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Cease-Fire Is Holding in Yemen, But with Few Attacks

March 4, 2019 

Yemenis protesting the war

 

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

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Fighting renews in Taiz, Houthis execute two of their members

March 3, 2019, ALMASDARONLINE ٠٣ مارس ٢٠١٩

Fighting between government forces and militants of the al-Houthi group was renewed on Sunday in a number of areas of Al-Mawadem district, southeast of Taiz province.

A cording to a military source of Al-Masdar online that the fighting erupted between the two sides after a Houthi attack on the positions of the government forces, at the dawn, in Al-Arish and Al-Sarmeen.

Al-Houthi militants intensified their shelling by Howitzer, tanks and antiaircraft on the positions of the government forces from their positions in Al-Hawban and al-Janad area east of Taiz.

On the other hand, Houthi gunmen executed two of their loyal gunmen, Wael Ali Thabet and Talal al-Zubairi, at a point on 60 Street north of Taiz city, without information on the cause of the execution.

2 killed and 8 injured in an IED planted in the garbage in Taiz

March 3, 2019, ALMASDARONLINE ٠٤ مارس ٢٠١٩

A citizen was killed and eight others were injured by an improvised explosive device (IED) explosion Monday morning in Taiz.

A security source said to Al-Masdar online that an explosive device, planted by unidentified people in the garbage at the entrance to the deluxe market, exploded this morning, on Jamal Street in the center of Taiz City.

According to the source, the explosive device killed one citizen and wounded eight others, some of them were seriously injured, who were taken to a hospital in the city.

The police arrived to the scene after the explosion and the source of the package, which was hidden between the waste pile adjacent to the lighting pole on the street corner, was still under investigation.

Attacked Griffith and described him with "English emissary." Al-Houthi spokesman: Sweden agreement does not include the surrender of al-Hodeidah to Neutral side

March 3, 2019, ALMASDARONLINE ٠٤ مارس ٢٠١٩

The Houthis spokesman Mohammed Abdulsalam said on Monday that The Stockholm accord between the Yemeni Parties (6-13 December) did not in any way indicate that neutral authorities should take over the port of Hodeidah and not others,

This was in response to the British Foreign Secretary, who toured Amman, Saudi Arabia and Yemen, to push for the implementation of the Agreement, which explicitly called for Houthis to withdraw from Hodeidah and seaports.

"The agreement talked about steps by all parties and the calls for the redeployment of one party without the other is not only biased, but a lie, a deception and a fallacy of a declared agreement," Abdul Salam said in his blog post on the Facebook .

He explained that the Yemeni government request to determine the local forces, "although this is contrary to the agreement which did not state on the approval of any local authority or forces."

He noted that his group had accepted a United Nations oversight role in the port of Hodeidah only.

"It is to end the pretexts and justifications of the other party and those who stand behind them, not on the basis of their extradition to the aggressor, this is not a dialogue or debate in the human, universal and political tradition, if it was to be handed over to the other side then there is no necessary for the United Nations to exist," he said.

Abdul Salam for the first time attacked UN envoy to Yemen Martin Griffiths, saying, "It seems to us he is not a United Nations envoy, but an English envoy representing Britain, especially after the British Foreign Office clearly explained its objectives and stance, which is in line with the obstruction of the agreement."

He said Britain is running the process of obstructing the agreement through its envoy to Yemen under the cover of the United Nations.

"Those who violate the Stockholm agreement are clearly and explicitly the countries of aggression, of which Britain is one of the main pillars," he said.

"The problem is not in the heads of the Coordination and redeployment committees, but in receiving directives from the states of aggression," he added.

He reiterated that his group "confirmed its readiness to carry out the first steps of the redeployment, being purely humanitarian, helping to operate the port, entering aid, removing congestion and creating progress in the agreement, and therefore we do not mind to go to discuss any detail or explanation of the agreement if necessary."

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

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Saudi war crimes on Saturday, March 2nd, 2019: Update

Mar 3, 2019, YemenExtra, M.A.

The Saudi-led coalition continues, on Saturday, to launch raids in several governorates, killing and injuring a number of civilians and to violate the ceasefire agreement in Hodeidah, US-Saudi paid-militias  fired 73 shells and 30 katyusha missiles on Kilo 16.

US-Saudi mercenaries targeted with over 75 shells Attohayta district, damaging civilians’ properties and houses. US-Saudi paid militias also targeted by machine guns in several areas of Addurayhimi district.

In Sa’ada, US-backed coalition launched 5 raids on Baqem district. Saudi missiles and artillery shells targeted populated villages and civilians’ houses in Baqem and Munabbih districts. In Hajja, US-Saudi coaltion launched 2 raids on Kushar district.

Al-Houthi: British Foreign Secretary Couldn’t to Stay in Aden for One Hour Without Wearing a “Bulletproof Vest”

Mar 4, 2019, YemenExtra, SH.A.

The head of the Supreme Revolutionary Committee, Mohammed Ali al-Houthi, has commented on British Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt’s remarks about the Stockholm agreement and his appearance while he wearing a bulletproof vest during his visit to Aden province.

“The Yemeni person, whose steadfastness has gone beyond that of the First World war in terms of courage and fortitude, is still strong and steadfast, and the people know very well the destructive project of aggression and its tools which did not allow Jeremy to stay in Aden for just one hour without a bulletproof bullet,” al-Houthi wrote on his in Twitter account on Monday.

He said that the British Foreign Secretary “is driving the failure of the Stockholm accord these days into a repetition of the Battle of Hodeidah.”

The implementation of the first phase of the ISAF redeployment plan was supposed to begin on Monday, but the move was delayed after the United Nations military official tasked to monitoring the redeployment, Michael Lolisgaard, held more meetings first.

In this context, the spokesman of Salvation government and Minister of Information Deifallah Al-Shami announced that the visit and statements of British Foreign Minister Jeremy Hunt from Aden confirm the role played by his country in the occupation of Yemen.

Al-shami said that after the direct normalization, which announced in Warsaw, the practical steps to restore the role of the British hidden for the occupation of Yemen will begin.

It is noteworthy that Britain stood behind the empowerment of the Jewish gangs to occupy of Palestine in 1948 in fulfillment of its dirty promise known as the Balfour Declaration, and occupied southern Yemen for more than 100 years before being expelled by the Yemeni people in the October Revolution, which was launched in 1963.

Yemenis have all their rights to defend themseves:Yemeni official

Mar 3, 2019, YemenExtra, Y.A

More successful retaliatory operations are waged by Yemeni army forces against Saudi-led coalition, backed by the US,paid fighters in response to its airstrikes on Hodeidah over the past 24 hours in violation of a truce .

More than 80 paid fighters loyal to the coalition were killed, while others were injured on Sunday in a ballistic strike targeting their gatherings in the Midi border district of Hajjah province, northern Yemen,  Yemen’s army spokesman Yahya Saree wrote on his official social media page.

According to the army spokesman, Yemen’s missile force fired a ballistic missile on Saturday night, targeting gatherings of Saudi troops and its paid fighters in Midi area, where they were preparing for large scale attacks towards Hiraan and Haradh districts.Over 80 paid fighters were killed and wounded as a result of the attack, confirming that the ballistic strike was precise, as dozens of cars were seen rushing to the targeted sites to transport the dead and wounded towards Jizan, amid intensive flying of various types of aircrafts,and pointing out that the strike caused a state of extreme horror and confusion in their ranks.

Last January, one of the Demining Team was killed by the coalition’s paid fighters’ sniper’s gunshot with the presence of the Military Committee and the UN-team on site.In a related context the UN envoy met the Coordination Committee for the implementation of the cease-fire and the local authority, which discussed the difficulties that faced the Stockholm agreement and violations of the US-Saudi aggression.

A UN body has warned that 1500 pregnant women are now at risk as the city’s only hospital was bombed by the coalition.

The coalition and its paid fighters committed 4400 violations of the UN-brokered cease-fire in Hodeidah over the past month, Yemen’s army spokesman Yahya Sarie said in a statement on Saturday.“The violations included artillery and missile attacks that targeted houses and farms of the citizens in several districts and Hodeidah city,” Sarie said, and confirming that the coalition has been continuing in reinforcing troops and military vehicles to the frontlines in the south of Hodeidah since Sweden’s agreement in December 2018.The UN-brokered truce went into force on Dec. 18.

Sare’e, said that the violations of the coalition and its paid fighters since the declaration of the cease-fire amounted to 4621 violations, stressing that what is happening in Hodeidah is not just violations but a serious military escalation, noting that the intelligence confirms the continued aggression in bringing reinforcements to the Mukha for distribution south Hodeidah.

He ,during a press conference held in the capital Sana’a said that the total violations in Hodeidah in January amounted to 3819 violations, pointing out that the paid fighters fired 222 rockets, 2512 shells and more than 680 violations of machine guns, 22 developments during January, while violations of the coalition aerial 106 violations.

Brig. Sare’e confirmed that our forces had demonstrated their full commitment to the ceasefire agreement and that the implementation of the Swedish agreement did not require more observers than the need to compel the enemy to comply fully with the voice of peace, pointing out that the next phase will witness the quality processes have not been implemented before and will represent an important and accurate transformation in the history of the battle with the enemy. Brigadier Sare’e stressed that bringing in more foreign paid fighters, especially from African countries, would only add to the enemy’s strength more losses.

The member of the National Delegation, Salim Al-Mughalis, said that “the silence of the United Nations towards the violations of the forces of aggression in Hodeidah, encouraging the aggression to continue and to block the Stockholm agreement.”Al-Mughalis said that the targeting of the demining team and the killing of one of its members was near Cammaert, “the silence of the United Nations, so far, is surprising.”He stressed that the silence of the United Nations as these ongoing attacks and crimes continue would negatively affect the confidence in the United Nations and its seriousness in implementing the Agreement.

Spokesman for the Government of National Salvation and Minister of Information Dheifallah al-Shami affirmed said that the National Salvation Government is committed to cease fire in Hodeidah province despite violations by the coalition and its paid fighters.

The spokesman said that the commitment by the government stems from the full responsibility to implement Sweden agreement brokered by the United Nations.

Al-Shami explained that propaganda promoted by the coalition and its paid fighters on targeting the joint committees to cease fire is unfounded and come to try seeking to fail Sweden agreement and covering the coalition’s continued violations in Hodeidah.

Protest rallIies were staged by residents and sheikhs of many Yemeni provinces to denounce a cease-fire violation by the coalition in Hodediah province.

At the rally, the protesters condemned the starvation policy, all-out blockade and targeting the national economy by the coalition to target the Yemeni people.

The rally affirmed on the need to maintain a cohesion of the internal front and stand united to confront the coalition ‘s military escalation and its plans.

Hodeidah is a strategic port city which should be supporting more than 20 million Yemenis. It should be the source of at least 70 percent of all imports to Yemen,” Suze van Meegen, a protection and advocacy adviser with the Norwegian Refugee Council, told AFP. The coalition has been eager to retake from Yemeni army forces control, according to Yemeni officials.. But the former UN special envoy to Yemen, Ismail Ould Cheik, warned against attacking the port city over potential catastrophic consequences to Yemen last year. Martin Griffiths, the new special envoy to Yemen, echoed the same concern over attacking Hodeidah at the UN Security Council .

The United Arab of Emirates bought weapons from Israel to kill the Yemeni people, an Israeli Journalist and academic researcher at Begin-Sadat Center for Strategic Studies said.

“The United Arab Emirates has purchased arms from the Zionist entity to kill Muslims,” Edy Cohen said on his Twitter Account on Saturday, adding that Palestine does not manufacture weapons”.

In March 2015, the US -backed –Saudi-led coalition 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.

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