Saudi-led airstrikes targeting rebel military bases in Yemen

[Saeed]

Well the Saudi alliance is winning. They took almost all the southern Yemen from Houthis and most likely will take the north.

 

[Gabbar Singh]

HomeNews
135 civilians killed in alleged Saudi airstrike on Yemen wedding
Published time: 28 Sep, 2015 20:11
Edited time: 29 Sep, 2015 14:31


© Khaled Abdullah / Reuters

The bombing of a wedding party in Yemen by an apparent Saudi Arabia airstrike has killed over 135 people, UN said on Tuesday. Riyadh, who has air supremacy in the area, denied responsibility for the tragedy.
Two missiles tore through two tents in the Al-Wahijah village in southwestern Yemen, where a wedding celebration was underway. The initial count on Monday said dozens were killed.

Witnesses spoke of having seen mutilated bodies sprawled on the ground after the attack. Many of the dead appear to have been women and children.

A senior official in the Yemeni government told AP that attack was conducted by a Saudi-led coalition which struck the wedding by “mistake.”

http://www.rt.com/news/316830-yemen-airstrikes-wedding-casualties/

 

[Lurker_Ind]

Horrible. This will be forgotten very soon unfortunately.

 

[Gabbar Singh]

The U.S. Looks the Other Way in Yemen
The U.S. allowed the Saudis to block a UN inquiry into the thousands of deaths in Yemen’s civil war.


Overshadowed by its relative smallness and obscured by its relative complexity, the six-month-old civil war in Yemen is the middle child of Middle East conflict. Recently, its most prominent mentions in the U.S. have been in the Republican debates as candidates have placed the rebellion by Iranian-backed Houthi rebels against the Saudi-backed Yemeni government on the list of Iran’s regional evildoings.

This is true, but it also overlooks the fact that great devastation is being wrought at least in part with the tacit blessing of the United States, which has aligned itself with the Saudis. This past week has been particularly tragic, not only on the ground in Yemen, but in the diplomatic realm outside where efforts to contain and reckon with the human suffering in Yemen have fallen short.

On Monday, an airstrike by Saudi-led, American-supported coalition mistakenly hit a wedding party that killed more than 130 people. According to reports, the death toll was exacerbated by a supply shortage, which kept some victims from receiving critical medical treatment.

“This is warfare,” Saudi Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir explained to CBS News, in describing the efforts to defeat the Iran-backed Houthi rebels. He added: “We are very careful in picking targets. We have very precise weapons. We work with our allies including the United States on these targets.”

His unapologetic invoking of the United States on Tuesday had a timely ring to it. On Wednesday, the Justice Department formally denied an apology to Faisal bin Ali Jaber, a Yemeni man who lost two family members in 2012 in an American drone strike gone wrong. Spencer Ackerman notes that the family members of two Westerners who were mistakenly killed in similar strikes did receive notes of condolence from American officials.

Since the Saudi-led coalition started its offensive in March, much has been made of its status as a proxy war between Iran and Saudi Arabia and very little of the way the battle has been conducted and its consequences.

“Six months of civil war and hundreds of coalition air strikes have killed more than 5,400 people in Yemen, according to the United Nations, and exacerbated widespread hunger and suffering,” Reuters reported. The United Nations also estimates that more than 2,300 of the dead are civilians.

This week, Dutch diplomats were stymied at the United Nations as they sought to create a UN-led investigation into human-rights abuses in the six-month-long civil war. The efforts failed in large part because the United States and other Western powers did not strongly endorse the independent investigation and sided with the Saudis. As Samuel Oakford notes:

Faced with total opposition from the Saudis and their allies, and de-facto instructions from the US to compromise, the Dutch announced on Wednesday that they had withdrawn their text entirely, likely ending efforts to get an international inquiry.

On Friday, a weaker resolution proposed by the Saudis gained unanimous approval at the United Nations. However, outside the United Nations, it was heavily critiqued. Human Rights Watch called it “deeply flawed.”

“The U.S., U.K., and France appear to have capitulated to Saudi Arabia with little or no fight, astoundingly allowing the very country responsible for serious violations in Yemen to write the resolution and protect itself from scrutiny,” one HRW official said.

http://www.theatlantic.com/internat...nited-states-united-nations-yemen-war/408751/

 

[Gabbar Singh]

Over 500 children killed in Yemen conflict, says UN
Christophe Boulierac, UNICEF

More than 500 children have been killed in war-torn Yemen since March, the UN children's agency said on a day the United Nations passed a watered down resolution backed by Saudi Arabia to set up a national inquiry into human rights violations.

During the six months since Saudi-led airstrikes targeting Iran-backed Houthi rebels began in March to defend exiled President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi, at least 505 children have died and 702 have been injured, Christophe Boulierac, spokesman for the UN children's agency, said on Friday.

"These are conservative figures," he told AFP news agency.

"The situation for children is deteriorating every single day, and it is horrific," Boulierac said, urging all parties with influence to bring an urgent end to the violence.

The UN estimates that more than 2,300 civilians have died since fighting escalated in the poor Arab nation, notably involving air power from a US-backed, Saudi-led coalition.

Human Rights Watch accused the top UN human rights body of failing to improve scrutiny of abuses in Yemen by approving a resolution presented by Saudi Arabia - a major participant in the conflict.

The measure that passed Friday came after Dutch diplomats this week abandoned a separate proposal calling for an international fact-finding mission in Yemen.

Rights groups have accused both sides in the war of carrying out indiscriminate attacks on residential areas. The Saudi-led coalition denies abuses in Yemen and says it will acknowledge mistakes if and when it makes them.

The Saudi-led Arab coalition intervened in the war in March to try to restore Yemen's government after it was forced into exile by the Houthis, aiming to contain what Gulf states see as Iran's growing influence in their backyard.

Cutting diplomatic ties with Iran

Exiled government of President Hadi announced to sever diplomatic relations with Iran, state-owned Aden television reported on Friday without elaborating, Reuters reported.

Meanwhile, loyalist Yemeni troops and Gulf Arab forces seized control of the Arabian side of the strategic Bab al-Mandab Strait linking the Red Sea to the Gulf of Aden from Houthi fighters, a spokesman for the Gulf-backed government said on Friday.

Yemeni Prime Minister Khaled Bahah, who returned to Aden in mid-September after months of exile in Saudi Arabia, said on his Twitter account:

"With support from the armed militias, we were victorious. Mayun and Bab al-Mandab, before them Marib, and soon, God willing, Taiz and the rest of the cities."

The conflict has stirred a humanitarian crisis with 21 million people in need of humanitarian aid.

The nutrition situation, which already before the conflict was dire in Yemen, meanwhile has worsened significantly, with 1.7 million children were at risk of malnutrition.

The number of children under five at risk of severe acute malnutrition has tripled this year to 537,000, up from 160,000 before the conflict, UNICEF's Boulierac said.

http://www.aljazeera.com/news/2015/10/500-children-killed-yemen-conflict-151002112853295.html

 

[Gabbar Singh]

The Saudis have followed in the footsteps of their BFF and bombed a MSF hospital - and then the cowards denied it just like they've done with previous attacks on civilians.

Yemeni hospital hit by Saudi-led air strikes, says Medecins Sans Frontieres medical aid group
A Yemeni hospital run by medical aid group Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) has been hit by a Saudi-led air strike, the latest bombing of a civilian target in the seven-month air campaign in Yemen.

"MSF facility in Saada Yemen was hit by several air strikes last night with patients and staff inside the facility," the group said in a tweet.

Yemen's state news agency Saba, run the Iran-allied Houthi group that is the coalition's enemy, quoted the Heedan hospital director saying that several people were injured in the attack.

"The air raids resulted in the destruction of the entire hospital with all that was inside - devices and medical supplies - and the moderate wounding of several people," Doctor Ali Mughli said.

Saba said other air strikes hit a nearby girls school and damaged several civilian homes.

It was not immediately possible to confirm that report, and a coalition spokesman was not immediately available for comment.

Saudi Arabia and other Gulf Arab countries intervened in a civil war in Yemen in late March, but seven months of air attacks to restore the Saudi-based Yemeni government to power have yet to loosen the Houthis' grip over the capital Sanaa.
Why Yemen's future threatens to destroy its past

Human rights groups have expressed concern at the mounting deaths caused by the aerial bombing and ground fighting raging across the impoverished country.

More than 5,600 people have died in the conflict and shuttle diplomacy by a United Nations envoy has yet to win a political solution or slow the pace of combat.

It is the second time this month that an MSF facility has been hit a war zone. Its hospital in the Afghan city of Kunduz was bombed by US forces on 3 October, killing around 30 people.

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/w...ns-frontieres-medical-aid-group-a6710396.html

 

[Markhor]

Saudis carrying out collective punishment.

 

[chacha kashmiri]

Saudis carrying out collective punishment.

The Yemeni president asked them to intervene
Apparently the houthi rebels were introducing their own medieval laws and were helped by foreign governments

But yes, it's a mess and the UN should sort it out

 

[speed]

Yemen is a blessed land InshaAllah they will be the catalyst for discarding of the saudi regime.

 

[IAJ]

Yemen is a blessed land InshaAllah they will be the catalyst for discarding of the saudi regime.

The wahabism movement, (including Daesh) has ruined the Muslim world. Another blessed land, Syria, is completely destoyed.

 

[LongHorn]

The wahabism movement, (including Daesh) has ruined the Muslim world. Another blessed land, Syria, is completely destoyed.

Unfortunately anyone speaking out against them is labeled as Iranian sympathizer

 

[Gabbar Singh]

Well done to those who have destabilised Yemen - now the common person in Yemen have ISIS to deal with in addition to all the other morons.

SANA, Yemen — Nine months of war between a Saudi-led military coalition and a Yemeni rebel group have left thousands of civilians dead, a nation gravely polarized and the land strewn with debris, mines and unexploded bombs.

The conflict has produced another bitter legacy: a new branch of the Islamic State that has quietly grown in strength and appears determined to distinguish itself as Yemen’s most disruptive and brutal force, carrying out attacks considered too extreme even by the country’s branch of Al Qaeda.

The Islamic State’s deadliest attack, on mosques here in the capital, killed more than 130 people and helped start Yemen’s civil war in March. Now, as mediators are struggling to end the conflict, the group is fueling new tensions by carrying out powerful car bombings in southern Yemen and releasing videos filled with grisly executions and sectarian denunciations of Yemen’s Shiite minority.

Like Islamic State affiliates in Egypt and Libya, the Yemeni group has shown signs it is more closely coordinating its activities with the headquarters in Syria, analysts said. And its emergence has only added to the peril from Sunni extremism in Yemen, already home to a powerful branch of Al Qaeda that has been able to seize territory during the latest conflict, including Al Mukalla, the country’s fifth-largest city.

American intelligence and counterterrorism analysts say the Qaeda affiliate, Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, remains the most urgent militant threat in this fractured country. But they are closely watching the effort by the Islamic State, also known as ISIS or ISIL, to peel off defectors from Al Qaeda’s wing here.

“The pace of its attacks and declarations of new provinces during the past year underscores the group’s ambitions in Yemen,” said an American counterterrorism official, referring to the Islamic State. “While some may not consider ISIL’s Yemen affiliate to be as worrying as the group’s other hubs, there are a number of factors that indicate the branch should be taken seriously in the long term.”

An analyst in Yemen who closely follows Sunni extremist groups in the country said the scale of the attacks by the Islamic State showed that it was becoming just as dangerous as Al Qaeda. At the start of Yemen’s civil war, the Islamic State’s presence was “limited,” said the analyst, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because of the hazards of talking openly about the group.

As the war has spread across Yemen and the violence intensifies, the group’s “recruiting circle is expanding,” he added.

Both the Islamic State and Al Qaeda have profited from a security vacuum while trying to rally Yemen’s Sunnis against the Shiite-led rebels, known as the Houthis, who are from the north, analysts say. Crucially, the groups have both faced little or no resistance from the Saudi-led coalition and its allies, which are focused on defeating the Houthis. The coalition receives backing from the United States and Britain.

This month, Qaeda militants were able to capture two towns in southern Yemen with little effort, residents said. In some cities, including Aden and Taiz, small numbers of hard-line Sunni militants continue to fight alongside the Saudis and their allies.

At the same time, Yemeni officials with the government of President Abdu Rabbu Mansour Hadi, which is backed by the Saudi-led coalition, have appeared to underestimate the threat posed by the Islamic State — or even deny its existence.

Last week, when the Islamic State claimed responsibility for killing the provincial governor of Aden and eight of his bodyguards with a car bomb — releasing both a statement and photographs of the attack — the city’s security director, Mohamed Mousaed, insisted that “remnants of the Houthis and Saleh” had carried out the bombing. Yemen’s former president Ali Abdullah Saleh is allied with the rebels.

Nadwa al-Dawsari, a Yemeni analyst and nonresident fellow at the Project on Middle East Democracy in Washington, said there was a widespread perception in southern Yemen that the threat from the Islamic State was “manufactured.” That perception was fueled by the group’s “invisibility,” , as well as Mr. Saleh’s well-documented history of manipulating extremist groups for his own ends, including to win financial and military support from the United States for counterterrorism operations, she said.

But whether the Islamic State has grown organically or not, “the threat is real and the threat is strong,” Ms. Dawsari said.

The group has sent suicide bombers to attack mosques in Sana, which is controlled by the Houthis. In the past few weeks, the Islamic State has claimed responsibility for car bombings in Aden, including an attack on a hotel hosting members of Mr. Hadi’s government and another at a headquarters for the Saudi-led coalition.

A video released recently by the branch underscored its determination to showcase its brutality. In one section, the video shows masked gunmen leading prisoners to a small boat that was set out to sea and then blown up. Another vignette showed four captives made to wear what appeared to be mortar shells, draped around their necks, then pose for the camera before the shells were detonated.

The governor of Aden, Jaafar Mohamed Saad, was the highest-ranking official killed by the group since the emergence of the Islamic State in Yemen about a year ago. The relative ease of the attack showed a failure “to establish security in the south, despite a huge opportunity,” Ms. Dawsari said.

The Saudi-led coalition sent thousands of troops to drive the Houthis out of Aden and other southern provinces in July. But afterward, a decree issued by Mr. Hadi to integrate local resistance groups into the armed forces was never carried out, Ms. Dawsari said.

“The presence of foreign troops hasn’t been helpful, except for keeping Saleh and the Houthis from coming back,” she said. “Aden does not need foreign troops for security. It needs local security structures and police forces.”

The struggles by the coalition to establish security and stem the growth of the militant groups could carry consequences beyond Yemen’s borders, according to security analysts.

“The assassinations and other violence show that ISIS has gained power,” said Matthew G. Olsen, a former director of the National Counterterrorism Center in Washington. “There’s real concern that some of the most capable operational terrorists, who are now with AQAP, could join forces with ISIS and pose a heightened threat to carry out external attacks,” he said.

Others said defections from Al Qaeda were already gathering steam. “There are large numbers of both leaders and individuals joining the Islamic State,” said a former member of Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula who has left the group but remains close to its members. Many of the defectors, he said, were hard-line jihadists and young militants frustrated with Al Qaeda’s failure to be more aggressive during the current war.

But the militants of the Islamic State, he said, “follow their words with actions.”

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/12/15/w...ains-strength-in-yemen-rivaling-al-qaeda.html

 

[Saeed]

Seems like Saudis intervened to create an environment in which wahabi elements could flourish. The question is why are saudis being helped by U.S.? Why isn't UN doing anything to punish saudis? I hope this ends up being an expensive war for Saudis.

 

[Cpt. Rishwat]

Seems like Saudis intervened to create an environment in which wahabi elements could flourish. The question is why are saudis being helped by U.S.? Why isn't UN doing anything to punish saudis? I hope this ends up being an expensive war for Saudis.

Same question could be asked about why Shiites are being helped by Russia. Both world powers are flexing their muscles through proxy armies rather cleverly. Pakistan has done well to stay clear of this mess.

 

[Markhor]

BBC - More than 40 civilians killed in Yemen market by Saudi-led coalition air strike, health officials say.

Ugh, that is savagery.

 

[Gabbar Singh]

More than one-third of all Saudi-led air raids on Yemen have hit civilian sites, such as school buildings, hospitals, markets, mosques and economic infrastructure, according to the most comprehensive survey of the conflict.

The findings, revealed by the Guardian on Friday, contrast with claims by the Saudi government, backed by its US and British allies, that Riyadh is seeking to minimise civilian casualties.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2...s-on-yemen-have-hit-civilian-sites-data-shows

 

[Gabbar Singh]

At least 82 people have been killed and more than 500 injured in a strike on a funeral gathering in the Yemeni capital, Sanaa, rebel officials say.
The Houthi-run government said the hall had been hit by an air strike carried out by the Saudi-led coalition backing the internationally-recognised government of Yemen.
The coalition has denied carrying out a strike, suggesting "other causes".
The Red Cross says it had prepared 300 body bags.
Hundreds of body parts were found inside and outside the hall after the strike.
One rescuer, Murad Tawfiq, described the scene as a "lake of blood", the Associated Press news agency reports.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-37598413

 

[Gabbar Singh]

Will John Kerry and the Americans call for a war crime investigation here like they're doing in Syria with the Russians?

 

[Pakpak]

Coward country. Cannot do anything against Israel despite being a self-appointed guardian of Islam and think its brave enough to fight people in pickup trucks.

 

[Saeed]

Thank god Pakistan refused to be part of Saudi invasion. Saudis are no different than Putin and Assad's terrorist government. Pakistan would be better off if we could stop depending on Saudi money.

 

[Saeed]

Yemen conflict: US cuts arms sales to Saudi Arabia

Precision-guided weapons will no longer be delivered, a Pentagon official said.
President Barack Obama's administration said it was concerned over "flaws" in the way air strikes are targeted in Yemen.
In October, more than 140 people were killed in a strike on a funeral in the country.
A Saudi-led coalition, which is attempting to support the elected government against Iranian-backed Houthi rebels, was blamed for the attack.
White House National Security Council spokesman Ned Price later warned Saudi Arabia that US security co-operation was "not a blank cheque".
But while some sales are being scaled back, the US said it will continue to provide Saudi Arabia with intelligence focused on border security.
It will also provide training for pilots involved in the Saudi-led air campaign, to avoid civilian casualties wherever possible, the official said.
Other contracts are expected to go ahead such as a deal worth more than $3bn (£2.4bn) to supply military helicopters.
The Saudi-led coalition is fighting the Houthi rebel movement in Yemen.
Thousands of civilians have been killed and nearly three million people have been displaced in the country, one of the region's poorest, since the war began in 2014.
The Houthis took the capital Sanaa, forcing Abdrabbuh Mansour Hadi's government to flee. Some ministers have since returned to the city of Aden.
Saudi Arabia has denied causing large-scale civilian deaths, saying it is making every effort to avoid hitting civilian targets.

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-38310870
Not much but still better than nothing. Hopefully Trump administration will stop selling expensive toys to Saudis and impose more sanctions on Iran.