Category: John Kerry

Saudis demand civilians leave part of North Yemen

9/5/2015

Yemen President Hadi with John Kerry

Leaflets have been dropped by the Saudi-led bombing coalition that warn residents of a border district to leave as the area is considered a military zone. While the earlier bombing operation Decisive Storm was said to have been completed some time ago and to be replaced by a new stage designed to protect civilians and find a political solution, renewed bombing began just hours after it was scheduled to stop. Bombing has continued ever since.

The Houthi-controlled area along the Saudi border has witnessed particularly heavy bombing that has escalated since the Houthis shelled Saudi Arabia from Saada province killing ten. The leaflets were dropped in Old Saada city and Saada province. The NGO group Medicins sans Frontiers has members in Old Saada and warned that because of fuel shortages many would be unable to leave the city. The group urged the Saudis not to attack the city as they had five staff working in the hospital. Brig. Gen. Ahmad Assiri, a spokesperson for the Saudi-led coalition said that people should stay away from Houthi strongholds for their own safety. Assiri said the attacks were aimed at those who planned the attacks on Saudi Arabia.

He said there would be harsh retaliation for the shelling attack by the Houthis on the border city of Najaran.

Strikes appear to be escalating ahead of a humanitarian ceasefire scheduled to begin on May 12 and to last five days. However, Houthi officials claim that they have received no formal notice of the ceasefire and could not respond until they do so. Since the Saudi air strikes began at least 1,200 people have been killed over half civilians according to the UN. Over 300,000 have been displaced and many have fled the country altogether. The crisis began when negotiations for a new government with the Houthi rebels, who had extended their area of control to the capital and west last year, broke down. The president, Mansour Hadi, resigned but later escaped house arrest and fled to Aden where he claimed to be president and tried to set up a government to rival the regime created by the Houthis in Sanaa. He was attacked and fled to Saudi Arabia to the safety of the capital Ryadh where he claims to still be the legitimate president. He has strong supporters including the Gulf Cooperation Council, Saudi Arabia, and also the United States. He allowed drone strikes and was a strong supporter of the US war on terror against groups such as Al Qaeda in the Arab Peninsula (AQAP).

AQAP are enemies not just of Hadi and his government but of the Houthis as well, since the Houthi are a Shia sect and AQAP radical Sunnis. AQAP has taken advantage of the chaos in Yemen to greatly extend their reach and power often in league with local Sunni tribes. They have over-run a number of army bases easily and captured huge amounts of weapons. They now control the province of Hadramawt and its capital Mukalla, a port city.

The US supports a humanitarian pause to deliver aid to conflict areas and US Secretary of State John Kerry has been pressing the Saudis to agree to a temporary ceasefire. A huge problem for the aid effort is that the Saudis insist that they control the distribution of aid. This is totally inconsistent with the UN position that aid should never be delivered by one of the parties to the conflict. If Saudi Arabia distributes the aid it would ensure that aid went only to the areas supporting or under control of their supporters. It would also ensure that Houthis would not agree to a ceasefire.

UN officials have been quite critical of the Saudi-led blockade of Yemeni ports, designed to prevent any weapons from reaching the Houthis. The searches have created huge delays in delivery of fuel and food particular in areas controlled by Houthis. Johannes Van Der Klaauw, UN humanitarian coordinator for Yemen said: “We urgently need a resumption of commercial imports of critical goods, such as fuel, medical supplies and food. Without resumption of commercial imports, all basic services and markets will close down shortly.” In order to prevent an Iranian cargo plane from landing at an airport in the capital Sanaa, the Saudis bombed the runway making it unusable and preventing any aid being delivered using the airport.

Critics claim that there will be no ceasefire and that the Saudi announcement was all meant as a show for Secretary of State Kerry. The "pause" in the Saudi-led operations was never likely to happen in any event because the Saudi foreign ministry made it conditional upon the Houthis disarming which they know will not happen. The Russians earlier called for a ceasefire in the UN Security Council but this was rejected. No doubt the US wants Saudi Arabia to at least make a gesture towards alleviating the humanitarian situation. Since April 21st Operation Restoring Hope which would shift attention to the political process rather than military operations and also protect the people is supposed to be in progress. The bombing never stopped and military operations have escalated with even some special forces now operating in Aden.

There is no sign yet of any political breakthrough.

Sources:
http://news.yahoo.com/saudi-led-forces-conduct-airstrikes-yemens-saada-063441226.html
http://www.aljazeera.com/news/2015/05/yemenis-ordered-leave-saada-province-150508145754277.html
http://www.usnews.com/news/world/articles/2015/05/05/saudi-suspends-flights-at-airport-along-yemen-border
http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/kerry-hopes-win-pause-yemen-war-heads-talks-30839695
http://news.antiwar.com/2015/05/07/despite-talk-of-humanitarian-pause-saudis-vow-to-keep-attacking-yemen/
http://www.cnn.com/2015/05/07/middleeast/yemen-violence/
http://www.mcclatchydc.com/2015/05/08/266087/un-officials-unhappy-with-saudi.html

1 Comment

Iran plays key role in offensive to free Tikrit, Iraq

6/3/2015

1 Comment

Map of Iraqi city of Tikrit

Thousands are fleeing from Tikrit as Iraqi forces are gathering for an offensive to drive out Islamic State forces. Many of those fleeing are being held up at checkpoints on the road to Samarra. Relief supplies are being sent to them. Some residents are reported as being held as human shields to protect the IS militants. The residents are fleeing not only to escape the battle but also the aftermath.

Many fear that the Shia militia who are involved in the offensive will take revenge on the Sunni inhabitants some of whom supported the Islamic State. In other areas of Iraq Shi'ite militia have been accused of war crimes. Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi warned militia members that if they did not respect human rights they would be punished.

The commander of the operation against Tikrit is an Iranian general: "General Qassem Suleimani, the commander of Iran's Quds Force, has been spotted drinking tea and leading operations against ISIS in the Iraqi city of Tikrit.

The city, which is the birthplace of the late Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein, has been under militant control since June 2014. " Prime Minister al-Abadi requested that the US and Iran not carry their conflict over to the battles against the Islamic State. However, the US will not be involved in the offensive against Tikrit a sign that there is little cooperation in the battle against the IS. US officials insist that they do not coordinate their activities with the Iranians a situation which may make attacks against the IS much less effective than they could be.

The Americans, and even more the Saudis, worry about Iran having any lead role. Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Saud al-Faisal said in a news conference with John Kerry: "What is happening in Tikrit is exactly what we are worried about. Iran is taking over the country." Kerry, US Secretary of State, had a more positive spin on the Tikrit offensive:
"This was put together by the Iraqis, formulated by the Iraqis, executed by the Iraqis, and that's the best thing all of us could, frankly, ask for. So we take it the way it is and we'll hope for the best results and move from there."

Indeed, it was the decision of the Iraqis not to ask the US-led coalition to coordinate or even provide air strikes for Iraqi ground forces. Joint Chiefs Chairman General Martin Dempsey said that about two thirds of those involved in the offensive action against Tikrit are Shiite militias supported by Iran which also is providing artillery and other equipment. The remaining one third are regular Iraqi troops.The Iraqis are able to play off the Iranians against the Americans. Stephen Biddle, of George Washington University, who has acted as a consultant to US commanders, said that the Iraqis see Iranians as a useful alternative to Americans. The US would like to see a more accommodative approach in order to integrate Sunnis into the Iraqi political system.

Tikrit was Saddam Hussein's home town and a strongly Sunni city. Perhaps, the US pushed Iraq too hard on recognizing Sunni concerns with respect to the Tikrit offensive as Biddle suggests, and the Iraqis decided to turn to the Iranians to lead the offensive.

1 Comment

Saudis demand civilians leave part of North Yemen

Iran plays key role in offensive to free Tikrit, Iraq

Ken Hanly

Archives

Categories