Editorial Note: The following news reports are summaries from original sources. They may also include corrections of Arabic names and political terminology. Comments are in parentheses. Share the link of this article with your facebook friends

 

The Alliance Launching War on Yemen Now Includes France, in Addition to the Arab Coalition and the US

June 17, 2018 

A Saudi-led air strike on Yemen, file, June 17, 2018	French special forces on the ground in Yemen, June 2018

Pro-Saudi fighters in Yemen, June 17, 2018	Pro-Saudi fighters in Yemen, June 17, 2018

 

 

The following news stories are from the Yemeni independent website Al-Masdar ( http://www.almasdaronline.com/category/42  ):

*** 

French special forces on the ground in Yemen: Le Figaro

Almasdaronline- Agencies 2018-06-16

French special forces are present on the ground in Yemen with forces from the United Arab Emirates, French newspaper Le Figaro reported on Saturday, citing two military sources.

The newspaper gave no further information about their activities. The Defence Ministry was not immediately available for comment, but its usual policy is not to comment on special forces’ operations.

A French parliamentary source recently told Reuters French special forces were in Yemen.

Forces from an Arab alliance entered the airport in Yemen’s main port city on Saturday, in the biggest battle of the coalition’s war against the Iran-aligned Houthi movement.

The French Defence Ministry said on Friday that France was studying the possibility of carrying out a mine-sweeping operation to provide access to the port of Hodeidah once the coalition had wrapped up its military operations.

The ministry stressed that France at this stage had no military operations in the Hodeidah region and was not part of the Saudi-led coalition.

France, along with the United States and Britain, backs the Arab coalition in the Yemen conflict and provides weapons to both Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.

France weighing possible minesweeping operation at Yemen port

ALMASDARONLINE-REUTERS 2018-06-15

France is studying the possibility of carrying out a minesweeping operation to provide access to the Yemeni port of Hodeidah once an Arab-led coalition has completed its military operations, France’s Defence Ministry said on Friday.

Arab coalition forces had fought their way to the outskirts of the airport in Yemen’s main port city on Friday, in the biggest battle of a three-year war pitting it against the Iran-aligned Houthi movement.

An official of the United Arab Emirates, part of the coalition, told Reuters on Thursday that France had agreed to provide minesweeping support for the operation and that UAE intelligence indicated that the Houthi rebels, who control the city, had mined the port. The official also said the United States had rejected a request for such help.

In a statement to Reuters, the French Defence Ministry suggested a final decision had not yet been made.

“An action to de-mine access to the port of Hodeidah after the end of military operations is currently under study. Its purpose would be to facilitate the safe transport of humanitarian aid to the population of the city,” it said.

“France has always emphasized that the port city of Hodeidah is one of Yemen’s key gateways to bring commercial and humanitarian goods to the civilian population,” it added.

The ministry stressed that France at this stage had no military operations in the Hodeidah region and was not part of the Saudi-led coalition.

France, along with the United States and Britain, backs the Arab coalition in the Yemen conflict and provides weapons to both Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.

Paris plans to host a gathering of countries and international organizations, co-presided with Riyadh, on June 27 to address the “urgent humanitarian situation” in Yemen.

“The news on the ground convinces us of the need for the international community to pay particular attention to the issue of humanitarian access,” the Defence Ministry said.

Arab alliance close to capturing Hodeidah airport, Yemen military says

ALMASDARONLINE-REUTERS 2018-06-16

Forces from an Arab alliance entered the airport in Yemen’s main port city of Hodeidah Saturday, the coalition-backed Yemeni military said, in the biggest offensive in the war against the Iran-aligned Houthi movement.

Victory for the Saudi-led alliance in their first attempt to capture a strategic part of a well-defended city could put the Houthis in their weakest position in the three-year conflict, since Hodeidah is the group’s sole Red Sea port.

A defeat could also cut off supply lines to the Houthi-controlled capital, Sanaa, and possibly force them to negotiate as the world’s biggest humanitarian disaster ravages Yemen.

“Army forces backed by the resistance and the Arab alliance freed Hodeidah international airport from the grip of the Houthi militia,” the media office of the pro-alliance Yemeni military said on Twitter on Saturday.

Ground troops — which include United Arab Emirates forces, Sudanese and Yemenis drawn from various factions — have surrounded the main airport compound but have not seized it, a Yemeni military source and residents said.

“We need some time to make sure there are no gunmen, mines or explosive in the building,” the military source said. The military’s media office said technical teams were de-mining the surrounding area.

Fighting in the airport area led to the closure of the northern entrance of the western city Hodeidah, which leads to Sanaa, residents said.

That has blocked a key exit out of the city and made it more difficult to transport goods from the port, the country’s largest, to mountainous regions.

Aly Omar said he and his family spent three days trapped in the Manzar neighborhood abutting the airport as fighting raged all around them.

“We didn’t have any food, or drink or anything, not even water,” Omar said, standing in a hospital on Friday night beside his son, who was wounded by an air strike.

“I treated him on a bus after he was injured in an air strike, which is unacceptable. I call on the United Nations and the Red Cross to open a way for us to get out of the situation we’re in. Our kids, women and elderly are stuck ...”

Samy Mansour, head of the emergency room at Al-Thawra Hospital, received two dead and 12 wounded.

“We’re still treating people on the scene and transporting them to the hospital,” he said

If the Hodeidah fighting drags on, causing big coalition casualties and an outcry over a humanitarian catastrophe, it may work in the Houthis’ favor. If the Houthis are pushed out, the coalition could get the upper hand in the war.

The United Nations, which failed to find a diplomatic solution to head off the assault, fears the fighting will cut off the only lifeline for most Yemenis.

Houthis rule the most populous areas of Yemen, a poor nation of about 30 million people that had been destabilized by internal splits and al-Qaeda before the war erupted.

Drones Targeted personnel believed to belong to Al Qaeda at Hadramawt

ALMASDARONLINE 2018-06-16

An American Drone targeted yesterday (Friday) evening personnel believed to belong to Al Qaeda at Hadramawt governorate southeast Yemen. Locals said to Almasdaronlien that an airstrike by a drone targeted personnel’s at “Tabiqool” at Saheel Maqarma -Hawtat Ahmed bin Zain – Shebam directorate in Hadramawt valley. The locals said the personnel’s who have been targeted were touring the area at s a late time Friday evening, one of them injured while the others flee the scene.  

***

The following news stories are from the pro-Houthi website Yemen Extra (http://www.yemenextra.net/):

***

Yemeni responses to US-Saudi-led coalition

Jun 15, 2018, YemenExtra, Y.A

The Yemeni army keep, on 13-6-2018, escalating their military operations , especially with the fourth year of the Saudi-led coalition and the assissanation of their president .

They also foiled an advance , leaving dead and wounded , while their artillery targeted gatherings of their enemy in # Taiz.

In Asir ,they shot dead three paid fighters during foiling their advancing , and ten others were also shot dead in other areas .Notably, the missile force fired a ballastic missile -Badr 1- on Air Force Headquarters .

Lahj witnesses targeting gatherings of the paid fighters with artillery shelling .

Above all, the missile force targeted gatherings of the paid fighters in the West-Coast frontline with a ballistic missile ,Qaher 2 M.

In March 2015, Saudi Arabia and a coalition of its regional allies — mainly the united Arab Emirates and Jordan — started  a war against Yemen with the declared aim of crushing the Houthi Ansarullah movement, who had taken over from the staunch Riyadh ally and fugitive former president Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi, while also seeking to secure the Saudi border with its southern neighbor. Three years and over 600,000 dead and injured Yemeni people and  prevented the patients from travelling abroad for treatment and blocked the entry of medicine into the war-torn country, the war has yielded little to that effect.

Despite Riyadh’s claims that it is bombing the positions of the Ansarullah fighters, Saudi bombers are flattening residential areas and civilian infrastructures.

A UN panel has compiled a detailed report of civilian casualties caused by the Saudi military and its allies during their war against Yemen, saying the Riyadh-led coalition has used precision-guided munitions in its raids on civilian targets.

Sayyad Abdulmalik AL-Houthi claimed on one of his speech that Saudi Arabia is just a tool used by USA and Israel to fight Yemen to conquer it and wrestle control over Red Sea and Bab-AL-Mandab which will enable them to rule the world. 

Daily Saudi airstrikes rock Saada Province, casualties reported

Jun 14, 2018, YemenExtra, M.A.

Two citizens lost their lives on Wednesday following raids conducted by the Saudi-led coalition targeting al-Ammar area in Saada Province, northern Yemeni border. 

The US-backed coalition jets targeted the road linking Saada and Sana’a provinces in al-Ammar by three aerial raids, which resulted in the death of two citizens and the burning of a citizen’s car, a source reported to YemenExtra.

Moreover, it waged a raid on Shaaban in the border district of Razih.

The source added that the air force launched 10 aerial raids on civilian farms in the area of Al-Menqem in Drehmi district in Hodeida province, and demolished a citizen’s home by an airstrike on the area of Gammar.

In the same context, a civilian was recently killed in a Saudi artillery and rocketry assault on the border district of Munabeh .

Saudi Bombardment on Saada Results in Civilian Injuries

Jun 14, 2018, YemenExtra, M.A.

A civilian was injured on Tuesday by Saudi artillery and rocketry shelling on various areas within Saada Province. 

The injured victim was close to his home when Saudi guards attacked with missiles and artillery shells residential areas in the border district of Razih, a source reported to YemenExtra.

Moreover, the coalition jets conducted four raids on Al-Azgul region in the district of Suhar, and 3 raids on Wadi Abu Jabara, district of Kataf, while two US Saudi raids targeted al-Jaamlah in Majz district, the source added.

The source condemned such humanitarian violations perpetrated by the Saudi-led coalition against the oppressed people of Yemen, which has targeted homes and properties of citizens for more than three years.

More Than 35 Thousand Killed and Injured Since the Start of the Saudi War on Yemen

Jun 14, 2018, YemenExtra, M.A.

Minister of Public Health, Dr. Taha al-Mutawakil stated that the number of killed and injured who arrived at hospitals and health facilities due to Saudi-led war against Yemen, since the beginning of its war on March 26th of 2015 up to June 9 of 2018,  has reached 35,927 between killed and wounded casualties. 

Dr. Mutawakil said in a press conference held yesterday in the Yemeni capital Sana’a that the number of killed amounted to 11 thousand and one, including two thousand and 230 children, and a thousand and 698 women.

While the number of wounded reached 22 thousand and 215, including three thousand and 248 children, and two thousand and 645 women, in addition to the complete disability of two thousand and 81.

The Minister of Health called on the United Nations and its various units to work on putting an end to the Saudi-led coalition, backed by the US, and lift the land, sea and air siege imposed on Yemen by the coalition so that patients can travel abroad for treatment, in addition to allowing the access of medicines and medical supplies.

He noted that one major reason for the collapse of the public health system in Yemen is the destruction of health facilities by direct Saudi air raids, where the number of establishments totally and partially destroyed have amounted to 400 facilities.

The ministry renewed its condemnation of the targeting of health facilities, the latest of which was the direct strike of a cholera treatment center in the governorate of Abas, Hajjah province, which was managed by MSF (Doctors Without Borders) organization.

“This targeting is a clear indication of an attempt to cease the humanitarian activities provided by humanitarian organizations,” he said, calling for an end to the Saudi-led coalition, which has made no exceptions in its bombardment and broke all international laws.

”What confirms the deliberate targeting of the Saudi-led coalition jets of the humanitarian work is that MSF has put all the required signs that show that the building is a health center. Additionally, the MSF had coordinated with the Saudi coalition that the building is a health center; nevertheless, the coalition ignored all that and targeted the place, which shows how it disregards the lives of civilians” Dr. Mutawakil stressed. 

***

Share the link of this article with your facebook friends