Yemen Crisis/Conflict & the "Decisive Storm" Coalition

Jura said:

... and I quit here because
Obama administration arms sales offers to Saudi top $115 billion: report

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anyway
Read more:

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Officials within the

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administration raised concerns over a 2015 $1.3billion arms sale to

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, citing worries that the Saudi military did not have the ability to intervene in

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without harming civilians, an investigation from Reuters has found.

Full scale civil war between the Western and Saudi-backed government and Houthi rebels broke out early last year. More than 10,000 people have been killed in the fighting, the UN estimates, and three million displaced from their homes. Saudi-led air strikes on the rebel-held city of Sanaa since March 2015 have killed thousands of civilians.

According to emails, documents and interviews with several current and former officials familiar with the discussions, the US government’s lawyers ultimately did not reach a conclusion on whether supplying arms for the Saudi campaign could make the US a ‘co-belligerent’ in the conflict under international law.

The definition of ‘co-belligerent’ has widened considerably since a 2013 ruling in the trial of Liberian President Charles Taylor and can now include “practical assistance, encouragement or moral support” for war crimes. In theory, the legal blowback would obligate Washington to investigation allegations of war crimes and could mean that US military personnel could be prosecuted.

Several State Department officials also said they were “privately sceptical” before the sale about whether the Saudis’ targeting systems were sophisticated enough to focus on militants without causing unneeded damage to civilian infrastructure or the loss of civilian life.

During an October 2015 meeting with human rights groups, a State Department specialist on protecting civilians in conflict acknowledged that Saudi air strikes were going awry.

“The strikes are not intentionally indiscriminate but rather result from a lack of Saudi experience with dropping munitions and firing missiles,” the specialist said, according to a Department account of the meeting seen by Reuters.

“The lack of Saudi experience is compounded by the asymmetric situation on the ground where enemy militants are not wearing uniforms and are mixed with civilian populations,” he said. “Weak intelligence likely further compounds the problem.”

The information on the arms deal, mostly discovered through the Freedom of Information Act, sheds light on the difficulties faced by US President Barack Obama in responding to the crisis in Yemen without exacerbating the conflict while also trying to negotiate with Iran - the Kingdom’s enemy - over a

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.

Last week the bombing of a funeral killed 140 people in one of the worst single incidents of violence in the 18-month-old war.

The incident has led to renewed scrutiny of UK, US and Canadian arms sales to the Saudi government.

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Jura said:

Sunday at 7:37 AM

now this:
US government warned last year that selling arms to Saudi Arabia could 'implicate it in war crimes’
Officials and lawyers within Barack Obama's administration repeatedly said that the US could possibly be defined as a 'co-belligerent' in the Yemeni civil war under international law

source:

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US strikes Yemen after missiles launched on warship
By Ryan Browne and Angela Dewan, CNN
Updated 8:34 AM ET, Thu October 13, 2016

(CNN)An American destroyer struck three sites in Yemen on Thursday, hours after missiles targeted a US warship in the Red Sea for the second time in four days, defense officials said.

The USS Mason was targeted late Wednesday by missiles from territory controlled by the Houthis -- a minority Shia group that has taken control of swathes of Yemen, including the capital, Sanaa.
The strikes marks the first instance of the US firing at Houthi targets since the Yemen civil war erupted in March last year.

The same warship was targeted Sunday, when two missiles were launched within 60 minutes of each other, but in both incidents they missed the ship and landed in the water. The guided-missile destroyer was not damaged in either incident, officials said.

The US warship was conducting routine operations in international waters off the Yemen coast when it was targeted Wednesday, the Pentagon said.
The Houthis have denied carrying out the attacks.

'We will respond to this threat'
The Pentagon said its destroyer USS Nitze launched Tomahawk cruise missiles targeting the coastal radar sites controlled by the Houthi group in "self defense."
Another official said initial assessments indicated all three targets were destroyed, and that the strikes were in remote areas with little risk of civilian casualties or collateral damage.

"USS Mason will continue its operations. Those who threaten our forces should know that US commanders retain the right to defend their ships, and we will respond to this threat at the appropriate time and in the appropriate manner," Pentagon press secretary Peter Cook said in a statement.
"USS Mason will continue its operations."

Houthis: Accusations a 'distraction'
A Houthi military official said "there is no truth to these allegations" in response to Wednesday's incident. Houthi militias had "nothing to do with this act," the Houthi-affiliated SABA news agency reported.
After Sunday's reported missile attack, the military had said that the accusations were aimed at covering up a "heinous" Saudi-led coalition airstrike on a funeral service Saturday in Sanaa that killed at least 155 people.

The US has come under increased pressure over its support of the Saudi-led coalition in Yemen, as the coalition continues to bombard schools and hospitals.
The US had backed the formally recognized government of President Abd Rabbu Mansour Hadi, whose government has been essentially forced from Sanaa to Aden. Hadi himself is believed to be in exile in Saudi Arabia, as are several senior members of his administration.
The Houthis support the former president, Ali Abdullah Saleh.
Calls for world to suspend Saudi arms sales
Last week, the US said it was re-evaluating its support after the deadly funeral airstrike blamed on the Saudi-led coalition. "The United States, United Kingdom, and other governments should immediately suspend arms sales to Saudi Arabia."
Some are calling on the United States to stop selling arms to Saudi Arabia.
"The United States, United Kingdom, and other governments should immediately suspend arms sales to Saudi Arabia," Human Rights Watch said, calling the attack an "apparent war crime."
"The funeral strike underscores the urgent need for credible international investigations into alleged laws-of-war violations in Yemen," it said.

The US Senate last month rejected a bipartisan proposal to block a pending $1.15 billion arms sale to Riyadh.
Critics of the military deal, which was approved by the Obama administration, complained it could further drag the US into the war in Yemen and contribute to the worsening humanitarian crisis.

Humanitarian catastrophe
The coalition, which involves several Arab countries, started a military campaign in Yemen last year after Houthis took over Sanaa. The crisis quickly escalated into a war that allowed al Qaeda and ISIS -- other enemies of the Houthis -- to thrive amid the chaos.

The conflict has killed about 10,000 Yemenis and left millions in need of aid, according to the United Nations, which has called it a "humanitarian catastrophe."
Since peace talks in Kuwait failed in August, the coalition has intensified airstrikes despite criticism from rights groups that the attacks often hit civilian targets with devastating results.
CNN's Ross Levitt contributed to this report

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PanAsian said:

Here we go, proportionate retaliation.

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delft said:

US is openly on the side of the Saudi's

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Jura said:

negative: "U.S. officials describe the Navy's operations off Yemen as “routine” and not part of the Saudi-led coalition targeting Houthis." according to
Missile attacks on U.S. ships: A threat to deployed forces and a new dilemma for commanders

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delft said:

Of course they do but USN destroyers must be and are well able to destroy any missile directed against them so in that sense there is no need to attack radar stations. ...

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Jura said:

it's from new (OK new to me dated 2015 though:

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) Vulcano ammunition brochure:

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delft said:

There might also be a suspicion in some quarters that these were false flag attacks.

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The second defense official said the prospect of an incoming missile would likely have been terrifying for all on board the Mason.

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Jura said:

delft are you kidding me? an SM-2 would be in two-million-dollars price range, is this what they should shoot in salvos at Partizans, and wait what's missile's

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or what??

actually some European Navies now have the ability to silence a target pretty far to shore with a 5" OTO gun:
but I'm of course not saying those European Navies should do it, all I'm saying it would've been cheaper than the Tomahawks

now I see you later added

yeah go ahead, make my day
LOL!

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