A Million More Children Face Famine in Yemen, NGO warns

MOHAMMED AWADH/ SAVE THE CHILDREN

A 14-month-old child suffering from malnutrition receives treatment at a clinic in the city of Amran

A further one million children are at risk of famine in Yemen, the charity Save the Children has warned.

Rising food prices and the falling value of the country's currency as a result of a civil war are putting more families at risk of food insecurity.

But another threat comes from fighting around the key port city of Hudaydah, which is the principal lifeline for almost two-thirds of the population.

Save the Children says a total of 5.2 million children now face famine.

The conflict in Yemen has been raging for years - but what is it all about?

Yemen has been devastated by a conflict that escalated in early 2015, when the rebel Houthi movement seized control of much of the west of the country and forced President Abdrabbuh Mansour Hadi to flee abroad.

Alarmed by the rise of a group they saw as an Iranian proxy, Saudi Arabia and eight other Arab states intervened in an attempt to restore the government. They have received logistical and intelligence support from the US, UK and France.

Many families in rebel-held Yemen are reliant on food handouts from aid groups

At least 6,660 civilians have been killed and 10,563 injured in the conflict, according to the UN. Thousands more civilians have died from preventable causes, including malnutrition, disease and poor health.

The fighting and a partial blockade by the coalition have also left 22 million people in need of humanitarian aid, created the world's largest food security emergency, and led to a cholera outbreak that is thought to have affected 1.1 million people.

Why can people no longer afford food?

The war has also led to severe delays in paying the salaries of teachers and public servants, with some people receiving no wages for almost two years.

Those who are paid face food prices which are 68% more expensive than when the war began.

Meanwhile, the Yemeni riyal has lost almost 180% of its value over the same period, according to Save the Children.

Earlier this month, the currency reached its lowest value in history, placing a further burden on population.

Fears also remain of potential damage to or a blockade of Hudaydah's port as a result of the fighting.

The UN has warned that in a worst-case scenario, the battle for Hudaydah could cost up to 250,000 lives, as well as cut off aid supplies to millions of people living in rebel-held areas.

"Millions of children don't know when or if their next meal will come," the chief executive of Save the Children International, Helle Thorning-Schmidt, said in a statement.

"In one hospital I visited in north Yemen, the babies were too weak to cry, their bodies exhausted by hunger.

"This war risks killing an entire generation of Yemen's children who face multiple threats, from bombs to hunger to preventable diseases like cholera," she added.

Earlier this month, Save the Children said that more than 36,000 children could die from extreme hunger before the end of the year.

Thank you, Mr Obama for putting billions of dollars back into the hands of Iranians so they can continue to sponsor this proxy war. 

Report: Saudi School Bus Bombing in Yemen Not Justified

Were USA, Britain and France complicit in this slaughter of children?

By Sommer Brokaw

Yemenis inspected a destroyed bus at the site of a Saudi-led coalition airstrike on Aug. 10, a day after the strike hit the bus, which was carrying children at Dhahyan market in the northern province of Saada, Yemen. A coalition investigative team has since admitted the attack was not justified. Photo by Stringer/EPA-EFE

(UPI) -- A Saudi-led coalition investigative team said Saturday a coalition airstrike that hit a school bus in Yemen killing dozens of children last month was not justified.

The Aug. 9 Saudi-led coalition airstrike in Dhahyan market in the northern province of Saada, Yemen, killed at least 50 people, mostly children, and injured 77, the ministry said, CNN reported.

Mansour al-Mansour, official spokesman of the Arab Coalition's Joint Incident Assessment Team, said at press conference Saturday that video from the plane that conducted the strike was analyzed for the report.

Saudi Arabia's official news agency initially reported that the strike was a legitimate military action in retaliation to a Houthi ballistic missile attack and Mansour maintained Saturday it was still a legitimate military target because it had Houthi leaders and led to the killing of a number of Houthi leaders. However, he also admitted that "the raid on Dhahyan does not comply with the coalition's rules of engagement," because the bombing was not justified at the time, since the target was not a threat to the coalition forces.

So, the target was not a threat at that moment so it did not comply with the coalition's rules of engagement. The fact that several dozen children were on the bus did not de-legitimize the attack, but only that they were not deemed to be an immediate threat. Perhaps if the bus had been going in the other direction it would have qualified as a justifiable target. In other words, the dozens of children massacred in this horrific act were of no consequence whatsoever. Sounds like Islam, doesn't it? It also sounds like we can expect many more dozens of children to be blown to bits thanks to mindless, military men.

Mansour also called on the coalition to hold those responsible for mistakes in Dhahyan raid responsible.

In response, the Saudi and United Arab Emirates coalition agreed Saturday with the report and pledged to "hold the ones who committed mistakes accountable."

Like that's going to happen. Someone is going to pay, but it certainly won't be those who are really responsible.

The attack led to widespread condemnation.

U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres condemned the airstrike and offered condolences for the families of the victims. He called on all parties involved in the Yemen civil war to respect international humanitarian law and called for an independent investigation.

Following the bus attack, some Congress members called on the U.S. military to clarify its role in the war and investigate whether support for the air raid could render American military personnel "liable under the war crimes act."

The Saudi coalition, which has had U.S., French and British logistical and intelligence support, has carried out strikes in Yemen to reinstate the internationally recognized presidency of Abdu Rabbo Mansour Hadi, whom rebels drove into exile three years ago.

So, Congress is worried that the US could be held liable for war crimes. They are not, apparently, concerned about actually committing war crimes, only that they might be held liable. Is there no-one who has a guilty conscience about the massacre of dozens of children? Incredible! Is the massacre of dozens of children now considered acceptable collateral damage?

The United Nations' human rights agency said in a report Tuesday that parties to the civil war in Yemen may have committed war crimes over the three years. At least 6,660 civilians have been killed and more than 10,500 injured in the conflict, according to the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights.

Yemen, also reeling from a multi-year cholera epidemic that's killed more than 2,300, has the greatest humanitarian crisis in the world, humanitarian agency Cooperative for Assistance and Relief Everywhere said.

"Since [2015], 22.2 million people are now in need of humanitarian assistance, among which 11.3 million are in acute need of immediate assistance to save or sustain life, mostly women and children," the group said.

In June alone, the coalition carried out 258 air raids on Yemen, nearly one-third of which targeted non-military sites.

Isn't it always women and children who pay for the insanity of men?

Dhahyan, Yemen

50 Dead, Mostly Kids, in Saudi-led Coalition's 'Legitimate' Airstrike on Yemen Bus

If Yemen were Gaza - MSM and liberal governments would be

running around in circles with their hair on fire. 

But it isn't, and there is only silence.

A Yemeni man holds a boy who was injured by an airstrike in Saada, Yemen. © Naif Rahma / Reuters

Fifty people died in a bus attack in Yemen and 77 were injured, most of whom were children, the International Committee of the Red Cross stated, citing officials. The Saudi-led coalition has called the attack "legitimate."

The attack took place in Dahyan Market in northern Saada, a Houthi rebel stronghold, on Thursday morning.

The Saudi-led coalition later said the airstrikes were aimed at missile launchers used to attack the southern Saudi city of Jiza, claiming its strike constituted a "legitimate action." It went on to accuse Houthi rebels of using children as human shields.

The tragic incident has prompted the ICRC to once again call for the protection of civilians during conflicts. “Twenty million Yemeni people are in need of [humanitarian] aid. The ICRC has always called upon all parties of the conflict to [find] a political solution… in order to curb worsening humanitarian conditions,” Mirella Hodeib from the ICRC earlier told RT.

It's not the first time the coalition has hit a residential area this month. Just one week ago, an air raid in Hodeidah seaport claimed the lives of 55 civilians. An additional 170 were wounded.

"We see violations across the country and it's really sad to speak about civilian casualties in a matter of less than a week. So for us, this is painful...this is just horrific," Hodeib said.

The similarities between this situation and the violence between Israel and Gaza are significant. Both the Houthis and the Palestinians use children as shields when they launch missiles into the other country. However, Israel manages to take out these facilities with few, if any, civilian casualties. They haven't killed 50 civilians in 2 years of far more intense fighting. The Saudis are averaging 50 per week. Yet, do you hear the outcry from the world's media, from western governments, from anyone? Deafening silence! Why?

'Devastating’: Yemen’s Cholera Endemic Hits 1 Million Mark

A woman holds her son who is suspected of being infected with cholera in Sanaa. © Khaled Abdullah / Reuters

Yes, there is a woman in this photo - she's invisible, as are all women in devout Islam

Yemen’s cholera outbreak has surpassed the 1 million mark while 300 cases of diphtheria have been reported as civilians in the war-ravaged country continue to face starvation and a crippling blockade. “We can confirm that the country has now reached 1 million suspected cases of cholera,” the International Committee of the Red Cross said. “This is devastating.”

The World Health Organization has recorded 2,226 deaths since the epidemic began in April. Cholera causes severe diarrhea and dehydration and is spread by dirty water and the contamination of food with feces. It can cause death within hours if untreated.

The ICRC also said over 80 percent of Yemen is in need of food, clean water, healthcare and fuel.

The country is in the grips of a brutal war, with a Saudi-led coalition of nine countries conducting airstrikes against the Houthi rebels in support of President Abdrabbuh Mansour Hadi, who fled the country in 2015.

The Houthis were in alliance with long-running former President Ali Abdullah Saleh, who they killed in December after indicating he was changing sides and seeking dialogue with the Saudis.

The Houthi rebels are supported by Iran, which is also accused of supplying weapons to the group, a charge which Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif described as “baseless accusations,” on Wednesday.

Saudi Arabia has imposed a blockade on the country, which has further intensified the food and aid shortage. On Wednesday, it said it would keep the rebel-controlled port of Hodeidah open for 30 days to allow humanitarian deliveries to get into the country.

In January, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said the civilian death toll had reached 10,000, citing data gathered by health facilities, and said the actual number could be much higher.  

The United Nations on Tuesday said coalition airstrikes had killed at least 136 civilians between December 6 and 16.

“We urge all parties to the conflict to respect their obligations under international humanitarian law, including their obligation to respect the principles of distinction, proportionality and precaution,” Rupert Colville, spokesperson for the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) said.“They should take all feasible precautions to avoid, and in any event to minimise, the impact of violence on civilians.”

Meanwhile, MSF announced in Geneva on Thursday the country also faces a diphtheria outbreak, with more than 300 cases reported. “In Yemen, the last diphtheria case was recorded in 1992, and the last outbreak in 1982,” MSF Emergency Coordinator said. “The ongoing war and blockade is sending Yemen’s health system decades back in time.”

At about the same time as the above report came out,

the Pentagon confirms ‘multiple ground ops & 120+ strikes’ in Yemen 

Why is the US in Yemen?

A man walks past a graffiti, denouncing strikes by U.S. drones in Yemen, painted on a wall in Sanaa, Yemen

on November 13, 2014. © Khaled Abdullah / Reuters

The Pentagon has disclosed that it carried out “multiple ground operations” in Yemen this year. The confirmation sheds new light on largely covert US military activities in the region.

US forces have conducted “multiple ground operations and more than 120 strikes in 2017,” according to a statement released by US Central Command in Tampa, Florida. The US military hopes to prevent Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) and Islamic State from using Yemen “as a hub for terrorist recruiting, training and base of operations to export terror worldwide,” the statement reads.

The 120 claimed strikes against targets in Yemen would mark a 3-fold increase compared to the number of airstrikes from last year.

Before Wednesday’s statement, there had been few official disclosures of the extent of US military involvement in Yemen. In sharp contrast to the fight against IS in Syria and Iraq, the Pentagon has avoided holding regular briefings or updates on ground or air operations in Yemen.

However, there are sporadic reports of US military activity in the country. US Central Command said earlier this month that five Al-Qaeda militants had been killed in a US airstrike that took place on November 20 in Yemen’s Bayda Governorate.

The Pentagon previously acknowledged that the US “has people on the ground” in Yemen. According to media reports, in April, US special operations forces stepped up ground operations in Yemen, but military officials did not elaborate on the matter. It is still unclear exactly how many US boots are on the ground in Yemen. A White House report submitted to Congress last week detailing US military operations worldwide failed to disclose the number of US troops stationed in Yemen.

In February, it was revealed that a botched US raid in the country had left at least 25 civilians and one Navy SEAL dead. Inquiries into the disaster found that the raid yielded no significant intelligence, but the Trump administration nonetheless praised the mission as a success. Apart from the deaths, a $70 million military helicopter was also destroyed.

The latest acknowledgement of US ground operations in Yemen raises questions about the legality of such activity with respect to Yemen’s sovereignty.

Kim Sharif, director of Human Rights for Yemen, said in March, “the Yemeni people are saying: ‘Where are the other powers in the Security Council? Why aren’t they standing up for the sovereignty of Yemen, when clearly it is in their best interest as well to do so, because they surely must have business interest, commercial interest to protect and preserve the sovereignty of Yemen for the purpose of preserving that international passage for the benefit of all.’”

Yemen Cholera Outbreak Nearing Largest in Recorded History

One would think that being the 21st century, we would have ancient diseases like this under control. We certainly have the capability, but obviously, don't have the will. Geopolitical ambitions are far more important to world leaders than people.

By Daniel Uria 

A Yemeni stands near a sewage swamp covered with plastic waste and creating a high-risk environment for cholera,

in Sana'a, Yemen, 26 July 2017. British charity Oxfam warned the cholera outbreak, which has

reached 745,205 suspected cases, could soon become the largest in recorded history. 

File photo Yahya Arhab/EPA/Y

UPI -- Yemen's massive cholera outbreak could infect more than one million people by the end of the year, experts believe.

The World Health Organization's Regional Office for the Eastern Mediterranean reported 745,205 suspected cholera cases and 2,119 associated deaths in the country as of Wednesday.

British charity Oxfam sad the epidemic is already the fastest-growing in recorded history and is expected to soon surpass the 754,373 cases recorded in the aftermath of the 2010 earthquake in Haiti.

"Yemen is the world's worst humanitarian crisis and it is getting even worse. More than two years of war have created ideal conditions for the disease to spread," Oxfam's Humanitarian Director Nigel Timmins said. "The war has pushed the country to the edge of famine, forced millions from their homes, virtually destroyed the already weak health services and hampered efforts to respond to the cholera outbreak."

The United Nations and global children's advocacy group Save the Children warned of the ongoing cholera epidemic in early August while reinvigorating calls for international humanitarian aid.

Less than half of the country's medical centers remain functional following a civil war that engulfed the country in March 2015.

The severe damage to the medical system, along with 14.5 million people lacking regular access to clean water, allowed the deadly disease to spread since the epidemic began in March of this year.

The U.N. estimated $2.1 billion is needed to prevent Yemen from becoming a completely failed state, but donor governments only provided half the amount at an April aid conference in Geneva.

"Yemen's tragedy is a man-made catastrophe for which all sides bear responsibility. Yet it is being fueled by deliberate political decisions in London, Washington and other world capitals," Timmins said.

Riyadh, Tehran, ... This is a proxy war between Saudi Arabia and Iran. Nothing anyone else can do will stop it if these two lunatic Muslim states won't. 

Britain has Sold Saudi Arabia £6bn in Weapons Since Yemen War Began

What a world we live in when the fastest growing global industries

are child pornography and weapons manufacturing and sales.

Man can't possibly survive if we continue in this direction!

And, of course, it's always children who suffer the consequences of man's evils.

FILE PHOTO: Smoke rises at a community hall where Saudi-led warplanes struck a funeral in Sanaa, Yemen, October 9, 2016 © Khaled Abdullah / Reuters

British arms companies have earned £6 billion ($8bn) from selling weapons to Saudi Arabia during the ongoing war in Yemen, it has emerged. The fighting has killed more than 10,000 people, destroyed vital infrastructure, and fomented a cholera epidemic.

War Child UK claims the true revenues from dealings with the Gulf kingdom are almost double previous estimates of £3.2 billion.

The charity told the Independent that private arms manufacturers, including BAE systems and Raytheon are, “profiteering from the deaths of innocent children” by selling missiles and equipment to the Saudi-led coalition.

Rocco Blume, a conflict and humanitarian advisor at War Child, told the newspaper Britain is not only selling arms to Saudi forces but maintaining them as well.

“We all want to see productive international trade, but this is damaging. The revenue has to be seen in the context of all other costs incurred in this trade, especially to our international reputation, particularly on human rights.”

Blume says there has been a “lack of transparency” on the extent of British firms’ involvement amid a global weakening of protections for children in conflicts. He also said Britain had become “less fussy” about international trading partners as Brexit approaches.

The charity also said there is a disparity between the economic benefit to the British public versus the profit for private firms inside the arms industry, which is estimated at almost £600 million.

War Child UK found that an estimated tax revenue of 45 pence per head was “dwarfed” by pay and bonuses, as well as the amount spent by the government on aid to Yemen.

“Weapons sales to Saudi Arabia generated just £13 million in corporation tax in 2016, yet during 2017, the UK will spend £139 million in humanitarian aid to Yemen,” a spokesperson said.

“This means the Treasury is spending over four times in aid what it is getting back in tax.”

The Saudi-led coalition has waged a devastating air campaign in Yemen since 2015 to support the government in its war against Houthi rebels. The British government was forced to defend the trade amid evidence of war crimes and civilian deaths after the UN called Yemen the world’s greatest humanitarian disaster.

Evidence gathered on the ground suggests some of the bombings were carried out using British-made weapons, including Raytheon’s laser-guided Paveway IV smart bomb, which is manufactured in Fife.

BAE Systems and Raytheon were among exhibitors at an arms fair in London last week, supported by the government and senior military commanders.

Secretary of State for International Trade Liam Fox was asked by reporters at the arms fair how many civilian deaths it would take before the UK revoked the license to sell arms. He defended the “ethical” trade, and said it did not violate international law.

Does it violate moral law? You will find the answer to that question, but it may be too late to do anything about it when you do.

Fife, Scotland