The Starvation of Yemen

[Firestarter]

From 2014 on the number of asylum applications in the EU is at a peak: In 2014 it reached 626,000 and in 2015 even doubled to a whopping 1,255,640 first time asylum applications…

The bizarre thing is that almost no refugees from Yemen reach the EU.
All in all, when compared to the famine, and bombing, there is only a small amount of refugees that have escaped Yemen.
About 170,000 people have fled Yemen so far (written in March 2016), mostly to Djibouti, Ethiopia, Somalia and Sudan (and even Saudi Arabia). This is “small” compared to the millions that have escaped Syria, where the humanitarian drama isn’t as bad.
Most of the escapees are not Yemenis, but returning foreigners. The United Nations expects another 167,000 departures in 2016: http://www.reuters.com/article/us-ye...-idUSKCN0WB0IL


The small amounts of Yemenis that reach the EU are put in an impossible situation...
In September 2015, the EU agreed upon a plan, under which refugees (mainly from Syria, Iraq and Eritrea) be distributed around Europe to relieve the burden on the frontline states of Italy and Greece.
Of the agreed upon 160,000, in May 2016 only 1,441 were moved, while some European states are contesting the proposal.
Yemenis are not in the top 30 nationalities seeking asylum in the EU in 2015. More than a quarter that apply for asylum are denied.

The 20-year-old Yemeni Waleed al-Shaibani arrived in Greece and then applied for asylum in Poland. Poland initially accepted him, but after having to wait for 2 months in Greece, Poland suspended the refugee programme, and refused to accept Waleed.
Then he asked the Greek asylum service to be relocated elsewhere, but was informed that Yemenis were no longer eligible for the programme.
Waleed remained in Greece, but in desperation Waleed wants to return home to Yemen:

We went to the IOM and asked if they can repatriate us, but they said they cannot because it's not safe.
So our country is too dangerous for them to send us back, but not dangerous enough for Europe to accept us.

The International Organization for Migration (IOM) confirmed to Al Jazeera that they do not organise voluntary returns to Yemen, as it is not considered safe: http://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/fea...120321443.html


Of course the wonderful Kingdom of the Netherlands wouldn´t refuse to help Yemeni refugees…
Over the past 5 years, a total of 3845 people from Yemen applied for asylum in the entire EU, 150 of which in the Netherlands. This is very small compared to the huge numbers of Poles, Syrians, Germans, Russians, Indians, Chinese, British, Americans, Italians or Turks that come to the Netherlands...
When the armed conflict in Yemen broke out in 2015, the Dutch state secretary of justice decided to suspend decision making in Yemenite asylum cases, by declaring a so-called “moratorium”.

This “moratorium” means that asylum seekers have to stay in asylum reception centres indefinitely, so they never get a legal staying permit. These asylum centres are not fit for sheltering people for the 18 to 24 months that Yemenite asylum seekers have been forced to remain there: http://thomasspijkerboer.eu/thomas-b...-war-in-yemen/


The Houthi rebels still have some control over one port through which (possibly, hopefully) food can reach their part of Yemen – Hodeidah.
The UK/US-led coalition does everything they can to make it impossible to import food through this port.
The city of Hodeidah is being attacked. A UN official warned that up to half a million civilians could be displaced if the conflict in the country's southwest escalates.
An attack on Hodeidah would endanger the 1 million residents of the city, as well as the over 2.5 million in the southern Yemeni province of Taiz.
According to a recent report by the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (which includes Saudi Arabia...), 19 million Yemenis, around 60% of the population, don’t have access to food: http://www.telesurtv.net/english/new...0510-0034.html

The following picture shows the severely malnourished girl Jamila Ali Abdu, 7, before she died in Hodeidah.



On 16 March 2017 at about 9 PM, a helicopter opened fire on a boat carrying (mostly) Somali civilians some 50 km (30 miles) off the coast of Hodeidah, killing more than 32 people (including a Yemeni civilian) of the 145 on board. Another 29, including 6 children, were wounded, and 10 more remain missing.
Because the Houthis don’t possess helicopters, it is clear that this war crime was done by the coalition

All the parties involved, have denied responsibility for the attack, including the USA and Saudi Arabia.
One of the boat’s 4 Yemeni crew members said the boat was about 50 kilometres off the coast of Hodeidah, travelling away from Yemen, when it was attacked.
Human Rights Watch was not able to determine which coalition member carried out the attack on the refugee boat, but the US State Department has approved the sale of helicopters to Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Kuwait and Jordan: https://www.hrw.org/news/2017/03/26/...kely-war-crime

Here’s a photo of some of the corpses of the boat attack.


Saudi Arabia has called for the UN to take control over Hodeidah, to:

facilitate the flow of humanitarian supplies to the Yemeni people, while at the same time ending the use of the port for weapons smuggling and people trafficking.

The following picture shows a remnant of a wing that was part of a 500-pound bomb found at the Arhab water drilling site, Sanaa governorate, where at least 31 civilians were killed in an airstrike on 10 September 2016.
It was produced by US defence contractor Raytheon in October 2015.

[AZJoe]

[goldenequity]

Phosphorus Ratline
hillary phosphate mine
White phosphorus munitions

[goldenequity]

An exercise by the Yemeni army and the Popular Committees simulates control over assumed positions

The Yemeni army and the Popular Committees carried out a military exercise entitled "Continuing to Counter US Terrorism", where the combat skills varied from sniper to incursion into enemy barracks and control of the sites.
The trainees stressed that these virtual battles and skills will be applied in practice to confront the Saudi coalition forces on the ground.

[AZJoe]

[AZJoe]

Amid Cholera Outbreak, Saudi Arabia Bomb's Yemeni Desalination Plant

"Yemen is in the midst of globally unprecedented cholera outbreak. ... Cholera is spread by drinking contaminated water. ...

This certainly isn’t the first time the Saudi coalition has bombed civilian infrastructure vital to survival during their campaign against Yemen ... It isn’t even the first time they’ve bombed a desalination plant. In fact they’ve destroyed about 370 water tanks and facilities. Just last year, Saudi warplanes destroyed a desalination plant in Mokha ...

they decided to bomb a facility used to provide Yemenis with clean water. This is just another example that cements Saudi Arabia’s terrorist and genocidal activities in Yemen. ...

[Firestarter]

Most people in the “civilised” world don’t even realise what it’s like to have no clean water to drink.

The international world powers in their greatest philanthropic disguise just last month provided Yemen with one million doses of an oral cholera vaccine for urgent use.
Do I understand correctly that according to the state propaganda, because of these magical “vaccines”, Yemenis don’t need food and clean water anymore...

There is at least one death every hour caused by severe dehydration and diarrhoea.
International health officials say the emergency vaccinations are necessary to contain the cholera epidemic in Yemen. The vaccine can only be administered to those who don’t have cholera yet.
Once Yemenis have been exterminated this will surely stop the cholera outbreak...
According to the WHO, there is already a network in place to distribute the vaccines immediately in priority areas to everyone above the age of one: https://www.irinnews.org/news/2017/0...e-headed-yemen

[AZJoe]

Cholera Outbreak

[goldenequity]

Cholera is a water borne nightmare.
diarrhea everywhere.... the smell... the infectious slime sticking to everything...
vomiting... crying... dying...
now put that in a war zone setting... running out of clean bedding, towels, water, medecine
exhausted personnel..
day after day after month upon month.
And still they bomb and bomb and bomb.
Saudi Royals in their starch whites
praising Allah.
MAGA.

[Swordsmyth]

WHO Cancels Shipment of 500,000 Cholera Vaccines to Yemen

While the latest figures confirmed over 320,000 cases of cholera in Yemen, the World Health Organization announced that it would be canceling the planned shipment of nearly one million cholera vaccines to the country torn apart by a Saudi Arabia-led bombing campaign, citing security and logistical concerns in the decision to cancel the shipment.
An initial shipment of 500,000 doses are currently in Djibouti, ready to be shipped, however WHO spokesperson Christian Lindmeier told reporters that the doses might be rerouted to several countries in Africa instead.

More at: http://www.globalresearch.ca/who-can...-yemen/5599495

[goldenequity]

Hey. 98 Senators.
This is on YOU.











============

Yemen's cholera outbreak worsens as Oxfam projects 600,000 cases

[Origanalist]

Yemen’s Horrifying Cholera Epidemic Continues to Spread

By DANIEL LARISON • July 28, 2017, 11:37 AM


IRIN Photos/Flickr: The UN-administered camp at Mazrak, north-west Yemen, seen on 12 November 2009 is now stretched beyond capacity after a Saudi military offensive against the Huthis starting early November uprooted a fresh wave of IDP families.

Yemen’s horrifying cholera epidemic continues to spread:

The directors of the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF), World Food Programme (WFP) and World Health Organization (WHO) released a joint statement today shedding light on a deadly cholera epidemic engulfing war-torn Yemen.

More than 400,000 cases of cholera are suspected, and nearly 1,900 people have died from associated cases in the last three months alone.

A week ago, Yemen’s cholera epidemic was already the worst on record. Since then, roughly 40,000 more cases have been reported. If the disease continues to spread at this rate, we can expect another hundred thousand cases in just a few weeks, and Yemen’s rainy season threatens to make things even worse. Millions of malnourished children are particularly at risk:

Nearly 2 million children are suffering from malnutrition, and are easy targets of the water-borne disease. The report estimates that nearly 80 percent of all children need immediate humanitarian assistance [bold mine-DL].

The people of Yemen are suffering from multiple, overlapping crises brought on by the U.S.-backed, Saudi-led war on their country. They are in urgent need of a halt to the coalition’s campaign and blockade, and they require a major emergency relief effort. The war on Yemen has imperiled the lives of millions of people, many of them young children, and it is going to cause massive loss of life unless the policies of the coalition and its Western patrons change dramatically and soon.

http://www.theamericanconservative.c...ues-to-spread/

[goldenequity]

Has The War In Yemen Become A Spectator Sport?
http://www.moonofalabama.org/2017/08...tor-sport.html

I know we on RPF care deeply about this issue.
You can sympathize with this Yemenii writer. and pray. thnx.

[Firestarter]

For some time now I’ve been trying to find out why the “civilised” world has started this war against the “poorest country” in the Middle East – Yemen. The answer is really simple; it’s about gas and oil…

I have read an interesting interview with Hanan al-Harazi from August 2015, who could escape Yemen because her family had foreign passports. Nobody is issuing visas to Yemeni nationals so this means 23 million people are trapped inside a country that is being mercilessly and indiscriminately bombed with complete disregard for civilian life.

Saudi Arabia wants to bomb Yemen into submission. When this didn’t succeed they continued with this brutal, horrific, cruel, vicious blockade on Yemen in the hope that the Yemeni people will turn against those who are fighting the Saudi invaders.
Not many people know that the problem of not having energy resources is enormous, because without diesel or electricity, water cannot be pumped from underground reservoirs.
In Amran and Lahj, they have targeted food markets and livestock markets — to starve Yemenis.
The mainstream media have ignored that internationally banned weaponry was used in Yemen. The use of cluster bombs is well documented, some have failed to detonate and were photographed on the ground.
In the densely populated civilian area called Faj Attan, weapons of mass destruction were used. Why was this exempted from investigation?
There are areas in the South, like parts of Hadramaut, which are under total control of Al-Qaeda. Strangely the bombs are falling on the people that are fighting these extremists. Not a single bomb has been dropped on the extremist strongholds. Obviously the “coalition” is not fighting against Al-Qaeda.

That Yemenis knew that our long-time dictator “Ali” Abdullah Saleh gave priority to the Saudi interests over that of Yemen, led to the 2011 revolution to get rid of him.
Jamal Benomar, the former UN peace envoy to Yemen, has confirmed that just as the warring factions, including the Houthis, were reaching an agreement (the Peace and Partnership Initiative) - Hadi suddenly didn’t want Ansarullah to have even marginal representation in government (ordered by the Saudis). This was not going to be acceptable to Ansarullah.
Hadi was placed under house arrest because he was following Saudi instructions. Saudi Arabia was against Ansarullah’s inclusion in Yemen’s government. Then Hadi fled to the south, and then on 25 March 2015 the war started.
They want to split Yemen into a six-federal-state system. This was the start of the problem. When they devised the six-state system, they deliberately isolated one state, Azal, without resources or access to the sea. It was blatant imprisonment and suppression of that area.

Iran is not playing an active role. Iran’s supposed “support” is only a propaganda ploy for the Saudis/imperialists to justify hitting Yemen.
The Saudis put Yemeni leaders on their payroll to destroy Yemen. It’s nearly impossible for a Yemeni to get a visa to travel, even to the Emirates. How can a country flourish when there are so many restrictions on its people: http://dissidentvoice.org/2015/07/ye...he-wilderness/


There are oil and large gas reserves in al-Jawf, which borders Saudi Arabia and has been protected by them for years. In 2011, President Saleh was forced to admit its existence publicly. The presence of gas reserves in the Marib-Jawf gas fields northeast of Sanaa was already known before 2011…
In August 2005, the Yemen Liquid Natural Gas (YLNG) project in Balha project was being developed by a consortium led by France’s Total (39.62% shareholding); US company Hunt Oil (17.22%); South Korea’s SK Corp (9.55%), Kogas (6%), Hyundai Corporation (5.88%); Yemen Gas Company (6.73%), and the General Authority for Social Security & Pensions of Yemen (5%).
The needed $5 billion, was financed in part with $3 billion from a syndicate of banks including Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ, Citigroup, ING Group, Royal Bank of Scotland, Société Générale, and Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation: http://www.hydrocarbons-technology.c...cts/yemen-lng/
This looked like Yemen would take 11.73% of the profits of this gas field - was this too much?


There are reasons to believe that Saudi Arabia is a spend force in oil exports, and needs to plunder Yemen (and other states) to keep up. If the people find out that they have squandered the oil profits, the Saudi regime could be in a lot of trouble. It’s no coincidence that the Saudis are killing people in the same Jawf region where the oil and gas basins were first discovered and explored by Hunt Oil, Exxon.
Since 15 November 2005, the Government of Yemen has taken action to prevent Hunt Oil and Exxon to plunder Yemen (in Block 18). According to Hunt this is in violation with agreements signed in 2004, so was forced to file arbitration against the Government of Yemen: http://web.archive.org/web/20171019064842/https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/hunt-oil-company-and-exxonmobil-file-arbitration-in-response-to-republic-of-yemens-expropriation-of-block-18-in-yemen-55698537.html


British Gas and the United States Geological Survey (USGS) have known of the vast oil and gas deposits offshore of Yemen for some time. A 2002 USGS report shows that there is an immeasurable potential, while numerous explorations show vast oil reservoirs and potential around Yemen.
A WikiLeaks cable dated 1 December 2008, from Ambassador Stephen A. Seche, shows that the Bush administration knew that Yemen was “PUSHING FULL STEAM AHEAD ON GAS PRODUCTION.
Looking back this seems a warning that something must be done to stop the Yemeni government.
It isn’t surprising that the Wall Street Journal doesn’t report about what’s going on. This is one of the many media outlets of Rupert Murdoch, who has personal interests by his investments in Genie Oil: http://www.globalresearch.ca/yemen-a...-obama/5519856


Since 28 February, the USA has conducted roughly 80 airstrikes in Yemen.
In this month US troops have been helping the United Arab Emirates army and Yemeni militias loyal to Abu Dhabi with "intelligence sharing" to invade the Shabwa province in the southeast of Yemen, where there’s a large reservoir of gas (and oil).
We must all agree that “Al-Qaeda militants” must be fought to prevent these dangerous extremists from getting their hands on “our” gas and oil...
Mercenaries of the US and Emirates troops have seized control of oil and gas wells in Shabwa with the aim of controlling and plundering the wealth of Yemen: http://alwaght.com/en/News/106287/US...upy-Oil-Fields

[Firestarter]

Last night, starting at midnight, the UK/US-led coalition carried out a bombing campaign of at least 25 air strikes on the outskirts and north of the capital of Yemen, Sanaa.
At least 35 people were killed when a hotel to the north of Sanaa, which housed mainly QAT-farmers, was destroyed. Some sources claim that the death toll is at least 60.

According to the deaf, dumb and blind UN, “more than 10,000” people have been killed since March 2015, blatantly ignoring that 1000 Yemeni children die every single week.
According to a report by the Protection Cluster in Yemen (part of the wonderful UNHCR organisation), there were more air strikes in Yemen from January to June 2017 (5,676) than in the whole of 2016 (3,396).
According to the Protection Cluster, 14 million Yemenis are food insecure and don’t have access to clean water (more than 50% of the population) of which 8.2 million are in acute need of help.

The Pentagon has sent US military lawyers to train the Saudis to ensure “the legality of air strikes”: http://www.aljazeera.com/news/2017/0...082839979.html

[goldenequity]

Last night, starting at midnight, the UK/US-led coalition carried out a bombing campaign of at least 25 air strikes on the outskirts and north of the capital of Yemen, Sanaa.
At least 35 people were killed when a hotel to the north of Sanaa, which housed mainly QAT-farmers, was destroyed. Some sources claim that the death toll is at least 60.

Saudi Coalition massacres 70+ civilians at Yemeni hotel
https://www.almasdarnews.com/article...-yemeni-hotel/

Yemen officials, witnesses: Saudi-led strikes hit a hotel near the capital, Sanaa, killing dozens of rebels, civilians

Ppl wer trappd when top floor collapsd aftr 2nd striks by #Saudi #UAE jets on motel n Arhab #Sanaa #Yemen
Pics emergd of #Saudi #UAE rprtd double tap strikes Motel n Arhab N #Sanaa #Yemen

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DH6NRd-XsAEHvxU.jpg:large
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DH6QafqXYAEZeB0.jpg:large
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DH6QcCdW0AY4sfV.jpg:large
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DH6QdjQXoAISIOP.jpg:large
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DH6QfZWXUAAdqxw.jpg:large

[goldenequity]

all gone.









Pentagon Chief "Mad Dog" Mattis Promises Lethal US Weapons to Ukraine

[goldenequity]

[AZJoe]

Yemen Cholera outbreak reaches 750,000 with 2119 deaths and

[goldenequity]

[AZJoe]

[AZJoe]

[Firestarter]

Hard to understand, but the humanitarian crisis in Yemen is getting even worse...

Michelle Nunn of Care USA, estimates that “A child dies in Yemen every 5 minutes”. In this context “child” means only children below the age of 5; almost 2000 per week, more than 100,000 per year.

The biggest arm suppliers to Saudi Arabia, are: 1) the United States with 52.0% and 2) Britain 27.1%.
The remaining 20.8% is exported to Saudi Arabia, by countries that include: Spain, France, Switzerland, Canada, Germany, Turkey, Sweden, Italy, the Netherlands, Belgium, Finland, China, South Africa, Georgia, Austria, Slovakia, and Bulgaria: https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/...e-cholera.html
(archived here: http://archive.is/MrshH)


According to Mark Lowcock, UN undersecretary-general for humanitarian affairs, the “coalition” blockade of Yemen, will lead to:

the largest famine the world has seen for many decades with millions of victims.

The UN Security Council “demanded” that Saudi Arabia will open all borders into Yemen and allow humanitarian aid deliveries into the country. Sure: let’s ask them politely…
The French Doctors Without Borders (MSF) reported that its flights were denied clearance into Yemen for 3 days.
The International Red Cross said its shipment of chlorine tablets, to “fight cholera”. No clean water or food, but fighting “cholera” and vaccines are priority number one: http://www.dw.com/en/yemen-facing-la...ays/a-41308061


Yemeni journalist Afrah Nasser in an interview has told about the current catastrophe in Yemen:

On Monday, the coalition shut air, land and sea routes into Yemen after Houthi rebels fired a missile that was intercepted near the Saudi capital, Riyadh. Saudi Arabia says its blockade is needed to stop Iran from sending weapons to the rebels.
(…)
the decision by Saudi Arabia or the Saudi-led coalition to impose a total blockade means a death sentence that will kill all Yemenis.
(…)
They have one cousin or one brother or one relative who died because of—if it’s not under the Saudi-led airstrikes or the shelling of the Houthi and Saleh forces in Taiz and other disputed areas, the shortage, the extreme lack of medicine and food and healthcare have—you know, I’ve lost count of how many relatives that I know, or friends of friends and relatives of my friends, who died because of the implication caused by the conflict. Myself, I lost my aunt two years ago. Just last week, I lost also another two relatives, distant relatives. And all were not victims of the airstrikes, but they were victims of the blockade and the shortage in medicine and the total collapse of healthcare.
(…)
And no question that the U.S. has its hand in what’s going on in Yemen. They are a participant in creating, you know, the world’s largest humanitarian crisis. They are a participant in creating the largest famine that we will see, that the U.N. official was talking about earlier. I think the U.S. administration has to admit that it is giving its political backing to the Saudi-led coalition. It has given its, you know, support with the arms sales and the intelligence and logistic assistance to the military operation, plus even with this total blockade. The U.S. Navy has about 80 percent control over the ports to Yemen.
(…)
Actually, there are many participants in what’s happening in Yemen. Absolutely, it’s Saudi Arabia and the members of the Saudi-led coalition, and also other Western countries that are directly involved in, you know, the military operation. So, all these countries have responsibility to, you know, to uphold the human well-being, before their—the political and military gains that they are looking for.

https://www.democracynow.org/2017/11...total_blockade
(archived here: http://archive.is/l9i01)

[Pauls' Revere]

No end to war in sight.

https://www.yahoo.com/news/ap-analys...060146049.html

And while the U.S.-supported coalition's recent tightening of a blockade to include aid shipments might be intended to starve the rebels into submission, they remain dug in to difficult, mountainous and urban terrain.

[AZJoe]

Yemen - Having Lost The War Saudis Try Genocide - Media Complicit

Thanks to local smugglers some food and other goods will still be able to pass through the blockade. But these will be way too few and too expensive for the vast majority of Yemenis. ...

The UN warns, rightly, that the blockade is causing a mass famine. This famine is not a side effect of the war - it is a weapon:

To starve Yemeni civilians is an overt act by Riyadh, enraged by a humiliating failure to achieve a Saudi military victory.

Up to July 2017 the U.S.-Saudi coalition had flown more than 90,000 air-sorties over Yemen. Most of those will have involved weapon releases. ...

On November 1 a Saudi bomb attack killed at least 29 people in a busy market in Saada. The Yemeni missile launch against the airport of Riyadh on November 4 was in response to that deadly Saudi attack. The Saudis claim that these Yemeni missiles are from Iran and the U.S. military is, without providing evidence, supporting that fairy tale ...

In a video message the former Yemeni president explained that these missiles were from the large stash he bought before the ongoing war broke out. According to IHS Janes these missiles are of North Korean origin (pdf) and were modified by the experienced Yemeni army missile forces.

The Saudis are starving a whole country - with avid support of the "humanitarian" western world. The UN bureaucracy and leadership was bought off and is complicit. The Saudi tyrant kidnaps and blackmails the Prime Minister of a third country. All this because he fails to overcome the barefooted Houthi fighters in Yemen against which he started a senseless war. The Saudis invent Iranian involvement and the media avidly repeat their claims without any evidentiary support.

Literally millions are in imminent danger of dying. Meanwhile greedy "western" politicians are ass-kissing the Saudi freak of a clown prince and his senile father. They support whatever lunatic claim the Saudis make about their perceived enemies.

[charrob]

The group Save the Children says 130 children die every day in Yemen


An international aid group says an estimated 130 children or more die every day in war-torn Yemen from extreme hunger and disease.

Save the Children said late on Wednesday that a continuing blockade by the Saudi-led coalition fighting Yemen's Shiite rebels is likely to further increase the death rate. It says over 50,000 children are believed to have died in 2017.

Saudi Arabia blocked Yemen's ports after a rebel missile attack near Riyadh earlier in November. It said Monday the coalition would lift the blockade after widespread international criticism.

On Thursday, the leaders of the World Health Organization, the U.N. children's agency and the World Food Program issued a joint appeal for the easing of the blockade.

"While the Saudi-led military coalition has partially lifted the recent blockade of Yemen, closure of much of the country's air, sea and land ports is making an already catastrophic situation far worse," they said.

"The space and access we need to deliver humanitarian assistance is being choked off, threatening the lives of millions of vulnerable children and families."

The Saudi-led coalition went to war against the rebels, known as Houthis, in March 2015 on behalf of Yemen's internationally recognized government. But the coalition has made little progress, and the rebels still control much of northern Yemen, including the capital, Sanaa.

The war has killed more than 10,000 people and displaced 3 million. Yemen was the Arab world's poorest country even before the conflict began.

The U.N. officials said more than 20 million people, including 11 million children, are in need of urgent assistance, with 7 million totally dependent on food assistance. The U.N. has called it the "worst humanitarian crisis in the world."

"Even with a partial lifting of the blockade, the World Food Program estimates that an additional 3.2 million people will be pushed into hunger. If left untreated, 150,000 malnourished children could die within the coming months," the officials said.

Later Thursday, the U.N. spokesman said Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has written to Saudi Arabia's U.N. ambassador, saying the kingdom's failure to reopen key airports and sea ports in Yemen is already reversing humanitarian efforts to tackle the crisis in the impoverished country.

Stephane Dujarric said Guterres welcomes the reopening of the port in the city of Aden but that this "will not meet the needs of 28 million Yemenis."

Dujarric said the United Nations is urging the Saudi-led coalition to resume U.N. humanitarian flights to Aden and Sanaa, and to reopen the ports of Hodeida and Salif for food and medical deliveries.

Like the capital, Sanaa, Hodeida and Salif are in rebel-held territory.

https://www.yahoo.com/news/save-chil...110001439.html

[AZJoe]

Wow, when even the former UN Witch of War starts criticizing, maybe there is hope.

[Origanalist]

Reading through this is making me gag. Hey, its Thanksgiving, just think what a great one all those profiting from death are going to have today. Im glad Trump could pardon a turkey. May God have mercy on his soul.

[Swordsmyth]

Saudi Coalition Crumbles In Yemen: Sudanese Mercenaries On Front Lines, Foreign Officers, Proxies In Revolt

Below are 5 key takeaways from the full report.
1) Saudi coalition ground forces have a huge contingent of foreign fighters, namely Sudanese troops with UAE officers, suffering the brunt of the battle on the front lines.

Sudanese forces, which constitute the bulk of the 10,000 foreign fighters in the Saudi-led coalition, are suffering high casualty rates. A senior source close to the presidency in Khartoum told Middle East Eye that over 500 of their troops had now been killed in Yemen.

Only two months ago, the commander of the Sudanese Army's rapid support force, Lieutenant General Mohammed Hamdan Hamidati, quoted a figure of 412 troops killed, including 14 officers to the Sudanese newspaper Al Akhbar. "There is huge pressure to withdraw from this on-going fight," the Sudanese source told MEE. A force of up to 8,000 Sudanese troops are partly led by Emirati officers. They are deployed in southern Yemen as well as to the south and west of Taiz in al Makha.

2) Sudan's President Omar al-Bashir has been dubbed "president of the mercenaries" for accepting over $2.2 billion from Saudi Arabia and Qatar in order to provide canon fodder for the Saudi ground war in Yemen in the form of thousands of young Sudanese troops, but he's threatening revolt. To escape his untenable position, he is reportedly seeking help from Putin.

At home, Sudan's President Omar al-Bashir is also having second thoughts. He remembers the lifeline he got when Riyadh deposited $1bn in Sudan's Central Bank two years ago, followed by Qatar's $1.22bn. But he hardly enjoys being known as "president of the mercenaries," and he has other relationships to consider.

On Thursday, Bashir became the latest of a procession of Arab leaders to beat a path to Vladimir Putin's door. He told the Russian president he needed protection from the US, was against confrontation with Iran, and supported the policy of keeping Syrian President Bashar al-Assad in power. This follows an incident at home, which was variously described as espionage and a coup attempt. Taha Osman Ahmed al-Hussein was dismissed as the director of the Office of the Sudanese President after he was discovered carrying a Saudi passport and a residency permit for the UAE. He was caught maintaining secret contact with both.

3) Saudi-backed Yemeni fighters are increasingly mutinying and fear local mass push back from Yemen's civilian population due to the unpopular bombing campaign.

Mutiny is also stirring in the ranks of Yemenis who two and a half years ago cheered the Saudi pushback against the Houthis who were trying to take over the entire country.

The Saudi relationship with Islah, the largest group of Yemeni fighters in the ground force employed by the coalition, has at best been ambivalent. The Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman's closest partner in Yemen, Mohammed bin Zayed, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi, is openly hostile to the Muslim Brotherhood-affiliated Yemeni party... They [Islahi leadership] are feeling the political price they are paying for supporting a campaign that turned in Yemeni eyes from liberation to occupation... Enough is enough. The regional Islahi leadership are now talking of starting direct negotiations with the Houthis, a senior Islah source told MEE.

4) Saudi proxy fighters are at war with each other: an Emirati-backed militia fighting under the Saudi coalition is assassinating other members of the Saudi coalition in what's increasingly an internal coalition civil war.

They are also paying a physical price. A number of Islahi sheikhs and scholars as well as Salafis who rejected Emirati leadership have been killed or targeted by assassination attempts. The list is growing: there have been assassinations of Khaled Ali al-Armani, a leader in the Islah Party, on 7 December 2016; Sheikh Abdullah Bin Amir Bin Ali Bin Abdaat al-Kathri, on 23 November 2017 in Hadhramaut; Abdelmajeed Batees (related to Saleh Batees) a leader in the Islah Party on 5 January 2017 in Hadhramaut; Mohammed Bin Lashgam, Deputy Director of Civil Status, on 17 January 2017; Khaled Ali al-Armani, a leader in the Islah Party, on 7 December 2016...

"The Emiratis do not conceal their hostility to Islah. Islahi sheikhs and scholars are being assassinated, and this is being co-ordinated by the pro-Emirati militia. In addition, the UAE is clearly enforcing the blockade of Taiz, and withholding support for our fighters in the city," the source said.

5) Oman is entering the fray, which will further fragment the Saudi coalition as rivalries for territorial control develop.

As if the balance of competing outside forces in Yemen is not complicated enough, enter Oman. Oman, too, regards southern Yemen as its backyard. It is particularly worried about the takeover of a series of strategic ports and islands off Yemen by the Emiratis. A Qatari diplomatic source described this as the Emiratis' "seaborn empire," but the Omanis are upset by this too.

The Omanis are understood to be quietly contacting local Yemeni tribal leaders in south Yemen, some of them separatist forces, to organize a more "orchestrated response" to the militias paid for and controlled by Abu Dhabi.
Like the proxy war in Syria, it appears that Gulf/US plans have backfired, and we are perhaps in for a long Saudi coalition death spiral fueled by delusion and denial. Sadly, it is primarily Yemeni civilians and common people in the region that will continue to bear the brunt of suffering wrought by such evil and delusional stupidity.

More at: http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2017-1...n-officers-pro

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