War threatens Yemen

Written on March 28th, 2015 in politics Comments Off

Published on Al-Ahram weekly online, by Nasser Arrabyee in Sanaa, March 26, 2015.

While Yemen’s different groups are continuing to attend the country’s national dialogue, each is preparing for civil war.
The rebel Houthi group leader Abdel-Malik Al-Houthi this week declared a “war on terrorists” from the Al-Qaeda and Islamic State (IS) groups that he says are trying to take over the volatile south and north of the country.

Meanwhile, Yemeni President Abdu Rabu Mansour Hadi, who fled the Houthi-held north of the country for the south earlier this year, asked the UN Security Council to protect him and the south.

Hadi’s acting foreign minister, Riyadh Yassin, also asked Saudi Arabia and its Gulf allies to send in armed forces to protect the south from the Iran-backed Houthis. The appeals came after Al-Qaeda and IS forces attacked the central prison in Aden last Friday, releasing more than 800 prisoners, including dangerous Al-Qaeda elements.

Al-Qaeda and IS forces also killed more than 50 government soldiers near Aden and killed and injured some 500 people in suicide bombings at two mosques frequented by Houthis in Sanaa during Friday prayers on 20 Marc.

The bombings were carried out by five suicide bombers, two in each mosque; the fifth was discovered before he entered the third mosque in Saada. IS claimed responsibility for the attacks and published the names and photographs of the suicide bombers … //

… More than two thirds of the country’s army and security forces in the south and the north are under the control of the Houthis, including the air force. The remaining third is split between Hadi, Al-Qaeda and the Hirak group.

Local supporters of the Houthis in the south will be key elements in what happens next, as they were in Sanaa.

Hadi has been urging people not to agree to be ruled by the Shia Houthis or from the Houthi stronghold in the north, in so doing using both sectarianism and regionalism to incite feelings against the Houthi forces.

(full text).

Yemen Related Links:

Other Links:

US: $214bn Medicare reform bill passed by House, on Russia Today RT, March 27, 2015;

Some Things NPR Doesn’t Tell Its Listeners 
About the Iranian Nukes Controversy, on ZNet (first on Counterpunch), by Henry Norr, March 27, 2015;

Caliphate Under Pressure, Is Islamic State in Trouble in Iraq? on Spiegel Online International, by Susanne Koelbl and Christoph Reuter, March 26, 2015 (Photo Gallery): Islamic State is pulling out of once-conquered towns and villages in Iraq and dissatisfaction appears to be growing among its followers. Predictions of the jihadists’ demise, however, are likely premature …;

Utopias of Paradox, Humanity’s Technological Futures, on Dissidente Voice, by Joseph Grosso, March 26, 2015;

Our Puzzling Nonchalance, on Dissident Voice, by Alton C. Thompson, March 25, 2015;

The Threat of the Golden Dawn, Greece, Fascists At the Gate, on counterpunch, by CONN HALLINAN, March 24, 2015;

RIP Danny Schechter (June 27, 1942 – March 19, 2015): Media Pioneer Who Covered Apartheid South Africa, Occupy & Kissinger: on Zcomm, on Democracy Now, on en.wikipedia, on YouTube, on his Website: Domain seems no more connected to the Website;

Hundreds gather for funeral of lynched woman in Afghanistan, on Russia Today RT, March 23, 2015;

What can the free trade agreement TTIP accomplish? on Current Concerns, March 10, 2015: fg. In an interview with Die Zeit on 18 February 2015, EU Trade Commissioner Cecilia Malmström admitted that the European Commission had made a mistake with respect to the controversial free trade agreement TTIP (Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership) with the United States: “It was a mistake to keep the negotiating mandate a secret for so long”.1 Ms Malmström also hoped – and thus repeated a statement by Barack Obama – to defend “European values” with TTIP because the agreement would negotiate the rules of globalisation with the United States and not with China or Russia. Who had hoped to have substantive, technical corrections, will be disappointed by Ms Malmström’s comments; at best, the communication strategy will change in future …;

Book: Venezuela – What Everyone Needs to Know(r), by Miguel Tinker-salas, on POWWELL’s City Books, publication date 2015 05 31, 248 pages, SBN13: 9780199783281, ISBN10: 0199783284: … takes a broadly chronological approach that focuses especially on oil and its effects on Venezuela’s politics, economy, culture, and international relations …;
About the Author: Miguel Tinker Salas is Arango Professor in Latin American History and Professor of History and Chicano/a Studies at Pomona College. He is the author of The Enduring Legacy: Oil, Culture and Society in Venezuela;

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