Urban75 Home About Offline BrixtonBuzz Contact

...and Yemen!


...
The Saudis were moved to intervene in Yemen to counter the influence of the Iranians, who they perceived to be backing the Houthis and, latterly, Saleh (who reportedly started his own talks with Tehran in 2014).85 However, after 18 months of airstrikes, Saleh-Houthi forces retain control of Sana’a, and the longer the status quo continues, the greater the chance that Iranian ‘soft power’ will expand. The Houthis have already evolved beyond their original identity as a local armed group driven by provincial grievances embedded within a wider Zaydi revivalist movement; they are changing the established political narratives and prevailing political culture in north Yemen.

Increasingly, the Houthis appear to be appropriating the tropes of the Iranian revolutionary movement.86 For example, Houthi media channels – such as Al-Masirah (The Journey) – emulate the presentational style of Iranian-backed TV channels, such as Hezbollah’s Al-Manar (The Beacon). The Houthis’ reliance on sectarian narratives to justify armed aggression – in which they slander their Sunni opponents as ‘alQaeda’ – contributes to escalating social fragmentation and alienates the population in the predominantly Sunni south, ensuring that a federal solution becomes less feasible. They also recruit on an ideological basis, leading to the routine indoctrination of child soldiers.

Herein lies the double bind, regarding Yemen’s future. It seems likely that the Houthis and forces loyal to Saleh’s family will have to be included in a future peace deal as their monopoly on the use of force in areas under their control is too strong for them to be discounted. If the Houthis cannot be incorporated into a national power-sharing government on terms that they find acceptable, there is a danger that they will replicate Hezbollah’s model in Lebanon, as a military structure that sits alongside the state and has enough power to control the decisions that the state makes, without formally holding power and being held accountable. Furthermore, a unity government in which the Salehs and/or the Houthis play a significant part will almost certainly be rejected by the south, raising the prospect of continued war leading to de facto secession.
...
Click to expand...
This has worked out rather badly for the Saudis so far. Iran on the other hand after a relatively tiny IRGC investment appears well positioned.

Points out the UAE has proved unlike the Saudis to have a useful SF arm that we will likely see deployed elsewhere. I can imagine that playing well with the Trump administration.
 
On Informed Comment WikiLeaks Yemen Files Unmask Washington’s Bloody Role
...
The latest leak of more than 500 documents from the U.S. Embassy in Yemen’s communications covers both Hillary Clinton and John Kerry’s time as secretary of state from 2009 until March 2015, when the current conflict broke out. The embassy, based in the capital Sana’a, closed only a month beforehand.

With U.S. backing, the Saudi Arabia-led coalition has been fighting Yemen’s Houthi movement since March 2015. It wants to restore its ally president, Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi, who was driven into exile by Houthis forces in late 2014.

Wikileaks said that the war in Yemen was largely strategic, with the country sitting at an important “narrow choke point” for oil trade passing through the Middle East.

“Saudi Arabia seeks to control a port in Yemen to avoid the potential constriction of its oil shipments by Iran along the Straight of Homuz or by countries which can control its other oil shipment path along the Red Sea,” the statement read.

The new leak sheds further light on what many experts and human rights advocates argue: that the coalition is committing war crimes using U.S. made weapons. Internal warnings have stated that the U.S. would almost certainly be accused of committing war crimes in the conflict through providing logistical and intelligence support to Saudi-led coalition.
...
Click to expand...
Previous Wikileaks things on Yemen have revealed a good deal of US skepticism on Saudi views of Yemen. It will be interesting to see if that has changed.
 
With Syria dominating the news it was "interesting" to here Yemen pop in in the news again this morning. Bet this does not come up in mother theresa's talks on her arms sales talks in the middile east!

Yemen's war leaves children on the brink of famine - BBC News

red-hands-strip.jpg
 
Famine was an issue in parts on Yemen even before the war, it has definitely exacerbated it though. I have seen some pix of kids on Twitter that look more like stick-insects, reminiscent of the worst of the famines in Africa. :(
 
From The Washington Institute Responding to Iran's Arms Smuggling in Yemen
...
Finally, if the Yemeni government and its Gulf coalition allies do choose to liberate the Red Sea coast and ports, the United States should provide intelligence and logistical support so that the operation is as quick, clean, and humane as possible. This may even mean joining with coalition partners in destroying Houthi antishipping missile batteries if they pose a threat to the effort. Washington could then take advantage of the presumed goodwill generated by its support, pressuring the Yemenis into quickly reopening these ports to civilian supplies under international supervision to avert a greater humanitarian crisis.
Click to expand...
Something I can see appealing to the Trump administration.
 
Even got mentioned on QT last night. Self says Boris was right but stopped well short of what could have been said. They also mentioned the UK supporting the wars by exporting arms, but they stopped short of mentioning the support we give them.
Interesting to see how Boris gets on in the Middle East on his visit over the coming days.
 
copliker said:
Shit pro-Assad account that follows some errr interesting sorts.

View attachment 96892
Click to expand...
I know this already (the pro Assad bit anyway) so it's not an endorsement of their views. In some respects they are remarkably ill-informed for a supposedly Lebanese/Arab person, tweeted one day something to the effect that Iraq is a majority sunni nation when in fact the opposite is true. However I posted this because of the what the guy said not who it was from.
 
teqniq said:
I know this already (the pro Assad bit anyway) so it's not an endorsement of their views. In some respects they are remarkably ill-informed for a supposedly Lebanese/Arab person, tweeted one day something to the effect that Iraq is a majority sunni nation when in fact the opposite is true. However I posted this because of the what the guy said not who it was from.
Click to expand...

In any case, following accounts on twitter is not an endorsement. I follow the accounts of a fair few people who I think should be imprisoned or for that matter just summarily executed.
 
J Ed said:
In any case, following accounts on twitter is not an endorsement. I follow the accounts of a fair few people who I think should be imprisoned or for that matter just summarily executed.
Click to expand...
I followed her for bit but gave up after a while as it was it a lot of pro Assad stuff flying in the face of the regimes depredations.
 
hash tag said:
I can't stand him, but, at least he is continuing to voice his concerns and keeping it in the news. Boris Johnson: 'Profound concern' for people of Yemen - BBC News

"He added: "But I must also share my profound concerns, which I'm sure is universal in this room, about the present suffering of the people of Yemen."
Click to expand...

Is Boris Johnson sensing that there is going to be a changing of the guard in the foreign policy in the US and these statements are being made because of that?
 
teqniq said:
I wonder what his motives are too, altruism doesn't seem to me to be one of his strong points.
Click to expand...

If the Trump government really does intend on some kind of rapprochement with Russia (and by extension Iran and Syria) then this is the sort of position I would be expecting a loyal lieutenant of the US to take.
 
On TNI Blowback from America's Disastrous Policy in Yemen Will Be Profound
...
Saudi Arabia and the UAE have spent millions of dollars arming a disparate mix of armed groups with everything from ATGM’s to armored personnel carriers. The running joke in Yemen is that the quickest way to get rich is to set up a pro-government-in-exile militia. You collect the weapons and promptly sell them on and retire to the countryside or, better yet, leave the country all together. Yemen’s always well-stocked arms markets now overflow with weapons and materiel of all types, including hand launched drones, night vision equipmenta and a diverse range of heavy weaponry.

Rather than focusing on what at most is limited Iranian support for a group that has thus far paid little attention to Iran—the Houthis ignored Iran’s advice about not seizing Sana’a in September 2014—the United States and the United Kingdom should instead consider the ramifications of the tens of millions of dollars of weapons being supplied to armed groups in Yemen by Saudi Arabia and the UAE. It is all but certain that some of these weapons have already been sold on to organizations like AQAP and quite possibly al-Shabaab in Somalia.

The proliferation of weapons and the empowerment of AQAP are only two aspects of the blowback that the United States’ flawed policy in Yemen has already produced. Of possibly more consequence is the damage being done to the House of Saud and the country it rules over. The House of Saud is spending billions of dollars on a war that it cannot win. The instability in Yemen will likely last for years and will impact Saudi Arabia’s own security. Even now, the Saudi provinces of Jizan and Najran, which border Yemen, are subject to frequent and prolonged retaliatory cross-border attacks by Houthi forces and allied units of the Yemeni Army.
...
Click to expand...
The civil war in Yemen really has made a nonsense of the GWOT.
 
In The FT Yemen wheat traders raise fears about staple import
...
Two of the impoverished state’s main wheat traders have written to the authorities in rebel-held Sana’a to inform them that they can no longer import wheat because local banks cannot convert Yemeni riyals into hard currency, according to letters seen by the Financial Times.

For Yemen’s 25m population, bread is the staple diet and 90 per cent of wheat has to be imported via three ports — Aden, which is controlled by the Saudi-led coalition, and the Red Sea ports of Hodeida and Salif, which are under rebel control.
...
Click to expand...
Not unconnected with Hadi moving the Central Bank to Aden. Yemen is one big starvation siege while the outraged humanitarian chatter focuses on East Aleppo.
 
On MEE Yemen government kicked out of Taiz by Popular Resistance
TAIZ, Yemen - Armed groups belonging to the "Popular Resistance" have taken over the government of large areas of Taiz province, kicking out civil directors appointed by the internationally recognised Yemen government and claiming corruption and lack of support in the battle against the Houthi rebels.

In an interview with Middle East Eye in the battle-scarred government compound in al-Turbah, Abu Hamza, the local leader of the Salafi "Hasm" group, said loyalists of President Abd Rabbuh Monsour Hadi had diverted taxes back to his powerbase in Aden, refused to pay public workers, and had done nothing to support the Popular Resistance as it fought to break a Houthi siege earlier this year.

In response, Abu Hamza and his men took control, kicking out the Hadi-appointed governors and taking over local ministries including health and education.

The 43-year-old is now the effective governor of al-Turbah and the surrounding al-Shimayateen district. It is a rise from humble beginnings. Abu Hamza worked as a restaurant cashier in Sanaa, the country's capital, before the war after gaining a management certificate at the the city's university.

"The government did not send us enough support, not even one minister has visited us in Taiz, and they are only sending us decisions of new appointments in different offices. This is ridiculous behaviour," he said.

"There are educated people inside the Popular Resistance, and we can manage everything in Taiz province, and do not need any appointments, neither from the Houthis nor Hadi's government."
...
Click to expand...
Another sign of Hadi's lack of control over anti-rebel forces.
 
In Al Monitor Iran balks at 'new' British policy toward Persian Gulf region
...
Another opinion that has been asserted in Tehran in the aftermath of Brexit is that the United Kingdom will face more economic problems than in the past and is thus considering various plans to solve its fiscal troubles. In this vein, Hesam al-din Ashna, President Hassan Rouhani’s cultural adviser opined Dec. 11, “The remarks of that lady were made with the aim of marketing weapons.”

...
Click to expand...
How May cuddling up to GCC countries is seen in Teheran.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

tim
Bizarre acts of terrorism - statue of Lenin and Mao blown up in Texas.
Replies
3
Views
383
belboid
belboid
Bingoman
Slovak PM shot and injured - 15th May 2024
2
Replies
39
Views
2K
Monte
Monte
tim
New Caledonia and the resistance against French settler colonists.
Replies
5
Views
519
Wkdloz
Wkdloz
editor
Live video 'portal' between New York And Dublin closes after predictable 'inappropriate behaviour'
2
Replies
33
Views
2K
bcuster
bcuster
T
definition of left and right wing of politics
Replies
23
Views
1K
Nigel
Nigel
Back
Top Bottom