Yemen Crisis/Conflict & the "Decisive Storm" Coalition

gelgoog

Brigadier
Registered Member
The Wahhabist Saudis are basically the Muslim equivalent of the Protestant movement in Europe in the Thirty Years War IMHO. With the good bits taken out. They destroy tombs of venerable people and break down holy places and replace them with either nothing or turn them into the equivalent of Disney World. Just look at what they did to Mecca. A people with no recollection of the past is a people with no future. They do not respect their elders and they do not respect their neighbors.

In a society fueled by oil money and foreign workers, if it does collapse, it will become the next Libya or worse. Previous Saudi leaders at least stuck to their own affairs and only attempted to use money and clout to influence events abroad. But the current rulers are just bonkers. Yemen has been a basket case for decades but it should be left for the Yemenis to sort this out.
 
the most recent I've found now:

6f37a50d13a683f8767c76c422c268a754412c0e.jpg

149 killed as Yemen rebels hold back loyalists in Hodeida
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(in case anyone clicked this: there's a disturbing picture of a child further down in the article)
 

vincent

Grumpy Old Man
Staff member
Moderator - World Affairs
the most recent I've found now:

6f37a50d13a683f8767c76c422c268a754412c0e.jpg

149 killed as Yemen rebels hold back loyalists in Hodeida
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(in case anyone clicked this: there's a disturbing picture of a child further down in the article)

Looking at this map, the Saudi forces have taken nothing
 
Looking at this map, the Saudi forces have taken nothing
in short, anti-Houthis forces cut out one of the two roads to the interior (in the map you mentioned it's "Sanaa Road", in middle-right),

and threaten the remaining road (middle-top; it's "M55" if you looked north from Hodeida at
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);

if they managed to cut also this one, the town could be taken by hunger ... just saying
 
now
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Defying Trump, US Senate votes to end US support for Yemen war

Senators also pass resolution saying that Mohammed bin Salman is responsible for the murder of Jamal Khashoggi.


an hour ago
 

Dizasta1

Senior Member
And the house majority is republicans, ain't it? Well that's another chapter in the soap opera which is the White House and Capitol Hill. Splendid work!
 
Nov 11, 2018
... it's hot down there:
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: Government forces in
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city captured the industrial area, Mayo hospital and northern outskirts of the airport. Advances against
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militants continue in the northern and eastern sides of the city.
now
Yemen’s rebels say they left Hodeida port, claim disputed
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Yemen’s Shiite rebels on Saturday said they handed over control of the main port in the Red Sea city of Hodeida to the coast guard and local administrators, but the government denied that, calling it a ploy by the Iran-aligned rebels to maintain control of the strategic facility.


The handover was supposed to be the first in a series of confidence-building measures agreed to in Sweden that could pave the way for a political settlement of Yemen's 4-year-old war pitting the rebels known as Houthis against the internationally recognized government backed since 2015 by a Saudi-led coalition.

But the pro-government
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quoted what it called an official source as saying the Houthis' assertion about giving up the port was an attempt to sidestep the Sweden agreement.

"We cannot accept these violations, which will lead to the failure of the agreement," the agency quoted the source as saying.

Military and local Hodeida officials loyal to the government said the Houthis had taken advantage of their control of the city to place loyalist administrators and fighters in both the port management and the coast guard.

"It's a stage play in which the Houthis handed over the port to their fighters after they put on coast guard uniforms," said the Hodeida governor, al-Hassan Taher.

The rebels control most of northern Yemen, including the capital of Sanaa, while their foes control much of the south, including the Arabian Sea port city of Aden, where the exiled government is located.

The two sides have observed a cease-fire in Hodeida for more than a week, ending months of fierce fighting between the two sides for control of the city. A U.N. team led by retired Dutch Maj. Gen. Patrick Cammaert arrived last week in the city to monitor the cease-fire.

Some 70 percent of Yemen’s imports come through Hodeida, and the Sweden deal is designed in part to facilitate the arrival of relief supplies to push Yemen back from the brink of famine. The fighting has killed tens of thousands of people, and has driven millions to hunger. The U.N. calls it the world’s worst humanitarian disaster.

The two sides also agreed in Sweden to exchange prisoners of war in a deal involving thousands captured from both sides. The implementation of that deal is yet to begin and may run into difficulties.

Government officials maintain that the Houthis are denying the presence in their detention facilities of nearly 3,000 people among a total of some 8,500 prisoners whose names were submitted to the rebels.
 
let's wait and see what's next, after House votes to end support for Yemen war, sending bill to Trump’s desk
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The House on Thursday voted to end American involvement in the Yemen war, rebuffing the Trump administration’s support for the military campaign led by Saudi Arabia.

The bill now heads to President Donald Trump, who is expected to veto it. The White House says the measure raises "serious constitutional concerns," and Congress lacks the votes to override him.

By a 247-175 vote, Congress for the first time invoked the decades-old War Powers Resolution to try and stop a foreign conflict.
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.

“The president will have to face the reality that Congress is no longer going to ignore its constitutional obligations when it comes to foreign policy,” said Democratic Rep. Eliot Engel of New York, chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee. He said the humanitarian crisis in Yemen triggered by the war “demands moral leadership.”

The war in Yemen is in its fifth year. Thousands of people have been killed and millions are on the brink of starvation. The United Nations has called the situation in Yemen the world's worst humanitarian crisis.

The top Republican on the committee, Rep. Michael McCaul of Texas, acknowledged the dire situation in Yemen for civilians, but spoke out in opposition to the bill, saying it was an abuse of the War Powers Resolution.

"This radical interpretation has implications far beyond Saudi Arabia," McCaul said. He warned that the measure could "disrupt U.S. security cooperation agreements with more than 100 counties."

Democrats overcame a GOP attempt to divide the majority party through a procedural motion involving Israel just minutes before the Yemen vote. Republicans wanted to amend the Yemen bill with language condemning the international boycott movement and efforts to delegitimize Israel. Democrats argued the amendment would kill the Yemen resolution, and most of them voted against the Israel measure.

“This is about politics, this is about trying to drive a wedge into this caucus where it does not belong,” Rep. Ted Deutch, D-Fla., said to applause from Democrats. Deutch described the boycott movement as “economic warfare,” but called on lawmakers to vote against the amendment.

"The Jewish community also has a history of standing up against atrocities like the humanitarian crisis in Yemen. My colleagues are trying to block us from standing in support of human rights," he said.

Opposition to the Saudi-led war in Yemen gathered support last year in the aftermath of the killing of U.S.-based journalist Jamal Khashoggi. The Washington Post columnist was killed in October by agents of the kingdom, a close U.S. partner, while he was in the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul. U.S. intelligence agencies and lawmakers believe that Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman ordered the murder of Khashoggi, who had written articles critical of the kingdom.

Lawmakers from both parties have scrutinized U.S.-Saudi ties and criticized Trump for not condemning Saudi Arabia strongly enough.
 
an interesting piece by
Robert Malley
Robert Malley is vice president for policy at the International Crisis Group. He was the White House coordinator for the Middle East, North Africa and Gulf Region under President Obama.
:
Yemen Cannot Afford to Wait
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I of course don't bother with reposting the text
 
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