The US, the west, the saudis and the Yemen war (several articles) - Letters from Yemen - Saudi air raids against MSF hospital, school, private home, many victims - and more
Schwerpunkte / Key aspects
Klassifizierung / Classification
cp1 Am wichtigsten / Most important
cp2 Allgemein / General
cp3 Humanitäre Lage / Humanitarian situation
cp5 Nordjemen und Huthis / Northern Yemen and Houthis
cp6 Südjemen und Hadi-Regierung / Southern Yemen and Hadi-government
cp8 Saudi-Arabien / Saudi Arabia
cp9 USA
cp10 Großbritannien / Great Britain
cp12 Andere Länder / Other countries
cp13 Flüchtlinge / Refugees
cp14 Terrorismus / Terrorism
cp15 Propaganda
cp16 Saudische Luftangriffe / Saudi air raids
cp16a saudischer Luftangriff auf Krankenhaus in Abs / Saudi air raid at hospital at Abs
cp16b Saudischer Luftangriff auf Schule / Saudi air raid at school
cp16c Saudischer Luftangriff auf Wohnhaus / Saudi air raid at private home
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
Schwere saudische Luftangriffe siehe cp16a, b, c
Heavy saudi air raids at cp16a, b, c
17.8.2016 – New York Times (** A K P)
Stop Saudi Arms Sales Until Carnage in Yemen Ends
A hospital associated with Doctors Without Borders. A school. A potato chip factory. Under international law, those facilities in Yemen are not legitimate military targets. Yet all were bombed in recent days by warplanes belonging to a coalition led by Saudi Arabia, killing more than 40 civilians.
The United States is complicit in this carnage. It has enabled the coalition in many ways, including selling arms to the Saudis to mollify them after the nuclear deal with Iran. Congress should put the arms sales on hold andPresident Obama should quietly inform Riyadh that the United States will withdraw crucial assistance if the Saudis do not stop targeting civilians and agree to negotiate peace.
Given the civilian casualties, further American support for this war is indefensible. As Mr. Murphy told CNN on Tuesday: “There’s an American imprint on every civilian life lost in Yemen.” – by Editorial Board
http://www.nytimes.com/2016/08/17/opinion/stop-saudi-arms-sales-until-carnage-in-yemen-ends.html
Comment: We know this for long. The importance of this appeal is that it is coming from this newspaper’s editorial board at this time.
Stephen Lendman comments:
17.8.2016 - Stephen Lendman (** B K P)
NYT Editors Ignore Obama’s War on Yemen
The Times is a shameless instrument of state propaganda, reporting only what it wants its readers to know, suppressing what’s most important, especially on geopolitical issues. More below on a Times editorial on Yemen.
16.8.2016 – The Canary (** B K)
The UK has the blood of 10,000 Yemeni children on its hands
Yemen? What about Syria?
The conflict is portrayed in Western media as otherworldly. Something so complex that it’s best left for experts to discuss and for governments to worry about. For this reason, the UK’s “brilliant” arms sales to Saudi Arabia are all considered to be above board, and not to be questioned.
The reality is very different. Yemen’s problems are part of a manufactured context that has existed for decades in the Middle East. Two branches of Islam, Sunni and Shia, set against each other by self-interested regional powers. And Western governments try to maintain influence while companies mercilessly focus on their profit margins – all of them drunk on oil and gas.
The Syrian conflict is easy to sell to the public. The West needs to protect its citizens from the threat of terrorism. Daesh (Isis/Isil) is a danger to the very fabric of our democracy. And Bashar al-Assad is a brutal dictator who needs to be dealt with. In reality, it’s about exactly the same things as all other Middle Eastern conflicts. Money, power, oil and gas. But the public don’t need to know that. Because Syria’s got terrorism with an international reach.
Yemen’s war. A financial one?
The media fail to mention the UK’s financial ties with the Saudi Kingdom. Beyond billions of pounds in arms sales. Like the £7bn of exports they buy from us, every year. The 6,000 UK businesses which rely on our trading relationship with them. Or the £11bn worth of investment the UK government has in Saudi Arabia. Not forgetting King Salman’s £26m London property portfolio.
All these details are far too important to be ignored, because they’re key for understanding why the UK supports this horrific war (which has so far closed 3,600 schools).
Western governments can’t openly admit their concerns about the Bab al-Mandab Strait. One of the most important waterways in the Middle East. A global highway for oil shipments. One that would be compromised (for them) if it fell into the hands of Yemen’s Shia-led Houthi rebels. They mustn’t explain this is one of the reasons they support Saudi Arabia’s bombing of Yemen. Bombing which has left 1.2 million children displaced.
The influence of multinational arms corporations can’t be discussed either. Companies like Lockheed Martin,Raytheon and BAE Systems, which all sponsor the Royal United Services Institute (RUSI). A think tank which gives military and strategic advice to the UK government. And a think tank overly supportive of the Saudi-led coalition’s bombing campaign. A campaign which has left 21.2 million people in need of humanitarian aid. With almost half of those being children.
No one wants to mention the huge profits arms companies are making, either. Like BAE Systems. A company which saw a 25% increase in profits last year. BAE, whose value is $22.4bn. The UK company which manufacturers the fighter jets used by Saudi Arabia. Jets which bombed 49 schools and hospitals in Yemen last year. Jets whose bombs killed 510 children.
Yemen: good for political careers?
Children? Dying in Yemen? Who cares?
There is silence surrounding all of the above. A silence so deafening it should drown out everything else. But it’s quietly brushed aside. The evidence is ignored. Screams from Amnesty International fall on deaf ears. Legitimate cries surrounding war crimes are muted. All, tragically, because there is too much money to be made. Profit before people. The side in war that always wins.
It’s time the UK admitted its complicity in Yemen. Owned up to its involvement. Ended arms sales to Saudi Arabia.
In short, the UK has the blood of 10,000 Yemeni children on its hands. And it won’t be easily washed away – by Steve Topple
http://www.thecanary.co/2016/08/16/uk-blood-10000-yemeni-children-hands/
16.8.2016 – The American Conservative (** A K P)
Our Indefensible War in Yemen
The Saudi-led, U.S.-backed intervention has created a humanitarian catastrophe in Yemen that is at least as severe as any other crisis in the world. The situation in Yemen is arguably much worse than any other comparable humanitarian crisis because it is being so badly neglected and the international response to Yemen’s dire need has been so paltry. Relatively few people outside the region are aware of the crisis, even fewer understand how severe it is, and even fewer are motivated to provide aid, and the lack of attention to the war and its effects reinforces this indifference. Millions of people are at very real risk of starving to death so that the Saudis and their allies can indulge their delusions about combating Iranian influence, and the Saudi-led coalition is encouraged and enabled to do this with U.S. weapons, fuel, and intelligence provided by the Obama administration. On the rare occasions when administration officials are pressed to explain why the U.S. is doing this, they simply lie about the conflict and almost no one notices.
I suppose one could call our policy in Yemen “committing war crimes from behind”: the U.S. doesn’t directly commit any of the crimes, but it wouldn’t be possible for the Saudis and their allies to keep waging the war and committing their war crimes without our government’s assistance. Hardly anyone here at home notices our government’s role in all this because it is so rarely reported, it is scarcely criticized in major media outlets when it is mentioned, and it seems to hold no interest for most of our representatives in Congress. That’s how our government can facilitate a disaster that threatens the lives of millions of people without paying even the smallest political price.
U.S. involvement in the war on Yemen illustrates much of what’s worst in our foreign policy. We see the usual reflexive deference to bad clients and the uncritical backing of their worst behavior. We recognize the dishonest spin that the clients’ aggressive actions are being taken in “self-defense” to ward off a threat that doesn’t exist or has been grossly exaggerated. We know only too well the irrepressible urge to take sides and interfere in a foreign conflict that has little or nothing to do with us, and we encounter the all-too-familiar overconfidence in military options to “solve” ingrained political disputes that we don’t really understand. Finally, we confront the callous, total indifference to the suffering of a civilian population when the people endangered by war are on the “wrong” side of a fight – by Daniel Larison
http://www.theamericanconservative.com/larison/our-indefensible-war-in-yemen/
16.8.2016 – Politics of Poverty (** B K P)
An unnecessary war: Five thoughts from Yemen
The Humanitarian Situation is Appalling
Food Imports Are at Risk
There Isn’t Enough Money
Yemeni money, in particular! Unable to transfer foreign cash outside of Yemen through their banks, Yemen’s wealthiest businesspeople have withdrawn their money in Yemeni riyals, believing their wealth is safer and more useful under the mattress than in a bank that can’t convert it to foreign currency abroad.
The Central Bank of Yemen could print more money. However, doing so without ample foreign reserves could hurt the riyal, which has already lost substantial value against the dollar since the crisis began.
The Yemeni People are Absurdly Resilient
I mean something more specific. Yemenis have adapted to life amidst violence and poverty, individually and collectively, with striking boldness.
Community leaders beamed with pride as they told me of the women who were breaking down traditional gender norms by finding new ways to earn money for their families. And Yemeni humanitarian workers, often ignored by the international humanitarian system, are working at the grassroots to meet the needs of people that big international organizations can’t reach.
Yemenis Feel Dismissed by the International Community
And they have good reason to feel this way. One Sheikh told me he felt that the Western powers held out the promise of democracy during the Arab Spring and then turned their backs as traditional Yemeni power brokers divided the country in the aftermath.
The UN Security Council’s inaction is perhaps the most obvious manifestation of the international community’s disinterest in Yemen. On April 14, 2015, the Council adopted a resolution, which placed a set of unconditional demands on the Houthis without any corresponding demands on the Government of Yemen or the Saudi-led coalition to push them towards peace. Since then, the GoY has demanded implementation of the resolution before agreeing on a more comprehensive political solution to the conflict.
Yet, despite the fact that UNSCR 2216 has stood in the way of peace, the Council has not adopted a new resolution to push both parties toward an agreement. As of this writing, in the 481 days since the Council UNSCR 2216, the Council has adopted a single Resolution relating to Yemen; that resolution, which was technical in nature, did not speak to the peace process.
What Now?
most people – even policy experts and government officials – aren’t able to relate to the scale of suffering there. As I left Sana’a, I couldn’t help but think that the international community’s approach to Yemen would be markedly different if world leaders were able to see what I saw – by Scott Paul, Oxfam America
http://politicsofpoverty.oxfamamerica.org/2016/08/an-unnecessary-war-five-thoughts-from-yemen/
16.8.2016 – PRI, WNYC (** A K P)
Audio: With U.S. Help, Saudi Airstrikes Lead to Civilian Carnage in Yemen
The constant sound of airstrikes have become an all too familiar soundtrack for the people of Yemen, who have endured countless Saudi-led aerial bombardments over the last year and a half.
The strikes, aided by weapon sales from the U.S. and Britain, are an effort to defeat the Houthis rebels, a group that is loyal to former Saudi President Ali Abdullah Saleh, who was unseated during the Arab Spring uprising in 2011. But these airstrikes have had a catastrophic impact on civilians as the humanitarian situation worsens.
Yesterday, air strikes at a Doctors Without Borders facility in Yemen left several people dead. This comes on the heels of similar airstrikes on a school and food factory which left more than two dozen dead, mostly women and children.
The renewed airstrikes in the region come as a result of failed U.N. peace talks and increasing attacks on Yemeni fronts and the Saudi border by the Houthis and the Zaidi Shia rebel group, who are battling beleaguered Yemeni President Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi and his forces – by Iona Craig
http://www.wnyc.org/story/renewal-saudi-led-airstrikes-hit-hospital-yemen/
16.8.2016 – Jamila Hanan (** A K P)
Yemen Events Log 2
[All important events day by day, with links, Aug. 16 to Aug. 1]
https://docs.zoho.com/writer/open/qqptj5d51d260604b48f691fb33fba2641be6
16.8.2016 – Huffington Post (** B H K)
Letters of War – Yemen’s voices will be silenced no more
As Riyadh officials work still to rationalise their decisions to target innocent civilians by shifting blame on the Resistance movement, and argue it is, they, Yemen’s resistance fighters who have used their people as human shields, it is Saudi Arabia’s bombs which have torn through schools, hospitals, factories and residential areas. It is not armed men who were pulled from under the rubbles, but bloodied children.
18 months into Yemen’s war of co-called “political restoration” Saudi Arabia could prove to have committed one atrocity too many for the world community to still dare keep silent. One can only hope that human life still weighs more than the siren call of capitalism. Let us remember that Yemen’s demise has enabled the likes of the United States and the United Kingdom to secure billions of dollars in military contracts – in many way Yemen was sold out to a war lobby which interests lie not in peace and democracy-building, but annihilation and military diktat.
Might and fortune surely cannot be allowed to become the foundation upon which our legal system is raised. Surely, we owe ourselves to hold to higher, more righteous standards if we are in fact to call ourselves “civilized”.
But if the world community still looks the other way, consciously oblivious of the rivers of blood Saudi Arabia has made flow in this poorest nation of Southern Arabia, Yemenis have held on to their rights: their rights to be, their rights to choose, their right to manifest a future of their making.
The following is a compilation of several letters young Yemenis to pass on to Shafaqna for publication in the media. To protect their families from any potential reprisals the identity of each contributor will remain anonymous. Each letter is addressed to Abdo Rabbo Mansour Hadi, al-Saud Royals and those officials who have refused to give Yemen the courtesy of a choice – by Catherine Shakdam
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/letters-of-war-yemens-voices-will-be-silenced-no_us_57b2e2c0e4b0567d4f12f714 and (letters only): https://www.facebook.com/LivingInYemenOnTheEdge/posts/1085801304806232
15.8.2016 – Deutsche Welle (** B K P)
International community has given Saudis a 'blank check' in Yemen
DW spoke with political analyst Hisham Al-Omeisi about the conflict and the recent failed peace talks.
To be honest, for Yemenis, they have seen for the past 16 months that the international community has been, to a certain extent, complicit [in the Saudi airstrikes]. They have given the Saudis a kind of blank-check - a sort of leniency - while the Saudis have exponentially increased their impunity. We have seen that despite the Saudis being responsible for the majority of the more than 2,000 Yemini children killed thus far, they have been removed from the UN´s blacklist. When we saw that in Yemen, we knew that nobody would actually investigate the Saudis, let alone stop them.
For the past 16 months, the Saudis have been saying that there are Iranian Republican forces here in Yemen fighting alongside the Houthis. We have not seen a single Iranian soldier in Yemen. We have not even seen a single Iranian civilian in Yemen. They have been saying that Iranians are actively helping the Houthis on the ground. We have yet to see proof of that. Over the past 16 months, the Yemeni government, backed by the Saudis, has repeatedly said that they have arrested [dozens] of Iranian soldiers in [the country]. Where is the proof?
Yes, the Houthis tried to reach out to the Iranians, but the Iranians did not give them anything.
I would place it [the blame for the failure of peace talks] on the Saudi-backed Yemeni government for being stubborn. The Yemeni government insists that the Houthis pull back from the cities, that they hand over all their weapons before any sort of political deal. The Houthis have fought for 16 months. They will not hand over their necks to the Yemeni government. That would basically mean defeat. They will not accept that. The Saudi-backed Yemeni government has been refusing to compromise. The whole point of the negotiations is to arrive at a common ground. When they keep insisting that the Houthis surrender before establishing any common ground, [a peace deal] is not going to happen.
http://www.dw.com/en/international-community-has-given-saudis-a-blank-check-in-yemen/a-19476519 = https://www.msn.com/nb-no/nyheter/verden/international-community-has-given-saudis-a-blank-check-in-yemen/ar-BBvFmAS
15.8.2016 – Los Angeles Times (** A B K)
At least 11 dead as airstrike hits Doctors Without Borders hospital in northern Yemen
Warplanes of a Saudi-led coalition struck a hospital in northwestern Yemen on Monday, the medical charity Doctors Without Borders and officials said, leaving at least 11 people dead in what is seen as another blow to an already battered health system.
Doctors Without Borders confirmed on its official Twitter account that airstrikes had hit the hospital in Abs, in the rebel-controlled province of Hajjeh, the fourth attack in nine months on a facility supported by the charity.
The organization, which is also known by its French name, Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF), issued a statement late Monday saying that 19 people had been injured in addition to the 11 dead.
Doctors Without Borders said that it had been supporting the hospital since July 2015, treating 4,611 patients in that time.
A local humanitarian staff member, who did not give his name because he was not authorized to speak to the news media, said the bombardment had struck the triage area near the hospital’s emergency room, where patients would line up for screening.
“There were no armed people there,” he said.
He added that the hospital, like all facilities supported by Doctors Without Borders in Yemen, was marked with the group’s red and white flag to avoid being targeted by warplanes.
[further: school bombing; situation in Yemen] – by Nabih Bulos
http://www.latimes.com/world/la-fg-yemen-hospital-airstrike-20160815-snap-story.html
Comment: More in cp16a
15.8.2016 – Ban Norton (** A K)
4 bombings of civilians by US-armed Saudi coalition in week after peace talks ended
The US-armed Saudi-led coalition killed at least 62 Yemeni civilians and injured scores more in five bombings in the nine days after the peace talks ended on Aug. 6.
August 7 — Bombing of a market
18 civilians killed, including six members of the same family
August 9 — Bombing of a food factory
14 workers killed, most of whom were women
August 13 (1) — Bombing of a school
10 students killed and 28 injured, all between ages 8 and 15
August 13 (2) — Bombing of a home
9 members of same family killed, house of school principal Ali Okri bombed, killing his wife, 4 of his children, and 4 other relatives
August 15 – Bombing of a hospital
11 civilians killed and 19 injured, in what Amnesty International called “an atrocious attack that could amount to a war crime.”
https://www.facebook.com/BenDNorton/posts/1826918380885970
Comment: Just looking at these raids again. And now, there is another raid from Aug. 16, having killed at least 10 in a private home. That’s the total: US-armed Saudi-led coalition killed 62 Yemeni civilians in 5 bombings in past 9 days after peace talks ended
cp2 Allgemein / General
16.8.2016 – Willy Loman (* B K P)
Saudi Arabia’s Pattern of War Crimes in Yemen and Obama’s Continued Support of Them (“Every single civilian death inside Yemen is attributable to the United States.”)
If you were a doctor, a patient or a school-kid in Yemen this past weekend, you had a bad time. A real bad time.
If you were a Big Businessman associated with the Military Industrial Complex here in the land of the Big PX, you had a good weekend. A really good weekend.
And it’s all thanks to Saudi Arabia.
So government schools in Yemen are actually training centers for terrorism, huh? That’s why they say they bombed them. Then they say the collateral damage is not their fault, but rather the fault of the government in the area that put those training facilities so close to the children. If that doesn’t remind you of what the IDF said about targeting UN schools in Gaza, you need to brush up on your history.
Apparently targeting schools (and the children in them) is a new thing for coalition forces bombing Yemen back into submission.
As disturbing as this potentially developing trend is, it simply follows suit of another Saudi coalition trademark: bombing hospitals.
In a rare move, State Department spokesman Elizabeth Trudeau condemned the Saudi attack on the medical facility. But that doesn’t mean anything will change. We are still refueling Saudi Arabia’s US-made warplanes at record-setting rates and still signing billion dollar weapons deals with the brutal dictatorship as they kill civilians, children, doctors and patients with impunity.
Since coming to office, President Peace Prize has signed 48 billion dollars worth of weapons deals with Saudi Arabia which is 3 times what George Bush sold them during his 8 years in office.
Saudi Arabia would not be attacking Yemen were the United States not instructing them, and even paying them, to do so. So yes, every single civilian death inside Yemen is directly attributable not just to the United States, but more to the point, to President Barack Obama – by Scott Creighton
16.8.2016 – The Tyee (* B K P)
Yemen’s War: A Test for Canada, and We’re Flunking
Another hospital bombed, more civilians killed. How long will we tolerate it?
Attacks on hospitals and schools have become routine in today’s wars. Such attacks have also become a test of our tolerance for war crimes. So far, we appear to be too tolerant for our own good.
it went to war against Yemeni civilians. The coalition imposed a blockade, closing Yemen’s ports. Food shortages resulted, as well as scarcities of fuel and medical supplies. That led to dengue, diarrhea, measles, malnutrition and the general collapse of the health-care system.
But they pose a problem for Canada. Attacks on civilians are war crimes. Attacks on civilian facilities like hospitals, schools and places of worship are simply unacceptable.
On its website about our embassy in Saudi Arabia, the Canadian governmentsays, with a straight face: “Canada and Saudi Arabia share common interests on many peace and security issues, including energy security, humanitarian affairs (including refugees) and counter-terrorism. The Saudi government plays an important role in promoting regional peace and stability.”
Foreign policy is notoriously hard to maintain on moral terms.
Naked self-interest, calling itself “realism,” is difficult also: it leads to overthrowing governments, starting wars and supporting terror. Such measures are likely to lead to blowback and very unwelcome consequences. – by Crawford Kilian
http://thetyee.ca/Opinion/2016/08/17/War-In-Yemen/
Comment: Not just Canada. All Western countries are very much the same as this war is concerned.
16.8.2016 – Press TV Iran (not rated A K)
Film: Debate: Saudi crimes in Yemen
Press TV has conducted an interview with Catherine Shakdam, the director of Shafaqna Institute of Middle Eastern Studies from London, and Frederick Peterson, a US congressional defense policy adviser from New York, to discuss Saudi Arabia's crimes in Yemen.
Shakdam believes that the West - namely the United States and Britain - is complicit in Saudi Arabia’s war crimes in Yemen given the amount of weapons which have been sold to the kingdom.
She also mentions that the real problem with the Saudi aggression is “war capitalism”, adding there is more money to be made by "selling out the blood of poor people than there is in peace."
Shakdam is of the opinion that the West is responsible for the systematic killing of civilians in Yemen, rejecting the Western states' claims they they were not aware of Saudi crimes as "a blatant lie.”
“When you are selling cluster bombs to the Saudis, do you seriously expect that they would not use it when you know perfectly well they are actually at war with not just one country but several across the region. So to turn around and say we did not know and we are not responsible is actually criminal at this stage,” she says.
Shakdam also argues that the United Nations is “incapable” of doing anything about the Saudi crimes in Yemen.
http://www.presstv.ir/Detail/2016/08/16/480347/Yemen-Saudi-Arabia-UN and http://www.presstv.ir/Detail/2016/08/17/480393/Yemen-Saudi-Arabia-US-UK-weapons-sales-UN-war-crimes
16.8.2016 – Humanosphere (* B K)
‘An alarming pattern of disregard for civilian life’ in Yemen airstrikes
In the span of just a few days, forces from the Saudi-led coalition destroyed a school and a hospital, killing dozens of civilians. The incidents were quickly deplored by human rights organizations, aid groups and the United Nations. Amnesty International went so far as to say that Monday’s bombing of a hospital supported by Doctors Without Borders is a war crime if it had been intentionally targeted.
“Deliberately targeting medical facilities is a serious violation of international humanitarian law which would amount to a war crime. The circumstances of this attack must be thoroughly and independently investigated,” said Magdalena Mughrabi, Amnesty International’s deputy director of the Middle East and North Africa program, in a statement. “Today’s airstrike appears to be the latest in a string of unlawful attacks targeting hospitals highlighting an alarming pattern of disregard for civilian life.” – by Tom Murphy
Comment: Overview over latest air strikes and international reactions. See cp16a, b, c.
17.8.2016 – Reuters (* B K)
Bericht - Milliardenlasten durch Bürgerkrieg in Jemen
Der Bürgerkrieg im Jemen hat bislang Schäden an der Infrastruktur des Landes sowie wirtschaftliche Ausfälle in Höhe von mehr als 14 Milliarden Dollar verursacht.
Das geht aus einem Bericht von Anfang Mai hervor, an dem unter anderem die Weltbank, die Vereinten Nationen und die Europäische Union beteiligt waren. Weil der Konflikt andauere, seien die Zahlen vorläufig und würden sich noch erhöhen. Reuters konnte den Bericht einsehen, der nicht veröffentlicht werden soll. Er wurde von Ende 2015 bis Anfang dieses Jahres zusammengestellt.
Dem Bericht zufolge wurden beispielsweise 1671 Schulen beschädigt.
http://de.reuters.com/article/yemen-b-rgerkrieg-kosten-idDEKCN10S0GI
Kommentar: Das ist eine viel zu niedrige Schätzung. Sollen durch solche Angaben die Saudis entlastet werden, oder der „Westen“, die hierfür werden aufkommen müssen? Mindestens 100 Milliarden trifft es eher. Und die Toten und Verletzten sind mit Geld ohnehin nicht zu kompensieren.
16.8.2016 – Reuters (* B K)
Exclusive: Civil war costs Yemen $14 billion in damage and economic losses - report
The cost from damage to infrastructure and economic losses in Yemen's civil war is more than $14 billion so far, according to a confidential report seen by Reuters that highlights the effort needed to rebuild the country, where more than half the population is suffering from malnutrition.
"The conflict has so far resulted in damage costs (still partial and incomplete) of almost $7 billion and economic losses (in nominal terms) of over $7.3 billion in relation to production and service delivery," said the May 6 joint report by the World Bank, United Nations, Islamic Development Bank and European Union.
The Preliminary Damage and Needs Assessment report is an internal working document that is not being publicly released.
"These preliminary findings are not only partial, but also evolving" because the conflict is ongoing, the report said. The assessment, it said, was conducted between late 2015 and early this year.
A survey by Yemen's education ministry cited by the report showed that of 1,671 schools in 20 governorates which suffered damage, 287 need major reconstruction, 544 were serving as shelters for internally displaced persons, and 33 were occupied by armed groups. Based on a sample of 143 schools, the estimated cost of the damage was $269 million.
Citing the Ministry of Public Health and Population, the report said 900 of 3,652 facilities providing vaccination services were not operating in early 2016, leaving 2.6 million children under 15 at risk of contracting measles.
The report could assess residential damage only in the cities of Sanaa, Aden, Taiz and Zinjibar, and data collection was cut off in Oct. 2015 -- only about seven months into the conflict. That data alone found an estimated $3.6 billion in damage.
The cost to reconstruct damaged energy facilities in the four cities was an estimated $139 million, most going to repairing damaged or destroyed power plants.
http://www.reuters.com/article/us-yemen-security-damages-idUSKCN10R2B7
Comment: I agree that the figure of $ 14 billion must be extremely downsized and that $ 100 billion will be more realistic. And: This is no civil war any more. Or does this figure not include all damage by Saudi coalition air raids??? And: Those killed, mutilated, injured: No money ever can pay that.
Comments by Hisham Al-Omeisy: We needed $10 Billion BEFORE war to help ailing Econ/infrastructure. Now $14 billion after war completely destroyed!?
Just $14 billion? You've got to be kidding, infrastructure destroyed is at least double that let alone Econ.
Why do I get feeling someone deliberately downplaying damage cost? Makes bill lower if Saudi ever to right cheque. I said IF.
https://twitter.com/omeisy/status/765692072175235072 and https://twitter.com/omeisy/status/765683430134800384 https://twitter.com/omeisy/status/765683998970486784
Comment by Nadia Al-Belushi: I agree. The real cost should be at least 10 times that amount.
https://twitter.com/nadiabelush/status/765684768205832192
Comments by Dr. Karim: Subtracting Saudi Co here is a clear preparation for avoiding future compensations
https://twitter.com/StopDestroYemen/status/765657619168161792
So cute how Saudi Co of 10+ countries bombing every thing in #Yemen for 511 days is reduced into pure civil war.
https://twitter.com/StopDestroYemen/status/765657168808910850
Comment by Ali AlAhmed: actual cost is over $200 billion. This authors of this report are clearly idiots
https://twitter.com/AliAlAhmed_en/status/765690088982478848
Comment by Hisham Al-Omeisy: Now that's actually a more realistic number. Just think of factories bombed, businesses bombed/bankrupt, etc
https://twitter.com/omeisy/status/765690858209472513
16.8.2016 – FAZ (*A K)
Große Opfer, wenig Erfolge
Reihe von Vorfällen, seit Saudi-Arabien seinen Luftkrieg wieder deutlich verschärft hat. Am Wochenende wurde eine Schule getroffen, dabei wurden Kinder getötet. Zuvor war eine Lebensmittelfabrik in der Hauptstadt Sanaa getroffen worden. Lange hatten die Friedensverhandlungen in Kuweit zumindest eine Eindämmung der Gewalt mit sich gebracht. In Sanaa gab es über Monate keine Luftangriffe. Doch damit ist es nun vorbei. Der Konflikt sei wieder voll ausgebrochen, hieß es in Bans Stellungnahme. Die Militärkoalition hat eine Untersuchung der Angriffe auf das Krankenhaus und die Schule angekündigt. Doch es herrschen Zweifel an der Ernsthaftigkeit der Bemühungen, solche Vorfälle zu vermeiden. Diplomaten berichten von „schwierigen Gesprächen“ über dieses Thema. Die Houthi-Rebellen behaupten, die Koalition greife absichtlich humanitäre und zivile Einrichtungen an.
Deren Sprecher, der saudische General Ahmed Assiri, bezeichnete solche Vorwürfe am Wochenende als „Lügen“. Es würden nur militärische Ziele angegriffen, aber die Houthi-Rebellen missbrauchten Zivilisten als menschliche Schutzschilde. Zumindest gestand der General indirekt ein, dass die Angriffe der Koalition zivile Opfer fordern. „Dies ist ein Krieg. Da können Fehler passieren“, sagte Assiri.
Saudische Regierungsmitarbeiter geben schon länger – wenn auch zögerlich – zu, dass der Krieg im Jemen große Opfer fordert und wenig Erfolge zeitigt – von Christoph Ehrhardt
http://www.faz.net/aktuell/politik/ausland/un-besorgt-ueber-neue-luftangriffe-im-jemen-14391304.html
Kommentar: Immerhin wird einmal berichtet. Deutlich merkt man freilich, wie sehr die Saudis und ihre Koalition noch mit Samthandschuhen angefasst werden.
16.8.2016 – RT (* B K)
Yemen bombing ‘calculated war on entire people’
Sara Flounders, from International Action Center, shared her thoughts with RT.
RT: This isn't the first strike on a civilian facility. With modern military equipment, isn’t it possible to avoid miscalculations and to better plan targets of air raids?
Sara Flounders: It is not only possible, but it is absolutely urgent. It is impossible to imagine that these four strikes on different hospitals, four different times on hospitals in Yemen, and we should also bring in the Doctors Without Borders’ hospital hit in Afghanistan. Even though again, and again and again they send the GPS coordinates and connected directly to US command.
But in Yemen – who really runs the whole bombing operation? Who refuels Saudi planes? Who gives GPS coordinates – that is the US. Saudi Arabia couldn’t fly one plane without US assistance – both from military contractors and directly from the Pentagon. They can’t refuel their planes without US assistance. The naval blockade is carried out by the US Navy. So they have mapped every corner of the globe and they have certainly mapped Yemen.
Just imagine that these strikes on hospitals, on schools, on food processing plants, and on water, which is the most precious resource in Yemen. Again and again what is being destroyed is the civilian infrastructure. It is a calculated war on the entire people, but especially hospitals. Hospitals are absolutely prohibited to strike under international law for any reason whatsoever.
Who, though, does the US fear in Yemen, and who does Saudi Arabia fear? They really fear the Ansarullah movement, which is an independent movement that is for democratic change in Yemen, and it is a large coalition force. That is what Saudi Arabia most fears as an absolute monarchy trying to press down the population that has no rights whatsoever. They fear a movement anywhere in the region that has independence and that represent the people in anyway whatsoever.
Journalist Steve Topple believes the MSF hospital in Yemen was likely “a deliberate target.”
“MSF’s own statistics from last year say that 63 of their hospitals were bombed on 94 separate occasions. MSF give the coordinates of their facilities to both sides. The excuse that this is a mistake is now long gone in my opinion,” he told RT.
https://www.rt.com/op-edge/356142-bombing-hospital-yemen-msf-civilians/
16.8.2016 – Press TV Iran (* A K)
Yemenis fire ballistic missile at Saudi base
The attack targeted the kingdom’s southern city of Najran. This is the latest in a series of missile attacks by Yemenis on Saudi bases over the past few weeks.
With Interview with @HussainBukhaiti discussing #Saudi targeting of #Yemen school and @MSF hospital - important points
http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x4ov822_yemenis-fire-ballistic-missile-at-saudi-base_news
http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x4ov822_yemenis-fire-ballistic-missile-at-saudi-base_news
16.8.2016 – Nasser Arrabyee (A P)
7632 people are stranded including 3700 outside Yemen because US-backed Saudis SHAMELESSLY Stopped Sanaa airport said Yemen airliner Ghanim
https://twitter.com/narrabyee/status/765567130997841920
16.8.2016 – CNN (* B K P)
Film: Yemen: A 'poor country's' forgotten war
"It's easy to forget the poor when they're fighting the rich," Hakim Almasmari, Editor-in-Chief of the Yemen Post, says.
16.8.2016 – Press TV Iran (A K P)
Saudi raids on Yemenis breach Geneva Convention: Lawyer
Press TV has conducted an interview with Alfred Lambremont Webre, war crimes lawyer from Canada’s Vancouver, to discuss the Saudi aggression against Yemeni people, especially the latest attacks that targeted a hospital and a school in Hajjah and Sa’ada provinces.
It’s clear that both of these incidents are, by their terms, violations of the Fourth Geneva Convention, which prohibits strikes by warring parties against civilians, specifically against children.
The responsible officials in Saudi Arabia should be brought on charges before the International Criminal Court. It’s very very simple. It’s just a matter of political will. Those who are running the United Nations and the International Criminal Court are simply compromised and too afraid to face the truth of bringing war crimes against the criminals who continue to slaughter children for policy reasons of attacking the Houthis in Yemen.
15.8.2016 – Jo Menschenfreund (* B K P)
Wieder wird ein Land zerstört, der Jemen
[Übersichtsartikel]
Die Marionette Saudi Arabiens, der Präsident Hadi, wurde im Jahr 2012 für zwei Jahre, im Widerspruch zur Verfassung des Jemen "gewählt". Es gab keinen Konkurrenten und auf den Wahlzetteln gab es kein "Nein". Man konnte ihn also wählen oder nicht zur Wahl gehen. Und dann lief diese 2-Jahres-Periode aus, ohne dass es erneute Wahlen gegeben hätte. Um diesen "Präsidenten" wieder an die Macht zu bringen, wird also ein Land in Schutt und Asche gelegt.
wurde das Parlament zu einer Sitzung einberufen. Von den 301 Abgeordneten waren 26 gestorben, zum großen Teil durch saudische Bomben getötet. Die restlichen 275 bestimmten das Quorum von 50% = 138 Abgeordneten. Am Samstag, den 13. August nahmen 142 gewählte Parlamentarier an einer Sitzung des Parlaments teil. Und sie stimmten einstimmig der Bildung einer neuen Regierung zu. Im Westen hörte man wenig bis nichts davon.
Das von den Houthis dominierte Hohe Revolutionäre Komitee, also die bisherigen de facto Herrscher des Jemen, traten zurück. Sie hatten die Macht seit dem 6. Febuar 2015 inne gehabt. Mit diesem Schritt kennzeichnet der Jemen das Ende der Revolution und den Beginn seiner Demokratisierung. Es bedeutet mit Sicherheit das Ende der Ansprüche des nie demokratisch gewählten Präsidenten Hadi, der von Saudi-Arabien wieder an die Macht gebombt werden soll.
Auch wenn die NATO-Länder und ihre Verbündeten die neue Regierung natürlich nicht anerkennen werden, sieht der Rest der Welt nun noch deutlicher, wer Aggressor, wer Verteidiger ist. Aber wie im Mittelalter scheinen nur Gewalt, Bomben und Krieg darüber zu entscheiden, was "Demokratie" und "Freiheit" ist, und was nicht.
http://jomenschenfreund.blogspot.de/2016/08/wieder-wird-ein-land-zerstort-der-jemen.html
15.8.2016 – RT (* B K P)
Film: Laufende Friedensverhandlungen im Jemen: Saudische Luftschläge auf Schulen während Prüfungsphase
Während der Prüfungen am Ende des Schuljahres zerstörten saudische Luftangriffe eine Schule in Sanaa. Der Krieg im Jemen geht unvermindert weiter, obwohl sich die von Saudi-Arabien unterstützen Gruppen und die Regierung in Friedensgesprächen befinden. Gegenüber RT kommentiert die jemenitische Analystin Marwan Osman, die Welt müsse ihre Gleichgültigkeit gegenüber dem Krieg gegen den Jemen aufgeben.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=icgpmMDnfPk
15.8.2016 – Stop War (* B K P)
500 Days of UK Complicity in the Destruction of Yemen
Last Sunday marked 500 days since Saudi Arabian forces intervened in the Yemeni civil war. In that time, Saudi air strikes have killed thousands of people, destroyed vital infrastructure and unleashed a humanitarian crisis on the civilian population.
Despite the carnage, the response of governments like the UK has been to fuel the destruction with arms sales and an uncritical political support. The UK specifically has provided training and political support, while licensing billions of pounds worth of arms to the Saudi regime.
These arms sales haven’t just been immoral, they have also been illegal
The Saudi-led coalition published its own report into accusations of war crimes. Needless to say its findings were largely an exercise in self-justification and evasion, but even it had to acknowledge what it referred to as ‘shortcomings‘ in the conduct of the bombing.
One of the cases it cited as a ‘mistake’ was the bombing of a residential compound that killed 65 people. The language is distasteful and the regrets feel forced and superficial, but the fact that even the Saudi authorities feel the need to concede hitting civilian targets is a sign of how overwhelming the evidence has become.
In the meantime, there is no question that the government will pull out all stops to continue arming and supporting its most shameful ally. Time and again, and particularly over the last 500 days, it has proven that it will go to any length (or sink to any low) in order to maintain a terrible status-quo – by Andrew Smith, spokesperson for Campaign Against Arms Trade (CAAT)
15.8.2016 – Yemen – Who controls what? Map (A K)
http://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/interactive/2016/08/yemen-conflict-controls-160814132104300.html
15.8.2016 – The Guardian (* A K P)
Adam Baron, a visiting fellow at the European Council on Foreign Relations who was previously based in Yemen, said both sides had substantially and dramatically increased their attacks after the collapse of the UN talks.
He added: “When you’re seeing a country where your reaction to the hospital isn’t just shock and horror but rather a sad shrug, that’s really testament to how the desperate the situation in Yemen is really is right now... you’re also seeing the absolute collapse of the health system even in areas that are distant from the war.”
Kristine Beckerle, an expert on Yemen with Human Rights Watch, said the war in Yemen, particularly the Saudi-led coalition’s, has been devastating for civilians.
“These strikes follow a year and a half’s worth of unlawful attacks on schools, markets, hospitals, and factories. It’s unacceptable, and only underscores the need to immediately suspend arms sales to Saudi Arabia until it curbs its unlawful airstrikes in Yemen and credibly investigate those that have already occurred.” – by Saeed Kamali Dehghan
15.8.2016 – Hisham Al-Omeisy (A H K)
Some wounded in Haydan airstrikes arriving to Sana'a now say hospitals in Sa'ada & Hajja at risk of being bombed hence traveled here!
https://twitter.com/omeisy/status/765182412179595264
Local reps say casualties 20+. No wonder Haydan victims traveled 250KM to Sana'a avoiding nearby hospitals
https://twitter.com/omeisy/status/765195979381407744
Comment: Hospitals are favorite targets of Saudi air raids – so people are afraid of visiting a hospital, especially in the North of Yemen.
15.8.2016 – AP (* B K)
Unexploded bombs extend Yemen war’s deadly toll
Rights groups and U.N. agencies have expressed concern that even if the fighting is brought to an end, the country will still grapple with a brutal legacy of unexploded munitions, including bombs dropped by Saudi-led warplanes in and around the rebel-held capital, Sanaa, and in the Houthis’ northern heartland.
They say most of the deaths to date have been caused by the Saudi-led airstrikes, and blame the United States and Britain for supplying weapons and providing logistical support for the bombings.
Amnesty International said its researchers found thousands of unexploded munitions in northern Yemen following a 10-day tour of the region earlier this year.
“The lives and livelihoods of civilians, including young children, continue to be on the line in Yemen,” said Lama Fakih, an adviser at Amnesty. “They cannot live in safety until contaminated areas in and around their homes and fields are identified and cleared.”
15.8.2016 – Living in Yemen on the edge (A K)
These are the #Saudis: Asiri - head of the military operations AGAINST #Yemen - explains that the children killed in Yemen were all soon-to-be soldiers, hence, a target.
#MSF is in Yemen to deliver medical aid to the thousands injured by this war and nothing else.
Those who do not cry the death of children are killers. Like Asiri who is absolutely not sorry for having bombed a school 3 days ago.
15.8.2016 – ORF (* A K)
Jemen: Arabische Koalition lässt humanitäre Flüge wieder zu
Die Hilfsorganisationen der Vereinten Nationen (UNO) dürfen den Flughafen der jemenitischen Hauptstadt Sanaa wieder anfliegen. Die von Saudi-Arabien geführte Militärkoalition teilte heute mit, der internationale Flughafen von Sanaa könne ab sofort wieder für humanitäre Flüge genutzt werden.
Der Flughafen war am Dienstag nach der Wiederaufnahme von Luftangriffen gegen Stellungen der Huthi-Rebellen im Bereich der Hauptstadt geschlossen worden. Zuvor waren die Friedensverhandlungen für den Jemen abgebrochen worden. Die Gespräche unter UNO-Vermittlung haben seit ihrer Aufnahme im April kaum Fortschritte gemacht.
Die Militärkoalition erklärte, um die Sicherheit der Flughafenmitarbeiter garantieren zu können, müsse sie im Voraus über die Hilfsflüge informiert werden. Wegen der Militäraktionen müsse jeder Flug einzeln genehmigt werden. Sie habe seit Dienstag zwölf Anfragen für Flüge von UNO-Organisationen erhalten. Zu einer möglichen Wiederaufnahme des Flugbetriebs der nationalen Fluggesellschaft Yemenia machte die Militärkoalition keine Angaben.
http://orf.at/stories/2353929/
Kommentar: Wie kann es sein, dass es offenbar als völlig normal gilt, dass das Nachbarland darüber bestimmen kann, welche Flüge wann oder welche wann nicht den Flughafen in einem Land anfliegen dürfen?
15.8.2016 – AFP (* A K)
Saudi-led coalition to allow aid flights to Yemen capital
The Saudi-led coalition battling rebels in Yemen said it would allow humanitarian flights into Sanaa's international airport from Monday, after several days' closure due to renewed hostilities around the capital.
"Sanaa international airport will be reopened to United Nations flights and those of other agencies from Monday," a coalition statement said.
The airport in the rebel-held capital was closed since Tuesday, when Saudi-led coalition jets resumed air strikes around Sanaa following the breakdown of UN-brokered peace talks between the Yemeni government and Huthi rebels.
The coalition said it received 12 flight requests from the UN and other groups, but warned that it needed to receive advanced notice of flight plans to Sanaa "in order to guarantee the security of airport staff".
The statement made no reference to passenger flights ran by national carrier Yemenia, which until Tuesday had been the sole operator still serving Sanaa.
http://reliefweb.int/report/yemen/saudi-led-coalition-allow-aid-flights-yemen-capital
Comment: How it can be that everybody seems to think it is quite normal that a neighbouring country is allowed to dictate which flights at which time can or cannot flay to another country’s airport??
And also by:
15.8.2016 – WAM (A K P)
Sanaa International Airport to reopen for humanitarian organisations
The Command of the Coalition Forces to support the legitimacy of Yemen will reopen Sanaa International Airport starting Monday for air flights of the United Nations and other international humanitarian organisations.
The Yemeni News Agency quoted the Command of the Coalition as saying in a statement, "For the safety of humanitarian workers, the alliance must be informed in advance of such trips. This will be conditional on the status of military operations in at the time."
http://www.wam.ae/en/news/international/1395298805070.html
Comment: Read carefully. This means that any other aircraft will be downed.
https://www.facebook.com/LivingInYemenOnTheEdge/posts/1084817271571302
14.8.2016 – CNN (* A H K)
Film: UNICEF Yemen Rep. Julien Harneis tells CNN of the situation in Yemen - 14-8-2016
UNICEF Yemen Rep. tells CNN of the situation of children in Yemen, describing it as the worst he's ever seen.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h9EikIjjHRk
14.8.2016 – RT (* B K P)
Why is global community ignoring slaughter of Yemeni children?
Still we play civilization … still we claim righteous outrage when bloodshed invades our TV screens.
Forget what you think you know about Yemen. Forget what you have been told, and the justifications that have been tossed around so that nobody would question the killings and call for restraint. Regardless of anyone’s political persuasion, regardless even of what you may think of Yemen’s Resistance movement, or the right of nations to exercise political self-determination, mass murder remains an inexcusable crime for which there is no excuse, no rationale, and no justification.
Who could in fact refuse the powerful song of al-Saud billions. Who indeed? This is the reality of capitalism. The bloodshed you see on your screen is what our democracies bought, and what our global institutions are powerless to denounce. What happens when the bloodshed hits closer to home? What happens when war capitalists decide to train in your back garden and turn your children into target practice?
Silence will muzzle your outrage. Silence and one good dose of political impotency. We still speak of war crimes as if we could really punish the offenders. We speak of Yemen today as if we were serious about offering solace to those in mourning. Yemen should have taught you that our world system is broken. Actually not broken, but rather sold-out.
But silence today has a price, but we simply chose not to face uncomfortable realities. Why? Because admitting to an injustice would force us to enact reparation – and this requires actual courage.
The kind of courage Yemen has demonstrated as the world firmly looked away.
Blaming the kingdom will achieve little by way of reparation; it is our broken institutions which need to be challenged, and redressed. If not, there will be many more innocent Yemen children to cry over in the near future – by Catherine Shakdam
11.8.2016 – The National Interest / Brookings (* B K P)
Is selling tanks to Saudi Arabia such a good idea?
The Obama administration's latest major arms sale to Saudi Arabia underscores the deep role the United States has played in backing the Saudi-led coalition fighting the Houthi rebels as the war is escalating
Since the start of the war, the Zaydi Shia Houthis have released videos of their troops destroying Saudi tanks and other targets with missiles. They have also shelled towns inside the Kingdom, some of which have been evacuated. Yemeni troops loyal to the Houthis ally former President Ali Abdullah Saleh have launched Scud missiles at Saudi airbases and other targets.
President Barack Obama has been the most enthusiastic arms salesman to Saudi Arabia in American history. All told sales on his watch total over $110 billion. None has provoked a serious challenge on the Hill. Only Senator Chris Murphy from Connecticut has called for greater scrutiny of the arms relationship with the Kingdom – by Bruce Riedel
http://nationalinterest.org/feature/selling-tanks-saudi-arabia-such-good-idea-17323 = https://www.brookings.edu/2016/08/13/is-selling-tanks-to-saudi-arabia-such-a-good-idea/?cid=00900015020089101US0001-081601
Comment: Overview article. The Saudis will not win this war, which just will is make the people in Yemen suffer.
cp3 Humanitäre Lage / Humanitarian situation
16.8.2016 – Xinhua (* A K)
Conflicts in Yemen kill 13 health workers in last one year and half: WHO
More than 13 health workers lost their lives and another 23 were injured since March 2015 in Yemen, the World Health Organization (WHO) said Tuesday.
A WHO spokesperson told a press briefing that during the period, a total of 102 health facilities have been partially or totally damaged, compounding the already poor health system in the country.
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2016-08/17/c_135604631.htm
16.8.2016 – UN Population Fund (* B H)
As crisis escalates in Yemen, pregnant women need essential care
“The fighting intensified and we had to run for safer ground,” recalled Saleh*. Earlier this year, he fled his hometown in Sa’ada with his pregnant wife, Warda*. “My wife and I were the last ones who fled from our area. The houses in my neighborhood were empty but full of fear.” –
“I began to bleed heavily,” Warda, 20, said while fighting back tears. She was three months pregnant at the time.
When they reached Amran Governorate, her clothes were soaked in blood and Warda was almost unconscious. Her husband rushed her to a UNFPA-supported mobile clinic, where a gynaecologist evaluated her condition and quickly directed her to the nearest hospital Women do not stop getting pregnant or giving birth in times of crisis. UNFPA works to meet to meet the unique health needs of women even in emergencies.
Since the escalation of the conflict in Yemen 16 months ago, UNFPA has been operating mobile clinics in governorates hosting large number of internally displaced people. UNFPA has provided antenatal and post-natal care, assistance for safe deliveries, and reproductive health kits that have benefited more than 453,000 women and girls.
UNFPA has additionally distributed more than 100,000 dignity kits, which contain sanitary napkins, soap, and other items to help women and girls maintain personal hygiene.
UNFPA is also providing equipment for obstetric care and neonatal care to over 200 health facilities across the country.
http://www.unfpa.org/news/crisis-escalates-yemen-pregnant-women-need-essential-care?page=4
16.8.2016 – World Food Programme (A H)
Yemen Operation Overview - April to 31 July 2016
Infographic: http://www.logcluster.org/document/yemen-operation-overview-april-july-2016 = http://reliefweb.int/report/yemen/yemen-operation-overview-april-31-july-2016
15.8.2016 – CNN (* A H K)
Saudi-led coalition denies targeting Yemeni schools that killed 14 children
However, UNICEF's representative in Yemen told CNN the children were too young to be fighters.
"We've had a verification team who went to the site and was there on the day. We've been to the hospital and we've spoken to parents. Many of these children were six-years old, eight-years old. There's just no way that those were fighters," UNICEF's Julien Harneis said Sunday.
Since the failed peace talks, Harneis said that the country has seen a spike in violence, paralyzing the country's infrastructure.
"The airspace into the airport has been closed for the last six days. No civil or humanitarian flights have been able to get in or out. The health system is on the verge of collapse. All across the board we have a terrible situation in Yemen," he said.
"Today, the money for health centers to run across the country is no longer available. When we try and give money to our partners across the country, they can't take money out from the bank. That means health services for vaccination, for measles, for polio, for routine vaccinations, for treatment for things like malnutrition, it's beginning to unravel across the country," Harneis added.
"We estimated that at the very least another further 10,000 children will die of completely preventable diseases that would not have happened were it not for this conflict." – by By Ghazi Balkiz, Tiffany Ap, Artemis Moshtaghian, and Hakim Almasmar,
http://edition.cnn.com/2016/08/15/middleeast/yemen-schools-bombing/index.html
Comment: An article summing up the Saudi claims after they had bombed a school in Saada province (see here cp16b and YPR 183 cp16a) and the humanitarian situation in general.
15.8.2016 – International Committee of the Red Cross (A H)
Facts & Figures - The International Committee of the Red Cross in Yemen (January- June 2016)
Nevertheless and in spite of various constraints and challenges including recurrent security incidents, the ICRC has maintained its presence and operations in Yemen always striving to respond to the mounting humanitarian needs in a strictly impartial and neutral manner.
Highlights of our work in Yemen, January - June 2016
111,000 people received food rations.
84,000 people received blankets, hygiene items, sleeping mats and other essential household items.
2.3 million people were provided with clean water, hygiene and sanitation facilities.
17,500 farming families benefited from livestock vaccination and treatment of 415,000 animals.
52 hospitals, 16 health facilities and 19 primary health centres were supported through donations of medical and surgical supplies.
35,000 people with disabilities benefited from physical rehabilitation services provided at four physical rehabilitation centres supported by the ICRC.
9,000 detainees were visited and mattresses, blankets, hygiene and recreational items were provided to places of detention.
http://reliefweb.int/report/yemen/facts-figures-international-committee-red-cross-yemen-january-june-2016 and in full: https://www.icrc.org/sites/default/files/document/file_list/yemen-facts-and-figures-january-june-2016.pdf = http://reliefweb.int/sites/reliefweb.int/files/resources/yemen-facts-and-figures-january-june-2016%20%281%29.pdf
12.8.2016 – UNOCHA (A H)
Yemen: The return of full-scale hostilities drives humanitarian needs further
The humanitarian community remains deeply alarmed by the intensification of violence across Yemen, where children and women are reportedly being killed and maimed. Ground fighting and air strikes, particularly in Sana’a city and the Governorates of Sana’a, Sa’ada, Taizz, and Al Hudaydah, have destroyed homes, factories, and markets (photos, examples)
cp5 Nordjemen und Huthis / Northern Yemen and Houthis
16.8.2016 – Asharq Al-Awsat (A P)
Russia Rejects ‘Political Council’
Chargé d’Affaires of the Russian Embassy in Yemen Oleg Dremov rejected recent media reports that Russia could officially announce its support to the rebels’ political council.
In comments to Asharq Al-Awsat newspaper, Dremov said that, in line with U.N. Security Council Resolution 2216, Russia could not acknowledge two governments. He also stressed his country’s support to Yemen’s legitimate government and President Abd Rabbuh Mansour Hadi – by Arafat Madabish and Abdul Hadi Habtoor
http://english.aawsat.com/2016/08/article55356545/liberation-sanaa-continues-russia-rejects-political-council = http://muhitelyemen.net/en/news/36846.html
16.8.2016 – Ahmad Alghobary (A T)
Gunmen assassinated the Imam of Alnoor Mosques in my city Dhamar
https://twitter.com/AhmadAlgohbary/status/765652311939158016
15.8.2016 – Moon of Alabama (* A P)
The president, vice-president, and members of Higher Political Council performed their constitutional oath in the parliament. Today the Houthi dominated Supreme Revolutionary Committee under Mohamed Ali Al-Houthi stepped down as de-facto ruler of Yemen. It had ruled Yemen since February 6 2015. Power was handed over to the newly formed Higher Political Council which is an alliance of the Houthi with the GPC party of former president Saleh.
Yemen now has a new government. Its formal, public formation with the vote of the parliament give it enough legitimacy to be accepted by most Yemenis. It will be very difficult to cast it aside.
According the Yemeni constitution Hadi's election, without any competitor and no "No" vote on the ballot, was unconstitutional. He was "elected" in 2012, for a two year period. His unconstitutional mandate as president has long ended. The side the UK represents and that now insists on constitutional legitimacy has none at all.
15.8.2016 – Nasser Arrabyee (A P)
Yemen revolutionary President Mohammed Houthi peacefully hands over power2 constitutional President Saleh Samad now
https://twitter.com/narrabyee/status/765083569546985473
14.8.2016 – CCTV (* A P)
Film: Yemen parliament swears in a Houthi-led governing council
Yemen's parliament swore in the Houthi-led governing council on Sunday. The action removes the power and legitimacy of the internationally recognized but exiled president Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi and his government. The armed Houthis and their ally, Yemen's General People's Congress, led by former President Ali Abdullah Saleh, control the capital Sanaa. After the swearing-in ceremony, the head of the new council called on all countries to re-open their embassies and missions in the Yemeni capital.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8CWae5VmKq8 and film by Yemen Today: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mOHPCnbobGc and film by Ruptly (HD): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eseV63Aht2c
13.8.2016 – RT (A P)
Yemen: Parliament fails to meet quorum after Hadi loyalists stay away
Only 120 of 301 Yemeni MPs attended a Parliament session in Sanaa on Saturday, its first since the country’s civil war began in September 2014. The low turnout resulted in the failure to meet quorum.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NHhI4k1mBRA
Comment: A new figure of deputees attending, we did not have yet.
cp6 Südjemen und Hadi-Regierung / Southern Yemen and Hadi-government
16.8.2016 – ABC News (A T)
In the southern coastal city of Aden, gunmen assassinated a local Islamist party leader, Saleh bin Hallis, while security forces arrested some eight alleged al-Qaida members as part of raids against the group, security officials said.
cp8 Saudi-Arabien / Saudi Arabia
16.8.2016 – Ben Norton
"The Saudis’ only appeal to other Arabs is the money they have to offer."
https://twitter.com/BenjaminNorton/status/765653151122857984
Comment by Dr. Karim: And to the whole World, i would say.
https://twitter.com/StopDestroYemen/status/765653600710299656
16.8.2016 – Alwaght (* A K P)
Why Saudi Arabia Evacuating its Southern Border?
The political sources said that the massive evacuation of the border areas by Al Saud regime comes as a result of fears that the residents of villages and towns in Saudi border areas could join the popular Yemeni forces, especially that a majority of the residents of these areas are said to be fed up with the suppressive acts of the Saudi government. Due to sectarian and ethnic drives Al Saud regime considers them second-class citizens because they are originally from Hejaz region in the Arabian Peninsula. On the opposite side are the people of Najd in Central Saudi Arabia who are enjoying special job and education privileges.
One of the videos made in the border areas shows how the Saudi armed forces are forcing tribes to leave their homes while they are reluctant to evacuate.
One of the excuses the Saudi military holds when it forces people to leave their homes is that it wants to move them to safety from Yemen attacks. But the residents completely deny these allegations by Saudi Arabia.
http://alwaght.com/en/News/64297
Comment: #SaudiArabia decided to turn Mecca into #Disneyland but maybe it was not the best idea
https://www.facebook.com/LivingInYemenOnTheEdge/posts/1085896894796673
14.8.2016 – News.com (** A E)
Future in doubt for world’s next largest hotel in Saudi Arabia
SAUDI Arabia’s Abraj Kudai was announced to the world with the promise of being the largest hotel the world had ever seen.
Soaring high above the desert of Mecca at a whopping 45 storeys, and boasting a record-beating 10,000 rooms, the $4.5 billion monolith was poised to be the dazzling jewel in the holy city’s crown when it opened next year.
But problems have dogged the grand hotel’s construction, from a deadly crane collapse to accusations of crimes against heritage — and now there are serious questions about its future.
Design plans for the Abraj Kudai were revealed to an impressed world last year. Described by The Guardian as something that could have been designed by a Disneyland imagineer, the colossal hotel consists of 12 towers teetering on a 10-storey podium, spanning 1.4 million square metres in a “desert fortress” style.
The finished product is to include 70 restaurants, a shopping centre and food courts, a bus station, four helipads, a lavish ballroom, conference centre and an unimaginable 10,000 guest rooms.
Five floors will be strictly off-limits to guests, as they will be reserved for the whims of the Saudi royal family. All the buildings will offer four or five star accommodation.
Observers were concerned about the impact the city-like hotel would have on what many people feared was the ongoing erosion of the heritage of the sacred city of Mecca.
Mecca is already home to the third tallest building in the world, the 600m Abraj al-Bait clock tower, which looms over the Grand Mosque. In nearby Jeddah, the under-construction monolith Jeddah Tower is poised to become the next tallest building in the world.
“The city is turning into Mecca-hattan,” Irfan Al-Alawi, the director of the UK-based Islamic Heritage Research Foundation, told The Guardian.
“Everything has been swept away to make way for the incessant march of luxury hotels, which are destroying the sanctity of the place and pricing normal pilgrims out.
“These are the last days of Mecca. The pilgrimage is supposed to be a spartan, simple rite of passage, but it has turned into an experience closer to Las Vegas, which most pilgrims simply can’t afford.” – by Lauren McMah
cp9 USA
Siehe / See cp1
16.8.2016 – CNN (* A K P)
U.S. weapons for Saudi atrocities?
Senator Chris Murphy (D) says the U.S. should put a hold on arms deals with Saudi Arabia until the U.S. ally commits to stop indiscriminate bombing inside Yemen
16.8.2016 – Samantha Power, US Ambassador to UN (A P)
Strikes on hospital/school/infrastructure in #Yemen devastating for ppl already facing unbearable suffering&must end
https://twitter.com/AmbassadorPower/status/765682969520418817
Comment by Arash Kamari: Beyond cynical for US ambassador to UN to pretend to not know US is actively a part of this destruction.
https://twitter.com/thekarami/status/765685949397204992
Comment by Jamila Hanan: especially considering that @AmbassadorPower argued personally as to why US should be refuelling Saudi's jets
https://twitter.com/JamilaHanan/status/765689420007759872 and https://twitter.com/JamilaHanan/status/765695593587113985
16.8.2016 – The Hill (* A P)
Dem pushes US to stop aiding Saudi war in Yemen
A House Democrat is urging the Obama administration to stop assisting Saudi Arabia's war in Yemen following reports that its forces bombed a school.
“I have tried numerous times to work with the Administration to stop the United States from assisting Saudi Arabia in their indiscriminate killing of civilians in Yemen. But when Saudi Arabia continues to kill civilians, and in this case children, enough is enough," Rep. Ted Lieu (Calif.), who is also an Air Force Reserve colonel, said in a statement Monday.
"By assisting Saudi Arabia, the United States is aiding and abetting what appears to be war crimes in Yemen. The Administration must stop enabling this madness now," he said – by Kristina Wong
15.8.2016 – The Intercept (* A K P)
Doctors Without Borders Hospital Bombing in Yemen Earns Rare Saudi Rebuke at State Department
AFTER THE U.S.-BACKED, Saudi-led coalition bombed a hospital in Yemen supported by Doctors Without Borders on Monday, the U.S. State Department offered a rare condemnation of the coalition’s violence.
“Of course we condemn the attack,” said Elizabeth Trudeau, a spokesman for the State Department.
The State Department has previously deflected questions about coalition attacks by referring reporters to the Saudi government — even though the U.S. has supplied the coalition with billions of dollars of weapons, and hasrefueled Saudi planes.
Trudeau also stressed that “U.S. officials regularly engage with Saudi officials” about civilian casualties — a line that spokespeople have repeated for months. Saudi Arabia has nevertheless continued to bomb civilian sites, including homes, markets, factories, and schools.
“We’ve also encouraged them to do their utmost to protect entities protected by international law, such as hospitals,” said Trudeau.
But for the Saudi coalition, bombing medical facilities has become business as usual – by Alex Emmons
Comment: US hypocrisy as usual. They play the role of keepers of humanity and are the most evil killers or partisans of killers by themselves. And in this case: The US themselves have helped to select this target or at least have approved this selection, they have furnished the arms that killed.
15.8.2016 – Jane Novak (A P)
In fact, @LockheedMartin exec is US Defense attaché to #KSA, so not lots pushback on reckless #Yemen airstrikes
https://twitter.com/JNovak_Yemen/status/765240716310286336
Comment: This is crazy.
15.8.2016 – The American Conservative (* A K P)
‘The Administration Must Stop Enabling This Madness’ in Yemen
There aren’t many members of Congress that criticize the Obama administration’s support for the Saudi-led war on Yemen, but Rep. Ted Lieu has been one of the few to do so consistently over the last year. Lieu is calling on the U.S. to halt its assistance to the coalition.
The campaign has other longer-lasting, more insidious consequences as well. The use of cluster munitions by the coalition is doubly dangerous to the civilian population.
Leftover parts of cluster bombs are just one of the many poisonous legacies of this war, and they underscore why most states around the world have banned the use of these weapons. Because of these cluster bombs, the Saudi-led, U.S.-backed bombing campaign will keep claiming innocent victims years and even decades after the current fighting ends. This is what the Saudis and their allies are doing with U.S. assistance, and it’s one of many reasons why all U.S. support for the war ought to end immediately – by Daniel Larison
12.8.2016 – US News (* A P)
Lawmakers Worry Who Saudi Arabia Would Kill With $1.15B U.S. Arms Deal
Saudi Arabia's critics in Congress say they may seek to block a new Obama administration proposal to sell the kingdom $1.15 billion in tanks, machine guns and other U.S. military equipment.
"Saudi Arabia is an unreliable ally with a poor human rights record," says Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., in an emailed statement. "We should not rush to sell them advanced arms and promote an arms race in the Middle East. I will work with a bipartisan coalition to explore forcing a vote on blocking this sale." – by Steven Nelson
cp10 Großbritannien / Great Britain
16.8.2016 – International Business Times (* B K P)
While we bask in Olympic glory, Saudi Arabia is destroying Yemen with British bombs
The UN has accused Saudi forces of killing twice as many civilians as all others combined.
Despite widespread condemnation and opposition, the UK government's response has been a pathetic mixture of denial, excuses and delays. It has refused to even back the growing calls for an independent investigation into the conduct of the war, insisting that it is "satisfied that export licences for Saudi Arabia are compliant with the UK's export licensing criteria."
Last month, in the final hours of the last day of parliament, the Foreign Office published written corrections that revealed many of its claims about the conduct of the war were false. Where the record had once said that "The MOD assessment is that the Saudi-led coalition is not targeting civilians" this was corrected to the far more equivocal "The MOD has not assessed that the Saudi-led coalition is targeting civilians."
Whatever the verdict it will raise serious questions about UK foreign policy and the influence of arms companies and the Saudi monarchy.
This subtle but important distinction was typical of a series of changes that shifted the burden of responsibility, lowered the burden of proof and suggested that UK policy was being directed by Saudi-assurances. At best it represented staggering incompetence on the part of government ministers, who were conceding that they had "misspoken" a number of times over a six-month period, and at worst it could be viewed as a cynically timed admission that ministers had distorted the truth.
The real truth may come out in court - by Andrew Smith, spokesperson for Campaign Against Arms Trade (CAAT)
cp12 Andere Länder / Other countries
15.8.2016 – Middle East Monitor (A P)
Egyptian President Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi has apparently rejected the military coup in Yemen and reiterated his support for the “legitimacy” of President Abed Rabbu Mansour Hadi, Anadolureported on Monday.
Sisi commented on the Yemeni situation in the presence of Prime Minister Ahmed Obaid Bin Dagher, during the Yemeni official’s visit to Cairo on Monday. “Sisi renewed his support to the loyal efforts being exerted by the legitimate government to retake the state and end the coup,” reported Saba, the official Yemeni news agency.
The Egyptian president — who came to power through a military coup initiated by himself — also noted that his country would remain standing “side by side with the Gulf States and the other Arab countries in the Arab Coalition to support legitimacy in Yemen until the coalition has achieved all of its goals.” He stressed the importance of regaining stability in Yemen and ending the suffering of the people
https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20160816-sisi-rejects-military-coup-in-yemen/
Comment: Funny. As the article states, Sisi “came to power through a military coup initiated by himself”.
Comment by Judith Brown: Well - the leader of Egyptian military who overthrew a democratically elected government - supports a government lead by a man who (a) was elected for 2 years as interim president of Yemen - his term expired in February 2014 - and (b) is extremely unpopular in all sections of Yemeni society and (c) did not allow the parliament to sit in Yemen during his whole term as president. Well, I guess he is just the sort of man Sisi would support.
https://www.facebook.com/judith.brown.794628/posts/10154620665458641
cp13 Flüchtlinge / Refugees
16.8.23016 – Danish Refugee Council (A H)
Infographic: Mixed Migration in Horn of Africa and Yemen, July 2016
http://regionalmms.org/monthlymaps/RMMS_Mixed_Migration_Monthly_Map_July_2016.pdf = http://reliefweb.int/map/yemen/mixed-migration-horn-africa-and-yemen-july-2016
15.8.2016 – Refugees Deeply (* A H)
Yemeni refugees caught up in Somaliland’s struggle for nationhood
The second part of our report on Yemeni refugees in Somaliland looks at how they have become part of the breakaway region's struggle for international recognition, leaving them in awkward limbo.
At first sight, Somaliland, a non-country, not recognized by the international community as separate from Somalia and one of the poorest places on earth, is an unlikely place of refuge.
Despite its ambitions to statehood, and the stability that Somaliland offers in sharp contrast to Somalia, the northern breakaway is no closer to winning international recognition. This statelessness affects all aspects of life and survival.
The majority of Yemeni refugees in Somaliland arrived in the ruined port of Berbera from which they must make their own way to the capital, Hargeisa. Awaiting them is the immigration department and Mohamed Ali Yusef, its general director.
There are no databases, no computers, everything is done manually, he explains
The refugees have found themselves drawn into Somaliland’s battle for recognition. Roughly half of the arrivals from Yemen have some form of Somali origin. Under its rules, the U.N. refugee agency does not recognize these people as refugees. To the UNHCR they are returnees.
This is bitterly contested by the Somaliland government – by Amanda Sperber
cp14 Terrorismus / Terrorism
16.8.2016 – Albawaba (A T)
Yemen conflict continues: Three political officials shot, killed in targeted attacks
A Yemeni army colonel serving in the Saudi-led coalition forces was assassinated Monday in the southwestern al-Houta province of Yemen, local source told Anadolu Agency.
Col. Abdulaziz Muhammed Yusuf es-Sabihi was gunned down by unknown assailants, according to sources who spoke on condition of anonymity due to safety concerns. Sabihi was the third person assassinated within 24 hours.
A senior member of Yemen’s Muslim Brotherhood-affiliated Al-Islah, or reform party, Saleh Ahmed al-Anhami, and a head of the party were shot dead Monday in northern Yemen, according to a party source.
Two gunmen on a motorcycle opened fire as the latter drove his car through the city of Dhamar, killing him instantly, a source told Anadolu Agency, requesting anonymity due to restrictions on speaking to media.
Although no group has yet claimed responsibility for the assassinations, the city is held by Yemen’s Shia Houthi militia group.
The party source said the attack took place near a Houthi-held security office.
Comment by Judith Brown: This reports more assassinations - this time members of Islah Party killed. Islah has a stronghold in Taiz where their militias are fighting on the same side as Saudi Arabia and Al Qaeda and many have very extremist views and in terms of Taiz their politics and military objectives are very uncompromising - they have long standing differences with Saleh who is now in league with the Houthis - who are also on Islah's hate list. But all sides have to compromise if Yemeni civilians are to find peace and it seems killings and Assassinations are preferred to negotiating. By all sides.
https://www.facebook.com/judith.brown.794628/posts/10154616073418641
15.8.2016 – Anadolu (A T)
Yemen nabs top al-Qaeda militant in Aden
Yemeni police forces on Monday detained a high-profile al-Qaeda militant in the southern Aden city.
In a statement, police said a senior al-Qaeda militant was arrested for his involvement in a spate of bombings and assassinations of security and military officials in Aden.
According to the statement, the militant, who was identified as “Aboudi”, and two other militants were planning a car-bomb attack in the city.
The statement described Aboudi as one of the most wanted militants for security agencies in Yemen.
http://aa.com.tr/en/middle-east/yemen-nabs-top-al-qaeda-militant-in-aden/628803
cp15 Propaganda
16.8.2016 – Asharq Al-Awsat (A P)
Liberation of Sana’a Continues
Yemen’s Vice President and Army Deputy Chief Commander, Lieutenant General Ali Mohsen Al Ahmar, is finalizing the battle to liberate the capital Sana’a within the framework of a military operation that was launched last week. Well-informed sources said that Ahmar was mobilizing tribes located around the capital to fight with the national army.
The sources also said that the Yemeni vice president has held important meetings and (secret) talks with security and military leaders, as well as tribal sheikhs and political leaders from the General People’s Congress, who were supporting the rebels in Sana’a and Omran. The sources, however, declined to reveal the names of those who have recently joined the legitimate forces – by Arafat Madabish and Abdul Hadi Habtoor
http://english.aawsat.com/2016/08/article55356545/liberation-sanaa-continues-russia-rejects-political-council = http://muhitelyemen.net/en/news/36846.html
Comment: This is what they tell since many months. Mohsen, a former Saleh crony, was cosely affiliated to Al Qaida for years.
16.8.2016 – WAM (A P)
President Hadi praises UAE for supporting Yemen
Yemeni President Abdrabbuh Mansour Hadi today thanked the UAE for its honourable stance towards Yemen during, what he called, an exceptional stage in the aftermath of the coup against legitimacy.
He praised the UAE for extending unlimited support to Yemen, defending its people and renovating government institutions in governorates liberated from the rebels, according to Yemen's state news agency.
Hadi also thanked the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and members of the Arab Coalition for their "genuine Arab stances which will always be remembered by the Yemeni peoples in the years to come."
He also praised Yemen's national army and the pro-government National Resistance Forces for "offering great sacrifices and making great victories... as well as for their persistent bid to restore the state, establish security and stability and rid the country from the evils of rebel gangs which wreaked havoc, killed innocent people including women and children, forced thousands of people out of their homes, and destroyed infrastructure in a manner that violates human values and ethics."
https://www.wam.ae/en/news/arab/1395298860277.html
Comment: praising the UAE and the Saudis is one of the main tasks of the Hadi government (Hadi’s presidency definitely ended Feb. 27, 2015). He blames the Houthis for crimes they did, but which were committed by the Saudis in a by far much greater scale: “killed innocent people including women and children, forced thousands of people out of their homes, and destroyed infrastructure”. That would be a perfect description of the Saudi aerial war. But Hadi personally had ordered this war and all this destruction and killing.
16.8.2016 – WAM (A H P)
Emirates Red Crescent inaugurates mobile clinic in Lahej
The Emirates Red Crescent has inaugurated a mobile clinic in the town of Tor al-Baha in Lahej province as part of its humanitarian efforts to help Yemen.
The new clinic will provide free services to the residents of the town and surrounding areas.
The ERC said that supporting Yemen's healthcare sector is a priority as it continues to exert efforts to restore life to normal in the country.
These efforts include reconstruction of infrastructure, renovation of hospitals and health centres, providing provide logistical support such as ambulances, power generators, water, sewage removal and others, it noted.
Residents of the area praised the Emirati humanitarian agency and the UAE for backing the people of Yemen.
They noted that the opening of the clinic reflects the fact that the Emirati agency takes a special interest in serving the underprivileged areas.
http://www.wam.ae/en/news/emirates/1395298865898.html
Comment: That’s nice when just having bombed a clinic the day before.
16.8.2016 – Asharq Al-Awsat (A P)
Independent Commission Investigates Recruitment of 387 Child Soldiers in Yemen
The Independent National Yemeni Commission of Inquiry into alleged human rights violations recorded more than 9,817 alleged violations in various regions of Yemen from March up until now. According to the Commission, the violations included 3,054 cases of civilians being killed, amongst them 129 children and 102 women. In addition to this, 3,906 people were wounded as a result of armed conflict during the period from March 2015 until the 30th of July 2016. The Commission is monitoring and investigating 450 cases of extrajudicial killings and 387 cases relating to the recruitment of child soldiers.
The Commission explained that it is also investigating 358 cases of arbitrary arrests and enforced disappearances during the period of war (2015 to 2016), in addition to 81 cases of planting mines in the various provinces of Yemen. It is also investigating the bombing of 143 homes in a number of provinces.
Comment: Another well named commission, now called Yemeni. It anyway is anything but not independent. The Saudi air raids will be mentioned by no word. Both sides are using child soldiers. This fact is used as objection against the Houthis only whenever children rights violations are becoming a subject. Thus, this article appears just now when the Saudis again are in focus because of having bombed children – killing children is the most heavy violation of rights possible.
And see this:
16.8.2016 – Saudi Embassy USA (A P)
#SaudiArabia condemns mistreatment of children in #Yemen (see image)
https://twitter.com/SaudiEmbassyUSA/status/761222598793527296
16.8.2016 – AFP (A P)
Yemen rebels used talks to rearm: coalition
The Saudi-led coalition battling rebels in Yemen accused the militants Tuesday of using three months of peace negotiations to rearm, after an escalation of fighting following the talks' suspension.
"They were deceiving people by this negotiation, to reorganize their force, re-supplying their forces and getting back to fighting. They don't have any political agenda," Brigadier General Ahmed Assiri, the coalition's spokesman, told AFP.
He said the coalition, which launched strikes against the Shiite Huthi rebels in March last year, would do "whatever it takes" to restore security in Yemen.
Comment: This really is a quite stupid propaganda. Who had taken up air raids again with an intensity rarely heard of before? During the past 3 month, we heard of lots of new arms deals. Who bought all this arms? The Houthis???
Comment: Just excuses, lies, prefabricated nonsense to continue the carnage.
https://www.facebook.com/LivingInYemenOnTheEdge/posts/1085687864817576
16.8.2016 – Saudi Mission at UN (A P)
Attempts at delegitimizing KSA's efforts by AI & HRW runs counterproductive to their missions &risks peace and sec in Yemen & the world.
https://twitter.com/ksamissionun/status/748656759376650241
Comment by Jamila Hanan: Funny.
16.8.2016 – Saudi Mission at UN (A P)
Saudi Arabia's main goal in Yemen is the protection of civilians & we deeply regret the loss of any civilian life.
Comment by Jamila Hanan: Sick.
16.8.2016 – Saudi Mission at UN (A P)
#Saudi_Arabia is committed to enhance the lives of the Yemeni ppl to ensure their dignity. #Yemen
Comment by Jamila Hanan: No comment.
16.8.2016 – Kuwait news Agency (A H P)
Kuwait's Yemen relief efforts will continue -- KRCS
Kuwait is playing a key role in aiding displaced and Yemeni refugees affected by the ongoing civil war.
As part of their role in providing humanitarian aid to Yemenis, Kuwait Red Crescent Society (KRCS), Al-Najat Charity and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs took part in GCC states' meetings on relief operations for Yemen, held in Saudi Arabia this month.
http://reliefweb.int/report/yemen/kuwaits-yemen-relief-efforts-will-continue-krcs
16.8.2016 – Emirates News Agency (A H P)
ERC delivers relief aid, shelter materials to Abyan Governorate population, Yemen
The Emirates Red Crescent (ERC) has provided the relief and shelter materials to the local authorities in the Abyan Governorate in Yemen, as part of its continued humanitarian efforts.
The assistance includes 1,500 food baskets, 750kg of dates and 300 tents.
The population in Abyan extended their thanks and appreciation to the UAE and its prudent leadership for the support that alleviate their daily suffering.
http://www.wam.ae/en/news/emirates-international/1395298818244.html
Comment: Bombs and baskets, destructions and dates.
16.8.2016 – Arab Times (A P)
Yemen ‘cemetery’ for Tehran agents
THE coup plotters did not leave any window open for peaceful solution in Yemen. They closed the window up to the extent of plotting against themselves when they ran out of excuses.
In a desperate move, they announced the creation of the so-called, ‘Political Council’, to manage the affairs of the country. This will not bear fruit, just like all the futile steps they took earlier, because no one will acknowledge the council except the one who designated it.
The council will have no authority as long as the constitutional institutions in the country, led by Abed Rabbo Mansur Hadi, enjoy international recognition and their legitimacy is supported by the decisions of the United Nations under Clause Seven.
They responded with more destructive steps which undermined unity of the country as they continued with the killings and attacks on the innocent after they were driven out of the towns that the Houthis dominated earlier with the support of forces loyal to the deposed president and Iran, through the Revolutionary Guard members.
Now, they only have Sanaa. Do they think the people will be patient forever? Or they are still under the delusion that the legitimate government and the Arab Coalition will surrender?
How can a legitimate country be an invader? How can forces defending the borders of their country be invaders?
Yes, the language of peace with the unjust oppressive group, whose members are immersed in Yemeni blood up to their ears, has not yielded the desired results. Therefore, there is no other way to eradicate this dangerous disease from the body of Yemen except through a military solution – by Ahmed Al-Jarallah Editor-in-Chief
http://www.arabtimesonline.com/news/yemen-cemetery-tehran-agents/
Comment: This is really a dull propaganda. “Coup plotters” is Saudi propaganda label for Houthis and Saleh party. – “Iranian agents”: Let’s cite Hisham Al-Omeisy: “We have not seen a single Iranian soldier in Yemen. We have not even seen a single Iranian civilian in Yemen.” – “peace” for the Saudi side just is identical to capitulation of the Houthis, as the author’s ravaging against their Political Council shows. Neither this is a blockade to peace, nor a sign of them being “desperate”. – The Houthis “continued with the killings and attacks on the innocent” – as if there would be no Saudi coalition air raids. – “Now, they only have Sanaa”: The Houthis still have the greatest part of the north of Yemen, check the map: http://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/interactive/2016/08/yemen-conflict-controls-160814132104300.html. – “How can a legitimate country be an invader?”: What is a “legitimate country”? that’s really a nonsense wording. All countries are “legitimate” in their existence, and they all can be invaders: Germany in Poland and France, the US in Vietnam, Iraq, Libya, the USSR in Czechoslovakia and so on. None of these invasions was “legitimate”. What a strange claim the author wants to make by this wording? – And finally: The author clearly tells that the Saudi side of course only wants a military solution bringing lots of more suffering and destruction. This was the case already from the very beginning; their puppet Hadi just attended the peace talks as they hoped they would get control by talks, by capitulation of the enemy.
15.8.2016 – Tagesschau (A P)
Es ist eine erneute Kriegserklärung: Abdrabbo Mansour Hadi, der gewählte Präsident des Jemen, hat seinen Vertreter in die Nähe der Hauptstadt Sanaa entsandt. Der Vize posierte dort vor arabischen Kameras - in Uniform und mit Kalaschnikow. Dazu erklärte Ali Mohsin al-Ahmar, er persönlich werde jetzt den Kampf gegen die Huthis und deren Verbündete führen, die die Hauptstadt des Jemen halten. "Ich danke Euch und mahne alle zu mehr Geduld, mehr Standhaftigkeit, mehr Willen und mehr Kraft. Eure Standhaftigkeit und Euer Wille geben den Bürgern überall hierzulande den Kampfgeist, den sie brauchen, um eine Erhebung gegen die Huthi-Putschisten im ganzen Land zu führen."
https://www.tagesschau.de/ausland/jemen-493.html
Kommentar: Mohsin ist ein alter Gefolgsmann von Ex-Präsident Saleh, der sich nun Hadi angeschlossen hat. Mohsin hat sich durch jahrelange Verbindung zu Al Qaida ausgezeichnet, die von ihm gefördert würde. Gegenüber dem Süden des Jemen ist er als Hardliner und feind aller Autonomiebestrebungen aufgetreten, entsprechend unbeliebt ist er auch dort bis heute.
cp16 Saudische Luftangriffe / Saudi air raids
16.8.2016 – Living in Yemen on the edge (A K)
Huge explosions in #Sanaa with the world so distant and silent
https://www.facebook.com/LivingInYemenOnTheEdge/posts/1086286661424363
16.8.2016 – ABC News (A K)
In the southern Abyan province, where government forces launched a campaign this week to retake territory from al-Qaida and the Islamic State group, a family of five, including a 12-year old boy, was killed when the car they were riding in was hit by a coalition airstrike, Yemeni officials and residents said.
The officials, including a paramedic who had been on the scene, said the attack took place Tuesday in the coastal city of Shuqrah
16.8.2016 – Saba Net (A K PH)
Saudi warplanes launch over 20 on Sa'ada, Asir
The Saudi aggression waged on Monday many air raids on Asir region and Sa'ada province, a security official said.
The Saudi fighters targeted al-Rabuah, al-Majaza in Asir and Baqim district of Sa'ada area with more than 20 raids.
They also targeted the water pump in Al Salem area in Kutaf district, wounding a man.
http://www.sabanews.net/en/news437062.htm
16.8.2016 – Saba Net (A K PH)
Saudi warplanes continue to bomb Capital
The bombing caused huge damage to citizens' houses, shops and public and private properties.
http://www.sabanews.net/en/news437066.htm
16.8.2016 – Saba Net (A K PH)
Saudi warplanes launch raids on Jawf
http://www.sabanews.net/en/news437069.htm
16.8.2016 – Saba Net (A K PH)
Saudi jets destroy water tank, government compound in Taiz
The Saudi fighter jets launched on Tuesday tens of air raids on Taiz province, a local official said.
The fighter jets targeted a large water tank in al-Qawaeda Akbosh village in al-Ahkom area with many air raids and destroyed it completely. Some 20,000 people in the villages of al-Ahkom area were bringing their drinking water from the tank, the official said.
Moreover, the Saudi jets waged four air raids on the governmental compound in Samee district causing huge damage to the compound.
The Saudi fighter jets targeted Mocha city with four raids and caused great damage to houses and private and government facilities.
http://www.sabanews.net/en/news437155.htm
16.8.2016 – Saba Net (A K PH)
Aggression launches raids on Sanhan, Nehm
http://www.sabanews.net/en/news437148.htm
16.8.2016 – Saba Net (A K PH)
Saudi war jets wage raids on Asir, Jizan
http://www.sabanews.net/en/news437144.htm
16.8.2016 – Saba Net (A K PH)
Saudi warplanes destroy two houses in Sa'ada
http://www.sabanews.net/en/news437121.htm
16.8.2016 – Saba Net (A K PH)
Saudi jets target al-Masloub
http://www.sabanews.net/en/news437120.htm
16.8.2016 – Al Masirah TV (A K PH)
View a heinous crime committed by the Saudi American aggression against two families in Bani al-Harith b # Sanaa
Film: https://twitter.com/nemer_waily/status/765563043547840512
16.8.2016 – Crimes of Decisive Storm (A K)
New massacre of 14 civilians, women and children, committed by the Saudi aggression, Tuesday, August 16 / August 2016, in Sanaa province.
Two sources, security and local, he said the air strike targeted two houses in the mountain, "Ayoub" in Bani al-Harith, behind the four martyrs and 12 injured, most of them women and children.
A security source said that the raids targeted the home (Mohammed Mohsen al-Abed, Mohammed Jaber Abed) in Mount Ayub Bani al-Harith, which led to the fall of four martyrs (two women and two children) in addition to injuring 12 others, (4 women, and the rest are very young).
https://www.facebook.com/SaudiArabia.war.crimes.against.Yemen/photos/a.1434086430220680.1073741828.1434084576887532/1572230749739580/?type=3 and https://twitter.com/omeisy/status/765683430134800384
16.8.2016 – Legal Center (* A K PH)
15-8-2016
Targeting and bombing civilians by the warplanes of Saudi Arabia and its alliance.
Casualties and Damages (complete list):
https://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=675270055956696&id=551288185021551
Comment: Erroneously, the date is stated as 14.8.2016.
16.8.2016 – Hussain Albukhaiti (A K PH)
2women,2children kild&17Civilians injrd n #Saudi #UAE strikes on 2homes n Bani Alharith area E #Sanaa
https://twitter.com/HussainBukhaiti/status/765441161699864576 and https://twitter.com/StopDestroYemen/status/765431995304407040
15.-16.8.2016 – Tweets: Night at Sanaa (A K)
Drones buzzing in Sana'a night sky now. We call them " Devil's mosquitoes” bcz select targets before Saudi jets bomb
https://twitter.com/omeisy/status/765309071369068544
Airstrikes now in Sana'a. Massive explosion just rattled whole city. Damn it, too tired & sleepy to crawl to basement for shelter.
https://twitter.com/omeisy/status/765319836843044865
NIGHT of FEAR: 5 Saudi airstrikes in 10 minutes rock #Yemen capital Sanaa waking up millions in fear.
https://twitter.com/YemenPostNews/status/765324335141818369
Plz God save our souls Massive explosions are being heard all over the capital Sanaa, as Saudi jets continue flying over the city.
https://twitter.com/Fatikr/status/765320853752016897
Nuqum area in the capital Sanaa is being hit by Saudi warplanes since almost 20 minutes, in which 5huge explosions were heard loudly.
https://twitter.com/Fatikr/status/765325138040610816
Bloody HELL! I think Saudi decided to nuke Sana'a. Huge explosion now and more fighter jets in sky.
https://twitter.com/omeisy/status/765322715888807937
Are you kidding me, felt my house was about to collapse from shockwave. Heart skipped beat!
https://twitter.com/omeisy/status/765323170379395072
Here it comes, a jet Breaking sound barrier, missile hit near by, walls shaking dogs barking & God knows which soul was taken.
https://twitter.com/ammar_basha/status/765323088858910725
The bomb just lighted The sky with a white color Jets are still circling overhead, and the whole world is still keeping blind...
https://twitter.com/SamADam24/status/765323944920481792
Bruh! Why are Saudi jets hovering so low over my house that my windows are shaking? It's 2am!!
https://twitter.com/MahaAlthurairi/status/765323410834587648
So baaaad! Nowhere is quiet or safe. Huge blasts rock the city of Sanaa now. Sitting by my little kid so he doesn't wake up
https://twitter.com/alasaadim/status/765324192329961472
It is 2:18 am& at least 7 heavy air strikes by #Saudi fighter jets targeting several places in #Sana'a #Yemen kids are crying & screaming.
https://twitter.com/marwan18/status/765327782947717120
The sounds of those #Saudi jets flying over #Sanaa are very intense & terrifying. We could never get used to them. What about our chldren?!!
https://twitter.com/drammarali/status/765328180190339072
16.8.2016 – Dr. Karim (A K)
Just in. 5 civilians killed in Saudi-led airstrike on a car in Abs
https://twitter.com/StopDestroYemen/status/765292699557789696
16.8.2016 – Ahmad Alghobary (A K)
3 #Saudi air strikes rocks Dhahian district in #Sadaa #Yemen
https://twitter.com/AhmadAlgohbary/status/765325585652539392
16.8.2016 – Ahmad Alghobary (A K)
#Saudi jets are hovering over my city Dhamar #Yemen ' Doctors and some patients left the Dutch Hospital,because they are afraid of missiles.
https://twitter.com/AhmadAlgohbary/status/765316901404893184
15.8.2016 – Al Masirah TV (A K PH)
Film: The crime of aggression against two families in the province of Saada Qataber
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GFNafro18ao
15.8.2016 – Saba Net (A K PH)
Saudi warplanes wage raids on Bani Hushaish
http://www.sabanews.net/en/news437001.htm
15.8.2016 – Saba Net (A K PH)
Saudi jets wage raids on Sana'a
The Saudi fighter jets launched on Sunday five air raids on Nehm district of Sana'a province, a security official said.
http://www.sabanews.net/en/news436957.htm
15.8.2016 – Saba Net (A K PH)
Saudi warplanes launch raids on Shabwa
The Saudi fighter jets waged on Sunday three air raids on Asilan district in Shabwa province, a local official said.
The hostile warplanes targeted a local telecommunication network with a raid and destroyed it totally.
The official added the fighter jets also waged two raids on Hid bin Aqeel area in Asilan district.
http://www.sabanews.net/en/news436953.htm
15.8.2016 – Saba Net (A K PH)
Saudi fighter jets target September 21 Park in capital
The Saudi fighter jets launched on Monday an air raid on the September 21 Park in Ma'ain district of Sana'a province, a security official said.
The official said the raid caused huge damage to the citizens' houses, shops and the nearby public properties.
http://www.sabanews.net/en/news436947.htm
15.8.2016 – Hussain Albukhaiti (A K PH)
#Saudi #UAE CO targetd 1st armoured division #Sanaa Report civilian casualties by strike on a house n #Saada
https://twitter.com/HussainBukhaiti/status/765084570454745088
15.8.2016 – Hussain Albukhaiti (A K PH)
Sat early morning #Saudi #UAE also kild 2yr Sajed,3yr Lina,4yr Rajaii,6yr Duaa,Mum&Dad n Barkan Razeh #Saada (photos)
https://twitter.com/HussainBukhaiti/status/765293678864850944
15.8.2016 – Mhd21 (A K)
Huge explosion in sana'a the rocket heard clearly 8:51
https://twitter.com/Mhdf21/status/765064454920896512
15.8.2016 – Legal Center (* A K)
14-8-2016
Targeting and bombing civilians by the warplanes of Saudi Arabia and its alliance.
* Casualties and Damages (complete list of all raids):
https://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=674812109335824&id=551288185021551
14.8.2016 – Mohamed AlHouthy(A K)
In 14.8.2016 morning, #Saudi targeted Ali Mo. Alqasha’s house and destroyed it completely. (Nihem #Sana’a #Yemen) (photo)
https://twitter.com/M_Alhouthy/status/764966311147569152
14.8.2016 – Mohamed AlHouthy(A K)
In 13.8.2016 #Saudi targeted Almethaq school 3 times(Nihem #Sana’a #Yemen), next day they targeted it twice (photos)
https://twitter.com/M_Alhouthy/status/764961882394529792
cp16a Saudischer Luftangriff auf Krankenhaus in Abs / Saudi air raid at Abs hospital
15.8.2016 – dpa (* A K)
15 Tote bei Luftangriff auf Krankenhaus
Bei einem Luftangriff auf ein Krankenhaus in Jemen sind nach offiziellen Angaben 15 Personen getötet und mehr als 25 weitere verletzt worden. Das teilte der zuständige Gesundheitsdirektor Aiman Madkur am Montag der Deutschen Presse-Agentur mit. Bei der Klinik handele es sich um eine von der Hilfsorganisation Ärzte ohne Grenzen unterstützte Einrichtung in Hadscha im Norden des Landes. Alle Opfer seien Zivilisten, darunter viele Frauen und Kinder.
Der Luftangriff sei von der Militärallianz unter Führung Saudiarabiens ausgeführt worden, sagte Madkur. Der Luftangriff habe die Notaufnahme der Klinik getroffen. Rettungsteams seien im Einsatz.
http://www.nzz.ch/international/nahost-und-afrika/krieg-in-jemen-15-tote-bei-luftangriff-auf-krankenhaus-ld.111099 = http://derstandard.at/2000042873139/Krankenhaus-bei-Luftangriffen-der-Militaerallianz-im-Jemen-getroffen
MSF gibt die Zahl der Toten zunächst mit 11 an, es sterben dann noch drei weitere.
17.8.2016 – Junge Welt (* A K)
Krankenhaus im Jemen bombardiert
Mindestens elf Tote bei absichtlichem Angriff der von Saudi-Arabien geführten Allianz auf eine Klinik
Die Klinik in Abs (Hadscha), welches von »Ärzte ohne Grenzen« seit Juli 2015 unterstützt wird, wurde teilweise zerstört. Dies ist nach Angaben der Ärzte-Organisation der vierte Angriff in weniger als zwölf Monaten auf eine von ihnen im Jemen unterstützte Einrichtung.
https://www.jungewelt.de/2016/08-17/027.php
16.8.2016 – Entwicklungshilfe Online (A K)
Hilfsorganisationen verurteilen Bombenangriff auf Krankenhaus
Oxfam, CARE, Save the Children und Handicap International haben am Dienstag den Bombenangriff der von Saudi-Arabien geführten Koalition auf ein von Ärzte ohne Grenzen unterstütztes Krankenhaus in der Stadt Abs im Jemen verurteilt. Die Hilfsorganisationen fordern eine unabhängige Untersuchung des Angriffs, der sich nur zwei Tage nach einem anderen Luftschlag im Gouvernement Saada ereignete, bei dem zehn Kinder ums Leben kamen und 28 verletzt wurden.
Edward Santiago, Landesdirektor von Save the Children im Jemen, erklärte: "Die saudisch geführte Koalition behauptet, Maßnahmen zum Schutz von Kindern getroffen zu haben. Wenn allerdings weiterhin Schulen und Krankenhäuser angegriffen und Kinder getötet und verletzt werden, bleibt festzustellen: Diese Maßnahmen wirken nicht."
Kommentar: Was sollen solche „Schutzmaßnahmen“ sein? Es gibt schlichtweg keine.
15.8.2016 – Dr. Karim (A K)
15 killed, 20+ wounded in Saudi-led airstrike targeting @msf-supported Abs HOSPITAL, #Hajjah today afternoon
https://twitter.com/StopDestroYemen/status/765218355443884032
15.8.2016 – Fatik Al-Rodaini (A K)
Death toll rises to 15 and 20 others wounded due to Saudi airstrikes on Abbs hospital in Hajjeh. Amongst the killed a Spanish doctor.
https://twitter.com/Fatikr/status/765219274394890240
15.8.2016 – New York Times (** A K)
Bombing of Doctors Without Borders Hospital in Yemen Kills at Least 15
At least 15 people were killed on Monday in northernYemen when warplanes bombed a hospital supported by Doctors Without Borders, according to hospital and local health ministry officials.
The airstrike hit Abs Hospital in Yemen’s northern Hajjah Province, and three Yemeni Doctors Without Borders staff members were among the dead, said the hospital director, Ibrahim Aram, who was reached by telephone. He said that three foreign doctors at the hospital were also wounded, and that three other staff members had limbs amputated.
Ayman Ahmed Mathkoor, the health director for Hajjah Province, said the airstrike on Monday had destroyed the emergency department of Abs Hospital, killing 15 people and wounding 20.
Doctors Without Borders, often known by its French name, Médecins Sans Frontières, posted messages on Twitter confirming the attack on the hospital, but did not say how many casualties there had been. It said that the group’s medical teams were treating those wounded in the airstrike. Mr. Aram said he was unsure how many patients had died.
Ibrahim Jafari, a health ministry official who went to the hospital on Monday, said the emergency room had been full of patients when it was hit. Many of the victims were badly burned, he said, and body parts were scattered around the site. Mr. Jafari said there were no military forces near the hospital.
The nearest military activity involving the Houthi militias was more than 35 miles away, he said.
Mr. Aram, the hospital director, said the three Doctors Without Borders staff members who were killed included a guard, a logistician and an electrician. In addition, another guard, an X-ray technician and a nurse had limbs amputated because of their wounds, he said, adding that the three foreign doctors had relatively minor injuries – By SHUAIB ALMOSAWA and ROD NORDLAND
15.8.2016 – Doctors Without Borders (** A K)
Yemen: Airstrike on MSF-Supported Hospital Kills at Least 11, Wounds At Least 19
A hospital supported by the international medical humanitarian organization Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) in northwestern Yemen was hit by an airstrike today, killing at least 11 people and injuring at least 19.
The attack on Abs Hospital, in Yemen’s Hajjah governorate, occurred at 3:45 pm local time and immediately killed nine people, including an MSF staff member. Two more patients died while being transferred to Al Jamhouri hospital. Five patients remain hospitalized.
The hospital, supported by MSF since July 2015, was partially destroyed, and all the remaining patients and staff have been evacuated.
The GPS coordinates of the hospital were repeatedly shared with all parties to the conflict, including the Saudi-led coalition, and its location was well- known.
Abs Hospital was the main medical facility functioning in the western part of Hajjah governorate. The facility has treated 4,611 patients since MSF began supporting the hospital in July 2015.
The hospital had a 14-bed emergency room, a maternity unit and a surgical unit. In the last weeks the hospital had seen an increase in wounded patients, mostly victims of recent clashes and the aerial campaign in the area.
At the time of the strike, there were 23 patients in the surgery ward, 25 in the maternity ward, 13 newborns and 12 patients in the pediatric ward. The hospital had admitted several war-wounded patients during the day. The number of patients in the emergency room is pending further clarification.
http://www.doctorswithoutborders.org/article/yemen-airstrike-msf-supported-hospital-kills-least-11-wounds-least-19 = http://www.msf.org/en/article/20160815-yemen-eleven-people-dead-and-least-19-injured-after-airstrike-hits-abs-hospital
16.8.2016 – Doctors Without Borders (* A K)
Yemen: Death toll rises to 14 from yesterday’s airstrike on MSF-supported Abs hospital in Hajjah
According to the latest information gathered by the MSF teams in Hajjah, late last night three of the five patients hospitalised after yesterday’s airstrike died. The death toll from the airstrike on the MSF-supported hospital in northwestern Yemen now stands at 14.
The medical team did all they could for the patients, but they arrived at the hospital in critical condition. The dead include Abdul Kareem al Hakeemi, an MSF staff member who died from injuries caused by the blast. Twenty four people were also injured in the airstrike and were referred to different health facilities in the area. MSF is keeping track of them to monitor their condition.
At the time of the airstrike the hospital was full of patients, including newborns and children. Some people were recovering from surgery, some were in the maternity ward. “MSF evacuated all the patients and staff but with the closure of this once fully functioning hospital that served the whole area, the community is now deprived of essential medical services at a time when access to healthcare is most vital,” says Juan Prieto, MSF Head of Mission in Yemen. MSF is still assessing the damage to the hospital and will launch its own investigation into the attack.
Earlier reports still had smaller figures:
15.8.2016 – Reuters (*A K)
Air strike on Yemen hospital kills at least seven: residents, officials
A Saudi-led coalition air strike hit a hospital in Yemen's northern Hajja province on Monday, residents and local officials said, killing at least seven people and wounding 13.
A Reuters witness at the scene of the attack in the Abs district said medics could not immediately evacuate the wounded because war planes continued to fly over the area and first responders feared more bombings.
The facility is run by aid group Medecins Sans Frontieres, which confirmed on its official Twitter account that an air strike had occurred there but said the number of deaths and injuries remained unclear.
http://www.reuters.com/article/us-yemen-security-idUSKCN10Q1E0 and by BBC: http://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-37083035
15.8.2016 – RT (* A K)
Doctors Without Borders confirms affiliated hospital hit by airstrikes in Yemen
A hospital supported by Doctors Without Borders (MSF) has been hit by airstrikes in Yemen, the medical charity confirmed on Monday.
The hospital in the Abs district of the northwestern Hajjah province was hit at 3.45pm local time (12:45 GMT), the Paris-based NGO said in a Twitter post, adding that the number of casualties is still unknown.
According to Yemeni officials cited by AP, at least 20 people have been killed and injured in the strike that hit the hospital.
According to Reuters sources, at least seven people have been killed and 13 more have been injured.
In the meantime, DPA news agency reports that the death toll has reached 15, with more than 25 people injured.
MSF says it has supported the hospital since July 2015, adding that 4,611 patients have been treated at the facility. (with longer film on the Yemen war)
https://www.rt.com/news/356036-msf-hospital-airstrike-yemen/
15.8.2016 – Doctors Without Borders (A K)
People in #Yemen continue to be killed or injured while seeking medical care. This. is unacceptable. #NotATarget
https://twitter.com/MSF/status/765304399136714752
@MSF is outraged at having to send condolences once more to families of our staff member & 10 patients who shld 've been safe in a hospital
https://twitter.com/msf_yemen/status/765291864832573442
15.8.2016 – Dameh Al-Awlaqi (A K)
3 of my colleagues(medical staff) have been injured. The airstrike targeted ER room
https://twitter.com/SamehAlawlaqi/status/765198221501235200
16.8.2016 – Saba Net (A K PH)
MSF: Staff member was killed in Abs Hospital attack
Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) announced on Tuesday the death of one of its doctors in a Saudi raid hit Abs Hospital in Hajjah province on Monday.
"Even with a recent United Nations resolution calling for an end to attacks on medical facilities and with the high-level declarations of commitment to International Humanitarian Law, nothing seems to be done to make parties involved in the conflict in Yemen respect medical staff and patients," Sancristóval continued.
"Without action, these public gestures are meaningless for today's victims. Either intentional or as a result of negligence, this is unacceptable."
http://www.sabanews.net/en/news437141.htm
15.8.2016 – Raf Sanchez (A K)
@MSF tells me it is NOT true that a Spanish doctor was killed in today's airstrike in #Yemen. One Yemeni MSF staff member was killed.
https://twitter.com/rafsanchez/status/765271892299288576
15.8.2016 – The American Conservative (* A K P)
‘The Administration Must Stop Enabling This Madness’ in Yemen
This is the fourth MSF-supported hospital that the coalition has bombed in the last year, and it just one of the many medical facilities that coalition planes have attacked. Medical facilities are obviously protected under international law, and the Saudis and their allies have been disregarding these protections routinely. When they are forced to account for their repeated bombings of hospitals and other civilian targets, the coalition response has always been to blame the victims of the attacks, but more often they simply deny all responsibility for the results of their bombing campaign – by Daniel Larison
15.8.2016 – Amnesty International (A K)
Yemen: Bombardment of MSF hospital a deplorable attack
The Saudi Arabia-led coalition’s aerial bombardment of a hospital supported byMédecins Sans Frontières (MSF) in Yemen is an atrocious attack that could amount to a war crime, Amnesty International said toda
Deliberately targeting medical facilities is a serious violation of international humanitarian law which would amount to a war crime. The circumstances of this attack must be thoroughly and independently investigated,” said Magdalena Mughrabi, Amnesty International’s Deputy Director of the Middle East and North Africa Programme.
http://www.amnestyusa.org/news/press-releases/yemen-bombardment-of-msf-hospital-a-deplorable-attack
Comment: Why just “could amount to a war crime”? Bombing a hospital IS a war crime.
15.8.2016 – Oxfam (A K)
Oxfam condemns latest attack on MSF hospital in Yemen
Oxfam and 5 other aid agencies have condemned a Saudi-led coalition airstrike on a hospital supported by Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) in Abs, in Hajja governorate in Yemen. Oxfam, Care, Handicap International, Mercy Corps, Intersos and Save the Children called for an independent investigation into Monday's attack, the fourth on an MSF-supported facility in Yemen in less than a year that comes just two days after 10 children were killed and 28 injured in airstrike on a school, in the Saada Governorate.
15.8.2016 – Living in Yemen on the edge (A K P)
Al Jazeera does not specifically say 'Saudi led Coaltion airstruck a hospital in #Yemen'. They never do. They just serve the Coalition's agenda
[regarding headline: MSF hospital in Yemen hit by air strike]
https://www.facebook.com/LivingInYemenOnTheEdge/posts/1085089294877433
15.8.2016 – Samuel Oakford (A K P)
US State Department says it is "deeply concerned" by airstrike on @MSF hospital in #Yemen. But says no plans to alter support for Saudis.
https://twitter.com/samueloakford/status/765249612571697153
Comment by Dr. Karim: #US is party to the #Saudi war and crimes in #Yemen
https://twitter.com/StopDestroYemen/status/765273468984291329
Comment: US hypocrisy as usual. They play the role of keepers of humanity and are the most evil killers or partisans of killers by themselves. And in this case: The US themselves have helped to select this target or at least have approved this selection, they have furnished the arms that killed.
16.8.2016 – UN (A P)
Statement attributable to the Spokesman for the Secretary-General on Yemen (15 August 2016)
The Secretary-General condemns the reported coalition airstrike on a rural hospital supported by Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) in Hajjah, Yemen, today.
The Secretary-General notes that the parties to the conflict in Yemen have damaged or destroyed over 70 health centres, including three other MSF-supported facilities. He is deeply disturbed by the intensification of airstrikes and continuing ground fighting and shelling, especially in populated areas. The shrinking humanitarian space and limited access to essential services for Yemenis, a situation exacerbated by the return to full-scale hostilities, is a matter of ever greater concern.
Hospitals and medical personnel are explicitly protected under international humanitarian law and any attack directed against them, or against any civilian persons or infrastructure, is a serious violation of international humanitarian law. All such attacks should be investigated through prompt, effective, independent and impartial.
https://www.un.org/sg/en/content/sg/statement/2016-08-15/statement-attributable-spokesman-secretary-general-yemen = http://reliefweb.int/report/yemen/statement-attributable-spokesman-secretary-general-yemen-15-august-2016
Comment: Remarkable: The violator is clearly named this time.
16.8.2016 – AFP (* A K P)
Saudi-led coalition probes deadly strike on Yemen hospital
The Saudi-led coalition bombing rebels in Yemen launched an investigation Tuesday following international condemnation of an air strike that Doctors Without Borders said killed 11 people at a hospital it supports.
More than 19 people were also wounded in the raid that hit the hospital in Abs, in the rebel-held northern province of Hajja, the Paris-based aid agency said, adding that one of its staff was among the dead.
A Joint Incidents Assessment Team (JIAT), formed from members of the coalition dominated by Riyadh and its Gulf Sunni Arab allies, said it was aware of the reports and "has urgently launched an independent investigation".
The JIAT will "obtain more information from MSF and will publicly announce the findings" of the probe, it said.
The 14-member JIAT was set up as a standing investigation team following mounting criticism of the civilian death toll from the bombing campaign.
It earlier this month acknowledged "shortcomings" in two of eight cases it investigated of air strikes on civilian targets in Yemen.
It said the coalition had "mistakenly" hit a residential compound and an MSF-run hospital, but accused the rebels of having used the hospital as a hideout.
http://reliefweb.int/report/yemen/saudi-led-coalition-probes-deadly-strike-yemen-hospital
Comment: Saudi coalition’s “Joint Incidents Assessment Team (JIAT)” is not independent at all and proved to be a joke.
Comment by Judith Brown: Well we know the result already - it really wasn't Saudi's fault. That's what they say after every enquiry. And whilst they are head of Human Rights at the UN it doesn't give Yemeni victims much hope.
https://www.facebook.com/judith.brown.794628/posts/10154616397353641
16.8.2016 – Reuters (A K P)
Body set up by Saudi-led forces probes hits on Yemen school, hospital
Air strikes by Saudi-led forces in Yemen that hit a school and a hospital are being investigated by a body set up by the coalition to look into civilian casualties, a spokesman said on Tuesday.
"Immediately, and as soon as the announcement from Doctors without Borders and from his excellency the U.N. secretary-general reached us, the team began its investigation as part of its responsibility and without waiting for instructions from anyone," Mansour Ahmed al-Mansour told Reuters.
Mansour is a Bahraini judge who serves as a legal advisor to the Joint Incidents Assessment Team (JIAT) which was set up in May by Saudi Arabia's King Salman following an international outcry about the rising number of civilian casualties.
"We are collecting initial information and are in communication with the concerned parties to provide us with information available to them," Mansour said. Mansour said the JIAT, comprising military and legal experts, including experts in international law from Saudi Arabia, Bahrain and Qatar among other states, had powers to conduct thorough and transparent checks and issue its results without any outside intervention.
He acknowledged that the team was restricted in its ability to conduct field investigations in areas under Houthi control and urged Yemenis to stay away from military targets and not to allow the Houthis to use their houses or property for military operations – by Sami Aboudi
http://www.reuters.com/article/us-yemen-security-investigation-idUSKCN10R28O
Comment: See comment above. It is really interesting how Reuters describes this farce as if it would be a serious matter. Unmasking is the last sentence, the advice of this “investigator” to the Yemeni population. This is exactly what people like coalition speaker Asiri always tell. And we know that everything – schools, hospitals, private homes, wedding parties, factories after a raid are declared they had been “military targets” – everything a “military target”.
16.8.2016 – Nasser Arrabyee (A P)
Spokesman of US-backed Saudi invaders Asiri said Doctors without borders interfere N politics b4 bombing&killing
https://twitter.com/narrabyee/status/765579590119133185
Comment: The Saudis always blame the victims, even if this blames are totally absurd. What should be justified by this???
16.8.2016 – Jamila Hanan (A K P)
According to @HussainBukhaiti this interview with Saudi Asiri included threat to @MSF too not interfere in politics
This threatening interview was the day before bombing of @MSF hospital, after they bombed the school #Yemen
https://twitter.com/JamilaHanan/status/765563278881808384 and https://twitter.com/JamilaHanan/status/765565124233031682 relating to interview from Aug. 14: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y_NyviGQhYA
16.8.2016 – New York Times (* A K)
Mr. Qubaty, the information minister, said he could not comment on what happened to the hospital. “We are waiting for the results of the investigation,” he said. “In an area where fighting is still going on, to get all the facts usually takes time.”
Abs Hospital and local health officials said there was no military presence in or around the hospital.
Maj. Gen. Ahmed Asseri, the spokesman for the coalition, said investigators from the assessment team would be talking to Doctors Without Borders officials about Monday’s episode. “For the time being, we cannot call it bombing of a hospital,” General Asseri said.
Saudi officials insist that they have struck only at military targets, and accuse the Houthis of using civilian facilities to carry out attacks against the government and its coalition partners – by Rod Nordland
Comment: The way the Hadi government and the Saudi spokesman are dealing with such raids is just disgusting.
Photos: https://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=1073780869379218&id=881240811966559 and https://www.facebook.com/SaudiArabia.war.crimes.against.Yemen/posts/1571823589780296 and https://twitter.com/HussainBukhaiti/status/765219555916521476 and
https://twitter.com/YemenPostNews/status/765197892256669700
Films: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rG1T4HSPSGk and https://twitter.com/Lady_Afrah/status/765215622775054336 and
http://www.stern.de/politik/ausland/mehrere-menschen-sterben-bei-luftangriff-auf-krankenhaus-im-jemen-7010824.html (deutscher Text)
And at least: This is like “Criminals without borders” versus “Doctors without Borders”
cp16b Saudischer Luftangriff auf Schule / Saudi air raid at school
Siehe / See YPR 183, cp16a
16.8.2016 – CNN (* A K)
Film: Claim that Yemen school trained militias 'preposterous'
Yemeni journalist and political analyst Hisham al Omeisy speaks with Clarissa Ward about a Saudi airstrike in Yemen.
http://edition.cnn.com/videos/world/2016/08/16/yemen-intv-amanpour-ward-hisham-al-omeisy.cnn = https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/other/claim-that-yemen-school-trained-militias-preposterous/vp-BBvGghi
15.8.2016 – Thomas Reuters Foundation (* A K)
Yemen is a "pressure cooker", aid groups warn amid outrage over school airstrike
A Saudi-led coalition, which began a military campaign in March last year against Iranian-allied Houthi rebels that drove the internationally recognised government into exile, said the strike in Saada province had targeted a Houthi training facility.
But UNICEF, which visited the site in Haydan after the strike as well as the hospital treating the injured children, dismissed suggestions the victims were Houthi recruits.
"The children who were killed were between the ages of six and 14, and the majority were between six and eight," said Julien Harneis, UNICEF's Yemen representative.
"The Houthis do not recruit children so young into their militia. We spoke with the parents, we checked the ages and we visited the site, and there is nothing to indicate it was anything other than a Koranic school." – by Emma Batha
http://news.trust.org/item/20160815165954-d46dn/
15.8.2016 – The Guardian (A K)
The coalition has acknowledged a call for investigation by the UN chief Ban Ki-moon into Saturday’s school attack. “This investigation will be independent and will follow international standards. The JIAT [joint incidents assessment team] will make the results of its investigation public,” it read.
Comment: JIAT is the coalition’s own so-called “investigation team”, absolutely far from “independent”. The first time it showed up it just served for downplaying and justifying the coalition air raids. – Well, in case of this school, UNICEF already was at the place. See article above. Facts are clear already now.
15.8.2016 – Dr. Karim (A K P)
Wow! After removal from #UN children killers list, ZERO mention [by UN, Ban Ki-Moon] of causative #KSA, doubting airstrike.
https://twitter.com/StopDestroYemen/status/765364126717730816
Film: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/yemen-school-airstrike_us_57b1938fe4b007c36e4f2f67
16.8.2016 – Saudi Embassy (A K P)
#Saudi Coalition Strikes Houthi Training Camp in Yemen
https://twitter.com/SaudiEmbassyUSA/status/765237730255200256
Comment: the Saudi fairy tale is farther spread – it will not get better by that.
Comments by Hisham Al-Omeisy: Not sure what's more disturbing, lie being training camp, or bombing when well aware full of children!
https://twitter.com/omeisy/status/765534335122505730
You bombed children! -No, child soldiers -Still, CHILDREN! -No, dangerous soldiers -6 and 8 year olds? -Iran minions -What..!?
https://twitter.com/omeisy/status/765536878791712768
Well, there must be remembered that BOTH sides are using child soldiers, “president” Hadi even bursting with them:
15.8.2016 – Sultana (A K)
These are the #Saudi paid "national army" leaders of #Yemen in #Marib... I see three child soldiers guarding them.
https://twitter.com/SultanetZman/status/765335269948198913
Comment by Hisham Al-Omeisy: Well, "legitimate" prez Hadi of #Yemen said has 1 million 15yr+ olds in training to defend Saudi.
Remember this? Hadi flaunting employing #ChildSoldiers But let's ignore & pretend Houthis solely responsible.
https://twitter.com/omeisy/status/765435684026978304 and https://twitter.com/omeisy/status/765434756435677184
cp16c Saudischer Luftangriff auf Wohnhaus / Saudi air raid at private home
16.8.2016 – Legal Center (** A K)
16-8-2016
At 9:00 A.M
- Saudi Arabia warplanes and its alliance targeted the house of the civilian/ Shayef Muhsein Assem by 2 airstrikes in #Sanaa_Province #Nehm_District#AL_Hanashat_area #Goulat_Assem_Village.
-The airstrikes led to kill (16) civilians including (12) children and (2) women -as a primary statistic- and other bodies still under the rubber. Furthermore, ( 18 ) others including (6) children and (4) women were injured.
-Two houses belong to the family of Assem and his brothers were destroyed and 5 others were damaged. Also, Goulat Assem School was destroyed. Moreover, two cars belong to Assem's family were burnt. (graphic images)
https://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=675492659267769&id=551288185021551
16.8.2016 – Saba Net (* A K PH)
Saudi raids hit house in Nehm, kill 14
At least 14 people were killed on Tuesday in a Saudi raid on Nehm district of Sana'a province, a security official said.
The Saudi war jets targeted the house of "Mohsen Asem" in Gawlat Asem area in Nehm, he said, adding the killed included seven children and four women.
The official said 12 other people were wounded, including three children and four women.
http://www.sabanews.net/en/news437117.htm
16.8.2016 – New York Times (* A K)
Airstrike in Yemen Kills 17 Civilians, Witnesses Say
An airstrike on a residential area near the Yemeni capital, Sana, on Tuesday killed 17 civilians, most of them women and children
Residents of a village in Nehem District, northeast of the capital, said that warplanes from the Saudi Arabia-led military coalition fighting on behalf of the Yemeni government had bombed a family home. Health officials in Sana confirmed that 17 bodies had been taken to local hospitals after the airstrike.
Shayef Muhsin Asem, who lived in the house but was out at the time of the attack, said that after the house was bombed, family members rushed in to try to rescue survivors when a second airstrike hit.
The attack on Tuesday took place in the village of Al Madeed, where a marketplace was struck on Aug. 7, killing 18 civilians, according to witnesses and health workers – by Rod Nordland
16.8.2016 – Reuters (* A K)
Saudi-led coalition air strike kills nine Yemeni civilians: residents
An air strike by the Saudi-led military coalition in Yemen killed nine civilians east of Sanaa on Tuesday, residents said, the third deadly air raid reported to have to hit civilian targets since Saturday.
The attack outside the capital hit the home of a local leader of Yemen's armed Houthi group while he was out, killing his father and eight members of the family, residents added.
http://www.reuters.com/article/us-yemen-security-idUSKCN10R17K
16.8.2016 – Nasser Arrabyee (* A K PH)
Yemen 12-member family of Muhsen Asem all killed nowN Nehm east Sanaa byUS-backed Saudi war criminals air bombing their house
20Yemenis more killed while rescuing&taking out 12dead bodies from1family all killed by US-backed Saudi war criminals N Nehm east Sanaa now
https://twitter.com/narrabyee/status/765452323170705410 and https://twitter.com/narrabyee/status/765470355972644864
Photos (graphic): https://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=675492659267769&id=551288185021551 and https://www.facebook.com/LivingInYemenOnTheEdge/posts/1085891458130550
Film (graphic) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W0XU8l-8IZc Min. 1:50 onwards
Film Yemen Today: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9hx5HmWl2fg
cp17 Kriegsereignisse / Theater of War
16.8.2016 – Saba Net (A K PH)
Riyadh's hirelings pound houses in Serwah
http://www.sabanews.net/en/news437123.htm
16.8.2016 – Hussain Albukhaiti (A K PH)
New footage releasd show #Houthi aftr destroyin many #Saudi armoured vehicles n&around Al Khobh area S #Jizan S #KSA
https://twitter.com/HussainBukhaiti/status/765573217956298752
15.8.2016 – Saba Net (A K PH)
Army launches missile on Najran
http://www.sabanews.net/en/news436930.htm
15.8.2016 – Doha News (A K)
Two Qatari soldiers injured in Yemen
Two Qatari soldiers have recently been injured while fighting Houthi rebels in Yemen, according to local media reports.
The men, Sgt. Salman Mahwish Al Ruwaili and Abdul Hadi Rashid Al Watheen, are being hailed as heroes on social media.
However, the circumstances of their injuries remain unclear.
http://dohanews.co/two-qatari-soldiers-injured-yemen/
14.8.2016 – Asharq Al-Awsat (A K)
Missile Deployed from Yemen Kills Six Saudi Civilians in Najran
A missile deployed from Yemen targeted southern Saudi Arabia’s Najran on Sunday killing six civilians. The projectile landed on a local water facility.
Security forces soon locked down the site attacked, moving injured victims to close medical facilities.
http://english.aawsat.com/2016/08/article55356423/yemeni-missile-kills-six-saudi-civilians-najran and by Reuters (7 killed): http://www.reuters.com/article/us-yemen-security-najran-idUSKCN10R21U
Vorige / Previous:
https://www.freitag.de/autoren/dklose/krieg-im-jemen-neue-artikel-zum-nachlesen-183
Neue Artikel zum Nachlesen 1-183: / Yemen Press Reader 1-183:
https://www.freitag.de/autoren/dklose oder / or
http://poorworld.net/YemenWar.htm
Der saudische Luftkrieg im Bild / Saudi aerial war images:
(18 +, Nichts für Sensible!) / (18 +; Graphic!)
http://poorworld.net/YemenWar.htm und / andhttp://yemenwarcrimes.blogspot.de/
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