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Operation 'Decisive Storm' | Saudi lead coalition operations in Yemen - Updates & Discussions.

Yemen Houthi fighters backed by tanks reach central Aden

(Reuters) - A unit of Houthi rebels and allies backed by tanks pushed into central Aden, the main foothold of fighters loyal to President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi, witnesses said on Wednesday, despite a week of air strikes by Saudi-led coalition forces.

The alliance of mainly Sunni Gulf Arab states has also attacked the northern Shi'ite Houthis from the sea but their advance toward the southern port city has been relentless.

Hadi's aides expressed alarm.

"What's happening now would be a disaster for Aden and its people, if Aden falls" Reyad Yassin Abdulla told Al Jazeera television.

The Houthi movement was jubilant.

"We can say that after a week of bombing on Yemen the aggressors have not achieved any result ... The victories in Aden today embarrass this campaign and silenced the aggressor states," Houthi spokesman Mohammad Abdulsalam told the militia's al-Maseera television.

Asked for his reaction, a Saudi military spokesman said Houthi forces had been in Aden before the alliance began its campaign on March 26 and had fought daily battles against the people of the city. Tanks appearing there had always been a possibility, he said without elaborating.

The Houthis, with vital support from army units loyal to former president Ali Abdullah Saleh, emerged as the dominant force in Yemen after they took over the capital six months ago and they now control much of the Arabian Peninsula country.

Aden residents said they saw groups of fighters carrying rocket propelled grenades and accompanied by four tanks and three armored vehicles in the Khor Maksar district - part of a neck of land linking central Aden to the rest of the city.

The unit met strong resistance from local militias and residents said they saw eight bodies of Houthi fighters on the street. Rocket fire fell on the central Crater district.

Many people fled the area and some were trying to get on a ship leaving the port.

Earlier on Wednesday, dozens of fighters were killed in clashes between Houthi fighters and their army allies on one side, and militiamen and tribesmen opposing them around Aden and elsewhere in south Yemen, witnesses and militia sources said.

Hadi left the city on Thursday for Saudi Arabia, whose stated aim is to restore him to power.

In Dhalea, 100 km (60 miles) north of Aden, air strikes supported militiamen fighting street battles against the Houthis, who are allied with Saudi Arabia's regional foe Iran, and backed by army units loyal to longtime ruler Saleh, who was pushed out three years ago after "Arab Spring" demonstrations.

Ten of the militia fighters were killed, residents said, but Houthi forces and allied army units were being pushed back.

The Houthis suffered heavier losses in battles with tribesmen at a major army base in the southeastern province of Shabwa, where 35 Houthi and army fighters were killed along with 20 tribesmen.

Meanwhile, the Saudi-led air attacks continued on targets nationwide overnight.

An explosion at a dairy factory in Yemen's Hodaida port killed at least 25 workers, medical sources said, with conflicting accounts attributing the blast to an air strike or to a rocket landing from a nearby army base.

The 26 September website of Yemen's factionalized army, which mostly sides with the Houthis, said 37 workers were killed and 80 wounded at the dairy and oils factory "during the aggressive air strikes which targeted the two factories last night".

Medical sources in the city said 25 workers at the plant had been killed at the factory, which was located near an army camp loyal to Saleh.

Residents and witnesses contacted by Reuters said the air strikes had targeted the factory shortly after midnight on Wednesday. Others said rockets fired from the base - possibly as retaliation against the bombings - hit the factory.

Other air strikes hit Houthi positions along the Saudi border in Yemen's far north, an army base in the central highlands, air defense infrastructure in the eastern Marib province, and a coastguard position near Hodaida.

A raid at a coastal defense station at Maidi port in Hajja province north of Hodaida killed six soldiers, workers there said, while further strikes hit an army camp in Sanaa and a government facility in Saadeh in the north of Yemen.

UNICEF said that at least 62 children had been killed and 30 wounded in the violence over the past week, and the United Nations said an attack on a refugee camp in northern Yemen, which medics blamed on an air strike, broke international law.

Not including Wednesday's toll, 103 civilians and fighters had been killed in the city since clashes began last Tuesday, Aden-based NGO the Field Medical Organisation said.

Yemen Houthi fighters backed by tanks reach central Aden| Reuters




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Saudi Arabia’s Yemen intervention risks endangering kingdom’s own oil infrastructure

saudi-jets.jpg

Military analysts say there is little chance air strikes by a Saudi-led coalition of Sunni countries will subjugate the Iranian-backed Houthi forces in Yemen. It may require a full-blown invasion by land forces to secure control. Above, Saudi Brigadier General Ahmed Asiri, spokesman of the Saudi-led coalition forces, speaks to the media next to a replica of a Tornado fighter jet, at the Riyadh airbase in the Saudi capital on March 26, 2014.

ANALYSIS

Saudi Arabia’s escalating intervention in Yemen is a high-stakes gamble that risks backfiring in complex ways, ultimately endangering Saudi oil infrastructure and the security of global energy supply.

Military analysts say there is little chance air strikes by a Saudi-led coalition of Sunni countries will subjugate the Iranian-backed Houthi forces in Yemen. It may require a full-blown invasion by land forces to secure control. Large concentrations of Saudi armour and artillery are already massing near the border, though this may simply be a negotiating ploy.

The longer the conflict goes on, the greater the risk that it will stir up internal hatreds in a country that has traditionally been relatively free of sectarian violence. Adam Baron from the European Council on Foreign Relations said the inflammatory statements about the Sunni-Shia feud by politicians across the region were becoming “self-fulfilling prophecies”.

Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsular (AQAP) – seen as the most lethal of the jihadist franchises, and a redoubt for Saudi jihadists – controls a swath of central Yemen and is the chief beneficiary of the power vacuum. AQAP can plan terrorist strikes against Saudi targets from a deepening strategic hinterland with increasing impunity. All US military advisers have been withdrawn from Yemen, and much of the country’s counter-terror apparatus is disintegrating. It is becoming harder to harry al-Qaeda cells or carry out drone strikes with precision.

The great unknown is whether a protracted Saudi war against Shia forces in Yemen – and possibly a “Vietnam-style” quagmire – might tug at the delicate political fabric within Saudi Arabia itself. The kingdom’s giant Ghawar oil field lies in the Eastern Province, home to an aggrieved Shia minority.

“If the Saudis continue this war – and if they keep killing civilians – this is going to create internal instability in Saudi Arabia itself,” said Ali al-Ahmed from the Institute for Gulf Affairs in Washington.

Large numbers of Saudi youth are disaffected. An estimated 6,000 have been recruited by al-Qaeda and a further 3,000 have fought for Isil in Syria and Iraq. While the Saudis have 30,000-strong force guarding the oil infrastructure, the risk of infiltration is high even among clans linked to the royal family. Two al-Qaeda suicide bombers in a pipeline attack in 2006 were scions of the ruling elite, one a close relation of a leading Wahhabi cleric and the chief of the religious police.


The Institute for Gulf Affairs said the neuralgic point for the oil infrastructure is “Grand Central Station” at Qateef in the Eastern Province, where 12 pipelines run close together, supplying the oil terminals at Ras Tanura and Dharan. “These lines run close to major highways and population centres, making them an easy target for quick hit-and-run attacks,” he said.

An al-Qaeda cell arrested in April 2007 was plotting to hijack civilian airliners and crash them into the Saudi oil “crown jewels”, the oil facilities at Ras Tanura and Abqaiq. Terrorists revealed under interrogation that engineers from the state oil giant Aramco may have been recruited.

Saudi Arabia’s Shia minority makes up 20% of the population. It has been cautious so far but the risks of a clash are growing as the Middle East becomes engulfed in an epic Sunni-Shia struggle, hardening lines of cleavage.

The terrorist group Saudi Hezbollah, which killed 19 American air force personnel in the Khobar Towers attack in 1996, acting for the Iranians, has issued a number of threats against Saudi oil facilities. Tehran has vowed revenge against Saudi Arabia for driving down the oil price and now for the air strikes on Yemen: the clear risk is it will operate through Hezbollah allies on the ground inside the kingdom.

Oil markets have yet to react to these longer term political threats. US crude prices have slumped back to $49 a barrel, giving up the $5 spike triggered by the bombing of Yemen last week.

Michael Lewis, head of commodities at Deutsche Bank, said the conflict was reminder a supply shock remains a risk, even though US oil inventories are at record levels and almost everybody in the markets is talking about how low prices could fall. “We think the market could tighten in May or June as lower prices finally bite and the US stops adding supply. It could be an important inflexion point.”


Saudi Arabia’s Yemen intervention risks endangering kingdom’s own oil infrastructure | Financial Post
 
Thank you very much my friend. :cheers:
(His french is almost perfect.)

Ça fait rire les oiseaux.
Ça fait chanter les abeilles.
Ça chasse les nuages
Et fait briller le soleil....


These Saudis in Audis.... he thinks he can manage militias' movements from 40000 feet... :sarcastic:
 
Exclusive: Yemen food imports disrupted, conflict pressures supply chain

(Reuters) - A week into Saudi-led air-strikes in Yemen, food imports into the Arab world's poorest country are grinding to a halt as the conflict puts fragile supply chains under growing strain and commercial suppliers stay away.

Saudi Arabia and Arab allies began a bombing campaign last week against Iran-allied Houthi fighters who had taken over much of Yemen and now threaten the southern city of Aden, where President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi had taken refuge.

Several ports are in rebel hands and fighting has made traveling by road perilous.

Yemen imports more than 90 percent of its food, including the lion's share of its wheat and all its rice, to feed a population of about 25 million.

It has enough basic foodstocks for six months in all provinces and wheat stocks stood at 930,100 tonnes on the day air strikes began, the official Saba news agency said on Monday.



But the United Nations' Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) said stocks could start to diminish quickly.

"Although government sources reported sufficient stocks to last the country about six months, the conflict will likely negatively impact distribution, market availability and prices of foodstuffs sooner than earlier expected," the FAO representative in Yemen, Salah ElHajj Hassan, told Reuters on Wednesday

The collapse of central authority and fighting on several fronts including Aden, one of Yemen's main ports, has already disrupted imports as well as the processing and distribution of wheat and other staples, food industry sources said.

"The port is not functioning, it has been a few days now since our imports have stopped and we are not receiving any more wheat," a source at the Yemen Company for Flour Mills and Silos in Aden said.

"Workers can't come to work so they are not operating the mills. The fighting and gunfire has stopped them from showing up and the roads are blocked," he added.

An explosion at a dairy factory at the Houthi-controled west coast port of Hodaida port on Wednesday morning killed at least 25 people and dealt a blow to food production.

Mohamed Alshamery, manager of the Yemen Company for Sugar Refining in Hodaida, told Reuters his refinery and the port were still operational but fighting was making it difficult to take sugar to market.

Before the conflict, nearly half of Yemenis were 'food insecure', lacking sufficient food for their needs, and one in four was undernourished, the FAO said.


DRAWING ON FOODSTOCKS

An international trade source said it was becoming difficult to deliver shipments of food.

"Houthi militias are in control of the major ports including Aden. Traders are unable to open letters of credit with banks. We are starting to see shipments being diverted to other locations," he said.

"What this means is that across Yemen they will need to be drawing their strategic stocks."

Ship tracking data showed only a few ships were located close to Aden, with two bulker vessels most likely to be carrying food supplies anchored off the city's coast for several days.

"The port of Aden is virtually closed but for some oil shipments which berthed at Aden Refinery. Dry cargo shipments are stopped because no stevedores are available because of clashes," shipping and logistics agency GAC said.

A spokesman for the UN agency the World Food Program said fighting in Aden had disrupted their loading operations. A local partner was still going ahead with distribution of food to refugees in camps in the Aden area.

In Lahj, north of Aden, authorities loyal to Hadi posted a notice ordering shopkeepers to keep prices at their previous levels and not to hoard their stocks.

Residents in the capital Sanaa and other parts of the country said there were widespread fuel shortages that coupled with heavy fighting and air strikes could also hamper efforts to distribute food.

"Petrol stations have started hoarding fuel. There are queues outside petrol stations and the people are anxious about the war carrying on," said Ali Salih, a car owner in the central province of Ibb.
 
Yemeni Houthi Fighters in Tanks Reach Central Aden


http://www.newsweek.com/yemeni-houthi-fighters-tanks-reach-central-aden-318794


houthis.jpg

Followers of the Houthi demonstrate against the Saudi-led air strikes on Yemen, in Sanaa April 1, 2015. KHALED ABDULLAH/ REUTERS

  • Houthi fighters and their army allies advanced in a column of tanks on Wednesday into a central district of the southern city of Aden, the main foothold of loyalists of President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi, witnesses said.

    The Houthis' military push into the Khor Maksar district happened despite a week of Saudi-led air strikes as well as bombardment from naval vessels off the coast of Aden aimed at reversing relentless Houthi gains on the battlefield.

    The Shi'ite Muslim fighters and their ally, former president Ali Abdullah Saleh, emerged as the dominant force in Yemen after they took over the capital six months ago.


    Aden residents saw large groups of fighters carrying rocket propelled grenades accompanied by tanks and trucks mounted with machine guns in Khor Maksar, which lies on narrow neck of land linking central Aden with the mainland.

    Many people fled the area and some were trying to get on a ship leaving the port.

    Earlier on Wednesday, dozens of fighters were killed in clashes between Houthi fighters and their army allies on one side, and militiamen and tribesmen opposing them around Aden and elsewhere in south Yemen, witnesses and militia sources said.

    One witness saw the bodies of eight Houthi fighters and three pro-Hadi militiamen lying on the streets of Khor Maksar amid sporadic gunfire, as well as snipers mounting positions atop homes.

    Hadi left the city on Thursday for Saudi Arabia, whose stated aim is to restore him to power.

    In Dhalea, 100 km (60 miles) north of Aden, air strikes supported militiamen fighting street battles against the Houthis, who are allied with Saudi Arabia's regional foe Iran, and backed by army units loyal to longtime ruler Saleh, who was pushed out three years ago after "Arab Spring" demonstrations.

    Ten of the militia fighters were killed, residents said, but Houthi forces and allied army units were being pushed back.

    The Houthis suffered heavier losses in battles with tribesmen at a major army base in the southeastern province of Shabwa, where 35 Houthi and army fighters were killed along with 20 tribesmen.
 
Ça fait rire les oiseaux.
Ça fait chanter les abeilles.
Ça chasse les nuages
Et fait briller le soleil....


These Saudis in Audis.... he thinks he can manage militias' movements from 40000 feet... :sarcastic:


:partay:

A ne pas douter, certainement bien plus que les racistes arabophobes du tiers monde d’Afrique. :devil:


...
 
Le racisme mutuel, ca s'annule un peu, non? Allez-y mon cher, gerez la circulation des Houthis de quarante mille pieds... Mais n'oubliez pas, on nous a promis des bottes sur le terrain... on attend toujours.... :wave:

Ça fait rire les oiseaux.
Ça fait chanter les abeilles.
Ça chasse les nuages
Et fait briller le soleil....

We were promised boots on the ground by the brave Saudis in Audis..... What's the hold up?
 
Le racisme mutuel, ca s'annule un peu, non? Allez-y mon cher, gerez la circulation des Houthis de quarante mille pieds... Mais n'oubliez pas, on nous a promis des bottes sur le terrain... on attend toujours.... :wave:

Ça fait rire les oiseaux.
Ça fait chanter les abeilles.
Ça chasse les nuages
Et fait briller le soleil....

We were promised boots on the ground by the brave Saudis in Audis..... What's the hold up?



Comment pourrions-nous être racistes envers de simples fourmis à jamais ratés devant l’éternel ?

Nous suppliant pour une remontée du prix du pétrole de peur de mourir de faim.


...
 

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