Krieg im Jemen: Neue Artikel zum Nachlesen 51

Yemen Press Reader: Weiter Kämpfe und Luftangriffe- Kulturerbe wird zerstört - Die Krise Saudi-Arabiens - USA verkauft Saudi-Arabien Bomben für 1,3 Milliarden $ - Chaos im Südjemen

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Allgemein / General

17.11.2015 – Hintergrund

Paris: Terror is coming home

Die Teilnehmer der Kriegsallianz müssen nicht fürchten, für ihre Kriegsverbrechen oder für ihre – mindestens indirekte – Komplizenschaft mit den Hintermännern der Charlie Hebdo-Mörder zur Rechenschaft gezogen zu werden. Denn sie führen im Jemen einen Krieg, der ohne westliche Unterstützung und Waffenlieferungen gar nicht möglich wäre.

So sind die USA, die mit dem Beginn der saudischen Intervention ihre Drohnen-Angriffe auf AQAP einstellten, mit Geheimdienstinformationen behilflich, sorgen für Munitionsnachschub, betanken Bomber der Kriegsallianz in der Luft und beteiligen sich mit eigenen Schiffen an der Seeblockade.

Die Zielauswahl der Luftangriffe liegt maßgeblich in den Händen des US-Militärs. Zynisch rechtfertigt das Pentagon diese Unterstützung mit der Begründung, sie würden das von den Raketen und Bomben verursachte Schadensgebiet „berechnen“, um „zivile Opfer zu vermeiden“. (8)

Vor einer Woche zeigte sich Charles Brown, Kommandeur des für die Region zuständigen Zentralkommandos der US-Luftwaffe, „beeindruckt“ von den Luftoperationen der saudischen Koalition. „Wir haben die gleiche Mentalität“, so der US-General. (9)

Der an die westlichen Regierungen gerichtete Aufruf Amnesty Internationals, ihre Rüstungslieferungen an die saudisch-geführte Allianz angesichts der von ihr verübten Kriegsverbrechen einzustellen, stößt auf taube Ohren – auch in Berlin.

Für das erste Halbjahr 2015 genehmigte die Bundesregierung die Ausfuhr von Rüstungsgütern in Höhe von 178 Millionen Euro nach Saudi-Arabien. An die Vereinigten Arabischen Emirate, das die meisten Soldaten der Allianz stellt, lieferte Berlin in den ersten sechs Monaten dieses Jahres Kriegsgerät im Umfang von 46 Millionen Euro, darunter Panzerhaubitzen, Panzertransporter und dreitausend Maschinenpistolen.

„Zuverlässigkeit und Vertrauen“ seien „das oberste Gebot“, wenn es um deutsche Waffenlieferungen gehe, erklärte Verteidigungsministerin Ursula von der Leyen Ende Oktober auf dem „Manama Dialog“ in Bahrain, der wichtigsten Sicherheitskonferenz im Nahen Osten.

Noch umfangreicher fallen die Waffenlieferungen Frankreichs aus. Im April brachte Paris einen Deal über die Lieferung französischer Kampfjets an Katar im Wert von über sechs Milliarden Euro unter Dach und Fach. Im Juni folgte ein Investitionsabkommen mit Saudi-Arabien in Höhe von elf Milliarden Euro.

Am Montag gab das Pentagon ein weiteres milliardenschweres Rüstungsgeschäft mit Saudi-Arabien bekannt. Die Golfmonarchie werde für ihre Luftwaffe mehr als neunzehntausend Bomben im Wert von 1,2 Milliarden Euro kaufen. Offiziell dient das Geschäft dem Kampf gegen den Terror – welch Hohn angesichts der Tatsache, dass Riad im Jemen Seite an Seite mit al-Qaida kämpft.

Die US-Bomben, die dort eingesetzt werden, fallen auf den einzigen wirklichen Widersacher al-Qaidas, die Huthi-Rebellen. Und auf Zivilisten. Als die saudische Koalition mit einem Luftangriff Ende September 131 Anwesende einer Hochzeitsfeier tötete – ebenso viele Menschen starben bei den Attacken am Freitag in Paris – war das keinem westlichen Staatschef eine Verurteilung, gar einen Kommentar wert, und nirgendwo in Europa wurden deshalb die Flaggen auf Halbmast gesetzt.

Der Westen unterstützt im Jemen keinen Krieg gegen den Terror, sondern einen Terrorkrieg – der den Drahtziehern des Massakers an der Charlie Hebdo-Redaktion zu Gute kommt – von Sebastian Range

http://www.hintergrund.de/201511173751/politik/welt/paris-terror-is-coming-home.html

(8) http://www.latimes.com/world/middleeast/la-fg-us-yemen-20150817-story.html
(9) http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/11/10/us-dubai-airshow-usa-yemen-idUSKCN0SZ0IR20151110

17.11.2015 – The American Conservative

Civilian Deaths and Double Standards

Unfortunately, we see the selective application of sympathy and outrage all the time.

We see something similar today with the general Western indifference to the plight of civilians in Yemen, most of whom are dying thanks to the Saudi-led air campaign armed, fueled, and endorsed by the U.S. and Britain. Many people have altered their Facebook profile pictures to include the French tricolor, but it would never occur to most people in the West to do the same for the people of Yemen. The civilians killed in the Saudi-led air campaign are every bit as innocent as the people killed in Paris, and the people responsible for their deaths are also guilty of grievous wrongs, but their loss isn’t judged the same way, and their killers aren’t seen for what they are. There is remarkably little attention paid to them despite the fact that thousands of civilians have died in the almost eight-month war there and many more have been injured, and many hundreds of thousands more are on the verge of starvation thanks to a Saudi-led blockade. There is properly universal outrage against the murderers that carried out the Paris attacks, but there is almost none against those responsible for the ongoing wrecking of an entire country that is happening with the support of our government.

There is of course nothing wrong in showing solidarity with and expressing sympathy for the victims of the attacks in France, and it is an appropriate and decent response to a terrible event. But there is something strange and troubling about the tendency to focus only on the civilian deaths of some attacks while so completely neglecting and overlooking civilian deaths in other conflicts, especially when those deaths are being caused by governments that have the full backing of our own – by Daniel Larison

http://www.theamericanconservative.com/larison/civilian-deaths-and-double-standards/

16.11.2015 – George Galloway, Member of House of Commons

COMMENT: Why hasn’t Saudi Arabia achieved goals in Yemen? (Audio)

Saudi Arabia has been bombing Yemen for 237 days and yet it has still not achieved its aim. This is despite the wealth of funds, weapons and mercenaries at its disposal.

Meanwhile, a major al-Qaeda affiliate in Yemen has vowed allegiance to the Saudi regime. The so-called Ansar al-Sharia group says it will fight alongside Saudi forces in its war on Yemen, which has no international mandate. Saudi’s war is to block Ansarullah and return power to the fugitive former president Hadi. The Red Cross says it is appalled by the Saudi strikes on hospitals and other healthcare facilities.

Saudi Arabia has killed over 7,100 people and has displaced over a million. Resisting the war are Ansarullah fighters, whose stated aims are to eradicate the extremist militancy in their country. Houthis have already advanced 10 kilometres into Saudi territory and are ready to strike deals. The Saudi bombing of Yemen has long tipped the nation into a humanitarian crisis. Meanwhile, the UN continues to prop up Saudi Arabia as the head of a major human rights panel a move that has attracted widespread ridicule.

http://www.veteranstoday.com/2015/11/16/comment-yemen/

13.11.2015 – Doctors Without Borders

Yemen: Living beneath the bombs in Haydan

Yann Geay, MSF logistician, describes the living conditions of the population in Haydan.

The MSF-supported hospital in Haydan was struck and destroyed by airstrikes carried out by the Saudi-led coalition during the night of the 26-27 October. "Before the destruction of the hospital it was a very busy place with delivery – you know, a lot of kids were born in this hospital, " says Yann Geay.

http://www.msf.org/article/yemen-living-beneath-bombs-haydan

12.11.2015 – Menschenrechte.eu

Jemen: Katastrophe nach libyschen Modell

Der Westen trägt Mitverantwortung für die Zerstörung des Jemens - wer nimmt die Flüchtlinge auf?

Die Seite fast die Situation im Jemen knapp und gut zusammen.

Die westliche Staatengemeinschaft und auch die Bundesrepublik Deutschland unter Angela haben sich im Jemen gemeinsam in ein Boot mit einer illustren Reihe von Unrechtsstaaten gesetzt. Sie legitimieren und fördern einen Krieg, der Verheerungen über das Volk des Jemen bringt und dabei ist, den Jemen endgültig in einen Failed State zu verwandeln. Die westliche Staatengemeinschaft macht sich damit nicht nur mit Unrechtsstaaten gemein und trägt zur Erzeugung von Massenelend bei, sondern sie nimmt mit ihrem Einsatz für den Krieg im Jemen auch einen Aufschwung radikalster islamistischer Strukturen in Kauf. Sie wiederholt damit die Fehler, die sie bereits in Libyen und Syrien beging.

Während die Staaten der westeuropäischen Union im Mittelmeer und im Ägäisches Meer zwischen der Türkei und Griechenland nach wie vor Flüchtlinge in Massen ertrinken lassen und die Bundesregierung Deutschland unter Angela Merkel einen radikalen Kurs der Aushebelung des Asylrechts eingeschlagen hat, wird im Jemen unter Beteiligung der gleichen Staaten die nächste Flüchtlingskatastrophe erzeugt. Amnesty International hat derweil alle Waffen liefernden Staaten aufgerufen, ihre Waffenlieferungen an die saudischen Kriegsallianz zu stoppen. Doch während der Ruf nach Abschottung gegenüber den Geflüchteten europaweit und weltweit erschallt, stieß der Appell von Amnesty International bisher auf taube Ohren. Bereits jetzt ist davon auszugehen, dass sich die westlichen Staatengemeinschaft und auch die Bundesrepublik Deutschland für die Aufnahme der Flüchtlinge aus dem Jemen für unzuständig erklären werden. Wie viele Menschen im Jemen werden noch getötet, verletzt oder zur Flucht getrieben werden bis dieser Krieg beendet wird?

http://menschenrechte.eu/index.php/meldung-im-detail/items/jemen-kriegskatastrophe.html

Humanitäre Lage / Humanitarian situation

17.11.2015 – Reliefweb

Yemen: Humanitarian Dashboard (31 October 2015) – Infografiken

Since the intensification of fighting in March, the number of people in need of humanitarian assistance has increased from 15.9 million to 21.2 million people. This means that 82 per cent of Yemen’s population now requires humanitarian assistance in some form to meet their basic needs for food, water, healthcare and shelter. In November, two cyclones battered the Island of Socotra and Yemen's southern coastline, adding to the suffering men, women, and children in Yemen are enduring

https://www.humanitarianresponse.info/en/node/113698 = http://reliefweb.int/report/yemen/yemen-humanitarian-dashboard-31-october-2015

17.11.2015 – Norwegian Refugee Council

Yemen Crisis

In an open letter to EU foreign ministers, 15 Aid Agencies Call for Urgent EU Action on the current political, security and humanitarian crisis in Yemen.

15 Aid Agencies Call for Urgent EU Action Ahead of the EU's Foreign Affairs Council meeting on 16-17 November, 2015, the Norwegian Refugee Council and 14 other aid agencies called for concerted EU action to address the ongoing political, security and humanitarian crisis in Yemen.

In a letter to EU Foreign Ministers, the agencies highlighted the grave conditions for civilians in Yemen after eight months of fighting, with regular violations of the laws of war and restrictions on the delivery of humanitarian aid. Up to 13 million people are going hungry, the agencies said.

The agencies proposed seven concrete recommendations for the EU, including reopening all land, sea and air routes into Yemen and facilitating unimpeded humanitarian access to people in need. The EU and its Member States should also increase their financial support to Yemen to match the scale of humanitarian needs – by Fred Abrahams

http://www.nrc.no/?did=9209754#.VktbNjtdF9A and the letter in full: http://www.nrc.no/arch/_img/9209761.pdf

17.11.2015 – Reliefweb

Yemen Food Security Outlook October 2015 to March 2016

In Yemen, important information gaps remain. Nonetheless, recent data from WFP mVAM surveys, household interviews, a UNICEF SMART survey, and NGO partners all confirm that a significant population faces severe acute food insecurity. These data, along with information on water availability, food prices, and income, also suggest that food security has deteriorated substantially since last year.

It is likely that significant populations are facing Emergency (IPC Phase 4) outcomes, especially those trapped in active conflict areas or displaced. The risk of acute malnutrition also remains high due to the high disease burden and reduced access to health care. Although information is limited, it is likely that at least six million people are currently in need of food assistance.
Although vital assistance is being provided by humanitarian partners, the scale of current needs is well beyond response capacity.

Available evidence indicates that most typical sources of income for poor households have been adversely affected during the conflict, while food prices in most areas have been well above pre-crisis levels. A continuation of current trends of reduced household income and increased food prices could lead to deteriorating food security outcomes in the coming months.

In late October, reports indicated that the Yemeni rial (YER) began to depreciate against the U.S. dollar (USD) and other currencies, at unofficial rates. With Yemen’s heavy reliance on food imports, including for 85 percent of its cereals consumption, depreciation of the rial would likely put further upward pressure on food prices.

http://reliefweb.int/report/yemen/yemen-food-security-outlook-october-2015-march-2016 and full report: http://reliefweb.int/report/yemen/yemen-food-security-outlook-october-2015-march-2016

17.11.2015 – Nachdenkseiten

Wenn Krankenhäuser zum Ziel werden

Allein im vergangenen Monat wurden zwei Krankenhäuser der Organisation „Ärzte ohne Grenzen“ zum Ziel der USA oder eines ihrer Verbündeten. In beiden Fällen ließ die Berichterstattung zu wünschen übrig – und von einer ausführlichen Aufklärung fehlt weiterhin jede Spur.

Am 27. Oktober, sprich, nur wenige Wochen nach dem Angriff in Kunduz, wurde nämlich eine weitere Einrichtung von MSF bombardiert. Diesmal befand sich das Ziel in Saada, einer nördlichen Provinz des Jemens. Ausgeführt wurde der Angriff von saudischen Kampfjets.

Durch den Angriff auf das MSF-Krankenhaus in Saada wurden mindestens sechs Menschen verletzt. Ein weiteres Mal sprach die Organisation von einem Kriegsverbrechen und wies darauf hin, dass die Koordinaten der Klinik den Saudis bekannt gewesen waren. Zum gleichen Zeitpunkt leugneten die saudische Seite, überhaupt ein Krankenhaus angegriffen zu haben.

Dabei war das Szenario gleich wie jenes in Kunduz: Die Klinik wurde aus der Luft mehrfach gezielt angegriffen. Zum Sündenbock wurden in diesem Fall keine Taliban sondern die Huthi-Rebellen, welche die Region zum damaligen Zeitpunkt kontrollierten, gemacht. Wie die Klinik in Kunduz war jene in Saada die einzige in der Region, die schwere Verletzungen behandeln konnte. Aufgrund der zahlreichen Kriegshandlungen wurden dort allein seit Mai wurden 3.400 Verletzte behandelt. Laut MSF wurde die Einrichtung durch den Angriff vollständig zerstört.

Im Vergleich zu Kunduz fand jedoch im Fall des Krankenhauses in Saada nahezu keine Berichterstattung statt. Dies betrifft im Übrigen den Krieg im Jemen im Allgemeinen. Was für ein Ausmaß die dortige Zerstörung in den wenigen Monaten erreicht hat, wird völlig ausgeblendet. Sowohl in Deutschland als auch in den USA hat dies einen Grund: Saudi-Arabien gehört zum „wichtigsten strategischen Partner in der Region“, wie es immer wieder heißt. Aus diesem Grund wird die saudische Bombenallianz im Jemen nicht nur von den Golfstaaten oder der Türkei unterstützt, sondern auch von den USA und europäischen Staaten. Dies hat nicht nur geostrategische Gründe – wie gesagt, laut der offiziellen Narrative verteidigen sich die Saudis nur gegen den iranischen Einfluss – sondern auch mit der Tatsache, dass Riad sowohl von den USA als auch von Deutschland mit Waffen beliefert wird.

Sowohl Kunduz als auch Saada wurden verdrängt. Die empörten Aufrufe von MSF scheinen zu verhallen. Dass die USA oder ihre Verbündeten Krankenhäuser, die laut Völkerrecht nie zum Ziel gemacht werden dürfen, selbst wenn sich Rebellen, Terroristen, Bewaffnete, Aufständische oder wer auch immer in ihnen aufhalten, mutwillig zerstören, scheint ohne viel Kritik zur Kenntnis genommen zu werden.

Zum gleichen Zeitpunkt sind jene russischen Angriffe in Syrien, die Berichten zufolge in den letzten Wochen mehrere lokale Krankenhäuser trafen, im Fokus der Medien. Es gibt nämlich nicht nur jene, die meinen, russische Bomben seien auf irgendeine Art und Weise besser als amerikanische, sondern auch jene, die meinen, sie seien schlechter – und deshalb mehr über sie berichten. Dabei wird vergessen, dass es keine guten oder schlechten Bomben gibt, sondern sie allesamt auf dieselbe Art und Weise zerstören und töten – von Emran Feroz

http://www.nachdenkseiten.de/?p=28785

Kulturerbe / Cultural heritage

16.11.2015 – The Intercept

The Agony of Saada: U.S. and Saudi Bombs Target Yemen’s Ancient Heritage

In addition to the growing number of civilian casualties in the country’s seven-month-long war, U.S.-made bombs dropped by fighter jets from a Saudi Arabian-led coalition are pulverizing Yemen’s architectural history, often referred to as a living museum. These airstrikes are tearing villages apart, forcibly displacing thousands and erasing the country’s inimitable heritage, possibly in violation of international humanitarian law, according to the world heritage body, UNESCO.

Entire villages in the Yemeni highlands appear to defy gravity. Remote high-rises cling precariously to cliff edges. Inside, the character of the fortress-like homes changes with the sun as it moves through the sky. Light filters through the stained glass of patterned windowpanes, called qamarias, illuminating the white gypsum plaster. At night, candles or rare supplies of electricity send dapples of color into the twilight.

Yemen’s time-honored homes are part of the country’s rich social fabric, embodying the culture of the families who have lived in them for centuries.

One of the worst hit areas has been Yemen’s northern province of Saada, the birthplace and homeland of the Houthi movement. Saada City, the provincial capital, was founded before the fourth century B.C., as the hub of the Minaean Kingdom of Main.

On May 8 the Saudi-led coalition declared Saada City, home to some 50,000 people, a “military zone,” which Human Rights Watch says is a clear violation of international humanitarian law, and gave civilians a few hours’ notice to leave.

Many of those who did not heed the coalition’s warning were forced to flee their homes by the ensuing airstrikes. The village of Rahban, on the outskirts of the city, was razed. It consisted entirely of historic, centuries-old multistory homes with thick rammed-earth walls, rainbow-colored stained-glass windows and hand-carved wooden doors. Timber joists that supported families for tens of generations now protrude from piles of rubble. More than 30 homes were wiped out.

On May 9, a day after the coalition’s ultimatum for civilians to leave, multiple airstrikes hit the heart of Saada City’s historic old city. Abu Tah, 28, witnessed three bombings that hit the market in front of the ninth-century al-Hadi mosque, killing two patients along with a doctor, who practiced out of his house next door to the mosque. Four others, including a second doctor, were also killed, he said.

The mosque is the final resting place of Imam al-Hadi ila’l-Haqq Yahya, the first Shiite Zaydi imam of Yemen, who died in 911 A.D. Local legend has it that the site of the mosque is where the Prophet Mohammed’s camel once rested. But today, the mosque’s prominent green dome is cracked like an eggshell and its doors blown out. Repeated ground-shaking strikes just a few feet from the high walls surrounding the structure have crumbled its ceilings. For the first time in its 1,200-year history, the Hadi mosque is now closed.

The fact that Sunni Saudi Arabia, whose king has the title “Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques” of Mecca and Medina, is bombing a town once famous as a seat of Shiite Zaydi scholarship is not lost on al-Mutamaze. “This is just a title, they still target the people they hate,” he said.

The devastation serves as a disturbing portent of what may yet befall the UNESCO World Heritage site of the old city in Sanaa, which has been continuously inhabited for more than 2,500 years. Folklore has it that the walled city, on a highland plateau more than 7,200 feet above sea level, was founded by Shem, son of Noah.

At risk are the picture-postcard houses of old Sanaa. The old city has already been bombed twice. On June 12, five members of the same family were killed when four homes crumbled to the ground after being hit with a 2,000-pound bomb. A further strike on September 19 destroyed a traditional four-story home, killing 10 members of the al-Ayani family — eight were children. More than 130 densely packed, terraced homes of old Sanaa were damaged by the blast.

“The Saudis and their American bombs are erasing us from history.”

The annihilation of Yemen’s cultural heritage extends far beyond air raids on the famous ancient skyscrapers of the northwestern highlands; other areas of the country’s pre-Islamic history have also fallen victim to the coalition’s bombing.

The world-famous Great Marib Dam was bombed for the first time in May. Dating back to the eighth century B.C., the dam was 50 feet high and 2,100 feet wide, almost twice the width of the Hoover Dam. It was a wonder of the ancient world, watering the region for 1,000 years. Marib was the capital of the Sabaean Kingdom, ruled by the Biblical Queen of Sheba.

In the remote desert of Al-Jawf, more than 100 miles northeast of Sanaa, Baraqish, the country’s most impressive pre-Islamic metropolis, reached its zenith in the fifth century B.C. and remained inhabited up until the 19th century. On August 18, the imposing 40-foot-high, unbroken stone curtain that had protected the city for some 2,500 years was bombed by the coalition, destroying a section of the ancient wall.

Anthropologist and historian Francesco G. Fedele, who worked in Yemen for almost a decade — including three years in Baraqish — as a member of the Italian Archaeological Mission to Yemen, says the city’s temple to the god of healing, Nakrah, was destroyed by the Saudi-led bombing. Pictures of the site after further strikes on September 13 confirmed his worst fears.

A second ancient temple to the god of thunderstorms and rain, Athar dhu-Qabd, was also mostly lost to the aerial assaults. The joint Italian-Yemeni team excavated and painstakingly restored both temples as part of a 25-year project that ran from 1990. The shrines were cultural treasures for the whole Arabian Peninsula.

A small museum housing the most precious finds from the team’s excavations was similarly reduced to piles of shattered stone in September, says Fedele – by Iona Craig

https://theintercept.com/2015/11/16/u-s-and-saudi-bombs-target-yemens-ancient-heritage/

Kriegsereignisse / Theater of War

17.11.2015 – AP

Yemen Officials Say 44 Anti-Rebel Fighters Killed in Ambush

Yemeni security officials and witnesses say an ambush in the port city of Mocha killed 44 anti-rebel fighters.

The officials said Tuesday that the ambush by Shiite rebels, known as Houthis, took place the day before.

In a separate development, security officials say more than 20 Houthi fighters were killed Monday and Tuesday in clashes in the central Marib province.

The officials, who are neutral in a conflict that has split the armed forces, spoke on condition of anonymity because they weren't authorized to brief reporters. Witnesses declined to give their names for fear of reprisals – by Achmed Al-Haj

http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/yemen-officials-44-anti-rebel-fighters-killed-ambush-35252650

17.11.2015 – ABNA

Saudi warplanes target fresh areas across Yemen

Saudi military aircraft have conducted a new round of airstrikes against several areas across Yemen.

On Tuesday morning, massive explosions shook Ta’izz, situated 346 kilometers (214 miles) south of the capital, Sana’a, as Saudi fighter jets launched airstrikes against the international airport in the southwestern Yemeni city.

There were no immediate reports of possible casualties and the extent of damage caused in the aerial assaults.

Saudi warplanes also hit the al-Omari camp north of the Bab al-Mandeb Strait and off Yemen’s coast as well as the al-Arqoub military camp, which lies east of the Yemeni capital. No words about casualties were available.

Moreover, Saudi jets struck the road linking Haydan district to Maran region in the northwestern province of Sa’ada, though, no casualties were reported.

A Yemeni fisherman lost his life on Tuesday, when Saudi frigates fired a number of missiles at the Mokha port city, situated 346 kilometers (214 miles) south of Sana’a.

Saudi military aircraft also targeted a truck carrying crates of fruits in the Kholan neighborhood of Sana’a.

http://en.abna24.com/service/middle-east-west-asia/archive/2015/11/17/720297/story.html

17.11.2015 – FAZ

Großstadt Taiz: Heftige Kämpfe im Jemen (Film)

Im Jemen gibt es weiterhin erbitterte Kämpfe zwischen der jemenitischen Regierung und den Houthi-Rebellen, vor allem in der drittgrößten Stadt des Landes, Taiz. Die jemenitische Großstadt wird seit Monaten von den Houthi-Milizen belagert.

http://www.faz.net/aktuell/politik/jemen-kaempfe-zwischen-regierung-houthi-rebellen-in-taiz-13916854.html Siehe auch http://www.bild.de/video/clip/buergerkrieg/heftige-kaempfe-in-tais-agvideo-43432020.bild.html

17.11.2015 – Fars News

Ansarullah Leader: Different Parts of Yemen Pounded with Saudi Cluster Bombs

A senior Ansarullah leader revealed that the Saudi fighter jets have staged massive airstrikes against different Yemeni cities by cluster bombs.

"The Saudi fighter jets pounded the market in al-Ayar region on the road from al-Makha to al-Jamarak region in al-Raheda, the linking road between al-Raheda and Karash between Ta'iz and Lahij provinces, gas station of al-Jadid region in the Southern parts of al-Makha, one of the residential areas of Ta'iz, the presidential palace and al-Omri region with cluster bombs," Abdollah al-Salami told FNA on Tuesday.

He said that the airstrikes killed tens of Yemeni citizens and wounded dozens of others.

Also on Monday, Saudi fighter jets pounded residential areas in the Northern province of al-Jawf and killed all the seven members of a Yemeni family.

All seven members of a Yemeni family were killed during the Saudi airstrikes on Khob va al-Sha'af region in al-Jawf province.

Also yesterday, Saudi airstrikes left all six members of Al Ebrahim family in Saleh region in Southwestern Yemen.

On Sunday, the Saudi airstrikes hit a mosque in the Yemeni Province of Sa'ada, killing at least a civilian.

The Saudi fighter jets pounded a mosque in a residential neighborhood in Kitaf district in Sa'ada, killing at least one civilian.

Also on Sunday, several people were killed and some others injured in Saudi air raids on a market in the province of Ta'iz.

http://english.farsnews.com/newstext.aspx?nn=13940826000266

17.11.2015 – Shiapost

Yemen’s Ansarullah fighters kill dozens of Saudi forces

Dozens of Saudi troops have been killed in an ambush by Yemen’s Ansarullah fighters at the al-Omari camp north of the Bab al-Mandeb Strait off Yemen’s coast.

According to Yemeni media reports, a senior Saudi commander was also killed in the retaliatory attack on Monday.

A large number of Saudi forces were injured and their vehicles were put on fire during the operation.

Saudi military officials have made no comments on the reports so far.

Ansarullah fighters, backed by allied army units, have so far killed scores of Saudi and foreign soldiers in their retaliatory attacks. Yemenis say the raids are aimed at forcing Riyadh to stop its deadly war against its southern neighbor.

http://shiapost.com/2015/11/17/yemens-ansarullah-fighters-kill-dozens-of-saudi-forces/

Man vergleiche das mit den Erfolgsmeldungen der Gegenseite:

16.11.2015 – Washington Post from AP

Yemen officials say airstrikes, clashes kill some 40 rebels

Yemeni security officials say Saudi-led airstrikes and clashes have killed some 40 Shiite rebels and their allies over the past 24 hours.

The officials, who are neutral in a conflict that has split the security forces, say the airstrikes and fighting took place mostly in Ibb province into Monday, and near the cities of Mocha and Taiz. The raids in Taiz also killed four civilians.

Anti-rebel fighters say 13 of their own forces were killed and more than 20 wounded in the Taiz fighting – by Ahmed Al-Haj

https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/middle_east/yemen-officials-say-airstrikes-clashes-kill-some-40-rebels/2015/11/16/9137c40c-8c7a-11e5-934c-a369c80822c2_story.html

16.11.2015 – RP Online

Krieg im Jemen: Mehr als 50 Tote bei Kämpfen und Luftangriffen

Der Krieg im Jemen hat an einem Tag mehr als 50 Kämpfer das Leben gekostet. Bei Luftangriffen des Bündnisses unter Führung von Saudi-Arabien und bei Gefechten am Boden seien bis Montag allein rund 40 schiitische Huthi-Rebellen umgekommen, hieß es aus Sicherheitskreisen. Auf der Gegenseite wurden 13 Tote und 20 Verletzte gemeldet.

Die Luftangriffe und die Kämpfe konzentrierten sich den Angaben zufolge auf die Provinz Ibb und die Umgebung der Städte Mocha und Tais. In Tais sollen auch vier Zivilisten bei Luftangriffen getötet worden sein.

http://www.rp-online.de/panorama/ausland/jemen-mehr-als-50-tote-nach-luftangriffen-und-kaempfen-aid-1.5564164

16.11.2015 – Iran german Radio

Jemen: Acht Tote und Dutzende Verletzte bei saudischem Luftangriff in Taiz

Bei saudischen Luftangriffen auf ein Wohngebiet im Osten der jemenitischen Stadt Taiz sind am Montag acht Zivilisten getötet und Dutzende weitere verletzt worden.

Laut Al-Mayadeen griff die von Saudi-Arabien angeführte Kriegskoalition heute mit Jagdbombern verschiedene Gebiete in Taiz an , darunter den internatinalen Flughafen und die Universtität

http://german.irib.ir/nachrichten/nahost/item/293389-jemen-acht-tote-und-dutzende-verletzte-bei-saudischem-luftangriff-in-taiz

16.11.2015 – Iran English Radio

Saudi warplanes target a mosque in Yemen

The Saudi airstrikes hit a mosque in the Yemeni Province of Sa'ada, martyring at least one civilian, leaving material casualties in the area.

The Saudi fighter jets pounded a mosque in a residential neighborhood in Kitaf district in Sa'ada on Sunday, martyring at least one civilian and injuring a few others.

Meantime, several people were martyred and some others injured in Saudi air raids on a market in the province of Ta'iz.

http://english.irib.ir/news/world/west-asia/item/218701-saudi-warplanes-target-a-mosque-in-yemen

16.11.2015 – Fars News

Al-Qaeda Ringleaders Killed in Eastern, Southern Yemen

"The Yemeni revolutionary committees targeted one of al-Qaeda bases in Ma'rib with advanced missiles, destroyed the base and killed 8 Takfiri terrorists affiliated to al-Qaeda," Hossein al-Houthi, one of Ansarullah commanders, told FNA on Monday.

"Abu Omar, the Saudi ringleader of al-Qaeda, in Ma'rib province was also seen among the dead bodies," he added.

Also in the Southern province of Taiz, the Yemeni forces killed Yousef al-Bukari, nicknamed Abu Khattab, in al- Dhubab region during anti-terrorism operations.

Latest reports from Yemen also said that Ansarullah fighters took more territories in Southern Yemen from the Saudi-backed militants.

Ansarullah fighters, backed by the Yemeni military, clashed with militants loyal to the fugitive former president, Abd Rabbuh Mansour Hadi in the province of Lahij, killing four militants and injuring five others.

Ansarullah fighters also took the strategic areas of Dhubab and Bab el-Mandeb from the Saudi-backed militants, and forced them to retreat to some regions in Lahij.

The Yemeni forces also cleared some areas in the provinces of Dhale and Ta'iz from the Saudi-backed militants.

The Yemeni army also destroyed a Saudi armored vehicle in Ta'iz province.

Meanwhile, Yemen's army and popular committees fired mortar shells at the Saudi border city of Najran, and destroyed a number of armored vehicles near a military base.

http://english.farsnews.com/newstext.aspx?nn=13940825000293

Kommentar: Beide Seiten vermelden wieder ihre Erfolge. Das ist wirklich alles aus demselben Krieg?

16.11.2015 – Fars News

Yemeni Forces Block Saudi Forces' Movement in Ta'iz Province

The Yemeni army and popular forces managed to stop the Saudi-led forces from launching fresh military operations in the Western parts of Ta'iz on Monday in heavy fighting underway in the province.

The Saudi-led forces tried to enter the region of al-Wazaya in Western Ta'iz province from four directions, but they were forcefully pushed back by the Yemeni forces.

Tribal residents of the province said the Yemeni forces inflicted heavy losses on the Saudi-led forces in the heavy clashes.

In response to Saudi Arabia's continued aggression, the Yemeni forces fired rockets and artillery shells at the Saudi military bases in the kingdom's border regions of Jizan, Asir and Najran on Sunday.

The Yemeni forces fired rockets at the military base of Rajla in Najran.

The Yemeni forces also fired rockets and artillery shells at the Ain al-Harra military base. The military base of al-Ramla in Jizan was also targeted in the retaliatory attack.

Several military vehicles were destroyed and a number of Saudi soldiers were killed in an artillery attack on al-Rabuah government building in Asir.

Meanwhile, Yemen’s Army Spokesman Sharaf Luqman on Sunday vowed to continue retaliatory attacks against the Saudi border regions of Asir, Jizan and Najran until Saudi Arabia halts its unrelenting military campaign against its impoverished Arab neighbor.

http://english.farsnews.com/newstext.aspx?nn=13940825001509

16.11.2015 – Gulf News

Coalition forces capture vital Yemen area

http://www.pressreader.com/uae/gulf-news/20151116/281479275310021/TextView

16.11.2015 – Haberler

Saudi-Led Coalition Pounds Houthis İn Yemen's Taiz

Coalition reportedly sends ground reinforcements from Aden in advance of fresh push on Houthi held Taiz.

An Arab coalition led by Saudi Arabia on Monday carried out intensive airstrikes on several positions held by the Shia Houthi militant group in Yemen's southwestern Taiz province.

According to local residents, Monday's airstrikes coincided with the deployment of army reinforcements from the southern Aden province -- captured by government forces earlier this year -- in advance of a fresh push on Taiz.

For the last several months, Taiz has been held by the Houthis and allied forces loyal to former President Ali Abdullah Saleh

Local residents told an Anadolu Agency correspondent that Houthi positions in the east and west of the province had recently been subjected to "unprecedented" airstrikes by coalition warplanes.

They also reported hearing loud explosions in the Al-Waziyah area to the west of the city, which they believed had been caused by the destruction of Houthi arms depots.

According to residents, airstrikes targeted a number of Houthi and pro-Saleh positions in the Al-Hasab district, inside Taiz University -- which has been used as a barracks by the Houthis and their allies -- and the Taiz International Airport.

On Sunday night, Saudi-led coalition warplanes also struck Houthi positions in the Al-Sallal foothills in eastern Taiz and the Al-Rahidh and Al-Misrakh directorates in the province's south.

A leader of the so-called "popular resistance" forces, which support Saudi-backed President ABD Rabbo Mansour Hadi, asserted earlier that "the zero-hour for the battle for the full liberation of Taiz province is close at hand".

Requesting anonymity, he told Anadolu Agency that substantial military reinforcements from the Saudi-led coalition had arrived to the outskirts of Taiz Sunday evening with a view to "lifting the siege imposed several months ago by the Houthis and pro-Saleh forces".

A security source, meanwhile, who likewise requested anonymity, told Anadolu Agency that tanks, armored vehicles and minesweepers had arrived at the borders of Taiz from the south.

http://en.haberler.com/saudi-led-coalition-pounds-houthis-in-yemen-s-taiz-840378/

16.11.2015 – AFP

Saudi-led forces advance towards Yemen’s besieged Taez

Saudi-led coalition forces advanced on Monday towards Yemen’s third city Taez after sending major reinforcements in a bid to break a months-long siege by Iran-backed militias, military officials said.

The move comes ahead of an expected offensive to retake the city, seen as a gateway to controlling the rebel-held capital, said the Yemeni officials.

Armored demining vehicles and other reinforcements arrived in the Shuraija region, between the loyalist-controlled Lahej province and Taez in the southwest, said officials in the main southern city of Aden.

Sudanese forces from the strategic al-Anad airbase in Lahej are taking part in the Taez operations, according to the sources.

Taez has seen heavy fighting in recent months between the Shiite Houthi rebels and forces loyal to President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi.

http://english.alarabiya.net/en/News/middle-east/2015/11/16/Saudi-led-forces-advance-towards-Yemen-s-besieged-Taez.html siehe auch http://news.yahoo.com/saudi-led-forces-advance-towards-yemens-besieged-taez-093251176.html

Huthis

16.11.2015 – Alsahwa

Demands to release nine Yemen journalists

A press release issued by the families of nine Yemeni journalists who have been abducted by Houthi militias

We were shocked as the guards of the Nokom Reserve Prison in the capital Sana’a informed us that they have “higher orders” which ban the visit of our relatives who have been abducted by Houthi militias since June 9th .

The journalists were enforcedly disappeared and we did not know the destination of their incarceration until the beginning of last September.

In fact, we have not known so far the reasons behind the abduction of our relatives Abdul-KhaliqEmran, Tawfeeq al-Mansouri, Akram al-Waleed, EssamBelghaith, Hassan Annab, HishamTarmoom, Hisham al-Yousifi, Haitham al-Shihab and Harith Hameed. Moreover, we do not know why we are not allowed to visit them.

We express our deep concern over physical and psychological torture and mistreatment practiced by Houthi militias against the nine journalists.

We appeal to the local and international human rights organizations and the United Nation envoy to Yemen EsamailOuldCheikh to immediately intervene and help us to release the journalists.

We highly appreciate efforts exerted by journalists, activists and civil society organizations in order to release our relatives

http://www.alsahwa-yemen.net/print.aspx?id=49560

Das ist auch eine mögliche Quelle für die Waffen der Huthis:

17.3.2015 – Washington Post

Pentagon loses track of $500 million in weapons, equipment given to Yemen

The Pentagon is unable to account for more than $500 million in U.S. military aid given to Yemen, amid fears that the weaponry, aircraft and equipment is at risk of being seized by Iranian-backed rebels or al-Qaeda, according to U.S. officials.

With Yemen in turmoil and its government splintering, the Defense Department has lost its ability to monitor the whereabouts of small arms, ammunition, night-vision goggles, patrol boats, vehicles and other supplies donated by the United States. The situation has grown worse since the United States closed its embassy in Sanaa, the capital, last month and withdrew many of its military advisers.

“We have to assume it’s completely compromised and gone,” said a legislative aide on Capitol Hill who spoke on the condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the matter – by Craig Witlock

https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/pentagon-loses-sight-of-500-million-in-counterterrorism-aid-given-to-yemen/2015/03/17/f4ca25ce-cbf9-11e4-8a46-b1dc9be5a8ff_story.html

11.2.2015 – Washington Times

Yemen’s Houthi rebels seize U.S. Marines’ weapons at airport

Yemen’s Houthi rebels seized weapons from U.S. Marines as well as several vehicles used by Americans stationed at the now-closed U.S. Embassy in Sana’a. It wasn’t immediately clear what types of weapons and vehicles were seized. An unidentified Sana'a airport official confirmed that the rebel forces took control of the U.S. Embassy vehicles, which were parked at the airport, United Press International reported. The same official also said that the Houthi rebels seized several weapons used by U.S. Marines who were trying to abide by a White House order and leave the country.

http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2015/feb/11/yemen-houthi-rebels-seize-us-marines-weapons/ = http://www.mareeg.com/eyemanhouthi-rebels-seize-u-s-marines-weapons-at/

Südjemen / Southern Yemen

17.11.2015 – Fars News

Heavy Infighting Erupts among Saudi-Backed Forces in Aden over Hadi's Return

Heavy infighting has erupted among the coalition troops and the Saudi-backed militias and terrorists in Aden after fugitive president Mansour Hadi returned to the port city in Southern Yemen, independent sources revealed on Tuesday, adding that Hadi will most likely return to Saudi Arabia for fear of his life.

"After Hadi's visit to Aden province and his residence at the Saudi consulate in Aden, heavy clashes erupted between the Saudi and UAE military men and the (Saudi-backed al-Qaeda and ISIL) militias in the province," a member of Aden's al-Tahrir Front, Hosham Abdolnour, told FNA on Tuesday.

Noting that tens of Saudi and UAE forces were killed and wounded in the conflicts, he said, "The situation in Aden is very critical and the latest reports say Hadi will leave Aden for Saudi Arabia in coming hours."

Earlier this month, sources in Yemen disclosed that Riyadh has transferred control over Yemen's strategic Southern port city of Aden to its sponsored Takfiri terrorist groups, mainly ISIL.

Sources in Southern Yemen's Protest Campaign revealed deployment of armed Takfiris in different parts of Aden and their Saudi-backed move to control the military and security headquarters.

A number of Southern Yemen's Protest Campaign leaders told Al-Mayadeen news channel that Saudi Arabia supports the ISIL-affiliated terrorists in Aden financially and logistically to deploy their forces in different parts of the city based on an agreement made after secret meetings between commanders of the Saudi-led coalition and Takfiri leaders earlier this month.

Based on the report, the situation in the Southern province of Ta'iz is not much different from Aden and Saudi Arabia is supporting the Takfiris in that region too to persuade them to fight alongside the forces loyal to Mansour Hadi, the fugitive Yemeni president.

Earlier reports in September also said that Saudi Arabia had promised to pay $1mln to its mercenaries in Yemen if they conquer the entire province of Aden.

"The militias of (fugitive president) Mansour Hadi who are supported by the al-Saud have forced the residents of Aden to leave the city through their terrorist attacks," the preacher of Aden's main mosque told FNA.

The preacher added that the attacks are the result of Riyadh's promise that "if its mercenaries in Aden win full control over the province, they will be paid a one-million-dollar reward".

http://english.farsnews.com/newstext.aspx?nn=13940826001407

Kommentar: Großes Chaos im “befreiten” Südjemen.

17.11.2015 – Al Araby

Yemen President returns to Aden to oversee Taiz 'liberation'

Yemen's president returned to Aden on Tuesday from exile in Saudi Arabia, a day after a military offensive was launched against the Houthi rebels, a presidential source said.

After landing in the provisional capital, Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi went straight to the palace to "supervise" the offensive, which is aimed at retaking rebel-controlled Taiz province.

His return comes just days after his prime minister, Khaled Bahah, announced the government's return to the war-torn country.

The president has tried to return before.

In September, after six months exile in Saudi Arabia, Hadi and Bahah returned to Aden but had to go back to Riyadh after a deadly attack on the provisional seat of government in a hotel.

http://www.alaraby.co.uk/english/news/2015/11/17/yemen-president-returns-to-aden-to-oversee-taiz-liberation see also http://www.christiantoday.com/article/yemen.exiled.president.returns.to.worst.humanitarian.crisis.in.the.world/70846.htm

17.11.2015 – Tagesschau

Staatschef Hadi wieder im Jemen: Geflohener Präsident zurück aus dem Exil

Im März war Jemens Präsident Hadi vor den Huthi-Rebellen ins Exil geflohen. Nun ist er aus Saudi-Arabien in die jemenitische Hafenstadt Aden zurückgekehrt - und will von dort offenbar eine Offensive seiner Regierungstruppen koordinieren.

Nach acht Monaten im Exil ist Jemens Präsident Abdrabbo Mansour Hadi in das Bürgerkriegsland zurückgekehrt. Wie ein Vertreter der Präsidentschaft mitteilte, landete Hadi aus Saudi-Arabien kommend auf dem Flughafen von Aden und begab sich sofort zum Präsidentenpalast. Hadi wolle die am Montag gestartete Offensive der Regierungstruppen zur Rückeroberung der südwestlichen Provinz Taes beaufsichtigen.

Hadi hatte sich bereits im September ein paar Tage in Aden aufgehalten. Der Präsident war im März nach Saudi-Arabien geflohen, nachdem schiitische Huthi-Rebellen den Präsidentenpalast in der Hauptstadt Sanaa gestürmt hatten.

http://www.tagesschau.de/ausland/jemen-hadi-exil-101.html

16.11.2015 – Aljazeera

Yemen authorities tell Aden: Put down your guns

Unrest and violence in Yemen's second city has spurred authorities to clamp down on arms ownership.

In the streets of Aden, people have many reasons to be sceptical about the government's ability to restore peace to the battered city.

Al-Qaeda and Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) fighters, who went unnoticed in the past, are now audaciously driving their armed vehicles around the city, passing army checkpoints.

"There is no one force to say it is in full control of the entire city," Mohammed Haidan, a resident of Aden's Sheikh Othman district, told Al Jazeera. "In Aden, there are all kinds of militants."

Haidan is, nonetheless, optimistic, saying that "a strong state can purge them from the city".

In a move aimed to improve security in Yemen's second city, government forces have begun carrying out a long-awaited plan to clamp down on the proliferation of armaments.

According to security officials, the plan includes a week-long awareness campaign to convince people to keep their guns at home, the setting-up of more checkpoints, absorbing local militiamen who fought the Houthis into the army and raiding rebels' hiding places in the city. The United Arab Emirates, which has a strong military presence in the area, will fund the plan.

Brigadier-General Mohammed Mousaed, Aden's security chief, told Al Jazeera on Monday that the plan would include the setting-up of more checkpoints manned by anti-Houthi militias, pro-government members of the Yemeni army, and soldiers from the coalition of Arab countries supporting Yemen's government against the Houthis.

"We have received solemn directives from the governor of Aden to confiscate arms. We want to make the city a paragon of modernisation," Mousaed said.

Meanwhile, Aden residents have complained that armed groups sometimes suddenly clash with one another in the streets and go unpunished when they kill civilians.

Locals say they will continue to feel nervous about security until the exiled government resumes its duties in Aden.

"We feel scared about security lapses like sudden arbitrary shootings," said Saleh Khaled, a teaching assistant at Aden University, who lives in Aden's Khormaksar district.

"The level of arms possession is unprecedented, especially among young people. Checkpoints are everywhere, but armed men go unchecked. We are used to hearing skirmishes between armed groups, especially at midnight." – by Saeed Al Batati

http://www.aljazeera.com/news/2015/11/yemen-authorities-aden-put-guns-151116070052896.html

UNO und Friedensverhandlungen / UN and peace talks

16.11.2015– Middle East Monitor

Houthis: Attacks will not stop before coalition strikes cease

Houthi militants in Yemen announced yesterday that they would not stop their “operations inside Saudi Arabia” before the Saudi-led coalition stops its strikes in Yemen, the group’s military spokesman announced.

The spokesman Brigadier General Sharaf Ghalib Luqman said: “The operations of the army and the popular committees in Jizan, Aseer and Najran are continuous and will not stop except after the Saudi aggression on Yemen stops.”

From time to time, Houthis and their allies launch RPG and mortar attacks at sites along the Saudi border; mainly in Jizan and Aseer.

Speaking to a Yemeni news agency run by the Houthis, Luqman said: “Hundreds of Saudi officers were killed and tens of vehicles were destroyed last week, but Saudi imposes a news blackout on its losses in order to keep maintain the spirits of its soldiers.”

https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/news/middle-east/22315-houthis-attacks-will-not-stop-before-coalition-strikes-cease

Commentary: Much as I hate all war, this statement does not sound unreasonable. There has been little international coverage of the Yemen war, and none of the attacks inside Saudi Arabia, and it is difficult to assess exactly what is going in Saudi Arabia on as in war all sides tend to use propaganda and exaggerate their own successes and downplay successes of the other side. But I know there are attacks inside Saudi,and it seems like war to me - if you attack me, I'll attack you. If Saudi wants to stop the attacks, they have a simple solution.

https://www.facebook.com/yemennewstodayenglish/posts/1055853061233851

16.11.2015 – Press TV Iran

UN draft proposal on Yemen crisis flawed: Ansarullah

The spokesman of Yemen's Ansarullah movement says a draft proposal put forth by the United Nations (UN) to end the crisis in the country is flawed.

Mohammed Abdulsalam said Monday that the UN proposal for a fresh round of negotiations between Yemeni groups only includes the mechanism of the talks and does not address the main crisis in the Arab country and the chief reasons behind it.

Earlier this month, the United Nations special envoy to Yemen Ismail Ould Cheikh Ahmed said that the talks between members of the Yemeni Ansarullah Houthi movement and the government of Yemen’s fugitive former President Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi would begin by mid-November. However, the negotiations have yet not been held.

The UN special envoy added that he was working with a team to “reach an agreement on the date... and the subjects that will be discussed within the context of the UN Security Council Resolution 2216.”

Abdulsalam said that the draft proposal does not include political solutions to end the conflict in Yemen. It also does not include the issue of elections or the fight against Daesh Takfiri terrorists.

Furthermore, he said the UN draft proposal does not cover a seven-point plan put forth by Ansarullah and Yemen's General People's Congress in the Omani capital, Muscat, in July.

http://presstv.ir/Detail/2015/11/16/437872/Yemen-Ansarullah-Abdulsalam-UN-Ould-Cheikh = http://en.abna24.com/service/middle-east-west-asia/archive/2015/11/16/720153/story.html

Saudi-Arabien / Saudi Arabia

12.11.2015 – The Nation

The Saudis Are Stumbling. They May Take the Middle East with Them.

America’s leading Sunni ally is proving how easily hubris, delusion, and old-fashioned ineptitude can trump even bottomless wealth.

Today that circumspect diplomacy [of the Saudis] is in ruins, and the House of Saud looks more vulnerable than it has since the country was founded in 1926. Unraveling the reasons for the current train wreck is a study in how easily hubris, delusion, and old-fashioned ineptness can trump even bottomless wealth.

The kingdom’s first stumble was a strategic decision last fall to undermine competitors by scaling up its oil production and thus lowering the global price.

The price of oil dropped from $115 a barrel in June 2014 to around $44 today. While it costs less than $10 to produce a barrel of Saudi oil, the Saudis need a price between $95 and $105 to balance their budget. The country’s leaders, who figured that oil wouldn’t fall below $80 a barrel—and then only for a few months—are now burning through their foreign reserves to make up the difference.

When the Arab Spring broke out in 2011, Saudi Arabia headed it off by pumping $130 billion into the economy, raising wages, improving services, and providing jobs for its growing population. Saudi Arabia has one of the youngest populations in the Middle East, many of whom are unemployed and poorly educated. Some 25 percent of the population lives in poverty. Money keeps the lid on, but—even with the heavy-handed repression that characterizes Saudi political life—for how long?

Meanwhile they’re racking up bills with ill-advised foreign interventions. In March, the kingdom intervened in Yemen’s civil conflict, launching an air war, a naval blockade, and partial ground campaign on the pretense that Iran was behind one of the war’s factions—a conclusion not even the Americans agree with.

Again, the Saudis miscalculated. In part, the kingdom’s hubris was fed by the illusion that US support would make it a short war. As the Saudis are finding out, war is a very expensive business—a burden they could meet under normal circumstances, but not when the price of the kingdom’s only commodity, oil, is plummeting.

Nor is Yemen the only war that the Saudis are involved in. Riyadh, along with Qatar and the United Arab Emirates, are underwriting many of the groups trying to overthrow Syrian president Bashar al-Assad. When anti-government demonstrations broke out there in 2011, the Saudis—along with the Americans and the Turks—calculated that Assad could be toppled in a few months. But that was magical thinking.

The Saudis goal of isolating Iran, meanwhile, is rapidly collapsing. The P5+1—the United States, China, Russia, Great Britain, France, and Germany—successfully completed a nuclear agreement with Tehran.

Stymied in Syria, mired down in Yemen, and its finances increasingly fragile, the kingdom also faces internal unrest from its long marginalized Shia minority in the country’s east and south.

Some of these missteps can be laid at the feet of the new king, Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud, and of a younger, more aggressive generation of Saudis he’s appointed to key positions. But Saudi Arabia’s troubles are also a reflection of a Middle East in transition. Exactly where it’s headed is by no means clear, but change is in the wind.

Saudi Arabia, on the other hand, is impaled on its own policies, both foreign and domestic. However, the House of Saud has little choice but to keep pumping oil to pay for its wars and keep the internal peace. Yet more production drives down prices even further. And once the sanctions come off Iran, the oil glut will become worse.

While it’s still immensely wealthy, there are lots of bills coming due. It’s not clear the kingdom has the capital or the ability to meet them – by Conn Hallinan

http://www.thenation.com/article/the-saudis-are-stumbling-they-may-take-the-middle-east-with-them/

USA

17.11.2015 – Vice News

Civilian Deaths in Yemen Won’t Stop A Billion Dollar US Arms Deal With Saudi Arabia

The US State Department has signed off on the sale of $1.29 billion worth of weaponry to Saudi Arabia, including tens of thousands of bombs that will restock a Saudi arms stockpile depleted by the country's air campaign in Yemen, which has been linked to civilian deaths.

Human rights groups have repeatedly criticized Washington's support for the Saudi-led intervention in Yemen, where the UN says coalition airstrikes have killed more than 1,000 civilians. Monday's announced deal, which still requires rubber stamping from Congress, indicates those concerns have had little effect on weapons sales.

In justifying the sale, the State Department's Defense Security Cooperation Agency (DSCA) said approval would "replenish" the stockpiles of the Saudi air force and allow it to "meet current and future threats from potential adversaries during combat operations." The weapons, said the DSCA, would also help to "safeguard the world's largest oil reserves."

The billion dollar deal includes 22,000 smart and general purpose bombs, including models that have been deployed in Yemen. The package includes 8,000 unguided MK-82 "dumb bombs," 1,000 GBU-10 Paveway II Laser Guided Bombs, and more than 5,000 kits that can turn common munitions into ones equipped to use GPS guidance for precision strikes.

According to the Congressional Research Service, the US has sold more than $90 billion in armaments and weapons systems to Saudi Arabia since 2010. Washington has expedited arms sales to the Kingdom since July's Iranian nuclear deal, which Saudi Arabia and other Sunni Gulf countries opposed.

" Sunjeev Bery, Middle East and North Africa director at Amnesty, said: "The Obama administration is now selling to Saudi Arabia even more of the MK-82 bombs that the Saudi-led coalition has already used to kill civilians in Yemen."Asked about how the weapons might be deployed, including in Yemen, a State Department official said to talk to the Saudis.

"While we defer to Saudi authorities to speak to both proposed delivery timelines and eventual tactical uses for these munitions, this notification speaks to both long-standing and ongoing US commitment to security in the Gulf region," said the official, who would only speak anonymously because they weren't authorized to discuss the sale with the press.

Echoing a view that multiple American officials and spokespeople have expressed to VICE News in recent months, the official said the US had "asked the Saudi government to investigate all credible reports of civilian casualties resulting from coalition-led airstrikes and, if confirmed, to address the factors that led to them." – by Samuel Oakford

https://news.vice.com/article/civilian-deaths-in-yemen-wont-stop-a-billion-dollar-us-arms-deal-with-saudi-arabia

17.11.2015 – Handelsblatt

Ein Bomben-Deal im Jemen

Die USA verkaufen für 1,3 Milliarden Dollar (rund 1,2 Milliarden Euro) Bombenmaterial an Saudi-Arabien. Die Regierung in Washington habe grünes Licht für den Deal gegeben, teilte das US-Außenministerium am Montag mit. Durch die Lieferungen, die unter anderem lasergelenkte Bomben umfassen, würden die Waffenarsenale für saudi-arabische Anti-Terror-Operationen „wiederaufgefüllt.“

Über den Waffendeal mit Riad wurde der US-Kongress informiert, der ein 30-tägiges Moratorium zum Rüstungsgeschäft verfügte. Wann genau die Bomben an Saudi-Arabien ausgeliefert werden, ist unklar.

http://www.handelsblatt.com/politik/international/saudi-arabien-und-usa-ein-bomben-deal-im-jemen/12598848.html

16.11.2015 – Mother Jones

We Just Sold Another Billion Dollars Worth of Weapons to Our Frenemies in Saudi Arabia

s part of its ongoing effort to promote "stability within the region," the United States inked another giant arms deal with the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia on Monday. This one was for more than 10,000 advanced air-to-surface munitions like laser-guided bombs, "bunker buster" bombs, and MK84 general purpose bombs—which the Saudis have been raining down on Yemen since March. The deal, reached a week after members of the Gulf Cooperation Council raised concerns over its dwindling arms stockpiles and a few days after the end of the Dubai Airshow, is worth $1.29 billion.

That's a small fraction of the more than $100 billion in arms sales that Washington and Riyadh have conducted in the past five years. And it comes just over a month after a Senate panel voted to delay weapons sales to Saudi Arabia after growing concerns over its reportedly indiscriminate bombing campaign in Yemen. The conflict between the US-backed, Saudi-led coalition against antigovernment rebels has caused more than 2,300 civilian deaths, according to the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights.

The latest deal, which comes just days after the ISIS terrorist attack in Paris, highlights the Saudis' balancing act: On one hand, the ruling House of Saud is part of the coalition conducting air strikes against ISIS in Syria and Iraq, but it has also been accused of harboring funders who have given aid to ISIS as recently as the summer of 2014. And the kingdom's history of exporting its Wahhabist strain of Sunni Islam has had worldwide implications. Writing in Foreign Policy, Daniel Benjamin, a former State Department coordinator for counterterrorism, has called Wahhabism "zebra mussel, the Asian Tiger mosquito, and the emerald ash borer wrapped into one.">a devastating invasive species in Islam's enormous ecosystem—it's the zebra mussel, the Asian Tiger mosquito, and the emerald ash borer wrapped into one." He continues: "The consequences have been fateful: A solid line of causation from the slaughter in Islamic State-controlled Iraq and the tragedy of 9/11 traces back directly to Saudi evangelization and the many radical mosques and extremist NGOs it spawned."

The Saudis problematic relationship with extremism isn't news – by Bryan Schatz

http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2015/11/saudi-arabia-arms-deal-isis-yemen

16.11.2015 – Ducksoap

WELFARE STATE FOR THE ARMS INDUSTRY

War costs money, of course, and the cost is met by the tax payers of the participating states. But, it seems such a waste of money. Those missiles and bombs cost so much money to develop and to build and then BANG! they are gone.

The point is that the arms are supposed to be used up. The arms manufacturers like Lockheed Martin are not able to make continuous huge profits if they sold the weapons once; the sales must continue, repetitively. Governments must constantly imagine, create and invent reasons to facilitate the flow of taxes from the public to the grubby, grabby hands of the arms industry. New war opportunities are always sought, as is the deliberate prolonging of any existing conflicts. The demand for the supply of arms must always exist.

The structure within governments to ensure a willingness to participate in this welfare system for the arms industry is highly developed: The industry targets members of governments, such as MPs, or prospective MPs before elections, and even seeks to persuade individuals already on board to stand for election. The usefulness of these elected representatives is maintained by regular generous “donations” and, crucially, promises of lucrative consultancy posts when the political career has reached its end. Those who have already completed their political work and work as consultants are used to lobby government directly, or via a compliant media. A former politician can present her or his lobbying of government as independent, when, in fact, it is the opposite. Senior arms forces officers are targeted similarly. Many so-called “independent” analysts of armed conflict are ex-armed forces officers whose lobbying work started before they retired from the forces and continues rigorously afterward. Indeed, a promotion within the highest ranks of the armed forces is more important to the lobbying pay-grade of the officer promoted than it is to her or his greater authority and responsibility as a soldier.

https://ducksoap.wordpress.com/2015/11/16/welfare-state-for-the-arms-industry/

This fits perfectly with:

16.11.2015 – AFP

US approves $1.29bn sale of bombs to Saudi Arabia

The US government has approved a request from Saudi Arabia to buy more than 19,000 bombs and smart bombs for its air force, the State Department said Monday.

Congress will have to green light the deal, but the $1.29 billion dollar sale is likely to go through, with Saudi jets in action against rebel forces in Yemen.

The Saudi-led operation against the Huthi militia in Yemen has proved controversial, amid frequent reports of civilian casualties on the ground.

But Washington has stood by its ally, which is also a key player in the US-led coalition fighting the Islamic State jihadist group further north in Iraq and Syria.

The Defense Security Cooperation Agency said the Saudi air force's arsenal is low "due to the high operational tempo in multiple counter-terrorism operations."

The order includes 5,200 Paveway II laser-guided bombs in their GBU-10 and GBU-12 variants, along with 1,100 of the more modern, longer range GBU-24 Paveway III.

There are 12,000 general purpose bombs weighing between 500 and 2,000 pounds and 1,500 devastating 2,000-pound "bunker busters," the BLU-109 penetrator.

These are designed to smash hardened concrete structures.

In addition to the bombs themselves, the Saudis will receive thousands of "tail kits" to convert dumb munitions into satellite-guided smart bombs.

"The proposed sale augments Saudi Arabia's capability to meet current and future threats from potential adversaries during combat operations," the DSCA said.

"Providing these defense articles supports Saudi Arabian defense missions and promotes stability in the region."

http://news.yahoo.com/us-approves-1-29bn-sale-bombs-saudi-arabia-170132936.html = http://www.middleeasteye.net/news/us-approves-billion-dollar-sale-bombs-saudi-arabia-744641028

Kommentar: Das verschlägt einem die Sprache. Das sind dann genau die Bomben, mit denen der Jemen bombardiert wird. Lesenswert sind auch die Kommentare (sind ja wohl überwiegend von Amerikanern!) zu diesem Artikel.

15.11.2015 – Huffington Post

A Thought Experiment in Taking Out Wedding Parties

Try to imagine the reaction here if multiple wedding parties were being wiped out repetitively [in the USA], always in more or less the same way [as in Yemen, Afghansitan and Iraq]. I hardly need tell you what a hullabaloo would result. In this country, even single acts of horror against Americans or by those we officially loathe regularly get such attention, as with the grisly beheadings of the Islamic State. And that is certainly appropriate. Even after all these years, what still seems strange to me, however, is that we -- Washington, the media, the public -- seem so cold-bloodedly unfazed by horrors repetitively committed in our name in distant lands.

All of this came to my mind once again when TomDispatch regular Laura Gottesdiener filed her latest piece, "One Night in Kunduz, One Morning in New York," and in it I could feel -- and identify with -- her frustration over the attention we regularly don't give those we kill in our war zones – by Tom Engelhardt

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/tom-engelhardt/a-thought-experiment-in-t_b_8572002.html

15.11.2015 – Counterpunch

The Age of Despair: Reaping the Whirlwind of Western Support for Extremist Violence

We, the West, overthrew Saddam by violence. We overthrew Gaddafi by violence. We are trying to overthrow Assad by violence. Harsh regimes all — but far less draconian than our Saudi allies, and other tyrannies around the world. What has been the result of these interventions? A hell on earth, one that grows wider and more virulent year after year.

Without the American crime of aggressive war against Iraq — which, by the measurements used by Western governments themselves, left more than a million innocent people dead — there would be no ISIS, no “Al Qaeda in Iraq.” Without the Saudi and Western funding and arming of an amalgam of extremist Sunni groups across the Middle East, used as proxies to strike at Iran and its allies, there would be no ISIS. Let’s go back further. Without the direct, extensive and deliberate creation by the United States and its Saudi ally of a world-wide movement of armed Sunni extremists during the Carter and Reagan administrations, there would have been no “War on Terror” — and no terrorist attacks in Paris tonight.

Again, let’s be as clear as possible: the hellish world we live in today is the result of deliberate policies and actions undertaken by the United States and its allies over the past decades. It was Washington that led and/or supported the quashing of secular political resistance across the Middle East, in order to bring recalcitrant leaders like Nasser to heel and to back corrupt and brutal dictators who would advance the US agenda of political domination and resource exploitation.

The open history of the last half-century is very clear in this regard. Going all the way back to the overthrow of the democratic government of Iran in 1953, the United States has deliberately and consciously pushed the most extreme sectarian groups in order to undermine a broader-based secular resistance to its domination agenda.

Why bring up this “ancient history” when fresh blood is running in the streets of Paris? Because that blood would not be running if not for this ancient history; and because the reaction to this latest reverberations of Washington’s decades-long, bipartisan cultivation of religious extremism will certainly be more bloodshed, more repression and more violent intervention. Which will, in turn, inevitably, produce yet more atrocities and upheaval as we are seeing in Paris tonight.

I write in despair. Despair of course at the depravity displayed by the murderers of innocents in Paris tonight; but an even deeper despair at the depravity of the egregious murderers who have brought us to this ghastly place in human history: those gilded figures who have strode the halls of power for decades in the high chambers of the West, killing innocent people by the hundreds of thousands, crushing secular opposition to their favored dictators — and again, again and again — supporting, funding and arming some of the most virulent sectarians on earth.

And one further cause of despair: that although this historical record is there in the open, readily available from the most mainstream sources, it is and will continue to be completely ignored, both by the power-gamers and by the public. The latter will continue to support the former as they replicate and regurgitate the same old policies of intervention, the same old agendas of domination and greed, over and over and over again — creating ever-more fresh hells for us all to live in, and poisoning the lives of our children, and of all those who come after us – by Chris Floyd

http://www.counterpunch.org/2015/11/13/the-age-of-despair-reaping-the-whirlwind-of-western-support-for-extremist-violence/

Großbritannien / Great Britain

29.5.2015 – Huffington Post

The UK is Complicit in the Destruction of Yemen

The bombardment has been supported by the US and the UK, with both governments giving political and military support to the Saudi regime. The bombing is being done with war planes from both countries; with US made F-15s and UK produced Typhoons being used throughout. On top of that the Obama administration has provided logistical support and intelligence, while, in the UK, Defence Secretary Philip Hammond pledged to “support the Saudis in every practical way short of engaging in combat.”

Unfortunately this isn’t the first time UK aircraft have been used against Yemen.Research from Amnesty International shows that UK weapons were very likely to have been used by Saudi Arabia in the 2009 bombing too.

One factor that has driven support for the Saudi bombing is the close political and military relationship that both countries enjoys with the regime. Saudi Arabia is the biggest buyer of UK weapons; with the Coalition government alone having licensed£3.9 billion of arms to the Kingdom. In fact, recent reports show that Saudi Arabia has twice as many UK-made war planes available as the RAF.

Saudi Arabia has already used UK weapons in Bahrain to suppress protest, but the character of the regime is also evident in its appalling human rights record. This week it has been advertising to find eight new executioners, with state killings doubling this year alone.

Weapons fuel conflict, exacerbate tensions and are impossible to control when they enter a war zone; only a few months ago the Pentagon lost large quantities of weapons to the Houthis. Further than that, there cannot be a military solution to the conflict, there can only be a political one, and that becomes more distant with every bullet that is fired or bomb that is dropped.

The bottom line is that as long as the Saudi campaign has the political and military support of some of the most powerful Western nations then the destruction will continue. The activities of governments like the UK are only making the chances of peace, especially long-term peace, even more remote, and as the violence continues it is Yemeni citizens who will continue to pay the price – by Andrew Smith

http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/andrew-smith/the-uk-is-complicit-in-th_b_7467976.html = http://www.makewarshistory.co.uk/?p=1760

Eritrea

16.1.2015 – Sokolako

Eritrea: Ethiopia Accuses Asmara Over Yemen Crisis

Recent reports show that Eritrea is officially involved in the Yemeni crisis allowing the Saudi-led Arab coalition to use its Assab port, airspace and territorial waters in fighting the Houthi rebels.

A high official from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ethiopia, who wants to remain anonymous, told The Reporter that the move could easily be manipulated to jeopardize the security situation in the Horn of Africa.

“The Ethiopian government has been closely following the developments in Yemen and Eritrea’s recent involvement,” he stressed.

The news comes after the UN Monitoring Group on Somalia and Eritrea reported that Saudi Arabia and the UAE made the deal with Eritrea after neighboring Djibouti rejected the proposal. The arrangement would allow the coalition to use Eritrea’s land to establish a military base instead of fighting on Yemeni soil. Eritrea’s support also includes sending over 400 soldiers to join the Emirati contingent forces in fighting against the strong Houthi forces.

It was also reported that Eritrea will receive fuel and financial compensation in return. The UN fears the agreement may violate the Security Council resolutions, which were imposed against Eritrea in case it diverted the compensation and destabilized the horn region.

http://sokolako.com/eritrea-ethiopia-accuses-asmara-over-yemen-crisis/

Deutschland / Germany

5.11.2015 – Linksfraktion im Deutschen Bundestag

Kleine Anfrage

der Abgeordneten Sevim Dağdelen, Wolfgang Gehrcke, Annette Groth, Inge Höger, Heike Hänsel, Andrej Hunko, Alexander Ulrich und der Fraktion DIE LINKE.

Wir fragen die Bundesregierung:

1. Hat die Bundesregierung gegenüber der saudi-arabischen Staatsführung beziehungsweise der saudischen Königsfamilie interveniert, nachdem der Kronprinz von Abu Dhabi, Muhammad bin Zayid al Nahyan, geäußert hatte, dass der Jemen „vom [schiitischen] Abschaum [gereinigt]“ werden müsste (www.german-foreign-policy.com/de/fulltext/59202)? Und falls ja, wann und in welchem Rahmen?

2. Welche Erkenntnisse (auch nachrichtendienstliche) hat die Bundesregierung über den Einsatz von Patrouillen- und Grenzüberwachungsbooten aus Deutschland in Saudi-Arabien, für dessen Verkauf die Bundesregierung gebürgt hatte (spiegel.de/politik/ausland/gabriel-verteidigt-ruestungsexportund- buergschaft-fuer-saudi-arabien-a-950856.html)?

3. Welche Fälle von Brüchen des humanitären Völkerrechts durch die saudiarabisch-geführte Militärkoalition im Jemen sind der Bundesregierung bekannt (Antwort der Bundesregierung auf Frage 4, Bundestagdrucksache 18/4824)?

a) Wann und in welchem Rahmen haben sich Vertreter der Bundesregierung gegenüber Vertretern der saudi-arabisch-geführten Militärkoalition für die „Einhaltung des humanitären Völkerrechts im Jemen“ eingesetzt (Antwort der Bundesregierung auf Frage 4, Bundestagdrucksache 18/4824)?

b) Wann und in welchem Rahmen haben sich Vertreter der Bundesregierung „mit den Partnern in der EU“ gegenüber Vertretern der saudi-arabisch geführten Militärkoalition für einen „ungehinderten humanitären Zugang […] im Jemen“ eingesetzt (Antwort der Bundesregierung auf Frage 4, Bundestagdrucksache 18/4824)?

4. Welche Waffen oder Waffensysteme aus deutscher Produktion (inklusive „Eurofighter“) wurden nach Kenntnis der Bundesregierung bei der „Operation Sturm der Entschlossenheit“ (25.März 03.2015–21.April 2015) sowie der „Operation Wiederherstellung der Hoffnung“ (seit dem 22.April .2015) durch die verschiedenen Konfliktparteien eingesetzt (bitte auflisten nach Land, Konfliktpartei und Anzahl der Waffen oder Waffensysteme)?

10. Welche Erkenntnisse hat die Bundesregierung über den Mangel von 400.000 Tonnen Getreide infolge der Blockade von jemenitischen Häfen durch die saudi-arabisch-geführte Militärkoalition (sueddeutsche.de/politik/arabische-halbinsel-der-vergessene-krieg-im-jemen-1.2648591)?

11. Wann und zu welcher Gelegenheit haben sich Vertreter der Bundesregierung gegenüber Vertretern der Regierungen der saudi-arabisch-geführten Militärallianz dafür eingesetzt, dass die Blockade von jemenitischen Häfen aufgehoben wird?

12. Teilt die Bundesregierung die Einschätzung in der deutschen Presse, dass es sich bei der „Blockade Jemens zu Land, zu See und in der Luft zusammen mit dem pausenlosen Bombardement“ um eine „[völkerrechtswidrige] Kollektivstrafe gegen die [gesamte jemenitische] Bevölkerung“ handelt (sueddeutsche.de/politik/arabische-halbinsel-der-vergessene-krieg-im-jemen-1.2 648591)?

21. Bleibt die Bundesregierung auch angesichts des Krieges des Königreichs Saudi-Arabien und seiner Verbündeten gegen die Republik Jemen bei ihrer Einschätzung von Saudi-Arabiens als „einer der wichtigsten Stabilitätsanker in der Region“ (www.sueddeutsche.de/politik/streit-um-panzer-lieferungde- maizire-wuerdigt-saudi-arabien-als-stabilitaetsanker-1.1118148)?

22. Welche Erkenntnisse hat die Bundesregierung über die Bombardierung einer Hochzeitsgesellschaft im jemenitischen al-Wahga Ende September durch die Luftstreitkräfte der saudi-arabisch-geführten Militärkoalition (www.theguar dian.com/world/2015/sep/28/saudi-led-airstrikes-hit-yemen-weddingparty)? a) Wie viele Opfer hat dieser Luftschlag gefordert (www.cbc.ca/news/ world/yemen-air-strike-wedding-party-1.3248095)? b) Wer hat diesen Luftschlag ausgeführt angesichts der Behauptungen saudiarabischer Offizielle, dass dies nicht die Militärkoalition war (www.al jazeera.com/news/2015/10/deadly-air-strike-reported-yemen-weddingparty- 151008073704528.html)?

23. Inwieweit hat die Bundesregierung Kenntnisse (auch nachrichtendienstliche), dass im Jemen ein Krankenhaus von „Ärzte ohne Grenzen“ in der Provinz Saada bei einem gezielten Luftangriff des von Saudi-Arabien angeführten Bündnisses bombardiert und mehrmals getroffen wurde, so dass das Krankenhaus vollständig zerstört und mehrere Menschen verletzt wurden (www.spiegel.de/politik/ausland/jemen-krankenhaus-von-aerzte-ohne-grenzen-bombardiert-a-1059873.html)?

24. Inwieweit betrachtet die Bundesregierung nach ihrer Kenntnis diesen gezielten Angriff des von Saudi-Arabien angeführten Bündnisses auf ein Krankenhaus von „Ärzte ohne Grenzen“ in der Provinz Saada als Kriegsverbrechen?

25. Hat sich die Bundesregierung dafür eingesetzt, dass dieser gezielte Angriff des von Saudi-Arabien angeführten Bündnisses auf ein Krankenhaus von „Ärzte ohne Grenzen“ in der Provinz Saada unabhängig untersucht und geahndet wird bzw. wird sie das tun? Wen nein, warum nicht?

26. Inwieweit trifft es nach Kenntnis der Bundesregierung zu, dass seit das von Saudi-Arabien angeführte Bündnis im März mit Luftangriffen auf Jemen begann, bereits mehr als 5.000 Menschen bei den Angriffen getötet wurden, unter ihnen 2.300 Zivilisten (ipsnews.de/index.php/news/679-jemen-un-be reitet-friedensverhandlungen-zwischen-buergerkriegsparteien-vor)?

28. Sieht die Bundesregierung einen Zusammenhang zwischen dem menschenverachtenden Vorgehen des wahabitischen Königshauses Saudi-Arabiens gegen die schiitische Minderheit im eigenen Land, so wie es sich im Todesurteil gegen den zur angeblichen Tatzeit 17-jährigen Oppositionellen Ali al-Nimr, der geköpft und gekreuzigt werden soll, und der Bombardierung des Jemen, dessen neue Regierung sich explizit gegen eine Diskriminierung und Unterdrückung von Schiiten durch salafistische Terrorbanden erklärt hat (www.spiegel.de/politik/ausland/saudi-arabien-will-ali-al-nimr-koepfen-undkreuzigen- a-1054464.html)? http://dip21.bundestag.de/dip21/btd/18/066/1806637.pdf

Kommentar: Sehr interessante Fragen! Auf die Antworten darf man gespannt sein. Im Vorspann wird die Lage im Jemen geschildert. Das Dokument ist voller Verweise auf Internetseiten.

Propaganda

16.11.2015 – Propagandaschau

Qualitätsjournalismus im WDR: “Saudi-Arabien bekämpft im Jemen al-Kaida”

WDR5 Scala 16.11.2015 (mp3) : “Im Jemen fliegen saudi-arabische Kampfjets immer wieder Angriffe auf Stellungen von al-Kaida. Die sogenannte Golf-Allianz mit westlicher Beteiligung unterstützt die Angriffe logistisch…”

Peinlich, beschämend und aufschlussreich zugleich. In Wahrheit ist al-Kaida natürlich ein saudisches Gewächs und die Bombardements der in den USA erworbenen Kampfjets und der dort ausgebildeten saudischen Piloten nützen vor allem dem al-Kaida-Zweig auf der arabischen Halbinsel (AQAP).

https://propagandaschau.wordpress.com/2015/11/16/qualitaetsjournalismus-im-wdr-saudi-arabien-bekaempft-im-jemen-al-kaida/comment-page-1/#comment-65463

Kommentar: Das ist wahrscheinlich der absolute Tiefpunkt der bisher dokumentierten „Berichterstattung“ über den Jemen überhaupt.

Terrorismus / Terrorism

17.11.2015 – Hintergrund

Paris: Terror is coming home

Seit acht Monaten führt die vom Westen unterstützte und von Saudi-Arabien angeführte Allianz einen Krieg gegen das arabische Land. Ein Krieg, der nach UN-Angaben zehn Prozent der rund 26 Millionen Jemeniten zu Flüchtlingen, und achtzig Prozent der Einwohner zu Hungerleidern gemacht hat. Ein Krieg, in dem die AQAP-Dschihadisten de-facto als Verbündete der Allianz agieren.

Im Windschatten ihrer militärischen Offensive konnte das Terrornetzwerk weite Teile des Jemen unter seine Kontrolle bringen, denn die Dschihadisten und die saudische Kriegsallianz haben einen stillschweigenden Pakt geschlossen und behelligen einander nicht.

„Warum sollten die Saudis sie (gemeint ist AQAP, Anm. d. Red.) angreifen, wenn sie in diesem Krieg doch tatsächlich auf derselben Seite kämpfen“, zitiert die Washington Post einen jemenitischen Geheimdienstler. (1)

Nachdem die Bodentruppen der Allianz die Huthi-Rebellen im Juli aus der Hafenstadt Aden vertreiben hatten, marschierten dort die al-Qaida-Kämpfer ein, und nahmen mehrere Bezirke der Stadt in Beschlag – über vielen öffentlichen Gebäuden weht nun ihre schwarze Fahne. Die gesamte Stadt droht nun in ihre Hände zu fallen. Auch der „Islamische Staat“ wird immer stärker.

Anders als in Syrien haben die al-Qaida-Kämpfer und der IS im Jemen „ihre Differenzen beiseite gelegt, um ihren gemeinsamen Feind zu bekämpfen, die schiitischen Huthi-Rebellen“, berichtete die BBC vor zwei Monaten. Der britische Sender stellte zudem fest: „Ironischerweise werden sie unterstützt von Luftschlägen derselben Länder – Saudi-Arabien und die Vereinigten Arabischen Emirate – die ihnen normalerweise feindlich gegenüber stehen“ (2)

Die saudische Regierung und ihre westlichen Partner betrachten die Huthi-Rebellen als Verbündeten Irans. Um den Einfluss des persischen Landes zu untergraben, nehmen sie dafür – ähnlich wie in Syrien – die Zerstörung des Jemen sowie die mit ihrem Handeln verbundene Stärkung al-Qaidas und des „Islamischen Staates“ in Kauf – von Sebastian Range

http://www.hintergrund.de/201511173751/politik/welt/paris-terror-is-coming-home.html

(1) https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/quietly-al-qaeda-offshoots-expand-in-yemen-and-syria/2015/06/04/9575a240-0873-11e5-951e-8e15090d64ae_story.html
(2) http://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-34115952

Neue Artikel zum Nachlesen 1-50: / Yemen Press reader 1-50:

https://www.freitag.de/autoren/dklose oder / or

http://poorworld.net/YemenWar.htm

Dieser Beitrag gibt die Meinung des Autors wieder, nicht notwendigerweise die der Redaktion des Freitag.
Geschrieben von

Dietrich Klose

Vielfältig interessiert am aktuellen Geschehen, zur Zeit besonders: Ukraine, Russland, Jemen, Rolle der USA, Neoliberalismus, Ausbeutung der 3. Welt

Dietrich Klose

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