war in Yemen

SAS Commandos Wounded in Yemen, Highlight Humanitarian Crisis

Last week, as many of our readers know, two SAS operators were wounded in an IED blast in Yemen. The covert operation was a combined UK/US operation where the SAS along with a U.S. Special Forces A-Team were scouting out potential drop zones in the country.

But what the drop zones were for highlights just how bad the humanitarian crisis has gotten in Yemen. The combined Green Beret/SAS unit was scouting drop zones for the dropping of relief supplies for the starving people.

The combined team flew into Aden from Djibouti aboard a UAE-supplied Chinook helicopter and once on the ground met with UAE commanders before undertaking their mission. To lower the team’s footprint and their presence on the ground, the Special Operations troops dressed in Arabic clothing and drove in unmarked pickup trucks.

The eastern part of Yemen is largely under the control of the Houthi rebels including the port of Hudaydah. Because of this, Saudi Arabia, a US ally in the region has prevented humanitarian vessels from landing supplies there.

The Houthis began as a moderate theological movement that preached tolerance and held a broad-minded view of all the Yemeni peoples. That changed in the mid-1990s when they began publishing the readings of Hassan Nasrallah, the Lebanese head of Hezbollah, the Iranian-funded radicalized hater of all things American and Israeli.

The men were operating in the vicinity of the town of Marib, about 500 miles north of Aden when one of the pickup trucks they were traveling in was caught in an IED blast, which was triggered when the vehicle in front drove over it.

About a month ago, five engineers from various countries were killed and another Briton injured in an IED attack around Marib. The explosives were both planted by Houthi rebels.

The men were from the 21st SAS, not the famed 22nd SAS from Hereford, which is a Territorial unit. Both men suffered serious but non-life-threatening injuries. They were flown by medevac helicopters, first to the U.S. base in Djibouti and then back to the UK via Cypress. Both are expected to recover.

The British Foreign Office arranged a small $3 million dollar aid package that was to stabilize a ceasefire in the port city of Hodeida. The hope was to stabilize and pacify Hodeida and then further outlying areas would follow suit.

This operation is a tricky situation where the Special Operations forces are running a strictly humanitarian assistance mission, and while they’re plotting drop zones for food and medical supplies, the fact they are even there runs contrary to the objectives of both the Sunni government and the Saudis who support them.

The civil war that began in 2015 between the government of Yemen and the Houthi rebels is, in essence, a war of proxies and the civilian populace which is caught in the middle. On one side is the Yemeni government, heavily influenced and supported by the Saudis. The Yemenis also have the support of Egypt, Jordan, and the United Arab Emirates (UAE). Bahrain, Jordan, Kuwait, Morocco, Qatar, and Sudan have also contributed support to the Saudi coalition.

On the other side, the Houthi rebels are financed and supported by Iran. The Iranian presence is the reason for the Saudi intervention. Two years ago, the Houthis fired missiles at US Navy warships. The US military retaliated by striking three coastal missile batteries with cruise missiles.

As usual, the U.N. has said that Iranian support is “alleged”, despite having the U.S. display a surface-to-air missile that was seized by the Saudi-led coalition en route to Yemen. The missile had Farsi writing and US spokesmen told the media that there was a logo from an Iranian arms maker in the warhead.

The Iranians are barred from selling or transferring any weapons without the express approval of the UN Security Council. The United States, which has lent logistical and intelligence support to the Saudis are vowing to pull their support over the plight of the civilian populace and the killing of Saudi journalist Jamal Ahmad Khashoggi.

The humanitarian crisis has reached epic proportions. Over 10,000 civilians have been killed in the fighting which has taken on a “no-quarter-given” type of conflict. Estimates put the number of children who have starved to death at 84,000 with upwards of 22,000,000 people who need assistance. A total of 8.4 million people are on the verge of famine.

The UK is designated by the UN as a “pen-holder” to Yemen – meaning it is in charge of drafting and tabling Security Council resolutions – because of its historical links with the country. Because of their aid package, both the Houthi rebels and the Yemeni forces have agreed to pull out from the port city of Hodeida which it is hoped that now aid in terms of food and medicine can now reach one of the poorest countries on the planet.

The UN is going to hold another multinational meeting in Geneva on February 26 to determine how the next batch of aid is to be distributed. However, the Houthis, who are now losing the war, are targeting and harassing aid workers. The next card to play is the taking of aid workers as hostages, to use as a bargaining chip in future negotiations.

Meanwhile British and American Special Operators continue to put their lives on the line in a humanitarian mission.

Photo: UK Ministry of Defense

Pentagon: US Not Involved in Yemen Hudaida military offensive

The Pentagon has denied that it is involved in the military offensive carried out by the Saudi-Emirati alliance against the Iranian-aligned Houthi militia in the Yemeni port city of Hudaida.

Speaking on Thursday, spokesman Major Adrian Galloway said Washington “does not command, accompany, or participate in counter-Houthi operations or any hostilities other than those authorized against al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula and ISIS,” referring to the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL, also known as ISIS).
“Our support to the coalition consists of aerial refueling to coalition aircraft and intelligence support to assist our partners in securing their borders from cross-border attacks from the Houthis,” Galloway continued.
He also said that US military support to its allies “is always geared towards mitigating noncombatant casualties.”
He stressed the importance of the port in delivering aid to alleviate the suffering of Yemenis, adding that the US supports the efforts of the UN envoy to Yemen Martin Griffith to bring the Yemeni parties to the negotiating table.
Before the Saudi coalition against Yemen began in March 2015, Hudaida port used to funnel in at least 80 percent of Yemen’s imports, mostly food.
Now, two-thirds of Yemen’s population of 28 million is dependent on aid to survive, and 8 million of those are food insecure.
US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said on Monday that his country was closely following the developments in Hudaida, but did not rule out the possibility of taking part in the offensive on Yemen’s third largest city.
He said he had contacted United Arab Emirates officials and talked about Washington’s desire to discuss “UAE security concerns” while maintaining the flow of humanitarian aid and goods through the important port.

Emirati troops supported by Saudi Apache attack helicopters are just six kilometers from the Hudaida airport and the aim of this offensive is to control the port as well as the airport.

They are seeking to avoid entering the city of 600,000. UN officials stated that an offensive in the city could cost 250,000 lives.

To read the entire article from Al Jazeera News, click here:

Photo courtesy Wikipedia of Houthi rebels

Green Berets Helping Saudis Target Missile Sites in Yemen

Despite publicly stating that they are trying to stay out of the Saudi Arabia – Yemen conflict, the Pentagon is expanding their presence by sending Green Berets to help allied Saudi forces target and knock out Houthi missile sites.

Late in 2017, a team of Special Forces soldiers deployed to Saudi Arabia to aid the targeting of Houthi missile sites. The Houthi rebels are closely allied with Iran.

Details of the Green Beret operation, which has not been previously disclosed, were provided to The New York Times by U.S. officials and European diplomats.
They appear to contradict Pentagon statements that U.S. military assistance to the Saudi-led campaign in Yemen is limited to aircraft refueling, logistics and general intelligence sharing.
There is no indication that the U.S. commandos have crossed into Yemen as part of the mission.
But sending U.S. ground forces to the border is a marked escalation of Western assistance to target Houthi fighters who are deep in Yemen.
Sen. Tim Kaine, D-Va., a member of the Armed Services Committee, on Thursday called the Green Berets mission a “purposeful blurring of lines between train-and-equip missions and combat.” He cited the report in The New York Times and called for a new congressional vote on the authorization for the use of military force, war-powers legislation used by three successive presidents in conflict zones around the world.
Beyond its years as a base for al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula, Yemen has been convulsed by civil strife since 2014, when the Shiite Muslim rebels from the country’s north stormed the capital, Sanaa. The Houthis, who are aligned with Iran, ousted the government of President Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi, the main U.S. counterterrorism partner in Yemen.
In 2015, a military coalition led by Saudi Arabia began bombing the Houthis, who have responded by firing missiles into the kingdom. Yet there is no evidence that the Houthis directly threaten the United States; they are a group with no operations outside Yemen and have not been classified by the U.S. government as a terrorist group.
The Green Berets, the Army’s Special Forces, deployed to the border in December, weeks after a ballistic missile fired from Yemen sailed close to Riyadh. The Saudi military said it intercepted the missile over the city’s international airport, a claim that was cast in doubt by an analysis of photos and videos of the strike. But it was enough for Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman to renew a long-standing request that the United States send troops to help the kingdom combat the Houthi threat.

The commander of the US Central Command, General Joseph Votel told Congress in March that the U.S. was authorized to help the Saudis protect their border through intelligence sharing, logistics support and through military advice. Just a few weeks ago the Armed Services Committee in the Senate was briefed that there are 50 U.S. personnel in Saudi Arabia and they are “largely helping on the ballistic-missile threat.”

To read the entire article from Seattle Times, click here:

File Photo Wikipedia of a Special Forces soldier targeting insurgents

Germany Arms Sales to Saudi Arabia and Egypt Increases Five Fold

German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s administration has been increasing its arms sales to the Middle East. And particularly to what was characterized as “dictatorships” in both Egypt and Saudi Arabia. This has brought a wave of criticism leveled at Merkel from the left with one opposition lawmaker calling the practice “reprehensible.”

The German government’s arms sales have increased nearly five times from what they sold in the third quarter of 2016. Merkel’s administration approved nearly €450 million ($526 million) of weapons exports to Saudi Arabia and Egypt in the third quarter of 2017. During the same time period last year, arms sales were €86 million.

Opposition Left Party’s Stefan Liebich criticized the government’s exports to both countries as “particularly reprehensible.”

Saudi Arabia and Egypt have “to answer for the thousands of deaths from their dirty war in Yemen,” he said, referring to the ongoing civil war between Houthi rebels and Yemen’s government.
The Saudi-led coalition military intervention in Yemen has led to the death of nearly 10,000 people and created the world’s biggest humanitarian crisis in one of the Arab world’s poorest state. Human rights organizations have said the Saudi-led coalition may have commmitted war crimes, and the UN has warned some 7 million people face possible famine.
As Liebich pointed out, Germany’s policies used to be more restrictive. “There were times when it was completely ruled out for Germany to deliver weapons to countries that were participating in wars,” he said. “That only changed in the last two governments. It started with Turkey, which was sold weapons despite its war with the Kurds — that was a controversial discussion at the time.”

The problem now lies with the working coalition inside the government coming to a new agreement concerning arms sales. While many on the left want arms sales curtailed, others such as the Christian Social Union will want to protect and build up the arms industries in Bavaria.

To read the entire article from Deutsche Welle, click here:

Photo courtesy Wikipedia