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Yemen Crisis/Conflict & the "Decisive Storm" Coalition
- Thread starter Jeff Head
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ShahryarHedayat
Junior Member
>>>>>>>>>> Inappropriate comments to Moderator deleted <<<<<<<<<<
Yemen conflict’s risk for Saudis: ‘Their Vietnam’
Photos
Smoke rises in the capital city of Sanaa and the southern port city of Aden in campaign to quell uprising by Houthi rebels.
BEIRUT — Two weeks into a Saudi-led military campaign in Yemen, airstrikes appear to have accelerated the country’s fragmentation into warring tribes and militias while doing little to accomplish the goal of returning the ousted Yemeni president to power, analysts and residents say.
The Yemeni insurgents, known as Houthis, have pushed ahead with their offensive and seem to have protected many of their weapons stockpiles from the coalition’s bombardments, analysts say. The fighting has killed hundreds of people, forced more than 100,000 people to flee their homes and laid waste to the strategic southern city of Aden.
The battles are increasingly creating problems that go beyond the rebels opposing President Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi and the forces supporting him. The conflict has reduced available water and food supplies in a country already and created a security vacuum that has permitted territorial advances by al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP).
For the Saudi government and its allies, the military operation in Yemen may be turning into a quagmire, analysts say.
“What’s a potential game changer in all of this is not just the displacement of millions of people, but it’s this huge spread of disease, starvation and inaccessibility [of] water, combined with an environment where radical groups are increasingly operating in the open and recruiting,” said Jon B. Alterman, director of the Middle East Program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies.
Saudi-led airstrike targets rebels in Yemen(1:16)
The Saudi-led airstrike campaign entered its 14th day on Wednesday, hitting a residential area in the capital of Sanaa. (AP)
The Yemen conflict, he added, could become a situation where “nobody can figure out either who started this fight or how to end it.”
Saudi Arabia, a Sunni powerhouse, views the Houthis as proxies of Shiite Iran. The air campaign that began March 25 is widely seen in the region as an attempt by the Saudis to counter the expanding influence of Iran, which has gained significant sway in Arab countries like Iraq, Syria and Lebanon.
Hadi, the internationally recognized Yemeni president, was , Sanaa, in February. He then attempted to establish an authority in Aden before being forced to flee to Riyadh, the Saudi capital, last month.
In a media briefing in Riyadh this week, a Saudi military spokesman painted a positive picture of the offensive in neighboring Yemen, saying that Houthi militias had been isolated in Aden and that groups of rebels were abandoning the fight. Saudi officials have argued that a two-week time frame is too short to judge the operation’s outcome and have emphasized that they are moving carefully to avoid civilian casualties.
The Saudi-led coalition, which the with intelligence and weapons, consists of mostly Arab and Sunni Muslim countries, and the level of quiet coordination among their armed forces has impressed analysts. The United Arab Emirates and Jordan are believed to have joined Saudi Arabia in conducting air raids that have destroyed scores of military bases and arms depots, said Theodore Karasik, a Dubai-based analyst on Middle Eastern military issues. The Saudis also have received support from Egypt’s navy in patrolling the coast of Yemen, he said.
Still, Karasik said, Houthi rebels appear to have successfully hidden from bombardment significant stores of weapons, possibly by moving them to the insurgents’ mountainous northern stronghold of Saada. To destroy those arms and persuade the Houthis to halt their offensive and agree to peace talks, a ground attack would be required, he said.
“This illustrates that air power alone cannot rid enemy ground forces of their weapons and capability,” Karasik said. “It makes them scatter, and it makes them hide their weapons for a later day.”
Difficult choices
Ground troops would certainly face stiff resistance from the Houthi militiamen. Seasoned guerrilla fighters, they seized parts of southern Saudi Arabia during in 2009, killing over 100 Saudi troops.
Saudi Arabia has not ruled out a ground attack, but its allies appear wary of such a move. The kingdom has asked to commit troops to the campaign, but that country is deeply divided over participating in an operation that could anger its own Shiite minority.
Though fraught with risk, continued airstrikes and a possible ground incursion may be the only choices that Saudi Arabia sees itself as having, said Imad Salamey, a Middle East expert at Lebanese American University. He said that officials in Riyadh probably are concerned that relenting could be perceived as weakness, especially by Iran.
Saudi Arabia also considers Yemen to be its backyard, he noted. “As far as the Saudis are concerned, this is a fight for their homeland, the existence of their regime.”
On Thursday, Iranian leaders issued strong condemnations of the Saudi-directed strikes. Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, called them a “crime and a genocide” in a televised speech.
Crumbling support
The Yemen campaign is part of an increasingly assertive Saudi policy in the region that is driven in part by what analysts say is concern over a possible agreement on Iran’s nuclear program. The Saudis fear such a deal could amount to U.S. recognition of Iran’s growing influence in the region.
The Saudis have said that they want to restore Hadi’s government. But the president’s support base — both in the splintered military and among the public – appears to be crumbling.
Many residents say they resent how Hadi and fellow exiled leaders cheer on coalition assaults from abroad as Aden residents confront heavily armed Houthi militiamen and their allies.
“He’s only ever let us down,” said Ali Mohammed, 28, an unemployed resident of Aden, referring to Hadi.
Wadah al-Dubaish, 40, who is leading a militia in Aden fighting the Houthis, said that Hadi is no longer welcome in the city. “We don’t want him here and don’t want to see his face here,” he said.
In other areas where anti-Houthi sentiment runs high, Hadi’s stock also appears to be falling. Ahmed Othman, a politician in the southern city of Taiz who opposes the Houthis, blamed Hadi for not organizing military resistance against the rebels. He also expressed worry about unidentified fighters who are increasingly staging attacks on Houthi positions in the city.
“The biggest concern we have now in Taiz is the absence of security,” he said.
In provinces where opposition to the Houthis runs high, especially in the south, tribal forces have played an increasingly prominent role in opposing the rebels.
Farea al-Muslimi, a Yemeni analyst and visiting scholar at the Carnegie Middle East Center, said that mounting civilian casualties from the coalition air raids have fanned public anger. So, too, have worsening shortages of food and water, he added.
He said the chaos is creating fertile ground for . The group, which uses Yemen as a base to stage attacks in the West, has seized significant territory during the fighting, including Yemen’s fifth-largest city as well as a military installation on the border with Saudi Arabia.
It may be impossible to put Yemen back together, Muslimi said.
“The days of a Yemen that could be run by one person who could be dealt with and who could take care of things are gone,” he said.
That leaves the Saudis with no obvious military or diplomatic exit, he added. “This is becoming their Vietnam.”
Yemen conflict’s risk for Saudis: ‘Their Vietnam’
Photos
Smoke rises in the capital city of Sanaa and the southern port city of Aden in campaign to quell uprising by Houthi rebels.
BEIRUT — Two weeks into a Saudi-led military campaign in Yemen, airstrikes appear to have accelerated the country’s fragmentation into warring tribes and militias while doing little to accomplish the goal of returning the ousted Yemeni president to power, analysts and residents say.
The Yemeni insurgents, known as Houthis, have pushed ahead with their offensive and seem to have protected many of their weapons stockpiles from the coalition’s bombardments, analysts say. The fighting has killed hundreds of people, forced more than 100,000 people to flee their homes and laid waste to the strategic southern city of Aden.
The battles are increasingly creating problems that go beyond the rebels opposing President Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi and the forces supporting him. The conflict has reduced available water and food supplies in a country already and created a security vacuum that has permitted territorial advances by al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP).
For the Saudi government and its allies, the military operation in Yemen may be turning into a quagmire, analysts say.
“What’s a potential game changer in all of this is not just the displacement of millions of people, but it’s this huge spread of disease, starvation and inaccessibility [of] water, combined with an environment where radical groups are increasingly operating in the open and recruiting,” said Jon B. Alterman, director of the Middle East Program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies.
Saudi-led airstrike targets rebels in Yemen(1:16)
The Saudi-led airstrike campaign entered its 14th day on Wednesday, hitting a residential area in the capital of Sanaa. (AP)
The Yemen conflict, he added, could become a situation where “nobody can figure out either who started this fight or how to end it.”
Saudi Arabia, a Sunni powerhouse, views the Houthis as proxies of Shiite Iran. The air campaign that began March 25 is widely seen in the region as an attempt by the Saudis to counter the expanding influence of Iran, which has gained significant sway in Arab countries like Iraq, Syria and Lebanon.
Hadi, the internationally recognized Yemeni president, was , Sanaa, in February. He then attempted to establish an authority in Aden before being forced to flee to Riyadh, the Saudi capital, last month.
In a media briefing in Riyadh this week, a Saudi military spokesman painted a positive picture of the offensive in neighboring Yemen, saying that Houthi militias had been isolated in Aden and that groups of rebels were abandoning the fight. Saudi officials have argued that a two-week time frame is too short to judge the operation’s outcome and have emphasized that they are moving carefully to avoid civilian casualties.
The Saudi-led coalition, which the with intelligence and weapons, consists of mostly Arab and Sunni Muslim countries, and the level of quiet coordination among their armed forces has impressed analysts. The United Arab Emirates and Jordan are believed to have joined Saudi Arabia in conducting air raids that have destroyed scores of military bases and arms depots, said Theodore Karasik, a Dubai-based analyst on Middle Eastern military issues. The Saudis also have received support from Egypt’s navy in patrolling the coast of Yemen, he said.
Still, Karasik said, Houthi rebels appear to have successfully hidden from bombardment significant stores of weapons, possibly by moving them to the insurgents’ mountainous northern stronghold of Saada. To destroy those arms and persuade the Houthis to halt their offensive and agree to peace talks, a ground attack would be required, he said.
“This illustrates that air power alone cannot rid enemy ground forces of their weapons and capability,” Karasik said. “It makes them scatter, and it makes them hide their weapons for a later day.”
Difficult choices
Ground troops would certainly face stiff resistance from the Houthi militiamen. Seasoned guerrilla fighters, they seized parts of southern Saudi Arabia during in 2009, killing over 100 Saudi troops.
Saudi Arabia has not ruled out a ground attack, but its allies appear wary of such a move. The kingdom has asked to commit troops to the campaign, but that country is deeply divided over participating in an operation that could anger its own Shiite minority.
Though fraught with risk, continued airstrikes and a possible ground incursion may be the only choices that Saudi Arabia sees itself as having, said Imad Salamey, a Middle East expert at Lebanese American University. He said that officials in Riyadh probably are concerned that relenting could be perceived as weakness, especially by Iran.
Saudi Arabia also considers Yemen to be its backyard, he noted. “As far as the Saudis are concerned, this is a fight for their homeland, the existence of their regime.”
On Thursday, Iranian leaders issued strong condemnations of the Saudi-directed strikes. Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, called them a “crime and a genocide” in a televised speech.
Crumbling support
The Yemen campaign is part of an increasingly assertive Saudi policy in the region that is driven in part by what analysts say is concern over a possible agreement on Iran’s nuclear program. The Saudis fear such a deal could amount to U.S. recognition of Iran’s growing influence in the region.
The Saudis have said that they want to restore Hadi’s government. But the president’s support base — both in the splintered military and among the public – appears to be crumbling.
Many residents say they resent how Hadi and fellow exiled leaders cheer on coalition assaults from abroad as Aden residents confront heavily armed Houthi militiamen and their allies.
“He’s only ever let us down,” said Ali Mohammed, 28, an unemployed resident of Aden, referring to Hadi.
Wadah al-Dubaish, 40, who is leading a militia in Aden fighting the Houthis, said that Hadi is no longer welcome in the city. “We don’t want him here and don’t want to see his face here,” he said.
In other areas where anti-Houthi sentiment runs high, Hadi’s stock also appears to be falling. Ahmed Othman, a politician in the southern city of Taiz who opposes the Houthis, blamed Hadi for not organizing military resistance against the rebels. He also expressed worry about unidentified fighters who are increasingly staging attacks on Houthi positions in the city.
“The biggest concern we have now in Taiz is the absence of security,” he said.
In provinces where opposition to the Houthis runs high, especially in the south, tribal forces have played an increasingly prominent role in opposing the rebels.
Farea al-Muslimi, a Yemeni analyst and visiting scholar at the Carnegie Middle East Center, said that mounting civilian casualties from the coalition air raids have fanned public anger. So, too, have worsening shortages of food and water, he added.
He said the chaos is creating fertile ground for . The group, which uses Yemen as a base to stage attacks in the West, has seized significant territory during the fighting, including Yemen’s fifth-largest city as well as a military installation on the border with Saudi Arabia.
It may be impossible to put Yemen back together, Muslimi said.
“The days of a Yemen that could be run by one person who could be dealt with and who could take care of things are gone,” he said.
That leaves the Saudis with no obvious military or diplomatic exit, he added. “This is becoming their Vietnam.”
Last edited by a moderator:
SharyarHedayat, you just do not get it do you?
DO NOT RESPOND TO MODERATION, means just that.
Even if you snidely try and do so later and use a different post to justify it.
Your comments in response to moderation are deleted...and you are receiving a two week suspension from SD.
Do not attempt to post in that time...they will be deleted. If you do, your suspension will become a permanent ban.
DO NOT RESPOND TO THIS MODERATION
It is difficult to read your post. But I can say a few things:
* It would be difficult for Iran to intervene in Yemen and in view of the very prudent policies habitually pursued by Iran extremely unlikely.
* The Houthies are experienced guerrilla fighters and part of a considerable coalition that includes many Sunni Yemenites so Saudi Arabia would find the going difficult even when they are, as is likely, supported by AQAP.
Ultra
Junior Member
Just saw this on the CNN headline:
Stranded Americans fend for themselves in war-torn Yemen
By , CNN
Updated 1148 GMT (1848 HKT) April 20, 2015
(CNN)"My son served in the army for four years. In Iraq. He served because we love our country. As we should. Now look at us?"
Muna Mansour is gesturing around her at the slatted cargo hold she and her family -- all nine of them -- are trying to get comfortable in. They're squeezed in with two other families. On the ground by my feet, Muna's middle grandchild is sleeping, curled up beside an oil drum.
"There's nowhere to sleep, there's no food -- you can see how people are just thrown around all over the place," she says.
Muna is from Buffalo in upstate New York. Her family is among the dozens of Americans caught in the crossfire of warring parties in Yemen. And although many other countries evacuated their citizens, India most notably ferrying out around 5,000, the United States has said it is too dangerous for them to directly evacuate American nationals.
"I was there when the Indians picked up 200 of their people from the port. It was embarrassing. We were just sitting there waiting for someone to come and say 'OK where are the Americans, let's pick them up,'" she says.
"I called the Riyadh embassy," she adds, referring to the U.S. Embassy in neighboring Saudi Arabia. "I told them there were about 75 families here waiting at the port. My family has been waiting there for two weeks. We ran out of money, we ran out of food."
Muna's grandchild sleeps curled around an oil drum during the journey from Aden to Djbouti.
Desperate to leave
It was purely coincidence that led to Muna being on board this ship, a wooden vessel chartered by CNN to reach the port city of Aden, in Yemen.
Muna was visiting her sick father in Aden when fighting broke out around her. With the Houthi forces to the north and the waters of the Gulf of Aden to the south, the city is essentially besieged. It took us over 30 hours of travel -- and a lull in the fighting -- for us to be able to dock at one of Aden's smaller ports.
Our ship was the first the port had seen in over a week. We agreed to take back 60 refugees -- including 15 Americans -- who had gathered at the port's gate when news of our arrival spread. But of course that's nowhere near enough. So many more are desperate to leave.
I asked Muna what life in Aden was like. "My daughter-in-law would crouch down and hide in the kitchen," she recalls. "It was just bombs all the time. Gunshots. People running down the street."
She trails off into silence.
For everyone here with us on the boat, there are families left behind. Mothers and fathers. Daughters and sons.
Muna Mansour said she and fellow Americans had waited for word on how they've be evacuated from Yemen. It didn't come.
Euphoria over escape
The first night on board and our boat had an almost festive air. Our new passengers were laughing and sharing cigarettes, euphoric at their escape. One woman though was sitting alone on deck and I realized she was crying. She told me her 15-year-old son was trapped on the other side of one of the many front lines that are now etched into the city's streets.
They'd waited for 10 days but neither her son nor her parents could cross over to the port, in Al Tawahi district. Too scared to risk missing the boat and endangering the lives of their other three children, her husband had convinced her to board. When they called to tell her son he also had news for them: He'd joined the fight against the Houthi forces.
For Muna, her ordeal ended at Djibouti Port where Christina Higgins, the U.S. Deputy Chief of Mission, was among the embassy staff waiting to meet them. I asked Higgins about the sense of abandonment Muna and many of the other American's trapped in Yemen said they felt.
"We have one of the branches of Al Qaeda that's especially active. There's the Houthis, neither of these two groups friendly to U.S. citizens. We've had to weigh very, very carefully what is the safest way, the best way for us to help them."
Higgins says ultimately each U.S. citizen is going to have to judge what is best for themselves and their families.
"For many U.S. citizens that's going to mean sheltering in place. For other U.S. citizens we're actively working at getting information to them on different avenues for travel out of Yemen."
Watching them hand out cookies, water and phones to reassure those waiting at home, it's clear the staff here are overjoyed to have their citizens safe and sound. There are many more though of course who are still in danger.
There are no definitive records but the 15 Americans on board our ship said they had counted 75 more families waiting in Aden port, who couldn't afford the fee of $300 per person being charged to depart Aden.
That's 75 more families waiting for another happy coincidence to dock at Aden's deserted ports.
Makes you wonder why Obama isn't evacuating America's own citizen let alone helping out the international community in the process? Right now it seems China is helping to evacuate not just their own citizen by also citizens from other countries!
Why is the world's sole superpower with the largest and most advanced navy sitting on the sideline?
This is more than embarassing for the American establishment.
LEFT BEHIND
Stranded Americans fend for themselves in war-torn Yemen
By , CNN
Updated 1148 GMT (1848 HKT) April 20, 2015
(CNN)"My son served in the army for four years. In Iraq. He served because we love our country. As we should. Now look at us?"
Muna Mansour is gesturing around her at the slatted cargo hold she and her family -- all nine of them -- are trying to get comfortable in. They're squeezed in with two other families. On the ground by my feet, Muna's middle grandchild is sleeping, curled up beside an oil drum.
"There's nowhere to sleep, there's no food -- you can see how people are just thrown around all over the place," she says.
Muna is from Buffalo in upstate New York. Her family is among the dozens of Americans caught in the crossfire of warring parties in Yemen. And although many other countries evacuated their citizens, India most notably ferrying out around 5,000, the United States has said it is too dangerous for them to directly evacuate American nationals.
"I was there when the Indians picked up 200 of their people from the port. It was embarrassing. We were just sitting there waiting for someone to come and say 'OK where are the Americans, let's pick them up,'" she says.
"I called the Riyadh embassy," she adds, referring to the U.S. Embassy in neighboring Saudi Arabia. "I told them there were about 75 families here waiting at the port. My family has been waiting there for two weeks. We ran out of money, we ran out of food."
Muna's grandchild sleeps curled around an oil drum during the journey from Aden to Djbouti.
Desperate to leave
It was purely coincidence that led to Muna being on board this ship, a wooden vessel chartered by CNN to reach the port city of Aden, in Yemen.
Muna was visiting her sick father in Aden when fighting broke out around her. With the Houthi forces to the north and the waters of the Gulf of Aden to the south, the city is essentially besieged. It took us over 30 hours of travel -- and a lull in the fighting -- for us to be able to dock at one of Aden's smaller ports.
Our ship was the first the port had seen in over a week. We agreed to take back 60 refugees -- including 15 Americans -- who had gathered at the port's gate when news of our arrival spread. But of course that's nowhere near enough. So many more are desperate to leave.
I asked Muna what life in Aden was like. "My daughter-in-law would crouch down and hide in the kitchen," she recalls. "It was just bombs all the time. Gunshots. People running down the street."
She trails off into silence.
For everyone here with us on the boat, there are families left behind. Mothers and fathers. Daughters and sons.
Muna Mansour said she and fellow Americans had waited for word on how they've be evacuated from Yemen. It didn't come.
Euphoria over escape
The first night on board and our boat had an almost festive air. Our new passengers were laughing and sharing cigarettes, euphoric at their escape. One woman though was sitting alone on deck and I realized she was crying. She told me her 15-year-old son was trapped on the other side of one of the many front lines that are now etched into the city's streets.
They'd waited for 10 days but neither her son nor her parents could cross over to the port, in Al Tawahi district. Too scared to risk missing the boat and endangering the lives of their other three children, her husband had convinced her to board. When they called to tell her son he also had news for them: He'd joined the fight against the Houthi forces.
For Muna, her ordeal ended at Djibouti Port where Christina Higgins, the U.S. Deputy Chief of Mission, was among the embassy staff waiting to meet them. I asked Higgins about the sense of abandonment Muna and many of the other American's trapped in Yemen said they felt.
"We have one of the branches of Al Qaeda that's especially active. There's the Houthis, neither of these two groups friendly to U.S. citizens. We've had to weigh very, very carefully what is the safest way, the best way for us to help them."
Higgins says ultimately each U.S. citizen is going to have to judge what is best for themselves and their families.
"For many U.S. citizens that's going to mean sheltering in place. For other U.S. citizens we're actively working at getting information to them on different avenues for travel out of Yemen."
Watching them hand out cookies, water and phones to reassure those waiting at home, it's clear the staff here are overjoyed to have their citizens safe and sound. There are many more though of course who are still in danger.
There are no definitive records but the 15 Americans on board our ship said they had counted 75 more families waiting in Aden port, who couldn't afford the fee of $300 per person being charged to depart Aden.
That's 75 more families waiting for another happy coincidence to dock at Aden's deserted ports.
Makes you wonder why Obama isn't evacuating America's own citizen let alone helping out the international community in the process? Right now it seems China is helping to evacuate not just their own citizen by also citizens from other countries!
Why is the world's sole superpower with the largest and most advanced navy sitting on the sideline?
This is more than embarassing for the American establishment.
Ultra
Junior Member
China Evacuates Foreign Nationals from Yemen
China just evacuated foreign nationals from 10 countries from a war zone.
By
April 06, 2015
As Yemen grows increasingly dangerous following the start of Operation Decisive Storm, a Saudi Arabia-led military campaign against the Houthi rebels who have overrun large swathes of the country, several countries have initiated operations to evacuate their citizens from the increasingly unstable state. In an unprecedented move, the Chinese government dispatched a People’s Liberation Army (PLA) Navy frigate to help evacuate 225 nationals from 10 countries. According to , citizens from Pakistan, Ethiopia, Singapore, Italy, Germany, Poland, Ireland, Britain, Canada and Yemen were evacuated aboard the Type 054A Linyi frigate. Chinese military officials confirmed that this was the first time that a Chinese military vessel evacuated non-Chinese citizens in a humanitarian assistance mission.
Speaking at a press conference on Friday, Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying confirmed China’s involvement in the evacuation efforts:
On April 2, the Linyi frigate of the Chinese navy, carrying 225 nationals of 10 countries in Yemen including Pakistan, departed from the port of Aden in Yemen and arrived in Djibouti safely. Initial calculation shows that among the evacuees, 176 are from Pakistan, 29 from Ethiopia, 5 from Singapore, 3 from Italy, 3 from Germany, 4 from Poland, 1 from Ireland, 2 from the UK, 1 from Canada and 1 from Yemen. This operation follows China’s evacuation of its own nationals from Yemen, in which 8 foreigners from Romania, India and Egypt were also safely evacuated along with Chinese citizens.
The evacuated citizens were ferried across the Gulf of Aden, a regular area of operation for Chinese vessels involved in anti-piracy operations, to the small African nation of Djibouti, on the Horn of Africa. Amid the Linyi‘s evacuation efforts, the that China dispatched an additional naval squadron to the Gulf of Aden to conduct anti-piracy patrols. The squadron comprises “three ships with their 800 sailors and a team of special forces soldiers.” Earlier in the week, China’s Weifang missile frigate and Weishanhu supply vessel evacuated 449 Chinese citizens and six non-Chinese employed by Chinese companies from Yemen’s Hodeidah port to Djibouti, according to Xinhua. Overall, as the conflict escalates in Yemen between the Saudi-led coalition and the Houthis, China’s navy remains ever-present off the coast.
The successful rescue mission has drawn gratitude from across the world. statements of thanks from senior officials in Djibouti, Ethiopia, Poland, Pakistan, and elsewhere. For a rising China eager to portray its military modernization in non-aggressive terms, successful operations such as this one highlight the PLA’s ability to become a net provider of humanitarian aid in times of crisis. Hua, in her statement to the press, noted that the operation highlights China’s interest in “putting the people first.” She added that the move embodied China’s belief in “internationalism and humanitarianism.”
China’s participation in these evacuation efforts in Yemen is the latest example of the People’s Liberation Army attempting to forge goodwill and a positive image for itself by aiding other countries. Other recent examples include Beijing’s to Liberia and Sierra Leone to help fight the Ebola epidemic in 2014, the deployment of the Peace Ark hospital ship to the Philippines after 2013′s deadly Typhoon Haiyan, and the emergency deployment of the PLAN’s lone research icebreaker vessel, the Xue Long, stranded aboard an ice-locked ship in Antarctica in early 2014. China additionally is a major contributor to United Nations peacekeeping missions.
So far, China’s military modernization efforts and international operations have done little in terms of building a positive global image for China. Given its maritime and territorial disputes with many of its Asian neighbors and perceived contest with the United States for maritime dominance in the Asia-Pacific, the PLA’s rise is widely regarded with trepidation and concern. Operations like this one in Yemen, however, are precisely what’s needed for China to demonstrate that a more expeditionary and global PLA can be a force for good. As Fudan University’s Shen Dingli , China “wouldn’t look very good” if it had military assets in the Gulf of Aden with excess capacity but still didn’t offer assistance to countries in need. “Now we look really good,” he concludes. China’s sustained involvement in international humanitarian assistance and disaster relief efforts can only be positive as far as perceptions of the PLA are concerned.
China just evacuated foreign nationals from 10 countries from a war zone.
By
April 06, 2015
As Yemen grows increasingly dangerous following the start of Operation Decisive Storm, a Saudi Arabia-led military campaign against the Houthi rebels who have overrun large swathes of the country, several countries have initiated operations to evacuate their citizens from the increasingly unstable state. In an unprecedented move, the Chinese government dispatched a People’s Liberation Army (PLA) Navy frigate to help evacuate 225 nationals from 10 countries. According to , citizens from Pakistan, Ethiopia, Singapore, Italy, Germany, Poland, Ireland, Britain, Canada and Yemen were evacuated aboard the Type 054A Linyi frigate. Chinese military officials confirmed that this was the first time that a Chinese military vessel evacuated non-Chinese citizens in a humanitarian assistance mission.
Speaking at a press conference on Friday, Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying confirmed China’s involvement in the evacuation efforts:
On April 2, the Linyi frigate of the Chinese navy, carrying 225 nationals of 10 countries in Yemen including Pakistan, departed from the port of Aden in Yemen and arrived in Djibouti safely. Initial calculation shows that among the evacuees, 176 are from Pakistan, 29 from Ethiopia, 5 from Singapore, 3 from Italy, 3 from Germany, 4 from Poland, 1 from Ireland, 2 from the UK, 1 from Canada and 1 from Yemen. This operation follows China’s evacuation of its own nationals from Yemen, in which 8 foreigners from Romania, India and Egypt were also safely evacuated along with Chinese citizens.
The evacuated citizens were ferried across the Gulf of Aden, a regular area of operation for Chinese vessels involved in anti-piracy operations, to the small African nation of Djibouti, on the Horn of Africa. Amid the Linyi‘s evacuation efforts, the that China dispatched an additional naval squadron to the Gulf of Aden to conduct anti-piracy patrols. The squadron comprises “three ships with their 800 sailors and a team of special forces soldiers.” Earlier in the week, China’s Weifang missile frigate and Weishanhu supply vessel evacuated 449 Chinese citizens and six non-Chinese employed by Chinese companies from Yemen’s Hodeidah port to Djibouti, according to Xinhua. Overall, as the conflict escalates in Yemen between the Saudi-led coalition and the Houthis, China’s navy remains ever-present off the coast.
The successful rescue mission has drawn gratitude from across the world. statements of thanks from senior officials in Djibouti, Ethiopia, Poland, Pakistan, and elsewhere. For a rising China eager to portray its military modernization in non-aggressive terms, successful operations such as this one highlight the PLA’s ability to become a net provider of humanitarian aid in times of crisis. Hua, in her statement to the press, noted that the operation highlights China’s interest in “putting the people first.” She added that the move embodied China’s belief in “internationalism and humanitarianism.”
China’s participation in these evacuation efforts in Yemen is the latest example of the People’s Liberation Army attempting to forge goodwill and a positive image for itself by aiding other countries. Other recent examples include Beijing’s to Liberia and Sierra Leone to help fight the Ebola epidemic in 2014, the deployment of the Peace Ark hospital ship to the Philippines after 2013′s deadly Typhoon Haiyan, and the emergency deployment of the PLAN’s lone research icebreaker vessel, the Xue Long, stranded aboard an ice-locked ship in Antarctica in early 2014. China additionally is a major contributor to United Nations peacekeeping missions.
So far, China’s military modernization efforts and international operations have done little in terms of building a positive global image for China. Given its maritime and territorial disputes with many of its Asian neighbors and perceived contest with the United States for maritime dominance in the Asia-Pacific, the PLA’s rise is widely regarded with trepidation and concern. Operations like this one in Yemen, however, are precisely what’s needed for China to demonstrate that a more expeditionary and global PLA can be a force for good. As Fudan University’s Shen Dingli , China “wouldn’t look very good” if it had military assets in the Gulf of Aden with excess capacity but still didn’t offer assistance to countries in need. “Now we look really good,” he concludes. China’s sustained involvement in international humanitarian assistance and disaster relief efforts can only be positive as far as perceptions of the PLA are concerned.
Miragedriver
Brigadier
US warship sent to block Iran weapons off Yemen
The Ticonderoga-class guided missile cruiser USS Vicksburg escorts the Nimitz-class aircraft carrier USS Theodore Roosevelt (top) as they pass the Rock of Gibraltar in the Mediterranean Sea March 31, 2015 and released April 1, 2015. Picture taken March 31, 2015
Back to bottling my Grenache
The Ticonderoga-class guided missile cruiser USS Vicksburg escorts the Nimitz-class aircraft carrier USS Theodore Roosevelt (top) as they pass the Rock of Gibraltar in the Mediterranean Sea March 31, 2015 and released April 1, 2015. Picture taken March 31, 2015
Back to bottling my Grenache
Miragedriver
Brigadier
Massive explosion as air strike hits Scud missile factory in Yemen
Back to bottling my Grenache
Back to bottling my Grenache
Yemen is pretty full of weapons already, think also of the $500 million worth the US happened to loose there recently, so it is most unlikely that Iran would think it necessary to send even more. I would call this "news" propaganda.US warship sent to block Iran weapons off Yemen
The Ticonderoga-class guided missile cruiser USS Vicksburg escorts the Nimitz-class aircraft carrier USS Theodore Roosevelt (top) as they pass the Rock of Gibraltar in the Mediterranean Sea March 31, 2015 and released April 1, 2015. Picture taken March 31, 2015
Back to bottling my Grenache