Yemen's Houthi Tell Abu Dhabi To Pull Back Its Forces
Since 2015 Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates are fighting against the Houthi movement in Yemen.
The two countries are different aims. Saudi Arabia wants to destroy the Houthi movement and install a Yemeni government that it can control. The UAE wants to control the ports of Yemen and the seaways around it. For this purpose it has build its own proxy force of southern Yemeni tribes.
The Houthi have hit back at Saudi Arabia by attacking its airports, cities, and oil installations with missiles and drones. They have pushed out Saudi controlled troops from various Yemeni provinces. Recently they were on the verge of taking the the Saudi controlled city of Marib and the rich oil fields around it.
In contrast the Houthi had so far not attacked the UAE. Two years ago the UAE had pulled its troops from Yemen and mostly stopped fighting the Houthis. Their proxies kept control of the harbor cities and the islands the UAE desired to control.
bigger
Early this year the Houthi had again warned that they intend to liberate all of Yemen, including the UAE controlled areas. They also captured a UAE owned 'hospital ship' which carried military trucks and weapons.
Meanwhile the Saudis had great difficulties to stop the Houthi attacks on Marib. Despite the loss of some support from the U.S. they resorted to an extensive bombing campaign:
Yemen Data Project @YemenData - 10:06 UTC · Jan 17, 2022Saudi Coalition Bombings Surge in Yemen Following End of U.N. War Crimes Investigations - link
2021 ended with 224% month-on-month increase in civilian casualties in bombings. Airstrikes killed 32 civilians and injured 62 in December, more than in the 11 previous months of 2021 combined. Following GEE dissolution, air raids increased 43%, civilian casualties at 2.5yr high.
Almost half of all air raids in 2021 hit Marib. 884 air raids, up to 5,322 individual airstrikes targeted Marib up 21% from 2020. Hudaydah was the worst place for civilians in the air war in 2021 - the highest rate of air raids & civilian casualties since 2018 Stockholm Agreement.
Despite the intense bombing campaign the Houthi were still advancing.
That changed last week when suddenly the UAE came back:
Yemeni forces backed by the United Arab Emirates have joined coalition troops fighting the Houthi movement around the central city of Marib in a renewed push to secure the prize of an energy-producing region.
...
The Saudi-led coalition this week announced a new operation aimed at turning the tide after newly deployed UAE-backed Giants Brigade forces, supported by air strikes, expelled Houthi forces from oil-producing Shabwa reopening access to Marib.The Brigades - mostly based along the western coast which has been relatively quiet over the past three years - entered Marib on Monday and have since seized large parts of Huraib district, local military sources said.
"The Giants Brigades are better armed and trained (than other Yemeni coalition forces) and fresh to the fight ... The Houthis will put up fierce resistance, but in general their ranks are exhausted," said Maysaa Shuja Al-Deen, a fellow at the Sanaa Centre for Strategic Studies.
...
The conflict is a multifaceted one with several Yemeni factions vying for power. The UAE largely ended its military presence on the ground in 2019 amid a military stalemate but continues to hold sway via Yemeni forces it armed and trained.
The Houthi could not leave that without a response. Today they gave a very public warning to the UAE by attacking it on its own ground:
Yemen's Iran-aligned Houthi group attacked the United Arab Emirates using drones on Monday, setting off explosions in three fuel trucks and causing a fire near the airport of Abu Dhabi, capital of the region's commercial and tourism hub.
...
The UAE, a member of the coalition, has armed and trained local Yemeni forces that recently joined fighting against the Houthis in Yemen's energy-producing Shabwa and Marib regions.
...
Three people were killed and six wounded when three fuel tanker trucks exploded in the industrial Musaffah area near storage facilities of oil firm ADNOC, state news agency WAM said. It said those killed were two Indians and a Pakistani.
...
The Houthi's military spokesman said the group launched a military operation "deep in the UAE". Its chief negotiator, Mohammed Abdulsalam, whom Houthi-run media said was currently visiting Tehran, warned the UAE against "tampering in Yemen".
Life and business in the glitzy high-rises of Abu Dhabi will be become much less comfortable should the city come under sustained drone attacks.
The UAE's foreign ministry condemned the attack and said that "it will not pass without punishment."
But what can the UAE do that has not yet been done by the Saudi siege on Yemen and the permanent bombing attacks?
The UAE will have to pull back its proxy forces in Yemen or it will be hit at the core of its wealth.
Dubai, the UAE's central airport, is the world's busiest one by international passenger traffic. A few missile or drone hits on planes parked there would have immediate consequences on global passenger traffic as well as on the tourism profits the UAE gains from it.
Today's drones were a warning. If the UAE tries to ignore it it will be in for some serious hurt.
Posted by b on January 17, 2022 at 18:00 UTC | Permalink
I do not understand why I keep seeing the year "2015" everywhere,
as is seen in the first sentence of this blog entry.
The Saudis have been actively attacking the Houthi since at least 2009.
Is it because that is when the UAE joined in, perhaps?
Even before the targets in Yemen had been "legally" designated as
a Foreign Terrorist Organization Obama used cluster bombs to shred
dozens of women and children in a failed attempt to hit members of
"al Qaida in Yemen (AQY)".
The war crime immediately became a dirty Obama secret, covered up
with the help of the MSM, in particular ABC.
An enthusiastic White House had leaked to their contacts at ABC that
Obama had escalated the War on Terror, taking it to another country,
Yemen. This was December 17, 2009 only days after Obama had returned
from his ceremony in Oslo where he proudly accepted the Nobel Peace
Prize.
ABC was thrilled with their scoop and in manly voices announced
the escalation in the War on Terror.
.
The very next day ABC went silent forever about it, joining the cover up
of a war crime.
Hillary Clinton, by the way, committed her own act of cover up.
Covering her butt by backdating a memo (fraud - Federal fraud).
The designation of a organization as a FTO (Foreign Terrorist Organization)
is not official nor legal until it is published in the Federal Register.
An oversight? Obama attacked Yemen before Secretary of State Hillary Clinton
had done the paperwork to make the killing legal?
The designation was not published until a month later, January 19, 2010.
Hillary Clinton back dated the memo she published in the Register with the date of
December 14, 2009, to somewhat cover her butt.
Obama's acceptance speech in Oslo for the Nobel Peace Prize was December 10th.
Yemen leaders agreed to participate in Obama's coverup saying it was their
own Yemen forces that had accidentally shredded dozens of women and children.
Obama was grateful to the Yemen leaders. The Yemen leaders were not
honored in Oslo. But, ironically, Obama ended his speech honoring women
and children, days before he ordered their slaughter.
Obama in Oslo, December 10, 2009:
"Somewhere today, a mother facing punishing poverty
still takes the time to teach her child, scrapes together what
few coins she has to send that child to school -- because she
believes that a cruel world still has a place for that child's
dreams.
Let us live by their example. We can acknowledge that oppression will
always be with us, and still strive for justice. We can admit the
intractability of deprivation, and still strive for dignity. Clear-eyed,
we can understand that there will be war, and still strive for peace.
We can do that -- for that is the story of human progress; that's the
hope
of all the world; and at this moment of challenge,
that must be our work here on Earth.
Thank you very much.
(Applause.)
One week later Obama shredded dozens of women and children in Yemen
and covered it up.
Here is ABC's Brian Ross using his most masculine voice to boast about Obama's attack:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bHcg3TNSRPs
Wikileaks cable corroborates evidence of US airstrikes in Yemen (Amnesty Intl)
https://www.amnesty.org/en/press-releases/2010/12/wikileaks-cable-corroborates-evidence-us-airstrikes-yemen/
Actual cable at Wikileaks:
https://search.wikileaks.org/plusd/cables/10SANAA4_a.html
More at ABC [12/18/2009]:
https://abcnews.go.com/Blotter/cruise-missiles-strike-yemen/story?id=9375236
https://web.archive.org/web/20190624203826/https://abcnews.go.com/Blotter/cruise-missiles-strike-yemen/story?id=9375236">https://abcnews.go.com/Blotter/cruise-missiles-strike-yemen/story?id=9375236">https://web.archive.org/web/20190624203826/https://abcnews.go.com/Blotter/cruise-missiles-strike-yemen/story?id=9375236
https://web.archive.org/web/20190725171012/https://abcnews.go.com/Blotter/cruise-missiles-strike-yemen/story?id=9375236">https://abcnews.go.com/Blotter/cruise-missiles-strike-yemen/story?id=9375236">https://web.archive.org/web/20190725171012/https://abcnews.go.com/Blotter/cruise-missiles-strike-yemen/story?id=9375236
Posted by: librul | Jan 17 2022 18:23 utc | 2
There are several Iran backed and Iraq based groups who called for strikes on Abu Dhabi in the past few days as well.
Posted by: D0ng | Jan 17 2022 18:23 utc | 3
@Posted by: librul | Jan 17 2022 18:23 utc | 2
Remember one of the Rat Pack (Dean Martin, perhaps?)
being irritated that the audience would laugh even when they weren't funny.
The audience was so habitually expectant of being amused that they laughed almost automatically.
[Rat Pack: Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, Sammy Davis Jr., Joey Bishop, and Peter Lawford]
The audience in Oslo was so enamored with Obama that he could say anything and they
would still love him.
------------
Hope
by Barack Obama
Obama Nobel acceptance speech in Oslo, December 10, 2009:
"Somewhere today, a mother facing punishing poverty
still takes the time to teach her child, scrapes together what
few coins she has to send that child to school -- because she
believes that a cruel world still has a place for that child's
dreams.
Let us live by their example. We can acknowledge that oppression will
always be with us, and still strive for justice. We can admit the
intractability of deprivation, and still strive for dignity. Clear-eyed,
we can understand that there will be war, and still strive for peace.
We can do that -- for that is the story of human progress; that's the
hope
of all the world; and at this moment of challenge,
that must be our work here on Earth.
Thank you very much.
(Applause.)
---
keywords:
hope,
a cruel world,
oppression will always be with us,
the intractability of deprivation,
understand that there will be war,
that's the hope of all the world
---
Posted by: librul | Jan 17 2022 18:45 utc | 4
Posted by: librul @ 2 & @ 4
Great reporting and observations librul.
Posted by: Paul | Jan 17 2022 19:01 utc | 5
There is more energy deposits in Yemen than there were in central Arabia when the Brits through their proxy (Outhouse of Sod) 100 years ago
And the Old World Order wants control over it
Posted by: MV Lazy Susan | Jan 17 2022 19:03 utc | 6
Another resource war, aided, abetted, and probably funded and ignored, because our "allies," the Saudis are involved, with, I'm sure, our blessings..
Posted by: vetinLA | Jan 17 2022 19:08 utc | 7
From RT
Police said that “no significant” damage was done to the area, later adding that two Indian nationals and a Pakistani national were killed , while six people were wounded.
Additionally, the spokesman for Ansarullah movement, Mohammed Abdulsalam, added, “Abu Dhabi is recommended to give up its futile actions in Yemen; otherwise its hands and those of its mercenaries will be cut off from the country.” presstv.IR
Eric Prince is making billions and the UAE army is run by american en colombian mercenaries. The formation of this "Giant brigade" consist with the israeli advisors brought in.
Posted by: gary | Jan 17 2022 19:12 utc | 8
Thanks b. I was not fully aware of the recent UAE commitment in the conflict. The Houthi drone attack is totally appropriate. They should continue to dial up the pain to get the UAE to back down and back out of the conflict. I think if the UAE had not reactivated their militias the Houthi would have taken Marib by now.
Posted by: Michael Crockett | Jan 17 2022 19:18 utc | 9
Good backgrounder on the airstrip the UAE built on Yemeni Island, from 2021
Ironically, Saudi complained:
"The Saudi Arabia-backed Yemeni legitimate government led by President Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi has repeatedly accused the UAE of attempting to seize Yemen's Socotra Island and controlling the southern coastal areas in Aden, Bab el-Mandeb, Mukalla, Hadiboh, Perim Island (known as Mayyun), and Balhaf, the only LNG gas terminal in the war-torn country.The militias controlling these areas are loyal to the UAE and opposed to the legitimate government. In addition to controlling land and sea lines of Yemen, UAE has gained access to the Horn of Africa along with strategic maritime points in the Red Sea. It has managed to secure deals with African countries on the western shores of the Red Sea to increase its influence over the Berbera port in Somaliland, Assab Port in Eretria, Djibouti’s Port, Bosasso and Mogadishu ports in Somalia."
More in the article.
Posted by: powerandpeople | Jan 17 2022 19:22 utc | 10
oh those darn stumbling blocks
https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2022/01/17/houthis-uae-saudi-yemen/
Who are the Houthis and why did they attack Abu Dhabi?
"....In his first major foreign policy speech after taking office last year, Biden vowed to end “all American support for offensive operations in the war in Yemen, including relevant arm sales.”
He also appointed special envoy Tim Lenderking to help reinvigorate the peace process in Yemen. Lenderking, who has pushed for a cease-fire, acknowledges that the fighting in Marib has served as a “stumbling block” to negotiations....."
Posted by: michaelj72 | Jan 17 2022 19:36 utc | 11
I do not understand why I keep seeing the year "2015" everywhere,
as is seen in the first sentence of this blog entry.
In 2015 the Houthi deposed Yemen's government.
Before 2015 there were two separate wars against al-Qaeda and Houthis. Sine 2015 it is a war against Yemen (with al-Qaeda fighting on the UAE, Saudis and U.S. of A. side.)
I notice how in almost all news articles in the Western propaganda media, that the Houthis are always identified as being "Iranian backed" or some such thing, but the UAE and the Saudis are never identified as being US, or French or "UK-backed"
the ship wasn't carrying Toys for Tots that seems certain. there's a video of the seized ship and its contents at the link
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2022/1/16/houthis-reject-un-call-to-free-uae-flagged-ship
Yemen’s Houthis reject UN call to free UAE-flagged ship
"....Houthi official Hussein al-Azzi has claimed it was transporting military assets. “The Rwabee vessel was not carrying… toys for children but weapons for extremists,” he told the Houthis’ Al Masirah television.
....In a statement drafted by the United Kingdom and adopted unanimously, the 15-member Security Council demanded “the immediate release of the vessel and its crew” and underscored “the necessity of ensuring the crew’s safety and well-being”
....Al-Azzi responded by accusing the UN of siding with “murderers who violate international laws”.
The Rwabee “belongs to a country participating in the aggression against our people and at war with Yemen, and entered (Yemeni) territorial waters unlawfully”, he said....
...The Iran-backed Houthis seized the Rwabee on January 3, off the Red Sea port of Hodeidah, and then released a video purportedly showing military equipment on board, including military-style inflatable rafts, trucks and other vehicles and what appeared to be a collection of rifles...."
Posted by: michaelj72 | Jan 17 2022 19:52 utc | 13
For many years now Russia, with good relations with everybody in the Gulf, been promoting a Gulf peace conference for all the countries of the region. The idea is to sort out all conflicts at the table, face to face. Everybodies issues up front.
Russia's concept is to bring in a wide list of regional actors, including the US and the EU.
It is obvious to Russia that missiles will be deployed by many countries, big and small. Drones are small beer, but still important.Missile system sales by China and Russia will add to US missile sales. No doubt Iran will sell missiles in the long run. This means a new dynamic. Planes will be destroyed on the runway, before they take off. Ships will be sunk at their moorings. Oil facilities damaged. Civil air traffic disrupted or stopped.
Aggressions will be returned with interest in the aggressors own country.
Therefore UAE & Saudi attempts to seize Yemeni territory will ultimately fail anyway. Both aggressors will be hit increasingly hard in their own cities and infrastructure.
No one wins from this.
The time is right to convene. Russia says it still stands ready to help bring peace to the region, in everyones interest. As Lavrov said the other day, while their initiative still hasn't taken off, it also hasn't crashed. There is hope. And Russia (at least) is patient and persistent in the search for peace.
Even if a multilateral treaty fails, maybe it will be 'the way of the bilateral' in the Gulf. Chip, chip, chip, away until only most self-defeatingly obstinate will be left.
Alone.
https://www.mid.ru/en/foreign_policy/news/1794396/#sel=100:165:Dl3,100:354:H3j
Posted by: powerandpeople | Jan 17 2022 19:58 utc | 14
The Houthis hit quite an interesting part of town. They were clearly intent on making sure that news of these events made it round the world regardless of the UAE's attempts to damp down news. This is from, Sprinter on Twitter.
"Al-Masfah Industrial Town is located southwest of the UAE capital Abu Dhabi and is the most important industrial area of this small country located on the Persian Gulf. The oldest port of the UAE is located in this town. Al-Masfa town consists of 5 very large parts:
- The first part is the location of large construction companies and factories and heavy industries;
- The second part is the location of factories and companies in light and semi-heavy industries;
- The third part is the location of large international technical, engineering and industrial companies (generally American and European);
- The fourth section is the location of high-tech companies and industries, especially artificial intelligence, in which the UAE has invested extensively and in which the Zionists have recently been very active;
- The fifth section is home to large automotive companies such as Audi, Mercedes-Benz, Bentley, Porsche, Volkswagen and BMW, which also hosts tens of thousands of luxury cars!"
The Houthis are claiming that they hit other targets in the UAE that are being kept quiet. Also that the destroyed a UAE aircraft at an airfield in eastern Yemen.
Last week the Saudis hijacked a small petrol tanker, with UN clearances, on its way to Yemen with fuel for hospitals. So their claim today to have also hit 4 targets in Saudi at the same time, Riyadh airport has been experiencing delays which may be related, is related to that.
The word on the grapevine is that not only Israeli SF are now helping out but US SF are in Marib as well. Unconfirmed.
If this goes on like this we may see Iran taking a more active role.
Posted by: JohninMK | Jan 17 2022 20:01 utc | 15
#8 "Police said that “no significant” damage was done to the area, later adding that two Indian nationals and a Pakistani national were killed , while six people were wounded."
Reminds me of that (quite intentionally) jarring dialog in The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn regarding a riverboat incident (censorship mine)
“It warn’t the grounding – that didn’t keep us back but a little. We blowed out a cylinder-head.”
“Good gracious! anybody hurt?”
“No’m. Killed a n****er.”
“Well, it’s lucky; because sometimes people do get hurt.
Posted by: Billb | Jan 17 2022 20:12 utc | 16
The Neocon war hawks want a Middle East 'war in our time'. Now the frontline countries designated to be the battlefield want out.
"..But by the final year of Trump’s administration, the UAE had broken from the maximum pressure campaign. As the a piece in the Christian Science Monitor noted after Soleimani’s assassination in January 2020, “blindsided Gulf leaders are flying around the world to try to prevent a conflict they once sought, but now fear.” The UAE began sending delegations to Iran to de-escalate in 2019 after attacks on its tankers. Saudi Arabia, meanwhile, also began seeking de-escalation, and, according to Iraqi officials, Soleimani was in fact carrying Iran’s response to a Saudi invitation for talks when he was assassinated..."
Posted by: Paul | Jan 17 2022 20:21 utc | 17
This is a good sign:
It must be obvious to the region that the US regards all players as pawns in the USA game of self-interested economic benefit.
Yes, there were benefits to some players in the Gulf, but security must be indivisible. Either all are secure or none are secure. Easy choice.
Yes, the time of domination by any one player - including the US - is coming to an end.
Yes, this requires cooperation, and, as the Russians constantly say, a balance of interests and mutually respectful relations.
And yes, it is difficult to reconcile due to the Gulfies cultural pride-driven need for 'face'. But true leaders can drive difficult change.
And countries MUST change in a dangerous emerging power dynamic that, if not controlled, ensures mutual destruction.
Posted by: powerandpeople | Jan 17 2022 20:35 utc | 18
thanks for the update on yemen b....
these 2 countries - ksa and uae - support al qaeda and have the support of the usa- israel... isn't that just grand! all of them need to stop interfering in other countries, but no... instead - blame iran for supporting the local houthis..
money seems a key factor in all of this.. uae in particular, has a ton of money to try to achieve it's agenda... sort of the same deal with ksa.. until all this changes, they sycophants leading ksa and uae will continue on with support from usa-israel and who knows who else...
Posted by: james | Jan 17 2022 21:37 utc | 19
@Posted by: b | Jan 17 2022 19:41 utc | 12
Understood. And agree.
An interesting side note to my post @2.
The cable summing up a meeting between General Petraeus and President Saleh of Yemen
discusses laundering weapons to get around the 'American "bureaucracy"'.
Was this standard operating procedure? We sell weapons to Saudi Arabia and they
transfer them to President Saleh of Yemen to use against the Houthis.
https://search.wikileaks.org/plusd/cables/10SANAA4_a.html
"The U.S. could convince Saudi Arabia and the UAE to supply six
helicopters each if the American "bureaucracy" prevented
quick approval, Saleh suggested. The General responded that
he had already considered the ROYG's request for helicopters
and was in discussions with Saudi Arabia on the matter. "We
won't use the helicopters in Sa'ada, I promise. Only against
al-Qaeda," Saleh told General Petraeus."
Saleh *'promised'* to use the helicopters only in war #1 and not war #2.
In the same meeting the Yemeni made a joke about lying to their own Parliament.
""We'll continue saying the
bombs are ours, not yours," Saleh said, prompting Deputy
Prime Minister Alimi to joke that he had just "lied" by
telling Parliament that the bombs in Arhab, Abyan, and Shebwa
were American-made but deployed by the ROYG."
The lie was well appreciated by the American side who gifted the Yemeni
with an increase in U.S. security assistance.
---
Have to include this too. General Petraeus demonstrates intimate knowledge
of the women and children he slaughtered, else complete shamelessness:
"4. (S/NF) Saleh praised the December 17 and 24 strikes
against AQAP but said that "mistakes were made" in the
killing of civilians in Abyan. The General responded that
the only civilians killed were the wife and two children of
an AQAP operative at the site,"
According to Amnesty International the December 17th attack alone was devastating:
"A Yemeni parliamentary inquiry found that 41 local residents, including 14 women and 21 children, and 14 alleged al-Qa’ida members were killed in the attack."
Posted by: librul | Jan 17 2022 21:54 utc | 20
@Posted by: b | Jan 17 2022 19:41 utc | 12
Understood. And agree.
An interesting side note to my post @2.
The cable (dated 1/4/2010) summing up a meeting between General Petraeus and President Saleh of Yemen
discusses laundering weapons to get around the 'American "bureaucracy"'.
Was this standard operating procedure? We sell weapons to Saudi Arabia and they
transfer them to President Saleh of Yemen to use against the Houthis.
https://search.wikileaks.org/plusd/cables/10SANAA4_a.html
"The U.S. could convince Saudi Arabia and the UAE to supply six
helicopters each if the American "bureaucracy" prevented
quick approval, Saleh suggested. The General responded that
he had already considered the ROYG's request for helicopters
and was in discussions with Saudi Arabia on the matter. "We
won't use the helicopters in Sa'ada, I promise. Only against
al-Qaeda," Saleh told General Petraeus."
Saleh *'promised'* to use the helicopters only in war #1 and not war #2.
In the same meeting the Yemeni made a joke about lying to their own Parliament.
This was in regard to Obama's slaughtering of women and children in Yemen.
""We'll continue saying the
bombs are ours, not yours," Saleh said, prompting Deputy
Prime Minister Alimi to joke that he had just "lied" by
telling Parliament that the bombs in Arhab, Abyan, and Shebwa
were American-made but deployed by the ROYG."
The lie was well appreciated by the American side who gifted the Yemeni
with an increase in U.S. security assistance.
---
Have to include this too. General Petraeus demonstrates intimate knowledge
of the women and children he slaughtered, and/or complete shamelessness:
"4. (S/NF) Saleh praised the December 17 and 24 strikes
against AQAP but said that "mistakes were made" in the
killing of civilians in Abyan. The General responded that
the only civilians killed were the wife and two children of
an AQAP operative at the site,"
According to Amnesty International the December 17th attack alone was devastating:
"A Yemeni parliamentary inquiry found that 41 local residents, including 14 women and 21 children, and 14 alleged al-Qa’ida members were killed in the attack."
Posted by: librul | Jan 17 2022 22:37 utc | 22
I'd be curious to know how Russia and especially China are monitoring the situation in Yemen, given that China has a naval base in Djibouti which now has a new pier large enough to accommodate an aircraft carrier.
In case MoA barflies find the map in B's post too small and are unable to enlarge it, Djibouti is just southwest across the Bab al Mandab Strait from the most southwestern part of Yemen and the Chinese naval base is close to the capital Djibouti City itself.
Posted by: Jen | Jan 17 2022 22:56 utc | 23
Weapons sellers to Saudi are committing genocide in Yemen. But the world is silent.
For any Russian approach to solving the problem peacefully to be appealing Houthis must be strengthened to cause unacceptable destruction to Saudi and UAE. Until then genocide of Yemeni civilians will continue by Saudi and UAE.
Posted by: Jason | Jan 17 2022 23:18 utc | 24
This is quality entertainment B
if Putin the Pussy was a real man capable of standing to the West/Joo he would be arming the Hoitis or whatever the fuck their name is and constantly yelling about the atrocities happening in Yemen so the WHOLE world can hear it. And he will be speaking about it at the UN too. Bet the "war" would be over in a very short period of time. But Putin is a zionist ass kissing pussy.
Posted by: Hoyeru | Jan 17 2022 18:09 utc | 1
Posted by: FourGunsWest | Jan 18 2022 0:08 utc | 25
@ Hoyeru | Jan 17 2022 18:09 utc | 1 Re:
"if Putin the Pussy was a real man capable of standing to the West/Joo he would be arming the Hoitis or whatever the fuck their name is and constantly yelling about the atrocities happening in Yemen so the WHOLE world can hear it. And he will be speaking about it at the UN too. Bet the "war" would be over in a very short period of time. But Putin is a zionist ass kissing pussy."
If Putin was a real man he would have taken the first flight to the US and nailed his own testicles to the Statue of Liberty, that would definitely get the whole World's attention.
Posted by: MarkU | Jan 18 2022 1:16 utc | 26
It's about time the Houthis hit the UAE in a very public manner. Bring the war to their backyard. However, I doubt this would change the UAE behavior. They'll likely double down.
Hoyeru | Jan 17 2022 18:09 utc | 1: Speaking up at the UN? What's the point? No one at the UN gives a damn. The muscle of the UN stems from the UNSC and they're currently fighting against each other. Shouldn't it be Guterres's job to keep such things in the limelight? Besides, Russia have more pressing matters at hand that directly affects their national interests.
Jen | Jan 17 2022 22:56 utc | 22: I doubt the Chinese and Russians would do anything more than HUMINT, SIGNINT & IMINT. Just because China have a naval base in Djibouti, doesn't mean they'll be sending in any troops. China likely reserve their military option strictly for Taiwan. After all, they do have a 72 year old civil war to wrap up.
Posted by: Ian2 | Jan 18 2022 3:24 utc | 27
"A Yemeni parliamentary inquiry found that 41 local residents, including 14 women and 21 children, and 14 alleged al-Qa’ida members were killed in the attack."
Posted by: librul | Jan 17 2022 22:37 utc | 21
I'll bet those so-called "14 alleged al-Qa’ida members" were inncocent 5 year old boys playing in the street.
Posted by: BM | Jan 18 2022 4:18 utc | 28
It's about time the Houthis hit the UAE in a very public manner. Bring the war to their backyard. However, I doubt this would change the UAE behavior. They'll likely double down.
Posted by: Ian2 | Jan 18 2022 3:24 utc | 26
I rather suspect that the reason this attack was rather low key was precisely to give the UAE a chance to change tack rather than double down, and that there may have been a verbal warning that the next one - if required - would be more glitsy. An attack on glass towers in Dubai is what would do the most damage and cause the most loss of confidence.
Posted by: BM | Jan 18 2022 4:24 utc | 29
US data confirms the bombing campaign against Yemen began in 2002. There is no mention of airborne gunships or the dirty tricks campaign in the data.
"The US and its allies have dropped hundreds of thousands of bombs and missiles on other countries in the past 20 years."
https://johnmenadue.com/hey-hey-usa-how-many-bombs-did-you-drop-today/
Posted by: Paul | Jan 18 2022 4:46 utc | 30
I remember reading in the earlier phase of the war that the US drones were offloading their missiles at mostly random civilian targets, because the drone pilots had virtually no idea who they were targetting - outright murder and pure terrorism. The extreme terror thereby inflicted on the civilian population in turn drove desperate young men whose families had been murdered to join Al-Qaida - which was probably the US aim in the first place.
Which reminds me of the first ever use of aircraft as weapons: around 1907 or 1908 or thereabouts there were "elections" in some British colony in Africa, and the British Army were flying early biplanes over scrubland shooting villagers at random in an act of pure terrorism. The aim was simply to use terror as electoral pressure to ensure that the people voted in the way they were expected to vote. The early drone war in Yemen was not much different, except the drones were high up and could not be seen. They could be heard though, often circling round and round for hours, before suddenly unleashing death. The Yemeni population had very high incidence of stress-based mental illness from that. Pure terror.
Posted by: BM | Jan 18 2022 6:31 utc | 31
These military developments have prompted the UAE and Saudi Arabia, for the first time in years, to coordinate and cooperate after a period marked by major differences in military and political tactics, which sometimes resulted in a clash between their own military agents.Saudi Arabia has also promised to place a deposit in the central bank in Aden, which is controlled by the Southern Transitional Council (STC), the UAE-imposed south Yemen government in Aden.
In return, the UAE has pushed its forces from the Giants Brigade to Shabwa in a mission aimed at strengthening its positions in areas under their control. The idea is, if the Houthis advance into the directorate of Harib – south of Marib – they will encounter major disruptions on those fronts.
For some, the conflict in Yemen can only end with an international peace conference that drafts a new constitution for Yemen. For others, the military onslaughts already underway will decide that peace.
Will Yemen be whole, or divided in two as in 1967-1990? The battle fought now in Marib will shed light on that answer in the months ahead.
Posted by: uncle tungsten | Jan 18 2022 7:09 utc | 32
Surprising that a prominent Russian legislator has denounced the Houthi attacks in strong terms.
https://tass.com/politics/1389343
Posted by: sarz | Jan 18 2022 7:37 utc | 33
Sarz @ 32:
The politician who denounced those attacks, Leonid Slutsky, is a member of the Liberal Democratic Party of Russia (LDPR), the populist party led by Vladimir Zhirinovsky.
Slutsky does appear to have various peccadilloes which make him the target of Guaido wannabe Alexei Navalny who has claimed that the politician is corrupt and has taken money from an Azerbaijani billionaire to lobby for the billionaire's construction interests in Moscow.
Slutsky is entitled to his opinion. I think you are more surprised that no-one stopped him or that Russian Duma members don't march in lockstep together.
Posted by: Jen | Jan 18 2022 10:03 utc | 34
Billb @ 16.
Thanks for that. Twain was great although a little bitter at times. And his dialogue fits the situation you highlighted perfectly. "No significant damage" except a couple of east Indians and a dead Paki. It isn't like there is a shortage or anything.
Posted by: Donnie | Jan 18 2022 10:46 utc | 35
“ “No’m. Killed a n****er.”
“Well, it’s lucky; because sometimes people do get hurt. “
Posted by: Billb | Jan 17 2022 20:12 utc | 16
&
@ Posted by: Donnie | Jan 18 2022 10:46 utc | 34
‘W** & P***’ has been used as a general racist epithet against all Sub Continental peoples in the U.K.- much to the chagrin of non-Pakistanis, many of whom have the now ‘traditional’ antipathy towards Pakistanis; the Hindu/Muslim Modi fascism; and against black skinned too. Their attitude to the ‘white arses’ is also pretty funny too. I have also heard ‘sand n••••r’ used against the Arabs of the oil fields.
But fortunately that all seems to remain in the now older generations which will be gone in the next 20 years.
In my part of London where the ‘multiracial’ problem has pretty much ceased to exist - due to the fact that most 50 year olds and younger were born and schooled together and have seen intermarriages and many more mixed heritage kids - such racial slurs are hardly ever heard or said in public and even in ‘private’. You’d be in danger of pissing off your best mates or family members and calling your grand children the same, etc. - it has become internalised and happily anti racist.
Of course there are many parts of the country where such direct contact hasn’t made it to - probably the same parts which didn’t get the Covid the first and second waves and may still be cacooned ! Not just from viruses, but from the C21st! They get shock when visiting such melting pot towns and cities.
They get a brutal bashing if they actually try to march down any local streets - the police ended up rerouting the last one through a couple of back streets and blocking all roads so nobody could see them or get to them a few years ago. Haven’t seen them try again since. The ‘Tommy’ bovver boys and EDL are defunct, they have to be recruited from some backwater places where they still believe England is ‘white’ but end up having to deal with their cognitive dissonance when the teams they support and the players they love are mostly black !
————-
@ Posted by: JohninMK | Jan 17 2022 20:01 utc | 15
I believe I am getting more appreciative of the cut of your jib, sir.
I have over the decades of flying through the sanded regional hubs and seeing their cities of glass rising like mirages from the deserts felt that they are not sustainable requiring air in to actually inhabit. They are almost designed to fail or be flattened by nukes. The disposable slaves lured to labour for a pittance to send back home die like flies to build these shiny towers of insubstantiality.
“Come happy Bombs”.
Posted by: D.G. | Jan 18 2022 11:56 utc | 36
This scenario has opened done interesting options for Russia to respond asymmetrically to issues with Ukraine and the USA.
Russia could potentially destroy all the oil and gas infrastructure of the UAE & Saudi Arabia (The two countries driving the conflict in Yemen) as a warning.
Now that would certainly cause a serious amount of financial and economic chaos.
How bout them apples Joe?
Posted by: Julian | Jan 18 2022 12:50 utc | 37
Summarizing weekend talk show in Moscow. War inevitable?
Posted by: Prof | Jan 18 2022 13:47 utc | 39
@Posted by: BM | Jan 18 2022 4:18 utc | 27
BM posted
I'll bet those so-called "14 alleged al-Qa’ida members" were inncocent 5 year old boys playing in the street
Could be. But not officially.
https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2012/05/under-obama-men-killed-by-drones-are-presumed-to-be-terrorists/257749/
"It in effect counts all military-age males in a strike zone as combatants, according to several administration officials, unless there is explicit intelligence posthumously proving them innocent,"
A nasty rumor is out there about Obama. True? Or not true? Only G-d knows.
This quote is everywhere including CFR.
https://www.cfr.org/blog/obamas-final-drone-strike-data
As he [Obama] reportedly told senior aides in 2011: “Turns out I’m really good at killing people. Didn’t know that was gonna be a strong suit of mine.”
Posted by: librul | Jan 18 2022 13:54 utc | 40
@Hoyeru #1
Don't be a naive child.
If you can think of a geopolitical benefit to Putin and Russia in actively intervening in Yemen, post it.
Putin is many things, but he isn't the world savior nor is he around just to do what every anti-US deep state fantasist wants him to do.
Putin does what he thinks is in Russia best interests.
From my view: Russia needs to work with Saudi Arabia to control oil prices. Putin may smile at MBS' ongoing failures there, but that doesn't matter compared to the big picture.
Posted by: c1ue | Jan 18 2022 15:40 utc | 41
The UAE is a de facto slave owning state that needs to be punished anyway.
Posted by: Biswapriya Purkayast | Jan 18 2022 16:58 utc | 42
Just one good solid hit at the top floors of a glass tower will do more good to stop the criminal puppets of the zionists than any other action I can think of. Let's go Yemen.
Posted by: Ali | Jan 18 2022 17:18 utc | 43
Small and poor countries that were unable to resists US bombs are now able to reply with inexpensive drones that are more and more precise and lethal.
Drones will change the way ears are conducted and until the rich predators have not found a way to counter them, they are exposed to harm and humiliation
Houthis are warning the UAE to stop helping Saudi Arabia in its hegemonic ambitions and to stop thinking they can grab a piece of Yemen by force.
Another blast in Abu Dhabi and it's dreams of economical growth in partnership with Israel will collapse.
Watch for the drones.
Posted by: Virgile | Jan 18 2022 20:48 utc | 44
Putin Whispers (like #1 and #26) do love to hate Putin but the better informed love him. There are no folk songs about the Putin Whispers but there is one about Putin which will make Putin Whisper heads explode:
https://youtu.be/6Ya-FGHdBso
Posted by: pt | Jan 21 2022 11:24 utc | 45
The 2020 World Expo is still in progress in Dubai. It wouldn't do to bomb the expo directly, but some explosions close by where all the journalists and tourists could see them would do terrible damage to the UAE's image.
Abominations like the war on Yemen happen because the people responsible for them manage to isolate themselves from all the consequences. "Some of you may die, but that's a sacrifice I am willing to make." That's why Putin has gone to great lengths to convey to Western elites that there is no place for them to hide from Russia's wrath should they attack her directly.
Posted by: Zweckpessimist | Jan 21 2022 21:55 utc | 46
The comments to this entry are closed.
if Putin the Pussy was a real man capable of standing to the West/Joo he would be arming the Hoitis or whatever the fuck their name is and constantly yelling about the atrocities happening in Yemen so the WHOLE world can hear it. And he will be speaking about it at the UN too. Bet the "war" would be over in a very short period of time. But Putin is a zionist ass kissing pussy.
Posted by: Hoyeru | Jan 17 2022 18:09 utc | 1