Allgemeines
16.8.2015 – Asharq al Awsat
Aden to be declared capital of Yemen for next five years
Yemen’s internationally recognized government is planning to declare the southern port city of Aden as the country’s capital for the next five years, according to the city’s governor.
Speaking to Asharq Al-Awsat on Saturday, Nayef Al-Bakri said this was due to Aden’s possessing the “necessary economic and geographical constituents” to become the focal point of the rebuilding of the country following the crisis that has gripped Yemen for almost a year.
http://www.aawsat.net/2015/08/article55344814/aden-to-be-declared-capital-of-yemen-for-next-five-years-governor = http://muhitelyemen.net/en/news/19581.html
Kommentar: Das ist ein eindeutiger Verfassungsbruch. In der immer noch gültigen Verfassung in der letzten Version von 2001 heißt es in Artikel 157 eindeutig: „Die Stadt Sanaa ist die Hauptstadt der Republik Jemen.“ Punkt und Ende. (http://www.refworld.org/cgi-bin/texis/vtx/rwmain?page=category&category=LEGAL&publisher=&type=&coi=YEM&docid=3fc4c1e94&skip=0 ). Alles andere ist demnach gegen die Verfassung. Woran hängt eigentlich die Legitimation von „Präsident“ Hadi, wenn nicht an dieser Verfassung? Hier sei noch einmal daran erinnert, dass Hadi nur für zwei Jahre gewählt war und seine Amtszeit dann noch einmal um ein Jahr verlängert wurde, endgültiger Endzeitpunkt: 25. Februar 2015.
16.8.2015 – Press TV Iran
World to blame for Saudi war on Yemen
Press TV has conducted an interview with Jawad Fairooz, a Middle East expert in London, to discuss Saudi Arabia’s ongoing military aggression against Yemen.
If we compare this war to the rest of the wars in the region, we can find this war is giving more casualties within civilians and mainly it has been targeting the infrastructure within Yemen. And unfortunately, the most blame will go toward, first of all to the Saudi regime who wants to dominate their government or whoever is following the Saudi policy in the area. At the same time the same blame will go to the international community, unfortunately the silence either through United Nations or in general international community case that the Saudis will go farther beyond any red lines.
As everyone knows the world is being controlled by these superpowers and somehow because there is a clear interest between Saudi Arabia and these Western countries especially United States and everyone knows that United States has some base in the region, it is being supported mainly by the Saudi and the rest of the [P]GCC countries, so somehow it looks like they are allowing the Saudis to expand their invasion toward certain countries, mainly Yemen, and part of it was Bahrain where everyone knows that the Saudi troops are inside Bahrain and at the same time they have clear evidence of their involvement in Lebanon, in Syria and in Iraq.
http://www.presstv.ir/Detail/2015/08/16/424996/Yemen-Saudi-Arabia-ICRC-UN-US-UK-Bahrain
14.8.2015 – The Conversation
How Saudi Arabia got its Yemen campaign so wrong
Among Yemen’s myriad misfortunes, its greatest has been being Saudi Arabia’s neighbour.
Saudi Arabia’s founder, King Abdulaziz Ibn Saud, thought Yemen so unpredictable that he warned his sons that they had to tame it in order to remain secure. Saudi Arabia is now embarked on its largest ever effort to “tame” Yemen, but it has already been a disaster: thousands are dead, and the unspeakable destruction wrought by the unprecedented Saudi intervention has undone decades of cautious and under-the-radar meddling.
Ever since Saudi Arabia became a state in 1932, it has been quietly but actively involved in Yemeni politics. Saudi money has been the most important source of revenue for the Yemen Arab Republic for decades, even as Riyadh has tried to stop the emergence of a strong central government by funding other groups, including powerful tribes and the sheikhs of Yemen’s most important tribal confederations.
But in the past couple of decades, Saudi-Yemeni relations have become even more complicated. Multiple points of friction emerged after the 1990 unification of Yemen, after which it drew up a democratic constitution and refused to vote for a UN-backed intervention against Saddam Hussein after he annexed Kuwait.
Saudi Arabia, meanwhile, was pursuing a policy of outright cultural colonialism in an area near the blurred Yemeni-Saudi border, which was historically populated by Shia Zaydi tribes. When the border was finalised at the start of the 21st century, it prevented those tribes from moving freely, restricting their animals' grazing routes and threatening their livelihoods. This ultimately gave birth to the Houthi nationalist movement.
In most Western narratives, the Houthis are the “bad guys” in Yemen; Yemenis who live in Aden and other areas around Southern Yemen would mostly concur. Iran, which has been vocal in its condemnation of Saudi Arabia and in its support for the Houthis, has also been condemned. In fact, Western diplomats have been busy trying to prove that Iran has provided training, arms and other support to the Houthis, making their takeover possible.
This is simplistic in the extreme. To account for the war we must first look at the original takeover of the Yemeni capital, Sanaa, by Houthi forces, which as Iona Craig has shown was far too easy. […]
The other complicating factor in the Saudi campaign is the West. The UK and the US have both been quick to condemn the Houthis, and are supporting the campaign wholeheartedly – even accelerating arms sales to the kingdom and providing it with targeting assistance.
Powerful international actors ought to reconsider their role in the war and their complicity in the atrocities committed by their allies. But Western support for the Saudi debacle in Yemen seems as solid as ever. That will only continue the escalation of the conflict, heightening the Saudis' feelings of impunity and condemning Yemenis to endless war and increasing hardship – all at the hands of a cocky prince who, unlike his cautious forefathers, has proven to be ineffective and heavy-handed – by Sophia Dingli
http://theconversation.com/how-saudi-arabia-got-its-yemen-campaign-so-wrong-45664
14.8.2015 – Mojahedin.org
Yemen Prime Minister: 3/4th of Yemen is liberated
Three fourth of Yemen has been liberated and one third of the country’s legitimate government cabinet is present on Yemen soil, said Vice President and Prime Minister Khalid al-Bahah in the gathering of Gulf Cooperation Council members in Riyadh.
“Those responsible for the massacre of innocent people and the destruction of Yemeni cities must be prosecuted,” he added.
In other reports Yemen Foreign Minister Riyadh Yassin called on the international community to prosecute ousted dictator Ali Abdullah Salah for his inhumane crimes against the people of Yemen
http://www.mojahedin.org/newsen/36672/Yemen-Prime-Minister-34th-of-Yemen-is-liberated
Kommentar: So sieht die “Befreiung” in Taiz aus (nichts für Sensible!): https://twitter.com/Fatikr/status/632927697782489088. Sehr witzig ist die Forderung nach Bestrafung für „Those responsible for the massacre of innocent people and the destruction of Yemeni cities”: Das wären ja gleich einmal seine saudischen Verbündeten und dann er selbst mit seiner Exilregierung, die ja um den saudischen Luftkrieg gebeten haben, so zumindest eine offizielle Lesart
14.8.2015 – World Tribune
Iran loses ground in Africa as Sudan joins Saudi coalition in Yemen
Saudi Arabia has deposited $1 billion in the central bank of sanctions-hit Sudan over the past two months, the Sudanese state minister for finance said on Aug. 12. The windfall for Khartoum was expected after Sudan joined the Saudi-led coalition fighting Iran-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen. According to the Khartoum government, investments in Sudan from Arab Gulf states will amount to $20 billion. That includes $10 billion from Saudi Arabia, $6 billion from UAE and $5 billion from Kuwait.
Kommentar: Ein Musterbeispiel dafür, wie man sich einen Verbündeten kauft
13.8.2015 – Südkurier
Hunger als Kriegswaffe
Im Konflikt gegen die Huthi- Rebellen im Jemen nimmt Saudi-Arabien Elend und Tod der Zivilbevölkerung in Kauf
Bis zu Beginn des Krieges importierte der Jemen 90 Prozent seines Nahrungsmittelbedarfs. Auf diese Schwachstelle zielt die von Saudi-Arabien geführte arabische Koalition seit fünf Monaten. Es ist ihre tödlichste Waffe, die sie nun, seit sie Ende Juli die wichtige Hafenstadt Aden eroberte, weit wirkungsvoller einsetzen kann und dies auch will.
Die Koalition bereitet von Aden aus den Vormarsch Richtung Norden vor und stützt sich dabei erstmals auf eine etwa 3000 Mann starke Bodentruppe, die zur Hälfte von den VAE und Saudi-Arabien gestellt wird. Hauptstrategie aber ist offenbar, Sanaa auszuhungern und damit die Huthis zur Kapitulation zu zwingen. „Die Wirtschaftsblockade ist unter den jemenitischen Verhältnissen weit gefährlicher als ein Krieg“ mit Waffen, erläutert Ahmed Said Shammkh, Ökonom der jemenitischen Zentralbank. Und die ersten Anzeichen dafür lösen Panik in der Hauptstadt aus. So hat Hadi die Arbeit der Regierungsangestellten in allen Häfen, ausgenommen Aden, gestoppt. Nur Privathändler können deshalb die anderen Häfen, insbesondere den für Sanaa so wichtigen Rotmeer-Hafen Hodeida, benützen, doch auch diese werden von der Koalition weitgehend blockiert. Zugleich leitet die Exil-Regierung den gesamten Zivilluftverkehr von Sanaa zum Flughafen in Aden um.
http://www.suedkurier.de/nachrichten/politik/Hunger-als-Kriegswaffe;art410924,8073243
13.8.2015 – Aljazeera
Saudi Arabia and the US: More military misfires
The Saudi way of handling the crisis in Yemen shows they are following in the US' footsteps far too closely.
No concept has proven to be as strategically short-sighted as the assumption of military superiority. It leads powerful nations to give in to the temptation to bomb their way out of a problem - as if anyone could. While in Washington this lesson is still sinking in, Saudi Arabia, the United States' major ally in the Gulf region, seems to have learned nothing from the ill-fated US strategy in Iraq and Afghanistan. This is very surprising for a number of reasons: The Saudis not only had a front-row seat to observe the US' presumably "overwhelming" force, but they also have much more at stake, given their keen interest in preserving stability in the region.
The Saudi way of handling the slow-burning crisis in Yemen shows that they are following in the US' footsteps far too closely. The case of Iraq showed conclusively that none of the US' superiority in terms of military material translated into any sustainable advantage on the ground.
The Saudis' US-style "shock-and-awe" tactics have yielded nothing of lasting benefit. In fact, Houthi forces, even though they are theoretically outgunned and outmatched, have made some territorial gains.
Aden has only been retaken with tremendous effort and ground forces. Is that a success of any kind?
Not when 20 million people are now without adequate drinking water . And hundreds (if not thousands) of civilians have been killed in strikes that have been frequently off-target.
Make no mistake about it - if anything, the Saudis' course of action so far has created disillusionment among Yemen's population regarding Saudi Arabia's true intentions and capabilities.
Stunningly, that is true even among those Yemenis who had initially hoped for Saudi Arabia to become a stabilising factor.
The presumed wealth of advantage of the US and Saudi Arabia over Iraq and Yemen does not serve either country well – by Stephen Richter
http://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/opinion/2015/08/saudi-arabia-military-misfires-150809112955226.html = http://www.theglobalist.com/yemen-iraq-saudi-us-war/
13.8.2015 – The Arab Gulf State Institute
Tide Turns in Yemen’s War, But Peace is Still Elusive
Erster Teil: Allgemeiner Überblick zum Krieg, der politischen und humanitären Lage.
The battle for Aden has been particularly fierce, even when compared to the extreme violence occurring in Yemen’s other besieged cities. Forces supporting Hadi allied with the southern resistance, as well as the Houthi and Saleh allied coalition forces, endured the usual privations of war, as well as human rights violations outside the established norms of conflict.
Consequently, this war has bred hatred and discrimination amongst brothers. Like most civil wars, the conflict in Yemen has increased instances of localized violence, encouraging the settling of old scores, and nurturing new grievances based on presumed or real confessional and regional identities.
As a consequence of the Houthi and Saleh allied coalition’s expansion to the south, some in Aden now believe that anyone with a northern sounding name must be a Houthi supporter. As they attempted to return to Aden, many IDPs were prevented from entering the city simply because they descended from northern families, despite being born in Aden and having lived there for decades. Now, there is fear of retaliation by northerners against southerners, which would initiate a fresh cycle of violence.
In addition to the high number of victims of the war, the struggle for power, even among those who may at this point be allies, will almost certainly begin soon. The war has irrevocably broken the trust that once existed between the people of Yemen. For this reason, while this terrible war may soon end, it will be a long time before the country knows real peace – by Amatalalim Alsoswa
http://www.agsiw.org/tide-turns-in-yemens-war-but-peace-is-still-elusive/
12.8.2015 – Middle East Eye
Yemen's diminishing Houthi allies
Due to economic hardships and the constant fear of war, several Houthi supporters have abandoned the group
After 10 months of Houthi rule, many of the group’s allies have abandoned the group, saying that the Houthis have not improved the situation in the country.
The Houthis took over the capital Sanaa in September 2014 with popular backing. Their backers dreamed that the lives of the impoverished would improve under a new era of economic prosperity. However, the only thing that the group has done – in the eyes of many of its former supporters – is instigate several conflicts across the country.
Ali Abulohoom, a journalist who fled Sanaa for Saudi Arabia in May, told MEE: "The Houthis lost their supporters because they do not feel [the] people's suffering."
The so-called revolution began on 18 August 2014 as Houthi militias capitalised on the widescale protests against a government-implemented removal of fuel subsidies.
Abulohoom said he supported the Houthis at the time because they wanted to eliminate the sheiks' ability to extort the government and private companies.
He added that he had lost confidence in the Houthis after they had waged wars in so many regions.
"Violence is the only way that the Houthis can understand [things]. They don't know what they are doing; they want to keep fighting and invade provinces until they take over the whole country."
The relationship between Houthi militias and the ex-president Ali Abdullah Saleh became clear when Saleh loyalists began fighting shoulder to shoulder with the militias.
Dr Nabil al-Sarjabi, a political science professor at Hodeida University and an expert on crisis management, told MEE that the Houthis don't know how to manage the country, and added that they are acting like a tool for Saleh.
"Saleh wanted to use the Houthis to eliminate his opponents that ousted him in 2011," al-Sharjabi said.
He went on to say that Saleh did not help the Houthis with managing the government because he does not want them to take over the country - he wants them to fight his opponents.
However, Houthi activist Hussien al-Boukhaiti denied that the Houthis had lost their supporters, saying that the mass protest on Tuesday against "the foreign occupation" was a clear indication that their forces remain strong.
"We can say that Ansarallah [Houthis] lost control of some areas in the south but we cannot say that the Houthis have lost their supporters," al-Boukhaiti said.
Even if al-Boukhaiti denied that the Houthis have lost their supporters, talk to anyone in Sanaa, and they will say that Houthi support used to be strong, but today it has dissipated greatly – by Nasser Al-Sakkaf
http://www.middleeasteye.net/news/yemens-houthis-diminishing-allies-1945804234
12.8.2015 – PRI
Saudi and UAE boots on the ground intensify the Yemen war
When Aden was recaptured by anti-Houthi forces in July, the war entered a new phase: a ground campaign led by thousands of troops from Saudi Arabia and the UAE, heavily armed with US-made weapons. "The cost in civilian lives from the ground campaign may be relatively limited," says Michael Knights of The Washington Institute for Near East Policy. "What worries me is that the Saudi-led air campaign is quite brutal. It's not like one of our modern air campaigns with the US or the UK, where we worry about civilian casualties. The Saudis, in many cases, seem to be deliberately causing civilian casualties and certainly are causing civilian suffering by knocking out power stations and other pieces of civilian infrastructure."
In a policy article, Knights writes that the continuing air campaign is causing significant damage to civilian areas and historic buildings, while missing military targets such as "enemy leaders, missiles, troop convoys, and mobile artillery systems." Even so, Knights says the Saudi-led campaign could be within striking distance of the Houthi-held capital, Sanaa, in a matter of weeks.
Knights observes that the rising number of civilian casualties in Yemen is a moral conundrum for supporters of the Saudi-led campaign, especially the United States. "The US is in a very delicate position," he says. "By striking the nuclear deal with Iran, the US has made its Gulf Arab partners very paranoid about future US commitment to the region, and so the US is trying to counterbalance that by being a good ally in Yemen. In some ways we are fighting the wrong war against the wrong people," says Knight, "but at this point in time the US has very little choice." - by Stephen Snyder
http://www.pri.org/stories/2015-08-12/saudi-and-uae-boots-ground-intensify-yemen-war
11.8.2015 – Policy Analysis
The Saudi-UAE War Effort in Yemen (Part 2): The Air Campaign
Saudi-led air operations in Yemen have badly lost their way, neither achieving their objectives nor respecting international norms.
To Western eyes accustomed to modern air campaigns aimed at minimizing civilian deaths, the level of collateral damage in the Yemen campaign is staggering. To date, collated figures from daily press reporting suggest that between 4,200 and 5,500 civilians have been killed by air attacks. And the tallies from generally reputable observers such as Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International, and the UN suggest an average of forty civilian deaths per day, or around 4,000 total since late April. The highest reported death toll in a single day was 176 on July 6.
Although the coalition has used a large number of precision-guided munitions, a May 3 Human Rights Watch report indicated that it is also using unguided bombs and cluster munitions, even within urban areas. Similarly, Amnesty International has documented the use of 2,000-pound bombs in dense urban areas to strike the unoccupied houses of senior Saleh clan members, causing untold civilian deaths. Other targeting choices have drawn criticism as well. According to Human Rights Watch, sixty-five civilians were killed at worker housing near the Mokha Steam Power Plant on July 24, when a coalition airstrike hit the Red Sea port town with no apparent military rationale -- the monitoring group claimed that no armed forces were present at the plant nor even at an abandoned air defense site 800 meters away. In addition, mounting evidence appears to show that power stations and factories have been deliberately targeted to degrade civilian living standards in Houthi areas.
Yemen's cultural heritage is also under fire as coalition air forces strike at military and civilian targets near historic locations. UNESCO World Heritage sites such as the Old City of Zabid, al-Qahira Castle, and historic central Saada have been hit repeatedly, as have the old quarters of Sana, al-Mukalla, and Taizz. Elsewhere, the National Museum in Dhamar and the Yemen Heritage Centre in Aden have been destroyed, along with large numbers of artifacts from the region.
The coalition air campaign is a disturbing throwback to the types of operations many countries undertook before the more precision-oriented 1991 Gulf War. Some targeting choices are legitimate efforts at coercion, such as striking pro-Houthi units and the property of Saleh-aligned leaders. Yet collective punishment of civilians also seems to be a conscious focus of the campaign, especially in retaliatory operations following cross-border attacks on Saudi Arabia. The lethal targeting of civilians may not be intentional, but it is the inevitable result of using excessively large munitions or indiscriminate weapons in populated areas. The coalition apparently cannot find the critical targets that actually need to be hit -- enemy leaders, missiles, troop convoys, and mobile artillery systems. As a result, the air campaign spends a lot of time hitting what it can find, not finding what it needs to hit.
The United States has been through these issues in its own air operations over the past few years, moving toward more refined targeting and collateral damage mitigation processes. As the closest partner of the coalition air forces operating over Yemen, the U.S. Air Force should give some tough advice to the campaign planners: namely, that the air war is making the coalition look like the bad guys, giving the Houthis and Tehran a propaganda coup and threatening to besmirch any positive precedent that defeating Iranian-backed forces would generate.
Moreover, the "strategic air campaign" against Saada needs to be much more selective, tied to overall war aims rather than tit-for-tat retaliation. Saudi Arabia may not be able to deter the Houthis by establishing escalation dominance via strikes on their home province; it may instead need assistance with counter-infiltration, counter-artillery, and counter-SSM strikes near the border. The United States might also be able to help pro-government Yemeni forces use airstrikes to push elements of al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) out of bases they have seized. More broadly, Washington can help the coalition cope with the demanding next phase of the air campaign: providing discriminate, effective air support to mobile offensive columns of Yemeni and UAE forces as they push north.
To be sure, the United States hardly has realtime airstrike adjudicators or surveillance assets to spare -- both are in high demand in Iraq, Syria, and Afghanistan. Yet the U.S. Air Force and intelligence community might have U.S.-based target system analysts who could help redesign the joint integrated prioritized target list for the Yemen air war and influence target and weapon selection to minimize collateral damage. Washington will receive at least some of the blame for whatever the Saudi-led coalition does in this war, so the Pentagon may as well be involved in shaping the outcome – by Michael Knight
Kommentar: Interessante Analyse, die aber den Luftkrieg prinzipiell nicht in Frage stellt und insgesamt darauf abzielt, die USA weißzuwaschen und ihre Beteiligung kleinzureden
10.8.2015 – Bright Green
Yemen Civil War: another tale of two factions
It is possible to imagine a peaceful resolution that would provide democracy for the people of Yemen, and protection for the Zaidi. Unfortunately the global community is not rallying to this peaceful resolution. Two groups have got involved, that is Iran, and a coalition led by Saudi Arabia, but their aims are not ideal. Iran is a majority Shia country, and are believed to have been funding the Houthi for the last decade, to create allies among the Zaidi/Shia sect. Saudi Arabia are a majority Sunni Country, and are leading a coalition into the conflict to oust the Zaidi and ensure Sunni control. Their intervention is fuelling the conflict, as both sides struggle for victory, rather than peace. The conflict has in fact given Daesh (ISIS) a chance to seize large parts of northern Yemen.
A third country like the UK or the USA could intervene and help broker a peace, were it not for the fact that NATO and particularly the USA are longstead allies of Saudi Arabia. Indeed, the USA have promised support for Saudi Arabia in the conflict.
Where does this leave us then? Well, Yemen is not a wholly unique case. It’s part of a broader global problem. It requires large-scale change in much of the world, both from governments and people. We’ve made a lot of progress; the Iraq war march was the largest protest in british history, but we still have a long way to go.
Politically there is a lot that can be done; we can educate people, and we can gather attention for issues with protests and marches. We can campaign on individual issues, and for internationalist candidates. Many politicians claim to be internationalists, but in our confusing political landscape, these people often misunderstand the problems. A serious internationalist needs to recognise that radical change is necessary, that progress requires hard diplomatic work, a serious commitment to foreign aid, and international peacekeeping – by Andrea Grainger
http://bright-green.org/2015/08/10/yemen-another-tale-of-two-factions/
9.8.2015 – Huffington Post
Yemen: Proxy War and War by Proxy
Saudi Arabia has also been funding Sunni rebel groups in Syria against President Assad, while Iran - rather than Russia - has been the main source of foreign support for the beleaguered Syrian government.
This aspect of the Syrian conflict is very much an old-fashioned proxy war and it has added greatly to complexity and destructiveness of what is also a civil war.
The parallels with Yemen are clear. Though unlike Syria, Yemen is next door to Saudi Arabia and so direct intervention is a practical option.
To Sunni Saudi eyes, the Shia Houthis are like the Syrian government, which is dominated by Alawites, a branch of Shia Islam. They are apostates and allies of Riyadh's great Shia rival for influence in Middle East - Iran.
But the Saudis are not freelancing. Its coalition's intervention has the full backing of the United States, which is supplying arms and intelligence.
The US Navy has also been deployed off Yemen to prevent Iranian ships docking, citing suspicions they may be carrying arms for the Houthis.
So for Washington, Yemen is more like war by proxy against Iran.
In this way it resembles some of the conflicts of the Cold War where the US backed one side and the Soviet Union another.
What is also striking is the absence of any talk of "humanitarian intervention".
here have been "humanitarian pauses" in Yemen where the two sides have agreed to (frequently broken) ceasefires to allow delivery of aid to civilians by the UN and NGOs.
But there has been no hiding that the intervention in Yemen is part of a good old-fashioned, geo-political power struggle.
Saudi Arabia moved when it thought its side was losing.
Perhaps after the debacle of Libya where the Responsibility to Protect was invoked and NATO, endorsed by the UN Security Council, intervened leading to the overthrow of Colonel Gadaffi and the country's collapse into its current anarchic state, there is a realisation the humanitarian rhetoric just doesn't wash any more.
Also, since Libya there's been Syria.
If anything has demonstrated that the era of Sierra Leone and Kosovo in the late 1990s where western intervention in local conflicts was justified on moral grounds has passed, it is the international response to the Syrian conflict.
Instead of trying to help end an escalating civil war, the US, its western and Turkish allies took sides early against President Assad, who has been backed by Iran and Russia -by Alistar Burnet
http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/alistair-burnett/yemen_b_7956024.html
3.8.2015 – Albawaba
This map shows the simple 20 million state solution in Yemen we’ve been missing all along
This week, Yemeni blogger Haykal Bafana mapped out some 229 distinct tribal and state lines making up the area of southern Yemen, plus parts of Oman and Saudi Arabia. He notes: "These tribal borders (and indeed, even the sovereign state borders involved) are not cut in stone. Consider them fracture lines."
Humanitäre Lage
14.8.2015 – IOM
Yemen continues to be one of the world’s largest humanitarian crises, with the conflict that escalated as of late-March 2015 having a devastating impact on the lives of all Yemeni people and migrants and refugees. The Yemeni people are resilient, but their coping mechanisms have been stretched by years of instability, poor governance, lack of rule of law and widespread poverty. Before the recent intensification of conflict, almost half of all Yemenis lived below the poverty line, two-thirds of Yemeni youth were unemployed and basic social services were on the verge of collapse. Additionally, over 420,000 Yemeni migrants were forcibly returned from the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia in 2014.
Years of internal conflict, endemic poverty and weak institutions had left 61 per cent (15.9 million people) of Yemen’s population in need of some form of humanitarian assistance. With the launch of the revised Yemen Humanitarian Response Plan in June 2015, that number increased to 80 per cent (21.1 million people) as a result of conflict and a drastic reduction in commercial imports. Food security, shelter, health, protection, water and sanitation, and nutrition remain the most pressing humanitarian priorities across the vulnerable populations in Yemen. Additionally, more than 1 million internally displaced people (IDPs) and at least 200,000 vulnerable people in host communities were identified to be in dire need of emergency shelter or other basic household supplies.
http://humanitariancompendium.iom.int/yemen/2015
14.8.2015 – Westdeutsche Zeitung
UN: Im Jemen droht eine Hungerkatastrophe
Die Zahl der unterernährten Kinder könnte in den nächsten Wochen auf 1,2 Millionen steigen, wenn der Konflikt zwischen Huthi-Rebellen und regierungstreuen Truppen weitergeht, so Hilal Elver, UN-Berichterstatterin für das Recht auf Ernährung. Vor allem Ausgangssperren schnitten die Bevölkerung von Versorgungsmöglichkeiten ab. Laut Elver sollen bereits 13 Millionen Menschen im Jemen – das entspricht der Hälfte der Bevölkerung – keinen ausreichenden Zugang zu Nahrungsmitteln mehr haben.
Das Leiden und Sterben der Bevölkerung geht weiter. Die Jemeniten erlitten „einen der heftigsten bewaffneten Konflikte, die wir bei Ärzte ohne Grenzen je erlebt haben“, so der stellvertretende medizinische Leiter der Schweizer Sektion von Ärzte ohne Grenzen, Tammam Aloudat, in einem Bericht für das Hilfswerk vom Donnerstag. Seit 2011 sei dies sein zweiter Besuch im Jemen, so Aloudat, und der größte Unterschied zu damals sei für ihn gewesen, „dass das allgemeine Gefühl von Optimismus in Verzweiflung und Angst vor der Zukunft umgeschlagen ist“ – von Uli Tückmantel
http://www.wz-newsline.de/home/politik/ausland/un-im-jemen-droht-eine-hungerkatastrophe-1.1996384
12.8.2015 – Ärzte ohne Grenzen
Yemen: “One of the worst conflicts MSF has seen”
This is my second visit to Yemen. Since I last came in 2011 some things have not changed at all, such as the kindness and hospitality of people, but also the long power cuts.
However, many things have changed for the worse. Today, long queues of cars wait in front of petrol stations, and checkpoints have increased. Yemen’s quiet nights have turned noisy, filled with the sounds of airstrikes and anti-aircraft guns.
For me, the biggest difference was that the general sense of optimism had turned into desperation and fear for the future. It is sadly a justified fear, as Yemenis are today living through one of the worst armed conflicts MSF has ever seen.
Most of us in the West can receive mental support after a traumatic event, but the children of Yemen are witnessing a ruthless war, have been forced from their homes and are being deprived of basic needs, healthcare, school and even food, all while their families struggle to survive.
Yemeni children, who have already suffered from decades of malnutrition, will suffer more if the world does not provide food and medicine to them.
Yet efforts in this regard are being hindered by the blockade, fighting and constant bombings.
Yemen is experiencing a ruthless war. I hope next time I visit the country, the war will be over.
Until then, MSF will continue to serve the Yemeni people and to project their voices to the world, so that people everywhere else will know the reality beyond the headlines, which talks only about victories, retreats and negotiations – by Dr Tammam Aloudat, Médecins Sans Frontières/Doctors Without Borders (MSF) Deputy Medical Director
http://www.msf.org.uk/article/yemen-one-of-the-worst-conflicts-msf-has-seen = http://www.msf.org/article/yemen-%E2%80%9Cdesperation-and-fear-future%E2%80%9D
derselbe Artikel auf Deutsch:
“Aus Optimismus wurde Verzweiflung und Angst vor der Zukunft”
Dies ist mein zweiter Besuch im Jemen. Seit meinem letzten Aufenthalt im Jahr 2011 haben sich einige Dinge nicht verändert, wie die Freundlichkeit und Gastfreundschaft der Menschen. Aber auch die langen Stromausfälle. Allerdings haben sich viele Dinge verschlechtert. Heute müssen viele Autos in langen Schlangen vor Tankstellen warten. Es gibt viel mehr Kontrollpunkte. Jemens Nächte sind laut geworden, durchdrungen vom Lärm der Luftangriffe und Flaks. Für mich war der größte Unterschied zu damals, dass das allgemeine Gefühl von Optimismus in Verzweiflung und Angst vor der Zukunft umgeschlagen ist. Es ist leider eine berechtigte Angst, da die Jemeniten einen der heftigsten bewaffneten Konflikte erleiden, die wir bei Ärzte ohne Grenzen je erlebt haben.
Die meisten von uns im Westen erhalten psychologische Unterstützung nach einem traumatischen Ereignis. Aber die Kinder des Jemen sind Zeugen eines rücksichtslosen Krieges, wurden gezwungen ihre Häuser zu verlassen. Sie wurden ihrer Grundbedürfnisse, Gesundheit, Schule und sogar Nahrung beraubt, während ihre Familien ums Überleben kämpfen.
Jemen erlebt einen rücksichtslosen Krieg. Ich hoffe, dass bei meinem nächsten Besuch der Krieg im Jemen vorbei sein wird. Bis dahin wird Ärzte ohne Grenzen weiterhin für die Menschen im Jemen Hilfe leisten und ihre Geschichten in die Welt tragen. Damit die Menschen überall auf der Welt die Wirklichkeit hinter den Schlagzeilen kennen, in denen es immer nur um Siege, Rückzug und Verhandlungen geht – von Dr Tammam Aloudat, Médecins Sans Frontières/Doctors Without Borders (MSF) Deputy Medical Director
https://www.aerzte-ohne-grenzen.de/tammam-aloudat-bericht-kriegsgebiet-jemen
13.8.2015 – France24
French aid workers recount horror of war in Yemen
http://www.france24.com/en/20150813-yemen-war-aden-civilians-bombings-doctors-without-borders-msf
12.8.2015 -UNO
Thousands flee to Somalia from Yemen war
Nearly 30,000 mainly Somalia refugees have been forced to flee war-torn Yemen and return home where the humanitarian situation remains fragile, according to the UN.
In its latest report on Somalia, the UN humanitarian agency OCHA says that the returnees started arriving back in the country in March, after fighting escalated in Yemen.
Three-quarters of the returnees are women and children, OCHA says, and they face uncertainty linked to food shortages and ongoing military conflict.
12.8.2015 – France 24
UN official warns of 'deliberate starvation' in Yemen
A UN official on Tuesday warned armed factions in Yemen over "the deliberate starvation of civilians", as the embattled country grapples with a food crisis that has left 850,000 children facing acute malnutrition.
http://www.france24.com/en/20150812-un-official-warns-deliberate-starvation-yemen
12.8.2015 – New York Times
Yemen: Dengue Fever and Malaria Are Linked to Trash
Garbage that is piling up uncollected on the streets in towns across Yemenis contributing to the spread of dengue fever and malaria, an American-based charity that employs Yeminis to clean up trash said Wednesday. The garbage has contaminated the soil and water and attracted infectious pests, the organization, Mercy Corps, said. Mosquitoes carrying dengue fever and malaria breed and lay eggs in puddles. At least 8,000 people in the port city of Aden have contracted dengue fever since fighting between the government and Houthi rebels began five months ago, according to the charity. Cases of typhoid have been recorded in the city, and there are reports of malaria.
12.8.2015 – Famiglia Cristiana
YEMEN: IGNORATI GLI APPELLI DELLE ORGANIZZAZIONI UMANITARIE
Si moltiplicano le denunce per la catastrofe umanitaria: l’allarme viene dalla Croce Rossa e da Medici senza frontiere. C’è lo spettro di una nuova escalation per la riconquista della capitale Sana'a.
In pochi giorni ben tre conferenze stampa internazionali convocate, quasi in contemporanea dalla Croce Rossa Internazionale e da Medici Senza Frontiere (Msf) nella capitale Sana'a, ad Amman e a New York, testimoniano la crescente preoccupazione per un disastro umanitario che richiede una risposta internazionale urgente che tarda ad arrivare, oltre i limiti del comprensibile e del giustificabile a fronte di sempre più numerose denunce di crimini di guerra, violazione dei diritti umani e delle leggi internazionali di guerra.
12.8.2015 – Famiglia Cristiana
MSF, UNA DOTTORESSA ITALIANA TESTIMONE DEL MASSACRO
«Mentre scendo i gradini la gente attorno a me non parla più, non li sento gridare. Sento qualcuno che singhiozza. Mi rendo conto che sono io. Mi guardano in silenzio mentre scendo le scale con quel corpo tra le braccia e piango come se questo bambino fosse il mio». Lamia Bezer, 38 anni, chirurgo italiano e responsabile medico dell’ospedale di Medici Senza Frontiere ad Aden (nel sud dello Yemen), è appena rientrata in Italia. Dopo tre mesi in prima linea. Ecco il racconto di ciò che ha visto.
http://www.famigliacristiana.it/articolo/msf-una-dottoressa-italiana-testimone-del-massacro.aspx
11.8.2015 – Reuters
Yemen refugees return to ruined Aden with mix of hope and grief
Yemeni refugees cheered and ululated as their plane dipped towards Aden, returning them to a precarious life in their home city three weeks after fighting there ended and months after most of them fled.
But for many refugees returning to a city without regular water or electricity and shattered by months of intense street fighting, the joy of being home was tempered by grief at the sight of destruction and uncertainty over the future – by Angus Mcdowall
http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/08/11/us-yemen-security-refugees-idUSKCN0QG0QE20150811
11.8.2015 – Der Standard
850.000 Kinder im Jemen drohen zu verhungern
Die Vereinten Nationen und das Rote Kreuz haben vor einer rapiden Verschlechterung der Versorgungslage im Jemen gewarnt. Besonders die Situation von rund 850.000 Kindern in dem Konfliktgebiet, die von schwerer Unterernährung betroffen seien, sei zutiefst "alarmierend", erklärte die Verantwortliche der Uno für ein Recht auf Nahrung, Hilal Elver, am Dienstag.
Die Uno geht davon aus, dass schon in wenigen Wochen 1,2 Millionen Kinder von Mangelernährung betroffen sind, wenn der Konflikt weiterhin auf dem aktuellen Niveau ausgetragen werde. Elver kritisierte dabei, dass die Luftangriffe der vonSaudi-Arabien angeführten Militärkoalition auch immer wieder Märkte und Versorgungstransporte treffen. Zivilisten aushungern zu lassen könne als "Kriegsverbrechen oder Verbrechen gegen die Menschlichkeit" eingestuft werden.
http://derstandard.at/2000020574686/850-000-Kinder-im-Jemen-drohen-zu-verhungern ebenso http://www.n-tv.de/ticker/Zivilbevoelkerung-im-Jemen-leidet-extrem-article15697876.html
11.8.2015 – IRIN
Walking into danger: migrants still head to Yemen
Migration to and through Yemen – historically the backdoor for migrants and asylum seekers from the Horn of Africa trying to reach Saudi Arabia – has always put people at risk of death and inhumane treatment. Last year, there were numerous drownings in the Gulf of Aden and Human Rights Watch released a report in 2014 documenting “torture camps” where smugglers held newcomers for ransom.
But a civil war, precipitated by the departure of Yemen’s internationally-recognised government and a Saudi Arabian-led bombing campaign to restore its legitimacy, has made an already perilous journey for migrants all the more death-defying.
Not only has the war given smugglers license to act more ruthlessly than before, but also the ability of aid agencies to provide services to migrants and refugees has been severely compromised and the conflict’s violence has been indiscriminate. Five migrants were caught in shelling near the Saudi border in May and, at the end of March, a camp for displaced people camp was bombed, killing at least 45.
But as migrants and refugees know, the grinding poverty, political persecution or violence that typically push them out of the Horn of Africa, do not conveniently abate as wars break out in their path. So they continue to risk life and liberty and end up on Yemen’s shores. According to figures from UNHCR, more than 10,500 people have arrived in Yemen since March when the bombing campaign began. Although some of those might be part of the 51,000 who are now also leaving, as war in Yemen has created a circular flow in the region.
Some aid officials believe that boat smugglers in Bosaso and Djibouti (for the Red Sea route to Yemen) may be downplaying the conflict in Yemen or flat-out lying to clients about the dangers they have seen.
For UNHCR’s Leposky, Yemen’s collapse is particularly concerning because of the country’s history of opening its borders to refugees and asylum seekers. He told IRIN that those arriving now in Yemen are making the costly journey across the see only to find themselves in a similar situation, if not worse – by Katie Riordan
http://www.irinnews.org/report/101848/walking-into-danger-migrants-still-head-to-yemen = http://reliefweb.int/report/yemen/walking-danger-migrants-still-head-yemen
11.8.2015 – Reuters
Yemen 'crumbling' from war, sieges causing starvation: aid groups – by Stephanie Nebehey
http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/08/11/us-yemen-security-redcross-idUSKCN0QG0OY20150811
11.8.2015 – Ärzte ohne Grenzen
Yemen: A "War Against Civilians"
Teresa Sancristóval, the head of the Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) emergency unit, recently returned from Yemen and gave the following account of the medical and humanitarian crisis.
It's not that Yemen was in a peaceful situation before, but it is clear that since March, the level of violence has radically increased in the country. We have seen mass casualties from bombings, such as in the internally displaced persons camp in Harad, or in markets, schools and other places where a lot of civilians are concentrated. When I was in Saada, one day we received a family of 27 members of which only two were alive after three bombs hit their houses.
We have a lot of amputations, and we have very severe cases. From about 10,000 injured patients, about 5,000 have needed surgery. These figures are extremely high, even for MSF, which is an organization that is used to working in conflict.
Especially in Aden, the situation has been extremely difficult, where the population feels it's almost impossible to go out of their houses. Snipers are shooting from the roofs of the hospitals. Ambulances are unable to cross front lines. Some days ago, 250 people were injured in Aden by a land attack and 80 people were injured in Sana'a through bombing.
The impact of this conflict is much wider than only the bombing or the shooting. The situation is growing worse every week. The blockade is having an enormous impact on the population and you can see it on different levels. Yemen is predicted to be the first country in the world to have a capital without water, and water scarcity has an enormous impact. In Yemen, water has to be pumped out with electricity, and the lack of fuel makes it impossible to pump water in most places. The price of water has doubled since the last month, and many families already spent one-third of their incomes on water. It makes it very difficult for a family to cope with the most basic needs.
The conflict is having an enormous impact on access to health care, because of violence and the lack of transportation. The other day we received a kid in the hospital with a respiratory infection. The parents detected it on time, but it took them two days to bring the kid to the hospital because there was no means of transportation. The child's condition degenerated enormously and it was impossible to save the child. It was a totally avoidable death because it would have been treatable earlier.
In some moments, I felt that the conflict in Yemen is much more of a war against civilians than a war against armed groups. One of the days I was in the hospital in Saada, we heard 100 bombs. When you are in a city and they are bombing it 100 times a day, it is impossible to go out for anything. People cannot let their kids go out to the street because they don't know when it's going to happen. And if people cannot go to work, if they cannot go to the school, the situation is only going to deteriorate. For the MSF teams, you end up being exhausted, not knowing when the ambulance can be transferred to another place because the level of bombing is extremely difficult to handle.
http://www.doctorswithoutborders.org/article/yemen-war-against-civilians
10.8.2015 – Newsweek
Civilians in Yemen Face Dengue Fever, Amputations Without Proper Medical Care
Living conditions in Yemen are worsening by the week, with an increase in disease and nonstop bombing making life unbearable for many civilians, medical humanitarian organization Doctors Without Borders warned on Monday.
The situation has rapidly deteriorated since March 26, when Saudi Arabia began its campaign of airstrikes against Houthi rebels, and imposed a blockade on imports, including food, medicine and fuel, said Teresa Sancristόval, head of the emergency unit overseeing Yemen for Doctors Without Borders, also known as Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF), during a press briefing on Monday.
Populated areas like markets, schools and camps for Yemen’s 1.2 million internally displaced people have all experienced violence, she said. In Aden, in the country’s south, snipers on building roofs have left people afraid and unable to leave their homes to take relatives to the hospital – by Lucy Westcott
10.8.2015 – ABC News
Yemen Hospitals Overwhelmed by Rising Number of War-Wounded
The conflict in Yemen has overwhelmed aid groups with "massive" humanitarian needs arising from months of violence and destruction, and hospitals at times had to turn away patients, the international group Doctors Without Borders said Monday - by KARIN LAUB and AHMED AL-HAJ
10.8.2015- Ärzte ohne Grenzen
Humanitarian & Health Situation in Yemen
Press conference (films)
• The Yemeni civilian population is paying a disproportionate price to the conflict • Access to healthcare severely restricted in Yemen • The response to the growing basic needs of the population is extremely low • Parties to the conflict should take any initiatives that would reduce the level of suffering amongst Yemenis • Between late March to-date, MSF has treated more than 8000 injured due to the armed conflict in Yemen.
http://livestream.com/doctorswithoutborders/yemen-press-conference
10.8.2015 – ctv news
Yemen's hospitals overwhelmed by war-wounded, says Doctors Without Borders
The conflict in Yemen has overwhelmed aid groups with "massive" humanitarian needs arising from months of violence and destruction, and hospitals at times had to turn away patients, the international group Doctors Without Borders said Monday.
Doctors Without Borders, also known has Medecins Sans Frontieres or MSF, told reporters in Jordan that it has treated more than 10,000 war-wounded in Yemen since March, including close to 5,000 who underwent surgery.
7.8.2015 UNO OCHA
YEMEN: THE TRUE FACE OF WAR
For the past four months, conflict in Yemen has wracked the lives of millions of families. As war rages on, the humanitarian crisis deepens with no end in sight. The numbers are outrageous and near impossible to grasp: today 21 million Yemenis cannot survive without some form of aid. That’s four out of five children, women and men lacking the most basic things, including water, food, adequate medical care, and shelter. War has devastated every aspect of their lives. Over the course of the past month, I was able to meet some of these people, and not a day goes by that I don’t think of their heart-wrenching stories.
Abdessalam, 15, lay on a bed in the hallway of Al-Thawra hospital, in the capital, Sana’a. His head was wrapped in bandages and a drip was in his forearm. The hallway was noisy, crowded with sick and injured people and their relatives. As the doctor checked Abdessalam’s radio scans, the boy clenched his teeth and sent a defiant look to anyone who stared at him. “I was in the street with two friends and my elder brother when anti-aircraft bullets hit us,” he told me. “We didn’t feel it until it came beside us and exploded. A fragment hit me here,” he said pointing to his head, “and another one hit my stomach.”
In the next room, lay five-year-old Hussein. His eyes were closed, he had the face of an angel. His dad, who was standing at his bedside and watching over him, started telling us what happened: “He was playing on the balcony when the blast from an airstrike threw him up in the air.” As his father spoke, little Hussein finally opened his eyes. “He just woke up this morning after spending the last four days in a coma,” his dad explained - by Charlotte Cans, mit Fotos und Film
https://unocha.exposure.co/yemen-the-true-face-of-war
3.8.2015 – Relief Web
Yemen: Reduced Imports Worsen Crisis (as of 3 August 2015)
Importation of grains has remained above trend yet food prices remain high and unavailable in many locations. Fuel imports have increased but are still not at the level required to power basic social services, including water treatment plants and hospitals.
http://reliefweb.int/report/yemen/yemen-reduced-imports-worsen-crisis-3-august-2015
Infografik von OCHA: http://reliefweb.int/sites/reliefweb.int/files/resources/Yemen%20OCHA%20Commercial%20Shipping%20Report%204%20August.pdf
31.7.2015 - PRI
A doctor's diary from Yemen tells the story of the forgotten Arab war
"The roads are targeted. Cars are often hit," says British Dr. Natalie Roberts. "Every few hundred meters you see another burned out vehicle; every bridge on the road has been bombed out".
Roberts, who is in Yemen with Doctors Without Borders, has worked in conflict zones before. But she says Yemen's war zone is unlike anything she has seen elsewhere. "What's really surprising to me here is that I've never seen so few [aid workers and journalists] on the ground. Syria, when i was there, was counted as the most dangerous conflict in the world — but Yemen? I just haven't met anyone."
In one recording, Roberts describes the anxiety created as a Saudi war plane begins circling over the town she is staying in. "Lunchtime — and it's overhead. It tends to happen at least once an hour," she tells her audio recorder. "This place makes me concerned about aeroplanes generally. Because you know if you hear a plane flying overhead — you're just waiting for the bomb to drop."
On another day, Roberts is working in a clinic in the mountains of North Yemen when a 6-year-old boy is brought in. "[He received] shrapnel to his eye, this morning," she explains. "It means he's lost his eye. He's being very brave, lying on his bed, still covered in blood, unfortunately. His mother's talking to him." In spite of the circumstances, she notes that the emergency room is still being kept in good order.
The cleaners are busy, which makes me happy that they are cleanng up everything that's on the floor — despite the fact that it's a very makeshift emergency room."
But for Roberts, the first priority is still to reach a stage where ordinary Yemenis are able to leave their homes in safety. "Obviously people have huge needs — the health needs, injuries that need treating — but if they have to stay inside because they are so afraid, there's not very much we can do to help them – by Leo Hornak
http://www.pri.org/stories/2015-07-31/doctors-diary-yemen-tells-story-forgotten-arab-war
Kriegsereignisse
16.8.2015 – Albawaba
A simplified map of the divisions in Yemen reminds us of al-Qaeda's presence
Earlier this month a map of all the tribes in Yemen showed the conflict was far more complex than we could've ever imagined.
Yet there's one large force the map forgot to factor in, a force we've hardly heard about lately: al-Qaeda.
A map created by the Institute for United Conflicts Analysts is a stark reminder of the extremist group's presence. Despite tribal clashes throughout the country — rival factions of Houthi rebels pitted against exiled President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi's loyalists — al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP)remains largely in control of central parts of the war-torn country.
http://www.albawaba.com/loop/simplified-map-divisions-yemen-remind-us-al-qaedas-presence-731090
16.8.2015 – Aljazeera
Yemen anti-Houthi forces take Taiz government buildings
Fighters loyal to exiled government take security headquarters in country's third city after heavy clashes with Houthis. Forces loyal to Yemen's exiled government have made advances in Taiz, the country's third city, taking over the security headquarters and the governorate building there, following heavy clashes with Shia Houthi fighters. Fighters backing the exiled president, Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi, were reported on Saturday to be inching closer to the presidential palace in the city, located southwest of the capital Sanaa, and military bases still under the control of Houthi rebels, army sources said.
http://www.aljazeera.com/news/2015/08/yemen-anti-houthi-forces-advances-taaz-150815174507849.html
15.8.2015 – Deutsche Welle
Regierungstreue Truppen drängen Huthi-Rebellen weiter zurück
Die Gegner der Aufständischen im Jemen erzielen weiterhin massive Geländegewinne. Regierungstreue Milizen sind nun in eine weitere Provinz im Süden des Landes eingerückt.
Die militärische Lage im Jemen wendet sich offenbar immer weiter zu Gunsten der regierungstreuen Truppen. Mit Unterstützung der von Saudi-Arabien angeführten Militärallianz hätten diese die Huthi-Rebellen aus der Provinz Schabwa vertrieben, berichten Anwohner und Stammesvertreter der Huthis. Nach einer Woche heftiger Gefechte hatten sich die Aufständischen zurückgezogen.
15.8.2015 – Critical Threats
2015 Yemen Crisis Situation Report: August 15
The Saudi-coalition’s success in rolling back al Houthi gains is creating space for AQAP to expand. It is not clear that there is a plan to backfill the al Houthis in recently cleared territory other than to reinstall Hadi’s government in Aden and move pro-Hadi individuals into the formal government structure. AQAP’s expansion will challenge the authority of a future Yemeni state – by Joshua Koontz
http://www.criticalthreats.org/yemen/yemen-crisis-situation-reports-august-15-2015
15.8.2015 – Asharq al-Awsat
Yemen: Government loyalists say capture Taiz
Forces loyal to Yemen’s exiled President Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi said on Friday they had captured most of the western city of Taiz after fierce clashes with Houthi militants and forces loyal to ex-president Ali Abdullah Saleh. The pro-Hadi fighters, known as Popular Resistance forces, now control most of the vital institutions in Taiz, including the headquarters of the Security Directorate, a spokesman for the loyalists said. The Iran-backed Houthis responded by shelling Taiz’s Old City and other residential areas, residents told Asharq Al-Awsat.
http://www.aawsat.net/2015/08/article55344796/yemen-government-loyalists-say-capture-taiz siehe auch http://www.aa.com.tr/en/news/575155--28-killed-amid-ongoing-yemen-violence-local-sources
15.8.2015 – Reuters
Anti-Houthi fighters take Shabwa in southern Yemen advance
Forces loyal to exiled President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi seized Yemen's southern province of Shabwa on Saturday, residents and tribesmen said, building momentum after weeks of victories against the dominant Houthi movement.
The loyalist fighters, backed by a Saudi-led coalition, have advanced on a broad front through southern Yemen in recent weeks, forcing the Houthis and army units aligned with former strongman Ali Abdullah Saleh into retreat.
Tribal sources said a pro-Saleh military commander in the area had agreed with tribal forces to withdraw from the provincial capital Ataq after a week of fierce fighting throughout the province.
http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/08/15/us-yemen-security-idUSKCN0QK09220150815
15.8.2015 – AFP
Yemen loyalists take back another province from rebels
The rebels handed over Shabwa to government forces and withdrew after being promised a safe route out of the province, a military official told AFP. Other sources confirmed the pull-out. "The province was handed over" to the Southern Movement, a secessionist group whose militants have been fighting in loyalist ranks, said Salem al-Awlaqi, a political activist in Shabwa – by Fawaz al-Haidari
http://news.yahoo.com/pro-govt-forces-retake-fifth-south-yemen-province-083001977.html
15.8.2015 – Asharq al-Awsat
Yemen: Government loyalists say capture Taiz
Forces loyal to Yemen’s exiled President Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi said on Friday they had captured most of the western city of Taiz after fierce clashes with Houthi militants and forces loyal to ex-president Ali Abdullah Saleh.
The pro-Hadi fighters, known as Popular Resistance forces, now control most of the vital institutions in Taiz, including the headquarters of the Security Directorate, a spokesman for the loyalists said.
The Iran-backed Houthis responded by shelling Taiz’s Old City and other residential areas, residents told Asharq Al-Awsat.
Meanwhile, Saudi-led warships on Friday approached the coast of Al-Hudaydah in western Yemen and exchanged fire with Houthis positioned in the Ad Durayhimi district, resistance sources told Asharq Al-Awsat – by Arafat Marabish
http://www.aawsat.net/2015/08/article55344796/yemen-government-loyalists-say-capture-taiz
15.8.2015 – Deutschlandfunk
Regierungstreue Kämpfer erobern Provinzhauptstadt Atak
Die Huthi-Rebellen hätten sich aus der ölreichen Provinz Schabwa zurückgezogen, nachdem ihnen freies Geleit zugesichert worden sei, heißt es.
15.8.2015 – Associated Press
YEMENI REBELS WITHDRAW FROM A PROVINCIAL CAPITAL IN SOUTH
Yemen's anti-rebel fighters said Saturday they took over the capital of southern Shabwah province, as officials close to the Iran-allied rebels confirmed they withdrew after coming under attack. Groups fighting the rebels known as Houthis are consolidating their control over the province after taking the capital, Ataq, anti-rebel security officials said. Jubilant crowds welcomed the anti-Houthi forces in Ataq, firing weapons into the air, resident Hisham Nasser said. At least 200 Saudi-trained Yemeni troops in full military gear joined the anti-rebel forces Saturday in Ataq
14.8.2015 – Defence Blog
SAUDI ARABIA SENT ARMY AIRCRAFT AT THE AIRPORT OF ADEN IN YEMEN
http://defence-blog.com/?p=7351
14.8.2015 – Asharq al-Awsat
Yemen: Hadi approves plan to liberate Sana’a, says adviser
Yemen’s exiled President Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi has approved a plan to liberate Sana’a from Houthi rebels, a presidential adviser said, despite earlier reports that the Iran-backed militants were considering pulling out of the capital. Abdulaziz Jabari, a Hadi adviser, said the Popular Resistance forces will attack Sana’a and its environs unless the Houthis agree to withdraw without fighting. The Sana’a campaign will involve coordination between forces from inside and outside the capital, according to Jabari.
Meanwhile, pro-Hadi commanders on Wednesday discussed in a closed meeting in Sana’a the possibility of engaging with the Houthis and the allied forces of ex-president Ali Abdullah Saleh. The move will be in coordination with the local tribesmen and the Saudi-led coalition, Jabari said. Tribal fighters, backed by Saudi-led airstrikes and Yemeni army units, will launch an “all-out war” on Sana’a if the Houthis refuse to withdraw from the capital.
14.8.2015 – South Front
YEMEN MAP OF WAR, AUGUST 6 – 14, 2015: SAUDI-LED FORCES ADVANCE ON SANA’A
Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) and the Islamic State (ISIS) have already used the recent success of the Saudi Arabia-led forces to increase their territorial control and boost their actions in central and southern Yemen. The US and Saudi Arabia believe the coalition’s recent series of victories will push different Saudi-backed militant groups to commit to self-styled Yemeni President Abdu Rabbu Mansour Hadi. Nonetheless, militant group leaders clearly understand that the only reason for the recent success is strong support from Saudi Arabia and United Arab Emirates armored units. So, the separatist Southern Resistance won’t state an official allegiance to the Saudi Arabian doll Abdu Rabbu Mansour Hadi.
Yemen’s capital, Sanaa remains under the Houthi governments control, but Saudi-led forces have come to within 100 kilometers of the city, as well as invading from the Dhamar governorate to the south. oalition-backed Yemeni fighters are massed in Marib, 120 kilometers (75 miles) east of Sanaa, having moved in from Saudi Arabia via the al-Wadiya border crossing earlier this month. Before moving on the capital, coalition-backed forces are likely to neutralize the surrounding area first, defeating Houthi and Saleh elements in the key popular centers of Taiz, Ibb and Dhamar.
While AQAP continues to benefit from the Saudi Arabia-led coalition’s campaign as its ally in the war against Yemeni government, ISIS has been preparing to turn Yemen into another Syria. ISIS has already strengthened recruitment in the center and south of the country. Furthermore, reports have been circulating that ISIS is preparing to mount a siege on Rada’a, al Bayda. If ISIS seizes Rada’a, this move will undermine the Saudi-backed AQAP’s role as “protector of the Sunni people” and enable ISIS to become the most powerful terrorist network in the region. The US will have one more state where it could intervene on the pretense of a “War on Terror”.
http://southfront.org/yemen-map-of-war-august-6-14-2015-saudi-led-forces-advance-on-sanaa/ = http://thesaker.is/yemen-map-of-war-august-6-14-2015-saudi-led-forces-advance-on-sanaa/
13.8.2015 – Archicivilians
MAP: THE MILITARY SITUATION IN YEMEN | AUGUST 13, 2015
http://archicivilians.com/2015/08/13/map-the-military-situation-in-yemen-august-13-2015/
13.8.2015 – Asharq al-Awsat
Yemen’s Houthis consider withdrawing from Sana’a
Yemen’s Houthi movement is considering withdrawing from Sana’a and handing over government facilities to state authorities, Asharq Al-Awsat has learned. The Houthis’ Security Committee held a meeting in Sana’a on Monday to discuss the possibility of pulling out of the capital and handing over security checkpoints and government facilities to state authorities, a Yemen source told Asharq Al-Awsat. The meeting was chaired by Jalal Al-Ruwaishan, the Houthi-appointed interior minister, and attended by members of the so-called Revolutionary Committee.
http://www.aawsat.net/2015/08/article55344771/yemens-houthis-consider-withdrawing-from-sanaa-source
11.8.2015 – Stratfor
The Saudi-Led Coalition Exploits Success
The Houthis, along with forces loyal to former Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh, are in an increasingly precarious position after the liberation of several localities in the Ibb and Dhamar regions. This has led them to dig in and fortify some of their stronger urban positions, namely the cities of Taiz and Ibb. The Southern Resistance has given Houthi defenders in Ibb — 46 kilometers (28 miles) northeast of Taiz — 48 hours to withdraw from the city. Despite their impetus to drive on, rebel forces are reluctant to simply push into population centers, in part because of the risk of inflicting collateral damage and in part because of the perils of clearing well-defended urban terrain.
Yemen's capital, Sanaa, remains firmly under Houthi and Saleh control for now, but coalition-supported forces have closed to within 100 kilometers (60 miles) of the city. As well as encroaching from Dhamar governorate to the south, coalition-backed Yemeni fighters are massed in Marib, 120 kilometers (75 miles) east of Sanaa, having moved in from Saudi Arabia via the al-Wadiya border crossing earlier this month. Before moving on the capital, coalition-backed forces are likely to neutralize the surrounding area first, defeating Houthi and Saleh elements in the key popular centers of Taiz, Ibb and Dhamar city.
The civilian population in Sanaa is largely anti-Saudi, which could complicate efforts to seize the city. Significant protests are common against the Saudi-supported operation to pacify Yemen and against naval blockades that are preventing an influx of essential goods. A number of tribal groups have sided with the anti-Houthi movement, helping to accelerate the pace of operations in places such as Ibb. This boost and Saudi armored, air and logistic support mean that rapid gains are likely to continue, especially in less urbanized areas.
https://www.stratfor.com/analysis/saudi-led-coalition-exploits-success
11.8.2015 – Sott.net
'The world is failing Yemen': Saudi Arabia desperate to escalate war as Yemeni rebels refuse to buckle
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 bin Abdul-Aziz Al Saud after more than four months of war. The grim struggle in Yemen goes on with a frightful toll for the Yemeni people.
The Saudi gains so far have been outside the Zaydi Shiite heartland of the Houthi rebels. Sanaa remains firmly in the rebels' control. The leader of the Zaydi Houthi rebels, Abdul-Malik al-Houthi, gave a speech this week to his followers, promising, "We are in a great battle in which we must use all our efforts." He acknowledged the Saudis and their allies had retaken the southern port of Aden but said, "The enemy threw all their weight to gain a limited achievement." Houthi accused the Saudis and their ally, Hadi, of working with both Israel and the Islamic State (IS) to take Aden. He called for an internal Yemeni political solution to the war.
Most ironic of all, US and Saudi-backed sectarian extremists, including Al Qaeda in Yemen, had served as proxy forces meant to keep Houthi militias in check by proxy so the need for a direct military intervention such as the one now unfolding would not be necessary. This means that Saudi Arabia and the US are intervening in Yemenonly after the terrorists they were supporting were overwhelmed and the regime they were propping up collapsed. - by Bruce Riedel
11.8.2015 – Gulf News - Hindustan Times
Yemen loyalists seize town south of rebel-held Sanaa
Saudi-backed forces loyal to Yemen's exiled government seized a town south of rebel-held Sanaa in their latest advance against Shiite Huthi rebels, military officials said on Tuesday.
The "Popular Resistance Committees" - comprising pro-government fighters, Sunni tribes, and southern separatists -- seized overnight the town of Utmah, about 100 kilometres (60 miles) south of Sanaa, the officials said.
The town is in the Shiite majority province of Dhammar next to Sanaa province, where the Iran-backed rebels have held the capital since September.
http://www.hindustantimes.com/world-news/yemen-loyalists-seize-town-south-of-rebel-held-sanaa/article1-1378894.aspx identisch http://gulfnews.com/news/gulf/yemen/yemen-loyalists-seize-town-south-of-rebel-held-capital-1.1564623 dazu auch http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-08-11/saudi-backed-yemen-forces-make-gains-as-houthis-fortify-capital = http://www.yemenonline.info/politics/672
11.8.2015 – Aljazeera
Yemen's loyalist forces push Houthi rebels from Abyan
Forces loyal to Yemen's exiled government announce the recapture of Abyan province from Houthis in southern offensive.
Saudi-backed forces loyal to Yemen's exiled government have announced the recapture of Abyan province in a southern offensive that has seen key gains against the Houthi rebels.
Military officials who back President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi said on Tuesday that loyalist forces have retaken Loder, the last town in Abyan to fall from Houthi hands. "Abyan is now completely free" of the Shia rebels, one official said.
Al Jazeera's Hashem Ahelbarra, reporting from Doha, described the development as "quite significant".
"There is only one province in the south that is still under the control of the Houthis. Once they control the south, it is going to be quite massive, because then the government in exile is going to return ... they will set up ministries, establish a base, from where they can continue the fight to control the capital," our correspondent said.
http://www.aljazeera.com/news/2015/08/yemen-loyalist-forces-push-houthis-aden-150811082856534.html
11.8.2015 – FT.com
UAE flexes military muscle alongside Saudis in Yemen
The United Arab Emirates is taking an increasingly active role alongside Saudi forces in Yemen in their efforts to defeat Shia Houthi rebels and restore Abd Rabbu Mansour Hadi as president.
Advances in and around the southern city of Aden that have helped to shift the momentum of the war against the Houthis and forces loyal to Ali Abdullah Saleh, the former president, were largely planned and executed by the UAE, say local fighters and western officials.
The UAE and Saudis have been absolutely key to preventing the Houthi-Saleh alliance from taking Aden,” James Spencer, a Yemen specialist, said of thebattle for the strategic port. It is rare for the UAE to deploy ground forces in conflict zones, although troops from the Gulf state were active in the war in Afghanistan.
the UAE has executed air drops of ammunition, trained Yemeni opposition fighters and deployed armoured personnel carriers and an armoured brigade to secure Aden.
UAE special forces have also been embedded with anti-Houthi fighters since at least May, locals say. The UAE forces co-ordinated efforts to create secure zones in the western Bureiqah district and an area near Aden airport before the campaign to retake the port was launched in mid-June.
“The Emiratis are in charge,” said one southern resistance fighter. “They planned it and are commanding all the troops.”
UAE personnel, including long-term Yemeni residents of the Gulf state who work in the armed forces and local police, make up about half of the total number of foreign ground forces, according to a local anti-Houthi fighter and western diplomats.
The UAE has invested heavily over the past decade to develop a credible military capacity, say observers, and its special forces gained valuable experience in Afghanistan.
The Yemen operation demonstrates the Gulf state’s increasing willingness to flex its military muscle to pursue regional political objectives that include curbing the rise of Islamist extremism in Libya and Syria and checking perceived Iranian encroachment in its backyard.
However, it is unclear how far the UAE and other coalition members are prepared to go to end the war. The UAE-led forces in Aden are likely to support attempts to recapture Taiz, an industrial city in central Yemen that has been a Houthi-Saleh staging point for their Aden campaign.
But experts say they would struggle in the northern highlands, where support for the Houthis and Mr Saleh is strong.
“The anti-Houthi forces [and the UAE and Saudi] can try to advance into the southern uplands, but northern Yemen is mountainous, and not very suitable ground for tanks, which will significantly reduce the anti-Houthi forces’ advantage,” said Mr Spencer - by Peter Salisbury and Simeon Kerr
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/145e180c-3d04-11e5-8613-07d16aad2152.html dazu auch http://www.worldpoliticsreview.com/articles/16442/united-arab-emirates-raises-the-stakes-in-yemen-but-to-what-end
11.8.2015 – Vocativ
Tiny UAE Tests Its Military Might In Yemen
The United Arab Emirates, one of the smallest Arab states, has taken a lead role in the war in Yemen to restore ousted president Abd Rabbo Mansour Hadi and turn the tide in the months-long conflict, in part thanks to the UAE’s greater ambitions to extend its influence across the Middle East.
The wealthy Gulf monarchy has raised the stakes in recent weeks by taking the battle to the ground in a series of escalating offensives that have suddenly shifted the momentum of the war against the Houthis. It’s the latest demonstration of the UAE’s military might, but Yemen’s complex and messy conflict could also test the limits of the Gulf state’s armed forces.
“There is a recognition that they need to up their game and have a significant capacity to defend themselves,” said Muath Al Wari, a Gulf security analyst at the Center for American Progress and UAE expert. “If they think there is an existential or critical threat to them or their allies they’ll respond.”
Though Emirati F-16 fighter planes have liberally pounded Houthi targets over the past four months, the UAE began building up its military presence on the ground only recently.
Activist groups in southern Yemen said the UAE started shipping American-made, mine-resistant Humvees and other armored vehicles to pro-government forces in the port city of Aden just before they recaptured the city in mid-July. The Emiratis then sent a military brigade of special forces, as many as 1,500 troops, to battle the Houthis, marking the first time a large foreign force had entered the ground war – by Shane Dixon Kavanaugh and Vladi Vovcuk
http://www.vocativ.com/news/220105/uae-yemen-ground-war-houthi-aden
10.8.2015 – FAZ
Die Angst vor dem Sturm
Im Jemen versuchen Kämpfer der ins Exil geflohenen Regierung, Houthi-Kämpfer zu vertreiben. Aber nicht alle sehen in den Truppen Befreier.
Die Meldungen über den bald bevorstehenden Sturm auf Sanaa mögen verfrühtes Säbelrasseln der Hadi-Propagandisten sein. Doch die Gegner der von Iran unterstützten Houthi haben zuletzt massive Geländegewinne erzielt. Die Luftangriffe der vom sunnitischen Königreich Saudi-Arabien geführten Koalition gegen die Houthi, die der zaiditischen Minderheit im schiitischen Islam angehören, hatten lange keinen Unterschied auf dem Schlachtfeld ausgemacht. Sie hatten nur die Not der Zivilbevölkerung noch vergrößert und den Staatszerfall beschleunigt. Doch die Koalition hat ihren Einsatz zuletzt deutlich erhöht.
Offenbar versuchen die Houthi-Gegner in verschiedenen Teilen des Landes – wie in Aden – Fuß zu fassen, um die Houthi nach Norden zurückzutreiben. Präsident Hadi hat im saudischen Sender Al Arabija schon angekündigt, seine Truppen würden voran marschieren, bis der ganze Jemen „befreit“ sei. Er behauptete, die Offensive führten allein die Kämpfer des „Volkswiderstands“ und die Armee, welche es de facto allerdings nicht mehr gibt, weil auch sie durch die inneren Machtkämpfe auseinandergerissen wurde.
„Eine politische Lösung ist immer möglich“, sagte der Anführer der schiitischen Rebellen, Abd al Malik al Houthi, in einer in der Nacht zum Montag übertragenen Fernsehansprache. Er könnte die Allianz um Hadi und Riad allerdings auch in einen zerstörerischen Guerrillakrieg verzetteln, zumal nicht alle Jemeniten in den Truppen der Koalition – wie Hadi es ausdrückte – „Befreier“ sehen. Salih, der alte Machthaber, der als Meister der Manipulation und des Machtpokers gilt, hatte kürzlich in einem Interview darauf angespielt. Er sprach vom „Recht auf Selbstverteidigung“ gegen eine Aggression von außen.
Der besorgte Einwohner von Sanaa sieht das ähnlich. „Zuletzt haben die Sympathien für die Houthi in der Stadt zugenommen“, berichtet er. Deren saudisch geführte Gegner würden von vielen als Besatzer empfunden – von Christoph Ehrhardt
10.8.2015 – ORF
Jemen: Regierungstreue Truppen erobern Provinz zurück
Die regierungstreuen Truppen im Jemen haben mit Unterstützung der von Saudi-Arabien angeführten Militärkoalition nach eigenen Angaben die Provinz Abjan von den schiitischen Huthi-Rebellen zurückerobert.
„Abjan ist nun komplett frei“, sagte ein Vertreter der regierungstreuen Truppen. Die Truppen hätten die Stadt Loder eingenommen, welche der letzte Ort der Provinz unter Kontrolle der Huthis gewesen sei.
http://orf.at/stories/2293334/ ebenso http://www.zeit.de/news/2015-08/10/jemen-regierungstreue-truppen-erobern-jemenitische-provinz-abjan-zurueck-10223204
10.8.2015 – Dawn
Gulf-backed government loyalists make major advances in Yemen
Saudi-backed forces loyal to Yemen's exiled government captured more territory from Huthi rebels on Tuesday as they pressed an advance that has seen them retake large parts of the war-torn country's south.
The gains by forces backing exiled President Abedrabbo Mansour Hadi have been aided by weapons and troops from Gulf countries, as Saudi-led coalition warplanes continue to pound rebel positions.
The “Popular Resistance Committees” - comprising pro-government fighters, Sunni tribes, and southern separatists - seized overnight the town of Utmah, about 100 kilometres south of capital Sanaa, military officials said.
The town is in the Shia majority province of Dhammar, which borders Sanaa province, where Iran-backed rebels have held the capital since September.
Meanwhile, fierce clashes between local pro-government militia and the rebels rocked Arhab, just 25 kilometres north of Sanaa, military sources said.
“Sanaa is the real target” of the advancing pro-Hadi forces, said analyst Mustafa al-Ani, from the Gulf Research Centre.
Loyalist forces seized six towns in the mountainous central Ibb province, where local Sunni tribes have been clashing with Huthi insurgents for months, military officials said. he advance is heading toward third city Taez, southwest of Sanaa.
Pro-government militia sources said clashes were ongoing in the city itself, which if recaptured would prove a major fillip for Hadi loyalists.
The sweeping victories in the south are a result of the rebels pulling their forces back to Taez, according to Yemeni analyst Abdulaziz al-Sabri.
“Whoever wins Taez wins all of Yemen,” he said.
http://www.dawn.com/news/1199830/gulf-backed-government-loyalists-make-major-advances-in-yemen
10.8.2015 – US News
Yemen War Escalates
The Yemeni people are paying a frightful toll as Saudi Arabia and its allies escalate the war in the country.
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 bin Abdul-Aziz Al Saud after more than four months of war. The grim struggle in Yemen goes on with a frightful toll for the Yemeni people.
the kingdom's top priority is Yemen. The king has embarked on the most ambitious foreign policy project in the kingdom's modern history, and he and his son need a victory. Inside the kingdom, growing doubts about the Yemen war are circulating quietly. The king's ambitious son, Deputy Crown Prince and Defense Minister Mohammed bin Salman, is derisively called the "little general" behind his back for his role in starting the war.
The emphasis on Yemen explains the muted Saudi reaction to the Iran nuclear deal. Riyadh fears the deal will strengthen Iran and end sanctions permanently. But the Saudis cannot fight the deal when they need the support of its key arms suppliers — especially the United States and the United Kingdom — to fight in Yemen. The Saudi media has stressed that Washington has given assurances of support in fighting Iran's allies, including the Houthis, and new arms sales. Quiet acceptance of the nuclear deal and sanctions relief for Iran is the price Riyadh has to pay to win in Yemen – by Bruce Riedel
http://www.usnews.com/news/articles/2015/08/10/yemen-war-escalates
10.8.2015 – Critical Threats
2015 Yemen Crisis Situation Report: August 10
Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) and the Islamic State in Iraq and al Sham (ISIS) have leveraged the recent successes of the Saudi Arabia-led coalition’s “Operation Golden Arrow” to increase their territorial control and boost recruitment in central and southern Yemen. The coalition’s recent series of victories have enabled Yemeni President Abdu Rabbu Mansour Hadi to convince his allies to increase their commitment in Yemen.
AQAP and ISIS will continue to benefit from the Saudi Arabia-led coalition’s campaign because of the coalition’s strict focus on the al Houthis. The al Houthis have still not agreed to Hadi’s preconditions, but recent coalition victories will allow him to negotiate from a position of strength in the upcoming Oman negotiatons – by Joshua Koontz
http://www.criticalthreats.org/yemen/yemen-crisis-situation-reports-august-10-2015
10.8.2015 – Reuters
Anti-Houthi fighters seize districts in central Yemen
Fighters opposed to Yemen's dominant Houthi movement seized six districts in the central province of Ibb on Monday, residents and officials said, bringing them closer to the group's stronghold in the capital Sanaa.
Tribal gunmen and Sunni Islamist militias loyal to Yemen's exiled government took control of the areas in heavy clashes with the Shi'ite Houthis, in the latest of a series of northward gains with the backing of Gulf Arab air strikes and weapons.
The northernmost district overrun, al-Qafr, is 125 km (80 miles) from Sanaa, which was taken over by the Iran-allied Houthis in September in what they called a revolution against corrupt officials backed by the West.
http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/08/10/us-yemen-security-idUSKCN0QF19020150810
10.8.2015 – Middle East Eye
Emirati families shocked as UAE sends conscripts into Yemen battle
The UAE introduced military service in 2014 and sources in the Gulf state have claimed that conscripts are now being sent to fight in Yemen
10.8.2015 – Asharq al Awsat
Yemen: Houthis declare state of emergency in Sana’a as government loyalists close in on capital
Forces loyal to Yemen's president capture central Ibb province, consolidate grip on south
The Houthi leadership in Sana’a on Sunday declared a state of emergency in the capital, as forces loyal to Yemen’s internationally recognized President Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi closed in to around 80 miles (125 kilometers) of the capital.
The Houthis’ Revolutionary Council, set up by the Iran-backed group following its coup in February, announced a state of emergency in Sana’a starting from 10 pm on Sunday.
A Yemeni political source told Asharq Al-Awsat the decision showed the Houthis “fear the [Pro-Hadi] Popular Resistance, backed by Saudi-led airstrikes, will soon reach Sana’a.”
The source, who requested anonymity, added that stop-and-search units have now been set up by Houthi militias throughout the capital, which they have controlled since September 2014.
Yemeni military sources say they expect a “coup” in Sana’a by forces loyal to ousted former president Ali Abdullah Saleh, in particular those from Yemen’s Revolutionary Guard formerly commanded by Saleh’s son Ahmed.
Rifts have opened up between Saleh and the Houthis over who has control of certain parts of the country as well as the recent losses the Houthis have sustained, sources say.
The state of emergency in Sana’a comes as the Popular Resistance, backed by Saudi-led airstrikes targeting the Houthis, recaptured the central Ibb province on Sunday. The northernmost district of the province lies around 80 miles south of Sana’a.
Brig. Gen. Abdullah Al-Subaihi, a senior Popular Resistance commander, told Asharq Al-Awsat recently that a plan to liberate Sana’a was already in place and expected to begin in the coming days.
Meanwhile, pro-Hadi forces are now beginning to consolidate their grip on the south of the country. The Popular Resistance recaptured the city of Zinjibar, capital of the southern Abyan province, from Houthi control on Sunday, a source from the Popular Resistance told Asharq Al-Awsat.
9.8.2015 – CBS News
Saudi-led airstrikes kill 20 in friendly fire incident in Yemen
A Saudi-led coalition airstrike in Yemen hit allied fighters in a friendly fire incident, killing at least 20, Yemeni security officials and pro-government fighters said Sunday. The officials said the incident happened late Saturday as the fighters were on a coastal road heading toward the embattled city of Zinjibar in southern Yemen.
http://www.cbsnews.com/news/saudi-led-airstrikes-kill-20-in-friendly-fire-incident-in-yemen/
9.8.2015 – Deutsche Welle
Saudi-Arabien tötet verbündete Kämpfer im Jemen
Im Jemen hat die von Saudi-Arabien geführte Militärallianz zusammen mit den regierungstreuen Kämpfern die Provinzhauptstadt Sindschibar erobert. Dabei hat das Bündnis auch 20 eigene Kämpfer durch Friendly Fire getötet.
Der Vorfall ereignete sich demnach bereits am Samstag. Die getöteten Kämpfer seien auf einer Straße im Süden in Richtung Sindschibar unterwegs gewesen. Bei den Gefechten in und um Sindschibar wurden nach Angaben der Gesundheitsbehörden von Aden 19 Menschen getötet und 163 verletzt. Die meisten Opfer seien von Sprengfallen getötet worden, die die Rebellen bei ihrem Rückzug gelegt hätten.
http://www.dw.com/de/saudi-arabien-t%C3%B6tet-verb%C3%BCndete-k%C3%A4mpfer-im-jemen/a-18637227
dazu http://derstandard.at/2000020477291/Jemen-Saudische-Koalition-bombardiert-Verbuendete
9.8.2015 – TRT
Jemen: Südliche Separatisten erobern Sindschibar zurück
Südliche Separatisten und Anhänger des jemenitischen Präsidenten Mansur Hadi haben die Stadt Sindschibar von den Huthi-Miliz zurückerobert.
Kommentar: Die türkische Agentur nennt die Dinge beim Namen, dass die Kämpfer gegen die Huthis zum großen Teil südliche Separatisten sind, die von „Präsident“ Hadi auch kaum mehr halten als von den Huthis, fällt bei den anderen westlichen medien gern unter den Tisch, weil es das Bild stört.
Rolle der USA
14.8.2015 – Anti War
American Meddling in Yemen Means Aggression at Home
If the onsite horrors of the war and embargo against Yemen are not reason enough for us to advocate an American withdrawal from that foreign conflagration, hopefully this is: our government’s support for the Saudi war in Yemen entails aggression in the United States.
I am not here referring to anti-American blowback from bereaved Yemenis, although that sort of aggression could very well materialize in the future. I am instead talking about the ongoing and presently verifiable aggression against all American taxpayers forced to subsidize our government’s adventurism in the Arabian Peninsula. As common sense tells us, every bomb, every missile, and every tracer that the United States sends to the Saudi coalition is a bomb, a missile, and a tracer for which somebody somewhere will be compelled to pay. That "somebody" will probably be an American taxpayer who, given the nature of taxation, will risk imprisonment orproperty seizures should she ever decide not to genuflect to the unshackled military apparatus.
The American war in Yemen therefore extends all the way back home, albeit in a substantially diluted form. Pursuant to its military objectives, the American government threatens to aggress against any of its taxpaying citizens who refuse to aggress against Yemeni civilians. In what world is this not an abomination?
In the world of gung-ho militarists, apparently, who dragoon American taxpayers into shouldering the burden of the Pentagon’s profligacy. By the end of FY 2015, $12 billionfrom the United States will have buttressed foreign militaries in places like Saudi Arabia. $64 billion will have sustained the United States’ Overseas Contingency Operations. The Pentagon will have taken hundreds of billions more for its “base” supply, a fund that excludes additional resources for nuclear upkeep.
Surely, our country should be equipped to defend itself. But our current government’s exorbitant military expenditures and reckless warmongering are far from defensive. The Yemeni Houthis, a foreign group mired in a foreign war with the hope ofdestroying Al-Qaeda, pose such a small threat to us that the United States’ overwhelming attempts to neutralize them can only make matters worse by intensifying anti-American sentiments. The truly defensive move in this case is for the United States to stop antagonizing people.
That includes Americans themselves who have done nothing to deserve threats from the American war state. There is no good reason that any private worker, as a precondition for receiving an income here at home, should have to bankroll the murder of Yemenis – by Tommy Raskin
http://antiwar.com/blog/2015/08/14/american-meddling-in-yemen-means-aggression-at-home/
Drohnenkrieg der USA
12.8.2015 – Reuters
Suspected U.S. drone strike kills five al Qaeda militants in Yemen
A suspected U.S. drone strike killed five al Qaeda fighters in eastern Yemen on Wednesday, officials said, as Islamist militant groups claimed a string of attacks in the war-torn country. The officials said the bombs hit the men in their car while they were traveling on a coast road east of the Arabian Sea port of Mukalla, which was occupied by al Qaeda fighters in April after security forces retreated.
http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/08/12/us-yemen-security-idUSKCN0QH1AT20150812
Kommentar: Dass es „Kämpfer“, „Terroristen“, „Al Qaids“ getroffen hat, heisst es immer.
Politik der Saudis
14.8.2015 – Consortium News
The Royals – Unchained
With President Obama afraid of upsetting the Saudis anymore after the Iran-nuclear deal, he has given them pretty much a free hand to bomb and blockade Yemen. Meanwhile, the Saudi royals are displaying their contempt for the United Nations and its Yemen peace efforts.
Saudi Arabia’s relations with the United Nations have hit rock bottom after a series of incidents that has left a humbled Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon furious with Riyadh, two U.N. officials close to the U.N. chief have told me.
The relationship matters because only the United Nations has the reputation of neutrality necessary to forge a power-sharing deal that can finally end the conflict in Yemen. Ban was cool to the Saudi-led operation from the start. –Ban was upset that the Saudis’ military operation in Yemen derailed U.N.-brokered talks in March. He believes he was lied to by the Saudis when they didn’t deliver on a promise of aid money to the U.N. The Saudis have blockaded ports bringing the U.N. to the verge of declaring a famine in Yemen.
Saudi leaders seem confident there are no consequences for repeatedly slighting Ban: he’ll just take it and not say a word publicly. Ban believes in “quiet diplomacy.” He’s not known for convincing displays of emotion. His attempts at outrage over atrocities and injustices fall flat.
On the first day of the Saudi aerial assault, Ban declared: “Despite escalation, negotiations remain the only option.” He was echoing his then envoy Jamal Benomar, who maintains that the destruction and death will end only with a U.N.-brokered deal that includes the Houthis. Right now the Saudis are making a mockery of that notion, and Ban’s taking it hard.
On July 25, the Saudis tried calling for a unilateral truce bypassing the U.N. altogether. The Houthis didn’t agree because the U.N. wasn’t involved, and the whole thing again collapsed. The United Nations has been effectively sidelined and the fighting has intensified, especially around Aden, which pro-Hadi forces captured last month.
Saudi Arabia has shown contempt for the U.N. before. In 2013, the Kingdom was elected to a coveted, two-year, non-permanent seat on the Security Council after an expensive lobbying campaign. But when the U.S. failed to bomb Syria after the August 2013 chemical attack in Damascus and instead began talking a nuclear deal with the Iranians, the Saudis abruptly renounced the seat in a fit of pique that seemed only to spite itself. It was a sign of a new Saudi independence in international affairs.
“The Saudis are not even listening to the Americans anymore,” a U.N. official said, let alone the U.N. “The Americans don’t have access to [Defense Minister and Deputy Crown Prince] Mohammed bin Salman, who is calling the shots. He’s young and doesn’t care about the Americans.” Prince Mohammed this summer visited St. Petersburg, and concluded a $10 billion Saudi investment with Russia, in spite of American-led sanctions against Moscow.
Saudi Arabia thinks it can win militarily in Yemen and ignore the U.N. until it’s time for the clean-up, but ultimately Riyadh “will need the U.N. to put together a power-sharing deal, that will have to include the Houthis,” as one U.N. official told me.
Clearly that day hasn’t arrived yet. And in the meantime 80 percent of Yemenis need help to survive and Ban Ki-moon privately stews about it – by Joe Lauria
https://consortiumnews.com/2015/08/14/the-saudi-royals-unchained/
Kommentar: Was völlig ausgeblendet wird: dass die USA immer noch an der Seite der Saudis in diesem Krieg mitmachen. Somit sind es auch die USA, die die UN hier vorführen – dieselbe UN, die sie benutzen, wenn es ihnen in den Kram passt.
Al Qaida / ISIS
14.8.2015 – ZDF (Film)
"Ansar al-Scharia" Der Islamische Staat im Jemen
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=02HfvNgs5P0
Proteste gegen die Houthis in Sanaa
14.8.2015 – Christian Science Monitor
How women in Yemen adopted the art of protest
A gasoline shortage sparked the most recent mass protest by Yemeni women. Since the country's unrest began, women have taken an active role in expressing discontent. The 500-woman-strong demonstration was an unusual expression of resistance against the Houthi rebels that took over the capital Sanaa in September, The Associated Press reported. – by Sarah Caspari
http://www.csmonitor.com/World/Global-News/2015/0814/How-women-in-Yemen-adopted-the-art-of-protest
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