Yemen Crisis/Conflict & the "Decisive Storm" Coalition

B.I.B. said:

It did not stop Alexander.

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H2O said:

What's interesting is now the Houthis are inside Saudi territory, near Jizan (IIRC). Are they trying to seize the port?

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The Trump administration is calling for an urgent halt to the Saudi-Iran proxy war in Yemen and the start of negotiations in November toward a political settlement of a conflict that has pushed millions to the brink of starvation in the Arab world’s poorest country.

The renewed push for a political solution in Yemen comes amid

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for Saudi Arabia’s Yemen air campaign and

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, in the aftermath of the

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in the Saudi Consulate in Turkey.

U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo urged a cease-fire, specifically citing missile and drone strikes into Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates from Houthi-controlled areas of Yemen. The Houthis are supported by Iran. He added that the airstrikes by the Arab coalition, backed by the U.S., “must cease in all populated areas in Yemen.”

"The time is now for a cessation of hostilities," Pompeo said in a written statement Tuesday evening shortly after Defense Secretary Jim Mattis made similar statements in an appearance at the United States Institute of Peace. He urged the implementation of "confidence-building measures" to address the underlying issues of the conflict.

Mattis was more specific than Pompeo in his call for urgent movement toward a political solution to the fighting, under peace talks being urged by U.N. Special Envoy Martin Griffiths. Mattis said a cease-fire should take effect within 30 days.

"We're calling on all the parties, specifically the Houthis and the Arab coalition, to meet in Sweden in November and to come to a solution," Mattis said.

Sweden's foreign minister said Wednesday that Griffiths has asked Sweden to host such talks.

Griffiths on Wednesday welcomed the U.S. calls for immediate resumption of the political process and said the United Nations remains committed "to bring the Yemeni parties to the negotiations table within a month."

“I urge all concerned parties to seize this opportunity to engage constructively with our current efforts to swiftly resume political consultations to agree on a framework for political negotiations, and confidence-building measures, in particular enhancing the capacities of the Central Bank of Yemen, the exchange of prisoners and the re-opening of Sanaa airport,” Griffiths said in a statement.

He stressed that there can be no military solution and that “dialogue remains the only path to reach an inclusive agreement.”

Mattis called for demilitarization of Yemen's border with Saudi Arabia "so that the Saudis and the Emirates do not have to worry about missiles coming into their homes and cities and airports." He also said measures should be taken to "ensure that all Iranian-supplied missiles to the Houthis" are put under "international watch."

"This has got to end. We've got to replace combat with compromise," Mattis said.

Mattis put primary blame on Iran. He said its proxies and surrogate forces are fueling the conflict.

“They need to knock it off,” he said. Mattis said the political process should “set the conditions for a return to traditional areas inside Yemen and a government that allows for this amount of local autonomy that Houthis or that southerners want.”

The administration’s new push for peace comes amid mounting fears of a fresh Arab coalition assault on the Red Sea port of Hodeida, a city that has been the lifeline for international aid deliveries to Yemen. The city’s port is helping keep millions of starving Yemenis alive by serving as the entry point for 70 percent of food imports and international aid. A protracted siege of Hodeida by the coalition could imperil that support.

The conflict in Yemen, the Arab world’s poorest country, began with the 2014 takeover of the capital, Sanaa, by the Houthis, who toppled the internationally recognized government. The Saudi-led coalition allied with the government has been fighting the Houthis since 2015. An estimated 10,000 people have been killed so far, and the conflict has devastated Yemen and pushed it to the brink of famine. The war has also left about two-thirds of Yemen’s population of 27 million relying on aid, and more than 8 million at risk of starvation.

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Jura said:

Jun 19, 2018
it sure is tactically interesting, reportedly
the "Decisive Storm" Coalition
is now trying to cut out "N3" road from Hodeida into the interior of Yemen (that road shows in

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)

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Jura said:

Sep 13, 2018
Hodeida may get besieged soon if that info were true:

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مراسلنا: قوات المقاومة اليمنية المشتركة تتوغل في الأطراف الشمالية لمدينة الحديدة

Translated from Arabic by

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Our correspondent: The Yemeni joint resistance forces are in the northern outskirts of Hodeidah city.

3:55 AM - 5 Nov 2018
***
the point is the Coalition forces have been pushing from south and west, too

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Jura said:

Yesterday at 8:21 PM
an comes the tweet (more or less agrees with what

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is showing right now)

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:

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- Government forces continue advances on southern and eastern front of the city - Clashes ongoing now around Al-Saleh buildings.

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Troops from a U.S.-backed, Saudi-led coalition pounded Houthi rebel positions in Yemen’s

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with airstrikes and a ground assault on Wednesday and now control a major road leading into the city, military officials and witnesses on both sides of the front line said.


An Emirati-trained force known as the Giants, backed by Apache attack helicopters,

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along 50th Street, which leads to the city’s key Red Sea port facilities some 5 kilometers (3 miles) away, they added.

Speaking on condition of anonymity for fear of reprisals or lack of authorization to brief journalists, they said that the Iran-backed Shiite rebels had been firing mainly from elevated and rooftop sniper positions, and have now resorted to burning tires to obscure the gunships' view. Most civilians have fled the area, they said.

Dozens of fighters have been killed and hundreds wounded from both sides since a renewed coalition offensive on the city began five days ago, following calls by the Trump administration for a

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.

The fighting has left dead bodies lying on the ground and inside burnt-out vehicles at the city's edge, according to witnesses. They said several civilians have been killed by shelling in residential areas.

The Saudi-led coalition, which seeks to restore to power the internationally recognized Yemeni government, has been

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since March 2015. The stalemated conflict has generated the world’s worst humanitarian crisis.

Hodeida, the main

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, has become the epicenter of the conflict.

A Save the Children supported health facility in Hodeida came under attack on Tuesday morning, damaging one of the pharmacies that supply life-saving medicines, the charity said in a statement.

The group said shelling has also hit residential areas in Hodeida, where the lives of hundreds of thousands of people, roughly half of them children, are in danger.

The charity did not elaborate on which group attacked the facility.

The head of the U.N.'s food and agriculture agency and other groups say the conflict has pushed Yemen to the brink of famine, underlining how the international community is failing to end hunger.

"We are watching before our eyes an unprecedented human tragedy," Food and Agriculture Organization chief Jose Graziano da Silva told a high-level briefing on food insecurity at the U.N. in New York.

"Yemen is living proof of an apocalyptical equation: conflicts and food security go hand in hand, and when there is an overlap of climate change and conflict, famine is already on the horizon," he said.

Also on Wednesday, the international medical humanitarian organization Doctors Without Borders said it was closing its humanitarian project in the southern Dhale province due to security concerns amid the fighting there.

Besides Dhale, other active fronts in Yemen include the provinces of Bayda, to the south, and the Houthis' northern strongholds of Hajjah and Saada.

The

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to Saudi Arabia and provides logistical and other support to the coalition.

In a statement, rebel leader Abdul-Malek al-Houthi described the

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as hypocritical, given that fresh fighting erupted almost immediately after it was delivered.

"The Americans have always sought to escalate, putting out statements of peace while preparing for war," he said in comments carried by rebel media channels, saying the new offensive was expected. "The American role is central and essential in the military operation against our people."

The rebels, who brandish "Death to America and Israel" slogans similar to that of the Iranian leadership, accuse the coalition of being stooges of masters in Washington and Israel.

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Jura said:

Yesterday at 9:05 PM
no body, except of course Robots, looking here but ...

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