...and Yemen!

[elbows]

Properly militarised drones will likely remain for ages in the same category as conventional military airforce planes, weapons dumps etc - when it falls into the wrong hands, high priority will be given to destroying it before it can be used.

Smaller drones may find some application but there are reasons why they might not be dead popular with terrorists. The most prolific drones around these days won't carry enough weight to indulge in serious terror, and really creative elaborate wacky plans don't make it past the drawing board very often really.

 

[J Ed]

Oh I'm not inventing a bogeyman or crediting the outfit with capabilities to cause sleeples nights- just when I think about how 'spectaculars' are done- both terrorist and criminal- they often rely on audacity and application of technologies once the preserve of regular militaries. With drones as use against civilian aircraft by terrorists I can't help think its going to happen, wether its daesh or whoever. You can't proliferate a tech this widely and expect it to not find use by bastards. Anyway- of topic from the yemeni situation, so apols to all.

Hezbollah successfully uses drones, they have used them against the Syrian opposition after becoming familiar with them for surveillance purposes with Israel. It's not fantastical to think that ISIS or Al-Qaeda could use drones.

 

[DotCommunist]

Hezbollah successfully uses drones, they have used them against the Syrian opposition after becoming familiar with them for surveillance purposes with Israel. It's not fantastical to think that ISIS or Al-Qaeda could use drones.

well whats to stop someone loading one up with an impact fused bomb a la doodlebug and just flying to destination and then dropping it out of the sky? Nothing. Sure your commercial drone won't carry a doodlebugs worth of explosive, impact fuses are flaky as well, but as a terror tactic. It'd scare the shit out of me.

 

[frogwoman]

In any case i dont think its alarmist to be concerned at the implications of al-q or ISIS seizing or holding an airport even if no military air power is used, they can use it to transport supplies, jihadis etc.

 

[elbows]

The thing about Hezbollah armed drones is that the media want to use them to paint a picture of militant groups having potential access to this technology these days. But it also seems clear that if they have armed drones, its because they are acting as a proxy for Iranian drone tech.

e.g. this piece, trying to ignore the obvious contradiction but failing in my book. http://edition.cnn.com/2014/09/22/opinion/bergen-schneider-armed-drone-hezbollah/

 

[teqniq]

Huge explosions in Yemen





https://www.facebook.com/1587259728188645/videos/1595071150740836/

For some strange reason FB vids won't embed for me anymore

 

[elbows]

It seems that explosion was them hitting a Republican guard base that was home to scud missiles.

http://www.aljazeera.com/news/2015/04/yemen-sanaa-explosions-150420090515770.html

And we have US warship willy waving: http://news.yahoo.com/us-warship-heads-yemeni-waters-block-iranian-weapons-182036698--politics.html

 

[elbows]

They've announced on Saudi telly that the bombing campaign is over.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-32402688

 

[teqniq]

Not entirely

Airstrikes Hit Taiz, Yemen, After Saudi Claims of an End to the Campaign

Warplanes from a Saudi-led military coalition conducted airstrikes in the southwestern Yemeni city of Taiz on Wednesday, hours after Saudi officials had announced they were halting their nearly monthlong bombing campaign against the Houthi rebel movement.

The warplanes bombed Houthi positions during heavy clashes in Taiz on Wednesday morning, according to a local official in the city. The new airstrikes, combined with reports of continued fighting in other parts of the country, including the southern port city of Aden, dampened hopes that the Saudi announcement would quickly result in a broader cease-fire....

 

[frogwoman]

Those bastards are still doing it. And theres also a naval blockade.

 

[teqniq]

Fighting Prompts an Exodus From Yemen, Often on Boats

 

[klang]

http://www.yementimes.com/en/1875/n...-UNICEF-delivers-medical-supplies-by-boat.htm
I know Khor Maksar well. I have stayed there a few times and have many friends there. It was always a good area to be in, busy and lively. The old East German embassy was located there, and was used as a cultural centre over the last ten years or so.
Everybody I know there seems to be ok, at least physically.
Reading these reports makes me very sad.

 

[teqniq]

Yemenis in Desperate Need of Food and Fuel After Weeks of Airstrikes

 

[teqniq]

Nobody else seems to have this apart from RT

‘No more playing with our shared security’: Iran warns it will stand up for Yemen

E2a and...

'Limited' coalition force on ground in Aden: Yemeni official

 

[teqniq]

Deaths as Yemeni rebels fire rockets into Saudi Arabia

Yemeni rebels have fired rockets and mortars into Saudi Arabia, killing at least two civilians and reportedly capturing five soldiers in an attack showing the insurgents' ability to launch assaults despite weeks of bombings by Saudi-led coalition.
Saudi authorities said that the armed Houthi fighters carried out the attacks on Tuesday in the town of Najran, forcing authorities to suspend all flights at a local airport, and shut down all schools. ...

 

[trabuquera]

Real information from on the ground, with sharp analysis from someone who actually knows what they're writing about:

http://www.lrb.co.uk/v37/n10/ghaith-abdul-ahad/diary

It's longish and you might have to register for a day's free access to site - but this is by far the most enlightening thing I've read in last few years about what is actually going on in Yemen.

 

[teqniq]

Meanwhile there is talk of the Saudis attempting to use the MB to resolve the situation in Yemen in their favour, something that the Egyptian junta are apparently not too keen on

 

[klang]

I don't speak Arabic, but I'm pretty sure that's in Tah Rir in Sana'a. Does anybody know more?
The house in 0.14 looks like a hotel I know, but I can't be fully sure.
How is Yemen ever gonna recover from all this? Heartbreaking stuff

 

[teqniq]

Any pretence of bombing military targets seems to have evaporated

http://t.co/Hlqc8kKLtq

 

[frogwoman]

 

[teqniq]

Death and Devastation in Sanaa

Dr. Shawky Ali Abdel Gadeer struggled beneath the rubble for his cell phone. It was just after 2 AM on June 12. A missile had smashed into his house in Sanaa’s historic Old City, burying him and his relatives beneath the ancient bricks. The 40-year-old pharmacist managed to call his mother. He described where he was, and told her to find help. Local residents began to dig in the darkness. By the time they pulled him out roughly four hours later, he was dead.

Four other Gadeer family members were killed in the strike: Hassan, his wife Amat al-Malik, Abdullah, and his 16-year-old son Rashad. Rashad’s body was the last to be retrieved, at 6 PM. Residents wrapped his corpse in a blanket and carried him out from the rubble and through the picturesque gingerbread-style buildings to be buried.

The Saudi military later denied responsibility for the attack....

 

[teqniq]

In Aden the situation is dire too

Seeds of destruction: Yemen civil war ripping society apart

 

[klang]

In Aden the situation is dire too

Seeds of destruction: Yemen civil war ripping society apart

how terrible!


rough

 

[teqniq]

I saw some of this on BBC news yesterday, grim.

Yemen: 'A family destroyed' by air strikes

 

[klang]

various bombings, possibly ISIS:

http://www.criticalthreats.org/yeme...utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=ctpthreatupdate

 

[teqniq]

 

[yield]

Fragile Yemen truce broken by Saudi airstrikes
Deutsche Welle 10 Jul 2015

A Saudi-led coalition launched airstrikes on Iranian-allied Houthi targets hours after a humanitarian truce backed by the UN began at midnight on Friday.

The airstrikes hit Houthi military positions east of the capital Sanaa as well as Taiz, Yemen's third largest city.

Security officials said airstrikes targeted a military camp used by forces loyal to former President Ali Abdullah Saleh, while another hit a rebel convoy, according to AP news agency.

Saudi-backed Yemen forces take Aden port from Houthis
Reuters Jul 15, 2015

Residents said scores of southern fighters were in the streets of Aden fighting on Wednesday as part of the offensive dubbed "Operation Golden Arrow".

A Reuters witness saw about 40 armoured vehicles, which the militiamen said were provided by the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and were vital for their battle to win back control of the airport.

The fighting in Aden has taken a dreadful humanitarian toll. More than a million have been displaced and food, medicine and other necessities are in short supply.

RAF Bombs Diverted to Saudis for Yemen Strikes
Defence News July 16, 2015

Britain is transferring Paveway IV precision guided bombs originally earmarked for the Royal Air Force to Saudi Arabia to enable the Gulf state to build stocks of the weapon being used against targets in Yemen and Syria, sources here said.

Grim

 

[frogwoman]

Bastards

 

[Pickman's model]

this will end well

 

[teqniq]

A bitter home-coming for Yemen's exiled government
The fall of Aden to the Saudi-led coalition does not presage peace any time soon