Allgemein / General
18.10.2015 – Peoples Democracy
Yemen: What the Saudi-US War has Wrought
THE bombing of Yemen, one of the world's poorest countries by the Saudi Arabian led and US supplied military alliance has resulted in the country's infrastructure being reduced to rubble. According to international organisations, more damage has been done to this country in four months of war than in Syria, where intense fighting has been going on for more than four years.
The Saudis have concentrated their American supplied fire power on ports. The Yemeni population depends for 90 percent of its food supplies on imports. With ports either destroyed or blockaded by the Saudi led coalition, even UN brokered humanitarian aid has not been able to get through. …
The international community of nations has mainly chosen to remain mute as the grave humanitarian tragedy is unfolding in full view. Iranian ships carrying humanitarian cargo have not been allowed entry by the military coalition supported by the Obama administration. There have been baseless allegations that the Houthis are being militarily supported by Teheran. American diplomats admit that Iran had tried to dissuade the Houthis from taking over the capital, Sana. “It remains our assessment that Iran does not exert command and control over the Houthis in Yemen”, Bernadette Meehan, a spokeswomen for the US National Security Council recently told the US media. Iran's political and diplomatic priority has been to get the American sanctions on the country lifted. The last thing it wants is to get involved in another unending regional war. In fact, the Saudis had launched their attack on Yemen as soon as it became clear that a nuclear deal between Teheran and Washington was imminent.
The Americans have been providing “enhanced intelligence for airstrikes” to their allies who have been bombing Yemen for the last four months. In recent months, the Pentagon has doubled the number of advisers to provide intelligence to the Saudi led coalition. The US air force also provides mid air fueling for the Saudi aircrafts while the American Navy helps in enforcing a blockade on the impoverished and war ravaged country. The blockade is supposed to prevent the smuggling of arms to the Houthi led resistance but as international aid agencies have emphasized, it has prevented the import of basic commodities desperately needed by the beleaguered populace. The “enhanced intelligence” provided by the United States has not even limited the number of strikes against civilian populations centers. The US so far has given a free hand to launch military attacks against neighbours only to its closest ally, Israel. Now Saudi Arabia, another close military ally has been given the same privileges.
The Saudis had started the war when the major political parties in Yemen were on the verge of signing a UN brokered peace deal. The Houthi led fighters had at the time taken control of most of Yemen and its major cities, including the port city of Aden in the south of the country. Jamal Benomar, the UN secretary general's representative to Yemen at the time has said that the Houthis were prepared to withdraw from Sana and share power with all the parties. The UN was preparing for the deployment of a “national unity force” in the capital, comprising of fighters from all the factions. Before the deal could be formalised, the Saudis started their bombing campaign and the war began. The Saudis had refused to participate in UN sponsored peace talks in Geneva in June. The Saudis also refused to adhere to two UN brokered humanitarian truces despite giving prior assurances. The Saudis seem intent to capture the capital Sana and then only call a halt to the bloodletting they have unleashed.
Meanwhile, the Saudis and their allies are finding it difficult to keep the peace in Aden. In the last week of August, the Islamic State (IS) announced its presence in the city by carrying out an attack on an army post manned by troops supported by the Saudis. The IS has declared both the sides in the Yemeni conflict as enemies and apostates. As it is, there are reports that the different groups that had aligned with the Saudis in the South are now at each other’s throats. They are a disparate group, ranging from southern separatists to the Islah, an affiliate of the Muslim Brotherhood. In Yemen, the Saudi are hand in glove with the Brotherhood. In Egypt, the Saudis are fully backing the government's draconian steps against the party.
The al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) on the other hand has preferred to fight the Houthi led coalition with the tacit support of Riyadh. When the war broke out four months ago, the main focus of the Houthis was on the al Qaeda, which has a strong base in the country. Al Qaeda suicide bombers had killed hundreds of Yemenis in the capital Sana, earlier in the year. Since the Saudi imposed war began, the al Qaeda has captured three more towns – by Yohannan Chemarapally
http://peoplesdemocracy.in/2015/1018_pd/yemen-what-saudi-us-war-has-wrought
17.10.2015 – OVB Online
"Alle leiden unter der Perspektivlosigkeit"
Die Deutsch-Jemenitische Gesellschaft (DJG) pflegt seit 45 Jahren intensive Beziehungen zu Organisationen, Gruppen und Einzelpersonen im Jemen. Jetzt hat Vorsitzende Gudrun Orth eine Regionalgruppe mit Sitz in Prien gegründet.
Erste Veranstaltung: eine Filmmatinee mit Diskussion in Marias Kino in Bad Endorf. Für die Veranstaltung hat der deutsche Botschafter im Jemen, Andreas Kindl, die Schirmherrschaft übernommen. Im Interview erläutert DJG-Vorsitzende Orth, warum im Jemen ein "vergessener Krieg" tobt und wie es den Menschen geht.
Im arabischen Frühling forderte die Bevölkerung den Rücktritt des Langzeitpräsidenten und mehr Möglichkeiten der Teilhabe, politisch und wirtschaftlich. Die friedliche Revolution wurde von alten Konflikten überlagert: Mächtige Stämme rivalisieren um Einfluss und Macht, starke Kräfte im Süden wollen die Unabhängigkeit wieder erlangen, die Huthis aus dem Norden wollen mehr Einfluss und Mitsprache, ebenso wie die Partei der "Muslimbrüder". Der jemenitische Ableger von Al-Qaida destabilisiert mit Terrorakten. Alle Kräfte waren sich jedoch einig gegen Einmischungen von außen, insbesondere in der Ablehnung des US-amerikanischen Drohnenkriegs und gegen saudische Einflussnahme in innere Angelegenheiten.
Mit starker Unterstützung des Westens und des Golfrates kam es zum Wechsel in der politischen Führung - aber man setzte auf Stabilität statt auf Veränderung. Der folgende nationale Dialog, erarbeitete Grundlagen für den Umbau der Nation und der Gesellschaft, die jedoch sehr zögerlich umgesetzt wurden. Die Übergangsregierung verlor an Macht und in weiten Landesteilen an Kontrolle. Damit war der Weg frei für die neue alte Kraft, die Huthis aus dem Norden, die versprachen - vier Jahre nach der abgewürgten Revolution - Misswirtschaft und Korruption zu bekämpfen. Die Übergangsregierung im Exil schlug mit Hilfe der Saudis und ihrer Verbündeten zurück und will den Jemen so lange bombardieren, bis er "stabil" ist.
Vom ersten Tag des Krieges an gibt es Berichte über Menschenrechtsverletzungen aller Konfliktparteien und über die katastrophale humanitäre Situation im Jemen. Aber selbst Berichte von UN-Organisationen werden von den westlichen Regierungen und den Medien kaum wahrgenommen. Auch die Zerstörung von Weltkulturerbe im Jemen durch saudische Luftangriffe wird kaum medial verarbeitet. Saudi Arabien als Anführer der kriegsführenden Koalition ist ein geschätzter Partner der westlichen Welt, sowohl als Öllieferant als auch im Kampf gegen den Terror. Eine Kritik an der Kriegsführung von Saudi-Arabien von Regierungsseite erfolgt nicht. Schließlich liefert die ganze westliche Welt Waffen und Munition für diesen Krieg.
https://www.ovb-online.de/rosenheim/ro-ch-gem/alle-leiden-unter-perspektivlosigkeit-5655704.html
16.10.2015 – CNN
Ancient city crumbling in civil war (mit Fotoserie)
Sanaa is now a graveyard of things that once were.
The city has been savagely assaulted by airstrikes and suicide bombings stemming from a bitter conflict between Houthi rebels and pro-government fighters supported by a Saudi-led coalition.
"The main infrastructure of Sanaa is destroyed," said Lorenzo Meloni, a photographer who began documenting the devastation in April. His work captures haunting images of the aftermath -- dead bodies, sick refugees, skeletons of ancient buildings.
Meloni said most of the airstrikes occur in civilian areas and have random patterns without target or purpose. "When I was there, I saw an airstrike on a truck carrying tanks of water," he said. But some of them are planned.
In the fourth picture above, fighters stand in the rubble of a sheik's home. According to Meloni, it was destroyed after the sheik turned on deposed Yemeni President Abdu Rabu Mansour Hadi. "It was kind of like a punishment," Meloni said.
Because of the rampant explosions, the death toll is ever climbing. According to the United Nations, more than 5,400 people have been killed in Yemen. Hospitals are overcrowded, poorly staffed and relatively void of resources, Meloni said.
"They don't have places for the bodies," he said. "They have to wait for the family to recognize them, but most of the bodies are not in one piece."
There is one place in Sanaa considered relatively safe: the Sheba Hotel.
"It's where international organizations and journalists go to stay and sleep at night because the rest of the city is under airstrike," Meloni said.
Nearly everywhere else is vulnerable.
"Even if you stay far away from the front lines, you cannot ever know where the next target is," he said.
When asked how he managed to stay safe, Meloni's response was, "That's a good question." In Yemen, he said, the people are very suspicious of Westerners.
"They assume you're either an American or a spy," he said.
Meloni worked with the Houthis to strategize safe ways of navigating the country. But he said that didn't guarantee his safety.
"Every moving object is considered a target." – by Jamie K. White
http://edition.cnn.com/2015/10/15/world/cnnphotos-yemen-sanaa/
15.10.2015 – Yemen-News-Today
Yemen Update
Overview for about one week– Überblick für ca. eine Woche
http://yemen-news-today.org/tag/hodeida/
15.10.2015 – Mada Masr
Dispatch from Yemen: Saada, city of death and displacement
Saada has been the hardest hit by the airstrikes.
The Joumhouria Hospital is the only one still functioning in the city. Sawada Hussein, 42, lies in a hospital bed here with both her legs broken. She is the only survivor of an airstrike that hit her house earlier in August. Her husband and four children died in the assault.
“I was standing to say my sunset prayers. The minute my forehead touched the rug, the room collapsed on my head,” she says. “I screamed ‘help’ at the top of my lungs. Then I felt nothing.”
“All my sons are gone,” she continues in disbelief. Sawada’s daughter-in-law breaks into tears next to her bed, soaking the silk black veil covering her face.
The UNESCO World Heritage Committee lists Saada as one of the oldest medieval cites in Yemen. It’s a long-neglected place on the periphery that has survived on smuggling and trafficking away from the eyes of the central government. Now, the city is nearly isolated from the world.
Warplanes have struck power stations and telecommunication towers, leaving Saada in darkness after each sunset. Few lights are seen amid a severe shortage of fuel supplies, save for the homes of those who own generators. But they struggle to find fuel on the black market — fighter jets have bombed the tanks carrying fuel from southern provinces.
On the drive to Saada, burned trucks litter the side of a road that runs by the detritus of bombed-out bridges. Houthi fighters armed with AK-47 rifles, many of them youngsters, chew Qat while they man the checkpoints at the city’s entrances and exits. One claims that they’ve caught bombers disguised in women’s black robes trying to enter the city to blow it up.
Demolished shops line the main street in the city center, as well as shattered windows and twisted steel gates. Government buildings, banks, schools and police stations have been leveled. Local city officials estimate that half of the population has fled their houses, but they don't have any figures showing where they have gone, or if they left the city altogether.
Saudi has demonized Saada as the source of Houthi reinforcements and the home of its leadership command centers, training camps and weapon depots. Rebel leader Abdul Malek al-Houthi is believed to be hiding in the mountains of Marran, a four-hour drive away.
Located right on the border with the oil-rich kingdom, Saada is an easy target — but also an increasingly unstable one. Militias operating out of Saada have reportedly been conducting cross-border attacks. The Houthi TV network Al-Masirah has aired footage it claimed was filmed from inside the Saudi territories as a show of force.
Saada was first declared a "military target" on May 8, after Houthis carried out attacks inside Saudi territory. The military coalition warned residents to evacuate before sunset. Many fled, but many more were caught in the crossfire since they had nowhere to go to.
A day later, the United Nations warned that such "indiscriminate bombing of populated areas" is a violation of international law. The warning went unheeded.
With a broken jaw and a skull fracture, 50-year-old barber Abdullah al-Ibbi recalls when the airstrikes hit his house, killing all 27 of his family members.
“In the blink of an eye, my house turned into a cemetery for 27 souls,” Ibbi laments.
A few kilometers outside Saada, Sabra Valley was the site of one of the worst mass killings since the airstrikes began. In June, missiles killed at least 50 civilians when they hit eight ancient mudbrick houses built at the foot of a giant mountain. Most of the victims belonged to the extended Aram family, and lived off planting Qat fields.
“It was a direct strike that toppled eight houses altogether, immediately creating a dust storm,” says Abdel Latif Ayidha, 23. “After a half hour, a second strike blew the rescuers away.”
The north — which is predominately inhabited by Zaydi followers, the same branch of the Shia faith that the Houthis follow — has been brutalized by the Saudi-led military operation. People here have had little choice but to side with the insurgents. The scale of destruction revived decades-old hatred toward the neighboring kingdom, and many fear that Saudi’s scorched-earth policy has turned northern Yemen into a hotbed of insurgency.
“The Saudi offensive was a setback to an imminent confrontation between the people and Houthis,” says Yemeni writer Nabil Sobai. “It gave credit to Houthis.” – by Mada Masr
http://www.madamasr.com/sections/politics/dispatch-yemen-saada-city-death-and-displacement
15.10.2015 – Civil Coalition for Monitoring etc.
Film: Die saudische Aggression in Zahlen – The Saudi aggression in figures
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qk0ADnhKVjI&app=desktop
15.10.2015 – Global Voices / UN Dispatch
200 Days of War in Yemen
Many are likely unaware, thanks to the mainstream media's lack of coverage, that Yemen has been at war for almost seven months. In fact, it has been 200 days since a Saudi-led coalition started airstrikes on March 26, 2015, to repel the advance of the Houthis (a group affiliated with the Zaidi sect of Shia Islam), and imposed a naval blockade on its main seaports. Many Yemenis, however, would likely disagree about when the war actually started. For some, the war began on September 21, 2014, when the Houthis captured the capital Sanaa.
The latest humanitarian report by the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (UNOCHA), issued on September 29, 2015, indicates that hundreds of civilian homes and infrastructure, including hospitals and schools, have been destroyed by explosive weapons, and civilians have been driven from their homes, since the conflict began. In the last few months of war, the following figures have been reported: …
Beside the massive civilian death toll in the past seven months, Yemen's infrastructure has also been destroyed. The United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) reports: …
Yemeni tweets at the 200. day of the war – by Mark Leon Goldberg
https://globalvoices.org/2015/10/14/200-days-of-war-in-yemen/ = (reduced size) http://www.undispatch.com/200-days-of-war-in-yemen/
2.10.2015 – Infosperber
Wo bleiben Schlagzeilen über saudische Angriffe?
Die meisten Medien informieren kaum über den grausamen Luft- und Bodenkrieg der Saudis im Jemen. Umso mehr über Russen in Syrien.
Wo Kriege herrschen, läuft die Propaganda-Maschinerie auf Hochtouren. Leider lassen sich die meisten Medien viel zu unkritisch einspannen. Das gilt für das Verbreiten ungesicherter Informationen und für das Schüren von Emotionen, um die Öffentlichkeit auf eine Seite zu ziehen.
Den Krieg, den Saudiarabien in Jemen in der Luft und am Boden führt, behandeln fast alle unsere Medien unter «ferner liefen». Die US-Kriegs-PR schont das mit den USA eng verbündete Saudiarabien.
Grossmächte haben sich noch selten um die Respektierung des Völkerrechts gekümmert, wenn es um ihre geopolitischen Interessen ging. In jüngster Zeit weder die USA in Afghanistan oder dem Irak noch Russland auf der Krim oder im Osten der Ukraine.
Das Völkerrecht verbietet das Einmischen in innere Angelegenheiten anderer Staaten und erlaubt keine Kriege mit dem Ziel, eine ungeliebte oder auch korrupte und gewalttätige Regierung zu stürzen – es sei denn, sie begehe einen regelrechten Völkermord wie in Ruanda.
In jedem Fall braucht es für eine kriegerische Intervention im Ausland einen einstimmigen Beschluss des Uno-Sicherheitsrats.
Es fällt auf, dass die Medien bei den militärischen Angriffen in Syrien das Völkerrecht kaum zitieren – im Gegensatz zum Beispiel zu den russischen Militäreingriffen in der Ukraine.
Wer argumentiert, das militärische Eingreifen in Syrien sei – Völkerrecht hin oder her – legitim, weil das Assad-Regime Minderheiten zum Teil gewaltsam unterdrückte und einmal wahrscheinlich sogar chemische Waffen eingesetzt habe, müsste auch fordern, dass die USA Saudiarabien bombardieren. Dort wird nicht nur – neben der schiitischen Minderheit – mit den Frauen die halbe Bevölkerung unterdrückt, sondern Saudis sind schon seit Jahren «die grössten Finanzierer von terroristischen Sunniten-Gruppen weltweit». Zu diesen Gruppen gehören Al Kaida und der IS.
Doch am völkerrechtlichen Grundsatz der Nicht-Einmischung in die Angelegenheiten fremder Staaten sollte nicht gerüttelt werden.
Zwar kümmern sich Grossmächte, wie gesagt, selten um die Respektierung des Völkerrechts, wenn es um ihre geopolitischen Interessen geht. Trotzdem müssen Öffentlichkeit und kleinere Staaten immer wieder auf die Respektierung des Völkerrechts pochen – ob es sich um die Ukraine, um Syrien oder andere Konfliktherde handelt – von Urs P. Gasche
http://www.infosperber.ch/Artikel/Medien/Jemen-Wo-bleiben-Schlagzeilen-uber-saudische-Angriffe
Kommentar: Auf den Punkt gebracht!
Humanitäre Lage / Humanitarian Situation
10.2015 – WHO
Health system in Yemen close to collapse
Yemen is facing a growing humanitarian catastrophe as health workers there risk their lives to help civilians caught up in the deadly conflict – by Dale Gavlak
Siehe schon unter Neue Artikel 34, auch unter dem Link:
http://www.who.int/bulletin/volumes/93/10/15-021015/en/ …
16.10.2015 – Reuters
Half a million Yemen children face severe malnutrition: U.N.
Stephanie NebehayMore than half a million children in Yemen face life-threatening malnutrition as a risk of famine grows, a senior official of the U.N. Children's Fund (UNICEF) said on Friday.
The figure, a three-fold jump since fighting erupted in March, reflects depleted food stocks compounded by a failing health system unable to care for hungry children or vaccinate them against disease, said Afshan Khan, director of UNICEF emergency programs worldwide.
"We are facing the potential of a huge humanitarian catastrophe ... The levels of malnutrition that are being reported for children are extremely critical," Khan told Reuters, saying more data and hard evidence was needed to declare a famine.
"A nutritional survey will be done at the end of October. How close are we to a famine declaration? We see some zones that are worse than others," she said.
In addition to 537,000 children aged under five at risk of severe acute malnutrition, marked by visible wasting of their bodies, 1.3 million are moderately malnourished, according to the latest U.N. figures.
Fewer than one in five therapeutic feeding centers across Yemen are functional, Khan said. UNICEF operates 43 mobile teams that screen children for malnutrition but areas such as the al Qaeda-held eastern province of Hadramawt are inaccessible.
We are allowed small passages of goods where the papers are clear," Khan said. "We have been unable to sufficiently replenish medical supplies."
The lack of fuel imports is preventing mills from grinding grain, she said.
"Humanitarian access is getting more and more difficult ... We hope fuel imports are restored so the cold chain (for vaccines) is re-established and sufficient fuel is available for running water treatment," she said.
Of 2.7 million children targeted for vaccination against measles and polio, only 676,000 have been reached, she added – by Stephanie Nebehay
http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/10/16/us-yemen-security-children-idUSKCN0SA28W20151016
16.10.2015 – UN News Center
More than half a million children now risk 'severe malnutrition' in Yemen – UNICEF
Yemen’s spiralling crisis has caused “alarming malnutrition levels” among children because of the limited availability of and lack of access to food due to blocked or damaged delivery routes and restrictions on food and fuel imports caused by the conflict, the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) warned today.
“To address increasing malnutrition levels, aid agencies have scaled up assistance and treated 97,000 children for severe acute malnutrition in the past six months, while 65,000 children have been treated for moderate acute malnutrition,” said Farhan Haq, Deputy Spokesman for the Secretary-General, briefing press at UN Headquarters.
Despite the challenging circumstances to delivery aid, “about 3.8 million children have received food supplements, and 933,000 pregnant and lactating women benefited from supplementary feeding,” according to UNICEF.
But UNICEF estimates that 537,000 children, or one out of eight children under age five, are now at risk of severe acute malnutrition in Yemen – a threefold increase from 160,000 in March when a long and complex political crisis in Yemen rapidly escalated into all-out conflict.
As the fighting has spread across the country, millions of civilians are suffering from the violence.
UNICEF also noted that “almost 1.3 million children under five are moderately malnourished compared with 690,000 children prior to the crisis.”
“Yemen’s alarming malnutrition levels are aggravated by the limited availability of, and lack of access to food, due to blocked or damaged delivery routes and restrictions on food and fuel imports,” UNICEF said, adding that fuel and water prices have surged and availability remains erratic.
Yemen is the worst country for civilian deaths and injuries from explosive weapon use in the first seven months of 2015, according to a recent UN humanitarian report produced by the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) and the charity Action on Armed Violence (AOAV).
http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=52287#.ViJaWitpn3E
15.10.2015 – Reliefweb
Yemen Humanitarian Bulletin Issue 4 | Issued on 15 October 2015
Nutrition surveys reveal global acute malnutrition above the emergency threshold.
Health facilities destroyed and damaged.
Intensified conflict displaces nearly 2.3 million people.
Malnutrition in children rises P.1
Damage to health facilities continues P.2
Conflict displaces more people P.3
Aid continues, but more is needed P.4
http://reliefweb.int/report/yemen/yemen-humanitarian-bulletin-issue-4-issued-15-october-2015 and full report http://reliefweb.int/sites/reliefweb.int/files/resources/Yemen%20Humanitarian%20Bulletin-%2015%20October%202015.pdf
15.10.2015 – Ärzte ohne Grenzen
Yemen: Reports from the Conflict
The conflict in Yemen continues, with the country divided between the Houthi movement, supported by former president Saleh, and an anti-Houthi coalition of mainly Gulf states led by Saudi Arabia. Yemen's President Hadi of the transitional government fled to Saudi Arabia in March.
Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) is working to provide medical care in Aden, Al-Dhale’, Taiz, Sa’ada, Amran, Hajja, Ibb, and Sana’a. While the political struggle unfolds, civilians are caught in the crossfire. MSF is responding to the needs of civilians affected by violence, but it remains extremely difficult to move within the country to evaluate needs and provide assistance, due to the fighting and the airstrikes.
Here, several MSF staff in Yemen describe what they are seeing and the difficulties they face.
Natalie Roberts, emergency coordinator in Yemen, explains how MSF is supporting health facilities in the North of the country.
Roberts talks about the lack of medical supplies and health staff in northern Yemen.
Roberts describes her role as emergency coordinator in Yemen.
Roberts describes being in the middle of a war zone.
Franck Esne, an MSF logistician in Yemen, talks about how MSF gets medical supplies into the country.
MSF emergency doctor Cedric Dassas describes MSF's mass casualty plan training program in Sana'a.
Bernard Leménager, an MSF surgeon, compares today's Aden with the city he knew a year ago.
Dr. Leménager talks about how many people in Yemen have been left with physical handicaps.
Dr. Leménager describes how the MSF hospital handles a large patient flow.
Dr. Leménager compares the number of available hospital beds and treatment capacities with those of one year ago.
Dr. Leménager talks about the many victims of landmines in Aden now.
Anja Gao, MSF pediatrician, says there is a common, often fatal, cycle of poor living conditions, diarrhea, and malnutrition amongst children in Yemen.
Dr. Gao says that because of the war, children often come to the hospital at very advanced stages of illness.
Dr. Gao says that security conditions make it very difficult to refer patients for the care they need.
Anne-Marie Pegg, MSF doctor and project coordinator, talks about the medical activities in MSF hospital, including non-violence-related trauma victims.
Dr. Pegg describes medical activities in MSF's hospital in Yemen in early September.
Natalie Roberts, MSF emergency coordinator in Yemen, describes how health posts, schools, and markets are being bombed.
Roberts says airstrikes are also targeting roads, bridges and gas stations.
http://www.doctorswithoutborders.org/article/yemen-reports-conflict
15.10.2015 – Reliefweb
Yemen: Humanitarian Snapshot (as of 15 October 2015)
The humanitarian situation in Yemen is deteriorating rapidly. The number of internally displaced people is on the rise, the food security situation is expected to worsen, the health system is failing and more children are at risk of death if they are not treated immediately. Humanitarian organisations have scaled up life-saving and urgent humanitarian response to people affected by conflict, despite an extremely challenging operating environment
http://reliefweb.int/sites/reliefweb.int/files/resources/Yemen%20Hum.%20Snapshot_15102015.pdf
Kulturerbe / Cultural Heritage
16.10.2015 – Le Monde (Film)
La guerre ravage le patrimoine du Yémen
La guerre ravage le patrimoine yéménite. Plus de trente sites historiques ont été en partie détruits ou réduits en poussière.
Al-Qaida dans la péninsule Arabique et les milices houthistes sont à l’origine de ces ravages
Kriegsereignisse / Theatre of War
17.10.2015 – Dunya News
30 Yemen loyalists 'mistakenly killed' in coalition air raidAt least 30 Yemeni pro-government fighters were killed in a Saudi-led coalition air strike that "mistakenly" hit one of their positions in southern Yemen on Saturday, medics and witnesses said.
Another 40 people were wounded in the strike on Waziya, an area between Taez and Lahj provinces where rival forces have been fighting since late September, the sources said.
http://www.newsunited.com/30-yemen-loyalists-mistakenly-news/19204704/
17.10.2015 – AP
Saudi Airstrikes Mistakenly Kill 20 Troops in Southern Yemen
Airstrikes from the Saudi-led coalition targeting Yemen's Shiite Houthi rebels mistakenly struck a pro-government military encampment, killing at least 20 fighters and wounding another 20 in the latest instance of friendly fire in the anti-rebel camp, security officials said Saturday.
The fighters had just wrestled the encampment from the Houthis in the southern Taiz province when airstrikes hit them, pro-government security officials said.
"They thought the Houthis were still there," one pro-government security official told The Associated Press.
Ground commanders have repeatedly complained of slow communication with military leadership in Riyadh, the officials added.
Also Saturday, Saudi airstrikes killed 13 Houthis in the massive desert province of Jawf, neutral security officials there said. The strikes are part of a plan to seize the northern province in order to advance on the Houthi heartland of Sadaa, pro-government officials said – by Ahmed Al-Haj
17.10.2015 – Islam14
A Family of 10 Killed in Saudi Airstrike to Yemen
The incident occurred in Moze’e district in Ta’izz on Saturday.
Saudi aircraft also hit Jabal al-Naqam neighborhood of the capital on Friday, killing five people, including two women and a child.
Additionally, Saudi jets pounded the residence of a cleric identified as Sheikh Yahya al-Raei in the Jahran district of the central-western Yemeni province of Dhamar, leaving his two sons and a relative dead. A number of people were also wounded in the aerial attack.
Saudi fighter jets bombarded a market in Haydan district of Sa’ada Province, killing one civilian and injuring 10 others. The death toll is expected to rise as some of the injured are in critical condition.
Also on Friday, Saudi warplanes bombarded Mukayras district in the central Yemeni province of al-Bayda. No reports about possible casualties were immediately available.
Meanwhile, two civilians lost their lives and six others sustained injuries as Saudi fighter jets struck a mosque in the Attyal district of Sana’a Province.
http://www.islam14.com/english/?p=17479
17.10.2015 – Alalam
Eight Children and Women killed in Saudi Airstrike in Yemen
In Saudi fighter gets airstrike targeting civilian areas in Al-Jumat region and Al-Fariq village located in Haydan directorate of Saada Province, Eight Children and Women killed, Al-Alam correspondent in Yemen reports.
http://en.alalam.ir/news/1750181
17.10.2015 – Muhitel Yemen
Arab coalition forces in Yemen have managed to deliver the first shipment of sophisticated arms resistance fighters in Taiz who are battling Iran-backed Al Houthi militants, the leader of the Taiz resistance told Gulf News on Saturday.
Hamoud Al Mikhlafi, said his fighters received modern medium and heavy military equipment aimed at helping them break a brutal Al Houthi-imposed blockade on the city.
"The arms will help us change the course of the war against Al Houthis," Al Mikhlafi said.
Taiz, is the third most important city in Yemen after the capital Sana'a and the southern port city of Aden.
It has come under heavy bombardment by Al Houthi militants backed by forces loyal to ex-president Ali Abdullah Saleh, since the Saudi-led Arab coalition launched its offensive in March to liberate Yemen from Al Houthi militant rule and restore the legitimate president Abd Rabbo Mansour Al Hadi to power. Al Mikhlafi said his forces are in control of more than 95 per cent of the city but the militants have control over the entrances.
http://muhitelyemen.net/en/local/news/2049.html
17.10.2015 – AP
Yemen officials say rebels trading fire with coalition ships
Yemeni military officials close to the country's Shiite Houthi rebels said Thursday that the rebels are trading fire with warships from the Saudi-led military coalition near the Bab al-Mandab straight, the strategic southern entrance to the Red Sea and the gateway to the Suez Canal.
The development comes amid land clashes Thursday near the straight between units loyal to President Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi and rebel forces.
The Houthis have been in control of the strategic area for several months and still control the vast majority of the area near Bab al-Mandab, according to the officials – by Ali Al Haj
17.10.2015 – Saudi Gazette
Saudi-led coalition destroys armed trucks near Yemen border
The Saudi-led coalition destroyed a mobile platform to launch Scud missiles in the capital Sanaa and trucks loaded with arms and ammunitions near the Saudi border, Al Arabiya News Channel reported Saturday.
Raids were also launched on Sanaa, and other provinces such as Saada and al-Hudayda including two military camps.
In the Red Sea port city of Taiz, resistance sources said dozens of the Iran-backed Houthi militias were wounded in confrontation in a number of neighborhoods. Civilians were also killed after random shelling by the insurgents.
In Friday, Eight people were wounded after a missile launched from Yemen hit their house in Samtah Governorate.
The Jazan Civil Defense spokesman Capt. Raed Al-Qahtani said the missile injured eight people, including a woman.
The Saudi Air Force scrambled to locate the source of the missile and targeted the launch site. Investigations showed Houthi rebels are forcing young boys to launch missile across the border.
http://saudigazette.com.sa/saudi-arabia/saudi-led-coalition-destroys-armed-trucks-near-yemen-border/
17.10.2015 – IRNA (Iranische Nachrichtenagentur)
Yemen controls 70km borderline with S. ArabiaAnsarullah Spokesman Mohammed Abdulsalam said on Saturday the Yemeni Popular Resistance forces has seized control of 70 km of joint borderline in the southwestern province of Jizan, Saudi Arabia.
Speaking to Hadaremnet News Website, Abdulsalam stressed that infiltrating Saudi Arabian ground is a political decision not a military one.
Touching upon possible resumption of peace negotiations between the the Yemenis, he reiterated that such internal talks have not stopped.
'Muscat negotiations are going on in Oman under supervision of the Omani monarch, and these talks will probably continue in Geneva next month under supervision of United Nations,' he added.
Yemeni forces have reportedly killed a number of individuals, including troopers cooperating with Saudi Arabia in its military aggression against Yemen, Saba Net news agency reported on Friday.
The fatalities were caused during rocket attacks by the Yemeni army forces and allied Popular Committees against the Sahn al-Jin military base located in the oil-rich province of Ma’rib in west-central Yemen late on Thursday. The attacks also killed an unspecified number of loyalists to Yemen’s fugitive former President Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi.
http://www.irna.ir/en/News/81802272/
Kommentar: Ansarullah = Huthis; Yemen, Popular resistance und Yemeni forces: Hier ebenfalls Huthis und Verbündete
17.10.2015 – The National UAE
Coalition air strikes kill more than 20 Houthis in Yemen
Air strikes by the Saudi-led coalition killed more than 20 Houthi rebels on Friday as pro-government forces battled for key provinces in the campaign to retake Yemen’s capital.
Nine rebel fighters were killed in air strikes on the Red Sea port of Mokha in Taez province as part of a fresh attempt to cut rebel supply lines to the heavily contested provincial capital.
Taez city is held by forces loyal to the internationally recognised government of Abdrabu Mansur Hadi, but is besieged by the rebels. Securing Taez would allow pro-government forces to push north towards the rebel-held capital, Sanaa.
Ground fighting in Taez on Friday killed at least three civilians and 34 fighters from the two sides, security officials said. Earlier in the day, Saudi airstrikes killed 12 Houthis in the vast desert province of Jawf, paving the way for pro-government ground troops. The move was part of a plan to seize the northern province and advance on neighboring Sadaa province – the Houthi heartland.
http://www.thenational.ae/world/middle-east/coalition-air-strikes-kill-more-than-20-houthis-in-yemen
Kommentar: Hier haben wir also Erfolgsmeldungen von beiden Seiten.
16.10.2015 – Antiwar
Saudi Airstrikes Kill 21 Houthis, Three Civilians Across Yemen
Saudi airstrikes were reported at multiple sites across Yemen, with at least 21 Houthis killed between the Jawf Province and the southwestern port town of Mocha, in Taiz Province. Three civilians were also reported killed in the Taiz offensive.
Officials also reported 34 fighters from both sides killed in fighting unrelated to the airstrikes in Taiz, though so far no one has offered any indication on the split between Houthis and pro-Saudi fighters in this conflict, nor similarly any indication of territory changing hands in Taiz – by Jason Ditz
http://news.antiwar.com/2015/10/16/saudi-airstrikes-kill-21-houthis-three-civilians-across-yemen/
16.10.2015 – Critical Threat
2015 Yemen Crisis Situation Report: October 16
Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) is increasingly embedding itself alongside anti-al Houthi militias in central Yemen, expanding its areas of operation and strengthening its relations with Yemeni populations. The protraction of the conflict in Yemen will continue to create opportunities for AQAP to grow.
The Saudi-led coalition and its Yemeni allies deflected an opportunity to seek a politically negotiated settlement, which may be intended to better the coalition's ground positions in advance of negotiations.
The al Houthis stepped up aggression against Saudi Arabia following Hadi’s dismissal of the peace plan. Al Houthi leader Abdul Malik al Houthi called for population-wide mobilization against the “invaders” in an unprecedentedly bellicose statement against the coalition. Al Houthi forces fired at least one Scud ballistic missile from Sana’a, prompting the Saudi-led coalition to set up Patriot missile defense systems in Ma’rib and Aden governorates.
Anti-al Houthi forces, backed by the coalition, are fighting for control of Taiz governorate as part of a push toward Sana’a, the al Houthi-controlled Yemeni capital.The al Houthis continued to besiege Taiz city, Yemen's third-largest city, and pro-al Houthi militias clashed with popular resistance forces near the Taiz-Lahij border for control of the road from Taiz to Aden. Anti-al Houthi forces backed by the coalition took control of the coastal Dhubab region and advanced north toward Mokha. The coalition intensified airstrikes in neighboring al Hudaydah governorate, which contains critical supply routes for the al Houthi-held capital of Sana’a.
AQAP is managing popular opposition to its presence in al Mukalla, Hadramawt while extending influence into contested Yemeni cities. AQAP deployed additional militants to al Mukalla in response to popular demonstrations against the group’s presence in the eastern Yemeni port city, which has been under AQAP control since April. Suspected AQAP militants also attacked a Yemeni military base approximately 200km north of al Mukalla. AQAP continues to operate in central and southern Yemen without significant resistance. An AQAP unit is fighting alongside popular resistance forces in Taiz city, where AQAP reportedly controls taxation and security infrastructure in the Suq al Samil district, according to reports. On October 14, AQAP militants seized a government complex in Zinjibar, a port city near Aden in southern Yemen that AQAP controlled throughout 2011 and into 2012..
The United Arab Emirates is providing the only active counterterrorism force on the ground in Yemen. Emirati counterterrorism units arrived in Aden in the wake of an October 6 attack on government and coalition targets claimed by the Islamic State of Iraq and al Sham (ISIS) Wilayat Aden-Abyan. The UAE also moved troops and military equipment into Hadramawt governorate, but it remains unclear whether Emirati forces plan to target the AQAP stronghold in al Mukalla, Hadramawt.
http://www.criticalthreats.org/yemen/yemen-crisis-situation-reports-october-16-2015
16.10.2015 – NZZ
Huthi-Rebellen in Jemen: Regierungstruppen aus Bajda gedrängt
Nach zwei Monaten heftiger Kämpfe haben die schiitischen Huthi-Rebellen in Jemen regierungstreue Truppen aus der südlichen Provinz Bajda getrieben. Die Aufständischen eroberten am Freitag einen wichtigen Militärstützpunkt in der Stadt Mukajris zurück, wie Sicherheits- und Gesundheitsbeamte mitteilten. Die regierungstreuen Verbände seien in die weiter südlich gelegene Provinz Abjan abgedrängt worden.
16.10.2015 – US News from AP
Yemen officials say rebels have pushed pro-government troops out of southern Bayda province
Yemen's Shiite Houthi rebels have driven pro-government troops out of the southern Bayda province on Friday, after two months of heavy clashes that killed 550 fighters from the two sides, security and medical officials said.
The Houthis recaptured a key military base in the town of Mukayris and pushed pro-government troops back to Abyan province further south, the officials added. Of the 300 pro-government fighters killed, 30 were mistakenly targeted by airstrikes from the Saudi-led coalition backing the government, they said.
Also Friday, Saudi airstrikes killed nine rebel fighters in the Red Sea port of Mocha, part of a renewed attempt to cut rebel supply lines to heavily contested Taiz, security officials said.
The country's third-largest city is in government hands, but is besieged by the rebels. Securing Taiz would allow pro-government forces to push north toward the rebel-held capital, Sanaa.
Earlier in the day, Saudi airstrikes killed 12 Houthis in the massive desert province of Jawf, paving the way for pro-government ground troops. The move is part of a plan to seize the northern province in order to advance on neighboring Sadaa province — the Houthi heartland.
16.10.2015 – Press TV Iran
Yemen's Ansarullah Houthi forces have managed to drive Saudi troops and remnants of the former regime out of the southern province of Bayda, following nearly two months of heavy clashes in the region.
The victory came on Friday as Ansarullah fighters retook a military base in the town of Mukayris, located in the southern parts of the province, and pushed the troops loyal to the former Yemeni regime back to Abyan province, further in south, the Associated Press reported.
Some 300 pro-former-regime forces were killed in the clashes, 30 of whom were slain mistakenly by Saudi airborne attacks.
During the past two months, some 550 forces from two warring sides were reportedly killed in the province.
On Thursday, Yemeni forces backed by allied popular committees targeted Sahn al-Jin military base located in the oil-rich province of Ma’rib in west-central Yemen by rockets and killed several Saudi troopers. They also managed to shoot down a Saudi warplane in the northern province of Sada'a.
http://www.presstv.ir/Detail/2015/10/16/433726/Yemen-Saudi-Arabia-UNICEF-Bayda-Abyan-Ansarullah
Dazu siehe http://khabaragency.net/lasten39144.asp: Yemen: Heavy Saudi-led airstrikes on Al-Baidha after pro-Hadi troops were pushed out of the province
16.10.2015 – Press TV Iran
An airstrike by Saudi Arabia kills a family of ten in Yemen’s Ta’izz Province, local reports say.
The incident occurred in Moze’e district in Ta’izz on Saturday.
Saudi aircraft also hit Jabal al-Naqam neighborhood of the capital on Friday, killing five people, including two women and a child.
Additionally, Saudi jets pounded the residence of a cleric identified as Sheikh Yahya al-Raei in the Jahran district of the central-western Yemeni province of Dhamar, leaving his two sons and a relative dead. A number of people were also wounded in the aerial attack.
Saudi fighter jets bombarded a market in Haydan district of Sa’ada Province, killing one civilian and injuring 10 others. The death toll is expected to rise as some of the injured are in critical condition.
Also on Friday, Saudi warplanes bombarded Mukayras district in the central Yemeni province of al-Bayda. No reports about possible casualties were immediately available.
Meanwhile, two civilians lost their lives and six others sustained injuries as Saudi fighter jets struck a mosque in the Attyal district of Sana’a Province.
16.10.2015 – The Independent
Yemen wedding bombing: 15-year-old survivor tells of devastation wreaked on family party
A Saudi-led air strike on a wedding in Yemen earlier this month killed scores of guests and wounded 54 others, including women, children – and a 15-year-old boy who dreams of being an astronaut. Survivors speak to Mary Ghallab
It should have been a day of happy family celebration for 15-year-old Abdullah Qais Sanabani, a Yemeni schoolboy previously best known by his schoolmates for having once won a trip to Nasa’s US headquarters.
His three uncles, dressed in smart blue jackets over traditional white robes and wearing colourful turbans, were holding a joint wedding ceremony and party. Their three brides, all from nearby villages, had just arrived in a convoy of 30 cars, beeping horns and playing loud music in celebration, when a power generator failure prompted Abdullah to leave the house with one of his uncles to see what was wrong.
Moments later, at 9.30pm, the deafening roar of warplanes filled the air and missiles rained down from the sky on to the two-storey wedding house built on the top of a hill in the small town of Sanabani, 60 miles south of the capital Sanaa.
“We heard the terrifying sound of the jets,” Abdullah recalled in a weak voice. “My uncle pushed me behind a water tank. Missiles fell on us and exploded, and when I looked around, I found all those who were around me dead. My uncle’s body was torn into pieces. He hadn’t got married yet.”
Abdullah spoke to The Independentby telephone from bed in a Jordanian hospital, where he was flown for emergency treatment after the attack.
According to witnesses, at least 57 of the wedding party – mostly members of the extended families of the brides and the grooms – were killed and dozens others injured in the attack earlier this month. Bed-ridden and still swathed in bandages, Abdullah suffered first-degree burns in the face and body and said he was afraid that doctors might amputate his hands. “I am in pain all the time. My whole body has been scorched,” he said.
Abdullah’s father, Qais Sanabani, said most of the dead in his family’s wedding party had been women because, according to Yemeni traditions, men must leave the house when the brides first arrive. As well as Abdullah’s uncle, one of the brides and 10 other immediate family members perished, including his grandparents. A health ministry official in Dhamar, Mohammed Gamah, said the final death toll had risen to 66 – 33 women, 18 men and 15 children – and 54 others injured.
“He was so happy to go to Nasa and for him, this was a turning point,” Mr Sanabani said. In school, he added, his son excelled in scientific applications, making models to show how to generate solar energy. Mr Sanabani said that his son always dreamt of becoming an astronaut. From his hospital bed, Abdullah summed up his ambitions. “I wanted to do something that benefits human kind. So when I die, people remember me,” he said.
16.10.2015 – Al Araby
Saudi-led coalition readies northern Yemen offensive against Houthis
The Saudi-led coalition and pro-government forces are preparing an offensive against the Houthis in the northern Yemeni province of Jawf, sources revealed on Friday.
The Popular Resistance Committees have built military training camps to recruit and train tribesmen in preparation for the assault, sources in the committees told al-Araby al-Jadeed's Arabic website.
Jawf, the largest province in north Yemen, borders both Saudi Arabia and the Houthi movement’s stronghold in Saada province.
“Coalition forces and army units loyal to the government in Marib province are deploying on the border of Jawf province in preparation for the battle to liberate it, and the coalition has recently stepped up its airstrikes against Houthi positions and military bases,” high-ranking sources told al-Araby.
The campaign in Jawf province is expected to be over quickly because of the province’s semi-desert geography and its relatively low population of only half a million. Elements of its population have historically been inclined toward the Houthi movement.
In 2011, hundreds of Houthi supporters were killed as they attempted to expand into Jawf, taking advantage of the growing chaos in Yemen during the Arab Spring. In 2014, the Houthis returned to Jawf, fighting a pitched battle with local tribal forces and the army garrison.
The ceasefire that ended the 2014 Houthi move into Jawf ended when the Saudi-led coalition intervened in Yemen.
The coalition’s efforts to open a front in Jawf ended in failure when the Houthis took control of the province’s capital, the city of Hazm, in June this year.
Südjemen / Southern Yemen
15.10.2015 – Middle East Eye
Rising tensions between Yemen's Southern Movement and UAE forces
The Yemeni government's withdrawal from Aden follows Southern Movement demands that Aden be the capital of the South and rising attacks
The Yemeni government's decision to leave Aden and return to Riyadh suddenly on Sunday follows attacks on government buildings and rising tensions between the Arab coalition forces who helped seize back the city from the Houthi rebels, and the southern separatist movement.
The Yemeni government announced that its ministers had left Aden for Riyadh on Sunday evening because of the lack of adequate buildings for ministers to work in.
However, some analysts say that the government left the country because of the disputes in Aden, which have seen deadly attacks on government buildings and on the Red Crescent in recent days.
When coalition forces entered the city, headed by Emirati forces, there was no opposition, and after driving the Houthis out of Aden, the UAE started to prepare the city as the temporary capital of Yemen and to host the government. The Emirates took on the responsibility of rebuilding the city and - with the help of the Resistance - controlling public institutions in Aden.
However, the Southern Movement was unhappy about the setting up of the government in Aden, and advocated the separation of Yemen with Aden as the capital of the newly restored South Yemen.
The leaders of the Southern Movement were grateful to the Emiratis for helping them to liberate Aden, but they have stressed that the Emirates and the coalition forces could not decide if Aden was to be the capital of the whole of Yemen.
Brigadier Nagi al-Arabi, the head of the national authority for liberating the south, told Middle East Eye: "We appreciate the role of the coalition forces in general and the Emirates in particular, but we tell them that no one can decide the destiny of the population of the south, only the southern people can decide their destiny of the south. Today thousands of people came to Al-Arodh Square to tell the world that they are supporting the separation and want to regain their country," he added. Participants in the anniversary of 14 October started arriving in Aden on Sunday, coming from several southern provinces, including Al-Mahrah province, which is near Oman. All of the participants demanded the separation of the south. "We are grateful for the Emirati forces as they trained the Resistance [forces] of the Southern Movement, and we hope that they continue in rebuilding Aden as the capital of the South, and this is the purpose of the southern people," Al-Arabi added. He also said that the Southern Resistance should control security in Aden, pointing out that the main security of Aden should be in the hands of the Resistance who are more capable than any security force.
Al-Arabi added: "We hope that the Emirates will work in training the Resistance and rebuilding Aden, and leave the security side to the Resistance," stating that they do not like to see the Emirates forces receive the Yemeni government in Aden, and promising that Aden will be the temporary capital of Yemen.
Al-Arabi added that there was no dispute between the Southern Movement and the Emirates forces, stressing that they want the Emiratis to rehabilitate Aden as the capital of the south and not the capital of Yemen.
The deputy of the preparatory committee for the 14 October anniversary, Jamal Mutlaq, told MEE: "Thousands of people have been killed in the south demanding separation since 2007, and we promised the martyrs that we will continue their revolution, so we cannot say that we will abandon our revolution because of our opponents. We do not care about those opponents [and the coalition forces who also oppose the separation]."
After the last war in Aden, residents expressed increasing opposition to unification and Yemeni flags were replaced with separatist flags.
According to al-Arabi, after the attacks that targeted the Yemeni government and the Emirates Red Crescent in Aden last week, there has been a growing sense of insecurity in Aden as the Yemeni government felt that Aden is not a safe place for it to be situated.
He questioned the claims that Islamic State had carried out attacks on government buildings and Emirati forces. "There are not members of the Islamic State to attack the Yemeni government and the Emirates forces in Aden. These attacks reflect the disagreement between the Yemeni government supported by the Emirates and some groups in Aden, and this is the main reason that led the ministers to leave Aden," he added – by Nasser Al-Sakkaf
http://www.middleeasteye.net/news/dispute-between-southern-movement-and-uae-forces-1236741953
UNO
17.10.2015 – Channel News Asia
Yemen mulls UN invitation to attend peace talks
Yemen's Saudi-backed government said on Saturday it was studying an invitation from the United Nations to attend talks aimed at ending a war between a Saudi-led coalition and Houthi militiamen who control much of the country including the capital.
Yemen's Saudi-backed government said on Saturday it was studying an invitation from the United Nations to attend talks aimed at ending a war between a Saudi-led coalition and Houthi militiamen who control much of the country including the capital.
"The Yemeni government confirms that we're always ready for and committed to peace," spokesman Rajeh Badi told Reuters from the Saudi capital Riyadh.
"We value the role of the United Nations and thank its special envoy to Yemen, who has exerted great efforts toward achieving a peaceful resolution," he said, adding that his government would respond to the call within 48 hours.
There was no immediate response to the call from the Houthis, a predominantly Shi'ite group allied to Iran and backed by forces loyal to veteran former president Ali Abdullah Saleh, whose departure Saudi Arabia helped to broker.
http://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/world/yemen-mulls-un-invitation/2199928.html
15.10.2015 – Foreign Policy
U.S. Support for Saudi Strikes in Yemen Raises War Crime Concerns
Behind closed doors, the United States has sought to limit international scrutiny of rights abuses in Yemen. Last Friday, the United States blocked a proposal in a U.N. Security Council sanctions committee to have the committee’s chair, Lithuanian U.N. Ambassador Raimonda Murmokaite, approach “all relevant parties to the conflict and stress their responsibility to respect and uphold international humanitarian law and human rights law,” according to Security Council diplomats. The committee also recommended that Murmokaite ask the key players to cooperate with its investigations into potential human rights abuses in Yemen.
The initiative garnered broad support in the 15-nation council, including from America’s allies Britain and France, as well as from rivals like Russia and China, according to council diplomats. The U.S. mission to the U.N. declined to comment on the closed-door deliberations – by Colum Lynch
Saudi-Arabien / Saudi Arabia
17.10.2015 – Tagesschau
Angeblich 1807 Tote bei Hadsch-Panik: Saudi-Arabien könnte Opferzahl geschönt haben
Saudi-Arabien hat möglicherweise die Zahl der Toten der Hadsch-Massenpanik viel zu niedrig angesetzt. Nach dpa-Recherchen wurden 1807 Menschen getötet - das wären mehr als doppelt so viele wie offiziell angegeben. Die Zahlen könnten den Streit mit Iran anheizen.
Nach Angaben der saudischen Behörden starben bei dem Unglück 769 Pilger. Doch auch in den 28 Ländern, aus denen die Opfer der Massenpanik stammen, wurden Zahlen veröffentlicht. Zum Beispiel von den jeweiligen Stellen, die sich um die Rückführung der Toten kümmerten, sowie in örtlichen Medien. Die Deutschen Presse-Agentur rechnete nach und kam dabei auf 1807 Todesopfer. Das wären mehr als doppelt so viele wie offiziell genannt.
Es steht die Vermutung im Raum, dass die saudischen Behörden die Zahlen beschönigten oder zumindest aktualisierte Informationen zurückhielten. Dabei hatte König Salman persönlich kurz nach dem Unglück angekündigt: "Eine Untersuchungskommission wird ermitteln, warum das Einbahnstraßensystem, mit dem Millionen von Pilgern zu den Heiligen Stätten geleitet werden, nicht funktioniert hat."
Einer ersten Erklärung des saudischen Gesundheitsministers Khaled Al Falah zufolge kam es zu der Massenpanik, weil zwei Pilgerströme in unterschiedliche Richtungen unterwegs waren. Undisziplinierte Pilger hätten sich nicht an die Anweisungen gehalten, so Al Falah. "Einige Pilger kommen aus einer ganz anderen Mentalität. Sie sind an das Gedränge gewöhnt. Es ist bei ihnen ganz normal. Das merkt man, wenn sie in Fahrzeugen oder Zügen einsteigen."
Während ein saudischer Prinz von "Afrikanern" sprach, beschuldigte die saudische Presse ganz konkret Iraner, die sich inmitten der Pilgermasse auf den Weg zu ihrem Hotel aufgemacht hätten. Der schiitische Iran meldete laut dpa mit 465 Toten die meisten Opfer bei der Massenpanik – von Cornelia Wegerhoff
http://www.tagesschau.de/ausland/hadsch-massenpanik-101.html
Kommentar: Es waren noch mehr. Ein Augenzeuge sah Leichen, die bi der Nummerierung Zahlen bis 2400 bekommen haben. Und als Ursachen werden von anderer Seite Exklusiv-Absperrungen für Mitglieder des Saudi-Clans vermutet.
16.10.2015 – Asia Times
Saudis desperate as they are not winning the war in Yemen
While Saudi Arabia seems to be serious about ‘co-operating’ with Russia in ‘eliminating’ Islamic State (IS) in Syria and Iraq, the real motive behind this co-operation and increased engagement with Moscow may be the continuing need to stabilize the oil market.
But had Saudi Arabia been so serious about elimination of IS and other terrorist networks, it could not have supported IS and Al-Qaeda in Yemen against Houthis, nor designed the policy of supporting proxy groups in Yemen after the catastrophic failure of this very policy in Syria. As it stands, they do not seem to have learnt any lesson from their failure there.
Reports say IS units are gaining strength in Yemen due to the financial and military support being provided by Saudi Arabia.
But had Saudi Arabia been so serious about elimination of IS and other terrorist networks, it could not have supported IS and Al-Qaeda in Yemen against Houthis, nor designed the policy of supporting proxy groups in Yemen after the catastrophic failure of this very policy in Syria. As it stands, they do not seem to have learnt any lesson from their failure there.
Reports say IS units are gaining strength in Yemen due to the financial and military support being provided by Saudi Arabia.
Historically speaking, Yemen has been a major feeder for jihadi groups, pumping fighters into Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria, Libya etc. That is to say, IS does have a pipeline of fighters that it might try to tap into. According to a Yemeni official’s statement, IS are already engaged in a propaganda against Al-Qaeda to wean their fighters away from them.
They are found telling Al-Qaeda’s recruits that they can better fund operations against Houthis than AQAP—Al-Qaeda in Arabian Peninsula. That they have “more funds” than Al-Qaeda is perhaps an indication of a “secret” financer they have in Yemen. While IS does have “oil-money” in Syria and Iraq to finance their operations, they do not have such a source in Yemen, so far.
Aimen Dean, a former al Qaeda insider who now runs a Gulf-based security consultancy, is reported to have said that IS began setting up its stranglehold in Yemen a year ago, with about 80 people. But their strength has grown to about 300 militants.
While IS’s emergence is likely to intensify into a conflict between them and AQAP, the actor standing to benefit the most from it is Saudi Arabia because AQAP and IS are, as they already have been, directing their energies towards killing the Houthis and their sympathisers in Yemen. With Saudi Arabia providing, wittingly or unwittingly, a sort of “air cover” to both AQAP and IS, these two forces are likely to intensify their drive against the Houthis.
The Saudis are, in this way, depending upon them for ground operations as Saudi forces have repeatedly failed to gain their desired objectives. As a matter of fact, Saudi forces’ operational capacity can be gauged from the fact that they had to cooperate with the militants of the so-called ‘Southern Movement’ in a successful attempt to recapture Aden which was being held by the Houthis.
In addition, a coalition of Saudi troops actually shared control of the southern Yemeni cities with militants of Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP), without ever challenging them.
The Saudis, at the moment, are facing threat not from the Houthis alone. The intensity of this threat multiplies when the local Shia factor is taken into consideration. Were Saudi Arabia’s Shia population to join the Houthis against their mutual oppressor, the Saudis might find themselves encircled from within and without. Such an alliance between the Houthis and Saudi Arabia’s local Shia population will also provide an additional impetus to IS, which thrives on its sectarian appeal, to increase its presence in Yemen and multiply its attacks too.
The Saudis are not winning the war and it is making them desperate. Marred by their inability to launch ground operations and win battles, they have reached the breaking point. In their desperation to avoid another defeat after Syria, not only are they willingly — directly and indirectly — supporting almost every group that is ready to counter the Houthis, but also drawing other countries’ armies into the war zone.
Given Saudi Arabia’s precarious internal situation and Yemen’s situation as it is escalating into a much expanded and complicated war, the Saudis and IS cannot be expected to become “allies” in the literal sense of the word. While they do share a common enemy, IS also has declared “jihad” against the kingdom itself. For instance, IS claimed responsibility of recent bombing of Qasr hotel and other targets used by the Arab coalition.
However, despite this claim, the official news agency of the UAE chose to pin responsibility on the Houthis for this bombing. And when asked about their policy against AQAP and ISIS in Yemen, officials of the Coalition said that they would deal with such groups once the government of President Abd Rabbu Mansour Hadi, who was ousted by the Houthis in January, was reinstated, thus unwittingly implying that until that Government is reinstated, the Arab coalition and these groups remain partners. Although uneasy but still “allies.” – by Salman Rafi Sheikh
http://atimes.com/2015/10/saudis-desperate-as-they-are-not-winning-the-war-in-yemen/
10.2015 – Peacebuilding
Saudi palace intrigues, Yemeni sufferings
By the end of September 2015 Saudi Arabia’s war in Yemen had lasted for six months: the Huthi militiamen and their allies in the Yemeni army were still fighting fiercely, and Sanaa was still not recaptured. The war has from its inception carried significant political risk for King Salman and his son, Muhammad bin Salman, who has been portrayed as the mastermind behind Saudi Arabia’s strategy in Yemen. Among Saudis one can now notice that the wave of euphoric nationalism that the war initially triggered is being weakened, and criticism of Riyadh’s war is brewing, especially in social media.
Far more alarming for King Salman and his son, some of the senior princes appear to be mounting a campaign to depose them. Muhammad bin Salman is particularly being criticised for his role in leading the country’s troublesome war in Yemen. King Salman and his son cannot accept anything other than Saudi-led success in the war in Yemen. The fact that the war is of existential importance for them is a powerful incentive to use disproportionate force to achieve a complete victory. This is bad news for the already suffering Yemenis. The war may result in Yemen becoming a failed state and thus a haven for terrorist organisations, with serious consequences for the security of Saudi Arabia – by Stig Stenslie
13.10.2015 – Dollarvigilante
The Campaign to Undermine Saudi Arabia and the US Dollar
The news-flow about Saudi atrocities is quite remarkable. Someone, it could be speculated, is working overtime to make sure that we know Saudi Arabia is a backward and barbaric country. Most recently, we have reports that citizens who spread negativity about the government on social media face the death penalty. It sounds bizarre, of course – but then so do crucifixions.
Is the Saud family fighting for its collective life? At this point it could be that many in the Saud family don’t believe they have much left to lose.
It is not reported on very much, but Saudi Arabia is gradually being cut adrift by the Anglosphere that created it in the first place.
The banking cabal that runs the West is determined to create a global currency – and sooner rather than later.
The Saud family propped up the US petrodollar all these years by demanding payment in dollars for its oil. This forced other producers to do the same.
Now it seems there are forces in the West that have decided the best way to destabilize the petrodollar is to destabilize Saudi Arabia.
The Saud family has always carried the water of the Anglo-American establishment. In turn, that establishment made the family rich beyond the dreams of avarice. But by playing with the evil empire you live by the sword and die by the sword. The West has a rich history of making friends with brutal rulers when it suits their agenda and then dispatching them at a later date.
But the Anglosphere is unforgiving when it comes to achieving its goals. And now it wishes to destabilize and reduce the power of the dollar as well as cause as much chaos in the Middle East as possible as an excuse for why the dollar and US markets collapse.
And suddenly the Saud family, used to presiding over an oil empire worth trillions, feels the ground shake and shift. The old regime faces an uncertain future.
It cultivated Wahhabism to radicalize the Middle East – at the behest of the Anglosphere that wanted to plant the seeds of a wider, religious war.
It demanded of all purchasers that they buy oil with dollars. But now their patrons are trying to sever the dollar-oil link and the Saud family is standing in the way – by Jeff Berwick
Kommentar: Interessant, auch wenn man nicht allem zustimmen muss.
Vereinigte Arabische Emirate / United Arab Emirates
15.10.2015 – Reliefweb
UAE’S Relief assistance to 399,000 people in Yemen since liberation of Aden
mirates Red Crescent continues to work hard to respond to the pressing humanitarian needs in Yemen, providing food and relief materials to 57,000 households or approximately 399,000 people since Aden was liberated, a senior official said on Wednesday.
"While continuing to assist in immediate relief, we are working for long-term responses, including school rebuilding, maintenance of health facilities, livelihood rehabilitation and longer-term food assistance,” said Dr Mohammad Atiq Al Falahi, secretary-general of Emirates Red Crescent.
Dr Al Falahi said food and relief parcels are being distributed to 4,330 Yemini households on a daily basis. "Food and relief materials have been distributed to as many as 399,000 Yemenis since Aden was liberated,” he said.
He said nine ships loaded with 18,322 tonnes of aid were sent to Aden Port as well as 50 trucks as part of its massive relief programme to assist Yemenis in Aden and other neighbouring governorates affected by the unfortunate events taking place there.
"The assistance is part of the UAE's humanitarian efforts to help alleviate the suffering of the brotherly people of Yemen,” he said.
The UAE's largest aid agency has scaled up its relief operations in Yemen in implementation of the directives of President His Highness Shaikh Khalifa Bin Zayed Al Nahyan and the orders of His Highness Shaikh Mohammad Bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi and Deputy Supreme Commander of the UAE Armed Forces, and follow-up by Shaikh Hamdan Bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Ruler's Representative in the Western Region and chairman of the ERC, to alleviate the suffering of Yemeni people and improve their living conditions.
Dr Al Falahi said it 170 ERC officials and volunteers were working diligently on all humanitarian fronts to secure the basic needs of the Yemeni people.
The UAE has become the world's largest aid donor to Yemen in 2015, providing humanitarian aid worth Dh744 million ($202 million) between April and July — almost half of the aid pledged by other countries.
Dr Al Falahi said ERC's reconstruction and relief efforts will not be limited to Aden "as we will move on to all other Yemeni provinces as the security situation improves”.
Emirates Red Crescent launched a major television fund-raising campaign in early September with the slogan ‘Yemen, We Care', with the aim of coming to the aid of 10 million Yemenis.
The ERC has also allocated Dh50 million to water projects in the country, provided generators and started rebuilding and repairing 154 schools.
Dr Al Falahi said more than 50 schools in Aden have so far been revamped, equipped and furnished, with work being carried out on more than 100 others. "Ten schools are being revamped and fully equipped on a weekly basis and Emirates Red Crescent has allocated Dh81.3 million for rebuilding of schools in Yemen.”
Maintenance of health facilities, water and electricity works as well as sanitation and parks continues to be undertaken.
"Hospitals and clinics in Yemen are being rehabilitated and fully equipped at a total cost of Dh48.5 million. Some Dh9 million has also been allocated for medicines and medical supplies,” Dr Al Falahi said.
Dr Al Falahi said Dh220 million has been allocated for power generating projects in Aden and 90 per cent of these projects are now operational. "Emirates Red Crescent will also rehabilitate the sanitary drainage network in Aden at a total cost of Dh5.7 million and Dh4.5 million was allocated for waste management,” he said.
In August, the UN's humanitarian chief Stephen O'Brien praised Emirates Red Crescent for its humanitarian efforts in Yemen calling the organisation one of the UN's most important humanitarian partners in the region.
http://reliefweb.int/report/yemen/uae-s-relief-assistance-399000-people-yemen-liberation-aden
USA
16.10.2015 – Der Freitag
Operation Öffentlichkeit
Brendon Bryant hat enthüllt, dass Deutschland für den tödlichen Drohnenkrieg der USA eine wichtige Basis ist
Wo sich andere Drohnen-Piloten nach Dienstende schweigend zurückziehen, hat Bryant seine Stimme erhoben. Seit 2012 kritisiert er den US-Drohnenkrieg öffentlich. In zahlreichen Interviews machte er bekannt, dass bei dieser Kriegsführung der Tod von Zivilisten immer wieder bewusst in Kauf genommen werde. Die psychische Belastung der Drohnen-Mannschaften ist enorm.
Die US-Air-Base Ramstein in Rheinland-Pfalz spielt als Relaisstation und Air and Space Operations Center eine zentrale Rolle: 650 US-Soldaten sind dort für die Bildauswertung und Zielfindung tätig. Bryant machte bekannt, wie von deutschen Geheimdiensten an US-Stellen weitergegebene Mobiltelefon-Daten zur Ortung von Drohnen-Angriffszielen verwendet werden. Die dadurch erfolgten gezielten Tötungen sind laut Friedensaktivisten völkerrechtswidrig – und die Bundesregierung wisse darüber Bescheid – von Michael Schulze
https://www.freitag.de/autoren/michael-schulze-von-glasser/operation-oeffentlichkeit
16.10.2015 – NTV nach dpa
Geheimpapiere demaskieren Drohnenkrieg
Der Einsatz von Drohnen für sogenannte "gezielte Tötungen" bringt den USA schon seit Jahren Kritik ein. Jetzt zeigen Papiere, die ein Whistleblower öffentlich macht, wie der Tod per Knopfdruck genau organisiert ist.
Unter den veröffentlichten Dokumenten befindet sich eine Seite, die beschreibt, wie die Befehlskette bei Drohnenangriffen im Jemen und Somalia aufgebaut ist. Im Fall eines konkreten Beispiels im Jemen Anfang 2012 begann der Prozess mit der Zielauswahl durch das JSOC-Kommando. Über verschiedene Generäle und den damaligen Verteidigungsminister Leon Panetta kam der Vorschlag zu einem beratenden Ausschuss - damit auch zur damaligen Außenministerin Hillary Clinton. Die letzte Entscheidung lag bei US-Präsident Obama. Für einen Entschluss benötigte er den Enthüllungen zufolge im Schnitt 58 Tage. Bei seiner Zustimmung hatte JSOC dann 60 Tage Zeit, um die Operation durchzuführen.
Die genauen Kriterien, nach denen jemand auf die Liste möglicher Drohnenziele kommt, sind bis heute nicht öffentlich definiert. Für die Obama-Regierung musste anfangs ein Ziel, neben der Zugehörigkeit zu Al-Kaida oder ähnlichen Terrorgruppen, auch eine signifikante Bedrohung für die USA darstellen. Später konkretisierte Obama die Auswahl dann auf Personen, die eine "anhaltende, zeitnahe Bedrohung für das amerikanische Volk" bedeuten und die nicht gefangen werden könnten. Ein Anschlag würde nur ausgeführt, wenn mit "Beinahe-Sicherheit" keine Zivilisten verletzt oder getötet werden.
Wegen der parallelen Attacken von CIA und Militär tobt zwischen dem Geheimdienst und dem Pentagon ein Revierkampf hinter den Kulissen.
Die oft als effizient gelobten ferngesteuerten Angriffe erweisen sich nicht selten als fehlerhaft, weshalb neben mutmaßlichen Terroristen immer wieder Zivilisten sterben. Wegen der schwachen US-Präsenz im Jemen und in Somalia verlässt sich das Militär dort auf Signale von Handys und Computern, doch selbst eine Vollzeit-Überwachung aus der Luft ist wegen der großen Strecke zum US-Stützpunkt in Dschibuti unmöglich. Daher verlässt sich das Militär häufig auf Angaben anderer Länder - ein riskantes Unterfangen. Mangels Personal am Boden kann der Besitz von Getöteten - etwa Handy, Computer oder Dokumente - nach einem Angriff nicht ausgewertet werden, um weitere Ziele auszumachen. In einer Studie ist von "entscheidenden Defiziten" die Rede.
http://www.n-tv.de/politik/Geheimpapiere-demaskieren-Drohnenkrieg-article16149766.html siehe auch http://www.spiegel.de/politik/ausland/drohnenkrieg-whistleblower-veroeffentlicht-geheime-dokumente-a-1058043.html und http://www.watson.ch/International/USA/322247522-US-Milit%C3%A4r--Whistleblower-enth%C3%BCllt-Ausmass-des-Drohnenkriegs?utm_source=rss
15.10.2015 – Frankfurter Neue Presse
Ex-Drohnen-Pilot im NSA-Ausschuss
Er ist ein wichtiger Zeuge: Im NSA-Untersuchungsausschuss beantwortet ein ehemaliger Drohnen-Pilot viele Fragen zum US-Drohnen-Krieg. Für den soll auch Deutschland wichtig sein
Im weltweiten Drohnenkrieg des US-Militärs hat der in Deutschland gelegene Luftwaffenstützpunkt Ramstein einem ehemaligen Drohnen-Piloten zufolge eine zentrale Rolle.
„Soweit ich weiß, ist Ramstein immer involviert”, sagte der ehemalige Drohnen-Pilot Brandon Bryant als Zeuge im NSA-Untersuchungsausschuss in Berlin. Der 29-Jährige war vor vier Jahren beim US-Militär ausgestiegen und hat seither immer wieder Insider-Informationen offengelegt.
Bryant hat mehr als fünf Jahre für die Luftwaffe als „Sensor Operator” - einer Mischung aus Co-Pilot und Bildanalyst - von den USA aus Kampfdrohnen gesteuert. Die Angriffe, an denen er beteiligt war, spielten sich nach seinen Angaben im Irak, in Afghanistan, Pakistan, Somalia und im Jemen ab.
Bryant: „Alle Daten, jedes einzelne bisschen an Dateninformation, das übertragen wurde zwischen dem Flugzeug und der Mannschaft, das lief über den Luftwaffenstützpunkt Ramstein.”
Direkt gesteuert würden Kampfdrohnen von dort aber nicht. In Ramstein gebe es eine Bodenstation, an der Mitarbeiter in Echtzeit Videos sichten. Sie führten allerdings keine Befehle aus. Ramstein sei ein Glied in einer Kette der Weiterleitung von Signalen und Daten - möglicherweise auch das schwächste Glied. Ob Daten - beispielsweise Mobilfunknummern - zur Lokalisierung von Zielpersonen der Air Force etwa vom deutschen Bundesnachrichtendienst (BND) übermittelt werden, wisse er nicht.
Vertreter der deutschen Regierung sollen von alldem gewusst haben. „Uns wurde gesagt, dass wir mit der Regierung zusammenarbeiten”, sagte Bryant. „Wenn die deutsche Regierung eine Mobilfunknummer kennt und diese an die amerikanische Regierung weitergibt, ja, dann kann man das nutzen, um eine Person zu exekutieren.”
http://www.fnp.de/nachrichten/politik/Ex-Drohnen-Pilot-im-NSA-Ausschuss;art46560,1645384
15.10.2015 – Sputnik News
Yemen Remains US Counterterrorism Partner Despite Drone Controversy - Envoy
Yemen remains a counterterrorism partner of the United States despite ongoing criticism of the controversial US drone strike program, Yemeni Ambassador to the United States Ahmed Awad Bin Mubarak told Sputnik on Thursday.
Earlier in the day, the Intercept revealed the shortcomings of the US lethal drone program. According to a classified Pentagon study, Yemen was among the countries the United States worked with in carrying out targeted killings outside of warzones.
While the Yemeni ambassador would not comment specifically on whether the two governments were coordinating the drone strikes, he said counterterrorism "is the general umbrella" of the relationship.
http://sputniknews.com/politics/20151015/1028593986/yemen-us-drones.html
15.10.2015 – Telesur
US Lawmakers Urge Obama to Protect Civilians in YemenMore than a dozen Democrats have expressed “dismay” over Saudi-led airstrikes that have killed hundreds of civilians. The U.S. government should use its influence over the Saudi Arabia-led coalition that is bombing Yemen to protect civilians and promote a peaceful resolution to the conflict, a group of U.S. lawmakers say in a letter sent to President Barack Obama on Wednesday. “We write to express our dismay over recent reports that airstrikes conducted by the Saudi Arabia-led coalition struck yet another wedding reception,” wrote the lawmakers, who all hail from the president’s own Democratic Party.“With this level of active involvement in the campaign, we are concerned that some overseas may hold the United States responsible for any civilian casualties resulting from the bombing,” the lawmakers wrote. “In order to protect innocent lives and reduce the potential for backlash against U.S. interests, we urge your administration to work with our Saudi partners to limit civilian casualties to the fullest extent possible.” While the lawmakers say they “share the concerns” of United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, who has called for the airstrikes to stop amid what the U.N. has declared an humanitarian emergency, they do not call for an immediate cease-fire. Instead, they say the airstrikes “should correspond to the standards that would apply to any U.S. military operation for limiting civilian casualties and collateral damage.” The letter was signed by 13 of the most liberal members of the U.S. Congress, including Barbara Lee, Maxine Waters, James McGovern, John Conyers and Keith Ellison.
15.10.2015 – Foreign Policy
U.S. Support for Saudi Strikes in Yemen Raises War Crime Concerns
A top American lawmaker says the Obama administration’s military assistance to Riyadh may violate U.S. law
U.S. support for a military campaign that is inflicting extreme hardship on civilians in one of the Mideast’s poorest countries provides an awkward counterpoint to the Obama administration’s stated commitment to stand up for the region’s oppressed people. At the dawn of the Arab Spring, Obama vowed to oppose “the use of violence and repression against the people of the region” and to support “the legitimate aspirations of ordinary people.”
Washington’s support in Yemen has also provided ammunition to critics who have seized on the Saudi-led coalition’s use of American weapons against civilian targets to paint the United States as a hypocritical power that lectures its Syrian adversaries on human rights abuses while furnishing its allies with cluster bombs and precision rockets.
Behind closed doors, the United States has sought to limit international scrutiny of rights abuses in Yemen. Last Friday, the United States blocked a proposal in a U.N. Security Council sanctions committee to have the committee’s chair, Lithuanian U.N. Ambassador Raimonda Murmokaite, approach “all relevant parties to the conflict and stress their responsibility to respect and uphold international humanitarian law and human rights law,” according to Security Council diplomats. The committee also recommended that Murmokaite ask the key players to cooperate with its investigations into potential human rights abuses in Yemen.
The initiative garnered broad support in the 15-nation council, including from America’s allies Britain and France, as well as from rivals like Russia and China, according to council diplomats. The U.S. mission to the U.N. declined to comment on the closed-door deliberations.
“The humanitarian crisis in Yemen has received too little attention, and it directly, or indirectly, implicates us,” said Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.), who noted that the airstrikes may violate legislation he authored barring the United States from providing security assistance to countries responsible for gross human rights abuses. In any event, he added, “there is the real possibility that [the air campaign] is making a bad situation worse.”
But other lawmakers have urged the Obama administration to do more to support Saudi Arabia and its Persian Gulf neighbors, which they see as a critical counterpoint to Iranian influence in the Middle East. The Senate Foreign Relations Committee’s chairman, Bob Corker (R-Tenn.), said the administration needs to “close the daylight” between the United States and its Gulf allies. He echoed claims by Gulf powers that Yemen’s Shiite Houthis are receiving backing from the Iranian government.
“The perception of a disengaged America and a resurgent Iran have led the GCC to take a stand,” Corker said, referring to the Gulf Cooperation Council, at an Oct. 6 hearing on Yemen. Corker credited the Saudi-led coalition’s “use of American equipment and training with surprising effectiveness.” But he acknowledged that the campaign has been carried out with an “intolerable level of civilian casualties.”
Last week, a U.N. panel of experts responsible for tracking human rights violations and enforcing sanctions against individuals who threaten Yemen’s peace concluded that the Saudi-led coalition, Houthi insurgents, and fighters loyal to Yemen’s former president, Ali Abdullah Saleh, all have routinely violated civilians’ human rights.
The panel singled out the coalition for committing “grave violations” of civilians’ rights, citing reports of indiscriminate airstrikes, as well as the targeting of markets, aid warehouses, and a camp for displaced Yemenis. It also raised concern that coalition forces may have intentionally obstructed the delivery of humanitarian aid to needy civilians.
The United States has acknowledged that it provides some intelligence and logistical support to the Saudi-led coalition in Yemen. As Saudi Arabia’s chief arms supplier, the United States has also supplied the coalition’s air force with the overwhelming majority of rockets and bombs used in the campaign, according to Amnesty International’s Donatella Rovera.
In recent weeks, the Obama administration has sought to distance itself from the coalition’s excesses, insisting that the United States played no role in deciding which targets to hit in Yemen. Behind the scenes, the United States has been urging the Saudis to wrap it up and make peace and to minimize the extent of suffering.
Over the long term, Gregory Gause, a Gulf expert and head of the international affairs department at the Bush School of Government and Public Service at Texas A&M University, said, the Saudis and their allies will realize that military victory is unachievable in Yemen, and they will seek a political settlement. “I think they want to run the Houthis out of Sanaa before they are willing to negotiate,” he said. “Their position is we have these guys on the run, so why stop now.” – by Colum Lynch
15.10.2015 – The American Conservative
Yemen and the Absurd “No Daylight” Standard
Colum Lynch (article cited above has reports that o”ther lawmakers have urged the Obama administration to do more to support Saudi Arabia and its Persian Gulf neighbors, which they see as a critical counterpoint to Iranian influence in the Middle East.”
The idea that the U.S. needs to do more to support the Saudis and their allies than it is already doing in Yemen is disgraceful and obnoxious. If there is any “daylight” between the administration and the Gulf clients in this war, it is extremely easy to miss since he U.S. has backed up the Saudis and their allies in attacking Yemen from day one. Corker’s position is regrettably all too common in Washington. Relying on pro-Saudi talking points and largely ignoring the horrible consequences of the intervention, many members of Congress wrongly perceive the war on Yemen as an appropriate and even necessary military action that the U.S. should continue to back. Like the administration, they are making a horrible error, and moreover they are doing so on the basis of shoddy information. Even if Saudi claims about Iranian influence in Yemen were true, it wouldn’t begin to justify what they have been doing to the people of Yemen. Since we know that the coalition governments don’t really believe their claims about Iran’s role, the intervention is that much worse.
As Senator Leahy says, the U.S. is barred from “providing security assistance to countries responsible for gross human rights abuses,” and that would certainly seem to apply to a war effort by our clients that is resulting in thousands of civilian casualties and creating a famine. It would not only be right for the U.S. to withhold any further support from the Saudis’ campaign, but it would also be consistent with our own laws. It is hard to think of a better case where the U.S. needs to have as much daylight as possible between our government and our clients than this one. As it always does, the “no daylight” standard for managing relations with reckless clients guarantees that the U.S. will be tied to the many excesses that our clients commit, and there is no way that this can serve U.S. interests – by Daniel Larison
http://www.theamericanconservative.com/larison/yemen-and-the-absurd-no-daylight-standard/
15.10.2015 – The American Conservative
The War on Yemen Continues to Be Ignored
Instead of simply pressuring the Saudis and their allies to change the way they’re fighting this way, the U.S. ought to be using whatever influence it has to halt the campaign and the blockade all together. Ideally, the administration should stop providing any assistance to the coalition, but at the very least it should condition any support it still provides on the lifting of the blockade and a sharply reduced air campaign.
Unfortunately, it has become only too obvious over these past seven months that not much criticism or pressure will be forthcoming from this administration. The administration has been able to back this war with virtually no criticism at home because so few people are even aware of what the U.S. role in the conflict has been. Despite the important work done by HRW and other human rights, aid groups, and journalists, the war on Yemen remains one of the most ignored conflicts in the world, and this seems especially true here in the U.S. While there has been a bit more scrutiny of Saudi tactics and U.S. support for the war in Congress in recent weeks, there are very few members of Congress that are paying attention to any of this, much less doing anything to change it.
Our presidential candidates likewise usually have nothing to say about this conflict or the U.S. role in it. The only candidates that have said anything about it have been Rubio and Christie, and both of them have made predictably awful arguments in favor of the Saudi-led campaign. None of the Democratic candidates has mentioned it, though I shudder to think what Clinton would say if she did bother to comment on what is happening there. The U.S. role in Yemen’s ruin has been made possible in part by a comprehensive failure of our elected representatives and presidential aspirants to do the bare minimum in holding the administration to account for one of its most horrific mistakes. Until that starts to change, it is unlikely that the U.S. will bring sufficient pressure to bear on Riyadh – by Daniel Larison
http://www.theamericanconservative.com/larison/the-war-on-yemen-continues-to-be-ignored/
Großbritannien / Great Britain
17.10.2015 – RT
Need for aid in Yemen & what is David Cameron doing about the Saudi beheadings? (E264)
Afshin Rattansi goes underground with the former Vice Chairman of the Conservative Party Andrew Mitchell. He asks him about the unbroken silence on Saudi that has left tens of millions needing humanitarian aid in Yemen. And, while the world watches on to see whether Saudi Arabian King Salman will behead and crucify a 21 year old, we speak to journalist and political analyst Catherine Shakdam. Plus, PMQs are back once again- and the Speaker tells David Cameron to sit down.
https://www.rt.com/shows/going-underground/318932-aid-yemen-saudi-beheadings/
Propaganda
16.10.2015 – Asharq Al-Awsat
Bahrain FM: Saudi-led coalition saved Yemen from civil war
The Saudi-led military action against the Houthis has averted a civil war, one that would have changed the demographics of not only Yemen but the entire region, Bahrain’s foreign minister has told Asharq Al-Awsat.
“Had it not been for the intervention of Saudi Arabia under the leadership of the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Salman Bin Abdulaziz at a critical moment in history, the shape of the region would have changed for the worse for decades to come,” Bahrain’s Foreign Minister Sheikh Khalid Bin Ahmed Al Khalifa said in an exclusive interview with Asharq Al-Awsat.
“If Operation Decisive Storm had not come on time, the situation would have been more dangerous and [the insurgents] would have wrested full control of Yemen which means a non-stop civil war,” Sheikh Khalid said, using the codename of the military campaign that Saudi Arabia and nine other Arab states launched in late March in a bid to reinstate the internationally recognized President Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi.
Sheikh Khalid, however, denied the GCC was divided over Operation Decisive Storm or the developments in Yemen, saying: “There is a divergence of views over how to deal with the issue between one side who did not want to participate, such as the Sultanate of Oman, and others who participated to the degree that they deployed troops in Yemen.”
The ultimate goal of Gulf troops entering Yemen, the FM said, is to stabilize the country and help the legitimate government of President Hadi to take the initiative, something which requires the implementation of UN Security Council resolution 2216 which calls for the immediate withdrawal of Houthis from the areas they have seized in Yemen.
All GCC member states agree on the need for implementing resolution 2216, Sheikh Khalid said, “As for how to deal with the situation [in Yemen], there is a divergence [of views] but not division.”
Commenting about the Iran nuclear deal, the Bahraini FM said finding a solution for Iran’s nuclear program has been the priority for the Gulf’s Western allies despite their knowledge of the Islamic Republic’s destabilizing role in the region.
Sheikh Khalid called Iran’s nuclear program “backward” but said it could pose further risks to the region if developed.
“But the other risks [of Iran] are in its spread of terrorism and terrorists in the region,” Sheikh Khalid said, adding that thousands of Iranian soldiers are fighting with Bashar Al-Assad’s forces in Syria.
Kommentar: Schöne Propaganda. Das Eingreifen der Saudis soll einen Bürgerkrieg verhindert haben? Es hat ihn erst richtig ermöglicht und angeheizt, jetzt ein auswärtiger Krieg inklusive. Die Heiligen Moscheen werden auch gern ins Feld geführt, sie haben mit dem Krieg im Jemen aber rein gar nichts zu tun. „Stabilize the country“ als Kriegsziel der Koalition? Genau das Gegenteil wurde erreicht. Die unselige, den Frieden blockierende UN Resolution 2216 darf auch nicht fehlen. Und natürlich auch nicht der Iran und Kritik am Atomabkommen mit dem Iran.
15.10.2015 – WAM
We will stand together and liberate Yemen, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi
His Highness Shaikh Mohammad Bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi and Deputy Supreme Commander of the UAE Armed Forces, on Thursday reiterated that the UAE strongly believes that the security of the region and the Arab countries is indivisible and that security in the UAE is inseparable from the security of all Arab countries. “We will support our brothers strongly in the face of any plan aimed at destabilising the security and stability of our countries, as well as preserving our Arab identity,’’ he said.
His statements came as he received Yemeni President Abd Rabbo Mansour Hadi, who is in the UAE, to discuss fraternal ties between the two countries.
Shaikh Mohammad renewed the UAE’s comprehensive and continuous support, efforts and development and humanitarian initiatives aimed at meeting the needs of the Yemeni people to overcome their challenges.
“The UAE, Saudi Arabia and the rest of the coalition will stand together until Yemen regains its Arab identity and is liberated from aggressors,” Shaikh Mohammad said in a tweet after meeting Hadi.
Kommentar: Das hatten wir wortwörtlich alles schon einmal gehört. Propaganda heißt: Wiederholung Wiederholung Wiederholung Wiederholung Wiederholung Wiederholung Wiederholung Wiederholung Wiederholung Wiederholung
Terrorismus / Terrorism
16.10.2015 – Guerilla America
Going for the Brain: Why al-Qaida Attacks Yemen Intelligence Buildings & Personnel
Not only are intelligence personnel orienting military commanders and government leaders to the fire in their country, they’re also on the phone coordinating with other nations, whether it’s Saudi Arabia (Sunni) or Iran (Shia). A colonel, like the one assassinated April 2011, has a two decades’ worth of contact information and relationships in his mental rolodex. He knows how things work, he’s been successful in performance or politics (to include tribal politics) in order to achieve that rank, and his loss as a staff member means bringing someone else on, unexpectedly.
In the three years I spent in Iraq and Afghanistan, I had three changeovers where a new analyst came in to replace me. From my experience, it takes a new analyst about three months to really get comfortable in the job
So why target intelligence? Try a zero-day turnover for folks whose responsibility it is to track the enemy. Everything that one analyst knows about an organization – in this case the years of collected intelligence information from Yemeni intelligence officers on al-Qaida fighters and groups – is now gone and replaced with much less, if he’s able to be replaced at all. Intelligence is not a two-week train up. You can’t take someone who’s never done intelligence work and expect them to be competitive at it. You can call yourself an intelligence analyst — just like you can call yourself a rifleman, electrician or a chef — but if you don’t have the knowledge and experience that goes along with that title, then you’re not going to be a very good at your job. If you want to call yourself any of these things, then remember that a little bit of training goes a long way.
When you target intelligence, you’re targeting the brain of an organization, which responsible for finding and killing you. That brain surveys many different observations of you, making sense of those observations, and then relays what’s accurate about you to decision makers, who get to decide how to kill you. Without observation (data and information), there’s no orientation (intelligence). Without intelligence, there are no operations. You absolutely must have both collection and analysis in order to make well-informed decisions. Targeting intelligence personnel degrades the Decide and Act phases of the OODA Loop, thus significantly degrading mission effectiveness.
Bottom line: if your adversary can’t find you on the battlefield, then they’re going to have a much harder time fighting and killing you. If you neutralize enemy intelligence, you save your organization – by Samuel Culper
16.10.2015 – AFP
Suspected Qaeda gunmen kill three Yemen pro-govt fighters
Suspected Al-Qaeda gunmen killed three Yemeni soldiers Friday in an ambush in the southeastern Hadramawt province, a military official said.
The troops were travelling in a military vehicle on a desert road linking Hadramawt to neighbouring Shabwa province when they were intercepted and fired upon, the official said.
"Three soldiers died on the spot and three others were wounded," the source told AFP.
http://news.yahoo.com/qaeda-suspects-kill-three-yemen-pro-govt-fighters-181627418.html
16.10.2015 – Reuters
Attacks Leave 10 Dead in Yemen
An apparent suicide bombing and gun attack claimed by Al Qaeda killed 10 soldiers guarding an intelligence building in the western Yemeni city of Hodaida on Friday, security sources said.
The sources said two of the assailants were also killed.
"Gunmen believed to belong to al Qaeda attacked the main gate of the political security building with rocket-propelled grenades and machine guns after a car bomb driven by a suicide bomber attacked the back gate," one of the sources said.
The group claimed responsibility for the attack in a statement issued online, calling its militants "holy warriors".
http://www.newsweek.com/suicide-bombing-gun-battle-kills-10-yemen-384495
15.10.2015 – S.Rajaratnam School of International Studies
Yemen’s Civil War Protagonists: A New Leader of Al Qaeda?
In Yemen’s civil war, the emergence of Qasim al Raymi as the leader of Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) has been accompanied by its tactical victories in southern Yemen. However the civil war is likely to end with a decisive victory over the Houthis by forces of the current president.
Recently, in June 2015, a US drone strike killed Nasser Al Wuhayshi, AQAP’s leader and second in command of AQ central, effectively creating a lacuna in the group’s leadership. The vacuum has since been filled by Qasim al Raymi.
Raymi has been AQAP’s military commander since its inception. He was responsible for a suicide bombing in Mareb, Yemen that killed eight Spanish tourists, and the underwear bombing attempt of 2009 by a Nigerian undergraduate of a London university in a plane flying over Detroit, America. This man was also instrumental in smothering semblances of sympathy from within AQAP, of the ISIS and had staved off attempts on the part of AQAP elements from swearing oaths of fealty to it. His insistence that AQAP fighters remain loyal to the AQ despite its waning salience vis-à-vis ISIS is an indication of his influence in the AQ.
Two recent developments create an impression of AQAP’s increased strength. The first one is AQAP’s acquisition of key districts in Aden which is an important area in the southern region due to its location and access by sea. While they have let people walk freely in the city, many residents anticipate that the group is waiting for an opportune moment to take complete control of these areas and implement the Sharia. The group has leveraged on anti-Houthi sentiments to win over Sunni recruits as well as ally itself with the tribes who see the Houthis as enemies.
The second development is the release of the 14th Issue of the Inspire magazine, an AQAP publication. […]
There is reason to believe that it is the disorder arising from the civil war rather than its own strategic prowess that gave the AQ group these breaks. In terms of its regional control of Mukalla and Aden, the war has created an anti-Houthi fervour that has generated sympathisers who have come out in open support for its cause to fight the Houthis. This stands in contrast to peace time reactions to the group as most locals of the southern region – their place of activity — do not look upon them favourably. If the war ends decisively against the Houthis, then al Qaeda would no longer be able to easily exploit this hostility against the Houthis.
While there may be reasons to believe that AQAP may have recently become more active, a deeper look at this shows the group’s gains are more circumstantial than due to the new leader’s strength. In fact, some of the advances they made in terms of gaining territory were achieved well before Raymi came to power.
The fact that he was also serving his predecessor as a planner of missions points to an increased burden on him to deliver on AQAP’s strategic goals. Furthermore, if the civil war comes to an end in Abdul Hadi’s favour – a likely prospect with his recent conquests of Ma’arib (a Houthi stronghold) – AQAP’s outreach efforts will be seriously curtailed. Apart from this, if the prevailing existence of lawlessness can be tackled, the group will be clutching at straws in its fight for territory – by Mohammed Sinan Siyech
15.10.2015 – Voice of America
Security Sources: Yemen Suicide Bombing, Gunbattle Kill 12
A suspected al-Qaida suicide bombing, accompanied by an attack with guns and grenades, killed 10 soldiers guarding an intelligence building in the western Yemeni city of Hodaida on Friday as well as two of the assailants, security sources said.
"Gunmen believed to belong to al-Qaida attacked the main gate of the political security building with rocket-propelled grenades and machine guns after a car bomb driven by a suicide bomber attacked the back gate," one of the sources said.
Jets from a Saudi-led military coalition bombed the house of Yemen's speaker of parliament on Friday, residents said, as part of a wave of attacks aimed at influential politicians.
The attack hit the residence of Yahya al-Ra'i in central Dhamar province, leaving him unscathed but killing his son.
Residents of the Houthi-controlled capital, Sana'a, reported about 60 coalition airstrikes in the past two days on military bases and houses belonging to family members of Ali Abdullah Saleh, a former president and important ally of the Houthis.
Five civilians were killed in the bombardment of the capital on Thursday, residents said, including at least two children.
http://www.voanews.com/content/security-sources-yemen-suicide-bombing-gunbattle-kill-12/3009866.html siehe auch http://dailywitness.com/at-least-9-killed-in-double-attack-in-western-yemen/
Kommentar: Dass die Saudis eine Terrorzelle in Hodeida mit Waffen versorgen wollten, siehe in Nachrichten überblicke 33. Das Haus eines Politikers ist eindeutig kein militärisches Ziel. Der Sohn des Parlamentspräsidenten wurde dabei getötet. Ein Kriegsverbrechen mehr.
Neue Artikel zum Nachlesen 1-34: / Yemen Press reader 1-34:
https://www.freitag.de/autoren/dklose oder / or
