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US deeply involved in Saudi war on Yemen: Analyst
Why is the West So Silent About The Yemeni War?
by Martha Mundy
What is at stake in Yemen that far more systematic violations of the Geneva Conventions than in any of the recent wars which Western powers have supported in the Arab world (Iraq, Syria, Libya and Gaza) are met with resounding silence?
For six months there has been a blockade of food and fuel, and management of aid (even that through the UN) as part of war strategy, bombing of civilian, historical, educational, religious and medical targets, destruction of infrastructure from roads to electricity and water, and use of prohibited weapons.
All of this occurs in a country of over twenty million persons, which has no effective air defences – a country as open to aerial bombardment as Gaza. Yet as an Israeli Foreign Ministry official has pointed out, the principles of international humanitarian law systematically violated in Yemen are those invoked by UN bodies, governments, the Western media, and civil organisations when they charge Israel with the commission of war crimes in Gaza.
In other words, by its silence and support for Coalition bombing in Yemen, the international community completes the erasure of legal reference in war.
That is a big price to pay for success in a conflict seemingly so minor it receives virtually no press coverage.
How is the conflict explained to us? Spokesmen of Western governments state that a militia movement (Ansarallah) took over the capital forcing out the legitimate government. Thus, as upholders of ‘legitimacy,’ the UNSC (minus Russia) judged it vital to reinstate the earlier government, even though the bulk of the Yemeni national army came over to the side of the mundaydomesticgovAnsarallah, itself with a substantial popular base in Sanaa and the north. This is evident. But rarely are we reminded that a year ago, under UN auspices a political agreement (‘Peace and National Participation’) was co-signed by the Ansarallah and other Yemeni parties, only for the UN representative to be fired, another appointed, political discussions with the Ansarallah movement terminated, and a military Coalition assembled to reinstate ‘legitimacy’ inside Yemen…………….Why is the West So Silent About The Yemeni War?
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ISIL Claims Attacks on Yemen Hotel, Security Officials
The Islamic State, or ISIL, claimed responsibility Tuesday for attacks on Yemeni government officials and Gulf security forces that killed at least 15 people.
The suicide attacks happened Tuesday in the port city of Aden. Four suicide bombers targeted the Al-Qasr Hotel, used by officials from the government of exiled President Abdu Rabu Mansour Hadi, and a base used by Gulf troops.
Fifteen people were killed in the attack, including security forces from the Saudi-led coalition fighting Houthi rebels. Saudi Arabia’s state media reported the death of one Saudi soldier. United Arab Emirates’ official news agency said four Emirati soldiers were killed. Yemeni government officials were unharmed and evacuated from the hotel, Transportation Minister Badr Basalma told CNN.
A social media account associated with ISIL posted photos of what it claimed were four suicide bombers.
Basalma said Houthi rebels were responsible for the attack.
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Saudi Jets Pound Friendly Troops in Yemen, Kill Tens of Pro-Hadi Militias
Saudi Arabia in air raids in Southern Yemen hit the military positions of the militants loyal to the fugitive President Mansour Hadi in the province of Abyan, killing tens of friendly forces.
“The Saudi fighter jets struck a gathering of fugitive president’s mercenaries in Abyan province,” local sources in the province told FNA on Tuesday.
The sources noted that heavy clashes are currently underway in Abyan province between the Yemeni forces and the pro-Saudi militias.
The Saudi airstrikes on friendly troops has become a rather routine happening in the Yemen war. On July 28, the Saudi warplanes mistakenly hit pro-Hadi militias in Yemen’s province of Lahij, killing 15 and wounding another 50.
In early August, the Saudi warplanes also mistakenly hit the pro-Hadi militias in the Southern Yemeni city of Zinjibar, and killed at least 20 militants.
Saudi Arabia has been striking Yemen for 195 days now to restore power to Hadi, a close ally of Riyadh. The Saudi-led aggression has so far killed at least 6,445 Yemenis, including hundreds of women and children.
Hadi stepped down in January and refused to reconsider the decision despite calls by Ansarullah revolutionaries of the Houthi movement.
Despite Riyadh’s claims that it is bombing the positions of the Ansarullah fighters, Saudi warplanes are flattening residential areas and civilian infrastructures.