In March 2015, Saudi Arabia and several Sunni allies launched a massive air campaign against Iran-aligned Shiite Houthi rebels who had overrun much of Yemen a year earlier. The United States gave its full support to this campaign, which aimed at rolling back rebel military gains in Yemen.

Washington’s Support for the Saudi Coalition in Yemen

Washington provided training and logistical and intelligence support to the Saudi-led coalition as well as selling billions of dollars in weapons to Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, the two main members of the anti-Houthi coalition.

In support of the Saudi-led war campaign, the administration of then-President Barack Obama signed off an arms sale worth $1.3 billion in precision-guided bombs and bomb parts to the Saudis and their allies.

US officials argued that American weapons, training and intelligence assistance would help the Saudis and their allies avoid causing more civilian casualties in Yemen. However actions proved otherwise.

Sharp Increase in Civilian Casualties in Yemen

Civilian casualties sharply increased in Yemen with the Saudi-led military intervention. According to an estimate from the Armed Conflict Location and Event Data Project, an independent monitoring group, more than 127,000 people have been killed in the war, including 13,500 civilians in targeted attacks by the Saudi-led coalition.

In the first 18 months of the Saudi-led campaign against Houthi rebels, human rights groups linked US bombs to attacks on homes, residential buildings, factories, warehouses, a cultural center, an agricultural complex, a primary school and other non-military sites.

US Officials May be Held Accountable for War Crimes in Yemen

According to the New York Times, concerns are now rising among US officials that they could be held accountable for war crimes in Yemen due to their role in facilitating arms sales to Saudi Arabia and its allies.

Administration officials fear that they could be arrested while on trips overseas for war crimes for ignoring the harm caused by the US weapons in Yemen.

In 2016, the legal office of the State Department in the Obama administration issued a memo warning that US officials, including the secretary of state, could be charged with war crimes for their role in arming the Saudi coalition.

Fearing accountability, the Obama administration acted on the warning and took a tougher line on the delivery of weapons to Saudi Arabia. In December of this year, Obama blocked a shipment of precision-guided bombs that he had agreed to sell to the Saudis.

Trump Resumed Obama’s Weapons Shipments to Gulf Allies

A few months after Obama left the White House, his successor Donald Trump, however, delivered the bombs his predecessor had halted. The Trump administration even sought to advance more arms sales in billions of dollars to its Gulf allies, but the shipments were blocked by the Congress for nearly two years.

As the deliveries of $8.1 billion of arms sales to members of the Saudi-led coalition were blocked pending congressional approval, the Trump administration came up with a new strategy to circumvent the Congress by declaring an emergency over Iran, which prompted a review by the inspector general.

Since April 2019, Trump has used his veto power to prevent lawmakers from withdrawing US military support and weapons sales to Saudi Arabia and its allies.

The Laws of War Still Apply

Under the laws of war, all countries are prohibited from approving arms sales in cases where these weapons can be used to commit attacks against civilians. As this is the case in the Yemen war, the possibility of holding American officials accountable for war crimes looks high.

Lawsuits can be filed against US officials for alleged war crimes in Yemen before courts in sovereign countries. The charges can also be brought in an international tribunal if one were set up to investigate atrocities in the Yemen war.

Earlier this month, the UN issued a report on atrocities in Yemen and asked the Security Council to bring actions by all parties in the conflict to the International Criminal Court (ICC) for possible war crimes prosecution.

The ICC Investigation into the US, UK and France

The ICC has already authorized an investigation into alleged war crimes committed by the US and other forces in Afghanistan in March, a move that prompted the Trump administration to blacklist ICC prosecutor Fatou Bensouda and her top aide.

In September 2019, a panel of UN investigators concluded in a report that the US, along with Britain and France, were likely complicit in war crimes in Yemen because of continued weapons sales and intelligence support to the Saudis and their allies.

The report said third states that have influence on Yemen’s warring parties – including the US, Britain, France and Iran – “may be held responsible for providing aid or assistance for the commission of international law violations”.

L'articolo American Officials on the Hook for War Crimes in Yemen proviene da InsideOver.

The situation in Yemen remains drastic, as millions struggle to survive amid the ferocious civil war. The COVID-19 pandemic has exacerbated their situation further. Now, for the first time, Saudi Arabia co-hosted a donor conference – despite being one of the main parties to the ongoing conflict.

Yemen’s First Case of COVID-19

In early April COVID-19 was first detected in Yemen. Since then, there has been growing concern that the number of infected people could increase rapidly. According to official information, about 350 people have been infected with the coronavirus in Yemen so far, and about 80 people died from it. However, the numbers are not very meaningful because hardly any tests are being carried out, and the rebels in the north do not publish any coronavirus numbers at all. However, there are indications that the corona mortality rate in Yemen is among the highest in the world.

Millions of people had already been struggling to survive in the country since a war between the Houthis — a Shi’ite clan from the north of Yemen — and neighboring Saudi Arabia, which supports the displaced internationally recognized government, started five years ago.

The War’s Human Cost

Since the beginning of the war, more than 112,000 people have been killed, including 12,600 civilians in targeted attacks. In the face of the coronavirus pandemic, UN Secretary-General António Guterres warned of a “race against time.” Yemen is the poorest country in the Arab world — hunger and epidemics are widespread. Ten million people are already at risk of starvation.

Due to ongoing fighting and airstrikes, it is also sometimes impossible for aid organizations to reach certain areas and distribute water and food there safely. The organization also often has problems reaching areas because it needs permits to visit those areas. These had already been significant challenges before COVID-19, and they have gradually intensified since the outbreak of the pandemic.

Weak Healthcare Infrastructure

Besides, an inadequate health care situation also remains an issue: many people are sick or wounded but cannot afford medication. Few people can also raise the money for transport to a clinic, especially in the remote, mountainous areas. The health system is completely overloaded; many facilities have been damaged or destroyed by the war.

At the beginning of the year, seriously ill people were flown from the airport in Sana’a to Jordan and Egypt for treatment. It is estimated that up to 30,000 Yemenis died during the war just because they could not be treated abroad. This misery has continued with the closure of the airports during the pandemic. For humanitarian reasons, the only solution is to end the conflict. In addition to financial support, peace is the most crucial matter that aid organizations need to be able to meet the needs in Yemen.

Aid Under Threat

Now, 30 of the 41 most crucial aid programs in the impoverished Arab country are threatened with extinction within a few weeks due to lack of funding. In response, the United Nations held a donor conference with Saudi Arabia.

The United Nations sought to raise just under two and a half billion dollars during a virtual donor conference to fund important aid missions from June to December. In the end, “only” 1.35 billion were pledged among the 30 participating states. UN emergency aid coordinator Mark Lowcock was disappointed and said that the sum could not be satisfied. Still, one shouldn’t give up.

The largest donor country is Saudi Arabia, with $500 million dollars in aid, followed by the United States at $225 million and the United Kingdom at $197 million. Germany, meanwhile, seeks to provide aid of 125 million euros this year.

A similar donor conference in Geneva had raised $2.6 billion last year. However, because countries are struggling with the effects of the coronavirus, the willingness to donate decreased during this week’s conference.

With the current donations not matching expectations nor needs, however, an end to the suffering in Yemen is not in sight.

L'articolo Saudi Arabia Pledges $500 Million in Aid for Yemen proviene da InsideOver.

The war in Yemen is drawing close to its fifth year. The country has been ravaged by conflict since the coalition intervened in March 2015 against the Houthis rebels who control the capital of Sanaa and most big urban centers in the nation.

The long-running war has killed more than 100,000 people, pushed millions to the verge of famine and devastated the country’s infrastructure. For a little more four and a half years, Yemen has been mired in a seemingly intractable civil war that has killed nearly 10,000 people and pushed millions to the brink of starvation, causing one of the world’s worst humanitarian crisis since World War II. Now Yemen’s balance of power is shifting.

Self-rule in Aden Shifts Balance of Power in Favor of UAE-backed STC

At the expense of pro-Saudi forces and the puppet Hadi government forces, separatists in southern Yemen have recently declared self-rule, breaking a peace deal signed in November with the internationally-recognized government.

The Aden-based and UAE-backed Southern Transitional Council (STC) declared a state of emergency, saying it would govern the port city and other southern provinces. Meanwhile, the Saudi-sponsored Yemeni government warned of “dangerous and catastrophic consequences.”

“The announcement by the so-called transitional council of its intention to establish a southern administration is a resumption of its armed insurgency… and an announcement of its rejection and complete withdrawal from the Riyadh agreement,” Yemen’s Foreign Minister Mohammed Al-Hadhrami said in a statement.

Backdrop of Conflict Reveals Irreparable Cracks

The Yemen conflict widened after an uprising in Yemen forced the country’s long-time authoritarian president Ali Abdullah Saleh to hand over power to his deputy, Abd Rabbu Mansour Hadi. Saleh himself was later killed by Houthi rebels outside Sanaa in December of 2017. The assassination instigated a chain of reprisal attacks by pro-Saleh loyalists.

In 2014, the Houthi Shia Muslim rebel movement took advantage of the new president’s weakness and seized control of northern Saada province and neighboring areas. The Houthis later on took full control over the capital Sanaa, forcing pro-Saudi president Abd Rabbu Mansour Hadi into exile abroad.

KSA’s Escalation

A dramatic escalation in the war came in March 2015, when Saudi Arabia and eight other mostly Sunni Arab states — backed by the US, UK, and France — began air strikes against the Houthis, with the declared aim of restoring Hadi’s government. So far, such efforts have failed to materialize on the ground, with so many regional and international conflicting agendas in Yemen and the geographically strategic region.

Cracks in the Saudi-led coalition in Yemen were deeply widened when the UAE unilaterally decided to drawdown its military presence in some parts of Yemen; the step taken in July last year mirrored the conflicting agendas of the two main Arab players in Yemen, the UAE and Saudi Arabia whose virtual ruler MBS (Crown Prince Mohammad Bin Salman) was deeply dismayed at the sudden Emirati move. His fears were exacerbated by an unannounced visit soon later by a UAE delegation to the capital of Saudi Arabia’s arch enemy and rival, Iran.

Socotra Truce Aims to Ease Tensions

Southern separatists and the Yemeni government signed a new truce with the hope of de-escalating rising tension between UAE backed STC and pro-Saudi government after the Southern Transitional Council declared self-rule and a state of emergency in parts of the country’s south under its control last week.

A few days ago. fighting on the Yemeni island of Socotra has come to a halt after an agreement was reached between the Saudi-backed government forces and UAE-backed southern separatists. The de-escalation agreement announced late on Friday came after an armed unit of the Southern Transitional Council (STC) fought to wrest control of Socotra’s provincial capital, Hadibo, from forces loyal to President Abd Rabbu Mansour Hadi. The two sides were nominal allies in a military coalition formed by Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) to battle Yemen’s Houthi rebel movement, which seized control of the capital Sanaa in late 2014.

STC Takeover of Aden

Last August, STC forces backed by UAE military operating in Yemen, turned against Hadi and took control of Aden, the internationally-recognized government’s temporary seat. The fighting stopped when the two groups reached a deal in the Saudi capital, Riyadh, last November aiming to form a unity government. Instead, opposite parties of the two supposedly allied Gulf nations turned against one another, seeking more control and a firmer grip on strategic areas in southern Yemen as well as the vital island of Socotra.

As STC keeps pushing to revive that dream of southern independence in a ramshackle and war-torn country, plagued by famine, deprivation — and even worse now with 10 confirmed COVID-19 cases — observers frequently hint and claim that the UAE’s strong man MBZ, the Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi, has a special interest in controlling the strategic Yemeni port city of Aden. Specifically he reportedly wants to turn it into a major maritime base and a regional and international rival port to that of Dubai’s por city of Jabal Ali. These reports have now gained even more credence.

L'articolo Shift of Power in Yemen: UAE-backed Forces Retake Major Areas proviene da InsideOver.

Barely four days after all sides in the Yemeni conflict welcomed the call for a ceasefire in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic, the war seems to be escalating yet again and threatening to undo whatever little progress had been made.

Hostilities Flare Up Once Again

The tit-for-tat re-escalation started again on Saturday night when Houthis fired a number of rockets and drones towards Saudi Arabia, causing minor injuries to two Saudi citizens.

“Saudi Air Defense Forces intercepted 2 ballistic missiles launched by the Iranian-backed Houthi militia towards #Riyadh and #Jazan,” the Kingdom’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs tweeted on Sunday morning.

Reuters reported later the same day that a military spokesman for Houthis took responsibility for launching rockets and drones at “sensitive” sites in Riyadh and at economic and military sites in Jazan and Asir, near the Yemeni border.

First Major Houthi Attack in Almost One Year

This was the first major Houthi offensive against the Kingdom after the rocket attack at the oil field last September, post which things calmed down a little, giving a temporary relief to the war-torn country.

“I am gravely dismayed and disappointed by these actions at a time when the Yemeni public’s demands for peace are unanimous and louder than ever before. Yemen needs its leaders to focus every minute of their time on averting and mitigating the potentially disastrous consequences of a Covid-19 outbreak,” said UN Special Envoy for Yemen Martin Griffiths.

Saudi Arabia Hits Back

Much to Griffiths’ dismay, the fight was taken one further notch upwards on Monday with the Saudis retaliating through air strikes on Yemen’s capital of Sanaa, including sites in the presidential palace compound and a military school. As per Reuters, the coalition struck “legitimate military targets including Houthi ballistic batteries which threaten civilian lives.”

After the outbreak of the contagious coronavirus — which doesn’t discriminate along national, sectarian or ideological lines — United Nations Secretary General Antonio Guterres in a March 25 statement urged “those fighting in Yemen to immediately cease hostilities, focus on reaching a negotiated political settlement and do everything possible to counter a potential outbreak of Covid‑19.”

What if Yemen Gets Coronavirus?

So far, Yemen has not reported any cases of the coronavirus but that is likely because no tests have been done. Its outbreak could wreak further havoc for the country already facing one of the worst humanitarian crisis in the world.

As for the uptick in fighting, the head of the Houthi-government’s national negotiation delegation Mohammed Abdulsalam iterated that there was no option left for the military but to respond to continued Saudi aggression and thus “defend the dignity of the nation”.

This is part of a brewing conflict that resumed in the end of January, with hundreds getting killed across a series of attacks including on Yemeni defense minister in which he narrowly escaped death. Just in March alone, the fighting has seen major escalation resulting in the Houthis taking control of Al Jawf, which lies in the country’s north just next to the Saudi border.

Now the next frontier is Marib, the oil-rich province which remains the last stronghold of the Saudi-led coalition government. The Houthis had already started advancing towards the region by Mar 11 and an all-out war for its control will probably shape the future of the country and any prospect of peace.

L'articolo Yemen Conflict Intensifies Despite Covid-19 Fears proviene da InsideOver.

It is exactly five years since a coalition led by Saudi Arabia and United Arab Emirates intervened militarily in Yemen. But despite the number of casualties the prospect of peace has remained elusive. The war has worsened in what has been described by the UN as the world’s largest humanitarian catastrophe.

Now the War in Yemen Could Be Close to Ending

Now there are reports that Saudi Arabia is looking for a way out of the crisis after realizing that it is fighting a losing battle. What makes the conflict even more complicated is that it is part of a regional power struggle between Shia-ruled Iran and Sunni-ruled Saudi Arabia who have been using proxy militia groups in Yemen to undermine each other.

Saudi Arabia and its allies have accused Iran of providing financial and military support to the Houthis, something Iran has denied. Among those factors often mentioned as having played a great role in organizing Iranian-backed proxy militia groups in Yemen was General Qasem Soleimani of Iran’s Quds force who was killed in a US drone strike this past January.

Arab Spring Origins of the Yemeni Conflict

The conflict in Yemen can be traced to the Arab spring that forced former President Abdullah Saleh to step down and hand over power to his deputy Abdu Rabbu Mansour Hadi in 2011. Because of the ensuing state of anarchy, Hadi was faced with a number of challenges, among them the high rate of unemployment, insecurity, corruption, food shortages and separatist movements.

The Houthis — who are mainly made up of Zaidi Shia Muslims — took advantage of the growing dissent against Hadi’s government to establish their control over Yemen’s Saada province. Sunni Muslims in the region who were concerned about the economic situation joined hands with the Houthis and together they took over the capital of Sanaa.

Saleh’s Attempt to Return to Power and Saudi Arabia’s Entrance into the Conflict

Former President Saleh in a bid to return to power entered in an agreement of convenience with his erstwhile rivals the Houthis to take over the entire country and depose Hadi. However this backfired when he was killed by the Houthis in December of 2017

Concerned about the deteriorating security situation, Saudi Arabia and eight other, mostly Sunni Arab countries intervened in Yemen on March 26, 2015, in a bid to defeat the Houthis. More broadly, they wished to stop the influence of Iran and to restore the leadership of Hadi who had fled to exile.

The coalition was backed by Western forces mainly those of US, UK and France who provided it with intelligence information and fuel. Initially Saudi Arabia estimated that the whole operation would last several weeks at most, but five years later the battle is still raging with the number of casualties increasing daily.

Yemen’s Catastrophic Death Toll and War Crimes

In 2019, The Armed Conflict Location & Event Data (TACLED), an organization which uses real-time data analysis source on political violence and protests around the world, stated there were more than 100,000 deaths in Yemen since 2015, including over 12,000 civilians killed in direct attacks.

“The Saudi-led coalition and its allies remain responsible for the highest civilian fatalities from direct targeting , with over 8000 since 2015,” said the organization. “Around 67 % of all reported civilian fatalities during this period have been caused by coalition.” It also accused Houthis and their allies for being responsible for over 2,000 reported civilian fatalities from direct targeting since 2015.

During the same period, Human Rights Watch documented a total of 90 unlawful coalition airstrikes which hit homes, markets, hospitals, schools and mosques. One of them was the bombing of a wedding, killing 22 people, including 8 children in 2018. Another documented case, was that of a bomb that struck a school bus killing at least 26 children and wounding 19 more in the busy market of Dhahyan.

“The Saudi-led coalitions attack on a bus full of young boys adds to its already gruesome track record of killing civilians at weddings, funerals, hospitals and schools in Yemen,” said Mr Bill Van Esveld, Human Rights Watch senior children researcher. The organization also accused the Houthis of firing indiscriminately into Saudi Arabia, and using landmines that have killed and maimed civilians and disrupted their lives.

Saudi Arabia’s Invitation to Warring Parties to Come to the Negotiating Table

But in what could be an attempt by Saudi Arabia to exit the conflict, the Kingdom has invited members of the Houthis and the Yemeni recognied government to peace negotiations. This comes a month after Houthis took control of the capital Sanaa and deposed the internationally-recognized Hadi government.

According to the Wall Street Journal, Saudi ambassador to Yemen Mohamed al-Jaber said the proposal for talks to end the five year war remain on the table despite a flare up in violence. “We are committed to de-escalation,” al-Jaber said, adding that “we are ready to have cease fire in all Yemeni territory if they accept it.”

The Houthis have not yet responded to the invitation.

“The standing invitation to the Houthis to meet face to face for talks after provocative attacks this weekend suggests the Saudis desperately want to end the war in Yemen,” said Elana DeLozier, a Yemen expert at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy.

Why Does Saudi Arabia Want to End the War Now?

The Gulf Kingdom is believed to have felt even been more isolated after its allies in the conflict such United Arab Emirates scaled down their military presence last year to avoid further losses. A Western official familiar with the Kingdom’s policy in Yemen told the Middle East Monitor that “Like the UAE, the Saudis want to say this war is over for us, but the situation on the ground is difficult. “

Thomas Juneau, an associate professor at Ottawa University in Canada informed the paper further that, “Riyadh wants to reduce the costs of its intervention in Yemen after it has realized that it cannot afford the war’s financial and military costs.”

Amid the growing number of war casualties, Yemen is now faced with the coronavirus pandemic which could result in even more deaths because of the fragile security situation and the weak health system. The country has 3,500 medical facilities but only half are still functioning. This means that much of the country’s population of around 20 million have no access to adequate healthcare .

L'articolo Has Saudi Arabia Surrendered in Yemen? proviene da InsideOver.

Eighty percent of Yemen’s population is in need of humanitarian aid, but the Houthi coalition is threatening to cut off the vital flow of funding. The threat — designed to coerce the UN to give Houthi leadership more control of the funds — has prompted international donors to reassess humanitarian donations, imperiling the lives of millions of civilians, according to The Associated Press.

Siphoning Money Intended to Prevent Starvation

Last year, the rebel group demanded a 2% tax on the aid, but it walked back that condition last week. Already, Houthi-aligned governments received $370 million per year for operating expenses and salaries. However, the UN has started to scrutinize how the funds are spent. In 2019, a third of the allocation was not audited according to an internal review obtained by the AP. 

Houthi rebels have long been suspected of siphoning money intended for humanitarian purposes. When the UN requested an audit from every agency distributing money to the war-torn state, reports revealed multiple instances of employees receiving multiple salaries, including the president of the Supreme Council for Management and Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs and International Cooperation (SCMCHA), the Houthi organization in charge of handling aid disbursement.

SCMCHA also spent $1.2 million from the UN’s refugee and migration agencies to refurbish an office.

UN Coordinator: ‘We Have to Fix the Situation’

Lise Grande, UN humanitarian coordinator, has led a comprehensive analysis of aid disbursed to Yemen. UN officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, said Grande was “genuinely shocked when she learned about the arrangements.” 

“She had no idea about the scale of it,” one of them remarked. “Her reaction after that was, we have to fix the situation.”

Grande’s efforts led to the World Food Program temporarily halting aid before implementing biometric identification procedures for beneficiaries. The measure to prevent money from going to people not designated as beneficiaries was eventually cancelled by Houthi leadership.

UNICEF also began to reevaluate all 243 of its Yemeni partners and decided to pay suppliers and contractors directly, rather than through the Houthi group. In retaliation, Houthi leadership began a media campaign portraying UNICEF as “corrupt and wasteful.”

A Demand for Control

SCMCHA issued 200 new guidelines for humanitarian agencies. Some of the requirements include reveling the identities of beneficiaries and including Houthi officials in the process of evaluating need. These measures would allow Houthi leadership to possibly channel aid to its supporters and restrict it from those it deems as threats. Additionally, SCMCHA would have regional power to hold funding over the heads of civilians in exchange for compliance.

An internal reorganization moved SCMCHA to be directly under the office of the Houthi president, controlled by his chief of staff. The move created a new risk of humanitarian aid being politicised.  

The Houthi government also demanded a new agreement with the UN that would require the rebel group to approve of contracts. By this, Houthi leadership would be able to award lucrative contracts to partners it views as favorable. Houthis also asked for the right to monitor the UN hiring process in Yemen. 

UN agencies refused to agree to the Houthi terms. As a result, Houthi leadership has impeded the flow of financial and food aid. In one instance, food for 200,000 civilians was stopped long enough for it to spoil before reaching beneficiaries. The Houthis have also often denied visas and permission for UN aid workers.

Houthi Leadership Doesn’t Care About the People

“Yemen will survive” amid a suspension of UN humanitarian aid, said Abdul-Mohsen Tawoos, secretary general of the Houthi international aid organisation. The Houthis want an agreement, Tawoos said on a Jan. 20 Skype call with European agencies, but Tawoos emphasized that they would not be bullied. 

Tawoos also accused Grande of filing false reports on the situation and Houthi interference, in particular. Houthi leadership is content with holding out despite the suffering of its people. The UN World Food Program is responsible for supplying 12 million Yemenis with food, but it said it would scale back its operations in March due to the difficulty of working with Houthi leaders.

“The operating environment in north Yemen has deteriorated so dramatically in recent months that humanitarians can no longer manage the risks associated with delivering assistance at the volume we currently are,” a senior UN official told Reuters.

NGOs, Donors and Agencies Leaning Toward Aid Reduction to Yemen

Official announcements of aid cutbacks have yet to be announced, but multiple sources informed Reuters that discussions at “high levels” involving agencies, NGOs, and donors, are ongoing and leaning toward an aid reduction. 

Saudi Arabia, the largest foreign donor, opposed an aid suspension, however. At a meeting in Brussels, an international contingent discussed the possibility, with no action being taken thus far. The second largest donor, the United States, has expressed concern. A spokesman for the US Agency for International Development, said Washington is coordinating with global actors “to communicate unequivocally to Houthi officials to cease their obstructive behavior.”

‘No One Wants to Walk Away from a Crisis’

In the interim, the UN would prefer to reach a workable agreement with Houthi leadership.  

“No one wants to walk away from a crisis, certainly not a crisis as big as the one in Yemen, but humanitarians have to adjust what we are doing based on the risks we are facing,” a U.N. official said.

Since 2015, the UN has given $8.35 billion to Yemen, largely funded by donations from Saudi Arabia, the US, and the United Kingdom.

In demanding concessions from global aid organizations, Houthi leadership is gambling with the lives of civilians, betting that the international community will eventually buckle. Aid channeled through a corrupt government still benefits the overall population, or so Houthi leaders would prefer the UN to think. 

Absent a deal, the Houthi government risks a significant reduction in aid for its people. In that event, crucial conditions could turn even more dire for an already starving and suffering population. 

L'articolo Houthi Leadership Gambles with Starving Its People as UN Threatens to Cut Aid  proviene da InsideOver.

US Central Command announced on Feb. 13 that the US Navy had intercepted an Iranian boat bound for Yemen. The dhow—a sailboat with two masts—was reportedly carrying 150 Dehlavieh anti-tank guided missiles, which CENTCOM said are Iranian copies of the Russian Kornet missile. Three surface-to-air missiles in addition to surveillance equipment and other weapons parts were also found on the boat.

‘These Weapons Were Determined to be of Iranian Origin’

“Many of these weapons systems are identical to the advanced weapons and weapon components seized by guided-missile destroyer USS Forrest Sherman (DDG 98) in the Arabian Sea on Nov. 25, 2019,” a CENTCOM statement said. “Those weapons were determined to be of Iranian origin and assessed to be destined for the Houthis in Yemen, which would be in violation of a UN Security Council Resolution that prohibits the direct or indirect supply, sale, or transfer of weapons to the Houthis.”

The US military published video from the interception and photos of the weapons. A UN Security Council Resolution prohibits the transfer of arms to Houthi militias in Yemen, but Iran has long been accused by the international community of supplying the rebel faction. On the other side, the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia have supported the government of ousted President Abdrabbuh Mansur Hadi. 

Amidst the proxy war, a secessionist faction grew and terrorist groups Al-Qaeda and the Islamic State have also seized the chance to join the mix. 

Pompeo: ‘The World Must Reject Iran’s Violence and Act Now’

The US has maintained a hardline view on Iranian involvement in the Yemen conflict. After the weapons seizure, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo tweeted, “The US Navy interdicted 358 Iranian-made missiles + other weapons components on their way to the Houthis in Yemen. This is another example of the world’s largest state sponsor of terror the Islamic Republic of Iran continuing to defy the UN Security Council.

“The world must reject Iran’s violence and act now to renew the expiring UN arms embargo on Iran,” he continued. 

For Pompeo and the UN Security Council, which includes China, France, the United Kingdom, Russia, and the US as permanent members, an embargo on arms from Tehran is key to stopping the conflict that Iran instigates. However, it could also be viewed as a way to stifle the other side’s means of supporting itself in order to ensure victory for US allies. 

Iran’s Perspective

Iran views the arms embargo as yet another attempt to shut it out of the region, which means its primary regional adversary, Saudi Arabia, would reap the benefits.

Yemen’s Minister of Information Mummar Al-Aryani commended the US for intercepting the arms shipment as a welcome development. Al-Aryani said the Houthis are killing civilians, however evidence has shown both sides play a role in the massacre across the nation with Saudi and UAE-caused casualties much higher than those caused by the Houthi side. In fact, the growing collateral damage was a factor in the UAE’s decision to reduce its involvement in the conflict.

“We urge the international community and the UN Security Council to impose deterrent sanctions on the Tehran regime and exert pressure to (halt) arms and exports smuggling to Houthis,” Al-Ayrani said.

Iran’s Support of the Houthis

Iran has supplied weapons and technology to Houthis since 2015, Arab News reported, after Saudi Arabia and its allies intervened to support Hadi.

The UN held “crunch talks” in Brussels over the situation following the weapons confiscation. Arab News reported the international body considered “scaling back or suspending the deliver of vital supplies to millions of people at risk of starvation.” 

Such a move would hurt those who need it help the most—civilians—and would be unlikely to stop Iran’s efforts to help the Houthis. In fact, it may do the opposite by portraying the international community as the villain. In truth, cutting humanitarian aid would be aimed more at convincing the Houthis to scale down their war and, hopefully, encourage discussions of peace, possibly by forcing civilians to pressure Houthi leadership from within Yemen.

Notably, there was no mention in Brussels of the possibility of restricting supplies to Saudi-allied forces. Further sanctions against Iran were also not discussed and would be unlikely considering the delicate situation with the failing Iranian nuclear deal, which was provoked by a reinstatement of US sanctions. 

L'articolo US Navy Intercepts Iranian Weapons Bound for Yemen proviene da InsideOver.

The United Nations’ reputation as a fair broker in the Middle East has been rocked by a series of allegations that its officials in Palestine and Yemen are guilty of graft, sexual misconduct and other misdeeds.

UN spokesman Stephan Dujarric told InsideOver that the world body has “absolutely zero tolerance for any corruption”, but it remains unclear whether UN probes into the allegations, which are ongoing, will satisfy critics.

Already, the Netherlands and Switzerland have suspended funding to the UN’s agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA). In war-ravaged Yemen, a fragile peace process was almost derailed in a recent spat between the UN and local officials.

The corruption allegations — and their fallout — highlight how the UN struggles to keep tabs on funding dollars and even its own officials, who often fly solo in fast-moving hotspots where cash is easy to hide.

The scandal in UNRWA, which provides services to some 5 million Palestinian refugees, is particularly damaging, as it comes as US President Donald Trump’s administration says the agency should be shuttered.

According to a report by the UN’s internal watchdog, UNRWA’s top management, including its commissioner general Pierre Krahenbuhl, is being probes over allegations of abuses of power.

According to the confidential report, an “inner circle” of Krahenbuhl and some top aides have “engaged in sexual misconduct, nepotism, retaliation, discrimination and other” misdeeds.

Krahenbuhl struck up a relationship with senior adviser Maria Mohammedi in 2014 that was “beyond the professional” and yielded a “toxic environment” and “frequent embarrassment” in the workplace, the report says.

Investigators found that Mohammedi was hired in an “extreme fast-track” process and that she accompanied Krahenbuhl on official trips, using waivers so she could fly beside him in business class.

Krahenbuhl’s deputy, Sandra Mitchell of the US, resigned in July and denied all allegations of impropriety. This month, Christian Saunders of Britain was appointed to replace her as the agency’s acting deputy commissioner general.

Krahenbuhl has rejected the allegations in the report and insisted that UNRWA is run well.

Meanwhile, UN officials are facing more graft claims in Yemen, where they are tasked with tackling the world’s worst humanitarian crisis after five years of war has pushed millions to the brink of famine.

There, internal UN investigators are probing claims that more than a dozen staffers worked with combatants on all sides to pocket cash from the aid money swishing around the country, according to an Associated Press report.

Internal auditors from the UN’s World Health Organization (WHO) are probing whether unqualified people landed high-paying jobs, dodgy contracts were approved, millions of dollars landed in staffers’ bank accounts, and tons of aid supplies went missing.

The WHO probe began in November, amid allegations of dodgy accounting by Nevio Zagaria, 20, an Italian doctor, who ran the agency’s Sanaa office between 2016-2018, according to the AP report.

As well as being probed for financial mismanagement, Zagaria reportedly also hired former colleagues in senior positions, including a Filipino university student who was tasked with looking after Zagaria’s dog, it is claimed.

In a statement, a WHO spokesperson said investigations into wrongdoing were ongoing, but detailed an overhaul of its operations in Yemen after discovering that its administration there was “unsatisfactory”.

“A new country director was appointed in 2018. We have also deployed more staff with extensive experience in management, emergency response and administration to strengthen WHO’s response on the ground,” the spokesperson said.

“The country office structure has been updated with clear reporting lines and functions, to increase transparency and accountability, and to reduce operational and management inefficiencies.”

The spokesperson added that probing the allegations was made harder by the “complexities of the operational environment” in Yemen, where a spiralling conflict is largely viewed as a proxy war between Iran and Saudi Arabia.

Still, a second Yemen probe by the UN agency for children, Unicef, is reportedly assessing whether a staffer let a Houthi rebel leader travel in UN vehicles so he could evade airstrikes by his enemies in the Saudi Arabia-led coalition.

Officials in Yemen’s UN-backed government have criticised the world body for cooperating with Houthi rebels, while an online campaign asks the UN to come clean about the missing millions in aid funding for Yemen.

As these claims were being probed, the UN’s peace envoy to Yemen, Martin Griffiths, rowed with officials in the government of Yemen’s President Abedrabbo Mansour Hadi over his purported support for the Houthis.

That spat was resolved in June after an intervention from UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, but the UN’s peace plan for Yemen remains unimplemented in the Red Sea port city of Hodeidah.

Like the probe into UNRWA, the allegations against WHO and Unicef in Yemen are damaging for the UN, which can struggle to appear impartial in hotly-contested disputes.

It is not likely, in either scenario, that the world body will have to pull the plug on operations. But humanitarian work for Yemenis and Palestinians occur in two of the Middle East’s most divisive conflicts.

In Yemen, corruption claims make it harder for the UN to stay above the fray in brokering a peace involving the UAE, Saudi Arabia, the US and others as well as myriad local forces.

The UNRWA investigation comes as world powers are set to discuss whether to renew the agency’s mandate later this year. The US was already pushing for UNRWA to be shuttered, a damaging conclusion to its probe could well tip the agency over the edge.

L'articolo Can UN’s Reputation Survive Graft Probes in Yemen and Palestine? proviene da InsideOver.

The southern separatists who have seized control of Yemen’s port city of Aden will use upcoming crisis talks to push for an independence referendum and a role in the country’s UN-led peace process, said the group’s envoy Sulaiman Al-Khader.

Speaking with Inside Over, Al-Khader, the UN representative for the Southern Transitional Council (STC), said emergency talks requested this week by Saudi Arabia offered his group a chance to push for greater southern autonomy and, ultimately, independence.

“We welcome the talks in Saudi Arabia and will take part, as de-escalation is a priority right now. But moving forward, the STC must get a seat at the table in the United Nations-led peace process, from which it has so far been sidelined,” Al-Khader said in an interview.

“Bringing the STC into the process is the only way to bring peace to Yemen.”

Southern separatists, supported by coalition member the United Arab Emirates, effectively took control of Aden, the temporary seat of Yemen’s Saudi-backed government, this past weekend by seizing government military bases and the presidential palace.

The fighting killed up to 40 people and wounded 260 others, the UN says. But the International Committee for the Red Cross said this week that clinics in Aden had counted “scores dead” and hundreds wounded from the clashes.

The US-backed, Saudi-led coalition intervened in Yemen in March 2015 against the Iran-backed Houthi rebels who ousted President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi from power in the capital, Sanaa, in late 2014. Hadi’s government relocated to Aden.

The STC’s Security Belt and other armed southern groups are integral to Riyadh’s coalition, but the war has revived old wounds between north and south Yemen, which were separate countries until unification in 1990.

A peace process led by UN envoy Martin Griffiths has focused on Hadi’s government, the Houthis, the coalition and fighting around the port city of Hodeidah — pushing the question of southern secession down the agenda.

Saudi Arabia has called for a summit over the Aden crisis without setting a date. Abu Dhabi has echoed Riyadh’s call for dialogue but stopped short of asking the southern forces that it trained, funds and arms to give up control.

“The southern people have been marginalized for too long and their patience has run out. There must be a referendum on independence so that the people of south Yemen can exercise their human right for self-determination,” said Al-Khader.

For Al-Khader, Hadi’s government needs to scrap its ties with the Islamist Islah party, which has been linked to a Houthi missile strike on southern forces that killed a prominent southern military leader earlier this month.

“Hadi runs a dysfunctional government of non-functioning institutions that do not provide basic services. It has also been hijacked by Islah and other forces that make it difficult for the STC to partner with,” Al-Khader said.

The deadly clashes exposed a rift between nominal allies that threatens to worsen a stalemated conflict that has claimed tens of thousands of lives and created what the UN calls the world’s worst humanitarian crisis.

The war broke out in late 2014 when the Houthis, allied with forces loyal to former President Ali Abdullah Saleh, seized much of the country, including Sanaa. It escalated in March 2015 with a Saudi-UAE-led coalition air campaign against Houthi rebels.

Al-Khader spoke with Inside Over outside UN headquarters in New York, where he was recently posted as the STC’s representative in a sign of the group’s growing appetite to win recognition on the world stage.

“We’re trying to return our south Yemeni flag, which used to hang outside UN headquarters,” Al-Khader said, referencing the independent socialist Soviet-backed state of South Yemen that existed until 1990.

“We have the most at stake, but the world hasn’t seen that yet. It’s our job to show that we will not be third class citizens in our own country under a Sanaa regime. We’ve tried that for the past three decades and seen little but war, marginalization, poverty and abysmal schools, hospitals and roads.”

STC officials say that between 80 and 90 percent of southerners want independence. Such levels of support may be exaggerated, but many analysts say the majority of the southern population could well vote to split.

The STC is supported by Independent Diplomat, an advisory group founded by former British government political officer Carne Ross that has assisted secessionists in Somaliland, Western Sahara and elsewhere.

L'articolo Yemen’s South Demands Role in UN Peace Process: Envoy proviene da InsideOver.

The United Arab Emirates has begun withdrawing some of its forces from the Yemen Civil War, a significant development which could signal the beginning of the end for the humanitarian crisis. However, although Emirati forces are being recalled, the drawback does not equate to a complete removal of UAE involvement, but merely an evolutionary change of strategy.

Since 2015, various factions have engaged each other in Yemen. Prior to 1990, the country was actually two separate nations. Under the unification plan, it experienced a civil war a few years later, a revolution during the Arab Spring protests, a coup three years later, and another civil war following that. The three decades of turbulence post-unification have been enflamed by tribal factions, some of which push for secession. Further complicating matters, the UAE, in partnership with Saudi Arabia, have taken it upon themselves to fight in the current war against Iranian-backed Houthi rebels.

Collateral damage is inevitable in any war, but for the Yemenis, conditions have been brutal, with the United Nations declaring it the world’s worst humanitarian crisis. An estimated 20 million people are at risk of disease and famine, with a third of the population starving. It has displaced millions of already-impoverished civilians and, according to researchers, has already seen 131,000 non-combat fatalities.

These facts were trivial to the regional powers waging the proxy war – Iran, Saudi Arabia, and the UAE – and even more remote for the nations arming them. The United States, the world’s largest exporter of weapons, has profited off selling as much military equipment as Saudi Arabia and the UAE are willing to purchase. US President Donald Trump even boasted about the amount of money Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman pledged to spend on weapons.

The inhumanity of the crisis alone should have been enough reason for any of the groups involved to seek a peaceful resolution, but those discussions have not been happening. It took the murder of Washington Post journalist Jamal Khashoggi for the rest of the world to open their eyes and ask themselves, and their elected officials, if supporting Saudi Arabia and its wars is really necessary. Backlash against western support for Saudi Arabia has grown enough that the UAE no longer wishes to associate itself with the Riyadh regime.

Emirati President Mohammed bin Zayed has historically allied himself rather closely with Riyadh, forming a power bloc that keeps Iran at bay. Together, they also managed to force a blockade of Qatar, but they are not without their differences. After the tanker attacks off the coast of the UAE, Mohammed bin Zayed refrained from directly blaming Iran, taking a different approach from Saudi diplomats. Now, he’s breaking from Saudi Arabia once again by removing Emirati troops from Houthi-contested frontlines.

Instead, the UAE is turning its focus both to fighting terrorist groups such as al-Qaeda and Daesh. Emirati-trained Yemen fighters will pick up a bulk of the fighting that they leave behind with the creation of a new militia. This militia will have all the support of the UAE, but none of its fighters. In this way, Mohammed bin Zayed’s government can continue to fight for its interests – a pro-Emirati government – through money and equipment instead of blood. The new militia is worth noting, as it reportedly is part of the Southern Transitional Council, the secessionist group, and its troops could number as many as 52,000.

Although exiled Yemeni President Abd Rabboh Mansour Hadi and his government oppose the Houthis, the UAE is apparently using the opportunity to seize more power over the nation, or at least the southern part if it secedes. Hadi’s government has been internationally-recognized, and the idea of an Emirati-backed militia fighting in tandem has not gone over well.

The UAE also faces a renewed backlash on the island of Socotra. In early 2018, its forces effectively seized the small island as a “security measure.” Situated in the Arabian sea between the coasts of Yemen and Somalia, it has easily been the most peaceful place in Yemen, as it avoided the bloodshed of the civil wars. As a response, Saudi Arabia sent its own forces, forcing the two sides to withdraw to the airport and seaport. Now, more Emirati forces have flooded the island prompting a protest in the capital of Hadibu on June 30.

Extricating foreign powers from the Yemen Civil War would be one of the first steps towards finding an end to the crisis. Although the UAE is limiting the involvement of its troops, it still has every intention of having a hand in Yemen’s future, thereby requiring continued participation in the proxy war. Whether Emirati troops or a Yemeni militia, whether fighting Houthi rebels, or terrorists, or seizing a peaceful island, the UAE will maintain its foothold. The removal of its troops from a few of the frontlines has more to do with distancing itself from international pressure sparked by Riyadh’s actions than a sudden warming of its heart.

L'articolo Emirates Shift Gears in Yemen War, Pull Some Troops proviene da InsideOver.