The Starvation of Yemen

[goldenequity]

US Army Special Forces Secretly Sent to Fight Houthis in Yemen:


https://news.antiwar.com/2018/05/03/...er-with-yemen/

Green Berets are sneaking into Yemen to target Houthi missiles — which are lobbed at Riyadh as retaliation
for the starvation blockade Saudi Arabia has imposed on the country with US help.


https://dgxhtav2e25a8.cloudfront.net/antiwar_logo.gif
US Army Special Forces Secretly Sent to Fight Houthis in Yemen
https://news.antiwar.com/2018/05/03/...er-with-yemen/
https://www.checkpointasia.net/us-tr...=socialnetwork

https://twitter.com/Russ_Warrior/sta...13102131630081

Why does Trump sell out US army to a radical Islamist state

Trump says Saudi Arabia has to pay to keep US troops in Syria...
Why does Trump sell out US army to a radical Islamist state
responsible for more than half of all terrorism worldwide?
https://twitter.com/Hari_Nuranian/st...46932013088768

[Firestarter]

I’ve finally found an estimate of the total death toll as a result of the war against Yemen, including the hundreds of thousands caused by starvation.
According to a statement by a Yemeni minister...

The military aggression has indirectly killed almost 300,000 civilians, including more than 247,000 children.
Most of the people died due to severe malnutrition, some 17,608 because they were unable to get medical treatment.
On top of that, the bloody war by the “coalition” on Yemen has also injured more than 300,000 civilians, since it started in March 2015.

The Britain-led coalition bombed:
- 660 food storages and 200 food factories.
- 4,586 fishing boats, 93 fish landing centres, killing tens of fishermen.
- 1,016 farms.
- 535 markets.

- 271 factories.
- 600 mosques and tourist facilities.
- 393 archaeological sites.
- 2,641 educational centres were destroyed, leaving 2.5 million students unable to go to school or university.

- 9 civilian airports, 14 ports, 5,000 kilometres of roads, 95 bridges.
- 400 telecommunication facilities.
- 420 power stations, 450 oil and gas equipment or trucks.
- 85 sports stadiums.
http://en.ypagency.net/2018/03/26/60...acks-on-yemen/


The British led coalition has bombed a densely populated neighbourhood in Yemen’s capital, Sanaa.
At least 90 people were killed, including schoolchildren. Local hospitals received 86 injuries. As there are probably bodies still buried in the rubble, the number of victims is expected to rise.

The attack came hours after up to 60 air raids by the “coalition” on Sunday night in residential districts in Sanaa, Hodeida, and Saada.
In Saada, in northern Yemen, 5 people were killed after Saudi aircraft bombed a house.
In Hodeidah, 2 more civilians were killed in Saudi strikes.
In Hajjah, which was bombed 10 times in 24 hours, there is no information on the number of casualties.

According to Yemen’s state news agency, Saba, the coalition intentionally bombs crowded places during rush hour to inflict more casualties.

Yemen’s Brigadier-General Sharaf Ghalib Luqman — referring to information that US Green Berets are on the ground actively assisting the coalition — promised that Yemen’s army will target US forces fighting against Yemen. I guess that President Donald, Queen Elizabeth, King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud, Emir Khalifa bin Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan and the major shareholders in the military industrial complex won’t lose any sleep over his threat…
An official Yemeni source said that the actions of the US – collaborating and supporting the aggression against Yemen, including murdering Yemenis and destruction of its infrastructure - are contradicting its statements - calling for a political settlement and peace: https://www.mintpressnews.com/saudi-...strict/241757/

[goldenequity]

The attack came hours after up to 60 air raids by the “coalition” on Sunday night in residential districts in Sanaa, Hodeida, and Saada.
In Saada, in northern Yemen, 5 people were killed after Saudi aircraft bombed a house.
In Hodeidah, 2 more civilians were killed in Saudi strikes.
In Hajjah, which was bombed 10 times in 24 hours, there is no information on the number of casualties.

According to Yemen’s state news agency, Saba, the coalition intentionally bombs crowded places during rush hour to inflict more casualties.

Her name is Seiyun She was trappd only asking for some water
1rescuer said:she is injrd, just give her little amount of water!
Seiyun said:im NOT injrd! She only feels been thirsty,
aftr #Saudi #UAE jet tryed2prevent rescuers 4hours frm reaching site
This was DOUBLE tap
https://twitter.com/HussainBukhaiti/...64946809102336

[Swordsmyth]

Saudi troops have landed on the Yemeni island of Socotra, according to a Saudi military spokesman.
Turki al-Malki, spokesman for the Saudi-led coalition fighting Yemen's Houthi rebels, said on Sunday the Saudi soldiers are on a training and support mission with Yemeni forces.
Saudi, Emirati, and Yemeni forces will conduct joint training exercises in coordination with the Yemeni government, he added.
The Saudi deployment was reportedly coordinated with the Yemeni government, according to Saudi's state-owned Al-Ekhbariya channel.
Socotra has been at the heart of a dispute between Yemen and its ally the United Arab Emirates.
The UAE is a major pillar in the Saudi-led coalition but its deployment of troops to the island earlier this month without prior consultation with Yemen's government stoked the ire of residents.


The Emirati soldiers arrived on Thursday, forcing out Yemeni troops and taking over strategic locations, including the airport and the seaport.
Socotra, in the Indian Ocean, is located about 350km from the southern coast of Yemen.
Located just off the coast of Somalia with access to major shipping routes, Socotra is also a World Heritage Site known for its unique and pristine environment.
The UAE and the government of Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi are allies in a war against the Houthi rebels.
Relations between the two have soured, however, because of the UAE's expanding influence in southern Yemen, home to a resurgent separatist movement.
The UAE's attempt to exert control over Socotra is seen by many as the latest move by the Gulf state to spread its influence well beyond its borders.
Socotra has been spared involvement in the Yemeni conflict, which has claimed about 10,000 lives since March 2015 and triggered what the United Nations has called the world's worst humanitarian crisis.

More at: https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2018/...171150894.html

[Swordsmyth]

UAE forces from the Arab coalition destroyed two Houthi-controlled boats that were allegedly targeting a commercial oil tanker in the Red Sea near Kamaran, off the al-Hudaydah Port, Arab News reported May 23.

More at: https://worldview.stratfor.com/situa...sea-oil-tanker

[Firestarter]

According to the UAE's official news agency, WAM, UAE forces involved in the anti-Houthi coalition:

destroyed two Houthi boats in international waters, who were threatening one of the commercial oil tankers in the Red Sea, while two other boats managed to escape.

According to media outlets group linked to the Houthis, the bombardment by the Britain-led coalition injured a number of fishermen in Kamaran Island, the largest Yemeni island in the Red Sea.

Houthi's official TV channel reported that at least 6 citizens were killed and 3 others wounded by an air raid by the coalition in the Houthi-controlled Hodeida.
The Houthi-affiliated AlMasirah TV channel said the coalition targeted a mango farm in Hodeida. It´s not known how many casualties this caused.

Yemeni troops and Houthis are fighting in the Red Sea coast areas near Hodeida.
According to “military observers” the Houthis are facing a mounting pressure; their territory is shrinking daily and they are losing their grip on the western provinces.

The UN has (again) listed Yemen as the world's number one humanitarian crisis, with 7 million Yemenis on the brink of famine (this has been reported for more than a year): http://www.xinhuanet.com/english/201..._137201230.htm

[Swordsmyth]

Houthi rebels launched a missile strike on a Turkish cargo ship delivering wheat to Yemen's Saleef port on May 10, the White House said and Turkish Foreign Ministry confirmed Friday.
"The United States is alarmed by the Houthi missile strike against a Turkish cargo ship 70 miles off the coast of Yemen that was attempting to deliver 50,000 metric tons of wheat to Yemen's Saleef port near Hudaydah," the White House said in a statement.
Turkey's Foreign Ministry said there were no causalities in the attack.
In a written statement, Turkish Foreign Ministry spokesman Hami Aksoy said the cargo ship Ince Inebolu was attacked by a missile along the coast of Yemen on its way to Saleef Harbor close to midnight.
The ship had departed from the Russian Black Sea port of Novorossiysk.
"The Turkish cargo ship with a 23-strong crew of Turkish citizens was attacked, and fortunately there were no casualties," Aksoy was quoted as saying.
"Investigation of this incident is ongoing and will be disclosed to the public after its completion," he added.

More at: https://www.dailysabah.com/mideast/2...ip-white-house

I wonder who really did it.

[Firestarter]

I wonder who really did it.

The Houthi “rebels” claim that the ship was attacked by the Britain-led coalition.

The Western media earlier said that the explosion was internal to the ship as a result of an as-yet unexplained explosion. “Coalition” forces visited the ship and found an explosion which was from the inside to the outside.

The captain of the ship didn’t know the cause of the damage: https://insurancemarinenews.com/insu...olu-explosion/


So now the same mass murders that are starving millions of Yemenis to death, more than 300,000 killed and counting, are accusing the Houthis for blowing up wheat?!?

[Swordsmyth]

The Saudi coalition blockade of Yemen continues to starve the civilian population of essential food and fuel. The U.N. warns that an additional 10 million Yemenis could be brought to the brink of famine beyond the eight and a half million already there:

The United Nations aid chief urged the Saudi-led military coalition that controls Yemen’s ports to expedite imports of vital food and fuel supplies, warning that a further 10 million Yemenis could face starvation by year-end.
After three years of conflict in which the Yemeni government, backed by Riyadh’s coalition, has fought against Iran-aligned Houthi fighters, Yemen is the world’s worst humanitarian crisis with some 8.4 million people severely short of food and at risk of starvation.
“I am particularly concerned about the recent decline of commercial food imports through the Red Sea ports,” Mark Lowcock, UN emergency relief co-ordinator, said in a statement read out to a Geneva briefing on Friday.

There are approximately 28 million people in Yemen, and if things stay as they are almost two-thirds of that population will soon be at risk of starving to death. The Saudi coalition bears the largest share of responsibility for Yemen’s humanitarian catastrophe. They are the ones impeding the delivery of commercial goods and aid, and they have it within their power to alleviate the worst effects of the crisis if they would lift the blockade. If the coalition presses ahead with an assault on Hodeidah, the crisis is certain to worsen and those additional 10 million people will be driven into famine that much sooner.

More at: http://www.theamericanconservative.c...-by-years-end/

[goldenequity]

If the coalition presses ahead with an assault on Hodeidah, the crisis is certain to worsen and those additional 10 million people will be driven into famine that much sooner.

More at: http://www.theamericanconservative.c...-by-years-end/

Yemen:

Islamic World Update‏ @islamicworldupd · 4 min.
Pro Saudi forces 20km away from Port town #Hodeida #Yemen




Islamic World Update‏ @islamicworldupd · 7 min.
Saudi-led coalition captured districts of al-Tuhayat, al-Durayhimi and al-Garrahi #Yemen

[goldenequity]

GregorydJohnsen‏@gregorydjohnsen · 14 min.
"Iran will be holding a new round of talks with Europe on the Yemen conflict, ..."
… Iran has wanted a seat at the "Yemen table" for quite a while.
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/artic...ropean-nations

[Swordsmyth]

A spokesperson for the Houthi rebel movement in Yemen has threatened to launch missiles targeting the United Arab Emirates (UAE).
In comments carried by Saba news agency, Brigadier General Sharaf Ghaleb Loqman said on Friday that "Abu Dhabi is no longer safe after today".
Loqman also warned investors in Dubai and Abu Dhabi to take his remarks seriously.
The statement comes amid reported advances by UAE-backed forces on the crucial port city of Hodeidah in western Yemen.
The Houthi movement would effectively be under a land, sea and air blockade if they lose control of the Hodeidah, the country's third-largest city.

More at: https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2018/...215207412.html

[Swordsmyth]

Houthis rebels presented a set of demands during talks with the U.N. Yemen mediator over the surrender of the Red Sea Port of al-Hudaydah to U.N. supervision, Al-Arabiya television reported June 6. The terms include Yemeni President Abd Rabboh Mansour Hadi's government paying the salaries of military and civilian government workers, reopening the Sanaa airport, putting an end to air raids against Houthi forces and putting an end to the blockade on Yemeni ports.

More at: https://worldview.stratfor.com/situa...g-red-sea-port

[Firestarter]

Five days after it was reported that the Britain-led coalition asked for US support in taking the port city of Hodeidah (where some 400,000 people survive) from Houthi rebels, UN official Lise Grande said:

A military attack or siege on Hodeidah will impact hundreds of thousands of innocent lives.
In a prolonged worst case, we fear that as many as 250,000 people may lose everything — even their lives.

Norwegian Refugee Council spokesman Daniel Gorevan said that:

[ Hodeidah] is essentially a lifeline for millions of struggling Yemenis. Twenty-two million people are in need of humanitarian assistance, and the goods and the fuel and the medicine that comes through Hodeidah is a lifeline for those people.

Foreigners have left Hodeidah for fear of their lives.
On Thursday, the Red Cross confirmed that it is withdrawing 71 staff members out of Yemen.

The Norwegian Refugee Council called for an investigation into a recent airstrike on the capital Sanaa that injured seven civilians, including four children, and almost hit their office.
An ongoing aerial bombardment and blockade of Yemen has caused millions of people needing humanitarian assistance, pushed people to the brink of famine, and led to a major cholera outbreak: https://www.rt.com/news/429160-hodei...n-saudi-strike

[goldenequity]

Five days after it was reported that the Britain-led coalition asked for US support in taking the port city of Hodeidah (where some 400,000 people survive) from Houthi rebels, UN official Lise Grande said:

Norwegian Refugee Council spokesman Daniel Gorevan said that:

Foreigners have left Hodeidah for fear of their lives.
On Thursday, the Red Cross confirmed that it is withdrawing 71 staff members out of Yemen.

The Norwegian Refugee Council called for an investigation into a recent airstrike on the capital Sanaa that injured seven civilians, including four children, and almost hit their office.
An ongoing aerial bombardment and blockade of Yemen has caused millions of people needing humanitarian assistance, pushed people to the brink of famine, and led to a major cholera outbreak: https://www.rt.com/news/429160-hodei...n-saudi-strike

Humanitarian choke-point (operational planning compliments of US/UK )
on May 29th they were 20km away....

[Swordsmyth]

The New York Times reports that the United Nations is pulling its staff from the besieged Yemeni port city of Al Hudaydah as a massive assault on the country's only major humanitarian lifeline appears imminent.
UN staff have played a key role in delivering foreign aid through what is now one of the besieged country's only humanitarian access points to the outside world, through which 80% of all humanitarian aid flows.
The NYT details that the UN evacuation comes after "member countries were told that an attack by forces led by the United Arab Emirates was imminent, according to two diplomats briefed on the matter."

More at: https://www.zerohedge.com/news/2018-...audi-coalition

[georgiaboy]

So wrong, so tragic, so nightmarish, to think my nation is party to this carnage.
My robes are torn.

[Firestarter]

The New York Times reports that the United Nations is pulling its staff from the besieged Yemeni port city of Al Hudaydah as a massive assault on the country's only major humanitarian lifeline appears imminent.

More on that...
The British government also advised aid agencies to leave the city after the UAE on Friday warned the British government an attack on Hodeidah is imminent and to leave the city in 3 days.
The UN agencies plan to leave in place a crew of Yemenis to continue some of the “aid mission”.

On Monday, the Security Council of the UN held a closed-door talk on the genocide.
According to UN Secretary General António Guterres:

We are, at the present moment, in intense consultation. There is a lull in the fighting to allow for them, and I hope that it will be possible to avoid a battle for Hudaydah.

The UN special envoy to Yemen, Martin Griffiths, has been negotiating with the Houthis to hand over control of the Hodeidah, depriving the “rebels” of any means to get necessary supplies (including food).
Hodeidah is the entry for approximately 80% of the “foreign humanitarian aid” to Yemen.

In Washington, the Senate has spoken some big words to warn that a military assault on Hodeidah could result in the US cutting off funding for aerial refuelling, without which the Saudi air force can’t continue the bombing campaign.
Representative Ted Lieu said an attack on Hodeidah would:

plunge the country further into humanitarian disaster and risk opening another power vacuum for Al Qaeda to fill. If they cross that red line, the U.S. will have a strategic, moral and legal obligation to cut off all support for the coalition in Yemen.

Experts say pressure from Washington could stop the assault.

On Monday, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said he had spoken to Emirati leaders:

and made clear our desire to address their security concerns while preserving the free flow of humanitarian aid and lifesaving commercial imports.

Two supposed insiders have said that Defense Secretary Jim Mattis privately sent messages to the Arab states, cautioning against any attack on Hodeidah.
In reality these empty words don’t hide that the Trump administration has close (financial) ties to Saudi Arabia and the UAE.

The summit meeting between President Donald and North Korean dictator Kim-Jong-un has been scheduled this week for a distraction: https://www.nytimes.com/2018/06/11/w...di-arabia.html


At least eight million Yemenis are on the verge of famine.
The UK (also) sells weapons to the UAE and Saudi Arabia and provides logistical support for the brutal aggression against Yemen. Britain could also stop the death of hundreds of thousands (or millions?), but will continue to supply and aide in the war against Yemen.

Bizarrely the government of Britain, has released statements to declare its “innocence”. Britain claims to have “discouraged” the UAE to attack Hodeidah.
Foreign office minister Alistair Burt told the House of Commons:

We will continue to discourage any attack on Hodeidah port and will continue to use our influence to do so.
It could still be that a negotiated solution is found.

The Department for International Development (Dfid) released a statement:

We are doing everything we can through diplomatic channels to discourage an assault on Hodeidah. However despite these actions, a military assault now looks imminent.

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/201...lifeline-port/


Sure: let’s believe that “we” are all innocent, look the other way, and focus on Trump and Kim-Jong shaking hands…

[Swordsmyth]

Doctors Without Borders (MSF) says it has “temporarily frozen” its humanitarian activities in northwestern Yemen after an airstrike carried out by warplanes of a Saudi-led military coalition hit a cholera treatment center run by the international medical charity.

“This morning’s attack on an MSF cholera treatment center by the Saudi and Emirati-led coalition shows complete disrespect for medical facilities and patients,” said Joao Martins, MSF’s head of mission in Yemen, in a statement on Monday.

His comments came hours after Saudi-led fighter jets struck a newly-built clinic of MSF in the Abs district in the northwestern province of Hajjah. Martins said that the center had been empty at the time of the airstrike, hence, left no casualties.
He added that the facility’s roof clearly identified it as a medical center and that its coordinates had been previously given to the so-called Saudi-led coalition.

More at: https://www.globalresearch.ca/msf-ce...center/5643881

[Swordsmyth]

The biggest and potentially most catastrophic battle in terms of civilian casualties has begun in the three-year war between the Saudi coalition and Iranian-aligned Houthi rebels. The assault began early Wednesday after days of the United Nations warning against the operation which also involves the UAE and United States as leading the campaign on the Houthi held port city of Al Hudaydah.

Reuters reports the following breaking updates:

• "concentrated and intense" bombing near the port itself.
• 30 air strikes hit the city within half an hour.
• Houthis say they hit a coalition barge
• Port is main route to feed 8.4 million on verge of famine
• "Some civilians are entrapped, others forced from their homes."
• Arab warplanes and warships pounded Houthi fortifications to support ground operations by foreign and Yemeni troops massed south of the port of Hodeidah in operation "Golden Victory".
• Ground battles raged near Hodeidah airport and al-Durayhmi, a rural area 10 km (6 miles) south of the city

Though Saudi and coalition authorities have long imposed a media blackout on Yemen which has resulted in little on the ground footage of the war, some early footage of the ground assault has emerged on pro-Saudi social media:

عاجل | فيديو مباشر: بإسناد القوات المسلحة الإماراتية القوات المشتركة تقترب من مطار الحديدة #الحديدة_تتحرر pic.twitter.com/pPBWBkM2dP
— الحديدة مباشر (@HdeidahMubasher) June 13, 2018

Early footage of Saudi-UAE coalition troops mustering outside of the contested port city:

بالفيديو: ألوية #حراس_الجمهورية بانتظار ساعة الصفر لتنفذ العملية الكبرى لتحرير مدينة الحديدة pic.twitter.com/cApG2VDRvT
— حراس الجمهورية (@Huras_Aljmhuria) June 12, 2018

These are the troops that #UAE makes storm today #Houthi-held #Hodeida coast city in west #Yemen. Via @StrategicNews1 pic.twitter.com/zZEzz57KId
— Ali Özkök (@Ozkok_) June 13, 2018

Gulf-aligned media coverage from lead-up to the assault claiming the coalition is thwarting "Iranian weapons" and militants in Hudaydah:

ميناء الحديدة منفذ ميليشيات الحوثي لاستلام الأسلحة والصواريخ الإيرانية
ألوية حراس الجمهورية والقوات المشتركة تقطع شريان طهران في الحديدة وتحدث خسائر فادحة لميليشيات الحوثي في مديرية الدريهمي والحاح pic.twitter.com/f4XZxf8Kbk
— الحديدة مباشر (@HdeidahMubasher) June 9, 2018

Iranian media reports civilians killed and wounded from the start of coalition aerial bombardment:

At least four civilians killed in Saudi air strikes on Yemeni port city of Hudaydah #SaudiWarOnYemen pic.twitter.com/C2LGEmnvd0
— Press TV (@PressTV) June 12, 2018

As we reported earlier this week, the UN and Red Cross evacuated all personnel days before the assault on the major Yemeni port through which 80% of all humanitarian aid to the war-torn country flows.
The city of half a million people is one of the sole lifelines of support from the outside world, thus analysts are predicting this to be a catastrophe for the country's civilian population in a war which The New York Times notes is already "classified as the world’s worst humanitarian disaster" with "more than 75 percent of the population... dependent on food aid".

More at: https://www.zerohedge.com/news/2018-...-ship-attacked

[RonZeplin]

Fake News.

Saudi, UAE outline relief for Yemen port

Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates have announced a five-point aid plan for Yemen's Hodeidah port and surrounding areas, after a Saudi-led alliance of Arab states launched an attack on Yemen's Houthi-held main port city.

As part of the plan, the two coalition states aim to establish a shipping lane to Hodeidah from the UAE capital, Abu Dhabi, and Jizan, a city in southern Saudi Arabia, officials told a news conference in Riyadh.

They will also distribute food, provide medical supplies, equipment and staff to hospitals, sustain electrical stations and provide economic support.
"We have several ships stationed, and we have storage capacity very close to Hodeidah fully stocked up," said Reem al-Hashimy, the UAE minister of state for international cooperation.

"We have as well planes that are out of the UAE that are ready to be flown in once the situation allows for that," she said.

The plan will be carried out by Saudi Arabia's King Salman Humanitarian Aid and Relief Center and the UAE Red Crescent, with Hashimy later telling reporters the UAE would use its military base in Eritrea for transporting aid.

The assault marks the first time the Arab states have tried to capture a heavily defended major city since joining the war three years ago against the Iran-aligned Houthis, who control Yemen's most populated areas, including the capital, Sanaa.

The operation, which began after a three-day deadline set by the UAE for the Houthis to quit the port, comes at the risk of worsening the world's biggest humanitarian crisis.
Coalition states say they will try to keep the port running and can ease the crisis once they seize it by lifting import restrictions they have imposed.

But they accused the Houthis of planting mines that could prolong that effort, they added.

"If the Houthis don't damage the port by mining it, you have all the assurances that the coalition forces will not damage the port," the UAE's ambassador to the UK, Sulaiman al-Mazroui, told Abu Dhabi-linked newspaper The National.

[goldenequity]

Haidar Sumeri
Catastrophic start for the Saudi-led coalition as the battle for the vital port of Hodeidah
starts with Houthi forces striking a UAE warship with 2 missiles as it approached to land troops.
Fire spread across the ship and it retreated.
Smaller boats seen evacuating the dead.

BREAKING: UAE Naval vessel struck by Houthi missiles off the coast of Yemen
and is now on fire after missiles impacted it and exploded, heavy damage.

UPDATE: Local sources report emergency craft carrying dead off the boat,
reports coming in that the UAE naval vessel has now sank, attack occurred in the last 24 hours

ELINT News
UPDATE: @<u><a href="http://www.ronpaulforums.com/member.php?u=40901" target="_blank">The</a></u>ArabSource confirms vessel has now sunk.

=========

Airport
Gulf-backed troops make serious push to seize Hodeideh Airport
https://www.almasdarnews.com/article...eideh-airport/

The Gulf-backed troops are making another serious push to capture the strategic Hodeideh Airport from the Houthi forces in west Yemen, pro-government activists reported this morning.

Led by the Syrian Resistance Army and Yemeni Republican Guard, the Gulf-backed troops stormed the last remaining sites located south of the Hodeideh Airport.

No gains have been reported yet.

Should the Gulf-backed troops capture the Hodeideh Airport, they will be within distance of the provincial capital and its strategic port.

The Hodeideh Port is the last major port that is under the control of the Houthi forces in west Yemen.

If lost, the Houthi forces will find themselves under a land, sea, and air siege that is imposed by the pro-government troops and Arab Coalition.

=========


Houthi forces turns the tables on Arab Coalition, seizes ground in Saudi Arabia
https://www.almasdarnews.com/article...-saudi-arabia/

=======



Saudi Hegemon Air Forces strikes houthi militants

[Swordsmyth]

The United States rejected a UAE request for intelligence, minesweeping and airborne intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance assets for the military operation in Yemen’s Hodeidah, a UAE official said on Thursday. The official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said, however, that France had agreed to provide minesweeping support for the operation. The official said UAE intelligence indicated that Houthis had mined the port.

More at: https://uk.reuters.com/article/uk-ye...KBN1JA35M?il=0

[Swordsmyth]

Government forces supported by a Saudi-led coalition reportedly took the Hodeida airport in Yemen’s main port city from Houthi rebels Saturday.
Yemen’s exiled government said it had control of the airport and forces were clearing mines from nearby areas.
Houthi-linked civil aviation authorities denied that the Iran-backed rebels lost control of the airport, but said airstrikes had completely destroyed it. The attacks came on the fourth day of the coalition’s assault.

More at: https://nypost.com/2018/06/16/saudi-...t-from-rebels/

[Firestarter]

Over 4,000 families have fled Hodeidah since June 1, after hundreds were killed in the coalition’s bomb campaign to take the Yemeni port from Houthi rebels. On Friday, AP reported that already more than 280 people had died from the bombs. The death toll has surely gone up as the bombs continued.
According to a report by the UN, people have lost their entire livelihood in airstrikes that destroyed farms.

Two fleeing Yemenis made the following comments:

The air attacks were extremely heavy and violent back there, hitting humans, trees and houses – everything.
A lot of people died – children and seniors.

On Saturday, the coalition announced that it had regained control of the airport outside Hodeidah.
The Houthi rebels denied this and told SABA news agency that the airport was completely destroyed, but has not been surrendered: https://www.rt.com/news/430050-yemen...vilians-saudi/

Yemeni children sitting in the remains of a house in Hodeidah, 19 May.



On 23 April, villagers of Al-Raqah, in northern Yemen, came together for a wedding celebration. With music playing, no one heard the warplane before the missile struck, around 11 p.m., killing 23 and wounding over 60.

An injured child in bed, Jumhuri Hospital in Hajjah, 6 May.


A witness commented:

We were singing and dancing, everything was winding down. We were about to leave. Then, all the sudden, I was on the ground, I couldn’t hear anything. We totally lost control of our senses. There were body parts around me, I was just looking for my children.
It took us over a week to find all the body parts.

According to eyewitnesses, after the bomb struck, women were running around, screaming, looking for their children and relatives: https://theintercept.com/2018/06/16/...ing-airstrike/


In March, the US announced it approved the sale of some $670 million in anti-tank missiles, 6,700 missiles, spare parts for American-made tanks and helicopters to Saudi Arabia. The deal was announced hours after Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman met Pentagon leaders to discuss the ongoing genocide.

Sweden proposed a motion at the UN Security Council to end the fighting in Yemen.
On Friday, the US and UK blocked it. Both countries sell weapons to Saudi Arabia and the UAE that are used against Yemen.

Three US senators have called on the Pentagon to disclose its role in the ongoing military operation on Hodeidah, which has left millions of Yemenis at risk of starvation.
Bernie Sanders, Mike Lee and Chris Murphy called on Defense Secretary James Mattis:

We call on you to immediately disclose the full extent of the US military role in the Saudi-led war against Yemen’s Houthis, including the use of special operations forces; disclose any role that the Pentagon is currently performing, has been asked to perform, or is considering performing regarding an attack on the port of Hudaydah.

http://www.presstv.com/Detail/2018/0...aYemenHudaydah

[Swordsmyth]

The Iran-aligned Houthi movement in Yemen said it launched a missile targeting a facility of oil firm Aramco in Asir in southwestern Saudi Arabia, Houthi-run media al-Masirah TV and SABA reported on Tuesday. Following the report, an Aramco official told Reuters that the company’s facilities were “safe and are operating normally.”
SABA quoted a Houthi military source as saying the group had fired a Badr-1 missile “at Aramco” in Asir’s capital Abha.
There was no immediate comment from the Saudi government.
Saudi state TV had earlier said that Saudi air defences had intercepted a Houthi missile launched on the city of Khamis Mushait, which is also in Asir.

More at: https://uk.reuters.com/article/uk-no...KBN1JF37Y?il=0

[Swordsmyth]

The torturers followed a schedule. Beatings on Saturdays, torture on Sundays, and Monday was a break. The next three days were the same routine. On Fridays, it was time for solitary confinement.
From inside a Yemeni prison controlled by the United Arab Emirates — a top U.S. ally — a Yemeni detainee held without charges chronicled torture and sexual abuses through drawings. Smuggled to The Associated Press from the Beir Ahmed prison in the southern city of Aden, the drawings offer a grim glimpse into a hidden world of flagrant human rights abuses by UAE officers acting with impunity.
Sexual violence is a primary tool aimed at brutalizing the detainees and extracting "confessions," the artist and six other detainees told the AP.
The drawings — made on plastic plates — show a man hanging naked from chains while he is being subjected to electric shocks, another inmate on the floor surrounded by snarling dogs as several people kick him, and graphic depictions of anal rape.
"The worst thing about it is that I wish for death every day and I can't find it," the artist said, summing up nearly two years in detention that started last year after he spoke against the Emiratis in pub lic.
The UAE's secret prisons and widespread torture were exposed by an AP investigation last June. The AP has since identified at least five prisons where security forces use sexual torture to brutalize and break inmates.
During Yemen's three-year civil war, UAE forces purportedly fighting on behalf of the Yemen government have overtaken wide swaths of territory in southern Yemen and have swept up hundreds of men into a network of at least 18 hidden prisons on suspicion of being al-Qaida militants. The prisoners are held without charges or trials.
Witnesses said Yemeni guards working under the direction of Emirati officers use various methods of sexual torture and humiliation. They rape detainees while filming the assaults. They subject prisoners' genitals to electric shocks or hang rocks from their testicles. They sexually violate others with wooden and steel poles.
"They strip you naked, then tie your hands to a steel pole from the right and the left so you are spread open in front of them. Then sodomizing starts," said one 46-year-old man who has been in detention for more than two years and who, like other detainees, spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of retaliation.
A former security chief who was involved in torturing to extract confessions told the AP that rape is used as a way to force detainees to cooperate with the Emiratis in spying.
"In some cases, they rape the detainee, film him while raping, use it as a way to force him to work for them," he said, speaking on condition of anonymity because of concerns for his safety. The official has since defected from the Emirates and fled the country.
American officials confirmed last year that the U.S. has interrogated some detainees at the secret prisons run by the UAE. The Pentagon has insisted that it had no knowledge of human rights abuses, though obtaining intelligence extracted by torture would violate international law.
The AP first asked the Pentagon about grave rights abuses committed by the UAE, its partner, one year ago. But despite well-documented reports of UAE involvement in torture by the AP, human rights groups and even the United Nations, Marine Maj. Adrian Ra nkine-Galloway, a Pentagon spokesman, said that the U.S. has seen no evidence of detainee abuse in Yemen.
"U.S. forces are required to report credible allegations of detainee abuse," he said. "We have received no credible allegations that would substantiate the allegations put forth in your line of question/story."
On May 24, the House of Representatives voted to require Defense Secretary Jim Mattis to investigate the scope of U.S. involvement in UAE black sites. The Defense Department has to submit a report within 120 days to Congress.

More at: http://www.foxnews.com/world/2018/06...Latest+-+Text)

[Swordsmyth]

Fierce clashes between the Saudi-led coalition’s forces and the Houthis are ongoing near the port city of al-Hudaydah in western Yemen.
On June 19, the coalition’s forces once again entered the al-Hudaydah airport claiming that this time they really captured it. However, they were not able to establish full control of this important facility because of a fierce resistance from the Houthis. On June 20, clashes in the area continued.
Since June 13, when the coalition kicked off its advance on al-Hudaydah, pro-Saudi sources had claimed at least 3 times that the airport is in the hands of the coalition. All these claims appeared to be false.


The control of the airport is an important if the coalition wants to storm the city from the southern direction.
At the same time, coalition-led fighters continued their attempt to outflank al-Hudaydah from the eastern direction, engaging the Houthis in the Matahin square area. While the square remains contested, the highway linking al-Hudaydah and the Yemeni capital, Sanaa, is already closed because of the clashes.

More at: https://www.globalresearch.ca/yemen-...tested/5644931

[Firestarter]

The torturers followed a schedule. Beatings on Saturdays, torture on Sundays, and Monday was a break. The next three days were the same routine. On Fridays, it was time for solitary confinement.

AP found 18 secret prisons in Yemen, controlled by the UAE, where hundreds of Yemeni men are locked up without charges or trials.

Detainees held in 5 UAE-controlled prisons, 4 of which in the Yemeni port city of Aden, have been tortured in “Abu Ghraib-like” prisons, including practices like: beating until bleeding; electrocuting genitals; hanging rocks from testicles; and anal rape with poles. Sometimes the shocking acts were filmed (to blackmail the victims...).
On March 10, at Beir Ahmed prison in the southern city of Aden, 15 officers from the UAE arrived. They lined up the detainees and ordered them to undress and lie down. The officers then “searched” the anal cavity of each prisoner.

A drawing of a victim; the Arabic reads: “with water after beating”.


The UAE has denied running prisons or secret detention centres in Yemen.
Yemen’s interior minister has said he doesn’t have authority over prisons and must ask the UAE for permission to enter Aden.

Americans and Colombians have been spotted at “secret” prisons, including the one at Buriqa base. US officials have acknowledged that they receive intelligence from the UAE and have participated in interrogations in Yemen. The prisoners haven’t accused Americans of being directly involved in torture.
Despite widespread accounts of torture, even by the UN, a Pentagon spokesperson said the US has seen no “evidence” of torture committed by US ally the UAE.

On May 24, the House of Representatives voted that Defense Secretary Jim Mattis must inform them if US military or intelligence personnel violated the law in interrogations of detainees in Yemen: https://apnews.com/7994b4508e9c4a5eaf8a1cca9f20322f
(archived here: http://archive.is/1rwjY)


Erik Prince is best known for founding Blackwater (which has been renamed Xe Services), which had a shoot first, ask questions later kind of approach when democracy and freedom was brought to Iraq.
These days Erik Prince is making hundreds of millions of dollars with his new company Reflex Responses (R2) by training mercenaries for the UAE (used in the war against Yemen).
Mr. Prince made the deal worth $529 million with Sheik Mohamed bin Zayed al-Nahyan, the crown prince of Abu Dhabi and de facto ruler of the UAE: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/05/15/wo.../15prince.html

Erik Prince contributed $250,000 to the Trump campaign and was an unofficial adviser to Trump. Prince was repeatedly seen visiting Trump Tower during the transition period. Prince is also close to Trump’s former chief strategist Steve Bannon (who now supposedly broke up with Trump for his “criticism”).
Prince is also Betsy DeVos’s brother, Trump’s Education Secretary.

On 11 January 2017, during the transition period, Erik Prince met secretly in the Seychelles in the middle of the Indian Ocean with a close ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin. This meeting was facilitated by Abu Dhabi Crown Prince Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed al-Nahyan, who in December made a secret trip to New York to meet Steve Bannon, Michael Flynn and Jared Kushner at Trump Tower: https://www.salon.com/2017/04/05/all...th-putins-men/
(archived here: http://archive.is/u8ofA)


I’m shocked: even the deaf, dumb and blind Amnesty International (finally) sees that something “could be” wrong in Yemen. Amnesty International almost exposes that this genocide is orchestrated by Britain, the US, World Bank, IMF and UN...

Amnesty International says the Saudi Arabian-backed coalition “could be” committing war crimes in Yemen by interfering with “humanitarian supplies”, because it stops the “aid-laden” ships. They divert ships to Yemeni ports controlled by the “coalition” or delay them for a month or more.
According to Amnesty’s Middle East research director Maalouf:

The times that these inspections are taking are effectively obstructing the flow of humanitarian aid and essential goods. And that is why, in our analysis, we have found that this could amount to collective punishment. We’re already talking about the worst man-made humanitarian catastrophe in the world. And we’re not just talking about Hudaydah. We’re talking about the impact on the entire Yemeni civilian population here.

http://www.presstv.com/Detail/2018/0...national-Oxfam


On 20 May US President Donald Trump's son-in-law and senior adviser Jared Kushner met Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman to discuss current affairs.

[Swordsmyth]

On June 21, the Iranian Navy dispatched two warships to the Gulf of Aden, where a fierce battle is ongoing between the Ansar Allah movement (also known as the Houthis) and the Saudi-led coalition for the port city of al-Hudaydah.
According to Iran’s Tasnim News Agency, Iran sent a helicopter-carrier and a naval destroyer. The deployment of Iranian warships in the area will likely further complicate relations between Riyadh and Teheran. However, two warships will not be enough to lift a naval blockade from al-Hudaydah.
Meanwhile, the Houthis repelled another attempt by the Saudi-led coalition and its proxies to capture the al-Hudaydah airport in western Yemen recapturing most of the positions, which they had lost previously.


A few dozens of Houthi fighters were killed or injured as result of attacks by the coalition and strikes by its air power. The coalition and its proxies lost at least 6 vehicles.
The Houthis are currently building fortifications south and east of al-Hudaydah. In turn, pro-Saudi and pro-UAE sources claim that the coalition is posed to capture the port city by any means. Massive strikes of the Saudi Air Force on targets inside the city signs that these claims are true.
Clashes also continued far south of al-Hudaydah, along supply lines of the coalition heading from southern Yemen. The Houthis carried out at least 5 hit and run attacks on the coalition’s supply lines over the past two days.
So far, the Houthis have been able to counter the coalition’s efforts to capture the al-Hudaydah airport and to isolate the city. However, they suffer from a lack military equipment and supplies. The situation remains tense.
*

More at: https://www.globalresearch.ca/yemen-...f-aden/5645080