Yemen Crisis/Conflict & the "Decisive Storm" Coalition

Jura The idiot · Oct 2, 2016

LOL actually delft noticed ... in the meantime FORBIN posted
Today at 1:18 PM

FORBIN said:
Yemen’s Houthi fighters claim they have hit and sunk UAE Navy vessel HSV Swift by a modified C802 cruise missile in the Bab al-Mandab strait off Yemen’s coast.

The UAE military on Saturday confirmed that one of its vessels was involved in an ‘incident’ and added that none of the crew had been hurt. It did not say whether the vessel sank or not.

“The coalition rescued civilians from a vessel targeted by Houthi militias, that was transferring medical aid to the city of Aden and evacuating wounded civilians for treatment,” Reuters reported the coalition saying in a statement on Saudi state news agency SPA.

Yemen’s Houthi fighters claimed on their sabanews.net website that the vessel ‘had been completely destroyed’, Al Jazeera reported.

The UAE is a member of the coalition fighting the Houthi rebels in Yemen

The vessel hit by missile fire is the hybrid catamaran HSV-2 Swift, privately owned and operated by Sealift Inc. and originally leased by the United States Navy Military Sealift Command. According to IHS Jane’s, the former U.S. Navy vessel was later operated by United Arab Emirates’ National Marine Dredging Company.

The video below supposedly shows the moment when the cruise missile is fired and hits the vessel.

Click to expand...

SinoSoldier · Oct 2, 2016

Jura said:
LOL actually delft noticed ... in the meantime FORBIN posted
Today at 1:18 PM

A disgusting, cowardly attack by Yemeni/Houthi militants on a civilian-operated ship that was slated for humanitarian purposes. The Swift was allegedly bringing medical aid to the besieged city of Aden.

Additionally, I highly doubt that the vessel was "totally destroyed" as per the Houthi claim; the UAE Navy denied that there were casualties and it is unlikely that a single C-802 missile could put the entire vessel out of commission (an analysis done by Henri K. purports that the AShM struck the upper decks of the vessel rather than the waterline). Furthermore, it was reported that Saudi forces managed to rescue the civilians from a "damaged" (rather than sunk) ship.

Jura The idiot · Oct 3, 2016

SinoSoldier said:
A disgusting, cowardly attack by Yemeni/Houthi militants ...

... since you quoted me and seemed to comment on "ethics" of whom the US often calls Illegal Combatants, and Russia often calls Gang Formations, I point out this:

on occasions (I could put links here), US-backed Saudi Air Force recently bombed hospitals in Yemen, and
on occasions (I could put links here), Russia-backed Syrian Air Force recently bombed hospitals in Syria

All Is Fair In Love, War, And Politics

SinoSoldier · Oct 3, 2016

Jura said:
... since you quoted me and seemed to comment on "ethics" of whom the US often calls Illegal Combatants, and Russia often calls Gang Formations, I point out this:

on occasions (I could put links here), US-backed Saudi Air Force recently bombed hospitals in Yemen, and

on occasions (I could put links here), Russia-backed Syrian Air Force recently bombed hospitals in Syria

All Is Fair In Love, War, And Politics

I acknowledge that US and Russian operations are not perfect, or even agreeable, to some extent, but there is a fine line that separates accidental/negligent use of force from the deliberate targeting of a humanitarian vessel. The same type of line demarcates manslaughter from, let's say, murder.

Jura The idiot · Oct 3, 2016

SinoSoldier said:
I acknowledge that US and Russian operations are not perfect, or even agreeable, to some extent, but there is a fine line that separates accidental/negligent use of force from the deliberate targeting of a humanitarian vessel. The same type of line demarcates manslaughter from, let's say, murder.

I think those (now I'll use WWTwo German designation) Banditen just hit anything they're able to hit, so I would've thought all vessels should've been convoyed in the area where Banditen might operate (I don't know if it's feasible, am just armchair-admiralling

SinoSoldier · Oct 3, 2016

Jura said:
I think those (now I'll use WWTwo German designation) Banditen just hit anything they're able to hit, so I would've thought all vessels should've been convoyed in the area where Banditen might operate (I don't know if it's feasible, am just armchair-admiralling

A convoy would make sense from a wholly military perspective, but I'd doubt that a vessel embarked on a pacifist mission, under a civilian pretext, would want a military convoy to undermine its peaceful image.

Jura The idiot · Oct 3, 2016

SinoSoldier said:
A convoy would make sense from a wholly military perspective, but I'd doubt that a vessel embarked on a pacifist mission, under a civilian pretext, would want a military convoy to undermine its peaceful image.

LOL Banditen don't seem to care about peacuful imagine ... another problem is they tend to be suicidal and could try to slam it into an escorting warship ("to show they're brave")! I mean just establishing convoys probably wouldn't scare them off (as generally is the case with Pirates)

delft · Oct 3, 2016

SinoSoldier said:
I acknowledge that US and Russian operations are not perfect, or even agreeable, to some extent, but there is a fine line that separates accidental/negligent use of force from the deliberate targeting of a humanitarian vessel. The same type of line demarcates manslaughter from, let's say, murder.

How would the Houthies know it was a humanitarian vessel? If it was it should have been inspected by Red Cross or other reliable organization that could have informed them. The say so of UAE cannot be sufficient. Indeed do we know that it was a humanitarian vessel?

PanAsian · Oct 3, 2016

SinoSoldier said:
A disgusting, cowardly attack by Yemeni/Houthi militants on a civilian-operated ship that was slated for humanitarian purposes. The Swift was allegedly bringing medical aid to the besieged city of Aden.

Additionally, I highly doubt that the vessel was "totally destroyed" as per the Houthi claim; the UAE Navy denied that there were casualties and it is unlikely that a single C-802 missile could put the entire vessel out of commission (an analysis done by Henri K. purports that the AShM struck the upper decks of the vessel rather than the waterline). Furthermore, it was reported that Saudi forces managed to rescue the civilians from a "damaged" (rather than sunk) ship.

Since the UAE is an intervening party in the Yemeni civil war, its word can't be accepted at face value without independent verification. Even if it was on a verified humanitarian mission this has to be communicated to the other side, such as with clear markings which did not appear to be present in this case. Any and all sides in a war deliberately targeting dual-use facilities such as a transports is really not out of the ordinary either.

Jura The idiot · Oct 3, 2016

delft said:
How would the Houthies know it was a humanitarian vessel? If it was it should have been inspected by Red Cross or other reliable organization that could have informed them. The say so of UAE cannot be sufficient. Indeed do we know that it was a humanitarian vessel?

it'll be interesting to watch what happens next (soon I mean):

escorting vessels in the area (now I briefly checked and the UAE Navy has nine Corvettes, and the Saudi Navy seven Frigates, with a hangar);
no escorting, Partizans hit another vessel;
none of the above

Yemen Crisis/Conflict & the "Decisive Storm" Coalition

Jura The idiot

General

SinoSoldier

Colonel

Jura The idiot

General

SinoSoldier

Colonel

Jura The idiot

General

SinoSoldier

Colonel

Jura The idiot

General

delft

Brigadier

PanAsian

Major

Jura The idiot

General