Saudi Arabia Gives Yemeni Gov't $10bn to Rebuild – President

FILE PHOTO © Naif Rahma / Reuters

Yemen has received $10 billion from Saudi Arabia to rebuild the war-torn country, the Riyadh-backed Yemeni president said.

“Saudi Arabia has provided Yemen with $10 billion,” Abdrabbuh Mansur Hadi said, as cited by Al Arabiya, during a meeting of his Aden-based government on Wednesday.

A total of $8 billion from the sum will be spent on the reconstruction of government-held areas, with another $2 billion to be used to support Yemen’s National Bank, he explained.

According to the president, restoring normal functioning of electricity and the water supply, health, education and communications are among the “urgent priorities” for his government.

Yemen is going through a massive humanitarian crisis as a result of the conflict between the Sunni Muslim government of Hadi and the Shia Houthi rebels united with forces loyal to ex-president, Ali Abdullah Saleh.

This is widely seen as a proxy war between Saudi Arabia and Iran as the latter backs the Houthis in an attempt to spread its influence throughout the region. 

The wisdom of spending billions rebuilding while the war is still in progress escapes me, but if it alleviates some of the incredible suffering of the people, then God bless it. If it's just an exercise in easing Saudi consciences or trying to look good to the world, that would be unfortunate.

There has so far been no official confirmation of $10 financial aid to Yemen by Saudi officials.

Saudi Arabia's numerous war crimes with USA & UK complicit

Saudi Arabia has contributed to the current state of affairs in Yemen as it has headed an international coalition against the Houthis since March 2015.

The coalition has imposed a blockade of the country and launched an air campaign to return Hadi to power.

Riyadh and its allies have been accused of war crimes by humanitarian groups after their airstrikes hit residential areas and public gatherings on numerous occasions.

Human Rights Watch (HRW) reported in October that the Saudi coalition, “with direct military support from the US and assistance from the UK,” conducted at least 58 “unlawful airstrikes.”

Earlier this week, the UN humanitarian coordinator for Yemen, Jamie McGoldrick, said that around 10,000 have been killed in the country since Saudi Arabia intervened, with 7 million people close to starvation.

According to World Health Organization figures, more than 7,400 people have been killed, with around 1,400 of them being children.

In August, the UN said that it holds the action of the Saudi-led coalition as the reason for the majority of deaths among civilians and devastation.

Despite some military gains made by the government in recent months, the conflict in Yemen is far from being over as the Houthis remain in control of capital Sanaa, most of the central and northern highlands and the coast around Hodeida.

Hadi’s presidency is contested by the 10-member presidential council headed by Saleh Ali al-Sammad, which was established by the Houthis last year.

Saudi Grand Mufti: Iranian Leaders not Muslim

By REUTERS

Saudi Grand Mufti Al-Sheikh's remarks, made to a Mecca newspaper which carried them on Tuesday, drew a swift retort from Iran's Foreign Minister.


Pilgrims at Haj ceremony in Mecca. (photo credit:REUTERS)

 DUBAI - Saudi Arabia's top religious authority said Iran's leaders were not Muslims, drawing a rebuke from Tehran in an unusually harsh exchange between the regional rivals over the running of the annual haj pilgrimage.

The war of words on the eve of the mass pilgrimage will deepen a long-running rift between the Sunni kingdom and the Shi'ite revolutionary power. They back opposing sides in Syria's civil war and a list of other conflicts across the Middle East.

Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, in a message published on Monday, criticized Saudi Arabia over how it runs the haj after a crush last year killed hundreds of pilgrims. He said Saudi authorities had "murdered" some of them, describing Saudi rulers as godless and irreligious.

Responding to a question by Saudi newspaper Makkah, Saudi Arabia's Grand Mufti Sheikh Abdulaziz Al al-Sheikh said he was not surprised at Khamenei's comments.

"We have to understand that they are not Muslims ... Their main enemies are the followers of Sunnah (Sunnis)," Al al-Sheikh was quoted as saying, remarks republished by the Arab News.

He described Iranian leaders as sons of "magus", a reference to Zoroastrianism, the dominant belief in Persia until the Muslim Arab invasion of the region that is now Iran 13 centuries ago.

"BIGOTRY"

Al al-Sheikh's remarks drew an acerbic retort from Iran's Foreign Minister, Mohammad Javad Zarif, who said they were evidence of bigotry among Saudi leaders.

"Indeed; no resemblance between Islam of Iranians & most Muslims & bigoted extremism that Wahhabi top cleric & Saudi terror masters preach," Zarif wrote on his Twitter account.

Saudi authorities normally seek to avoid public discussion of whether Shi'ites are Muslims, but implicitly recognize them as such by welcoming them to the haj, and by accepting Iranian visits to the Saudi-based Organization of Islamic Cooperation.

Tensions between the two countries have been rising since Riyadh cut ties with Tehran in January following the storming of its embassy in Tehran, itself a response to the Saudi execution of dissident Shi'ite cleric Nimr al-Nimr.

Custodian of Islam's most revered places in Mecca and Medina, Saudi Arabia stakes its reputation on organizing haj, one of the five pillars of Islam which every able-bodied Muslim who can afford to is obliged to undertake at least once.

Riyadh said 769 pilgrims were killed in the 2015 disaster, the highest haj death toll since a crush in 1990. Counts of fatalities by countries who repatriated bodies showed that more than 2,000 people may have died, more than 400 of them Iranians.

Iran blamed the 2015 disaster on organizers' incompetence. Pilgrims from Iran will be unable to attend haj, which officially starts on Sept. 11, this year after talks between the two countries on arrangements broke down in May.

The split between Islam's main sects dates to a dispute among Muslims over who would rule their community after the death of the Prophet Mohammad, and Shi'ites still regard his descendants as a line of imams blessed with divine guidance.

Today such disagreements over history remain emotive points of tension between the sects, but they are also divided over day -to-day issues including differing interpretations of Islamic law and the role and organization of the clergy.

In the Wahhabi teaching of Sunni Islam followed by the Saudi clergy and government, Shi'ite doctrine about imams is seen as incompatible with the concept of a monotheistic God.