Yemen - Civil War

[BLACKEAGLE]

Yemen’s Houthis in deadly clashes with Hadi loyalists

In this April 26, 2015, file photo, a man carries a boy who was injured during a crossfire between tribal fighters and Shiite militia known as Houthis, in Taiz, Yemen. In a report released Tuesday, Aug. 18, 2015. (AP)

By Al Arabiya News | Staff Writer
Thursday, 20 August 2015

At least 21 Iranian-backed Houthi militias have been killed in Yemen’s central city of Ibb during clashes with forces loyal to legitimate President Abd Rabbu Mansour Hadi.

According to Al Arabiya News channel, a number of Houthis were injured during the heavy clashes that took place on Thursday.

Meanwhile, the Arab coalition led by Saudi Arabia has targeted Houthi positions in the western province of Maareb.

Also on Thursday, 11 civilians were killed and more than 35 injured by shelling in Yemen’s third largest city of Taez, independent local officials, witnesses and medical officials said, according to Reuters news agency.

The sources, who were speaking on conditions of anonymity because they were not authorized to talk to reporters, said the shelling was by Houthi fighters who were attacking areas controlled by pro-government forces.

Houthi reinforcements were being sent to the city, witnesses said.

Pro-Hadi fighters had captured several locations in Taez over the past week, and currently control most of the city.

Last Update: Thursday, 20 August 2015 KSA 21:10 - GMT 18:10
http://english.alarabiya.net/en/News/middle-east/2015/08/20/Yemen-s-Houthis-in-deadly-clashes-with-Hadi-loyalists-.html

 

[BLACKEAGLE]

Two Saudi pilots killed in crash near Yemen

A Saudi Special Forces helicopter flies in the capital, Riyadh, on May 19, 2015. (AFP)

By Staff writer | Al Arabiya News
Saturday, 22 August 2015

Two Saudi Apache helicopter pilots were killed late on Friday night after their Apache crashed in Saudi Arabia’s Jizan region, near the Yemeni border, the state Saudi Press Agency reported.

The pilots were killed "while performing their duty to protect the borders of the homeland," according to the SPA release.

The coalition named the two pilots as Ali Bin Mohammed al-Qarni and Nasser bin Mohammed al-Harthy.

Since late March, the Saudi-led coalition has bombed Iranian-backed Houthi militias and forces allied to deposed leader Ali Abdullah Saleh, in a bid to put the government of internationally recognized President Abdrabbu Mansour Hadi back in power.

[Developing story]

Last Update: Saturday, 22 August 2015 KSA 00:03 - GMT 21:03
http://english.alarabiya.net/en/News/middle-east/2015/08/22/Coalition-Two-pilots-killed-in-crash-near-Yemen.html

 

[BLACKEAGLE]

Yemeni president proposes 15-day ceasefire

A protester holds up a poster of Yemen's President Hadi during an anti-Houthi demonstration in Sana'a. (File photo: Reuters)

By The Associated Press | United Natons
Saturday, 22 August 2015

Yemen's president is proposing a 15-day ceasefire that would coincide with the withdrawal of Houthi militias from all government institutions and military installations and all cities and provinces - even the province they call home.

President Abdrabbu Mansour Hadi's proposal, obtained Friday by The Associated Press, was given to the U.N. envoy for Yemen in Saudi Arabia's capital on Thursday, and Ismail Ould Cheikh Ahmed was heading to Oman on Friday to meet with Houthi representatives to discuss it, according to a U.N. diplomat.

Yemen's government has expressed support for a ceasefire in the past, but this might be its first formal proposal for one.

The proposal, dated Thursday, calls for the Houthi militias and allied troops loyal to former President Ali Abdullah Saleh to immediately implement a U.N. Security Council resolution which demands an end to violence and a swift return to U.N.-led peace talks.

Hadi's proposal comes after pro-government troops, backed by a Saudi-led coalition carrying out airstrikes, regained strategic ground from the rebels, including the southern port of Aden. They now push north toward the capital, Sanaa.

Yemen's government has repeatedly demanded that the Houthis withdraw. With government forces retaking territory and the Houthis on the defensive, it remains to be seen if the two sides will be more amenable to talking. An attempt at U.N.-brokered talks in Geneva in June failed.

More than 4,000 people have been killed in the Arab world's poorest country since March, when the U.S.-backed coalition began launching airstrikes against the rebels who have seized control of the capital Sanaa and other cities. Hadi, who was forced to flee, is now in the Saudi capital, Riyadh.

Past attempts at a humanitarian pause in the fighting have failed, and coalition restrictions on air and sea ports have made aid delivery a challenge. U.N. officials warned this week that the conflict has pushed the country to the brink of famine.

Hadi's proposal would commit both sides to a 15-day cease-fire that could be extended "in conjunction with the withdrawal of the Houthi-Saleh militias from military and civil institutions of the state, all cities and provinces including Sanaa and Saadah."

Both sides also would agree to allow U.N. military observers to monitor implementation of the withdrawal, the return of heavy and medium weapons to the government and the demobilization of child soldiers.

"If the truce is breached by the Houthi-Saleh militias, it will be dealt with firmly," the proposal says.

It also calls for activation of U.N. sanctions, which include an arms embargo on Houthi leaders, Saleh and his son.

The proposed agreement also would order Houthi militias not to interfere in the delivery of desperately needed humanitarian aid.

Last Update: Saturday, 22 August 2015 KSA 07:48 - GMT 04:48
http://english.alarabiya.net/en/News/middle-east/2015/08/22/Yemeni-president-proposes-15-day-ceasefire.html

 

[Scorpion]

Yemeni president proposes 15-day ceasefire

A protester holds up a poster of Yemen's President Hadi during an anti-Houthi demonstration in Sana'a. (File photo: Reuters)

By The Associated Press | United Natons
Saturday, 22 August 2015

Yemen's president is proposing a 15-day ceasefire that would coincide with the withdrawal of Houthi militias from all government institutions and military installations and all cities and provinces - even the province they call home.

President Abdrabbu Mansour Hadi's proposal, obtained Friday by The Associated Press, was given to the U.N. envoy for Yemen in Saudi Arabia's capital on Thursday, and Ismail Ould Cheikh Ahmed was heading to Oman on Friday to meet with Houthi representatives to discuss it, according to a U.N. diplomat.

Yemen's government has expressed support for a ceasefire in the past, but this might be its first formal proposal for one.

The proposal, dated Thursday, calls for the Houthi militias and allied troops loyal to former President Ali Abdullah Saleh to immediately implement a U.N. Security Council resolution which demands an end to violence and a swift return to U.N.-led peace talks.

Hadi's proposal comes after pro-government troops, backed by a Saudi-led coalition carrying out airstrikes, regained strategic ground from the rebels, including the southern port of Aden. They now push north toward the capital, Sanaa.

Yemen's government has repeatedly demanded that the Houthis withdraw. With government forces retaking territory and the Houthis on the defensive, it remains to be seen if the two sides will be more amenable to talking. An attempt at U.N.-brokered talks in Geneva in June failed.

More than 4,000 people have been killed in the Arab world's poorest country since March, when the U.S.-backed coalition began launching airstrikes against the rebels who have seized control of the capital Sanaa and other cities. Hadi, who was forced to flee, is now in the Saudi capital, Riyadh.

Past attempts at a humanitarian pause in the fighting have failed, and coalition restrictions on air and sea ports have made aid delivery a challenge. U.N. officials warned this week that the conflict has pushed the country to the brink of famine.

Hadi's proposal would commit both sides to a 15-day cease-fire that could be extended "in conjunction with the withdrawal of the Houthi-Saleh militias from military and civil institutions of the state, all cities and provinces including Sanaa and Saadah."

Both sides also would agree to allow U.N. military observers to monitor implementation of the withdrawal, the return of heavy and medium weapons to the government and the demobilization of child soldiers.

"If the truce is breached by the Houthi-Saleh militias, it will be dealt with firmly," the proposal says.

It also calls for activation of U.N. sanctions, which include an arms embargo on Houthi leaders, Saleh and his son.

The proposed agreement also would order Houthi militias not to interfere in the delivery of desperately needed humanitarian aid.

Last Update: Saturday, 22 August 2015 KSA 07:48 - GMT 04:48
http://english.alarabiya.net/en/News/middle-east/2015/08/22/Yemeni-president-proposes-15-day-ceasefire.html

This guy is nuts. We should not give him that of attention. Its we the collation who decide ceasefire.

Two Saudi pilots killed in crash near Yemen

A Saudi Special Forces helicopter flies in the capital, Riyadh, on May 19, 2015. (AFP)

By Staff writer | Al Arabiya News
Saturday, 22 August 2015

Two Saudi Apache helicopter pilots were killed late on Friday night after their Apache crashed in Saudi Arabia’s Jizan region, near the Yemeni border, the state Saudi Press Agency reported.

The pilots were killed "while performing their duty to protect the borders of the homeland," according to the SPA release.

The coalition named the two pilots as Ali Bin Mohammed al-Qarni and Nasser bin Mohammed al-Harthy.

Since late March, the Saudi-led coalition has bombed Iranian-backed Houthi militias and forces allied to deposed leader Ali Abdullah Saleh, in a bid to put the government of internationally recognized President Abdrabbu Mansour Hadi back in power.

[Developing story]

Last Update: Saturday, 22 August 2015 KSA 00:03 - GMT 21:03
http://english.alarabiya.net/en/News/middle-east/2015/08/22/Coalition-Two-pilots-killed-in-crash-near-Yemen.html

To the One we belong and to Him we shall return.

 

[UAE]

One of the best I have seen.

Bell-412
Blackhawk
F-15

 

[UAE]

Oshkosh provided by the UAE arrived in Yemen Marb

 

[Redheart]

http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2015/08/22/world/middleeast/ap-ml-yemen.html?_r=0

Al-Qaida militants have seized control of key areas in and around Yemen's port city of Aden, high-ranking security officials said Saturday, a major gain for the group which has been making inroads amid the chaos of the country's civil war.

The move, part of a weekslong expansion in Aden in the wake of major fighting there between Shiite rebels known as Houthis and pro-government forces backed by Saudi Arabia, shows how the organization still holds formidable clout despite its relatively low-profile role in the country's raging civil war.

Fighters took Tawahi district, home to a presidential palace and Aden's main port, and were patrolling the streets, some carrying black banners, the officials said. The militants also took parts of Crater, Aden's commercial center, and parts of the town of Dar Saad, just north of Aden, including an army base that their fighters turned into a training camp, they added.

Security officials near the seized base, in Dar Saad's al-Lohoum district, said it is now training some 200 militants.

The officials, who hail from the military, security forces and police, all spoke on condition of anonymity because they weren't authorized to speak to journalists.

Yemeni government spokesman Rajeh Badi, now based in Saudi Arabia, did not respond immediately to requests for comment.

Yemen's conflict pits the Iran-allied Houthi rebels and troops loyal to the former president, Ali Abdullah Saleh, against an array of forces including southern separatists, local and tribal militias, Sunni Islamic militants as well as troops loyal to President Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi. The conflict gained international attention when the Houthis took over the capital, Sanaa, last September, and escalated in March as a Saudi-led coalition started launching airstrikes against Houthi positions.

Backed by heavy airstrikes, the coalition forces pushed the Houthis out of Aden last month, and have been pursuing them further to the north. They had been making rapid advances in armored columns until earlier this week, when rebels ambushed them in a major battle near the entrance to Bayda province.

Al-Qaida appears to have taken advantage of a security vacuum in Aden to ramp up its presence. It also has forces in the cities of Breiqa, west of Aden, and al-Khadra, the officials added.

Omar al-Sobeihy, a resident of Dar Saad, said that while al-Qaida fighters are moving freely in the area, "we haven't felt any harassment from them so far."

In the Tawahi district, resident Taha Faris described a similar situation.

"They are spread out in Tahawi and we can say they have the area under their control. So far they aren't harassing people, trying instead to gain support, though I fully realize they are waiting for the right moment to attack and control all of Aden," Faris said.

Washington considers al-Qaida's Yemen branch to be the most dangerous offshoot of the terror network.

In Tawahi, al-Qaida destroyed the main state security building on Saturday with a powerful bomb that was heard around the city, security officials said. The group has been trying to attack the site for several years, they added. Meanwhile, an official with port security said one of their boats was set ablaze by suspected al-Qaida militants.

Al-Qaida, which had only a minor role the war against the Houthis, also has been on a major recruitment drive, adding hundreds of young men to its ranks and stockpiling weapons, several officials said.

Washington, meanwhile, has kept up its drone attacks targeting the militants, including one in June in the city of Mukalla that killed the group's top leader. Al-Qaida has been in control of Mukalla, the capital of the Hadramawt province which borders Saudi Arabia, since April.

Al-Qaida and Islamic State members were also present in al-Houta, capital of Lahj province, according to witnesses and security officials.

A group of activists in Aden warned Hadi in an Aug. 11 letter that the town of al-Sheikh Othman in Aden province had become a center for arms dealers, voicing their frustration over the security vacuum. The well-known activists, who campaign for more autonomy for the south, said al-Qaida and other sleeper cells were buying and storing weapons from that market.

A high-ranking military official said the authorities in Aden wrongfully gave weapons to al-Qaida when they randomly distributed them to pro-government forces in Aden in March and April while pursuing the Houthis. Al-Qaida captured other weapons in clashes, according to the official.

High-ranking security and military officials met Saturday in the office of Aden's governor to discuss ways to quickly absorb pro-government fighters in the military, officials in his office said. Officials from Aden, Lahj, and Abin provinces attended the meeting.

The officials discussed the increasing reach of the attacks by al-Qaida, including taking over some official government buildings in Aden and the bombing of the city's state security building.

Yemeni transport Minister Badr Bassalma told The Associated Press that Aden's ports were secure and operational, without elaborating. He spoke from Saudi Arabia, where Hadi fled to in March as the Houthis seized Aden. Some Yemeni officials are currently in Aden but the government remains in Saudi Arabia.

 

[BLACKEAGLE]

Al-Qaeda suspects killed in Yemen drone strike

In Yemen, tribesmen stand on the rubble of a building destroyed by a U.S. drone air strike, that targeted suspected al-Qaeda militants on Feb. 3, 2013. (Reuters)

AFP, Aden
Sunday, 23 August 2015

Four suspected al-Qaeda militants were killed overnight in an apparent U.S. drone strike in Mukalla, the southern Yemeni city that the extremist group overran in April, a local official said Sunday.

The four were travelling in a car on the tarmac of Mukalla's Al-Rayane airport that was struck by a missile fired by an "American drone", according to the unnamed official, killing them instantly.

The night strike follows a similar attack on Friday which killed three al-Qaeda suspects as they travelled through the central Marib province, tribal sources said.

The United States is the only country known to operate armed drones over Yemen, and strikes have continued on suspected militants even as the country has been battered by months of fighting between pro- and anti-government forces.

Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP), viewed by Washington as the extremist network's most dangerous branch, has taken advantage of the chaos to seize Mukalla, capital of the vast desert Hadramawt province.

The group admitted in June that its leader in Yemen Nasir al-Wuhayshi had been killed in a drone strike.

Two senior AQAP commanders were killed in similar attacks in April.

A local official told AFP on Saturday that AQAP militants had planted a bomb that destroyed the headquarters of the secret police service in second city Aden, a possible sign of the extremist group's growing reach in Yemen.

Last Update: Sunday, 23 August 2015 KSA 10:41 - GMT 07:41
http://english.alarabiya.net/en/News/middle-east/2015/08/23/Al-Qaeda-suspects-killed-in-Yemen-drone-strike.html

 

[BLACKEAGLE]

British hostage in Yemen rescued by UAE forces

A pilot sitting in a cockpit of a fighter jet of the UAE armed forces on the tarmac of a Saudi air force base after raids against Houthis in Yemen (File photo: AFP)


By Staff writer | Al Arabiya News
Sunday, 23 August 2015

A British hostage has been freed in Yemen following an operation by United Arab Emirates forces, the Foreign Office in London announced Sunday.

"I'm pleased to confirm that a British hostage held in Yemen has been extracted by UAE forces in a military intelligence operation," Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond said in a statement reported by Agence France-Presse. "The British national is safe and well".

Emirati state news agency WAM said on Sunday that the hostage, who went missing in Feb. 2014, was taken to Abu
Dhabi on a military plane on Saturday night.

Abu Dhabi Crown Prince Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed al-Nahyan spoke to British Prime Minister David Cameron to tell him about the release on Saturday, WAM added.

The statements did not identify the person or give any further details of the operation to free them.

Yemen has been wracked by conflict since March, when a Saudi-led coalition launched air strikes against Iranian-backed Houthi militias.

Yemeni loyalists are backed by countries including Saudi Arabia and the UAE.

Last year, British teacher Mike Harvey was released after being held for five months in Yemen following negotiations by the government in Sanaa.

(With AFP and Reuters

Last Update: Sunday, 23 August 2015 KSA 13:15 - GMT 10:15
http://english.alarabiya.net/en/News/middle-east/2015/08/23/British-hostage-in-Yemen-rescued-by-UAE-forces-.html

 

[BLACKEAGLE]

Yemen’s pro-Hadi forces mobilize to retake Sanaa

The Popular Resistance is backed by a Saudi-led coalition, which has been leading an air campaign against Houthis since March. (File photo: AP)

By Staff writer | Al Arabiya News
Monday, 24 August 2015

Forces loyal to President Abdrabbu Mansour Hadi are stepping up military efforts to retake Yemen’s capital Sanaa from Iranian-backed Houthi militias, according to Al Arabiya News Channel.

The Popular Resistance is backed by a Saudi-led coalition, which has been leading an air campaign against the militia since March, and Yemeni armed forces.


The Popular Resistance is backed by a Saudi-led coalition, which has been leading an air campaign against Houthis since March. (Reuters)

The Houthis overran Sanaa in September, causing violence across the country.

Meanwhile, Saudi special forces have revealed that landmines believed to be planted by Houthis have been located on the Saudi-Yemeni border, according to security sources.

The sources said that the special forces have successfully destroyed the landmines.

On Sunday, Houthis seized control of the University of Sanaa and captured a number of professors, including an education official.

Last month, Yemeni forces supported by Saudi-led air strikes recaptured positions on the outskirts of the second city of Aden, areas used by Houthis to fire rockets into the city.

A political crisis in Yemen descended into civil war in late March when Houthi forces advanced south toward the main southern port of Aden in late March and caused Hadi to flee to Saudi Arabia.


Last Update: Monday, 24 August 2015 KSA 13:25 - GMT 10:25
http://english.alarabiya.net/en/News/middle-east/2015/08/24/Yemen-s-pro-Hadi-forces-mobilize-to-retake-Sanaa.html

 

[Scorpion]

The Houthis are done all over Yemen. They have no support whatsoever and soon will become part of history. They have strong present in Sad'a and places like Mara'an but no problem we will come after them as soon as we establish strong force in the south and the west so we can march from all direction and swallow them all at once.

 

[Scorpion]

 

[Gabriel92]

What are the latests devlopments on the ground guys ?

 

[Scorpion]

What are the latests devlopments on the ground guys ?

Most of Yemen has been liberated. Saudi troops moved inside Yemen yesterday to establish a buffer zone and then attack from there whatever left from the northern part of Yemen.

 

[Gasoline]

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