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Wednesday, April 29, 2015

US and Saudi Arabia dump their war on Yemen


The country of Yemen is very poor and the last thing it needs from more powerful countries is for war to spill into its borders. Right now the US has begun a campaign to promote and foster war on its soil. Yemen has already been a target of constant drone attacks by the US at supposed al-Qaeda targets. Those attacks almost always end up killing civilians. Now Saudi Arabia is helping a pro-imperialist faction, led by Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi/ عبد ربه منصور هادي‎ against a faction that is supported by the Houthis/ الحوثيون. Saudi Arabia has been ruthless in its air attacks against any Houthi target, including party offices.

According to the BBC:

Yemen's security forces have split loyalties, with some units backing Mr Hadi, and others the Houthis and Mr Hadi's predecessor Ali Abdullah Saleh, who has remained politically influential. Mr Hadi is also supported in the predominantly Sunni south of the country by militia known as Popular Resistance Committees and local tribesmen.
Both President Hadi and the Houthis are opposed by al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP), which has staged numerous deadly attacks from its strongholds in the south and south-east.
The picture is further complicated by the emergence in late 2014 of a Yemen affiliate of the jihadist group Islamic State, which seeks to eclipse AQAP and claims it carried out a series of suicide bombings in Sanaa in March 2015.
After rebel forces closed in on the president's southern stronghold of Aden in late March, a coalition led by Saudi Arabia responded to a request by Mr Hadi to intervene and launched air strikes on Houthi targets. The coalition comprises five Gulf Arab states and Jordan, Egypt, Morocco and Sudan.


It (Yemen) has been drone-bombed for years and years by the U.S. in certain areas (for instance, the al-Majalah massacre in 2009 which killed 45 civilians), but now large areas of the country including the capital, Sanaa, are being subjected to major airstrikes by Saudi Arabian jets. More than 1,000 civilians have been killed since “Operation Decisive Storm” started in late March (now re-named “Operation Renewal of Hope”). 150,000 people have been displaced and 15,000 have been injured. The people of Yemen have been traumatized enough and the bombing must stop.

And let’s not forget that Saudi Arabia is one of the most repressive countries on the Earth today. It is an absolute monarchy. People are beheaded there for flimsy reasons. For most part the people in Yemen have been caught off guard by the bombings and the death toll has been staggering.
The main difference between the Houthis and their oponents mostly come down to Shia vs. Sunni. Iran presently backs the Houthis and Saudi Arabia is aligned with Hadi’s Sunni.
Important to the imperialists is the Bab al-Mandab strait, a waterway linking the Red Sea with the Gulf of Aden. Much of the world's oil shipments pass through there. Yemen sits along that sea-way.
So the US and its western allies have decided they want a pro-western government along that straight. Iran has been trying to send in weapons to help their faction and the US has threatened war. The US seems to feel free to give all kinds of military aid to their allies and puppets, but they don’t want Iran doing any of that. It is the pot calling the kettle black as all kinds of US politicians huff and puff with their threats to go to war with Iran.
Not much has come out in the press over this conflict, other than the usual chest pounding by the president and the legislative stooges in the US Congress.  We need to make it clear that the US needs to get out of Yemen and stay out.
-សតិវអតុ

See also:

What is going on in Yemen and why is it important?

First of all, Yemen is the most impoverished country in the region, located just to the south of Saudi Arabia. It has been drone-bombed for years and years by the U.S. in certain areas (for instance, the al-Majalah massacre in 2009 which killed 45 civilians), but now large areas of the country including the capital, Sanaa, are being subjected to major airstrikes by Saudi Arabian jets. More than 1,000 civilians have been killed since “Operation Decisive Storm” started in late March (now re-named “Operation Renewal of Hope”). 150,000 people have been displaced and 15,000 have been injured. The people of Yemen have been traumatized enough and the bombing must stop.

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