Former U.S. Diplomats Decry the U.S.-Backed Saudi War in Yemen

SAUDI ARABIA AND the other Arab states that form the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) have been brutally bombing Yemen for more than a year, hoping to drive Houthi rebels out of the capital they overran in 2014 and restore Saudi-backed President Abdu Rabbu Mansour Hadi.

The United States has forcefully backed the Saudi-led war. In addition tosharing intelligence, the U.S. has sold tens of billions of dollars in munitions to the Saudis since the war began. The kingdom has used U.S.-produced aircraft, laser-guided bombs, and internationally-banned cluster bombs to target and destroy schools, markets, power plants, and a hospital, resulting in thousands of civilian deaths.

Despite all that, U.S. officials have done little to explain this support, have failed to explain the U.S. interests in the campaign, and have made scant mention of the humanitarian toll. In the absence of an official response,The Intercept raised those concerns with half a dozen former senior diplomatic officials, including U.S. ambassadors to Yemen and Saudi Arabia.

https://theintercept.com/2016/05/06/former-u-s-diplomats-decry-the-u-s-backed-saudi-war-in-yemen/

FORMER U.S. DIPLOMATS DECRY THE U.S.-BACKED SAUDI WAR IN YEMEN

The United States has forcefully backed the Saudi-led war. In addition tosharing intelligence, the U.S. has sold tens of billions of dollars in munitionsto the Saudis since the war began. The kingdom has used U.S.-produced aircraft, laser-guided bombs, and internationally-banned cluster bombs to target and destroy schools, markets, power plants, and a hospital, resulting in thousands of civilian deaths.

Despite all that, U.S. officials have done little to explain this support, have failed to explain the U.S. interests in the campaign, and have made scant mention of the humanitarian toll. In the absence of an official response, The Intercept raised those concerns with half a dozen former senior diplomatic officials, including U.S. ambassadors to Yemen and Saudi Arabia.

http://www.infowars.com/former-u-s-diplomats-decry-the-u-s-backed-saudi-war-in-yemen/

 

Yemen: Coalition Drops Cluster Bombs in Capital

Saudi Arabia-led coalition forces airdropped cluster bombs on residential neighborhoods in Yemen’s capital, Sanaa, early on January 6, 2016. It is not yet clear whether the attacks caused civilian casualties, but the inherently indiscriminate nature of cluster munitions makes such attacks serious violations of the laws of war. The deliberate or reckless use of cluster munitions in populated areas amounts to a war crime.

“The coalition’s repeated use of cluster bombs in the middle of a crowded city suggests an intent to harm civilians, which is a war crime,” said Steve Goose, arms director at Human Rights Watch. “These outrageous attacks show that the coalition seems less concerned than ever about sparing civilians from war’s horrors.”

Residents of two Sanaa neighborhoods described aerial attacks consistent with cluster bomb use. A resident of al-Zira`a Street told Human Rights Watch that his family was awakened at 5:30 a.m. on January 6 by dozens of small explosions. He said that he had been at work, but that his wife told him that when the family fled they saw many homes and a local kindergarten with newly pockmarked walls and broken windows.

https://www.hrw.org/news/2016/01/07/yemen-coalition-drops-cluster-bombs-capital-0

Al-Qaida captive town of Ahwar, Yemen

There are quoted sources saying that, while the fighters entered the town, they were fighting force was to guard the city and three were killed.

Similarly fighters set up roadblocks and raising their flag in government buildings.

Analysts say, to draw the town of Ahwar, will help al-Qaeda commitments on the shores of the province of Abyan, which already controls two other towns.

http://www.bbc.com/swahili/habari/2016/02/160220_alqaieda_yemen

Yemen center for blind hit by Saudi-led coalition airstrike – locals

After the airstrike, the center’s deputy manager, Mohammed Daylami, blamed Saudi Arabia and its allies for “having no clue about the rules and ethics of war.”

“What did the disabled children do to do deserve being hit by an air strike? Where are the NGOs? Where is the UN?” Daylami told Saba news agency.

Saudi-led airstrikes resumed in Yemen as a formal ceasefire agreed on 15 December between the coalition and the Houthi rebels expired over the weekend.

However, the Saudi-Arabian coalition kept violating Yemeni air space even during the formal ceasefire, Sanaa-based political analyst Hassan Al-Haifi told RT. Air raids often hit civilians with weapons prohibited under the rules of engagement, he added.

“They are continuing [to bomb]. They have never stopped,” Haifi said. “There are literally hundreds of air raids not just in Sanaa but around the country.”

https://www.rt.com/news/328024-yemen-saudi-airstrike-blind/

HomeNews Hospital in Yemen hit by Saudi-led airstrike – report

The news agency is run by the Houthi movement, which seized the Yemeni capital Sana’a last year and is being targeted by the Saudi-led bombardment.

An official from the exiled Yemeni government in the southern port of Aden confirmed to Reuters that the clinic was hit.

However, he stressed that the facility, which according to the official was used by Houthi fighters as a base, was only damaged, and not destroyed.

Several Houthi militiamen were killed in the airstrike, the unnamed official added.

Medical facilities have come under fire on several occasions during the Yemeni conflict.

On Sunday, Medecins Sans Frontieres said a “projectile” hit a hospital in Yemen’s far northern province of Saada.

Five people were killed according to the NGO, which stressed it was not clear who was responsible for the attack.

Last week, a center for the blind in Sana’a was hit in an airstrike reportedly carried out by the Saudi-led coalition.

https://www.rt.com/news/328511-yemen-hospital-saudi-strike/

26 killed, 15 injured after Saudi-led airstrike hits police building in Yemen

An airstrike launched by the Saudi-led coalition in Yemen killed at least 26 people and injured around 15 others after hitting a police building in Sanaa overnight, according to security sources. Some 30 people are believed to be trapped underneath rubble.

Security forces arrived at the site of the airstrike, which was launched shortly after midnight on Sunday, using heavy equipment to search for bodies and survivors, AP reported.

Officials initially announced that 20 people were killed, but later said that six additional bodies were unearthed from underneath debris. Those killed and wounded were policemen and Houthi rebels, the sources said.

In addition to the reported deaths and injuries, police vehicles parked in the building’s courtyard were destroyed and nearby homes suffered some damage, according to the sources.

https://www.rt.com/news/329344-yemen-airstrike-saudi-coalition/

26 killed, 15 injured after Saudi-led airstrike hits police building in Yemen https://t.co/h8mlRQ1zxn pic.twitter.com/p1ghcUmS3n

— RT (@RT_com) January 18, 2016

Yemen fighting intensifies despite ceasefire as peace talks come to an end

At least 68 people were killed near the northern town of Haradh, which was overrun by forces loyal to President Abedrabbo Mansour Hadi on Thursday, military and tribal sources said.

The casualties were 28 troops and 40 Shiite Houthi rebels, with another 50 Houthis and 40 loyalists wounded.

Meanwhile, loyalist forces were within 40 kilometres of rebel-held capital Sana’a as they pressed their advance against the Houthi insurgents, military sources said.

The operations took place despite the UN-brokered ceasefire that has been repeatedly violated since it came into force as the UN-sponsored talks opened on Tuesday in Bern, Switzerland.

The United Nations confirmed that Sunday would be the last day of the talks being held in Bern.

The United Nations special envoy in Yemen, Ismail Ould Cheikh Ahmed, said he was “deeply concerned at the numerous reports of violations of the cessation of hostilities”.

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-12-20/yemen-fighting-intensifies-despite-ceasefire/7043818

YEMEN FIGHTING INTENSIFIES DESPITE CEASEFIRE

At least 68 people were killed near the northern town of Haradh, which was overrun by forces loyal to President Abedrabbo Mansour Hadi on Thursday, military and tribal sources said.

The casualties were 28 troops and 40 Shiite Houthi rebels, with another 50 Houthis and 40 loyalists wounded.

Yemen fighting intensifies despite ceasefire

David Cameron Facing Internal Backlash Over UK Support of Saudis in Yemen

The comments come amid increased criticism of the UK’s decision to sell arms to Saudi Arabia, which has been accused of carrying out war crimes in its nine month long bombing of Houthi rebel targets in Yemen.

In September, aid agency Oxfam accused Britain of quietly fueling the war in Yemen through the ongoing sale of arms to Riyadh, and was inadvertently “exacerbating one of the world’s worst humanitarian crises.”

There were further calls for the UK to halt arms sale to Britain following the release of a report from NGO Human Rights Watch (HRW), which concluded that a British-made cruise missile was used in an attack on a civilian ceramics factory that killed at least one person and injured several more.

http://sputniknews.com/europe/20151214/1031729217/uk-yemen-aid-saudi-arms-sales-war-crimes.html