Conflict in Yemen

STURM

Well-Known Member
There can be no end to independent investigations and reports by NGOs but the Saudis and their partners will continue getting away with what they're doing. After all the popular narrative is that the Saudis and their partners are fighting ''terror'' in Yemen and want to restore a rightful leader to power. The West has other pressing matters to focus on; even if was willing to risk ties with Saudi over Yemen.

The question really is what will it take for Saudi to come to a point where is enough is enough? They haven't got there yet; to admit failure now would be a huge embarrassment and would be a major victory for Iran.
 

Feanor

Super Moderator
Staff member
Apparently Scotland Yard are examining allegations of Saudi Arabian war crimes in the Yemeni conflict. At present they are undertaking preliminary work to ascertain whether or not criminal prosecutions could be brought. The Saudis will highly unimpressed with this development.
It would be interesting to see an investigation of the recent incident with the Apache helo shooting up a boat of civilians. Somehow I suspect they were after Iranians smuggling weapons but ran into civilians instead.
 

H.Smart

New Member
Yemen is an unfortunate situation of international apathy. The US has the interest to sell arms to Saudi Arabia and Saudi Arabia needs support and silence in dropping those bombs on Yemen. The prime reason that Saudi drops bombs on civilians and Houthi rebels are that HouthiÂ’s are from opposite sect of Islam (Shia). Shia sect of Islam is the most peaceful people in the world. They do not believe in terror bomb attacks and killing innocent people. On the other hand, it is Saudi Wahabi school of thought who are the major source of terrorism in the world. It is in the interest of the US and Saudi to keep wars alive. For Saudi wars are good opportunity to advance its extremist ideology in the shape of exploiting hunger and turmoil and for the US wars are a good source of income by selling arms to rich countries. The other benefit for the US is that it suppresses the governments who dear to speak up against the US.

Yemen conflict is an indictment of international law and the Security Council. There have been all kinds of violation, from State sovereignty to abuses of human rights and crime against humanity such as bombing schools, weddings, hospitals. Although International community is at the forefront in condemning of Syria, however, more serious and gravest crimes are ignored because of self-interests
 

Muukalainen

New Member
  • Thread Starter Thread Starter
  • #204
It's been a long time since I have posted here, but I thought I would try and do a quick update.
- Ali Abdullah Saleh is dead, killed by the Houthi's. Yemen: Ex-President Ali Abdullah Saleh killed
- The war is 1006 days old with no end in sight. Yemen: The forgotten war
- A link to LiveUA map, which I know is not perfect, but it provides a simple geographic understanding of the conflict. Interactive map of Yemen - Yemen news live map- yemen.liveuamap.com
- Around 78%, 21 million of the 27 million, of the Yemeni population is at risk of famine. The Saudi blockade continues, though a small number of planes are being allowed to land in Sanaa. ICRC on Twitter (I know twitter, but the Red Cross), UNICEF Yemen Humanitarian Situation Report (November 2017)
- "As of October 10, at least 4,125 civilians had been killed and 7,207 wounded since the start of the campaign" Yemen
 

Feanor

Super Moderator
Staff member
Some interesting shots of Sudanese ground forces in Yemen. Their numbers can't be very under the circumstances, but their very employment highlights the increasing desperation of the Saudi coalition to, if not break the stalemate, at least reduce their own casualties.

Суданцы в Йемене
 

John Fedup

The Bunker Group
While a total house cleaning of Yemen may be necessary, the Saudis will likely stuff it up. Hopefully Trump’s restrainers will keep the US out of this mess or as Trump describes, $hitholes. In this case the label fits.
 

STURM

Well-Known Member
Remains to be seen if the killing of the ousted ousted Ali Abdullah Saleh will have any major repercussions for the Houthis. Will also be interesting to see if the Saudis attempt to reach some kind of accommodation with the Houthis in an attempt not only to sideline the Iranians but to get out of the quagmire they're in.

[What Is Next For Yemen After The Death Of Ali Abdullah Saleh?]

[Is There A Solution To War In Yemen In 2018?
 

yavar

Member
Yemen Resistance Ansarullah drone UAV uninterrupted over Aramco oil facility of Jizan City inside Saudi Arabia



 

Persian Gulf

New Member
@Persian Gulf, have you read the rules? Your comment must be more than one-line.

Rule 17. Do not make one-liner posts.

I strongly suggest that you read the RULES. 1st warning issued.
Hello again... This rule doesn't apply for posts #207-209 just for me? It's okay I like to feel special :)

But okay I add more for you:

Everyday the US and KSA are surprised with what the Houthis can do. They have no idea what weapons Houthis use because it is indigenous Iranian weapons, so they find some Soviet analogue and say it's a "modified" version!

Not the first MQ-9 the US lost over Yemen, the third documented one (but I think the first the US admitted).

Saudis said invasion of Yemen will take weeks, 4 years later they are still there, Houthis still control the capital, Hadi still hiding in KSA, and every day Houthis become stronger. They created a Hezbollah 2.0 on their south border, except with a territory 10x the size of Lebanon. Huge strategic blunder (but well, this is just the latest for them).
 
Saudis deny Houthi Claims of Troop capture - Saudi-led coalition denies Houthi claims of troop capture

Anybody want to forecast how & when this conflict is going to be resolved?

As best as I can understand the situation, on the Northern Front the Houthis appear to have no troubles holding their lines against the Saudi Coalition and have performed some effective counter attacks despite the Saudis having a monopoly on Air Power.

But the "Saudi Coalition" which consists of the UAE backed Southern Movement and the Saudi backed Islah Movement seems to be no longer a Coalition at all. In August the Southern Movement staged a coup against the Islah Movement and took some territory from them around the Port City of Aden. ttps://intpolicydigest.org/2019/10/09/putin-eyes-geopolitical-spoils-from-the-uae-saudi-rift-in-yemen/

Apparently Islah is back in control of Aden but the Southern Movement has taken some ground in Western Yemen from the Houthis.- UAE-backed forces score major advance in southern Yemen.

A fairly confusing & sad situation with all the usual players on the sidelines (Iran, Russia, USA) supporting one side or another according to their perceived strategic interests.
 

Firn

Active Member
For what it is worth I wasted a bit of free time to look at various open sources and the amount and quality of captured material seems to support Houthi claims to some degree. Saudi "brigades" consisting seemingly almost entirely of ethnic Yemenites are clearly not comparable to brigades in the normal sense of the word. Videos can also be manipulated, weapons added and captured numbers inflated but at least the overall story is plausible.

At least one large convoy of road-bound vehicles moved with little to no spacing and seemingly hardly no awareness on a winding paved road through the difficult hilly terrain extending into Saudi territory. We don't know if they were on a training mission or a limited operation but it seems they were ambushed with little room to manuever and likely no route to escape for most vehicles. Surprised and subject to attacks from the dominating difficult terrain with possibly little organization and training the seemed to have surrendered in mass, leaving clearly still operational or even untouched vehicles behind. Weak leadership, poor organization and training are a constant problem.

The Houthis have certainly proven to be able to pull off similar attacks if on smaller scales and are comfortable to infiltrate over difficult terrain with little support. It is quite possible that supply caches habe been established for some time in this part of Saudi-Arabia especially suitable for light infantry operations.
 

Feanor

Super Moderator
Staff member
The houthis have carried out a massive strike against pro-Saudi formations in Yemen, killing 111 and wounding ~200. The numbers may continue to grow as more information becomes available. The strike was against a camp in Maribe, and allegedly housed fighters being trained for deployment to Aden area. While major fighting has stopped it's likely strikes like this will continue.

"Превентивный удар"
 

Feanor

Super Moderator
Staff member
The Houthis have carried out another major offensive with large casualties on the opposing side. The defeat was delivered west of Marib, and they Houthis are now pushing towards the city. With the Saudis rapidly losing allies, it appears the Houthis are taking advantage of the situation to make operational gains.

Photos of abandoned and destroyed light armor have surfaced again. In the meantime Houthi units have appeared on the hills surrounding Marib, and its fall seems likely.

Разгром в Марибе
Наступление хуситов на стыке провинций Сана, Мариб и Эль-Джауф
Хуситы подходят к Марибу

A Saudi Tornado has been shot down over Yemen. The Saudis have confirmed the loss. There's footage of the intercept, but it's hard to tell what SAM was used.

Хуситы сбивают истребитель Panavia Tornado IDS ВВС Саудовской Аравии (ВИДЕО)
Министерство обороны Саудовской Аравии подтвердило потерю истребителя Panavia Tornado IDS в Йемене
Уничтожение саудовского истребителя-бомбардировщика Tornado зенитной ракетой йеменских хуситов

Saudi Aramco has been allegedly hit by another strike. Saudi sources claim all inbounds were intercepted, this time.

Хуситы заявили об ударе по нефтяному объекту Saudi Aramco в Саудовской Аравии

Houthis have destroyed what appears to be a munitions dump near Marib, in a rocket strike.

Хуситы уничтожают склад боеприпасов просаудовских сил близ города Мариб в Йемене

It looks like the Sudanese are reducing their presence in Yemen. The Saudi coalition in general has been slowly falling apart, and it remains to be seen how long they can even maintain a coherent front line at this rate.

https://colonelcassad.livejournal.com/5630339.html

A US cruiser has intercepted another arms shipment from Iran to the Houthis. It was carrying Kornet clones.

https://imp-navigator.livejournal.com/901818.html
 

OPSSG

Super Moderator
Staff member
1. Yemen’s civil war began in 2014 when Houthi insurgents—Shiite rebels with links to Iran and a history of rising up against the Sunni government—took control of Yemen’s capital and largest city, Sana'a.

2. The United Nations, which appointed a new special envoy for Yemen in 2018, has attempted to broker a cease-fire but the civil war has dragged on without end between the Saudi backed Yemen Government and the Houthis. See the backgrounders (including this April 2010 Carnegie pdf: War in Saada - From Local Insurrection to National Challenge and this Feb 2020 MEI article: The UAE may have withdrawn from Yemen, but its influence remains strong). On 28 Mar 2020, the Houthis have resumed firing missiles at Riyadh with Tehran’s technological assistance.

3. Given this latest attack in the middle of a global pandemic, Yemen's Huthi rebels will get no sympathy from me from this point going forward (if there is a coronavirus outbreak in Yemen).



4. Saudi forces intercepted and destroyed two ballistic missiles launched by Iran-backed Houthi militia, targeting:
  • the Saudi capital Riyadh and
  • the southern city of Jazan,
late Saturday (28 Mar 2020) Saudi Press Agency (SPA) reported quoting a statement from the coalition forces. Two missiles were intercepted and destroyed above Riyadh and Jazan, Turki Al-Malki, the spokesman of the coalition, was quoted as saying.

5. There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attack, but Yemen's Iran-aligned Huthi rebels have previously targeted Riyadh and other Saudi cities with missiles, rockets and drones. It was the first major assault on Saudi Arabia since the Huthis offered last September to halt attacks on the kingdom after devastating twin strikes on Saudi oil installations.
 

OPSSG

Super Moderator
Staff member
Saudi-led coalition forces in Yemen carried out 19 air raids on Houthi rebels in Saana, Yemen's capital, in a single day. The Saudi-UAE strikes came after Houthi fighters, who are backed by Iran, launched a series of rockets at Riyadh. The attacks on Sanaa, Yemen came after Saudi Arabia intercepted two ballistic missiles the Houthis said they had launched.
 
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