Tag Archives: Houthis

Biden Urged to Force End to US-Backed Saudi Blockade After Chilling Report on Starving Yemeni Children

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“President Biden should demand: ‘MBS, lift the blockade’… This is a moment for moral clarity and bold leadership.”

By Jake Johnson, staff writer for Common Dreams. Published 3-12-2021

Poster for the global day of action in January, 2021. Image: Workers Voice

Progressive members of Congress are demanding that President Joe Biden bring pressure to bear on Saudi Arabia to end its yearslong blockade on Yemen—which has been maintained with U.S. help—after new reporting provided a closer look at the horrific suffering caused by the kingdom’s ongoing obstruction of food, medicine, and other essential supplies.

“With 400,000 children now at risk of starvation in Yemen, the U.S. must tell the Saudis in no uncertain terms: immediately end the blockade and let humanitarian aid in,” Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) said Thursday. Continue reading →

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‘Wanton Cruelty’: Pompeo to Declare Houthis a Terrorist Group, Sparking Fears of Worsening Famine in Yemen

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Oxfam called the designation “a counter-productive and dangerous policy that will put innocent lives at risk.”

By Kenny Stancil, staff writer for Common Dreams. Published 1-11-2021

18-year-old Saida Ahmad Baghili is bed-ridden and unable to eat, surviving on a diet of juice, milk and tea. Screenshot: ABC News

Advocates for a more just U.S. foreign policy on Monday denounced Secretary of State Mike Pompeo’s decision to designate Yemen’s Houthis as a terrorist group, a move that progressives say will disrupt the ability of humanitarian agencies to provide life-saving aid in an effort to alleviate widespread civilian suffering generated by the U.S.-backed Saudi regime’s assault on the country.

In a statement released Monday, Oxfam criticized Pompeo’s decision to label the Houthis a “Foreign Terrorist Organization” (FTO), calling it a “counter-productive and dangerous policy that will put innocent lives at risk.” Continue reading →

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Biden Signals a Desire To End the Yemen War. Here’s Why Yemenis Aren’t Buying It

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If Biden is serious about reaching a diplomatic end to the war, he has a real chance to add ending one of the twenty-first century’s most violent conflicts to his presidential legacy, but the chance of the happening may be slim

By Ahmed Abdulkareem. Published 11-13-2020 by MintPress News

A man walks past a graffiti, denouncing strikes by U.S. drones in Yemen, painted on a wall in Sanaa. Photo: DJANDYW.COM/flickr

As news broke that Joe Biden almost certainly won the U.S. presidential election, some Americans became hopeful that the new administration could hearken in an era of calm in the Middle East. In Yemen, however, that sentiment was not shared.

Most Yemenis have little hope that the new White House will end the blockade and the devastating war in their country, which is now nearing the end of its sixth year. Nor are they hopeful that the announcement that U.S. support for the Saudi military intervention in Yemen could end during Biden’s presidential term will materialize into action after he is sworn into office on January 20, 2021. Continue reading →

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Houthis Anticipate US Assassination Attempts, Warn US Troops Will Be Targeted in Retaliation

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The U.S. recently admitted that it tried and failed to kill an Iranian commander in Yemen, sparking both fear and mobilization among Yemen’s Houthis.

By  Ahmed Abdulkareem  Published 1-24-2020 by MintPress News

A screenshot from the documentary film, The Last Lunch, shows a Yemeni man holding a portrait of Ibrahim al-Hamdi, the former president of Yemen who was assassinated with the assistance of US and Saudi intelligence agencies in 1977

 

As tensions in the Middle East continue to rise, there are indications that Donald Trump’s administration is planning to carry out assassination operations against high-ranking Houthi officials inside of Yemen similar to the U.S. assassination of Iranian Revolutionary Guard General, Qassem Soleimani, a move likely to open the door for further escalation in the region.

On Thursday, a high ranking Houthi official in Sana’a told MintPress News on condition of anonymity that the Houthis would not hesitate to target U.S. troops in the region if the Trump administration targets its personnel inside Yemen. Continue reading →

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US ‘Lies’ Slammed After Pompeo, Without Proof, Blames Iran for Drone Attacks

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Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) threatens to “break the regime’s back”

By Common Dreams. Published 9-15-2019

An Aramco petrochemical facility, Jubail, Saudi Arabia. Saudi Arabia raced today to restart operations at oil plants hit by drone attacks which slashed its production by half, as Iran dismissed US claims it was behind the assault. The Tehran-backed Huthi rebels in neighbouring Yemen, where a Saudi-led coalition is bogged down in a five-year war, have claimed thi weekend’s strikes on two plants owned by state giant Aramco in eastern Saudi Arabia. Photo: Suresh Babunair [CC BY 3.0]

Iranian Foreign Ministry Spokesman Abbas Mousavi forcefully rejected Sunday unsubstantiated charges by by US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and US Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) regarding the recent drone attacks that caused serious damage to two crucial Saudi Arabian oil installations.

“It has been around 5 years that the Saudi-led coalition has kept the flames of war alive in the region by repeatedly launching aggression against Yemen and committing different types of war crimes, and the Yemenis have also shown that they are standing up to war and aggression,” Seyyed Abbas Mousavi said in a statement. Continue reading →

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Impunity, Death, and Blowback: Report Exposes Illegal US Drone War in Yemen

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With hundreds of civilians killed, US drone campaign set ‘dangerous’ international precedent as Yemenis face even greater threat from US-backed coalition attack

The brother of a drone strike victim told researchers, "We had hoped that America would come to the region with educational and development projects and services, but it came instead with aircrafts to kill our children." (Image via Open Society Justice Foundation/ Mwatana Organization for Human Rights)

The brother of a drone strike victim told researchers, “We had hoped that America would come to the region with educational and development projects and services, but it came instead with aircrafts to kill our children.” (Image via Open Society Justice Foundation/ Mwatana Organization for Human Rights)

Written by Lauren McCauley, staff writer for CommonDreams, published April 14, 2015.

A new investigation into the United States’ killer drone campaign in Yemen, published Tuesday, finds that not only does that program fail to conform to protocols established by U.S. President Barack Obama, but that the strikes have in fact led to increased anti-American sentiment and greater regional destabilization.

The study by the Open Society Justice Foundation comes as Yemeni civilians, already under siege, face even greater threat from international “counterterrorism” efforts as a U.S.-backed attack on that country has killed an estimated 364 civilians, including at least 84 children and 25 women. Continue reading →

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The Bodies Pile Up in Yemen’s Civil War and Saudi Arabia’s Bombing Campaign, But Who is Counting the Casualties?

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Written by Jack Serle, Published April 4, 2015 in The Bureau of Investigative Journalism

Between 29 and 45 people were reported killed by an apparent air attack this week at the al Mazraq camp, pictured here in 2008. (Photo: IRIN Photos/flickr/cc)

Between 29 and 45 people were reported killed by an apparent air attack this week at the al Mazraq camp, pictured here in 2008. (Photo: IRIN Photos/flickr/cc)

Between 29 and 45 people were reported killed by an apparent air attack at the al Mazraq camp – some were said to have been burned beyond recognition. Depressingly, the victims also included children.

Although the attack came shortly after Saudi Arabia had launched an aerial bombardment of Yemen, Yemen’s foreign minister, speaking from Riyadh, blamed artillery fired by the Houthi militia which stormed the country’s capital Sanaa late last year. A Saudi spokesman meanwhile said that rebels had been firing from a residential area in response to a question about the bombing. Continue reading →

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