https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/60/Destroyed_house_in_the_south_of_Sanaa_12-6-2015-1.jpg
Zerstörtes Haus im Süden von Sanaa, 12.6.2015. Foto: Ibrahem Qasim. License: CC BY-SA 4.0.
Allgemeines
Jemen-Blog (auf Französisch)
http://www.jacques-tourtaux.com/blog/yemen/
8.8.2015 – taz
Das Erbe früherer Kriege
In Aden, der ehemaligen Hauptstadt des Südjemen, der sich 1990 mit dem Norden vereinte, hat dies [die erbitterten Kämpfe gegen die Huthis] zu einer weiteren Radikalisierung der schon seit einigen Jahren die Unabhängigkeit vom Norden fordernden Stimmen geführt. In deren Diskurs werden heute Nordjemeniten egal welchen Alters und Geschlechts entmenschlicht.
Die Forderungen im Süden nach Unabhängigkeit vom Norden sind die Folgen des Bürgerkriegs von 1994, welchen das nordjemenitische Militär unter dem damaligen Präsidenten Salih gegen den Süden gewonnen hatte.
Seit 2007 protestieren große Teile der Bevölkerung des ehemaligen Südjemens gegen dessen „Besatzung“ durch den Norden. Dass nun erneut nordjemenitische Kräfte in den Süden eindrangen, hat dazu geführt, dass die Südliche Bewegung ihre pazifistische Grundhaltung aufgegeben und sich den Huthi-/Salih-Milizen mit militärischen Mitteln entgegengestellt hat.
Der südliche Widerstand ist jedoch größtenteils nicht dem im März nach Saudi-Arabien geflohenen Präsidenten Abd Rabbo Mansur Hadi gegenüber loyal. Hadi stammt zwar aus dem Süden, floh jedoch bereits 1986 nach einem Bürgerkrieg im Süden in den Norden und unterstützte 1994 die nordjemenitischen Kräfte gegen den Süden. Zwar haben südlicher Widerstand und die Exilregierung unter Hadi in Riad in den vergangenen Monaten mit Hilfe der saudischen Koalition einen gemeinsamen Feind bekämpft, jedoch befürchtet die Südliche Bewegung, dass Hadi versuchen wird, die Gründung eines unabhängigen Südjemen zu verhindern.
Letztlich läge bei einer Teilung zwischen Nord- und Südjemen der größte Teil der Öl- und Gasvorkommen im geringer bevölkerten Süden, während der dichter bevölkerte Norden weiter verarmen würde. Daher wird eine föderale Lösung für den Jemen favorisiert.
Die Bevölkerung des Südens von einem Abrücken von ihren Forderungen zu überzeugen ist jedoch nach den Ereignissen der vergangenen Wochen fast ein Ding der Unmöglichkeit. Will man es dennoch versuchen, muss man die Ängste des Südens vor einer erneuten ökonomischen und politischen Marginalisierung in einem geeinten Jemen ernst nehmen – von Marie-Christine Heinze
http://www.taz.de/Debatte-Konflikt-im-Jemen/!5217285/
8.8.2015 – Medium.com
Saving Yemen Means Dumping Hadi
Yemen needs a capable leader to reconcile with the Houthis and cool down separatist sentiments. President Hadi is not that person
A key point to consider is that the forces doing most of the heavy lifting in the fight against the Houthis are hardly pro-government or pro-Hadi, as they are often labeled in the international media. They are also mostly not people who care much for any of Hadi’s praise. Instead, they are to a large extent members of the Southern Movement. Also known as Al-Hirak, the Southern Movement was once a catch-all term for southern Yemenis who had mobilized for a number of reasons, from civil rights and equality for southerners in a northern-Yemeni dominated government to separatists in favor of the re-establishment of South Yemen.
Southern separatism has gained serious momentum since the Houthis began sweeping south last year. Neglected by the Hadi government and forced to take up arms to defend their territory, southerners are increasingly agitating for independence. “There will be no stability in Yemen or the region until the South gets independence,” emphasized one southerner to VICE.
The future of Yemen as a unified state is more in doubt now than it has ever been.
The President has little support anywhere in the country, for that matter, not just in the south. He was easily elected in the 2012 election, being the only candidate, and bungled the war with the Houthis in 2014. Hadi narrowly escaped his house arrest before eventually ending up in exile in Saudi Arabia.
Saudi Arabia and the other Gulf countries remain Hadi’s only real source of support. Largely ineffective as president before the war, tainted by his connections to Saleh by his fellow southerners, Hadi has little legitimacy as President, if any.
Even the Saudis have begun admitting that the Houthis will need to be a part of Yemen’s future, and that means a national reconciliation will need to take place. Reconciliation begins with recognition. If the Saudis, the GCC, and the world in general care much for the future of Yemen as unified country, then they will need to recognize that this means that there is no longer a place for Abd Rabbuh Mansour Hadi – by Garrett Koury
https://medium.com/the-eastern-project = https://medium.com/the-eastern-project/saving-yemen-means-dumping-hadi-58b650a06a00
7.8.2015 –The Star, The Cape Times, The Mercury & The Pretoria News
Yemenis being overlooked in the fray
Where are the voices calling for the Responsibility to Protect (R2P) civilians in Yemen? Has the US Ambassador to the UN, Samantha Power, the brains behind this doctrine, forgotten the civilians of Yemen?
We heard a lot of noise from her about protecting the civilians of Libya in 2011 when Gaddafi was the protagonist, but relatively little about protecting the civilians of Yemen, one of the poorest countries in the world.
Yemen has become a war of attrition with the deliberate targeting of civilian areas.
As the Yemenis say, they do not have oil in their DNA, or other significant resources, so nobody really cares.
With 90 percent of Yemen’s food, and 100 percent of its medicine coming from outside, the consequences of the Arab naval blockade and the inability to access civilian populations has been catastrophic.
According to Thierry Goffeau, the Project Co-ordinator for Doctors Without Borders in Yemen who just left the country, it is just horror after horror. “Even in Gaza, Cote D’Ivoire, Somalia and the Central African Republic, I have never seen a situation as bad as in Yemen, where the fighting never stops.”
After 10 years of the international community invoking the “Responsibility to Protect” doctrine, Yemen provides the ultimate example of how this doctrine is selectively enforced according to the strategic interests of the big powers.
Instead of restraining the Arab coalition, the Obama administration supports its intervention, and is rushing military supplies and providing logistics. Despite the global ban, the US has sold Saudi Arabia $640 million (R8.1 billion) worth of cluster bombs over the past two years, which are now being used to carpet bomb Yemen.
The US is also using the opportunity to reignite arms transfers to Egypt in the form of Hellfire missiles. These have been used in populated areas to devastating effect, and are being sold to Egypt while that country is engaged in a bombing campaign of Yemen.
What the UN should be doing is developing a concrete roadmap for a political solution.
We haven’t heard this call from the US Ambassador to the UN, who is the supposed champion of R2P.
What is largely ignored in the narrative on the conflict is the fact that the Houthis are part of Yemen’s social fabric, and had been part of the UN brokered power sharing deal that was on the verge of being finalised when Saudi Arabia launched air strikes.
The Houthis enjoy popular support in many areas of Yemen, and had legitimate grievances against the government. In the UN brokered talks, they had been calling for more effective protection of communities from the expansion of al-Qaeda, a proportionate level of political participation, and for corruption to be addressed effectively. This agenda hardly places them on an axis of evil.
The Saudis allege that the Houthis are being backed by Iran in order to control Yemen as a base for Iran’s regional domination.
Iran, however, claims to have had little to do with the Houthis since their emergence as a political force in Yemen.
While the Iranians admit to providing the Houthis with military advisers in the current context, they claim they are not arming them. Painting the conflict in Yemen as a proxy war between Saudi Arabia and Iran is misleading, and ignores the root causes of the conflict.
What Power needs to remember when she advocates R2P and the need to make the doctrine real, is that the lives of civilians in Yemen should matter just as much as those in Libya, Sudan and Syria – by Shannon Ebrahim
http://www.pressreader.com/south-africa/the-mercury/20150807/281857232256725/TextView = https://www.facebook.com/MediaReviewNetworkSouthAfrica/posts/858126637628869:0
7.8.2015 – Vice News
The Future of Yemen after the siege (Extra-Szene aus The Siege of Aden)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iMeTEVIe1HA
Humanitäre Lage
8.8.2015 – Munsif.tv
17 killed by Huthi mines in south Yemen: military
Seventeen civilians were killed and dozens wounded by explosions of mines planted by retreating Shiite Huthi rebels from the southern Yemeni province of Lahj, military sources said today.
They said most of the casualties were civilians returning to their homes, including in provincial capital Huta.
http://www.munsif.tv/articles/2015/08/08/17-killed-huthi-mines-south-yemen-military
7.8.2015 – Rotes Kreuz
Yemen: The catastrophic cost of conflict
https://www.icrc.org/en/document/yemen-catastrophic-cost-conflict mit https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AyUogLRdi48
6.8.2015 – Ärzte ohne Grenzen
Yemen: Some breathing room for Aden’s residents
Interview with Thierry Goffeau, MSF project coordinator in Aden, mid-May to early August. Violence was at extreme levels during that time in the capital of the southern part of the country.
The situation in Aden has improved slightly since the coalition forces retook the port area, which had been occupied by Houthi rebels, in mid-July. Boats were able to dock and deliver humanitarian aid – specifically, food, as well as fuel and bulldozers. Thanks to this equipment and supplies, street cleaning could begin. The coastal road, which leads from the airport to the Crater neighborhood, was cleared and the tanks were removed. The coalition now holds the airport, which is being rehabilitated. The population is breathing a bit, but the city is destroyed.
the situation today is completely different from what we saw from May or June until mid-July. That was a time of around-the-clock insecurity, day and night. Fighting occurred every day of my 2½-month mission. The city was surrounded by Northern forces – Houthi rebels, allied with former President Saleh’s Republican Guards - while Southern Resistance forces were concentrated in the northern and northwestern districts. Shooting and bombings occurred every day, sometimes next to our hospital, which was 400 meters from the front line.
Because of this extreme insecurity, it was very difficult and dangerous to move around. There was very limited access, if any, to basic foodstuffs. The population had to deal with shortages of flour, gasoline, natural gas and water. The hospitals could not accept any more patients and many of the qualified health care workers had left the city.
There are still checkpoints. And the city is still dangerous because of sniper fire and stray bullets. Everyone is armed. One person shoots because he’s happy or for his own amusement and another shoots because he’s not happy. As a result, we are still treating patients with gunshot wounds.
http://www.msf.org/article/yemen-some-breathing-room-aden%E2%80%99s-residents
Kriegsereignisse
8.8.2015 – Center for Geopolitical Analysis
Yemen War Escalates
Saudi Arabia and its Gulf allies are escalating the war in Yemen. The Houthi rebels and their allies show no sign of bending to the will of Saudi Arabia's King Salman after more than four months of war. The grim struggle in Yemen goes on with a frightful toll for the Yemeni people – by Bruce Riedel
http://icmu.nyc.gr/%20Yemen-war-escalates?page=3 = http://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/originals/2015/08/saudi-escalation-war-yemen.html#
8.8.2015 – Reuters
Anti-Houthi forces take strategic city in Yemen, Emirati troops killed
Fighters backed by an Arab military coalition seized the key city of Zinjibar in southern Yemen on Saturday, residents and militia sources said, dealing another major blow to the dominant Houthi group.
The capital city of Abyan province on the Arabian Sea had been a major focus of forces battling the Iranian-allied Houthis. It is the fourth regional capital they have won since taking control of the port of Aden last month.
Three soldiers from the United Arab Emirates were reported killed while taking part in the Saudi-led military campaign against the Houthis
http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/08/08/us-yemen-security-idUSKCN0QD0JO20150808
8.8.2015 – AFP
Yemen pro-government forces launch Abyan offensive
Pro-government forces in Yemen strengthened by tanks newly supplied by a Saudi-led coalition launched an offensive Saturday to retake the rebel-held capital of Abyan province, military sources said. A two-pronged drive on the southern province's capital of Zinjibar was launched from the north and south, the sources said. It came two days after tribal and military sources said Saudi Arabia, leading an Arab coalition air war on the Iran-backed Huthi rebels, had sent new military equipment including tanks to Yemen.
http://news.yahoo.com/yemen-pro-government-forces-launch-offensive-144644368.html = http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/world/middle-east/Yemen-pro-government-forces-launch-offensive/articleshow/48404464.cms = http://www.worldbulletin.net/haberler/162958/yemen-pro-government-forces-launch-offensive
8.8.2015 – IRNA
Saudi Arabia continues to bomb Yemen
Saudi Arabia has continued bombarding several areas in Yemen, killing at least 13 people. In the latest raids, Saudi bombers pounded the province of Ma'rib. Earlier, at least two children were killed and several other civilians wounded in the Saudi shelling of Dhahir and Shida districts in Sa'ada province. Another civilian was also killed as warplanes targeted the same province. On Wednesday night, eight Yemenis lost their lives in airstrikes on Hajjah province.
http://irna.ir/en/News/81712083/ dazu Film https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SRi_PZ2W-_s = https://www.shiatv.net/video/2084182705
8.8.2015 – Deutschlandfunk
Regierungstruppen erobern Militärstützpunkt zurück
Im Süden des Jemen haben regierungstreue Truppen nach eigenen Angaben die letzte von den Huthi-Rebellen kontrollierte Militärbasis eingenommen. Regierungsvertreter erklärten, der Stützpunkt Labusa sei wieder unter Kontrolle der Armee.
Kommentar: Sprache als Propaganda. „Armee“ bedeutet hier die pro-saudischen Kräfte. Ein großer Teil der jemenitischen Armee steht noch auf Seiten der Huthis. Was hier „Armee“ genannt wird, sind zum großen Teil eher als „militia“ anzusprechende Kräfte der sog. „Resistance“, weiter jemenitische Truppen, die die Saudis in den letzten Monaten trainiert haben, Truppen der Saudis und der Vereinigten Arabischen Emirate.
7.8.2015 – Schweizer Radio
«Konflikt im Jemen könnte noch Jahre dauern»
Es scheint, dass sie [Saudis und Verbündete] von Aden her nach Norden vorstossen wollen und zwar, vor allem haben sie Ta‘izz, Jemens drittgrösste Stadt, im Auge. Dort kämpfen Huthis seit Monaten zusammen mit Armeeteilen, die dem früheren Präsidenten Saleh loyal gegenüberstehen gegen lokale Stammeskämpfer. Mit den schweren Waffen und den neuen Truppen sollen nun die Huthis endgültig aus Ta‘izz vertrieben werden. Auf der anderen Seite ist offensichtlich ein Vorstoss gegen Ma’rib geplant. Das ist östlich von Salah. Auch dort kämpfen seit Monaten lokale Kämpfer gegen die Huthis.
Die Huthis sind im Norden Jemens ganz sicher die dominante Partei. Sie haben dort auch eine breite Unterstützung in der Bevölkerung und wenn dann von Ta’izz und von Ma‘rib her versucht wird, gegen Sanaa vorzustossen, dürften die Truppen der Golfstaaten einige Schwierigkeiten haben.
Wie sich der Konflikt entwickelt, ist schwer abzusehen. Klar ist, dass ein grosser Teil des Landes eigentlich von niemandem mehr regiert wird, dass ein grosses Chaos herrscht und sich vor allem im Osten al-Kaida-Verbände ausbreiten. Man kann deshalb davon ausgehen, dass dieses Land noch Monate, vielleicht Jahre, in einem sehr schwierigen Zustand sein wird. Interview mit Jürg Bischof
http://www.srf.ch/news/international/konflikt-im-jemen-koennte-noch-jahre-dauern
7.8.2015 – Al Arabiya
Yemen says Taez will be freed in ‘next two days’
Yemen's Interior Minister, Maj. Gen. Abdou Mohamed al-Hudhaifi has said on Friday that there is progress on three fronts in Taez by the Yemeni army and Popular Resistance Forces and that the area would likely be freed from Houthi “in the next two days.”
Hudhaifi said in a statement to Al Arabiya News’ sister channel Al Hadath that more than 75 per cent of the people of Taez recognize the legitimacy of the government and reject the presence of Houthi militias and the foces of ousted Former Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh.
He also added that there some areas which were the exception but that they did not pose an overall threat to the progress made by the army and the resistance forces.
Hudhaifi told Al Hadath that there are currently three fronts where battles are currently being front – in the north, west and south – where relative peace prevails in the eastern parts. He also added that the Houthi and Saleh militias are attempting to focus their efforts on the east but that the rebel group is slowly heading to a state of confusion and collapse.
Hudhaifa predicts that Taez will be completely freed from militias “during the next two days.”
Kommentar: Sprache als Propaganda: “Yemen” = die Hadi-Exilregierung: sonst gibt es niemand im Jemen?; „militia“ = die Huthis, nicht etwa die eigenen sog. „Resistance“-Kämpfer; „befreit“: wohl kein Kommentar notwendig.
7.8.2015 – RT
Saudi Arabia sends reinforcements, dozens more tanks to Yemen
Saudi Arabia has sent dozens more armored vehicles and trained troops to help the supporters of Yemen’s President Hadi fight Houthi rebels in the country following months of air bombardments, which have so far failed to break the deadlock between rival camps on the ground. According to reports from the ground dozens of Riyadh tanks and other armored vehicles entered Yemen in the past 48 hours via Wadia, a border post in northern Yemen.
https://www.rt.com/news/311810-saudi-reinforcements-tanks-yemen/
6.8.2015 – Yahoo News
Military reinforcements enter Yemen from Saudi Arabia
Saudi Arabia has sent new military equipment including tanks into Yemen to support loyalists fighting Iran-backed Huthi rebels, tribal and military sources said on Thursday.
"Dozens of tanks, armoured vehicles and personnel carriers, as well as hundreds of Yemeni soldiers trained in Saudi Arabia, arrived in Yemen overnight" via the Wadia border post in the north of the country, a Yemeni military source told AFP
Tribal sources told AFP that the reinforcements were headed towards the provinces of Marib, east of Sanaa, and Shabwa, to the southeast, "to expel the Huthis and their allies" from these two provinces, where heavy fighting has been ongoing.
http://news.yahoo.com/military-reinforcements-enter-yemen-saudi-arabia-175340862.html
6.8.2015 – ORF
Saudis schicken schweres Militärgerät in den Jemen
Saudi-Arabien hat zur Unterstützung der jemenitischen Regierungstruppen im Kampf gegen die Huthi-Rebellen Dutzende Panzer, gepanzerte Fahrzeuge und Truppentransporter in das Nachbarland geschickt. Zudem hätten in der Nacht auf gestern im Norden des Jemen Hunderte jemenitische Soldaten, die in Saudi-Arabien ausgebildet worden seien, die Grenze am Übergang von Wadia überquert, sagte ein jemenitischer Militärvertreter laut AFP. Die Verstärkung sei für die Regierungstruppen und die mit ihnen verbündeten Milizen des sogenannten Volkswiderstands bestimmt. Stammesvertreter sagten, die Truppen würden in Richtung der Provinzen Marib und Schabwa fahren, um die Huthi-Kämpfer aus diesen Regionen zu vertreiben.
http://orf.at/stories/2292888/ dazu auch http://www.nzz.ch/international/saudiarabien-schickt-jemens-regierung-schwere-waffen-1.18591628 dazu auch http://www.rtdeutsch.com/28242/headline/vom-westen-unbemerkt-saudi-arabien-startet-umfassende-boden-invasion-mit-ueber-100-panzern-im-jemen/ = http://www.linkezeitung.de/index.php/ausland/naher-osten/4336-vom-westen-unbemerkt-saudi-arabien-startet-umfassende-boden-invasion-mit-ueber-100-panzern-im-jemen
Politik der USA
8.8.2015 – Reader Supported News
Do War Crimes in Yemen Matter to an American President?
American-backed genocidal war on Yemen is in its fifth month, making it one of the hotter issues in the 2016 Presidential campaign, right? Wrong.
If ANY announced candidate has said anything about Yemen, it’s hard to find. None of our would-be leaders of the free world are calling for a halt to the war of aggression that violates international law, none are demanding a stop to the war crimes and crimes against humanity that flow from the terror-bombing carried out by Saudi Arabia and its allies, with US tactical and intelligence support. None of our White House aspirants are demanding a halt to this criminal war or demanding justice against its war-criminal perpetrators.
Of course, neither is the present president, whose administration seems to have adopted a policy variant on the way we won the west (“the only good injun is a dead injun”). Now the American mantra amounts to “the only good Houthi is a dead Houthi.” The slogan may change, but the genocide remains the same.
There’s plenty of evidence for a prima facie case that American policy on war and peace has been rooted in stupidity at least since Viet-Nam. The underlying question is whether stupidity is a product or a cause of capitalism or imperialism. And a related question is whether it’s really stupidity, since it’s the consistent policy of a tiny minority, the bipartisan American elite that continues to benefit from being consistently wrong from a moral or humanitarian perspective. That’s another reason a healthy country needs war crimes trials for people above the rank of lieutenant.
One of the major stupidities still raging through American political discourse, such as it is, is that Iran is all bad. This is an article of faith for which the evidence is very thin. Any honest indictment of Iran would be far briefer than an indictment of Saudi Arabia, Israel, or the United States. Clearly, no honest indictments are in the offing.
Like their president, the current candidates’ silence on Yemen is just as deafening. That silence is aided and abetted by a passive press corps that chooses not to ask questions about why the US is aiding the Saudi coalition in trashing international law and destroying one of the poorest countries in the world. That’s similar to the Turkish Rule about Armenians: if you forbid mention of genocide, then it never happened.
All of this seems to confirm the observation attributed to Ambrose Bierce more than a century ago, that “War is God’s way of teaching Americans geography.” – by William Boardman
7.8.2015 – Press TV Iran
US: Silence on Yemen appeasement for Saudis: Analyst
Press TV has interviewed Tighe Barry, with CODEPINK from Washington, to get his take on the US complicity in the Saudi aggression against Yemen.
I think the United States media is purposely not reporting on Yemen or the issue of Saudi Arabia right now. This seems to be an appeasement to the Saudi government like the appeasement of releasing the traitor to Israel is an appeasement to Israel. We see that Saudi Arabia is treating its neighbor Yemen like Israel treats the Gaza Strip. This is an invasion. This is not a war. And it’s a very solemn occasion for us in the United States and for many of Americans like myself, because this is the 70th anniversary of the day that the United States, the only country in the world that used the atomic weapon on Hiroshima and in a few days again on Nagasaki. And we see that the United States has no reason to worry about the peaceful nuclear program in Iran. Yet it continues to demonize Iran, and so demonizing the Houthis and the coalition that’s been built up over the years in Yemen to desire freedom. And so, we’re asking our government every day, we’re protesting our government to stop this slaughter by US logistics, US military aid, US military equipment, US military ammunitions of the Yemeni people by the Saudi proxy government obviously the United States. To allow this to happen, I cannot forgive the European Union for its complicity and silence in this as well. But we see that the reason that there’s so much silence around Yemen, I believe there’s an appeasement to the Saudi government for its standing back and allowing this peace negotiation to go through.
Without the United States’ aid and military equipment, Saudi Arabia would be toppled by its own people very quickly. Without the US Fifth Fleet in Bahrain, Bahrain would fall in a minute. The people in Arab Peninsula want to have freedom. They don’t want to be ruled by these monarchs. And without the aid of the United States’ military equipment, they would fall immediately.
http://www.presstv.ir/Detail/2015/08/07/423635/USA-Saudi-Arabia-Yemen-
Politik von Großbritannien
4.8.2015 – Safer World
Public outcry looms over the UK’s contradictory policy towards Yemen
Continuing UK support to the Saudi-led bombing and de-facto blockade of Yemen is helping to contribute to what is the most severe global humanitarian crisis in the world today. The UK’s support for this counterproductive military campaign is driven by its close relationship with Saudi Arabia, and betrays fundamental contradictions in UK foreign policy.
The UK government has also been keen to emphasise its £55 million contribution from the Department for International Development (DFID) for humanitarian relief. However, it has been less keen to publicise its ongoing arms exports to Saudi Arabia and its close military relationship with that country. Answers to parliamentary questions have repeatedly asserted that the UK is not directly participating in the military campaign. However, as well as affirming its political support, the UK continues to provide technical support, precision-guided weapons and exchange of information to the Saudi military. In addition, UK personnel are based in Saudi Arabia to support the equipment supplied, and there are liaisons based directly in the coalition headquarters.
The government has not made any moves to assess its defence relationship with Saudi Arabia in light of the widely criticised campaign in Yemen: to the contrary, by 1 July 2015 37 export licences for military goods had been granted to Saudi Arabia since the bombardment began, while many more licences agreed previously remain extant. There are no plans to review any of those licences. It has also failed to recognise the coalition’s blockade of air, sea and land routes.
The UK government appears to be prepared to disregard the impact of the military intervention in Yemen in the interest of maintaining its relationship with Saudi Arabia – a relationship that is largely defined by the value of its defence exports as well as other security, intelligence and trade arrangements. In private, British officials have been pushing back on the Saudi coalition’s tactics, yet this quiet diplomacy has been ineffective. The UK is making important contributions to the humanitarian response in Yemen, but its public endorsement of the coalition campaign undermines any prospects of a political solution. In order to address this fundamental contradiction in UK foreign policy, the UK needs to withdraw its support for the coalition campaign and undertake a serious re-assessment of its relationship with Saudi Arabia and other powerful Gulf states. As a useful first step, it should reconsider the presence and role of the British advisors within the Saudi’s military strategy units and cease any arms deliveries that are materially assisting the coalition campaign – by Zarina Khan and Leonie Northedge
Frankreich: Rüstungsexporte
7.8.2015 - Telepolis
Saudi-Arabien und Ägypten wollen französische Mistral-Schiffe
Nach einem Zeitungsbericht will der saudische König Salman eine Flotte aufbauen, um in Krisengebieten, wie in Libyen, eingreifen zu können
Offiziell bestätigen wollte Hollande gestern nur, dass es keine Schwierigkeiten gebe, einen Abnehmer für die zwei in Frankreich gebauten Mistral-Schiffe zu finden. Die - mit Verweis auf die Ukraine-Krise - nicht zustande gekommene Auslieferung der Kriegsschiffe (vgl. Gegenwind für Frankreichs Rüstungsgeschäft mit Russland) habe eine gewisse Nachfrage von anderen Ländern zur Folge gehabt, darunter auch von Ägypten. Man werde mit diesem Land wie mit anderen Interessierten auch, erwähnt werden Kanada und Singapur, darüber sprechen.
Laut Informationen von Le Monde, die sich auf Insider und diplomatische Kreise beruft, ist die Erwähnung der anderweitigen Interessenten bloße Rhetorik: Der Deal mit Ägypten, mit dem man vor wenigen Wochen bereits den Verkauf mehrerer Rafale-Kampfjets abgeschlossen hat, gilt als der wahrscheinlichste. Hollande strebt eine privilegierte Partnerschaft mit Ägypten an - und Saudi-Arabien ist auch an Bord, damit ist die Zahlung gesichert.
Höchst bemerkenswert ist, was Saudi-Arabien damit verbindet. Das Haus Saud sieht darin den Anfang eines großen Projekts: "König Salman will eine Flotte aufbauen, die den Namen verdient, um eine maritime Streitkraft für den Schutz der Region im Roten Meer und im Mittelmeer aufzubauen", wird ein Diplomat zitiert. Verknüpft wird damit die Idee des Aufbaus einer gemeinsamen arabischen Streitmacht, die in Krisenzonen wie in Libyen eingreifen könnte – von Thomas Pany
http://www.heise.de/tp/artikel/45/45653/1.html
Kommentar: Mit französischen Flugzeugen den Jemen bombardieren, mit französischen Schiffen die Häfen im Jemen blockieren. Merci, Monsieur le Président.
Probleme von Saudi-Arabien
7.8.2015 – RT
Rohstoff-Schock und Krieg im Jemen – Erdölmonarchie Saudi Arabien geht Geld und Munition aus
Riad geht infolge seiner Operationen in Jemen offenbar nicht nur die Munition aus, sondern auch das Geld. Die Finanzreserven der Golfmonarchie dünnen sich aus, auch weil der niedrige Ölpreis zu Einnahmeverlusten führte. Nun sollen neue Staatsanleihen im Volumen von 27 Milliarden US-Dollar den Ausweg weisen. Die Rohstoff-Krise hat den weltgrößten Erdölexporteur erreicht.
Erst im Laufe der vergangenen Woche bestätigten die USA, die noch im Juli den Atomdeal mit Iran zelebrierten, ein 5,4 Milliarden US-Dollar schweres Rüstungsabkommen mit Saudi Arabien. Dabei rüstet sich Riad einerseits mit 600 Patriot-Raketen gegen die Islamische Republik in Teheran dank US-Hilfe auf und leitet damit einen Rüstungswettlauf im Nahen Osten ein, andrerseits scheint die Monarchie für ihren Krieg in Jemen neue Munition zu brauchen. Dafür braucht Saudi Arabien mehr Finanzmittel.
Zu diesem Zweck will Riad bis Ende 2015 Staatsanleihen, deren Laufzeit fünf, sieben und zehn Jahre beträgt, in Höhe von 27 Milliarden US-Dollar begeben. Einem Bericht der Financial Times nach könnte sich die Platzierung der Anleihen bis ins Jahr 2016 durchziehen. Dort erklärt der Finanzexperte und Direktor von Ashmore Group, John Sfiakanakis: „Der Vorstoß Saudi-Arabiens ist ein signifikanter Schritt für die globale Weltwirtschaft.“
Aber Riad müsse mehr „Transparenz“ zeigen, so Sfiakanakis, wenn es bei seiner Suche nach Geldgebern Erfolg haben möchte. Laut Bloomberg sei der saudische Anleihen-Markt unterentwickelt.
7.8.2015 – Mint Press
Saudi Arabia’s War On Yemen Opened The Floodgates Of Dissent Within It’s Own Borders
Saudi Arabia’s history of aggression toward, and repression of, its own people could be a major element contributing to its impending doom. In the kingdom, it seems, many are finding it easy to identify with the Houthis, who are putting up a strong fight of their own against Al Saud.
If Saudi Arabia anticipated its military campaign against rebellious Yemen to be swift and painless, little did the kingdom realize that such a decision would open the floodgates of dissent within its own borders.
Inspired by the rebellion of the Houthis of Yemen, the Sunni tribes of Najran, a province bordering Yemen in southwestern Saudi Arabia, renounced the authority of King Salman in June, declaring his rule illegitimate.
Beyond those regional collusions an opportunity has emerged that the United States could play to its advantage through the military and political exhaustion of a power which has become a nascent threat to America’s standing in Arabia.
Sufyani explained:
“An arrow in the bow of Western imperialism, the House of Saud has long inspired disgust among the Arabs, even more so in the Peninsula, where its grip on power is most visible and suffocating. For all intents and purposes, the kingdom has become the embodiment of tyranny, whether political, religious or even economic. And so, when the Houthis came to oppose, resist and push back against Al Saud superpower, new political aspirations began to rise. Arabia is rising once more against the bedouins of Nejd.”
Kleit explained:
“Much of the political dynamics and alliances/allegiances in the Peninsula continue to be based on one power’s ability to manifest either force or financial coercion. So far, the Saudis have of course been able to wield both those attributes and therefore they remained in control and in the lead. Come now Yemen and its tribal militias. … The kingdom is no longer this immovable force Arabs have no recourse against.”
n a move which few could have anticipated, especially since Saudi Arabia made such a show of its border military mobilization, the Houthis, backed by Yemen’s army, led combat operations deep within the kingdom, shattering the Saudi sense of security.
While the kingdom devised a plan in March to return Yemen back to the monarchical fold, never did officials in Riyadh imagine the winds of dissent would blow from within, born out of a sense of solidarity with the Houthis’ plight.
If dissent and rebellion come easy for a Western public raised on pro-democracy movements and populist revolutions, rebellion is a less-than-natural state of mind for a people whose freedoms have always been stifled.
t is within this context of fear that Hasan Sufyani, the analyst from Yemen, explains how critical the rebellion of the tribes of Najran could prove to be in the “tumbling down of the Saudi monarchy.”
“Najran tribes have been incensed by Al Saud’s cruelty against Yemen. It has been felt deeply in Najran as old tribal ties unite its people to Yemen. Najranis still consider themselves Yemenis and therefore an attack on Yemen — northern Yemen, particularly — has struck a chord among many. To put it in very simple terms: the tribes of Najran want to see Al Saud gone,” Sufyani said.
In late June, the tribes of Najran, organized under the Ahrar al-Najran Movement, publicly announced their independence from Saudi Arabia. These southern tribes pointed to social injustice, poverty, repression, and discrimination as the roots of their ire against Al Saud.
Abu Bakr Abi Ahmed al-Salami, a leader of the movement, told reporters in June his group was gearing up for combat, ready to translate verbal sedition into an armed struggle.
The tribes of Najran are not alone in their desire to break away from, if not altogether topple, the Saudi monarchy.
In the eastern province of Qatif, where humiliation and sectarian-based persecution are the norm, rights activists such as Hussein Jawad, a human rights advocate and general secretary of the European-Bahraini Organisation for Human Rights (EBOHR), have long warned that the status quo would only last for so long. - by Catherine Shakdam
Saudi-Leaks 1-32:
http://muhitelyemen.net/en/news/19243.html
Die Rolle von Iran
6.8.2015 – Huffington Post
Iran Tried To Stop Houthi Rebels In Yemen, Obama Says
The move demonstrates Iran's rational nature, the president said
Iran tried to hold back Shia rebels who were intent on taking the Yemeni capital of Sanaa at the height of the uprising in 2014, President Barack Obama told a group of reporters Wednesday afternoon.
The Houthi rebels, however, ignored the advice and marched on, precipitating a much wider war in Yemen.
Obama's observation confirms an earlier Huffington Post report that, contrary to widespread assumptions in the United States, Iran was not the driving force of the crisis in Yemen.
The president relayed the anecdote as an example of how Iran is calculating, rational and opportunistic in its interventions, rather than being wildly driven by the passions of its ideology, at a briefing with reporters to discuss the nuclear deal between Iran and six world powers – by Ryan Grim
Kommentar: Ach ja. Plötzlich passt die eigene Propaganda des letzten halben Jahres nicht mehr. Offensichtlich ist Obama jetzt näher an der Wahrheit als zuvor. Merken wir endlich, wie wir die ganze Zeit vera…. werden?
Al Qaida – ISIS
7.8.2015 – Jamestown Foundation
Wilayat al-Yemen: The Islamic State’s New Front
The protracted and ongoing civil conflict in Yemen has brought to the fore a range of regional threats, both old and new. Most prominently, Yemen’s multisided battle space has already allowed al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) and its locally branded affiliate Ansar al-Shari’a to regain ground across the country. However, in a less noticed development, militants aligned with the Iraq and Syria-based Islamic State group officially entered Yemen’s crowded jihadi scene in November as Wilayat al-Yemen, or “Province of Yemen.” The group’s existence was made public on November 13, when the Islamic State’s Syria-based leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi announced via an audio message titled “Despite the Disbelievers’ Hate” that he had accepted coordinated oaths of allegience from fighters based in Yemen, as well as in Libya, Egypt and Saudi Arabia (Al-Monitor, November 14). Although much remains unclear about the Islamic State’s nascent presence in Yemen, the group is clearly gaining strength there, increasing in size and audacity, and beginning to pose a significant threat to the country and even to other jihadist factions. Asi de from statements of support from low- to mid-level AQAP members, the Islamic State had no significant operational footprint in Yemen until the Houthis, Zaydi Shi’a rebels from the country’s north, began wresting control of the capital Sana’a from the government in late 2014. During this period, the Islamic State apparently made a calculated decision to move into Yemen to exploit the deepening security void and the favourable sectarian dynamics. Prior to the Houthi takeover of the capital, and subsequently much of the country, conflicts in Yemen, even areas with a long-standing AQAP presence, largely lacked the sectarian connotations the Islamic State typically requires to thrive. However, the fact that an Iranian-backed Shi’a minority group had seized control of a majority Sunni country has now allowed the Islamic State to frame the conflict as part of the broader Sunni-Shi’a conflict and to build its support base accordingly, as it has done successfully in Iraq and Syria. Although the extent to which the war in Yemen is driven by sectarian issues is contested, the Islamic State’s Wilayat al-Yemen is clearly seeking to drive the conflict in that direction. The targets, tactics and propaganda of each Yemeni sub-wilayat reflect the Islamic State’s global strategy and its overarching narrative of Sunni-Shi’a conflict. The Yemeni branch’s propaganda has so far focused on recruiting followers in Yemen and abroad, on denouncing the Zaydi Houthis and on claiming to be the protector of the country’s Sunnis. As the war continues and the Houthis’ progressively more indiscriminate attacks affect more and more Sunni civilians, there is a risk that the Islamic State’s sectarian arguments will appear increasingly valid to local people, particularly in the absence of more legitimate protectors, such as the divided and effectively defunct Yemeni military and police force (El-Balad, July 2). The Islamic State’s Yemeni branch has yet to reach critical mass, although its operational tempo has increased significantly in the past several months, and its attacks and propaganda output are likely to continue to multiply. The organization’s rate of expansion is, however, largely contingent on its ability to play the sectarian card and on the group being left un-molested; for instance, the Saudis, despite expending a huge amount of resources and munitions against the Houthis, have not yet successfully targeted the Yemeni branch of the Islamic State. If such trends continue, the Islamic State’s front in Yemen could continue to expand exponentially until the group faces or provokes significant resistance, either from rival jihadist or Sunni groups, from local tribes, from the regional powers or the international community – by Brian M. Perkins http://www.jamestown.org/single/?tx_ttnews%5Btt_news%5D=44263&tx_ttnews%5BbackPid%5D=7&cHash=901fe285861b27a174a00d29ee3b71ac#.VcWRUvntlHw
Kommentar: Es ist absurd, den Aufstieg von Al Qaida und ISIS im Jemen in einen logischen Zusammenhang mit dem Erfolg der Houthis zu bringen. Die Houthis sind die ärgsten Feinde von Al Qaida und ISIS. Diese verdanken ihren Erfolg vielmehr der zumindest indirekten Unterstützung durch Saudi-Arabiens Kampf gegen die Huthis. Saudi-Arabien lässt Al Qaida und ISIS im Jemen völlig unbehelligt. Von den Waffen, die Saudi-Arabien in großem Stil über dem Jemen abwirft, fällt ein Teil auch in die Hände von Al Qaida und ISIS. Unter diejenigen, die auf Seiten der Hadi-Exilregierung und der Saudis im Südjemen gegen die Huthis kämpfen, haben sich auch Al Qaida- und ISIS-Kämpfer gemischt. Diese zeigen im Süden ganz offen ihre Fahnen und haben auch bereits - hier sind sie gute Schüler ihrer ideologischen saudischen Lehrmeister - eine 700 Jahre alte Moschee in die Luft gesprengt und völlig zerstört.
7.8.2015 – Brookings
Bruce Riedel talks jihadist terrorism, Islamic State, and the war in Yemen “We have successfully built up our defenses so that here, at home in the United States, we’re probably safer than we were a decade ago but abroad our terrorist enemy is more numerous, more barbaric, more dangerous than ever before,” says Senior Fellow Bruce Riedel in this podcast. Riedel, director of the Intelligence Project at Brookings, and also a former CIA officer and senior policy official, identifies the catalysts of the global jihadist movement, discusses the rise of the Islamic State and its rivalry with al-Qaida, addresses the crisis in Yemen, and examines how the Obama administration can better deploy soft power tools. “A strategy that only uses the stick isn’t going to work,” he says. “We have to have a strategy that not only goes after the terrorists but also seeks to deal with the underlying issues that produce this wave of terrorism. That’s easy to say and very very hard to do.” – by Bruce Riedel and Fred Drews http://www.brookings.edu/research/podcasts/2015/08/bruce-riedel-jihadist-terrorism-islamic-state-war-in-yemen
7.8.2015 – Middle East Eye
Al-Qaeda blow up 700-year-old mosque in Yemen
Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) on Thursday blew up a 700-year-old mosque in Yemen's south-west province of Lahj. The Sheikh Omar Ali al-Saqaff mosque was targeted by the militants presumably on the basis that they oppose its Sufi Islam affiliation.
http://www.middleeasteye.net/news/al-qaeda-blow-700-year-old-mosque-yemen-1289890507 und weitere Bilder https://twitter.com/Tribuneofyemen/status/629705129793585152
Kommentar: Kurz nachdem die pro-saudischen Kräfte Lahj „befreit“ haben Schon Ende Juni hatte Al Qaida im Hadramaut das Grab des Sufi-Scheichs Habib Hamid Bin Abu Bakr zerstört und die Bevölkerung terrorisiert:
https://www.facebook.com/hadhramaut/posts/10153115372683123 . So geht die wahabitische Saat der Saudis auf
14.5.2015 – Vocativ
Al Qaeda Bans Popular Drug In The Yemen Towns It Now Controls
Chewing the mild narcotic leaf is considered by many to be a national pastime, and is one of the first edicts issued by the group since seizing Hadramout
Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, which recently took over a second port city along Yemen’s coastline, has begun issuing decrees to the residents of the towns now under its control. One of the first is the ban on Yemenis chewing qat, a mild narcotic leaf so popular there that many people think of it as a national pastime – by Gilad Shiloach and Vladi Vovcuk
http://www.vocativ.com/news/192803/al-qaeda-bans-qat-in-the-yemen-towns-it-now-controls/
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