United Nations Truce Immediately Collapses in Yemen
United States supported Saudi-GCC forces continuing war against Middle East state
By Abayomi Azikiwe
Editor, Pan-African News Wire
Despite the announcement that an United Nations truce had been brokered in Yemen in order to provide much needed humanitarian relief, the Saudi- Arabia and Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) coalition has continued to bomb cities throughout the country.
Since March 26 the United States has provided intelligence and refueling to an alliance headed by Riyadh which has attacked residential areas, telecommunications outlets, public buildings, ports, schools, hospitals and other sites throughout the impoverished Middle Eastern nation.
Peace talks which were held in Oman during June collapsed without an agreement due to the intransigence of the ousted and fugitive President Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi who is living in exile in Saudi Arabia. A renewed effort for a truce ostensibly designed to provide much-needed humanitarian relief is also failing miserably.
UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon has expressed his disappointment that the supposed humanitarian suspension in the bombing called for in Yemen has not come into being saying that he still maintains hope that some resolution can be found. Spokesman for the Secretary General Stephane Dujarric said on July 13 that although the ground fighting and airstrikes are continuing, humanitarian aid workers were able to supply some desperately needed assistance. (Associated Press, July 13)
Dujarric also noted that the Secretary General maintains his commitments to work towards the pause, which was scheduled to begin on July 10. The UN spokesman emphasized that talks were still being held with the relevant forces inside the country.
Dujarric also stressed that Secretary General Ban maintains his confidence in the UN mediator, Ismail Ould Cheikh Ahmed of Mauritania.
Several Cities Bombarded Since Scheduled Pause
In the southwest city of Taiz, civilian areas were hit just one hour after the truce was scheduled to have gone into effect. Saudi-GCC allied warplanes were attacking Taiz with the same veracity that has been carried out over the last nearly three months of war.
There were at least three different strikes immediately reported, bombing targets said to be bases of the Ansurallah Movement (Houthis). Pro-Saudi-GCC militias claimed the Houthis were violating the pause by continuing their advances across the city.
Obviously Saudi-GCC fighter jets were violating the truce before it even began in earnest, claiming that the Ansurallah were not trustworthy therefore rationalizing the bombings. Hadi and his allies are saying that no peace can be achieved in Yemen until he is reinstalled in power in Sanaa.
In addition to attacks on Taiz, there were also aerial bombardments in the capital of Sanaa.
On July 13, the Associated Press reported that “An airstrike by the Saudi-led coalition targeting Yemen's Shiite rebels (Houthis) and their allies struck a poor residential area in the capital of Sanaa, killing 25 civilians and wounding at least 50, according to the rebels and medical officials. The strike hit the slums of the Sawan neighborhood in eastern Sanaa early in the morning, said the rebels, known as Houthis.”
This same article goes on to say “Smoke billowed from the struck area in Sawan, which is located just hundreds of meters (yards) from a military camp used by the Ansurallah. Hospital officials said there were women and children among the casualties.”
Several buildings in Sawan were destroyed in the airstrikes while ambulances were seen transporting the injured to hospitals. Ahmed Nasser, who lives in the neighborhood, reported that he heard the explosions and remained indoors thinking that there would be more attacks during the day and the evening.
The Saudi-GCC alliance also bombed other areas of Sanaa as well as 10 Yemeni provinces on July 13, according to local sources on the ground in Yemen. This recent proposed truce was designed to halt the fighting until the conclusion of Ramadan.
Saba, a news agency run by the Houthis, reported that 12 people, including two children, were killed on July 12 in Saudi-GCC alliance air strikes across the country. Saba said the bombing campaign also struck clinics in Sanaa along with trucks transporting food in southern Aden.
Other reports note that bombs hit Ansurallah positions outside of the port city of Aden and the residential area of Khor Maksar on July 13. An escalation in the fighting in Aden occurred on July 12, where Ansurallah forces control many areas that are being contested by southern fighters loyal to Hadi, known as the Popular Resistance.
The Popular Resistance forces said they drove back the Houthi fighters in the coastal Ras Amran area, west of Aden, said to General Fadhel Hassan, a representative of the Popular Resistance.
Overall the ground fighting left 17 people dead around Aden, with 11 being Ansurallah fighters. These figures were reported by Hassan, who acknowledged that the southern fighters had “received sophisticated weapons from the Saudi-GCC coalition”.
Also three bombing raids targeted Al-Anad air base which is currently under the control of Houthi forces in Lahj, located just north of Aden. Other reports say six Ansurallah fighters were killed by an improvised explosive device in Lahj.
Since March 26, 3,000-4,500 people have been killed and hundreds of thousands displaced. Hospitals and clinics are overwhelmed by the wounded and injured.
Millions of people inside the country are in dire need of food, water and medical treatment.
Washington is waging a proxy war of containment and destabilization against Iran and its allies throughout the region.
Despite the ongoing negotiations surrounding Tehran’s nuclear technology programs between Iran and several imperialist states, the administration of President Barack Obama is maintaining the same hostile position against this Middle Eastern state in operation since the revolution in 1979.
By Abayomi Azikiwe
Editor, Pan-African News Wire
Despite the announcement that an United Nations truce had been brokered in Yemen in order to provide much needed humanitarian relief, the Saudi- Arabia and Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) coalition has continued to bomb cities throughout the country.
Since March 26 the United States has provided intelligence and refueling to an alliance headed by Riyadh which has attacked residential areas, telecommunications outlets, public buildings, ports, schools, hospitals and other sites throughout the impoverished Middle Eastern nation.
Peace talks which were held in Oman during June collapsed without an agreement due to the intransigence of the ousted and fugitive President Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi who is living in exile in Saudi Arabia. A renewed effort for a truce ostensibly designed to provide much-needed humanitarian relief is also failing miserably.
UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon has expressed his disappointment that the supposed humanitarian suspension in the bombing called for in Yemen has not come into being saying that he still maintains hope that some resolution can be found. Spokesman for the Secretary General Stephane Dujarric said on July 13 that although the ground fighting and airstrikes are continuing, humanitarian aid workers were able to supply some desperately needed assistance. (Associated Press, July 13)
Dujarric also noted that the Secretary General maintains his commitments to work towards the pause, which was scheduled to begin on July 10. The UN spokesman emphasized that talks were still being held with the relevant forces inside the country.
Dujarric also stressed that Secretary General Ban maintains his confidence in the UN mediator, Ismail Ould Cheikh Ahmed of Mauritania.
Several Cities Bombarded Since Scheduled Pause
In the southwest city of Taiz, civilian areas were hit just one hour after the truce was scheduled to have gone into effect. Saudi-GCC allied warplanes were attacking Taiz with the same veracity that has been carried out over the last nearly three months of war.
There were at least three different strikes immediately reported, bombing targets said to be bases of the Ansurallah Movement (Houthis). Pro-Saudi-GCC militias claimed the Houthis were violating the pause by continuing their advances across the city.
Obviously Saudi-GCC fighter jets were violating the truce before it even began in earnest, claiming that the Ansurallah were not trustworthy therefore rationalizing the bombings. Hadi and his allies are saying that no peace can be achieved in Yemen until he is reinstalled in power in Sanaa.
In addition to attacks on Taiz, there were also aerial bombardments in the capital of Sanaa.
On July 13, the Associated Press reported that “An airstrike by the Saudi-led coalition targeting Yemen's Shiite rebels (Houthis) and their allies struck a poor residential area in the capital of Sanaa, killing 25 civilians and wounding at least 50, according to the rebels and medical officials. The strike hit the slums of the Sawan neighborhood in eastern Sanaa early in the morning, said the rebels, known as Houthis.”
This same article goes on to say “Smoke billowed from the struck area in Sawan, which is located just hundreds of meters (yards) from a military camp used by the Ansurallah. Hospital officials said there were women and children among the casualties.”
Several buildings in Sawan were destroyed in the airstrikes while ambulances were seen transporting the injured to hospitals. Ahmed Nasser, who lives in the neighborhood, reported that he heard the explosions and remained indoors thinking that there would be more attacks during the day and the evening.
The Saudi-GCC alliance also bombed other areas of Sanaa as well as 10 Yemeni provinces on July 13, according to local sources on the ground in Yemen. This recent proposed truce was designed to halt the fighting until the conclusion of Ramadan.
Saba, a news agency run by the Houthis, reported that 12 people, including two children, were killed on July 12 in Saudi-GCC alliance air strikes across the country. Saba said the bombing campaign also struck clinics in Sanaa along with trucks transporting food in southern Aden.
Other reports note that bombs hit Ansurallah positions outside of the port city of Aden and the residential area of Khor Maksar on July 13. An escalation in the fighting in Aden occurred on July 12, where Ansurallah forces control many areas that are being contested by southern fighters loyal to Hadi, known as the Popular Resistance.
The Popular Resistance forces said they drove back the Houthi fighters in the coastal Ras Amran area, west of Aden, said to General Fadhel Hassan, a representative of the Popular Resistance.
Overall the ground fighting left 17 people dead around Aden, with 11 being Ansurallah fighters. These figures were reported by Hassan, who acknowledged that the southern fighters had “received sophisticated weapons from the Saudi-GCC coalition”.
Also three bombing raids targeted Al-Anad air base which is currently under the control of Houthi forces in Lahj, located just north of Aden. Other reports say six Ansurallah fighters were killed by an improvised explosive device in Lahj.
Since March 26, 3,000-4,500 people have been killed and hundreds of thousands displaced. Hospitals and clinics are overwhelmed by the wounded and injured.
Millions of people inside the country are in dire need of food, water and medical treatment.
Washington is waging a proxy war of containment and destabilization against Iran and its allies throughout the region.
Despite the ongoing negotiations surrounding Tehran’s nuclear technology programs between Iran and several imperialist states, the administration of President Barack Obama is maintaining the same hostile position against this Middle Eastern state in operation since the revolution in 1979.
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