A human rights organization said the ongoing Saudi war and tight blockade have taken a heavy toll on children in Yemen, leaving more than 8,000 minors dead and injured in the already impoverished Arab country.
The Entesaf Organization for the Protection of Women’s and Children’s Rights, in a statement released on the occasion of the World Children’s Day which is celebrated on November 20 each year, announced that 3,860 children have lost their lives and 4,256 others sustained injuries as a result of the seven-year war.
The group noted that the number of disabled people has soared by 50 percent as a result of the Saudi-led aggression, stating that while the figure was at around 3 million before the war it now stands at 4.5 million now.
The rights group further highlighted that nearly six thousand civilians have been disabled since the beginning of the Saudi-led aggression, including approximately 5,559 children, emphasizing that the actual number is likely much higher.
Entesaf noted that at least two million and 400 thousand Yemeni children are out of primary schools; and nearly three thousand schools are either destroyed or damaged.
It also warned that the number of children, who would have to leave school without basic qualifications may rise to nearly six million, according to the statistics of the Yemeni Ministry of Education.
The rights group further stated that four thousand children are victims of improvised explosive devices [IEDs], bombs, landmines and remnants of war, saying that at least 131 children were killed during the six-month ceasefire in Yemen. The truce was brokered by the United Nations in April and was renewed twice.
“More than 80 newborns die every day in Yemen due to the use of internationally banned weapons. This accounts for the high rate of premature Yemeni infants, as one third of the child births in the country are untimely,” Entesaf said.
The human rights organization finally held the United States and Saudi Arabia accountable for all crimes and violations against Yemeni civilians, especially women and children.
Saudi Arabia launched the devastating war on Yemen in March 2015 in collaboration with its Arab allies and with arms and logistics support from the US and other Western states.
The objective was to reinstall the Riyadh-friendly regime of Abd Rabbuh Mansour Hadi and crush the Ansarullah resistance movement, which has been running state affairs in the absence of a functional government in Yemen.
While the Saudi-led coalition has failed to meet any of its objectives, the war has killed hundreds of thousands of Yemenis and spawned the world’s worst humanitarian crisis.
A baby born somewhere on Tuesday was the world’s 8 billionth person, a United Nations’ projection was eager to announce!
“The milestone is an occasion to celebrate diversity and advancements while considering humanity’s shared responsibility for the planet,” UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said in a statement.
However, the UN chief’s mischief goes beyond this responsibility…
While busy counting the number of living humans on Earth, the WORLD body, whether on purpose or not, forgot about other humans who happen to be in Yemen, Palestine, and several other uncovered places on this planet.
The UN didn’t do its homework very well. The organization would have gained more respect had it done the math the way it ought to be.
Just two days later, an official with Yemen’s Health Ministry sounded the alarm that more than 80 newborn babies lose their lives on a daily basis because the war-torn country does not have the required medical equipment due to the Saudi-led war and blockade.
Najeeb al-Qubati, the undersecretary of Yemen’s Ministry of Public Health and Population for the Population Sector, announced that some 39% of babies are born premature, which shows a significant increase compared to the pre-war period.
The official said the use of prohibited weapons was one of the reasons behind the growing trend. He said several human rights organizations have already acknowledged and condemned Saudis for using such arms.
Yemeni medical centers are in need of some 2,000 incubators, he said, noting that 632 incubators have been provided so far.
Since launching the war with the support of Washington in March 2015, the Saudi-led coalition has used internationally-banned weapons, including US-made cluster bombs, to target residential areas, according to the Cluster Munition Monitor.
Apart from the war, Saudi Arabia has imposed a blockade on Yemen which, combined, have claimed the lives of hundreds of thousands of people. The military aggression has destroyed much of the country’s infrastructure, including the health sector.
On Wednesday, the Yemeni Health Ministry said mosquito-borne diseases such as Malaria and dengue have been on the rise since the start of the war.
Speaking at a press conference in al-Huadaydah, Muhammad al-Mansour, the undersecretary of Yemen’s Ministry of Public Health and Population for the Primary Care Sector, said war and blockade were two main reasons behind the increase of epidemics and diseases in the country.
Failure to implement to malaria control program led to a rise in cases from 513,000 in 2015 to 1,100,000 in 2019, he said, noting the rate was higher in areas where citizens were displaced such as in al-Hudaydah.
Malaria and dengue fever claimed the lives of more than 260,000 Yemenis between 2015 and 2019, he said, naming the closure of ports which has led to delays in the arrival of equipment and medicine as one of the leading factors.
In September, Yemen’s al-Masirah television network reported that the Ministry of Public Health and Population had confirmed the Saudi-led blockade had raised acute malnutrition cases to more than 632,000 children under the age of five and 1.5 million pregnant and lactating women.
“The siege and intense bombardment with prohibited weapons caused a high rate of congenital abnormalities and miscarriages, with an average of 350,000 miscarriages and 12,000 malformations,” it said. According to the ministry, the siege led to an eight-percent increase in premature births compared to the situation before the war.
The blockade has also increased the number of cancer patients by 50 percent. The figure showed 46,204 cases registered during the year 2021.
The ministry said the Saudi-led war had destroyed 162 health facilities completely or 375 partially and put them out of work.
The objective of the war was to reinstall the Riyadh-friendly regime of Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi and crush the Ansarullah resistance movement, which has been running state affairs in the absence of a functional government in Yemen.
Not only has the Saudi-led coalition failed to meet its objectives, it has also killed hundreds of thousands of Yemenis and created what the UN calls the world’s “worst humanitarian crisis.”
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Saudi Arabia and Yemen war, where to?.. Yemen developments
The crises resulting from the Saudi-led aggression and blockade on Yemen don’t seem to be ending. The truce has ended without a true humanitarian relief to the Yemenis’ sufferings. The forces of the coalition of aggression, along with the United Nations, were more unjust than sparing those people a window for life after more than seven years of their tight siege and aggression.
The Yemenis are circulating news of embryological malformation at an unprecedented pace. To tackle the issue, Al-Ahed News lens documented some cases at the Sabeen Hospital in the capital, which is the first standard maternity and childhood hospital in Yemen.
It was astonishing to see a premature baby, who was born in the seventh month of pregnancy, and came to life with several malformation in the head, the neck, the back, and the limbs. His pain didn’t have the chance to be embraced by his mother, as his deteriorating health condition requires to be kept inside the incubator.
Doctors soon brought another baby with a swollen belly. The doctor diagnosed his case as having a colonic malformation.
Such horrible cases weren’t reported before the war. It was very rare to have a malformed baby or an early delivery.
Other incubators were full of premature babies whose malformations are complicated and spread all over their body organs.
The incubators were full of children who came to life with malformations resulting from the criminality of the American-Saudi aggression. They had in their inside and outside alike scars that pain the heart.
The Intensive Care staff confirmed to Al-Ahed News that they receive similar cases on a daily basis, with the Health Ministry being unable to finalize an accurate survey to the ongoing war. An earlier report by the Health Ministry, published in August, emphasized that the blockade and the heavy bombardment of internationally prohibited weapons, have led to the rise in the congenital anomalies and miscarriages at the level of 350,000 miscarriages and 12000 malformed cases.
In a visit to one of the hospitals in the capital we discovered this number of cases, so what is the size of the nationwide catastrophe that the aggression has committed against the future generations? Who will bear the repercussions? And when will the aggression stop stealing the rights of the Yemeni people in front of the hypocrite world’s eyes?
The continued closure of Sana’a International Airport has tragic effects that threaten the lives of many, such as the case of thalassemia patients
One of the Senators details how millions of innocent Yemenis have endured untold suffering and a humanitarian catastrophe since the war on Yemen began.
Senators introduce resolutions to end US involvement in Yemen.
Senators Bernie Sanders (I-VT), Patrick Leahy (D-VT), and Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) filed a bipartisan resolution in the Senate on Thursday to direct the withdrawal of US Armed Forces from unauthorized involvement in the Saudi-led war on Yemen.
The resolution, which has the backing of more than 100 members of Congress from both parties in the House, is considered privileged in the Senate and can be voted on the floor ten calendar days after it is introduced.
“We must put an end to the unauthorized and unconstitutional involvement of US Armed Forces in the catastrophic Saudi-led war in Yemen and Congress must take back its authority over war,” said Sen. Sanders.
“More than 85,000 children in Yemen have already starved and millions more are facing imminent famine and death. More than 70 percent of Yemen’s population currently relies on humanitarian food assistance and the UN has warned the death toll could climb to 1.3 million people by 2030. This war has created the world’s worst humanitarian crisis today and it is past time to end U.S. complicity in those horrors. Let us pass this resolution, so we can focus on diplomacy to end this war.”
“The war in Yemen has been an unmitigated disaster for which all parties to the conflict share responsibility,” said Sen. Leahy.
“Why are we supporting a corrupt theocracy that brutalizes its own people, in a war that is best known for causing immense suffering and death among impoverished, defenseless civilians? Congress never agreed to this war. Absent a congressional declaration of war that is required by the Constitution and the War Powers Act, Congress should end US support for the Saudi military’s indiscriminate bombing, naval blockade, and other involvement in Yemen.”
Sen. Warren detailed how “millions of innocent Yemenis have endured untold suffering and a humanitarian catastrophe” since the Saudi-led war on Yemen began.
“The American people, through their elected representatives in Congress, never authorized US involvement in the war – but Congress abdicated its constitutional powers and failed to prevent our country from involving itself in this crisis. The US must immediately end its support for Saudi-led coalition in Yemen unless explicitly authorized by Congress.”
While there is presently a weak cease-fire in place that has halted Saudi-led coalition attacks on civilians, a cruel aerial and naval blockade that limits mobility and prevents food, fuel, and medical supplies from entering Yemen remains in force.
More than 377,000 people have been killed since the war began in 2015, with nonmilitant causes such as hunger, sickness, and a lack of clean water accounting for 60% of the deaths. During that period, the Saudi-led coalition has carried out over 23,000 bombings in Yemen, killing about 19,000 civilians, while the US has provided nearly $55 billion in military assistance to Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.
President Biden committed at the start of his term to withdraw assistance for Saudi-led operations in Yemen. Unfortunately, the United States continues to provide maintenance, logistics support, and spare parts to the Saudi Air Force. The Yemen War Powers Resolution would carry out Biden’s promise by terminating US backing for Saudi-led attacks on Yemen, including:
1. Ending US intelligence sharing in order to enable offensive Saudi-led coalition strikes.
2. US logistical support for offensive Saudi-led coalition strikes, including maintenance and spare components for coalition members flying jets hitting Yemen, is being phased down.
3. Without special statutory permission, US military personnel may not be assigned to command, coordinate, move, or accompany Saudi-led coalition forces engaging in hostilities.
President Joe Biden’s foreign policy advisors are applauding themselves for devising a “sensitive” itinerary as he plans to embark on a trip to the Middle East on July 13.
In a Washington Post op-ed, Biden defended his controversial planned meeting with Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman Al Saud (known as MBS), saying it is meant not only to bolster US interests but also to bring peace to the region.
It seems that his trip will not include Yemen, though if this were truly a “sensitive” visit, he would be stopping at one of Yemen’s many beleaguered refugee camps. There he could listen to people displaced by war, some of whom are shell-shocked from years of bombardment. He could hear the stories of bereaved parents and orphaned children and then express true remorse for the complicity of the United States in the brutal aerial attacks and starvation blockade imposed on Yemen for the past eight years.
From the vantage point of a Yemeni refugee camp, Biden could insist that no country, including his own, has a right to invade another land and attempt to bomb its people into submission. He could uphold the value of the newly extended truce between the region’s warring parties, allowing Yemenis a breather from the tortuous years of war, and then urge ceasefires and settlements to resolve all militarized disputes, including Russia’s war in Ukraine. He could beg for a new way forward, seeking political will, universally, for disarmament and a peaceful, multipolar world.
More than 150,000 people have been killed in the war in Yemen, 14,500 of whom were civilians. But the death toll from militarily imposed poverty has been immeasurably higher. The war has caused one of the worst humanitarian crises in the world, creating an unprecedented level of hunger in Yemen, where millions of people face severe hardship.
Some 17.4 million Yemenis are food insecure; by December 2022, the projected number of hungry people will likely rise to nineteen million. The rate of child malnutrition is one of the highest in the world, and nutrition continues to deteriorate.
I grew to understand the slogan “No Blood for Oil” while living in Iraq during the 1991 Operation Desert Storm war, the 1998 Desert Fox war, and the 2003 Shock and Awe war. To control the pricing and the flow of oil, the United States and its allies slaughtered and maimed thousands of Iraqi people. Visits to Iraqi pediatric wards from 1996 to 2003 taught me a tragic expansion of that slogan. We must certainly insist: “No Starvation for Oil.”
During twenty-seven trips to Iraq, all in defiance of the US economic sanctions against Iraq, I was part of delegations delivering medicines directly to Iraqi hospitals in cities throughout the country. We witnessed the ghastly crime of punishing children to death for the sake of an utterly misguided U.S. foreign policy. The agony endured by Iraqi families who watched their children starve has now become the nightmare experience of Yemeni families.
It’s unlikely that a US President or any leader of a US-allied country will ever visit a Yemeni refugee camp, but we who live in these countries can take refuge in the hard work of becoming independent of fossil fuels, shedding the pretenses that we have a right to consume other people’s precious and irreplaceable resources at cut-rate prices and that war against children is an acceptable price to pay so that we can maintain this right.
We must urgently simplify our over-consumptive lifestyles, share resources radically, prefer service to dominance, and insist on zero tolerance for starvation.
The media tries to make us believe that black is white, that the aggressors are the victims, and the oppressed are the villains.
Yemen & Ukraine: Compare and contrast a tale of two wars
Two very distinct and separate wars are concurrently happening in West Asia and Eastern Europe.
Both wars have their origins in people fighting to free themselves from a corrupt government.
The Yemini people rose in a popular revolution against a corrupt regime that acted in the interests of regional and international power blocks and not in the interests of its people.
The people of Ukraine found themselves the victim of a regime change operation in 2014 resulting in a coup that forced the democratically elected leader Viktor Fedorovych Yanukovych to flee for his life as a fascist junta was installed.
While the people of Yemen fought for independence and free sovereignty, the people of Ukraine were facing a government led by neo-Nazis, Russophobic ultra-nationalists who were determined to destroy one-third of the population who are Russian-speaking Ukrainians. The specter of the Great Patriotic war loomed over the people as echoes and ghosts from 1941 returned to haunt the people who had defeated fascism in Ukraine and liberated the country from the Nazi occupation.
So we have a tale of two wars.
When the people led the revolution of Yemen threatened the Saudi favored government, the incumbent President Abdrabbuh Mansur Hadi fled to Riyad and with the help of mercenaries, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, planes armed with American and British bombs directed and controlled by “Israel”i American and British military advisers, Hadi continued his war against the Yemeni people to regain power.
Yemen armed forces and the popular mobilization units of the Ansurallah resistance movement have resisted all the efforts to date by Hadi, Saudi Arabia, the Emirates, America, and the West to reinstall his puppet regime.
In Ukraine, we had a popular resistance to a foreign installed coup when the people of Donbas and Crimea fought for autonomy and the universal basic human right to live free from an unelected undemocratic fascist government hell-bent on destroying their culture and ethnicity and even their very lives of those who dared to resist.
Two separate conflicts both with similar origins and one common enemy
In Yemen, the people fought a corrupt foreign-backed government. In Ukraine, the people fought against a foreign installed government.
America backed the unpopular and elected unopposed President of Yemen.
America also backed financed directed and controlled the coup in Ukraine.
In the geopolitical machinations of American foreign policy, they effectively created both wars;
The war on Yemen presently occurring has the backing of the Biden administration as they help reinforce the illegal inhuman siege of the country while they also arm and direct the aerial bombing campaign which destroys Yemeni lives, infrastructure, hospitals, schools, roads and bridges. They also prevent food, aid medicine and fuel from being delivered, to alleviate the worst excesses of the war which they control.
It is a proxy war on Iran led by America Saudi Arabia the EU Britain and “Israel”. Every death has been and continues to be avoidable, if only the political will existed to hold a ceasefire and end the violence.
But the alliance of the unholy does not want peace, because war sells.
It sells weapons and it sells shares.
The military-industrial complex which finances and supports the American political system is making vast profits.
Profits that help bolster election campaigns and private bank accounts.
In Ukraine, after the people of Donbas and Crimea secured their freedom, a continued low-level conflict was encouraged to keep the drums of war beating,
Kiev refused to implement the Minsk Agreements of 2014 and 2015 which recognized the Republic of Donetsk and Lugansk and was the basis of a bilateral ceasefire that was constantly broken by Ukrainian shelling along the contact line killing thousand and injuring many more over the last 8 years.
Biden was the Vice President in 2014 when the coup was installed in Kiev.
Since his return to power as President, he has supplied the Ukrainian fascist forces with modern state-of-the-art armaments and encouraged Zelensky to saber rattle for war with Russia.
Biden has used Ukraine in a proxy war with Russia.
Putin and the elected government of Russia supported by Belarus and Georgia among others of the Russian Federation sent the army into Ukraine to prevent a potential massacre of the people of Donbas and Crimea as 120,000 Ukrainian battle-ready troops prepared to invade.
We have millions of displaced Ukrainians. We have thousands dead and wounded and a prospect of a long war between a resupplied Ukrainian army in the west of Ukraine and the now liberated areas of east Ukraine under Russian protection.
In Yemen, we have hundreds of thousands dead and injured. Millions of refugees and up to 25 million people face famine, death through starvation
It is reported a Yemeni child dies every ten minutes from this sanction-induced man-made famine.
America Britain NATO and increasingly “Israel” are involved in both conflicts.
Western imperialism and American unipolar hegemony are increasingly leading to war conflict death displacement and starvation on a global scale.
While the poorest Arab country defends its sovereignty against a coalition of some of the richest countries on the planet, Yemen with its increasingly sophisticated drone and ballistic missile capacity equips its military with the expertise to target anywhere in Saudi Arabia the Emirates and even further afield, it is only a matter of time before Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates realized that their war which has already failed, may very well lead to the destruction of the Saudi and Emirati economies.
In Ukraine, the fallout from the Russian invasion has already led to fuel price hikes in America and Europe with more economic hardships to be suffered not by the rich elite who are fueling these wars but by the people already struggling under neoliberal austerity measures so much favored by the IMF and the privatization sector in western governmental structures that reinvents itself with each new administration.
While Yemen’s lives count for nothing in West Asia and Ukrainian refugees fleeing to Russia are invisible, we witness the propaganda machine, which brooks no dissent, savagely attacks Russia as the aggressor and promotes western Ukrainians as the victims.
While Yemen is portrayed as the aggressor and Saudi Arabia as the victim much like the Palestinians are terrorists and the “Israel” is are just a peace-loving nation that desires only to live without fear.
The media tries to make us believe that black is white, that the aggressors are the victims, and the oppressed are the villains.
These may be two conflicts but it has one origin.
American foreign policy has no regard for morality, humanity, dignity or life, it is directed by the corporate desire to control the world markets, create division and profit, in equal measure, destroy any dissent and control the sovereign resources of other nations.
They used to do it by military occupation directly as they did in Iraq, Vietnam, and Ireland but now its proxy wars using unilateral coercive measures, financial sanctions, proxy wars and regime change black operations through the CIA and NGOs.
We must all stand with Yemen, Donbas and Crimea, Palestine and Cuba, Venezuela and Iran, Lebanon and Syria, North Korea and Nicaragua, indeed everywhere that stands against imperialism and for a multipolar world.
The destruction of the global south which sees the wealth of those nations flow to the Northern hemisphere must stop.
We are living in an ever-changing world.
I pray for the death of imperialism and the triumph of socialism in a multi-polar global economy where wealth and resources are shared for the benefit of the people, for all mankind, and not the elite.
Eat the rich, end the wars, support the resistance.
The opinions mentioned in this article do not necessarily reflect the opinion of Al mayadeen, but rather express the opinion of its writer exclusively.
The camera frame and social platforms have become the most important political tools in our modern age. How did the international community keep Yemen out of the camera focus?
Selective humanity; who stood with Yemen?
Seven years ago…
At 1 am, the first Saudi airstrike shook Yemen and plunged the country into what has been designated as the world’s worst humanitarian crisis. Seven years of aggression led to 46,262 casualties, martyrs and wounded.
Seven years later…
The world continues to maintain silence on Yemen, Western powers didn’t halt any arms sales to the bloody coalition, and millions of Yemenis are still at the brink of starvation. Today, the people of Yemen learned the truth in the hardest way: Humanity is selective and the war on Yemen is not a choice.
After Russia launched its special military operation in Ukraine, which just turned one month old, the international community was quick to launch funding campaigns, Western powers imposed all-out draconian sanctions and banned Russia from all international events, all with the aim of completely isolating the country. Doing so, the international community aimed to halt the military operation.
Now ask yourself, why didn’t the international community put the same effort into Yemen? Instead of sanctioning Saudi Arabia, the international community heavily armed it. Instead of securing humanitarian corridors and humanitarian aid, the international community preached empty statements in false solidarity with the children of Yemen.
Despite all the atrocities in Yemen, Western media remained silent on the aggression. Reports indicate that mainstream US media have aired an approximate cumulative of 92 minutes of coverage since the beginning of the war; that is, a war of seven years so far. If this major humanitarian crisis fails to make the news, what do US news outlets deem newsworthy and headline material?
How does media shape the war?
The modern age relies desperately on the media and social platforms to keep up with global events. As a weapon, the camera can be used in favor of or against the oppressed and oppressor. Media bias is inevitable in a world of so many opinions, but the question here is – is humanity a matter of opinion?
The power of the media relies on what content is broadcasted and what is not.
The extremely limited international attention directed toward Yemen can mean two things; the war on Yemen is not important or the international audience is not be informed of what is happening in the other part of the world. That said, the narrative on Yemen cannot be easily criticized by Americans without implicating themselves. Considering that the United States backs the Saudi-led coalition in Yemen, how would it justify its intervention there, noting that Saudi Arabia is responsible for high civilian death tolls and a list of war crimes?
Political US coverage
Structurally, the media carefully broadcast content to avoid touching on the United States’ longstanding relationship with a country like Saudi Arabia, which would expose the US’ bloody intervention. That is why it would rather ignore the Yemen situation altogether.
Did you know that since Saudi Arabia declared war on Yemen in 2015, it was listed as the World’s largest arms importer from 2015 through 2019? According to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, its imports of arms increased by 130% compared to the previous five-year period. In numbers, the US exported a total of 73% and the UK a total of 13% of these arms to Saudi Arabia.
Moreover, US arms sales amounted to $3 billion in five years from 2015 till 2020, also agreeing to sell over $64.1 billion worth of weapons to Riyadh, which is around $10.7 billion annually.
On the other hand, during Trump’s administration, the collaboration between Fox News and the Republican Party could explain a thread of the network’s negligence to highlight the current administration’s foreign policy failings, however, other opposing networks were equally silent because of Obama’s involvement in the war.
Media outlets can’t use the US support of Saudi’s atrocities in Yemen because of the consequences that would be bestowed upon the administration.
Yemen
Seven years of raging war on Yemen exhausted the population’s capacity to cope, and the global attention shifted toward Ukraine following Russia’s military operation. The darkest forms of irony have been heard by officials concerning Ukraine with complete disregard for Yemen. Simply, the core players fuelling the Saudi war on Yemen have taken a stand in solidarity with Ukraine.
In numbers, so far, there are 17,734 martyrs, including 4,017 children, 2,434 women, and 11,283 men, while the number of the wounded reached 28,528, including 4,586 children, 2,911 women, and 10,032 men.
In the latest international campaign, #EndTheSiegeOnYemen was trending in solidarity with Yemen. Activists, human rights advocates, and media professionals around the world launched a wide international campaign on social media demanding ending the siege on Yemen which caused the country to plunge into the worst humanitarian crisis in the world.
The campaign was launched under the title “End the Siege on Yemen” to shed light on the forgotten suffering of the Yemeni people as a result of the blockade imposed by the Saudi-led coalition on the country and to mobilize efforts to end it right now.
Many activists interacted with the campaign on Twitter under the hashtag #EndTheSiegeOnYemen. Some highlighted the world’s selective humanity when it came to the hype for Ukraine and negligence for Yemen.
Media’s “less global” shift
It is as simple as that, the United States and its Western allies have rediscovered the importance of international law when it comes to Ukraine but continue to turn a blind eye to Yemen.
Russia’s special operation in Ukraine, unlike similar incidents in times past, has taken the social media platforms by storm, with memes, misinformation campaigns, and scams all adding to the growing maelstrom of information, which can confuse and cloud what’s actually happening.
Meta’s Facebook is censoring all state news, accusing any Russian outlet of spreading misinformation. In return, the social platform is actively working in solidarity with Ukraine. But one can’t help but ask, did platforms like Facebook ever closely monitor misinformation or any information about war-torn states in the world?
Palestinian Ahed Tamimi is depicted as a Ukrainian girl.
Moreover, social media platforms chose to selectively censor fake news, keeping misinformation that hail Ukraine on the internet. Ahed Tamimi was a Palestinian girl, depicted as a Ukrainian girl, for global sympathy.
Double standards in censorship were highlighted when the all-Yemeni Ansar Allah resistance movement in Yemen was censored, but all mercenaries in Ukraine were being promoted. That made the reach on Yemen minimal, while news on Ukraine witnessed overwhelming worldwide traffic.
Moreover, the internet was widely active in promoting an anti-Russian campaign, which triggered Russophobia, to feed the Western agenda in Eastern Europe.
Ukraine is a “top priority”, but what about Yemen?
Social platforms have become powerful tools to recruit international “volunteers” to fight in Ukraine in the face of Russia. In a first of its kind, the White House held a special briefing on the Ukraine war with TikTok stars such as 18-year-old Ellie Zeiler, who has more than 10 million followers. The US has adopted a new approach to grab the younger generation and recruit them against Russia.
Earlier this month, up to 20,000 “international volunteers” have traveled to fight Russia in Ukraine, mostly coming from European countries, according to a Ukrainian top official on Sunday.
“This number is around 20,000 now. They come from many European countries mostly,” Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba told CNN. “Many people in the world hated Russia and what it was doing in recent years, but no one dared to openly oppose and fight them.”
This comes alongside the 16,000 foreign mercenaries whom Zelensky announced will be fighting in Ukraine.
The conflict in Ukraine shed major light on social media’s political role as a tool. Its part in broadcasting the conflict highlighted the importance of media in shaping the internet forever.
It is worth noting that Russia had launched a special military operation for several reasons, such as NATO’s eastward expansion, the Ukrainian shelling of Donbass, and the aggression of Ukrainian forces against the Donetsk People’s Republic and Lugansk People’s Republic, which has been ongoing since 2014, as well as de-nazifying and demilitarizing Ukraine.
United Nations
The UNSC is expected to prevent war, but it has instead backed the US-Saudi-led military coalition against the country.
At the end of last year, the UN Special Envoy Hans Grundberg filed an empty and useless report that read “frustration” regarding the war on Yemen.
However, his statement isn’t the first or last of empty promises to fight for Yemen and against the humanitarian crisis. Nevertheless, Washington’s disguised backing of the coalition remains behind the curtains.
The UNSC remains in favor of the government under “conflict resolution”, but what the UNSC is doing is betray the Yemenis day by day. It is no longer a “conflict” with the government, it is a full-scale war by the Saudi-led coalition against the people of Yemen.
Yemen in the shadows
Recently, the UN said the humanitarian catastrophe in Yemen risks being forgotten as the world focuses on the war in Ukraine. And according to experts, that conflict is also likely to directly impact Yemen’s already stricken food supply.
Apart from drawing attention away from the war on Yemen, the war in Ukraine threatens to worsen the humanitarian situation in the Arab nation, with 22% of the country’s wheat coming from Ukraine and Russia.
In 2020, the UN Security-General released his annual “list of shame,” which included several violations against children committed in 2018, in which at least 729 children were killed or maimed.
However, the Security-General chose to list the Saudi-led coalition as a party that is improving the situation in Yemen, despite the overwhelming evidence that proves otherwise.
In addition, Security Council members call for a ceasefire in Yemen and go ahead with providing arms to prolong the war, instead of suspending all arms sales. In other words, the Council has offered nothing but empty statements regarding the war.
Who is looking behind the curtains?
Media outlets are dedicated to broadcasting global events and issues around the world. US media coverage is also dedicated to covering global issues, especially ones that help spread its agenda across the map. However, the tragedy of the people of Yemen, in the meantime, is completely shadowed, as the international community continues to turn a blind eye to the ongoing atrocities.
The lack of mainstream coverage for Yemen raises many questions on where the media’s priorities stand: Is the US hiding the atrocious crimes in Yemen to protect its relations with the Kingdom? Are the billions in arms sales fuelling the US economy more important than thousands of human lives? Keeping Yemen in the shadows will spare the US the need to justify its interference and its intimate relations with the Gulf.
With all eyes focused on Ukraine, who is willing to take one look farther to behold the sufferings the Yemeni people have been undergoing for full seven years?
The Eye of Humanity Center for Rights and Development in Sanaa reveals the number of victims that have fallen as a result of the Saudi-led coalition’s aggression on Yemen.
7 years of aggression on Yemen, victims surpass 46,000.
The Eye of Humanity Center for Rights and Development in the Yemeni capital, Sanaa, announced that the number of civilian casualties as a result of the direct bombing of the Saudi-led coalition during the 7 years of the aggression on Yemen amounted to 46,262 between martyrs and wounded, including 17,734 martyrs, among which are 4017 children, 2434 women, and 11,283 men, while the number of wounded reached 28,528 wounded, including 4,586 children, 2,911 women, and 10,032 men.
In a press conference, the center indicated that the coalition destroyed about 12,000 infrastructure facilities, including 15 airports, 16 ports, 340 stations and generators, 2,091 government facilities, 6,734 roads and bridges, 609 networks, and communication stations, and 2,799 tanks, and a water network.
The center pointed out that the number of destroyed service facilities reached about 600,000, including 590,000 homes, 182 universities, 1,612 mosques, 410 hospitals and health facilities, 1,214 schools and institutes, 139 playgrounds, 253 archaeological sites, and 9,721 agricultural fields.
The center highlighted that the Saudi aggression, which began in late March 2015, destroyed about 26,000 economic establishments, including 404 factories, 378 fuel tankers, 11,000 commercial establishments, 9,770 means of transportation, 999 food stores, 416 fuel stations, and 696 markets and complexes, 433 cattle farms, 482 fishing boats, and 965 food trucks, which forced huge losses on the national economy and caused severe social crises represented by unemployment and poverty.
In the same context, Entisaf Organization for Child and Women’s Rights in Sanaa reported that the siege imposed by the aggression caused the loss of 100,000 newborn children, at a rate of six children every two hours, in addition to more than 3,000 children with cancer who face the risk of death.
Moreover, the United Nations warned this March that millions of Yemenis are at the brink of starvation, as a result of the economic collapse caused by the Saudi-led aggression on Yemen for the seventh year in a row, calling for “urgent measures to be taken.”
The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), through its mission in Yemen, wrote on Twitter, “The impact of the economic collapse on the humanitarian crisis in Yemen cannot be underestimated. Without urgent action, it could plunge millions into starvation.”
It is about time for the world to unite over Yemen, the country seeing the worst humanitarian crisis in the world.
End the siege on Yemen
Activists, human rights activists, and media professionals around the world launched a wide international campaign on social media demanding ending the siege on Yemen, the country plunged into the worst humanitarian crisis in the world.
The greatest catastrophe in Yemen ignored. Media, leaders remained silent on this shameful war crime. Children cannot find food to eat because of blockade by the US, Saudi, UK, Emirati coalition.#YemenCantWait#EndTheSiegeOnYemenpic.twitter.com/a5GQwP9dXR
The campaign was launched under the title “End the Siege on Yemen” with the aim of shedding light on the forgotten suffering of the Yemeni people as a result of the blockade imposed by the Saudi-led coalition on the country and mobilizing efforts to end it right now.
On his part, Member of the Supreme Political Council in Yemen Muhammad Ali Al-Houthi, tweeted, “In the name of the oppressed Yemeni people, we extend our great thanks to the activists from the Arab brethren and friends in the world who launched a campaign to end the unjust siege on Yemen, and we call on our people to interact with it on various social media platforms under the hashtag #EndTheSiegeOnYemen,” both in Arabic and English.
Moreover, the Minister of Information in the Sanaa government, Daifallah Al-Shami expressed his “thanks, appreciation, and gratitude to the free voices from all over the world who feel the suffering of our Yemeni people who will not forget these sincere stances and will reciprocate loyalty. The campaign of #EndTheSiegeOnYemen. A voice in the world of deadly silence.”
الشكر والتقدير والعرفان للأصوات الحرة من جميع أنحاء العالم الذين يستشعرون معاناة شعبنا اليمني، وهذا الشعب لن ينسى هذه المواقف الصادقة وسيبادل الوفاء بالوفاء. حملة #ارفعوا_الحصار_عن_اليمن#EndTheSiegeOnYemen صوت في عالم الصمت القاتل، وانتصار لمظلومية شعب .@EndTheSiegeOnYe
Philippe Duamelle, the UNICEF representative to Yemen, pointed out that “just over the first two months of this year, 47 children were reportedly killed or maimed in several locations” across the country.
In total, “the UN verified that more than 10,200 children have been killed or injured” since the beginning of the war on Yemen, Duamelle indicated.
He confirmed that “the actual number is likely much higher.”
Yemeni officials denounced a recent vote by United Nations Security Council [UNSC] to expand a targeted UN arms embargo on several leaders of the popular Ansarullah resistance movement to the whole group.
The 15-member body adopted on Monday the controversial anti-Ansarullah resolution, proposed by the United Arab Emirates, by 11 votes in favor to none against, with 4 abstentions.
The resolution strongly condemns counterattacks by Yemeni fighters, including those on Saudi Arabia and the UAE, and demands their immediate cessation.
In comments following the resolution, head of Yemen’s Supreme Revolutionary Committee Mohammed Ali al-Houthi criticized in a post on his Twitter account the decision for ignoring the “crimes” committed by the Saudi-led coalition, stressing that any arms embargo that does not apply to the Western-backed alliance “had no value.”
If the goal is to secure justice, the deliberate targeting of Yemen by the US-Saudi-Emirati aggressor coalition and its war crimes should have been the reason for a ban on weapons, al-Houthi said.
He also noted that after selling arms to Gulf countries, the Americans, the British, etc. test the effectiveness of their weaponry by killing Yemeni children.
They, the Ansarullah official added, deprive Palestinians of access to weapons while giving them to the Tel Aviv regime that commits war crimes.
“Yemen now has a new weapon that it did not have before. Thank God, it is the jihad [endeavor for the sake of God] of the brave Yemenis, who have achieved it, as well as the defeat of the American-British-Saudi-UAE coalition and its military allies.”
Similarly, Mohammed al-Bukhaiti, a member of Yemen’s Supreme Political Council, said the UNSC’s decision to extend the arms embargo imposed on Yemen and deprive it of its right to self-defense indicates that the world needs a new order based on justice.
“We tell the countries that voted in favor of the resolution that you and your oppressive decisions are under our feet because we rely only on God,” he asserted.
Saudi Arabia launched the devastating war against Yemen in March 2015 in collaboration with a number of its allies and with arms and logistics support from the US and several Western states.
The objective was to return to power the former Riyadh-backed regime and crush the Ansarullah resistance movement, which has been running state affairs in the absence of an effective government in Yemen.
The war has stopped well shy of all of its goals, despite killing tens of thousands of Yemenis and turning entire Yemen into the scene of the world’s worst humanitarian crisis.
Yemeni forces have continued to grow stronger in the face of the Saudi-led invaders, advancing toward strategic areas held by Saudi-led mercenaries, including Marib province, and conducting several rounds of counterstrikes against Saudi Arabia and the UAE in recent months.
I’ve previously written concerning the fact the War in Yemen should never have occurred in the first place and the what and how required to achieve peace; either by dividing Yemen in two, North and South Yemen as per the pre-1990 borders, or under a Unity Government. However, seeing as that even today, this idea of peace is fleeting away due to the unwarranted missile and bomb strikes upon Houthis in North Yemen, specifically the continual destruction of civilian targets and assets by the Saudi and UAE military.
Efforts by the United Arab Emirates and the Saudi-led coalition to evict the Houthis from major strategic areas have exacerbated the conflict, forcing United Arab Emirates and the Saudi-led troops to relax targeting rules and put markets, hospitals, and social gatherings, even prayer activities, at risk. Aside from weddings and social gatherings, individuals and groups have been attacked with very little regard for recognized international humanitarian law. A 60 percent spike in civilian casualties was reported within the last 90 days of 2021, as per Save the Children, with 2022 now poised to have far-reaching effects for civilians as a result of the intensification of the conflict. The Norwegian Refugee Council criticized the most recent strikes as “a blatant attack on civilian infrastructure that will also impact our aid delivery.”
United Arab Emirates (UAE) jets aided by the United States launched an attack on the Sa’ada City Remand Prison, that contains up to 3,000 detainees from around Yemen and Africa, in the early hours of January 22, 2022. The strike was one of the worst in the war’s history, having claimed the lives of more than 100 people, with over 300 critically wounded. This situation is acerbated by the fact that previous airstrikes, blockades, and lack of funding have devastated the healthcare system in Yemen. This strike is just one of thousands that are just treated as collateral damage by the UAE/Saudi Coalition.
This past week and even today, the United Arab Emirates and the Saudi-led coalition have attacked TeleYemen, which is the sole supplier of global telecom services for Yemen, fixed-line phone companies, telex, and Internet providers, as well as one of the cellphone operators in the country. This is not a military target because the military have satellite and short-wave radio for communications, so this clearly was an effort to affect the civilian population as well as to curb the efforts of the Houthis in getting information out of Yemen concerning the military activities of the UAE/Saudi Coalition as well as news of the Coalition defeats on the battlefield, and the Houthis own public relations campaigns and information warfare strategies.
The Coalition claims the Houthis are using TeleYemen satellite technology to guide their drones. The claim is that TeleYemen is being used to guide drones by the Houthis is ridiculous because military drone technology today has drones that operate without being remotely piloted, these drones can be internally programmed and fly autonomously to their target, and communication can be via satellite but unlikely a civilian satellite operation such as TeleYemen, it would have to be a military satellite communication system.
To understand these drones. Prior to developing their own drones, the Houthis depended on locally produced clones of Iranian models, most notably the Ababil-based Qasef. A new long-range drone, the Samad-3, was claimed by the Houthis to have hit Dubai Airport, a distance of more than 1200 kilometers, in 2018. The Iranian Shahed 129 is a combat and reconnaissance drone, allegedly utilized by Houthis, with a 24-hour endurance. It is similar in size, shape, and duty to the American MQ-1 Predator and is largely regarded as Iran’s most capable drone.
In late October 2021, the Guernica 37 legal team lodged a petition with the UK Metropolitan Police Service and the Crown Prosecution Service; charging top government figures in Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates of participation in war crimes in Yemen. Guernica 37’s legal claims center on three events: a 2018 air strike on a school bus in northern Yemen, that killed an estimated 26 children, and a 2016 air strike of a funeral in Sanaa, which killed 140 people. The other alleges that Colombian paid mercenaries under the supervision of the UAE tortured and murdered civilians in Aden, an important strategic port city in southern Yemen.
Now, what are considered War Crimes? The 1949 Geneva Conventions have been approved by all of the United Nations’ member states since its inception. UAE and Saudi violations are directly legally constituted as war crimes and crimes against humanity; as well as, the US, UK and anyone else aiding and abetting the UAE and Saudis by supporting such activities through contracts, military equipment sales, and military direct and indirect support and aid.
The concept of humane combat has been around for a long time, but it is a problematic one. Essentially, the intention is to make war less brutal and more humane in order to alleviate the suffering of both combatants and civilians in the process. However, this becomes lost in the idea of the “greater good” and there is less concern for the civilian population, even by denigrating them to the term “collateral damage.”
The Just War Theory puts forward the concept of war between nation states involving a command structure, government authority, and an identifiable territory. In the conflicts of today, the wars contain none of these attributes and resemble more the Roman’s fight against the incursions of the barbarians. The International Community’s mindset recoils from such unrestrained warfare, so we must think through how we will fight the new conflicts without destroying the values that are intrinsic to our way of life.
Thomas Aquinas in the year 1274 summed up the legality of war through three criteria: that war waged is done by a legitimate authority, that the war is just because the enemy has done something grossly wrong, and the intention of the war is to solely right the wrong. There are many reasons why the UAE and Saudi attacks on Yemen are not justified and why Yemen was not an imminent threat to the Saudis or UAE. Yemen had not done anything grossly wrong to the UAE or Saudi Arabia, and there is nothing Yemen did that should be corrected by military action.
The War in Yemen needs to end immediately, this is an unjust war that is creating a huge human catastrophe. The only way to accomplish this is to end all military aid and sales that would support the war in Yemen by the UAE/Saudi Coalition. This includes military support as well. Otherwise, the Houthis in Yemen could make the justification for war against the Saudis and Emiratis because: Yemen, the Houthis, are a legitimate government authority in Yemen, the actions by Yemen would be justified because they have been wronged by the Saudi/UAE attacks, and their intention of the war is to solely right the wrongs done to them. But this would lead to destabilization in the region and why we must, as the late John Lennon said, “Give Peace a Chance.”
In the Name of God, the Beneficient, the Most Merciful.
God the Most High said: “So whoever has assaulted you, then assault him in the same way that he has assaulted you.” [Qur’an, II, 194]
God Almighty has spoken the truth.
In response to the escalation of the US-Saudi-Emirati aggression against Yemen, our armed forces carried out a successful special operation, thank God the Most High, which targeted the airports of Dubai and Abu Dhabi, oil refining facilities in Abu Dhabi, and various strategic and sensitive sites. This successful operation was carried out with 5 ballistic missiles and a large number of drones, which hit their targets with precision.
The Yemeni armed forces, who fulfilled their promises today, renew their warning to the aggressor countries, informing them that they will suffer new strikes even stronger and more painful, and warning the businesses and residents of the Emirates, an enemy country, that we will not hesitate to expand the bank of our targets, and to include even more important sites in the coming period. They must move away from vital places for their own safety, because we declare the Emirates an “unsafe country” as long as they persist in their escalation of aggression against Yemen.
History will not forget how the Yemeni barefoot humiliated the world superpowers and their newcomers … pic.twitter.com/or3fu5EKd7
“Any amount counts, because a little money here and there, it’s like drops of water that can become rivers, seas or oceans…”
***
Nasrallah about the war in Yemen: Saudi Arabia & UAE will be annihilated
Speech by Hezbollah Secretary General, Sayed Hassan Nasrallah, on September 20, 2019.
« Continuing the war against Yemen is a dead end. This is an absurd war, and you started paying the price. A single strike destroyed half of Saudi oil production. The second strike will annihilate you. This is the situation.
Your houses are made of glass, and your economy is made of glass. You have a glass economy, just like the glass cities of the Emirates. Those whose homes are glass, whose economy is glass and whose cities are glass must remain calm, be reasonable and end the war. It is wiser and more recommended for them, and more merciful to everyone and all the oppressed. »
[…] My final point concerns what happened in the region in the last few days, I mean the strikes of the Yemeni Army and (Resistance) Committees against Aramco’s oil facilities, for which their official spokesman clearly claimed responsibility in a press conference in which he explained everything. I will not be long about it, I have only two words to say.
There is no doubt that this is an event of great importance, which has clearly shaken the entire region, and had a major impact and repercussions worldwide. Indeed, this event also had international consequences.
Faced with this event, I want to emphasize a few points.
The first point is that, unfortunately, it appears clearly, whether at the level of the world opinion or of the interest of the media, the political & governmental attention or even at the UN level, that oil is infinitely more precious than the blood (of the Yemeni victims). Of course, this is not something new. We have said it in the past, and many people have said it in recent days, but I want to join all those who have said it. Oil is more precious than the blood (of the innocent).
It seems that there were no casualties in these strikes against Saudi oil installations. To my knowledge, the media reported no killing, no injuries. These are only oil installations. Iron and oil burned. There are material losses (but no human casualties). The whole world is moved and burst of indignation, with expressions of condemnations, marks of support (to Saudi Arabia), etc. While this happened after 5 years of war against Yemen.
During these 4 years and a few months, daily, including today, every day, the coalition aircraft, the US-Saudi-Emirati aggression are bombing the people of Yemen, their mosques, their schools, their hospitals, their houses, their markets, killing women and children in front of television cameras, so much that there is not the slightest doubt about it, but it does not bother anyone. This does not shake the region, nor the world, neither the United Nations, nor the US administration, nor the European countries, nor anyone. (The Martyrdom of Yemen) is considered as a normal and natural thing.
As it happened yesterday. A Palestinian woman was killed in cold blood at the Kalandia crossing point in occupied Palestine, but it is quite normal, nothing significant happened, people can walk by such events and look the other way. Even in the Arab world, many people did not even bother to condemn, denounce or even mention it in the news. For it is not oil (that got spilled). This is blood. Only blood.
That is my first point. This is a condemnation (of this shameful indifference).
Anyone who wants to express solidarity (with Saudi Arabia) can do so, whether in Lebanon or elsewhere. But we also ask that solidarity is expressed with the torn bodies and the blood of children, women and the Yemeni people, with the sick, the besieged, the thirsty, the hungry, the oppressed, killed and displaced in Yemen. We must stand in solidarity with them. We must be balanced O my brother. At the very least, oil and blood should be placed on the same level. Actuallt, it would be unfair (because blood is more precious than oil), but that would be enough (because right now, blood is deemed worthless).
The second point… Such is the world, the world of force, the world of money, the world of economy, in whose eyes the man, his blood, his dignity, his rights, his future, are not even on the list (of things that matter), and when they are on the list, they come last.
The second point I want to mention… In general, when I speak about Yemen, I end my speech being very outspoken against the Saud and the Saudi regime. But this time I will not be virulent, I’ll give good advice. This is not a new advice that I am about give, but after this event, (it is wise to repeat it).
What should the Saud do to protect their oil facilities? They begin to wonder if they’ll buy air defenses to the US, but they already have anti-air defenses, they have Patriot batteries. They might be going to South Korea to buy anti-aircraft defenses. Or maybe they’ll wise up, as President Putin suggested them, like the Iranians, and buy S-300, or like the Turks, and buy S-400. Putin said that.
But instead of ruining themselves in new air defense systems, which will not be easy for Saudi Arabia, because we speak of a very large country, with a very large surface, facing drones that have a very high maneuverability (unlike ballistic missiles). Maybe you will place your defenses and your missiles in this side, but the drones will make a detour and hit you on the right side, or on the left side, or will bypass you and strike you from behind. And there are also some missiles that are maneuverable (not ballistic). What can you do? Buy enough defense systems to cover all Saudi skies? How much would it cost you? The price is absolutely outrageous (even for you), and it would not solve your problem (as there would always be ways around).
The least expensive way for Saudi Arabia to protect its oil facilities, infrastructure, etc., and for the UAE, because it is clear that the spokesman of the Armed Forces Yemeni directly threatened the UAE as well… And in terms of the Emirates… Saudi Arabia can withstand a few hits, but the UAE would be incapable of bearing any strike! The advice I give to them both, is to make the least expensive choice, namely to end the war. This is the least expensive choice.
The way to protect the infrastructure of Saudi Arabia and the UAE is to end the war against the Yemeni people. Why is it cheaper? It eliminates the need to purchase new air defenses, and it allows you to end your daily war spending, huge for both Saudis and for Emirates, in the war against Yemen. Similarly, it would be a worthy choice, more noble, more honorable, that would preserve you from being humiliated again by the United States.
Do you know what we are witnessing? Do not blame me for the familiarity of the expression, but it is a new milking operation (of the Saudi cow). Trump sits, legs crossed, not angry at all (with what happens), speaking nonsense, (do not blame me for this Lebanese expression), he says one thing and its opposite, speaking sometimes about peace, sometimes about war, saying he does not want war, that (Iran) is responsible, that he has promised nothing, that he is committed to nothing, and that if the Saudis want help, they have to pay… They have to pay! It is a humiliation, a total humiliation.
Spare yourself the humiliation, save your money, get back on your feet, fix your infrastructure, and restore your internal situation and your national security. This is the only equation : the only path that will lead you to these objectives is to stop this unjust war against Yemen and against the Yemeni people. And leave Yemen and the Yemeni people alone. Let them hold a dialogue, sit, talk. They can achieve a result.
As for all of your other attempts, such as calling for help the United States, Britain, your international coalition, this will only lead you to more chaos and destruction. And you know that the (Resistance) Axis in front of you is very powerful. Very powerful. And what happened in your oil facilities is one of the signs and an evidence of the power of our (Resistance) Axis, of the courage of this Axis, and of the fact that the men who defend Yemen are ready to go far, very far away in self-defense.
If you want to learn from this experience, I have just exposed you the way. As for the current incitement of the US or the West against Iran, claiming to come to wage war against Iran (for your eyes), it won’t change a thing. You have to stop hoping that.
Trump was clear: Trump wants money, and he does not want war. Trump soon willl face elections. On whom do you rely?
If I can take two more minutes. You place your hopes in an incompetent administration. God willing, another time, our brothers will prepare a detailed study of all the failures of the Trump administration: the failure of the Trump policy in Venezuela, who overcame (threats), while it was about a military coup, war against Venezuela, sanctions, civil war, siege… But Venezuela (victoriously) overcame the crisis. Failure in Venezuela, failure in North Korea, failed attempts at economic subjugation of China, failure in Syria, failure in Iraq, failure of the Deal of the Century, as this deal is doomed to failure…
And if Netanyahu falls, which is possible, but I will not make predictions… Our brother Zarif (Iranian Minister of Foreign Affairs) speaks of the B list: the first B, Bolton left. And maybe the second B, Binyamin Netanyahu, is on hiw way out. The Deal of the Century failed. And also, the failure with Iran. Failure to submit Iran, to push it to surrender.
Today, Trump begs the President of the Islamic Republic of Iran, His Eminence Sheikh Rouhani, to kindly meet him! He literally begs him! This is the Trump on whom you place your hopes! And I repeat that Iran is so powerful that all the barking, cries of outrage, screams, threats, intimidation and accusations you have uttered in recent days did not shake a single hair of the lesser officials in Iran. This does not scare them or terrorize them at all because they are strong, united and attached (to their rights) present (where necessary), perfectionists in all their actions and equations, etc., etc., etc.
Therefore, my advice today, because I do not want to be virulent or anything, my advice is to reconsider things, to think carefully. It is futile to bet on a war against Iran, because it would destroy you.
Continuing the war against Yemen is a dead end. This is an absurd war, and you started paying the price. A single strike destroyed half of Saudi oil production. The second strike will annihilate you. This is the situation.
Your houses are made of glass, and your economy is made of glass. You have a glass economy, just like the glass cities of the Emirates. Those whose homes are glass, whose economy is glass and whose cities are glass must remain calm, be reasonable and end the war. It is wiser and more recommended for them, and more merciful to everyone and all the oppressed. […]
Imagine that you have the chance once in your lifetime to prove that your humanity is still valid.
Rayan’s story proved that it is not a time issue to draw the world’s attention to humanitarian sufferings. While the world was busy praying for Rayan’s safety, thousands of Yemeni children were terrified by Saudi warplanes bombing their houses.
Spending several tough nights deep in the well, Rayan experienced some of the endless toughness children in Yemen and Palestine have been through.
Rayan’s story exposed the world’s double standards at their most impudent level.
The mental health of Rayan matters, and so does that of the Yemeni children who had the shattered bodies of their loved ones stuck deep in their memories. The injuries Rayan will be treated for will hopefully disappear, but the maims in the bodies and faces of the children of Yemen and Palestine will last as scars forever, as no hand was extended to lend them support. Some of them will continue their lives as disabled due to the deprivation of the necessary medical care that has no tools available in their country.
It was mind-blowing how the same world that decided to remain blind, deaf, and silent towards all the massacres, war crimes, and crimes against humanity and childhood was watchful enough to stand in solidarity with the poor Rayan. For those who don’t know him, I doubt, Rayan is a five-year-old Moroccan boy who fell down a 32-meter deep well on Tuesday, as darkness fell with diggers clawing out dirt under floodlights to create a hole next to the narrow shaft.
Messages of solidarity poured from all over the world. Different satellite channels opened live coverage as rescue teams rushed to the place. By this accident, Rayan have experienced for several days the seven-year-long suffering of the children of Yemen; insecurity, hunger, fatigue, mental anxiety, and the unknown fate.
Little has been known about Rayan’s peers in Palestine, and Gaza in particular, during the 11 days of the May 2021 ‘Israeli’ war. When children were celebrating Eid al-Adha across the Muslim world, perhaps Rayan’s parents bought him some new clothes and delights, but Gazan kids either had their parents killed, injured, or in case they survived, none of the features of festivities was something suitable to ask for. The same case applies for the children of Yemen.
A caricature by Palestinian cartoonist Mahmoud Abbas depitcting the children of Gaza as also stuck in a similar well as Rayan since many years
Early grownups are children in those spots of the world…
When Rayan recovers and returns to school, children in the other part of the world, which is not in the spotlight of mass media and social media, will remain unschooled. This will not be due to their injuries, although they exist. It is because their schools have been bombed by the Saudi warplanes. But almost all Saudi crimes, massacres, and grave human rights violations go uncovered as the petrodollars have the power to shut up those who might report about them.
The absentminded international community, the one that composes the United Nations, a body that once wrote the Convention on the Rights of the Child, claims in its text that: All children have all these rights, no matter who they are, where they live, what language they speak, what their religion is, what they think, what they look like, if they are a boy or girl, if they have a disability, if they are rich or poor, and no matter who their parents or families are or what their parents or families believe or do. No child should be treated unfairly for any reason.
Perhaps Rayan was lucky to grab the world’s attention as his tragedy was not caused by any dictator who spends hush-money to keep his image shining. However, hope still lies in the few voices that took it upon themselves to say it loud: Whether in Yemen, Palestine, Syria, Iraq, Afghanistan, Bahrain, and the Arabian Peninsula, as same as Rayan’s, every life matters!
US-Saudi cluster bombs killed and injured more than 3,841 civilians, including women and children, during the last few months in Yemen.
The National Program for Mine Action confirmed that its Monitoring and Documentation Department observed the various destructive effects of cluster bombs used in Yemen, which damaged and destroyed more than 809 farms and thousands of agricultural crops, in addition to 547 grazing areas.
On Twitter, the program posted that approximately 150 civilian were killed and injured by cluster bombs in al-Hudaydah Province alone. The program described the spread of cluster bombs in al-Hudaydah as a disaster, considering it a stricken province, pointing out that the program has not received any supplies to mark the dangerous areas until the time.
It stressed the necessity of intervention by humanitarian partners represented by the Supreme Council for the Management and Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs and International Cooperation, and the rest of international organizations to reduce casualties.
Saudi Arabia, backed by the US and its other regional allies, launched a devastating war on Yemen in March 2015.
The almost seven years of war has killed hundreds of thousands of people and destroyed much of the country’s infrastructure. Yemeni people are facing malnutrition, hunger, and famine, which have increased risks of disease and starvation.
In light of its defeats on various frontlines and its failure to achieve any of its objectives, the US-Saudi aggression has notoriously and indiscriminately carried out numerous attacks against densely-populated centers, including markets, hospitals, farms and schools.
How the Saudi coalition’s crimes began with weapons from allied nations and why they are determined to remain silent.
Assisted Assassinations: How allied weapons enable Saudi crimes in Yemen
As it turns out, the real-life monsters behind the Saudi-led coalition war on Yemen and the massacre of its people are the same champions and cheerleaders of human rights around the world oozing with hypocrisy and double standards. UNICEF has called the situation in Yemen the world’s worst humanitarian crisis, and the UK, France, Canada, and the US are among the countries responsible for making that nightmare a reality.
The US Department of State reports that human rights abuses of Saudi Arabia include, but are not limited to, “unlawful killings, executions for nonviolent offenses, torture, and cases of cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment of prisoners, serious restrictions on free expression, the press, and the internet, severe restrictions of religious freedom,” and many many more. As of 2020, Saudi Arabia remains the world’s largest arms importer. Arms sales from the US alone amounted to $3 billion from 2015-2020, agreeing to sell $64.1 billion worth of weapons to Riyadh.
In what universe does that sound like a government worth funding with weapons? Why then do we not hear the same cries of human rights resounding in the West? Because the west and its previous administrations have long ago sold their soul to the Saudi regime before any of their current administrations can even remember.
A permanent [bloody] record
US President Joe Biden made foreign policy commitments to end the selling of “offensive” weapons to the kingdom and “end all support” for a war that created a humanitarian catastrophe.
How did Biden deliver? A major arms sale two months ago, including 280 air-to-air missiles valued at $650 million.
At the time, the Pentagon’s statement said the sale would help to “improve the security of a friendly country that continues to be an important force for political and economic progress in the Middle East.”
Does the US consider economic progress to be the complete destruction and demolishment of a country along with 3,825 murdered children?
The former administration under Donald Trump shamelessly embraced arms sales to Saudi Arabia that in no doubt helped prolong the war that has killed thousands in what is considered the Arab region’s poorest nation, further destabilizing the already volatile region.
Unlike Biden, Trump was very public about the economic and diplomatic benefits that would follow the sale, with no regard to the thousands being killed and maimed as a result of the US-designed and manufactured weapons.
Entesaf Organization for Women and Child Rights in Yemen reported the data, adding that more than 400,000 Yemeni children are suffering from severe malnutrition, 80,000 of whom are at risk of facing death. The number of displaced families as of November has reached 670, 343 in 15 governorates. Where exactly does Saudi Arabia intend to implement its economic progress in Yemen to allow those families to prosper?
Britain has been under increased scrutiny over its arms deals to Saudi Arabia and remains silent on the crimes it repeatedly commits.
The mind-boggling hypocrisy of the west almost has no end. The frenzy that surrounds the defense of Saudi Arabia by its allies can be mirrored with the hysteric defense of “Israel” while it commits its crimes against the Palestinians on a regular basis.
In numerous TV interviews, British and American officials can be shown echoing the same formula we have heard countless times in the last twenty years. Begin with a dictator or lack thereof, blame the people for overthrowing said dictator or supporting him, blame Iran for “emboldening” and training militias, and bam! Claim your get-out-of-jail-free card in international law.
Clean smiles, dirty hands
Other Saudi allies have had their fair share of arms deals that enabled Saudi aggression.
Canada for instance has long been an arms exporter to Saudi Arabia. In 2020, Canada sent close to $2.9 billion of arms hardware to Saudi Arabia. The exports included light-armored vehicles, 31 large-caliber artillery systems, and 152 heavy machine guns
Justin Trudeau, a man who has repeatedly come out and condemned and apologized about residential schools, remains silent regarding the Yemeni children whose schools have been rendered to piles of dust.
In August, Amnesty International Canada and Project Ploughshares urged Canada to end their sales of weapons to Saudi Arabia as a report surfaced accusing the Prime Minister of violating the Arms Trade Treaty (ATT) by exporting weapons to Saudi Arabia. The report detailed evidence that weapons from Canada to the Kingdom were used in the war, including LAVs (light-armored vehicles) and sniper rifles. Under the previous Prime Minister Stephen Harper, Canada inked a $12 billion deal to ship Canadian-made LAVs to Saudi Arabia.
France and the UAE: A match made in hell
In December 2021, France signed a deal with the UAE worth $19.20 billion to supply 80 Rafale fighter planes by Dassault Aviation, the largest single purchase of the Dassault-made Rafale outside of the French Army. Human Rights Watch criticized the sale, saying the UAE has played “a prominent role” in the atrocity-ridden war on Yemen. The statement also said that Riyadh was in 2020 the largest buyer of French weapons.
In a report titled “Arms sales: France and the United Arab Emirates, partners in the crimes committed in Yemen,” numerous organizations list how France failed to respect its human rights commitments according to the UN Arms Trade Treaty which “regulates the international trade in conventional arms.” The report details that the UAE is a strategic ally of France and describes the former as a “repressive dictatorship”, where all dissenting voices risk imprisonment or torture, recalling the unjust sentences issued against 69 human rights activists in 2013 after an unfair trial.
The investigative French website Disclose revealed that France delivered tens of thousands of arms to Saudi Arabia, the UAE, and Qatar during President Francois Hollande’s reign in 2016, despite knowing that they would be used in the war on Yemen.
The website quoted “secret defense documents” that “since 2016, France has allowed the delivery of about 150,000 shells” to its two Gulf allies.
The French President met with Mohammed Bin Salman as one of the first western leaders to visit the kingdom since the murder of the Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi in 2018.
The hypocrisy with France, in particular, is that it prides itself in its secular mantra, and its policies have mostly targeted Muslims and adopted highly anti-Islamic rhetoric. Macron’s cozying up to MBS tells a different story, with the Secretary-General of Amnesty International commenting on the move by suggesting that it is part of a “rehabilitation” policy of the Saudi Prince. She expressed, “It grieves me that it is France, a country of human rights, which is used as the tool of this policy.”
Typhoons of misery for Yemen
Over half of Saudi’s combat aircraft deployed in bombing operations in Yemen are provided by none other than the UK.
The United Kingdom signed off on arms exports worth nearly $1.9 billion to Saudi Arabia between July and September 2020 following the lifting of a ban on weapons sales to the Gulf country. “UK-made weapons have played a devastating role in the Saudi-led attacks on Yemen, and the humanitarian crisis they have created, yet the UK government has done everything it can to keep the arms sales flowing,” said Sarah Waldron, a spokesperson for the Campaign Against the Arms Trade (CAAT).
The published value of UK arms export to the Saudi-led coalition since the beginning of the war is £6.9 billion, and CAAT estimates that the real value is over £20 billion.
Between January 2015 and December 2019, the British government approved 385 licenses for the sale of arms to Saudi Arabia. The UK Government has confirmed that the Saudi-led coalition attacked Yemen with weaponry that was manufactured in the UK, including Typhoon and Tornado fighter planes, Paveway bombs, and Brimstone and Stormshadow missiles.
The British government has also admitted that precision-guided weapons have also been used in the war on Yemen.
The Mwatana’s 2019 report “Day of Judgement: the role of the US and Europe in civilian death, destruction, and trauma in Yemen,” dissects the details of UK weapons and attacks on civilians in Yemen including an attack on a community college, warehouse, and multiple factories.
Raining missiles
Days ago, the Yemeni Armed Forces announced “carrying out a qualitative military operation, Yemen Hurricane, in response to the escalation of aggression against the country.” The operation targeted Abu Dhabi’s airport, the oil refinery in Mussafah in Abu Dhabi, and several other sites in the UAE.
Ali Al-Qahoum, a member of Ansar Allah Political Bureau, blessed the Yemeni operation in the UAE depth, saying that “this operation and others will continue as long as the aggression and siege continue with strategic goals further ahead.”
Yemeni victims of the Saudi-led war filed a complaint against Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and Abu Dhabi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan for financing terrorism.
The complaint was submitted on behalf of the Yemeni NGO, the Legal Center for Rights and Development, which is based in the Yemeni capital, Sanaa.
The war on Yemen in numbers
Nowhere to run
The megaphones of human rights campaigns and global petitions against the war on Yemen must be amplified, keeping in mind that the enemy is not Ansar Allah, neither is it the Palestinians, nor is it the Lebanese, or the Chinese, or the Russians. The true enemy of the West is the Axis of Resistance. Time has proven that a refusal to kneel to the demands of the West is all it takes to become an enemy.
If the cries of the virtuous remain unheard and the coalition and governments complicit in the massacres refuse to listen, then the Yemeni people surely will be left with the only other alternative. It was, is, and will always be the only key that unlocks the shackles of oppression and brutality; Resistance.
And one thing will certainly never change. The Saudi royals, no matter how enshrined in gold, can never cleanse themselves of the crimes they have committed against humanity, for conscience is the one thing they cannot buy.
Their classroom has no roof, no seats, no desks; most of the 50 small children sitting on the rubble-strewn floor have no pens or paper. But the students in this makeshift school in Hays, a village in Yemen’s Hodeidah province, are still among the luckiest in the country simply for having a teacher and a place to learn.
Seven years into a catastrophic war that sparked the world’s worst humanitarian crisis, Yemen’s conflict shows no signs of ending soon, and the future of an entire generation is at risk of being destroyed. About 3 million children are unable to attend school, according to the Red Cross, with 8.1 million needing urgent educational assistance.
“There is a huge pressure to leave school to work to support the family,” says Yemeni Agence France-Presse photographer, Khaled Ziad, who took the picture in September. “Some children in Yemen are now 10 years old and they’ve never had the chance to enroll in any school. If families don’t have money for food or medicine and hospital fees, how can they afford education expenses?”
The UN has yet to make an official declaration of famine in Yemen because there is not enough reliable data to meet the technical definition. But 16.2 million people – around half the population – are food insecure, and fluctuating pockets of famine-like conditions have left nearly 2.3 million children under the age of five acutely malnourished. Weakened immune systems also make infants susceptible to Yemen’s devastating outbreaks of cholera and dengue fever: most people say Covid-19 is the least of their concerns.
Yemeni childhoods are ending earlier and earlier. The average age of marriage for girls in some rural areas was just 14, even before the conflict broke out, and has only dropped since.
Most of the children getting basic literacy and numeracy lessons in Hays had already been displaced from other areas, Ziad says, as families attempt to flee the fighting.
“Students do not feel safe while they get lessons. They can’t afford supplies. Schools are destroyed, homes are destroyed … years go by, and there is still no chance to get a proper education,” Ziad says.
Civil servant salaries in some areas have not been paid in several years, meaning many teachers and doctors effectively continue to work for free. While Yemen has about 170,000 teachers across primary and secondary schools, about two-thirds do not receive regular salaries.
“The teachers say that, even though they don’t have salaries and the conditions are harsh, they feel there is a responsibility to keep working. If they leave education, they know the disaster would be even greater,” Ziad says. “They continue to perform an important duty.”
Ziad, who lives in the nearby city of Hodeidah, says that he hopes his work as a photographer will help the world understand Yemen’s tragedy. He worries constantly about what the future holds for his two-year-old son.
“If the war continues, I do not think that my child or the rest of the children in Hodeidah will be able to have a better future. It has to end,” he says.
A protest against US military aid to Israel. (Photo: File)
– Jeremy Salt taught at the University of Melbourne, at Bosporus University in Istanbul and Bilkent University in Ankara for many years, specializing in the modern history of the Middle East. Among his recent publications is his 2008 book, The Unmaking of the Middle East. A History of Western Disorder in Arab Lands (University of California Press). He contributed this article to The Palestine Chronicle.
What a chamber of horrors the third millennium has been so far in the Middle East, without even a quarter of it having passed. Iraq, Syria and Yemen on a scale unimaginable even at the high point of imperialism in the 19th century. An estimated 300 children under five dying every day in Yemen from malnutrition, Palestinians shot dead in their occupied country every day, Lebanon and Syria slowly strangled by US sanctions, Iran threatened with military destruction and the revelation of yet another massacre by the US, in Syria, where “about” 70 women and children were killed at Baghuz by bombs dropped one after the other to make sure that no-one escaped.
There is no suggestion that anyone should be punished for yet another ‘mistake.’ This is where thousands of years of drawing up covenants to make the world a safer place have ended up: back where we started, the law of the jungle.
This is what the guardians of ‘western civilization’ have given to the world just in the past three decades:
Two wars on Iraq, the ‘cradle of civilization’ shattered by the cradle of a violent hamburger junk culture, millions killed or displaced. Libya, the most developed country in Africa, pulled up by its roots, uncounted thousands killed, the leader of its 1969 revolution slaughtered as Hillary Clinton cackled with glee like one of the witches around the cauldron in Shakespeare’s ‘Macbeth’. Syria torn to pieces, ancient cities and markets destroyed, and half a million killed. In Yemen, more than 230,000 dead, with 43 percent of prematurely born babies dying because of the lack of medical equipment and a genocidal famine – 75 percent of children are suffering from acute malnutrition – continuing even as fresh supplies of weaponry are dropped off in the Saudi kingdom by the US and Britain. Iran, Syria and Lebanon targeted with economic sanctions: in occupied Palestine, in Syria and in Iran the Zionist state continues its murderous march through history.
Not one of the global criminals responsible for these massive crimes against humanity has been punished. They play golf or roam the world picking up millions for their speaking engagements and their ‘philanthropic’ foundations. Not one word of contrition or remorse has been spoken by any of them for the lives they have ended or ruined. Not even the death of children has forced admission of guilt out of them. Others have been punished for lesser crimes but not this gang. They are completely remorseless.
Imagine the reaction if these crimes were committed in Europe and white people were being slaughtered or driven out of their homes, out of their countries and drowning in their thousands as they tried to escape across the seas.
Well, between 1939-45 it did happen and those responsible were hanged at Nuremberg. We have no Nuremberg now but we do have an International Criminal Court (ICC) which does punish the architects of war crimes and crimes against humanity – as long as their skin is the right color. With the exception of pale-skinned Balkan Serbs charged after the breakup of Yugoslavia, all those hauled before the ICC have been brown or black.
The tsunami of death and destruction which began rolling across the region when Napoleon landed in Egypt in 1798 shows no sign of receding. Almost no country from the Atlantic coast of West Africa down to the Arab Gulf has avoided being swamped by it and many have been swamped several times.
The prime beneficiary of all of the above in the past century has been the settler state implanted in Palestine after 1918. Israel is the heart and soul of US foreign policy. Indeed, US foreign policy is no more than the Stars and Stripes draped over the interests of the Zionist state.
Take Iran as an example. After the death of Ayatullah Khumayni, Presidents Rafsanjani and Khatami sought to repair relations with the US. They offered investment concessions, diplomatic rapprochement and a political pathway into a region of critical interest, central Asia. Iranian society is conservative and God-fearing, rather like the US itself, but as long as Rafsanjani and Khatami refused to drop Iran’s righteous defense of the Palestinians, nothing else counted. Even in the ‘moderate’ Khatami’s time, economic sanctions were tightened, paving the way for the election of the ‘hardliner,’ Mahmud Ahmedinejad.
The attempted strangulation of Iran and Syria through war, assassination and sanctions necessarily involves Lebanon, Hezbollah’s home base. Since the 1980s Hezbollah has successfully fought off all attempts by Israel – backed to the hilt by the US of course – to destroy it. Far from being weakened, Hezbollah has gone from strength to strength, militarily and as a Lebanese political party. The lesson learned by the US and Israel is just that they have to try harder, to tear Lebanon apart if that is what it takes to destroy Hezbollah.
The latest provocation through Israel’s agents took place in Beirut on October 14, in the predominantly Shia neighborhood of Chiyah, bordering predominantly Maronite Christian Ain Rummaneh, where the ‘bus massacre’ of 27 Palestinians on April 13, 1975, was the trigger pulled to start the civil war.
This time snipers positioned on rooftops shot at Amal and Hezbollah supporters as they moved towards the Palace of Justice in Al Tayouneh to hold a vigil calling for the removal of Tariq al Bitar as the judge appointed to investigate the Beirut port explosion on August 5, 2020, on the grounds that he is running a heavily politicized inquiry heading towards a preordained conclusion, that this was a crime committed by Hezbollah.
Holding Hezbollah or Syria responsible for the crimes they have not committed was first tried after the assassination of former Prime Minister Rafiq Hariri in 2005. Initially, four ‘pro-Syrian’ generals were imprisoned for four years before an international tribunal took over the prosecution and released them for lack of evidence. It immediately pointed the finger at Hezbollah, eventually finding one person, Salim Ayyash, guilty of “involvement” on the sole basis of tapped phone calls made through communications networks known to have been completely penetrated and manipulated by the Zionist state.
The tribunal cleared Hezbollah’s leadership. What this actually means is that if the leadership did not order the assassination, no senior figure in the movement would have carried it out. Nasrallah and Hariri had differences but a good working relationship and it is virtually unthinkable that Nasrallah would ever have sanctioned such a heinous act.
The only beneficiaries of this monstrous act were the US, Israel and their agents in Lebanon. Syria was embarrassed internationally and had to withdraw its remaining forces from the Bika’a valley. Lebanon was thrown into the chaos that gave birth to the rise of the anti-Syrian/pro-Saudi, US and Israel March 14 alliance.
Hezbollah produced intercepted reconnaissance footage showing that Israel had been tracking Hariri with drones wherever he went for years and was flying an AWACS plane and another reconnaissance aircraft over Beirut at the precise time of the assassination. One of its agents had been located at the scene of the killing only the day before. None of this circumstantial evidence was ever followed up by the tribunal. Israel and the US have shed buckets of blood in Lebanon over many decades, have between them committed the most atrocious crimes, but the tribunal never even considered them as suspects.
The snipers waiting on the top of apartment buildings in Tayouneh on October 14 killed seven people, one a woman shot dead in her own home. Not just on rooftops, however, but on the ground, the demonstrators were surrounded by militiamen waiting to ambush them with guns, knives and even rocks. Despite denials by Samir Geagea (Ja’ja), the head of the fascist/sectarian Maronite Christian Lebanese Forces (LF), the armed men were clearly LF and acting on his orders. Of the 19 arrested, several quickly implicated him.
Geagea is one of the most murderous individuals in Lebanese history, which says a lot given the bloody track record of many others. During the civil war (1976-1989) he killed rivals within his own Maronite Christian ranks as well as Palestinians and other enemies outside them. In 1994 he was sentenced to four life sentences for the assassinations of former Prime Minister Rashid Karameh (1987), National Liberal Party leader Dany Chamoun (1990), Falangist (Kata’ib) head Elias al Zayek (1990) and the attempted assassination of Defence Minister Michel Murr (1991). In 1978 he and Elie Hobeika, at the behest of Bashir Gemayel, then head of the Falangists, led 1200 men in an attack on the north Lebanon family home of Tony Frangieh, leader of the Maronite Marada (Giants) faction. Geagea was wounded and had to be taken away before Frangieh, his wife and three-year-old daughter were killed.
In the 1990 attack, Dany Chamoun’s wife and two of his sons were also killed. If there is any poetic justice in any of this shedding of blood – including entirely innocent blood – it lies in the 1982 assassination of Bashir Gemayel and the car bombing murder in 2002 of Elie Hobeika, Israel’s leading henchman in the Sabra and Shatila massacres of 1982.
Geagea himself served eleven years of four life sentences before being released under amnesty after the assassination of Hariri and allowed to take up the leadership of the LF. His brutality is a powerful weapon in the hands of Israel and the US, whose ambassador, Dorothy Shea, has been open in her interference in Lebanese politics.
US economic sanctions against Lebanon have one primary target, Hezbollah; one secondary target, Syria; and one-third target, Iran. How many Christians die defending ‘Christian Lebanon’ is not an issue for the US and Israel any more than the number of Muslims who die fighting them. All they want is the chaos that will further their ambitions. They tore Lebanon apart before and they will do it again, mercilessly, ruthlessly, callously, without a care for the innocent blood of thousands that will be shed.
Whatever cause Samir Geagea thinks he is serving, the piecemeal destruction of Lebanon, indeed of the entire Middle East, is primarily about the protection of Israel. However, Israel is not as safe as it used to be or it might think it still is. It is confronted by enemies who have not backed off one meter from the struggle to liberate Palestine. Israel has tried hard to destroy them. Up to now, it has failed, so it is getting ready to try again. While planning/contingency planning is a constant, Israel now appears to be actively preparing for a massive military strike that would target Iran’s nuclear plants and missile capacity.
In September the Zionist chief of staff, Avi Kohavi, said plans for such a strike had been “greatly accelerated.” The military has been given an additional $1.5 billion to buy aircraft, drones and ‘bunker buster’ bombs that would probably include the USAF’s new 5000 lb. (2,267 kg.) GRU-72 Advanced 5k Penetrator, which would be aimed at Iran’s underground nuclear installations. Anticipating a simultaneous war with Hezbollah, Israel has also been carrying out extensive military exercises in northern occupied Palestine, coordinated with all emergency civil services to deal with an expected crisis on the domestic front once the missiles start falling. Israel is clearly planning for a big war, and can be expected to throw everything into this attempt to crush its principal enemies once and for all.
Unlike the white settlers in South Africa, the Zionist leadership sees no writing on the wall, no indications that history is not on their side even as it builds up against them. No more than Netanyahu does Naftali Bennett have any intention of giving anything back to the Palestinians except the smallest fragments of municipal responsibility. Like Netanyahu, he sees no need to negotiate, no need to give anything away. Why would he, when in the last resort Israel even has nuclear weapons to destroy its enemies? This is the question to which there can be no answer until the day comes when Israel faces the reality that even its conventional weapons are not sufficient to destroy its enemies.
All appearances to the contrary, unlimited US economic and military support has been a curse for Israel. It has created the illusion of power. Israel is like a plant with shallow roots. Only as long as the US keeps watering it, can the plant thrive. There is no permanent, unbreakable bond between states and all appearances to the contrary, there never will be between Israel and the US. Slowly, Americans are waking up and Israel’s incessant pleading is already beginning to fall on deaf ears, as the public becomes more aware of Israel’s criminality and as congressmen and women (mainly women) are emboldened to speak out. The time may come when the US can no longer afford Israel. The time may come when public opinion has changed to allow a US government to treat Israel as it treats other states.
US economic and military aid has had the same effect on Israel as steroids have on a bodybuilder. The 97-lb weakling is now the neighborhood bully swaggering down the street with pumped-up muscles. He smacks people around or they run in fright but Hezbollah and Iran are not running. They are standing firm and preparing to defend themselves. In any case, in the next war, Israel will take damage it has never experienced before, to the point where so many Jewish Israelis will just want to get out that Israel as a Zionist state is likely to crumble from within and die of its own contradictions. Is this what it is going to take for peace to become possible?
Taking yet another part in unending crimes against Yemeni children, the United States approved a $650m sale of air-to-air missiles to Saudi Arabia, the Pentagon announced.
The announcement brings to light the Biden administration’s first major weapons deal with the Gulf kingdom.
In a statement on Thursday, the Pentagon claimed that the US State Department approved the sale to help Riyadh ‘counter current and future threats.’
It added that Massachusetts-based firm Raytheon would be the “principal contractor” for the sale of AIM-120C-7/C-8 Advanced Medium Range Air-to-Air Missiles [AMRAAM] and related equipment.
The sale comes months after President Joe Biden claims he would end US support for Saudi Arabia’s “offensive operations” in Yemen, including “relevant arms sales.”
The State Department’s bureau of political-military affairs alleged in a series of tweets on Thursday that the missiles are “not used to engage ground targets.”
The sale does not require congressional approval, but lawmakers can block the deal by passing a disapproval bill in the Senate and the House of Representatives.
The missile sale follows the US approval of a $500m helicopter maintenance deal for the kingdom in September.
As a candidate, Biden berated Saudi Arabia over the Yemen war and the killing of US-based journalist Jamal Khashoggi, calling the kingdom a “pariah.”
Saudi Arabia and its allies launched a devastating war against the poorest Middle Eastern country in 2015 to reinstall former president Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi, a staunch ally of Riyadh, and crush the Ansarullah resistance movement.
The coalition of aggression, however, has so far fallen way short of the goal. Hundreds of thousands of Yemenis have, however, died ever since amid the aggression and a simultaneous siege that the forces have been imposing on the entire nation.
The protracted war in Yemen has killed or maimed at least 10,000 children since the war began in March 2015, which is equivalent to four children every day, the United Nations Children’s Fund [UNICEF] said in October.
Anti-war groups in the United States are urging the Congress to “prevent a human catastrophe” in Yemen by ending military support for Saudi Arabia’s aggression on the war-ravaged country.
The 56 organizations called on American lawmakers in a letter to take advantage of the National ‘Defense’ Authorization Act [NDAA] to end the sale of arms to the aggressors.
“By suspending the sale of arms and ending US participation in the Saudi coalition’s war and blockade, Congress can prevent a humanitarian catastrophe from spiraling further out of control as it reasserts its constitutional authority on matters of war and peace,” the letter read.
Unless the lawmakers take such an action, Washington would remain complicit in the tragedy created by the Saudi monarchy in Yemen, they further suggested, asserting that the lawmakers have the power to “legislate an end to ongoing US complicity in the war and blockade in Yemen.”
“With the help of US logistical and maintenance support, Saudi Arabia’s blockade of Yemen has created untold suffering for tens of millions of people and contributed to hundreds of thousands of deaths,” Hassan El-Tayyab, legislative director for Middle East policy at the Friends Committee on National Legislation, one of the letter’s organizers, said in a statement.
If the lawmakers refuse to endorse an amendment to the bill filed by Rep. Ro Khanna, the US would continue abetting the Saudi kingdom and its crimes against humanity, he noted.
“It’s now critical Congress support Rep. Khanna’s amendment to the FY2022 National ‘Defense’ Authorization Act and finally terminate US participation in Saudi’s aerial operations for the sake of millions of Yemenis in desperate need,” El-Tayyab added. “Members of Congress have two choices: vote for this amendment, or vote for an active US role in crimes against humanity for millions of people, including children.”
The amendment would block funding for “logistical support in the form of maintenance or the transfer of spare parts for aircraft that enable coalition strikes,“ as well as “sharing intelligence for the purpose of enabling coalition strikes.”
It would also oblige the US military not to “command, coordinate, participate in the movement of, or accompany the regular or irregular military forces of the Saudi-led coalition forces.”
Despite the growing outrage among lawmakers and the public, the United States continues to aid and abet the cruel war on the Yemeni nation.
“Without real action, millions of lives are at risk, and the US will be complicit,” Marcus Stanley, advocacy director at the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft, said in a statement. “The Khanna amendment offers an opportunity to genuinely end American support for Saudi aggression and take a crucial step to end the humanitarian crisis in Yemen. We urge a vote for this amendment. Half measures like reporting requirements or partial restrictions will not do, it is time to definitively end our support for this war.”
In February, US President Joe Biden announced that he was ending the US support for the war in Yemen, including “relevant arms sales,” touting the move as part of efforts to restore an emphasis on human rights, but that pledge is yet to materialize.
Saudi Arabia and its regional allies launched a devastating war in Yemen in 2015 to reinstall a former friendly government and crush the popular Ansarullah movement.
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Saudi Arabia in Yemen for seven years has committed crimes that were not done by the armies of Hulagu and Genghis Khan, with the countries they invaded. Its siege caused Yemen to reach a great famine and a tragedy described as the worst in the world.
All of the United Nations’ reports about the Yemeni issue were neglected by the Saudi and Emirati regimes. The most prominent of reports was written by the Executive Director of the World Food Program David Beasley, in which he confirmed the death of a Yemeni child every 75 seconds in Yemen.
Speaking to the United Nations Security Council, Beasley said, “I was in Yemen, where more than 16 million people are facing a crisis that reaches the level of hunger and worse.” He warned that 400,000 Yemeni children may die this year, if no urgent intervention is made. “As we sit here, a child dies every minute and a quarter. Are we going to turn our backs on them and look in the opposite direction?” he asked.
A report denounced the West’s lack of awareness of the tragedy of Yemen; rather, they are racing to sell arms to Saudi Arabia and the UAE, colluding with them in the aggression against Yemen. Only 1-7 billion dollars were collected out of the 85/3 billion dollars demanded by the United Nations to help Yemen in facing famine, diseases and disasters of war, which UN General Antonio Guterres described as a “death sentence” for Yemenis.
“The Food Program has announced that nearly a third of families in Yemen suffer from malnutrition and rarely consume foods such as beans, vegetables, fruits, dairy products or meat, as there are families who live on leaves,” the report further stated.
Yemeni vs. Saudi Kids
The report compared the peoples of Yemen and Saudi Arabia and said that the situation is completely different. As Yemenis die of starvation, Saudi officials discuss how to confront obesity, which threatens 70% of the Saudi people.
Because of over-eating, the rate of food loss and waste in Saudi Arabia reaches more than 33%, which is more than 40 billion riyals annually [approximately $11 billion], according to the Saudi Minister of Environment, Water and Agriculture Abdul Rahman bin Abdul Mohsen Al-Fadhli, who called for a highly effective mechanism to reduce the amount of food lost and wasted.
The consultant in laparoscopic and obesity surgery, Dr. Ayed Al-Qahtani, had stated that Saudi Arabia is one of the Arab countries that suffers the most from obesity and severe obesity, with the real obesity rate suffered by individuals in Saudi Arabia is 70%.
Al-Qahtani also mentioned that the number of children suffering from obesity has reached about three and a half million children, at a rate of 18% of children of the kingdom, which calls for the intervention of the concerned authorities to put an end to this scourge that threatens the lives of children in the future.
UPROOTED PALESTINIANS: SALAM ALQUDS ALAYKUM 