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As the War in Ukraine Grabs Headlines, Keep Yemen in Mind, After 8 Years of War

March 15, 2022

 

223 Yemeni fishermen were killed in war attacks since 2015	The aftermath of a Saudi-led coalition airstrike in Sana, the capital of Yemen, in November 2017

 

As Ukraine grabs headlines, keep Yemen in mind, Red Cross official asks

Los Angeles Times, MARCH 11, 2022 

The world must not lose sight of the plight of those living through the years-long war in Yemen, a Red Cross official said Friday, urging continued aid for the Middle East’s poorest nation as the war in Ukraine grabs the world’s attention.

Katharina Ritz, the International Committee of the Red Cross’ head of delegation in Yemen, also said discussions continue over possible future prisoner swaps between the Houthi rebels and a Saudi-led coalition fighting on behalf of the country’s exile government.

However, a major swap hasn’t happened in several years as the war intensified around several front lines, including the energy-rich city of Marib.

“I think our duty is to respond equally to the needs and do our best,” Ritz told the Associated Press. “I think it’s not about, is it Ukraine or not? Now it’s Ukraine and Yemen and Syria and Iraq and Congo and so on. ... We have to add Ukraine on all the crises, but we shouldn’t shift.”

The Iranian-backed Houthis seized Yemen’s capital, Sana, in September 2014. A Saudi-led coalition entered the war in March 2015 to back the country’s expelled government.

In the time since, Yemen has become one of the world’s worst humanitarian crisis. More than 150,000 people have been killed in the warfare, according to the Armed Conflict Location and Event Data Project. Those include both fighters and civilians; the most recent figure for the civilian death toll in Yemen’s conflict stands at 14,500.

Also, Saudi airstrikes have killed hundreds of civilians and targeted the country’s infrastructure. The Houthis have used child soldiers and indiscriminately laid land mines across the country.

Meanwhile, the splintered nation has faced the COVID-19 pandemic and still sees African migrants hoping to cross Yemen and reach neighboring oil-rich Saudi Arabia.

Resorts World Theatre in Las Vegas has officially opened its doors and has been welcoming sold-out crowds.

The country also has been on the brink of famine for years, a crisis that may be exacerbated by Russia’s war on Ukraine. Yemen imports some 40% of its wheat from Russia and Ukraine.

“Now obviously, we have the wheat supply, which will have an impact on the the food supply for Yemen,” Ritz said. “The coping mechanism in the country is very limited, and I think that is going to be a major struggle.”

Meanwhile, the Red Cross continues to have access to prisoners held by militias, the Houthi-controlled government in Sana and that of the Yemeni government in Aden, Ritz said. In 2020, the warring sides engineered a mass prisoner exchange, but there hasn’t been one of a similar size since. A 2018 agreement in Stockholm saw the sides agree to swap over 15,000 prisoners.

“The dialogue between the parties is ongoing. The negotiation has never stopped,” Ritz said. “I think it is an important part also to keep the parties on the table engaged.”

The Houthis, meanwhile, have seized nearly a dozen former Yemeni employees of the U.S. Embassy in Sana. Asked about their case, Ritz said prisoners’ families would need to come forward to the Red Cross for its assistance. She declined to say whether the families had.

The Red Cross also saw its name invoked by Saudi Arabia after a coalition airstrike in January struck a Houthi prison in the city of Saada, killing at least 87 people. Saudi Brig. Gen. Turki al-Malki alleged at the time that the Houthis hadn’t reported the site as needing protection from airstrikes to the United Nations and the International Committee of the Red Cross.

“The responsibility remains with the parties of the conflict, Ritz said. “No matter what ICRC says or does not say or does or does not do, the responsibility remains.”

However, Ritz said the Red Cross worked with the Saudi-led coalition, the Houthis and other militias in the war to stress the importance of protecting civilians and civilian infrastructure in the country.

As Ukraine grabs headlines, keep Yemen in mind, official asks - Los Angeles Times (latimes.com)

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Yemeni Army’s Offensive Operation Against Sudanese Mercenaries Affiliated To The Saudi-Led Aggression

YemenExtra, On Mar 14, 2022

Yemen’s military distributed today, Monday, scenes of the offensive operation carried out by army and popular committees west the city of Harrah.

A military official explained that the two-day offensive operation had resulted in the clearing of dozens of sites and villages from Saudi and Sudanese mercenaries and the control of 54 square kilometers by the army.

The official confirmed the killing and injuring of more than 500 local mercenaries, Sudanese and Saudi military. More than 80 Sudanese mercenaries and 15 Saudi soldiers were among the dead, as were dozens of captives and wounded.

The scenes distributed by the war media showed the military and people’s committees seizing large military assets from armor, tanks, military crews, and heavy and medium weapons during the operation west of Harradh.

Four Civilians Seriously Injured By Saudi Shelling In Saada

Mar 13, 2022, YemenExtra

Four civilians were wounded today, Sunday, after being targeted with the bombardment conducted by the Saudi forces against Monabbeh district, in the northern province of Saada.

Saudi forces bombed al-Raqo area found in Monabbeh district, with multiple rockets and artillery shells, which resulted in seriously wounding four citizens, a security source reported from the province. In addition, the source pointed out that this crime was committed a day after a citizen was killed and seven others wounded in the same area by Saudi shelling.

The source added that the Saudi enemy targeted, with heavy weapons, populated areas in the districts of Razih and Shada, located near the border, which caused material damage to the homes and farms of citizens.

The source condemned the crimes of the Saudi enemy against the citizens in the bordering villages, stressing that these crimes reveal the true identity of this coalition, noting that the Saudi enemy must bear the consequences of targeting civilians.

Dozens Of Yemeni Children Killed, Maimed In Two Months – UNICEF

Mar 12, 2022, YemenExtra

At least 47 children were “killed or maimed” in Yemen’s war in January and February following a surge in violence, the United Nations children’s fund [UNICEF] said on Saturday.

Children are the “first and most to suffer,” UNICEF said, adding that at least 10,000 minors have been killed or injured since 2015, when the Saudi-led military alliance launched air raids in the Middle East’s poorest country.

“Just over the first two months of this year, 47 children were reportedly killed or maimed in several locations across Yemen,” Philippe Duamelle, UNICEF representative to Yemen, said in a statement.

“Since the conflict escalated in Yemen nearly seven years ago, the UN verified that more than 10,200 children have been killed or injured. The actual number is likely much higher.”

“Violence, misery and grief have been commonplace in Yemen with severe consequences on millions of children and families,” Duamelle said.

“It is high time that a sustainable political solution is reached for people and their children to finally live in the peace they so well deserve.”

More than 2,500 schools are unusable, according to UNICEF.

Saudi Arabia, backed by the US and its other regional allies, launched a devastating war on Yemen in March 2015.

The almost seven years of war have killed hundreds of thousands of people and destroyed much of the country’s infrastructure. Yemeni people are facing malnutrition, hunger, and famine, which have increased risks of disease and starvation.

In light of its defeats on various frontlines and its failure to achieve any of its objectives, the US-Saudi aggression has notoriously and indiscriminately carried out numerous attacks against densely-populated centers, including markets, hospitals, farms and schools.

Dozens of Yemeni Children Killed, Maimed In Two Months – UNICEF | YemenExtra

 

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Fishermen in Yemen Confront the War Dangers to Feed their Families

Mar 14, 2022, YemenExtra

Catching fish for a living in Yemen isn’t only about jumping in a boat and throwing a net into the sea. You need to also say goodbye to your family and prepare them for the fact that they might never see you again.

Because what was once a fairly routine occupation has, since war started in 2014, often become a matter of life and death.

This has little to do with storms or treacherous currents at sea, but rather the fact that after the Saudi-led coalition declared most of Yemen’s territorial waters a conflict zone, fishermen have frequently been fired upon and killed when attempting to work there.

As of August 2019, at least 334 fishermen had been reported killed or injured since 2015, according to statistics from Yemen’s fisheries authority. Others had been arrested and had their boats seized, while some were now detained in Saudi-run prisons in Yemen.

“We are allowed to fish in specific areas near to the beach,” Ahmed Futaih, a fisherman in his 40s from Aden city, told Middle East Eye.

“But when we try to fish in deeper areas, where there are a lot of fish, Apache helicopters chase us and the fighters shoot at us or their military boats arrest us and seize our boats.

“One of my colleagues was arrested by the Saudi-led coalition and they seized his boat. They only released him after he signed papers saying that he would not fish in the banned areas again.”

Local reports estimate that of Yemen’s approximate 100,000 fishermen, since 2015 over a third (37,000) have quit and thus lost their income.

This is one of the world’s poorest countries, where the war has resulted in tens of thousands of people living in famine-like conditions and which has been declared by the United Nations as the world’s worst humanitarian crisis.

Driven further out to sea

Desperate to continue earning a living and feeding their family, some fishermen, such as Futaih, have been forced to go out far beyond Yemen’s territorial waters and head for Somalia, where there are plentiful fish stocks.

There they are safe from the coalition’s bullets and punishment, but not from other hazards.

“Many fishermen decided not to continue in this dangerous job and they went to look for an alternative,” Futaih told MEE. “But I don’t have any other profession to help me to provide for my 11 family members.

‘Otherwise I will starve to death’

Malik, a fisherman who inherited this job from his father, told MEE that while Yemen’s waters may not be safe to fish in for Yemenis in small boats using traditional methods, large commercial fishing vessels from the Gulf states were trawling for fish every day.

“It isn’t safe for us who fish in the traditional way to fish in Yemen, but the Emirati and Saudi fishing vessels are allowed to dredge our fish from anywhere they want,” Malik said.

Malik was arrested by the Somali coast guard and released last year after they had seized his boat and he’d paid a fine to Somali authorities.

“I don’t have a boat now, but I hire one and sail to fish in Yemeni waters or near Somalia’s waters,” Malik told MEE. “That’s my only choice, otherwise I will starve to death together with my wife and three children.”

Yasmin Mohammed, from Aden, told MEE that she used to cook fish every day in the family home. It was such a staple in the family’s diet that her children would sometimes ask her for a break from it.

“Fish used to be very cheap and most families in Aden could easily afford it. But since 2015 prices have been increasing and it is now unaffordable,” she said. “Fish that used to cost 1,000 ($4) Yemeni riyal now costs YR10,000 ($40).”

Yasmin, a widow providing for four children, said that she hardly buys fish anymore as only rich families can afford it.

Saeed, a fisherman from Aden’s waterfront Sira district, said that fish prices had risen dramatically because of the increasing dangers and challenges that Yemini fishermen now face.

Source: Middle East Eye

Fishermen in Yemen confront the US-Saudi dangers to feed their families | YemenExtra

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