Terrified citizens caught between Saudi Arabia and Iran as air strikes and blockade...

[Jefferson23]

Full title: Yemen crisis: Terrified citizens caught between Saudi Arabia and Iran as air strikes and blockade threaten humanitarian disaster for millions

Friday May 1, 2014

Dozens of Saudi soldiers and Yemeni fighters have been killed in clashes on the border between the countries as five weeks of Saudi air attacks fail to bring the war to an end. Air strikes and heavy artillery fire in the southern port of Aden have left much of the city in ruins and the attempted incursion by Houthi fighters marks an escalation in a conflict seen regionally as part of the growing confrontation between Saudi Arabia and Iran.

The Saudi interior ministry has said three of its soldiers were killed along with dozens of fighters from the Houthi movement, which has seized control of much of Yemen, when the Houthis attacked a border post in Najran province.

So far the air strikes have failed to force back the Houthis. The involvement of a Saudi-led Sunni coalition has connected the crisis firmly with the broader conflict between Sunni and Shia branches of Islam that is inflaming much of the region. The United Nations says that more than 1,200 people have been killed and 300,000 forced to flee their homes as a result of Saudi bombing and ground fighting, which is particularly intense in Aden.

“The scene is disastrous, not just in the streets where fighting is going on but inside houses where families are often trapped and terrified,” Ahmed al-Awgari, an activist in Aden, told Reuters. “Women and children have been burnt in homes, civilians have been shot in the streets or blown up by tank fire.”

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/middle-east/yemen-crisis-terrified-citizens-caught-between-saudi-arabia-and-iran-as-air-strikes-and-blockade-threaten-humanitarian-disaster-for-millions-10220087.html

[bemildred]

1. Saudi’s young pretender failing at war, leaving Yemen in tatters

It was by anybody’s measure an extraordinary week in the House of Saud: the defenestration of Crown Prince Muqhrin replaced by the Interior Minister Mohammed bin Nayef and King Salman’s son Mohammed bin Salman named deputy crown prince.

The lineage landscape has been forever altered. No more will a ruler come from the sons of the founding king. Succession has passed to the next generation. And the consolidation of power between two ambitious princes - the older, thoughtful Mohammed bin Nayef and the young and aggressive Mohammed bin Salman - presided over by an aged and ailing king, has set the stage for further behind-the-scenes manoeuvres while giving the impression of surface calm.

So a border skirmish between Saudi forces and tribes loyal to the Houthis may seem something of a minor footnote. The Saudi interior ministry reported that three officers died and two were wounded by a mortar shell that struck a border post in the province of Najran. The Saudis also claim that dozens of Houthis were killed in the ensuing action, a claim that has not yet been verified.

But could this isolated action be the start of something bigger by the Houthis? If so, it will be a case of history repeating itself. In 2009 the Houthis penetrated more than 50 kilometres into Saudi territory, seized and held the city of Jizan for several days and only left after a substantial amount of money was paid them, eloquent testament to the incompetence and lack of battle readiness of the Saudi military.

http://www.middleeasteye.net/columns/saudi-s-young-pretender-failing-war-leaving-yemen-tatters-1971628332

[Jefferson23]

2. Fucker, he is going to continue to kill and no exit strategy at hand to soothe his inflated ego.

This train wreck is hard to watch...what a disgrace.

Thanks again, for the link.

[quadrature]

3. Yemen is a success

http://www.politicalforum.com/current-events/395941-obama-declares-success-yemen.html

[KoKo]

4. "...as the House of Saud jousts"

a bit more from the article:

And while that drama, with its heavy Shakespearian overtones, plays itself out in Riyadh, the people of Yemen continue to suffer, with food supplies impacted by a naval blockade and drinking water becoming scarce. They are being bombed from the air by the Saudis and their allies and shelled on the ground, caught between the Houthis and the tribes and remnants of the Yemeni army fighting against them. And as if that was not enough, they are faced with the resurgent presence of Al Qaeda – this is the real tragedy unfolding as the House of Saud jousts.

- See more at: http://www.middleeasteye.net/columns/saudi-s-young-pretender-failing-war-leaving-yemen-tatters-1971628332#sthash.IK2l2Tvh.dpuf