foreign minister said.
http://www.independent.ae/1986/saudi-arabias-foreign-minister-says-assad-will-removed/
Comment: Really a joke. The Saudis interfere and want to push Assad out to make Syria a “country that is unified, that has a civil society government and that has equality”. What about a “civil society government” and “equality” (certainly referring to men and women) in Saudi Arabia???? Keep laughing.
Comment: The rulers of the world. This is how they feel.
https://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=1023691127683917&id=961126490607048
10.5.2016 – AWD News (* B P)
Saudi Arabia Releases Video on National Television Teaching Husbands How to Beat Their Wives [Video]
The national television of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia has aired a video, in which a self-styled Islamic family doctor is seen teaching men in the country how to ‘properly’ beat their wives.
The video is believed to have been aired in the country in early February, 2016. The Kingdom’s government is said to have approved the video, and that is why it was given airtime on national television.
After airing the video in Saudi Arabia, the Saudi government released the controversial video in the United States via the Washington DC-based Middle East Media Research Institute, in April 2016. Women activists group describe the video as nothing less than infuriating.
The content of the video features the doctor who is said to specialize in therapy; Khaled Al-Saqaby teaching men how to ‘properly’ beat their wives if their [wives] disobey them.
According to Al-Saqaby, husbands should not immediately attack their wives, but should discipline them ‘properly’ first. He then makes it clear that in marriage, there is nothing like equality, and that men should take charged and rule the home.
In an event where women disobey their husbands, Al-Saqaby teaches in the video that the men should follow the steps below in making sure that the women are corrected.
“The first step is to remind her of your rights and of her duties according to Allah. Then comes the second step – forsaking her in bed. The third step, beating, has to correspond with the necessary Islamic conditions” before taking action. The beating should not be performed with a rod, nor should it be a headband, or a sharp object. Instead, husbands should use a ‘tooth-cleaning twig or with a handkerchief’ to beat their wife. The wife will feel that she was wrong in the way she treated her husband,” says Al-Saqaby.
Ending his controversial teaching, Al-Saqaby says his teaching of how to beat wives is not exhaustive, and that sometimes, men can beat their wives without following his steps when the women go to the extreme by disobeying their husbands.
He also blamed the women for provoking their husbands, expressing shock that some women are ‘stubborn’ to the point that only beatings can bring them to order.
“In addition, sometimes a woman makes a mistake that may lead her husband to beat her. I’m sad to say there are some women who say ‘Go ahead, if you are a real man, beat me’ She provokes them,” he adds in the video.
Comment: Our very best friends…
10.5.2016 – Express (A)
Saudi religious police spark outrage 'after BITING woman who filmed assault on phone'
A MEMBER of Saudi Arabia's religious police bit a woman in a shocking attack, it was claimed last night.
http://www.express.co.uk/news/world/668731/Saudi-Arabia-religious-police-Jeddah-Islam
9.5.2016 – Money Morning (A E P)
Saudi Aramco IPO: The Biggest Problem with the $2.5 Trillion "Deal of the Century"
A new report from The Telegraph today (Monday, May 9) revealed some major new details regarding the Saudi Aramco IPO.
It also revealed the deal's biggest problem – and how one country's investors could miss out on the largest stock offering in history.
Here's everything you need to know about the Saudi Aramco IPO's latest news…
According to The Telegraph, the state-owned oil giant is seeking a three-way listing of its shares on London, Hong Kong, and New York stock exchanges.
And London's chance of being included in the Saudi Aramco IPO listingincreased with last week's election. Over the weekend, Sadiq Khan became the first Muslim mayor of the United Kingdom capital. The election was widely covered by the Saudi media and highlights Britain's tolerant attitude toward Muslims at a time when such attitudes in the United States are hardening – by Diane Alter
9.5.2016 – Alwaght (A P)
Saudi Interior Minister Major Narcotics Dealer, Addict: Report
A Saudi political activist has revealed Saudi Arabian Interior Minister Mohammad Bin Nayyef is one of the major narcotics dealer in the kingdom apart from being an addict himself.
Prominent Saudi political activist, Mujtahid, added that the major drug kingpins in Saudi Arabia are influential figures in ruling Al Saud clan.
"Bin Nayef has been treated several times in Europe," Mujtahid's tweets read.
"The drug dealing crimes that reported and prosecuted in Saudi Arabia are 10% only of the total offenses which are dominated by prominent Al Saud r figures."
Mujtahid's tweets were in the context of his comments on the arrest of one a whistleblower security officer who had the audacity to say that there is an influential group that is involved in the drug dealing crimes. "This group is close to Bin Nayef," he tweeted.
http://alwaght.com/en/News/53211 and also https://www.facebook.com/NotoWahabism/photos/a.446760528785868.1073741828.446357405492847/889851337810116/?type=3&theater and also repeated by https://www.almasdarnews.com/article/saudi-crown-prince-drug-addict-activist/
Comment: Otherwise unconfirmed.
Comment: We found this news only here, hence we cannot comment or provide evidence.
https://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=1023687981017565&id=961126490607048
7.5.2016 – Wall Street Journal (* A P)
Saudi Arabia Dismisses Its Powerful Oil Minister Ali al-Naimi
Departure is part of wider government reshuffle, with Saudi Aramco chief Khalid al-Falih succeeding him
Saudi Arabia dismissed its long-serving oil minister Ali al-Naimi on Saturday, marking the departure of one of the industry’s most powerful figures, as the country grapples with weak oil prices.
Mr. Naimi, who had been the kingdom’s oil minister since 1995, has been a strong voiceagainst lowering Saudi Arabia’s production when prices fall, a move away from its past tactics. He moved the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries to keep pumping oil at a rapid clip despite a global supply glut, a decision that has weighed on crude-oil markets and depressed prices.
He will be succeeded by Khalid al-Falih, chairman of state oil company Saudi Arabian Oil Co., better known as Saudi Aramco.
The royal decree, announced via state media, was part of a wider government reshuffle that includes a restructuring of the oil ministry, which has been renamed the Ministry of Energy, Industry and Mineral Resources. It comes less than two weeks after Saudi Arabia unveiled an ambitious economic reform program aimed at reducing the kingdom’s dependence on oil revenue – by Summer Said, Ahmed Al Omran and Bill Spindle
http://www.wsj.com/articles/saudi-arabias-powerful-oil-minister-ali-al-naimi-is-fired-1462632035
cp9 USA
Siehe cp1 Am wichtigsten / See cp1 Most important
12.5.2016 – Alternet (* A K P)
An Incoherent Empire: What Is Obama Doing Sending Troops to Yemen?
The U.S. says it is fighting the same Al Qaeda affiliates that are allied with elements of the coalition America is backing.
The Obama administration has said little about its fresh deployment of American troops to Yemen, where the U.S. has spent the past year backing the ruthless Saudi Arabia-led military intervention by shipping weapons, identifying bomb targets and sending its warships to assist the naval blockade.
In fact, when he briefed reporters last week, Pentagon spokesperson Navy Capt. Jeff Davis would not even say how many U.S. troops had been deployed, for what exact length of time and under what legal authority (Obama has not held a congressional vote over the Yemen war). Davis only said the U.S. is sending a “very small number” of forces to support United Arab Emirate’s ground combat against Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP).
Amid the Obama administration’s relative silence, brief comments made by state department press spokesperson Elizabeth Trudeau to reporters on Tuesday shed light on the incoherent justifications that underlie the ramping up of America's role.
Asked by an unidentified reporter whether the U.S. deployments are part of a “grander plan to bring about stability,” Trudeau replied: “So, no, this was limited support. So the Department of Defense has actually spoken to this. U.S. Central Command provided limited support to an anti-al-Qaida of the Arabian Peninsula operation led by Yemeni, Saudi, and Emirati forces in and around Mukalla. We remain concerned about AQAP and we welcome the operations taken by the Yemeni forces with the support of the Emirati and the Saudi forces to address this. It was limited.”
In fact, the Saudi-led campaign has significantly strengthened AQAP, as well as ISIS.
The state department does not dispute this fact, as revealed by the following excerpt from Tuesday’s briefing:
So the U.S. admits that it is ramping up a war that has strengthened the forces it claims to be fighting. However, reality is even more nefarious. A recently-released PBS Frontline documentary by journalist Safa Al Ahmad reveals that combatants from the Saudi-led coalition are fighting alongside militants affiliated with Al Qaeda in the Yemeni city of Taiz.
The BBC acknowledged that Al Ahmad’s film provides evidence “that troops from a Saudi-led coalition force and Al Qaeda militants are both fighting Houthi rebels in a key battle. On a visit to the frontline near the city of Taiz, a documentary maker filmed jihadists as well as UAE-supported pro-government militiamen.”
This is not the first report of its kind.
The current Yemen war, meanwhile, is not the first time that the U.S. has directly or indirectly cooperated with Al Qaeda affiliates around the world.
So AQAP is not only growing in strength because it is “taking advantage” of the chaos, as Trudeau characterized it. Rather, some of its forces are fighting alongside elements of the coalition. Whatever the extent of this collaboration, the fact that Al Qaeda affiliates are growing in strength as a result of the coalition’s war is indisputable. What evidence suggests that an escalation of this failed war will somehow yield a different result?
Yet, in the name of fighting Al Qaeda, the United States increasing its participation in a coalition that has unleashed extraordinary bloodshed on ordinary people throughout the country.
Now U.S. troops appear to be fighting in alliance with forces that are, in fact, associated with Al Qaeda. Meanwhile, the mission continues to creep with little debate within the United States. While it is not apparent whether the incoherent American role in Yemen is the product of confusion or sinister calculation, one thing is clear: this war comes at the expense of ordinary people in Yemen, who are being robbed of their well-being, food security and lives – by Sarah Lazare
http://www.alternet.org/grayzone-project/incoherent-empire-what-obama-doing-sending-troops-yemen
12.5.2016 – Korea Times from Pittsburgh Post Gazette (A K P)
Yanks out of Yemen
The Pentagon announced Friday that U.S. forces are now engaged in Yemen, joining those in Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya, Somalia and Syria in combat in wars in the Middle East.
The deployment a few weeks ago was not preceded by a U.S. declaration of war, nor was it authorized by any act of Congress. The Pentagon spokesman called it "a very small team" that will be "providing intelligence support" and whose role will be "short term." We've heard that before.
Into this maelstrom of conflicting formal and other military elements, President Barack Obama has sent U.S. forces, and is providing pro-Hadi and perhaps pro-Saleh forces as well as intelligence, drone, air and offshore U.S. Navy support.
It is hard to explain why America is playing the active role that it is now increasing in the war in Yemen. If there is a valid explanation, the public needs to hear it. Otherwise, the U.S. troops and other U.S. intervention in a war that seems to have nothing to do with American national interests should end immediately.
http://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/news/nation/2016/05/197_204599.html
12.5.2016 – Sharaf Addeen Alwainani (B)
An American movie - Killing Yemeni Civilians
Do you believe this?
After that video game,
an American movie produced at 2000, and this is a scene where the American forces kill the Yemeni civilians at Old Sana'a City!!!
What should I understand of this?! Is it also just a movie, after that Video Game?!
Before someone says: Damn! It is just a movie!!
Let me tell you that it is not a movie anymore; since more than a year, the USA was being attacked Yemen with Saudi and Gulf countries!! Thousands of people killed by this American Saudi aggression!
And now, at this moment, American forces have really arrived at Al-Anad airbase of Lahj province of Yemen !!
The Movie story:
Yemenis became angry against the American presence in Yemen, so they went out on demonstrations against the USA; and attacked the American Embassy in Sana'a;
so the American forces decided to attack the Civilians of Old Sana'a city and killed 83 civilian!
America decided to prosecute the leader who attacked civilians; but at last court issued an amnesty towards him.
https://www.facebook.com/Classy.Yemeni/posts/828600167270166
Comment: Insane, but typical US.
Comment: Americans made a movie about Killing Yemenis before this war! Playing the victim role too... they never stop to surprise you
https://www.facebook.com/Classy.Yemeni/posts/828600167270166
12.5.2016 – The White House (A P)
Notice -- Continuation of the National Emergency with Respect to Yemen
On May 16, 2012, by Executive Order 13611, I declared a national emergency pursuant to the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (50 U.S.C. 1701-1706) to deal with the unusual and extraordinary threat to the national security and foreign policy of the United States constituted by the actions and policies of certain members of the Government of Yemen and others that threatened Yemen's peace, security, and stability, including by obstructing the implementation of the agreement of November 23, 2011, between the Government of Yemen and those in opposition to it, which provided for a peaceful transition of power that meets the legitimate demands and aspirations of the Yemeni people for change, and by obstructing the political process in Yemen.
The actions and policies of certain members of the Government of Yemen and others in threatening Yemen's peace, security, and stability continue to pose an unusual and extraordinary threat to the national security and foreign policy of the United States. For this reason, the national emergency declared on May 16, 2012, to deal with that threat must continue in effect beyond May 16, 2016. Therefore, in accordance with section 202(d) of the National Emergencies Act (50 U.S.C. 1622(d)), I am continuing for 1 year the national emergency declared in Executive Order 13611.
This notice shall be published in the Federal Register and transmitted to the Congress.
BARACK OBAMA
THE WHITE HOUSE, May 12, 2016.
Comment: ??
12.5.2016 – The Guardian (* A P T)
Saudi officials were 'supporting' 9/11 hijackers, commission member says
First serious public split revealed among commissioners over the release of the secret ‘28 pages’ that detail Saudi ties to 2001 terrorist attacks
A former Republican member of the 9/11 commission, breaking dramatically with the commission’s leaders, said Wednesday he believes there was clear evidence that Saudi government employees were part of a support network for the 9/11 hijackers and that the Obama administration should move quickly to declassify a long-secret congressional report on Saudi ties to the 2001 terrorist attack.
The comments by John H Lehman, an investment banker in New York who was Navy secretary in the Reagan administration, signal the first serious public split among the 10 commissioners since they issued a 2004 final report that was largely read as an exoneration of Saudi Arabia, which was home to 15 of the 19 hijackers on 9/11.
“There was an awful lot of participation by Saudi individuals in supporting the hijackers, and some of those people worked in the Saudi government,” Lehman said in an interview, suggesting that the commission may have made a mistake by not stating that explicitly in its final report. “Our report should never have been read as an exoneration of Saudi Arabia.”
He was critical of a statement released late last month by the former chairman and vice chairman of the commission, who urged the Obama administration to be cautious about releasing the full congressional report on the Saudis and 9/11 – “the 28 pages”, as they are widely known in Washington – because they contained “raw, unvetted” material that might smear innocent people.
The 9/11 commission chairman, former Republican governor Tom Kean of New Jersey, and vice-chairman, former Democratic congressman Lee Hamilton of Indiana, praised Saudi Arabia as, overall, “an ally of the United States in combatting terrorism” and said the commission’s investigation, which came after the congressional report was written, had identified only one Saudi government official – a former diplomat in the Saudi consulate in Los Angeles – as being “implicated in the 9/11 plot investigation”.
The diplomat, Fahad al-Thumairy, who was deported from the US but was never charged with a crime, was suspected of involvement in a support network for two Saudi hijackers who had lived in San Diego the year before the attacks.
In the interview Wednesday, Lehman said Kean and Hamilton’s statement that only one Saudi government employee was “implicated” in supporting the hijackers in California and elsewhere was “a game of semantics” and that the commission had been aware of at least five Saudi government officials who were strongly suspected of involvement in the terrorists’ support network.
“They may not have been indicted, but they were certainly implicated,” he said. “There was an awful lot of circumstantial evidence.”
http://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2016/may/12/911-commission-saudi-arabia-hijackers and by The Independent: http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/saudi-arabian-government-officials-supported-september-11-hijackers-former-911-commission-member-a7026411.html
11.5.2016 – Emirates 24 7 (A P)
US State Department: 'We share a common agenda with the GCC'
Diplomacy matters more than ever: Mark Toner
The deputy spokesperson for the US State Department, Mark Toner, spoke at the Arab Media Forum on the “US-Arab diplomacy: the way forward”, where he maintained they were standing with Gulf leaders to tackle regional issues including Iran, Yemen and combating terrorism.
Speaking about US President Barack Obama’s meeting with Gulf leaders in Riyadh, Mark Toner said: “We share a common agenda with the GCC. There are a range of issues where we may differ on approaches, but this is why we have dialogue to face threats as allies to a common cause.
“Diplomacy matters more than ever. The GCC and US meeting in Riyadh earlier was a good opportunity for the President to sit with leaders of the Gulf and address key strategic challenges…
“These are relationships, like the one with Saudi Arabia, which have been forged over 70 years. We have a need to stay involved in this region, because of Yemen, Syria and the Iran nuclear programme. This engagement will continue.
“With any alliances, there will be good and bad times. You have to work through those.”
He added that the US was not easing up on its engagements in the region. “I want to dispel notion that we are easing up on engagement in the region and leaving issues for the Gulf to deal with. We all address these challenges together,” he said – by Bindu Rai
Comment by Judith Brown: I bet they do.
https://www.facebook.com/judith.brown.794628/posts/10154348341803641
10.5.2016 – Middle East Monitor (A P)
Specific factors may determine the future of US-Saudi relations
The relationship between the world’s only hyper-power – the United States – and its most important energy superpower – the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) – is changing. Why is this happening and what might it mean? There are a number of specific factors which might be significant drivers in shaping the future of one of the world’s most important international alliances.
Of the two front runners to become the next US president, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is also the most likely to offer continuity in the relationship. After all, her strong ties with the Saudi regime are not confined to her formal roles, but are also demonstrable through donations to the Clinton Foundation.
The impact of a “President Donald Trump”, who is now virtually assured the Republican nomination, is less clear.
Perhaps the factor that has had the most detrimental impact on US-KSA relations during the presidency of Barak Obama has been the so-called Iran-nuclear deal that was signed last year. While much of the media coverage focused on Israeli resistance to the deal, at least as much hostility emanated from Riyadh, where Iran is seen as a regional rival.
According to the Saudi narrative, Iran represents a threat to the status quo, particularly though its influence within Shia communities, both in the kingdom itself and its neighbouring states. Along these lines, the KSA has identified Iranian influence as a cause of problems in Yemen, Bahrain and its own restive Eastern Province.
Moreover, though the KSA is in receipt of significant support from the US for, inter alia, its ongoing war in Yemen, it also looks upon the potential for a thaw in US-Iran relations as a strategic threat.
The most immediate threat to Saudi interests, though, has been a diversification of how to obtain fossil fuels. In particular, oil produced by new technologies such as fracking, have already changed the nature of the global energy market noticeably.
How the disastrous ongoing conflicts in Syria and Yemen play out will obviously have a major bearing on the nature of the US-KSA relationship. While, as noted above, the US and KSA are apparently locked in step over Yemen, there is a greater chance of friction between the two the longer the conflict drags on, particularly as US interests come under increasing stress.
Nevertheless, it is in Syria where there is most obvious tension between Washington and Riyadh.
There have been several actions by the Saudi government mentioned here, and in a previous article, which suggest that the kingdom may be seeking to steer a different course, with a greater emphasis on independence from the US.
It was not all that long ago that Washington was apparently alarmed by the prospect of a potential regime collapse in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Certainly, these are turbulent times and there are numerous reasons why the royal family’s grip on the kingdom may be less secure than it appears. However, if the Americans are really concerned about “losing Saudi Arabia”, it might be rooted in something a little less dramatic – by Philip Leech
[This work by Middle East Monitor is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.]
10.5.2016 – Breitbart (A P T)
U.S. Enters Yemen Fray, Kills 10 Al-Qaeda Jihadis in Airstrikes
Last week, a small contingent of U.S. forces returned to Yemen, where they remain, to provide a “liaison role, in particular in support of intelligence sharing” to Saudi-led coalition activities in the country, Pentagon press secretary Peter Cook told reporters on Monday.
The United States will not capitulate on its mission to degrade, disrupt, and destroy AQAP and its remnants, the Centcom officials reportedly said in the statement, adding, “We remain committed to defeating [AQAP] and denying it safe haven regardless of its location.”
American military officials were quoted by a CENTCOM press release as saying that “U.S. strikes in Yemen continue to diminish al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula’s presence in the region.”
Comment by Judith Brown: Entering the fray! They have been killing by drone strikes in Yemen for a decade, and many Yemenis are on record saying that US involvement is a recruitment tool for AQAP. Before they started their drones strikes, the numbers of AQ operatives in Yemen could be counted on the fingers. After the airstrikes, they were in hundreds. Since KSA started their killing and destruction campaign their numbers swelled to thousands, maybe tens of thousands. And now with US boots on the ground who knows what will happen. They see these statistics - it makes me think creating war and extremist militants in the Middle East is a definite strand of their foreign policy.
https://www.facebook.com/judith.brown.794628/posts/10154347769473641
10.5.2016 – Arab News (A P)
US praises Saudi role in combating Al-Qaeda in Yemen
US Secretary of State John Kerry met Monday in Paris with Saudi Foreign Minister Adel Al-Jubeir.
They reviewed the strong and enduring relationship between their countries and discussed a broad range of regional issues, including Yemen, Syria, and Iran, said US State Department spokesperson John Kirby.
He said the two ministers exchanged views on the Yemeni peace talks being held in Kuwait, and the Secretary expressed the US government's appreciation for the key role Saudi Arabia continues to play in combating terrorism and AQAP in Yemen, in particular.
Saudi leadership in making available an operations center and contributing the largest number of forces has been indispensable to recent successes, including most recently in Mukallah.
http://www.arabnews.com/news/us-praises-saudi-role-combating-al-qaeda-yemen
Comment: “US government's appreciation for the key role Saudi Arabia continues to play in combating terrorism and AQAP in Yemen”, very far apart from any reality.
cp12 Andere Länder / Other countries
12.5.2016 – Amnesty International (** B H P)
Qatar World Cup of Shame
Migrants building a state-of-the-art stadium for the 2022 football World Cup in Qatar are abused and exploited – while FIFA makes huge profits.
Migrants from Bangladesh, India and Nepal working on the refurbishment of the showcase Khalifa Stadium and landscaping the surrounding gardens and sporting facilities known as the “Aspire Zone” are being exploited. Some are being subjected to forced labour. They can’t change jobs, they can’t leave the country and they often wait months to get paid. Meanwhile, FIFA (football’s global governing body), its sponsors and the construction companies involved are set to make massive financial gains from the tournament.
We have found eight ways that some workers building the Khalifa Stadium and the Aspire Zone are being exploited…
https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/campaigns/2016/03/qatar-world-cup-of-shame/
10.5.2016 – Nasser Arrabyee (A K P)
French forces Arrived today to Shabwah South Yemen where French company Total biggest shareholder of huge gas project More than 5 bln US$
https://twitter.com/narrabyee/status/730097260923650048
cp13a Waffenhandel / Arms trade
10.5.2016 – Middle East Eye (** A K P)
Western firms sell drones, surveillance and riot solutions to Gulf tyrants for 'homeland security'
Drones, surveillance technologies and riot control gear were among the top products showcased by giant Western defence contractors at a recent major arms fair in Abu Dhabi, the United Arab Emirates.
Apparently this is how the Free World brings democracy to those backward Muslims in the Middle East: with guns.
The 2016 International Exhibition for National Security and Resilience (INSR) in March hosted over 500 exhibitors from the worldwide defence industry, including Britain's BAE Systems, US military firm Dyncorp, L-3 Communications, a Canadian aerospace and defence company; Japanese ICT firm, NEC Global; Thales, the French electronic systems defence contractor; and Beretta, the well-known Italian firearms manufacturer.
Other US exhibitors included Skyline USA Inc., which provides stun guns, pepper sprays and police tactical batons; and Aventura, a contractor for the US Department of Homeland Security supplying surveillance technologies for domestic law-enforcement and border control.
The ISNR’s Future of Policing pavilion was a new addition to the arms fair, which has taken place annually for the last seven years. The pavilion exhibited a range of advanced law enforcement solutions including what ISNR’s organisers described as “connected police, robots and drones, and crowd control.”
One of the exhibitors was Martin Johns, a 14-year British Army veteran who is now head of business development at Passive Force LLC, whose flagship product, STORM500, is “an integrated, non-lethal crowd control solution”.
“Passive Force excels at addressing these changing dynamics facing governing bodies, security services and domestic law enforcement agencies, as they confront a multitude of challenges in highly complex situations,” enthuses the company website.
Of course, by “multitude of challenges”, the good folks at Passive Force basically mean angry Arab hordes who dare to challenge authoritarian "rule by torture" in multiple Gulf dictatorships.
How dare those pesky populations aspire to replacing the Free World’s moderate Gulf allies with their own democracies?
Mark Whyte, senior managing director of British private intelligence firm, Control Risks Group (CRG), is usefully quoted in the ISNR newsletter explaining that actually it’s nothing to do with democracy. Rather, he said, “the threat of protest and violent disorder, which can cause a significant impact on business operations, continues.”
Democracy isn’t good for business. At least not in the Middle East.
The Middle East homeland security market is especially expected to grow exponentially over the next five years.
Major General Ahmed Nasser al-Raisi, deputy chairman of ISNR’s organising team, said: “The Middle East’s homeland security market will see a compound annual growth rate of 18.7 percent and reaching $34 billion per year by 2020, a growth rate that is three times higher than the global average.”
He also claimed: “This growth is not reflective of worsening security situations, but rather a positive foundation for countries enhancing their security and resilience.”
Of course. More guns equals more security.
Somehow, I don’t think most Arab citizens being kept "safe" by their burgeoning "homeland security" kingdoms would agree.
But that’s ok. A good non-lethal beating will probably convince them. – by Nafeez Ahmed
cp13a Mercenaries / Söldner
Siehe cp1 Am wichtigsten / See cp1 Most important
12.5.2016 – Haykal Bafana (A K)
#UAE losses in #Yemen war : 793 killed (soldiers & mercenaries), 9 Apaches & 342 armoured vehicles destroyed. (Ar)
This report is by pro-Houthi media. There are no official UAE stats on its losses in the Yemen war, especially as regards Blackwater mercs.
https://www.facebook.com/haykal.bafana/posts/1009930772420266
cp13c Flüchtlinge / Refugees
11.5.2016 – Euronews (* B H)
Exklusivbericht aus Flüchtlingslager Darwan im Jemen: “Es fehlt an allem”
Auch aus der nördlich der Hauptstadt Sanaa gelegenen Stadt Sada sind viele Menschen geflohen. Viele der Flüchtlinge leben im Lager Darwan, etwa 40 Kilometer von der Hauptstadt entfernt. Euronews-Reporter Mohammed Shaikhibrahim hat das Camp besucht. Die Hauptursache für die Flucht sind laut Hilfsorganisationen die Luftangriffe der saudisch angeführten Militärkoalition auf vermeintliche Stellungen der Huthi-Rebellen. In Sada sei es für Zivilisten besonders schlimm.
“Meine Nachbarschaft wurde bombardiert”, so einer der Flüchtlinge in Darwan. “Alle waren davon betroffen, einige wurden getötet, andere hatten Glück und haben überlebt. Wir haben es irgendwann geschafft, Sada zu verlassen. Das war nicht einfach, denn die Angriffe haben eine ganze Woche gedauert.”
Die Bewohner des Flüchtlingslagers haben sich Behausungen aus Steinen gebaut, die sie in der Gegend gefunden haben. Nicht nur Essen und Trinkwasser sind knapp. “Nachts ist es kalt und wir frieren”, erzählt eine geflüchtete Frau. “Tagsüber leiden wir unter der sengenden Sonne. Manchmal bekommen meine Kinder für drei bis vier Tage nichts zu essen. Es gibt zu wenig Wasser und Gas. Es fehlt an allem.”
Viele der Kinder im Lager Darwan sind krank. Doch sie erhalten keine Behandlung. Hilfsorganisationen beklagen, dass die Lage der Menschen im Jemen angesichts anderer Kriege vergessen wird. Jamie McGoldrick, UN-Hilfskoordinator für das Land nennt die Zustände “alarmierend”: “14 Millionen Menschen sind auf Hilfe angewiesen. Die Sicherheit von sieben Millionen Menschen ist ernsthaft bedroht. Drei Millionen Kinder in diesem Land gehen nicht zur Schule. Ihr Leben ist nichts als Schmerz. Man muss sich die Gesundheitsversorgung angucken und sich vor Augen führt, wie schwierig es ist, Essen, Medikamente und Benzin ins Land zu bringen. Das alles schadet der Zukunft der Kinder.”
Mohammed Shaikhibrahim: “Die Flüchtlinge hier bezahlen einen hohen Preis. Sie sind diejenigen, die die Konsequenzen dieses Krieges und der politischen Konflikte tragen müssen, vor allem die Kinder. Dieses Camp ist nur eines von vielen im Jemen, in dem die Bewohner unter katastrophalen Bedingungen leiden.”
http://de.euronews.com/2016/05/11/exklusivbericht-aus-fluechtlingslager-darwan-im-jemen-es-fehlt-an-allem/ (mit Film dieser, alternativ auch hier: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dOaVL0Nk-Fo )
11.5.2016 – Euronews (* B H)
Life for the displaced in Yemen – an exclusive euronews report from the Darwan camp near Sanaa
Euronews visited one of the camps for displaced people about 40 kilometres from the capital Sanaa. They fled from the city of Sada.
Most of the people at the camp – called Darwan – escaped from the Arab Alliance Force’s bombing of the city. It is seen as the main stronghold for the Ansar Allah movement – the Houthis who have been accused of striking Saudi cities in the south of the country.
“The area where I lived was bombed, some died others were lucky enough to survive. We were able to get out of Sada and that was not easy as the shelling kept going on for an entire week preventing us from leaving the city,” one of the men explained.
Euronews saw the living conditions in the camp where people use whatever they can find to make makeshift shelters to live in. There is a severe shortage of food and drinking water, sanitation is poor. All around there is the potential for the spread of disease.
“In this camp we suffer from the cold weather at nights, and the scorching sun during the day, and sometimes my kids don’t eat for about 3 or 4 days, we continually suffer from the lack of water and gas ….we have nothing,” explained one of the mothers at the camp.
Many of the children have infections and there are no clinics where they can get treatment.
The United Nations Humanitarian Coordinator in Yemen, Jamie McGoldrick. told Euronews what’s going on in the country is “an alarming story” (with film)
11.5.2016 – Watson (B H K)
Über 2 Millionen Menschen im Jemen auf der Flucht: Naher Osten kommt nicht zur Ruhe
Im Nahen Osten sind im Vorjahr mehr als die Hälfte aller neuen Binnenflüchtlinge weltweit gezählt worden. Rund 4.6 Millionen Menschen mussten laut zwei Flüchtlingsorganisationen im Jahr 2015 im Jemen, in Syrienund im Irak ihr Zuhause verlassen.
Nach dem Bericht musste ein Viertel davon - 2.2 Millionen Menschen - im jemenitischen Bürgerkrieg ihr Zuhause verlassen.
11.5.2016 – The Guardian (B H K)
Homeless at home: most displaced people found in Syria, Yemen and Iraq
Report delves into the numbers overshadowed by the refugee crisis – the 28m people forced by violence or disaster to live elsewhere in their country last year
Conflict, violence and natural disasters forced nearly 28 million people to leave their homes and move somewhere else within their countries last year, according to a report.
The figures from the Norwegian Refugee Council’s Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre (IDMC) show that, by 2015, the number of people internally displaced by conflict – 40.8 million – was double the total number of refugees.
Violence displaced 8.6 million more people last year – 24,000 each day, on average – making it a record year for conflict-driven displacement.
Three Middle Eastern countries accounted for more than half the new conflict displacements: Syria, Yemen and Iraq – by Laurie Lee
http://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2016/may/11/homeless-at-home-most-displaced-people-found-in-syria-yemen-and-iraq and by Reuters http://www.reuters.com/article/us-global-displacement-war-disaster-idUSKCN0Y20DE and by Aljazeera, with infograph: http://www.aljazeera.com/news/2016/05/8-million-people-displaced-conflict-2015-160511062427786.html
11.5.2016 – Gulf News (B H)
Yemen tops list of internally displaced
A report by the Norwegian Refugee Council said that 8.6 million of last year’s internally displaced were uprooted by conflict, more than half of them in Syria, Yemen and Iraq.
The group says Yemen alone accounted for one quarter of conflict-related displacement worldwide last year, with 2.2 million people uprooted, or 20 times more than in 2014.
“Displacement ... has snowballed since the Arab spring uprising in 2010 and the rise of Daesh,” said the report, with Yemen, Syria and Iraq accounting for more than half of the total.
http://gulfnews.com/news/gulf/yemen/yemen-tops-list-of-internally-displaced-1.1825052
cp14 Terrorismus / Terrorism
Siehe cp 6 Südjemen / See cp6 Southern Yemen
12.5.2016 – SRF (* B T)
Al-Kaida spielt im Jemen den «good guy»
Der Krieg in Jemen erhält viel weniger Aufmerksamkeit als der Konflikt in Syrien. Aber er ist kaum weniger blutig – und genauso unübersichtlich. Ein Beispiel dafür sind die widersprüchlichen Informationen zur Stärke von Al-Kaida im Land. Ein Gespräch mit Jemen-Spezialistin Elisabeth Kendall.
Wieso toleriert die lokale Bevölkerung die Terrororganisation?
Sie tut dies, weil Al-Kaida in Jemen ein Sicherheitsvakuum füllt. Und Al-Kaida kann sich als der «good guy» präsentieren, der sich der Sorgen der Bevölkerung annimmt und die lokalen Probleme löst.
Was unternehmen die Al-Kaida-Mitglieder konkret?
Erstens fahren sie eine flächendeckende Propagandakampagne zu ihren sogenannten «guten Diensten», wie zum Beispiel Elektrizitäts- und Wasserversorgung, Strassenreparaturen, Errichtung von Schulen, auch Mädchenschulen. Sie haben zweitens auch Fischer mit Motoren für ihre Boote versorgt oder Strassen- und Kinderpartys veranstaltet. Al-Kaida hat sich der Bevölkerung auf eine heimtückische und strategische Art genähert. Deshalb wird es ein langer Kampf werden.
Aber wenn die Unterstützung für Al-Kaida bloss darauf basiert, dass sie gewisse Dienstleistungen bereitstellt, muss diese Unterstützung doch ziemlich brüchig sein?
Ja, ich denke, diese Unterstützung ist ziemlich brüchig. Ich habe den Eindruck, dass die Bevölkerung die Leute von Al-Kaida nicht mag, aber derzeit gibt es nichts Besseres. Al-Kaida verfügt über einen etwas besseren Sinn für eine Regierung von unten. Und das funktioniert.
Wie finanziert sich Al-Kaida in Jemen?
Die Gruppe hat Steuern für die einfache Bevölkerung abgeschafft. Dafür haben sie den Unternehmen hohe Steuern auferlegt. Das hat eine Art Robin-Hood-Kultur geschaffen. Die Leute sehen, dass Al-Kaida die Reichen ausraubt, um die Armen zu unterstützen. Aber es gibt noch wichtigere Einnahmequellen, wie etwa den Hafen von Mukkala, den Al-Kaida bis vor ein paar Wochen kontrollierte. Zudem finanziert sich die Gruppe über den Schmuggel und wohl auch über Lösegelder für Opfer von Entführungen.
Im Westen ist Al-Kaida bekannt für brutale Methoden der Bestrafung gemäss der Scharia. Stossen solche Strafen die Bevölkerung nicht ab?
Das stösst eine Mehrheit der lokalen Bevölkerung ab. Deshalb ist Al-Kaida in Jemen viel vorsichtiger bei der Anwendung der Scharia gewesen.
Um die Terrororganisation aus dem Land zu vertreiben, müssen wir die Unzufriedenheit, die Marginalisierung, den Mangel an Repräsentation, die schlechten staatlichen Dienstleistungen sowie die fehlende Hoffnung der jungen Generation zum Thema machen. Wenn wir das nicht tun, werden wir nicht verstehen, wieso Al-Kaida an Popularität gewinnt.
http://www.srf.ch/news/international/al-kaida-spielt-im-jemen-den-good-guy
12.5.2016 – Khaleej Times (B T)
Al Qaeda terrorists disguise as women for Yemen attacks
The terrorist organisation, as per photos of some militants eliminated in a cleansing operation against Al Qaeda insurgents in Al Makla area of Yemen, proved to be using criminal tactics in its savage attacks against innocent civilians, according to official and informed sources.
"The image attached herein shows one of their slain leaders who underwent a makeover - complete with feminine clothes and full make-up - to pose as a woman while executing terrorist offensives against civilians."
Such a criminal tactic proves that those terrorists have nothing to do with any religious or humanitarian principles. Their alleged courage and willingness to die in service of religion are baseless, they added.
http://www.khaleejtimes.com/region/mena/al-qaeda-terrorists-disguise-as-women-for-yemen-attacks
Comment: The rest of this article is the normal pro-Hadi propaganda.
11.5.2016 – The Telegraph (* B T)
British al-Qaeda member 'agreed to bomb Heathrow so he could escape Yemen and get treatment for his scabies'
A British member of al-Qaeda has claimed he only agreed to carry out a suicide bombing at Heathrow as a way of escaping from a terror training camp in Yemen where he was suffering from scabies.
Minh Quang Pham, a British citizen born in Vietnam, spent six months in Yemen in 2011 training with al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP), one of the deadliest branches of the terror network.
He returned to Britain in July 2011 after allegedly being tasked by Anwar al-Awlaki to build a bomb and and ultimately blow himself up in the arrivals section of Heathrow airport.
The 33-year-old was arrested by British police and extradited to New York where he pleaded guilty in January to three terrorism charges.
Ahead of his sentencing Pham wrote his US judge a 13-page handwritten letter in which he said he was "very naive" when he joined the terror group and insisted he had no intention of actually carrying out the Heathrow attack – by Raf Sanchez
Comment: Yemen a center of Al Qaida terrorism menacing the West already in 2011. And the West did it’s very best to enforce this menace – by supporting the Saudi war on Yemen. Congratulations!!
10.5.2016 – The Washington Institute (* A K P T)
Gulf Coalition Targeting AQAP in Yemen
Over the past two weeks, U.S. airstrikes in Yemen have killed ten members of al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, contributing to an increasingly intense Gulf coalition effort against the group. AQAP has been a persistent menace since the early 2000s, exploiting periodic collapses of government military presence in the south and east. It has achieved unprecedented success during the ongoing civil war that broke out last year, capturing large amounts of military materiel, controlling a swath of terrain between the southern cities of Aden and al-Mukalla, and drawing resources from southern oil fields and ports. In response, the Saudi- and Emirati-led Gulf coalition fighting on the government's side has been redirecting a significant portion of its military efforts toward the emergent AQAP enclave in the south, especially since the campaign to retake the capital from other rebel forces became bogged down by protracted peace talks. Alongside the U.S. strikes, Gulf forces have recently rolled back AQAP control in several southern cities, ports, and energy installations.
AQAP EXPANSION DURING YEMEN'S WARS
CHALLENGING THE GOVERNMENT
COALITION RESPONSE
IMPLICATIONS FOR U.S. POLICY
Late last year, AQAP was poised to control Yemen's second- and fifth-largest cities, plus its two biggest Indian Ocean ports and major energy installations. Yet the Gulf coalition forestalled that disaster through a prescient and patient buildup, followed by well-designed and decisive military operations. Since February, coalition and Yemeni forces claim to have killed 450 AQAP fighters in al-Mukalla, 120 in Aden, and 220 in other operations. If they can maintain such pressure, they can whittle AQAP back down from a quasi-government in the Islamic State mold to a highly dangerous terrorist group that deserves ongoing scrutiny.
Yet for all its potency, the Gulf coalition probably cannot maintain the current level of commitment indefinitely, and the military task of pressuring AQAP will grow more complicated if the group disperses into its mountain redoubts. The United States has acknowledged launching four airstrikes against AQAP since April 23, and it remains the only party capable of effectively tracking and targeting the group's rural camps. The anti-AQAP campaign would also be better served if the stalled peace talks with the Houthis progress, since conflict termination is in the interests of all sides except AQAP – by Michael Knights and Alexandre Mello
Comment: Giving also background information on Al Qaida in Yemen, this very much sounds like the official US position and wording.
5.2016 – Iran Project (unrated B T)
Al-Qaeda stronger after Saudi-led attacks on yemen
One of the major challenges of Yemen today, specifically after the air campaign of the Saudi-led Arab military coalition, is the increase in the activities of the terror group Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP), which has been used as a means by Saudi Arabia to proceed towards its objectives in dealing with Yemen’s resistant group Ansarulah.
http://theiranproject.com/blog/2016/05/10/al-qaeda-stronger-saudi-led-attacks-yemen/
Comment: Iranian viewpoint.
cp15 Propaganda
12.5.2016 – Gulf News from Washington Post (A P)
Saudi threatens to move forces into Sana’a if peace talks fail
Spokesman says they cannot leave Yemen without a final result as it will lead to Libyan model there
Saudi Arabia will send troops into Sana’a, the Yemeni capital, if peace talks between the Saudi-backed government and Al Houthi rebels fail, a military spokesman said on Wednesday, raising the spectre of extended conflict.
Brigadier General Ahmad Asiri, a spokesman for the Saudi-led military coalition that has been fighting Al Houthi rebel forces for the past one year, said Saudi Arabia hoped that peace talks in Kuwait, already strained by ongoing violence on the ground, would succeed.
“We have two lines working in parallel — a political process and the military operation. One of them will reach the end,” he said. “If not, ... today we have troops around the capital, and we will get in, because the goal should be achieved which is securing Yemen.”
“Securing Yemen doesn’t mean that we will tolerate to have a militia ... controlling ballistic missiles, artillery, etc, and threatening our border and threatening the area.”
“We cannot leave Yemen in a grey area without having a final result,” he said. “Otherwise, we will see the Libyan model in Yemen.”
The general defended Saudi Arabia’s management of its air campaign against Al Houthi rebels, saying that strikes were conducted to the standard of Nato operations.
“We take all measures to conduct surgical air strikes,” he said.
The United Nations has accused the Saudi-led coalition of being responsible for twice the number of civilian casualties as other combatants in Yemen. Asiri said Saudi and allied forces systematically investigated allegations of civilian casualties but were hindered by a lack of access to Al Houthi-controlled areas. He did not provide a number for how many of those allegations had been verified – by Missy Ryan
http://gulfnews.com/news/gulf/yemen/saudi-threatens-to-move-forces-into-sana-a-if-peace-talks-fail-1.1826558 and http://www.stripes.com/news/middle-east/saudi-military-threatens-to-move-forces-into-sanaa-if-peace-talks-fail-1.409171
11.5.2016 – Al Arabiya (A K P)
Asiri: Yemen army to enter Sanaa if talks fail
If the United Nations announces the failure of peace talks in Kuwait aimed at ending the year-long war in Yemen, Yemen’s internationally recognized government will launch a military operation to enter the capital Sanaa, the Saudi-led military coalition spokesman said on Tuesday.
Brigadier General Ahmed Asiri defended the presence of coalition troops in Yemen, saying it was meant to protect the Yemeni people, not invade the country or take its resources.
He said coalition forces used precision-guided munitions to hit targets in Yemen to avoid harming civilians.
Comment by Judith Brown: This is horrible - and how can they take Sanaa - they can't even control Taiz after a year of fighting. They would just attack it and kill even more civilians, and destroy more of Yemen's infrastructure and heritage. And lets make this clear - if the US did not approve, KSA could not do it. So US are compliant with this terrible threat, which they are using as a means of trying to get their opposition to capitulate so that they can claim a false victory.
https://www.facebook.com/judith.brown.794628
11.5.2016 – Arab News (A P)
We know where Saleh sleeps in Yemen: Asiri
The Saudi-led Arab coalition knows every movement deposed president Ali Abdullah Al-Saleh makes in Yemen, Brig. Gen. Ahmed Al-Asiri, spokesman of the coalition forces, has said.
In an interview on Egyptian channel Dream, he said there was precise intelligence information about where Saleh sleeps daily.
“Saleh uses the homes of ambassadors and embassies that have been evacuated. He also uses residences of international diplomatic missions, taking advantage of their immunity and his relations with them to protect himself from aerial attacks,” he said.
The Arab coalition never asked Egypt to send ground forces to Yemen, he said, adding that it is voluntary.
“The Yemeni army is the backbone of the operation carried out by the coalition,” he was quoted by a website as saying.
Asiri said two Egyptian pilots have carried out a number of air sorties, and the Egyptian navy has taken part actively. “If peace talks in Kuwait fail, we would storm the capital Sanaa and fight the final battle in Yemen.”
He said the American attack on Iraq was of a different nature, but the presence of coalition forces in Yemen is an effort to rescue Yemeni citizens. It is not an attack, and there is no lust for any resources of the country, he said.
“We are using guided munitions. One bomb costs 120,000 sterling pounds to reach to precise target,” said the general.
http://www.arabnews.com/news/we-know-where-saleh-sleeps-yemen-asiri
Comment: Looking serious at Asiris propaganda, things can be so clear: ““We are using guided munitions. One bomb costs 120,000 sterling pounds to reach to precise target,”. What is hit in most cases? Civilians and civilian infrastructure. What is what the Saudis want to hit? Civilians and civilian infrastructure.
Comment by Judith Brown: Well I happen to think that media management is extremely important - I even did a PhD looking at Arab Imagery in the British Media after working in Lebanon and Yemen because I felt that politicians and the media had deceived me. I guess I am very sceptical of the statements of Asisi as well. But in some parts of the world and amongst some populations he is the one who is believed, not the people of Yemen whose voices are not heard.
https://www.facebook.com/judith.brown.794628/posts/10154347651323641
cp16 Saudische Luftangriffe / Saudi air raids
12.5.2016 – New Yemen TV (A K PH)
The Saudi warplane breach the ceasefire agreement in all Yemeni provinces
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tg9MRmHmHTQ
12.5.2016 – Iran Daily (A K PH)
Saudi warplanes kill 2, wound several in Yemen’s Amran
Saudi warplanes have carried out fresh airstrikes on the northwestern province of Amran, killing and wounding more Yemeni people despite international warnings about deteriorating humanitarian crisis in the war-hit country.
In their latest aerial aggression on Wednesday, Saudi jets killed at least two civilians and injured nine others in Jebel al-Aswad area in the Harf Sufyan district of the province, Yemen's official Saba Net news agency reported, according to presstv.ir.
Meanwhile, Saudi troops targeted different areas in the west-central Ma'rib province with rockets and artillery shells. No information on possible fatalities and the scope of damage has been reported yet.
http://iran-daily.com/News/151223.html
11.5.2016 – Aggression Y (A K PH)
#Saada: KSA-US aggression's warplanes launched 2 air strikes on the border district of Manbah....
https://twitter.com/AggressionY/status/730628328596615169
11.5.2016 – Aggrerssion Y (A K PH)
A massive hovering by KSA-US aggression's warplanes over #Taiz and #Sadaa....
https://twitter.com/AggressionY/status/730443852235059200
11.5.2016 – Ahmed Alghobary (A K)
#Saudi jets are over my city Dhamar now When the #Saudi war on #Yemen will be over? We hope to live a normal life with out war
https://twitter.com/AhmadAlgohbary/status/730497415594299392
10.5.2016 – Yemen Post (A K)
#Breaking TERRIFYING night in #Yemen capital as Saudi warplanes fly very low in Sanaa skies forcing 100,000s children off beds in fear.
https://twitter.com/YemenPostNews/status/730144736300904448
10.5.2016 – Diegenesis (A K)
#Saudi warplanes just arrived over #Yemen's capital now. Many of them and roaring.
https://twitter.com/shapban/status/730143547761016832
cp17 Kriegsereignisse / Theater of War
11.5.2016 – Khabar News Agency (A K PH)
Pro #Saudi fighters targeted #Yemen-i forces sites in al-Zaher of #Baiedha
http://www.khabaragency.net/lasten-60193-Pro_
11.5.2016 – Muhit El-Yemen (A K)
Shelling kills child in Taiz, wounding 4 others
Houthis' artillery shelling early Wednesday killed one girl child, wounding four others in Taiz, a local source said.
The source indicated the Houthi militants shelled residential areas of Thabat and Kulaba in Taiz.
The shelling destroyed a number of houses, according to the source.
Fighting in Taiz between the pro-government forces and Houthi militants continue unabated, complicating the catastrophic humanitarian situation in the governorate.
http://muhitelyemen.net/en/local/news/2848.html
Vorige / Previous:
https://www.freitag.de/autoren/dklose/krieg-im-jemen-neue-artikel-zum-nachlesen-142
Neue Artikel zum Nachlesen 1-142: / Yemen Press Reader 1-142:
https://www.freitag.de/autoren/dklose oder / or
Was ist Ihre Meinung?
Kommentare einblendenDiskutieren Sie mit.