South Yemen and the UK

South Yemen and the bustling port of Aden was brought under British control in the 1800’s so that anti-piracy measures would be sustained protecting the shipping of the ever increasing British Empire.

The advent of the Suez Canal served to increase the importance of Aden and this remained to be the case until Harold Wilson’s Labour government decided, (in the aftermath of the aborted invasion of Egypt by the British) to introduce the, “East Of Aden” policy in the mid 1960’s.

British intentions, mainly driven by the socialist ideals and pan-Arabist doctrines of Egyptian leader Gamel Abdel Nasser precipitated a wave of Arab nationalism spreading to the Arabian Peninsula and the anti-colonial uprising in Aden in 1963.

In the years that followed, small,  localised anti-British guerrilla groups with varying political objectives finally merged into two large,  rival organisations:

 

 

Events Take A Turn For The Worse

At the end of 1963 the British High Commissioner of Aden was subjected to a grenade attack.

He was uninjured but there were 51 civilian casualties.

On that day, a “State of Emergency” was declared.

The NLF and FLOSY began a campaign against British forces in Aden, relying largely on grenade attacks.

The guerrilla attacks largely focused on killing off-duty British officers and policemen.

Much of the violence was carried out in the Crater, the old Arab quarter of Aden.

British forces attempted to intercept weapons being smuggled into the Crater but their efforts met with little success.

Despite taking a toll on British forces, the death toll among rebels was far higher, largely to inter-factional fighting among different rebel groups.

In 1964 an Infantry Brigade was despatched to Aden to establish control and to conduct land operations in wider South Yemen.

The Brigade remained there until November 1967.

By 1965, RAF station RAF Khormaksar had been increased to nine operating squadrons in support of the army.

These included transport units with helicopters and a number of Hawker Hunter fighter bomber aircraft.

At the beginning of 1967, the NLF provoked street riots in Aden.

The Aden police failed to establish control and the British High Commissioner deployed British troops to quell the riots.

But no sooner had the NLF riots been crushed than, pro-FLOSY rioters took to the streets.

Fighting between British forces and pro-guerrilla rioters continued until the spring of 1967.

 

 

Arab police mutiny

The emergency was further exacerbated by the Six-Day War in June 1967.

Nasser claimed that the British had helped Israel in the war, and this led to a mutiny by hundreds of soldiers in the South Arabian Federation Army on 20 June, which also spread to the police.

The mutineers killed 22 British soldiers, shot down a helicopter, and occupied, (to the exclusion of British soldiers) the “Crater”, an Arab town nestling in an extinct volcano.

Concern grew about the safety and security of British families and emergency evacuation plans were hastily evolved and actioned.

Following the mutiny, the Crater District remained occupied by an estimated 400 Arab fighters.

NLF and FLOSY fighters then took to the streets and engaged in gun battles, while arson, looting, and murder was also common.

Order was restored in July 1967, when the 1st Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders entered the “Crater” under the command of Lt Col Colin Mitchell and occupied the entire district overnight with no casualties.

The Argyll’s were ordered by Labour Party politicians in London, to leave the Crater District but this was ignored by, “Mad Mitch” on the basis it made no military sense to do so and armchair generals and politicians had no right to interfere with operational military decisions.

The British Public warmed to the Argyll’s but Lt Col Mitchell was the only officer commanding an army unit not to receive a commendation on return to the UK. A harsh punishment for a brave soldier by a petty Labour Government.

 

 

Withdrawal from South Yemen

Nevertheless, deadly guerrilla attacks by the NLF soon resumed against British forces, and the British left Aden by the end of November 1967, earlier than had been planned by Prime Minister Harold Wilson and without an agreement on the succeeding governance.

British casualties in the period of the emergency included 57 killed and 651 wounded, while local government forces lost 17 killed and 58 wounded

Casualties among the NLF and FLOSY are unknown.

Following the British departure, the NLF managed to seize power, and established the People’s Republic of South Yemen.

But the new oil-poor South Yemeni nation was starved of business and revenue, due to the closure of the Suez Canal, after the 1967 “Six Day War” and this precipitated severely disruptive economic circumstances for many years.

 

 

 

 

The Aftermath 1967 – 2003

Twenty-three years of police state thuggery followed, with the Soviet KGB replacing the British.

Even after Aden and the rest of the south merged with North Yemen, there was another civil war in the 1990s.

No wonder then the Yemen today is battered and bruised, and its people frustrated by the follies of their rulers. It is a forgotten place anchored to a forgotten time.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

External Influences 2003 To date

After Yemeni unification in 1990, some Shiite tribes in the north of the country joined forces to fight the Sunni-dominated central government’s increasing influence.

In 2011, they supported an uprising against President Ali Abdullah Salih.

The fighting resulted in numerous casualties and further deterioration of the region’s already weak economy.

The Yemeni Zaidi Shias accused the country’s government of discrimination towards the Shia minority. and demanded official recognition of their rights including restoration of the Shiah Imamah that was abolished during the revolution of September 1962.

In the wake of Salih’s overthrow, however, they were excluded from a national dialogue on the creation of a new government.

When a draft constitution emerged in the summer of 2014, the Houthis protested. Above all, they opposed the planned new federal structure that merely provided them with a landlocked province.

The Houthis found a supporter in the ousted President Saleh, who hoped an alliance with the Houthis would help him topple his successor and return to the presidential palace.

 

 

 

2014 to February 2015

The Houthi rebels’ key opponents, supporters of the Sunni Hirak movement, had also been excluded from the national dialogue.

The southern Hirak, like the Houthis, also saw themselves as losers in the Yemeni unification process and indicated an intention to secede from the federation.

Houthis, went to war in February 2015, seized the capital Sana’a and took control the city of Taiz, in the country’s central belt and advanced further south before being held up North of Aden by troops loyal to Abd Rabbu Mansour Hadi, who had fled from Sana’a to the southern port city, once a key way-station of the British Empire.

The Shiite-led Houthis, whose leaders have received training and weapons from Iran, now controlled Sana and nine of the country’s 21 provinces claimed they were advancing in order to prevent the expansion of jihadist militancy (al-Qaeda) in the country.

But it is unclear whether they really believed they could take on al-Qaeda’s Sunni tribal heartlands in the centre and east of the country.

But they had the upper hand against a government in disarray.

Their lightning strike on Taiz took Mr Hadi’s forces by surprise, though a coalition of local fighters and soldiers managed to hold the advance at al-Maqatirah, 60 miles north of Aden

The internationally recognised foreign minister of Yemen appealed for international intervention as the Houthi rebels, an Iran-allied rebel group advanced on Aden plunging the country further into civil war.

“They’re expanding in territory, occupying airports and cities, attacking Aden with planes, detaining whom they please, threatening and gathering their forces,” Riyadh Yaseen, Mr Hadi’s foreign minister, said in an interview with al-Jazeera.

“We have expressed to the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), the United Nations as well as the international community that there should be a no-fly zone, and the use of military aircraft should be prevented at the airports controlled by the Houthis.”

Britain and America confirmed they had pulled out their special forces.

A handful of SAS troops had been based in the country liaising with local commandos and US forces as well as providing protection to embassy personnel.

Philip Hammond, the Foreign Secretary, stressed the desirability of finding a “peaceful solution”.

The Houthis are Shia and allied to the Lebanese militia Hizbollah and Iran, which has gloated at the group’s success in taking the Yemeni capital.

Saudi Arabia is Iran’s main strategic rival in the Gulf.

Mr Hadi’s election as president of Yemen was a high-point of Western diplomacy during the Arab Spring, but has backfired badly.

He was vice-president to Yemen’s president of 30 years, Ali Abdullah al-Saleh, who for months resisted pressure from demonstrators to stand down but was eventually pressured into quitting by the GCC and its western backers.

Now Yemen is dangerously split between the Houthi-Saleh alliance, the recognised government, a separatist movement also based in the south, al-Qaeda, ISIS and militants.

Further complicating matters the pro-Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant faction have claimed responsibility (March 22) for a triple suicide bombing of mosques in Sana’a which killed 142 people and a gun attack in the south which killed a further 29 the same day.

 

 

 

26 March 2015: Saudi Arabia launches military operation in Yemen

Saudi Arabia launched a military operation in Yemen.

Other Gulf states and Middle Eastern countries, (Bahrain, Kuwait, Qatar, the UAE, Turkey, Egypt, Morocco, Jordan and Sudan) have said they are committed to the protection of Yemen from a Shiite Houthi takoever.

“The operation is to defend and support the legitimate government of Yemen and prevent the radical Houthi movement from taking over the country,” the Foreign Secretary said.

The military action was announced as reports surfaced that President Abed Rabbo Mansour Haddi had fled his Aden palace and left the country by boat, although his aides denied the claim.

Saudi consultations with the US were said to have taken place “at a high level” before the operation was launched, a Washington official told the Reuters news agency.

Yemen has become increasingly divided between a north dominated by Houthis and a south largely controlled by Hadi supports.

Former President Ali Abdullah Selah, who resigned in 2012 after protests, has been accused of backing the Houthi rebels in an effort to regain influence.

Saudi warplanes continued to bomb the Houthis on Thursday as part of their offensive “Storm of Resolve” to weaken the Shiite rebels.

Four naval vessels were additionally being sent from Egypt and were expected to be in the Red Sea soon, to secure the Gulf of Aden.

Washington, “commended the work of the coalition taking military action against the Houthis” and ensured Washington’s support in “intelligence sharing, targeting assistance and advisory and logistical support for strikes against the Houthis.”

 

 

 

 

27 March 2015: The air war that is already taking its toll on the civilian population of the Yemeni capital city of Sanaa is just the beginning, as Saudi Arabia is telegraphing their planned ground invasion of Yemen, and touting the number of Sunni Arab allies who will be going along.

The latest reports are that some 150,000 Saudi ground troops have massed along their border with Yemen, along with heavy artillery. Egypt also confirmed an undisclosed number of troops on transport ships off the Yemeni coast, who will join the invasion.

Egypt is not alone in joining the war, as a number of other Sunni Arab nations are reportedly involved, with an eye on fighting the Shi’ite Houthis, who control the capital city of Sanaa.

At present, Saudi Arabia and Egypt are confirmed to have help from Bahrain, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, Kuwait, Jordan, Morocco, and Sudan.

There are also reports of Libya’s government giving its approval, though they are unlikely to contribute troops, and Saudi state media also claimed Pakistan as part of the coalition.

News of the war sent the price of oil jumping, as while Yemen itself is not a major producer, Saudi Arabia is, and its own oil production is centred around the territory of its Shi’ite minority.

If fighting spreads to the Yemeni coast it could also imperil key shipping lanes.

Saudi officials are already trying to downplay the scope of the war, saying they don’t intend to 100% occupy Yemen, but rather to just fight a big war and weaken the Houthis in the hopes that President Hadi, who resigned in January, will take over again.

That seems unlikely, with Hadi having fled the country yesterday in the face of a minor Houthi offensive.

The more likely immediate impact of the Saudi intervention will be emboldening the Sunni Islamist forces in the country, al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) and ISIS, and giving them an advantage in expanding their territory.

 

 

 

 

 

 

10 Jul 2017: Saudi-America – The Rogue Nation at the Heart of All the Misery, Death and Destruction in the Middle East

Saudi Arabia is fully protected by the USA from any external aggression.

Probably the world’s most authoritarian regime, its repression of its own population and blatant aggression against its neighbours is appalling.

Its protector, the USA is also the country’s largest supplier of arms, munitions and just about every tool of war in existence, short of nuclear arms.

Of major concern to the UN in recent years is the use of the Saudi military machine against its neighbours

In this period a very significant amount of the aforesaid arms and munitions has been expended against a few thousand rebels in Yemen.

Total overkill by a so called Saudi led coalition who seem to be determined to destroy the rebels even if this brings about the complete destruction of the Yemen.

At the end of July 2017 more than 10,000 Yemeni have been Killed

 

 

 

 

10 Jul 2017:  The Role of the Brits

Next in the supply line is Britain who have been training Saudi armed forces personnel and selling them many £ billions of tanks, aircraft, munitions, missiles etc.for countless years

The British government licensed £283m worth of arms sales to Saudi Arabia in the six months after an air strike by the Riyadh-led coalition killed 140 mourners at a funeral in Yemen.

A UN sanctions monitor told the security council that last year’s double air strike, which targeted both mourners and those who helped them in Sana’a, the Yemeni capital, violated international law.

It was one of the bloodiest attacks in a two year campaign waged by Saudi Arabia against Houthi rebels in Yemen.

Following the attack, Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson advised Trade Secretary Liam Fox to grant four export licence applications to supply the Royal Saudi Air Force with equipment which could be used in Yemen.

Figures compiled by the Campaign Against Arms Trade show that from the time of the attack on 8 October 2016 until the end of March 2017, the UK government authorised exports including £263m worth of combat aircraft components and £4m of bombs and missiles to the country.

The figures exclude aircraft cannon equipment, targeting software, aircraft components and assault rifles exported under 24 open licences, which are seen as even less transparent.

 

 

 

 

Famine and Disease

31 Jul 2017: War-torn Yemen is facing a famine caused by the Saudi led coalition blockading ports preventing the supply of food and medicines into the country.

Time is not on the side of the UN who estimate over 70% of the Yemeni population are nearing starvation.

Added to the misery over 450,000 have been struck down by cholera with no sign of an end to the epidemic.

Seeking to justify the actions of the Saudi led coalition a spokesman said: “Weapons and ammunition is being supplied to the rebels by Iran using small shipping units and we are denying them this outlet.”

But there is no evidence of any such assistance reaching the rebels.

Arms Sales Britain: https://www.caat.org.uk/resources/export-licences/faq?item=military+training+equipment&region=Saudi+Arabia

 

 

 

 

The Annihilation of Yemen by Saudi American Led Forces – The first 6 months March – August 2015

5 Mar 2015: The Saudi’s, inspired by newly appointed Crown Prince Mohammad Bin Salman attacked Houthi rebels in Yemen.

The campaign was expected to be executed swiftly and with minimum casualties.

But three years later the battles rage on with no sign of an end.

Below is a tabulated account of the first few months of the war followed by a statement of recent events which should give concern to any decent minded person.

The Arab nations need to call a halt to the war now or bear witness to a catastrophic disaster.

 

 

 

 

09 Mar 2015: Saudi Arabia agrees to host peace talks with Houthis militants at the request of President Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi after Houthi’s and Al-Qaida militants overran and held the city of Mahfad in southern Yemen for hours before an army counter attack pushed them out.

25 Mar 2015: The Saudi ambassador to the United States announced that his country had initiated air-strikes against the Houthi rebels in Yemen.

The Saudi operation has been named “Decisive Storm.”

The Saudi’s have gathered a 10-country coalition of Sunni states to bomb the Houthis.

26 Mar 2015: Warplanes from the Saudi led Arab coalition bombed Huthi rebels in support of Yemen’s embattled president, as regional rival Iran warned the intervention was a “dangerous” move.

Egypt also participated in the Saudi led campaign against Shi’ite Houthi militias in Yemen with its naval and air forces.

The US military rescued two Saudi pilots who ejected from their jet off Yemen’s coast.

27 Mar 2015: At least 21 Yemini, rebels were killed when residents in a tribal southern region opened fire on their vehicles.

Saudi warplanes targeted Houthi forces controlling Sanaa and their northern heartland.

In a boost for Riyadh, fellow monarchy Morocco said it would join the rapidly-assembled Sunni Muslim coalition against the Shi’ite Muslim group.

27 Mar 2015: Egyptian and Saudi Arabian warships have been deployed to the Bab al-Mandab straits off Yemen to secure a strategic sea passage.

28 Mar 2015: Saudi Arabia’s navy evacuated dozens of diplomats from Yemen and the United Nations pulled out international staff after a third night of Saudi-led air strikes trying to stem advances by Iranian-allied Houthi fighters.

29 Mar 2015: 38 killed in Yemen in clashes between rebel forces and tribes near a southern oil region.

Saudi led warplanes bombed the main international airport and struck a renegade troop base in Sanaa.

31 Mar 2015: Saudi led air-strikes pounded Yemen’s Shiite rebels for a sixth day, destroying missiles and weapons depots controlled by the rebels.

The UN human rights office in Geneva said that in the past five days, at least 93 civilians have been killed and 364 wounded in five Yemeni cities.

Air strikes hit a dairy factory near Hodeida killing 23.

 

A family eat breakfast outside their hut at a camp for people displaced by the war near Sanaa, Yemen September 26, 2016

 

01 Apr 2015: Saudi led coalition warplanes bombed Shiite rebel positions in both the north and south of Yemen, setting off explosions. Anti-aircraft guns returned fire.

03 Apr 2015: In Yemen Houthi forces pulled back from central Aden after warplanes from the Saudi led coalition dropped weapons and medical aid to fighters defending the southern Yemeni city.

An air strike on a village near Sanaa killed a family of nine in what appeared to be a hit by the Saudi led military campaign against Houthi militia.

Local militia forces said they killed 10 Houthis during the fighting which pushed the Shi’ite movement out of Crater.

They also said Houthis killed two medics and two patients when they opened fire on an ambulance ferrying casualties from Aden peninsula to hospital on the mainland.

04 Apr 2015: A Saudi adviser said Saudi Arabian special forces are involved in a military operation against Shiite Houthi rebels in neighbouring Yemen.

A second Saudi led coalition force pounded rebels in the south and dropped more arms to loyalist fighters.

05 Apr 2015: In eastern Saudi Arabia a policeman was killed and three were wounded during a raid in al-Awamiya, a predominantly Shiite town.

05 Apr 2015: In Yemen warplanes from a Saudi led coalition bombed Sanaa overnight on the eleventh day of the campaign against Iran allied Houthi.

A senior Houthi member said Yemen’s Houthis are ready to sit down for peace talks as long as a Saudi-led air campaign is halted and the negotiations are overseen by “non-aggressive” parties.

07 Apr 2015: In central Yemen warplanes from the Saudi led air coalition bombed a military base controlled by Houthi fighters and their army allies.

A website of the Houthi-run defence ministry said two students were killed at a neighbouring school.

Suspected al Qaeda militants stormed a remote border post with Saudi Arabia, killing at least two soldiers including the senior border guard officer.

08 Apr 2015: In southern Yemen warplanes from the Saudi led coalition struck al-Anad airbase overnight and targets in areas around the southern port city of Aden.

At least 22 people were killed in tank and mortar shelling by rebel forces on residential areas in Aden.

Warships from the Saudi led coalition blocked a vessel carrying more than 47,000 tons of wheat from entering a Yemeni port, demanding UN guarantees that the cargo would not go to military personnel.

09 Apr 2015: The Pentagon said the US has begun daily aerial refuelling for planes in the Saudi led coalition carrying out air strikes in Yemen.

10 Apr 2015: Yemen’s Houthi rebels killed 3 Saudi border guards in a mortar attack in Saudi Arabia’s Najran province.

12 Apr 2015: In Yemen suspected Al Qaeda militants killed an army colonel in central Shabwa province.

Saudi Arabia dismissed Iranian calls to end air strikes on Yemen as Saudi led attacks hit a military camp in Taiz, killing 8 civilians.

14 Apr 2015: Iran proposed a four point peace plan for Yemen and called for an end to Saudi led air strikes against Houthi rebels.

It comprised of a ceasefire, humanitarian assistance, an intra Yemeni dialogue and the establishment of a broad-based government.

18 Apr 2015: Saudi Arabia pledges to cover the entire $274 million in humanitarian aid sought by the UN for conflict-torn Yemen, where a Saudi led coalition has been bombing Shiite rebels for three weeks.

19 Apr 2015: A Saudi border guard was killed and two troops wounded by heavy gun and mortar fire from Yemen.

20 Apr 2015: In Yemen Saudi led air strikes on a missile depot in Sanaa, the rebel-held capital, sparked explosions that left at least 18 people dead and 300 wounded.

21 Apr 2015: Saudi Arabia announced that it would end almost a month of air strikes against the Iranian allied Houthis.

Hours later Houthi fighters captured an army brigade base loyal to the government in Yemen’s central city of Taiz following heavy fighting.

A Saudi air strike hit the brigade headquarters shortly afterwards.

22 Apr 2015: In Yemen rival forces fought on despite a declared halt to a Saudi led bombing campaign, showing how tough it may be to find a political solution to a war stirring animosities between rival Gulf powers Saudi Arabia and Iran.

The Houthi rebel movement said it wanted to return to UN sponsored peace talks but only after a complete halt to a month of Saudi led air strikes on the group.

The Saudi-led coalition bombed southern Houthi positions carrying out at least 12 air strikes.

23 Apr 2015: Warplanes from the Saudi led coalition pounded Houthi militiamen and military bases with at least 20 air strikes throughout Yemen, despite Riyadh saying it was winding down its campaign.

27 Apr 2015: In Yemen Saudi led aircraft pounded Iran allied Houthi militiamen and rebel army units in central Yemen and Sanaa despite a formal end to the air strikes.

 

            

 

 

01 May 2015: Saudi Arabia said its forces killed dozens of Iran-backed rebels from Yemen who launched their first major attack on the kingdom since Saudi led air strikes began last month.

04 May 2015: Senegal is sending 2,100 troops to Saudi Arabia as part of an international coalition combating Houthi rebels in Yemen.

05 May 2015: Saudi King Salman announced the establishment of a centre to coordinate humanitarian assistance for Yemen, and invited the United Nations to join in relief work for the Arab country.

05 May 2015: Yemen’s Houthi rebels fired mortars and Katyusha rockets at the Saudi city of Najran, killing at least 3 civilians.

A husband and wife were killed as a missile from war-torn Yemen struck their building in the Jazan region.

Five Saudi soldiers were reported captured by rebel fighters.

06 May 2015: Saudi led coalition warplanes struck Yemeni provinces near the Saudi border overnight, killing at least 43 civilians.

Another 9 people were killed and 18 were wounded in air strikes on a police academy in Dhamar province.

Aid agencies warned that fuel shortages could halt their efforts to tackle Yemen’s humanitarian crisis.

Houthi fighters entered Aden’s al-Tawahi district, one of the last strongholds of supporters of President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi.

Fighting across Yemen killed 120 people, mostly civilians, including at least 40 who were trying to flee Aden in a boat that was struck by Houthi shells.

07 May 2015: Saudi Arabia offers a five day humanitarian truce to the Houthi militia it has hit with weeks of air strikes in neighbouring Yemen, on condition that fighting across Yemen stops.

08 May 2015: The Saudi led coalition declared the rebel stronghold of Saada in Yemen a war zone and said its entire territory would from now on be considered a “military target,” urging all civilians to leave by 7 p.m. local time.

09 May 2015: The Saudi led coalition struck northern provinces of Yemen in a third consecutive night of heavy air strikes.

More than 100 air strikes hit areas of Saada and Hajjah provinces, including the districts of Haradh, Maidi and Bakil al-Mir.

11 May 2015: Saudi led warplanes pressed air strikes against rebel positions in Yemen, 36 hours before a scheduled five-day pause to allow the delivery of much-needed humanitarian aid.

The air strikes on a rocket base in Sanaa killed 90 people and wounded 300.

12 May 2015: In Yemen at least 69 people were killed and 250 others were wounded by explosions after Saudi led warplanes hit an arms depot a day earlier on the outskirts of Sanaa as bombing continued.

13 May 2015: King Salman doubled Saudi Arabia’s aid commitment to Yemen to $540 million on the first day of a humanitarian pause in a bombing campaign it has led.

A jet fighter from the Saudi led coalition struck a military convoy belonging to Shiite rebels and their allies in southern Yemen, straining the humanitarian, five day ceasefire.

21 May 2015: In southern Yemen Saudi led coalition warplanes carried out fresh raids on rebel positions as pro-government tribesmen advanced on Shiite Huthi strongholds in the north.

Saudi shells hit an international humanitarian aid office in northern Yemen, killing 5 Ethiopian refugees and wounding ten.

24 May 2015: In Yemen Saudi forces and Houthi militia traded heavy artillery fire overnight, which destroyed part of the Haradh border crossing, the main border crossing between the two countries.

In Taiz Houthi forces and pro-Hadi fighters fired tank and artillery shells at each other throughout the city overnight, killing 5 civilians.

Local fighters combating the Houthis in the south said they killed 8 Houthi fighters in an ambush in Dalea province.

26 May 2015: In northern Yemen 7 members of a family were killed in an overnight strike by Saudi led warplanes on a border village.

In the south the Saudi led air force launched nearly 20 raids on Houthi fighters in the port city of Aden.

27 May 2015: Saudi led air strikes killed at least 80 people near Yemen’s border with Saudi Arabia and in the capital Sanaa, the deadliest day of bombing in over two months of war in Yemen.

31 May 2015: In Yemen, aircraft from the Saudi led coalition bombed Houthi outposts throughout the country.

Yemen’s exiled government in Saudi Arabia said that senior Houthi officials are holding talks with the United States in neighbouring Oman to help end the nine-week conflict.

Human Rights Watch published new evidence alleging a Saudi-led coalition is using internationally banned cluster bombs in Yemen.

 

 

 

01 Jun 2015: In Yemen at least 8 civilians were killed and 20 wounded in explosions sparked by Saudi led air strikes on rebel arms depots in Sanaa.

03 Jun 2015: In Yemen Saudi led air strikes killed a group of around 20 Houthi fighters outside the southern port city of Aden and also shook the capital Sanaa in the north.

04 Jun 2015: In central Yemen warplanes from the Saudi led coalition pounded rebel positions as air raids intensified amid attempts to revive UN-proposed talks in Switzerland.

05 Jun 2015: Four Saudi troops, including an officer, were reported killed after an attack was launched from the Yemeni side on border areas in Jizan and Najran.

06 Jun 2015: Yemen’s dominant Houthi group and its army allies fired a Scud missile at Saudi Arabia which the kingdom says it shot down.

Eyewitnesses said around 10 Arab air strikes pounded Houthi positions in Aden’s Northwest suburbs.

07 Jun 2015: In Yemen 20 civilians were among at least 45 people killed in Saudi led air strikes on the rebel-held armed forces headquarters in Sanaa early today.

09 Jun 2015: In Yemen a series of air-strikes from the Saudi led military coalition targeted the Defence Ministry building, which is under control of Shiite rebels who control Sanaa.

The air-strikes also targeted the homes of military commanders allied with the rebels in the Northwest Sanaa district of Hamdan.

11 Jun 2015: In Yemen a Saudi led air-strike hit a public bus on a highway north of the southern city of Aden, splitting the vehicle in half and killing at least 20 civilian passengers.

Air strikes over the last 48 hours also hit a family travelling in a private car and a farmer driving a pick-up truck loaded with potatoes, also near Aden.

12 Jun 2015: In Yemen Saudi led air-strikes targeting Shiite rebels and their allies destroyed historic houses in the centre of, Sanaa, a UNESCO world heritage site.

The Saudi led coalition denied claims that it carried out the strike, suggesting a rebel ammunition cache may have exploded.

13 Jun 2015: In Yemen 9 people were killed when Saudi led coalition warplanes bombed a district in Sanaa inhabited by relatives of ex-president Ali Abdullah Saleh. At least 60 people were reported wounded.

17 Jun 2015: Al Qaeda militants in Yemen killed two alleged Saudi spies, accusing them of planting tracking devices which enabled the assassination of the group’s leader in a suspected US drone strike last week.

Four car bombs hit three mosques and the political headquarters of the Houthi movement in Sanaa, killing and wounding dozens of people.

Jun 19 2015: In Yemen Saudi led warplanes bombed elite Republican Guard forces allied with the dominant Houthi faction.

Houthis reported that 9 civilians were killed in air strikes on the Razeh district of the northern province of Saada.

UN-sponsored ceasefire talks broke off in Geneva without a deal to end nearly three months of fighting.

24 Jun 2015: Yemen’s Shiite rebels launched two late night attacks along the Saudi Arabia border, killing three Saudi soldiers and one from the United Arab Emirates.

26 Jun 2015: In Yemen air strikes by a Saudi led force hit military bases across Yemen. 10 people were killed in air raids in Jawf.

 

 

 

 

06 Jul 2015: In Yemen Saudi led warplanes bombed the Sanaa headquarters of the party headed by rebel allied former president Ali Abdullah Saleh overnight.

More than 45 civilians were reported killed in a Saudi-led air-strike in Fayoush.

16 Jul 2015: In Yemen fighting intensified in the southern port city of Aden as Saudi backed troops pushed to drive Shiite rebels out of several neighbourhoods.

The Shiite rebels meanwhile fired rockets at the city’s airport, killing at least 3 people.

Senior members of the exiled administration flew into Aden to make preparations for the government’s return.

11 Jul 2015: In Yemen a UN proposed truce, aimed at delivering desperately needed aid to millions threatened with famine, failed to take hold.

The spokesman for the Saudi led coalition targeting Yemen’s Shiite rebels in air-strikes since March said the coalition is not bound by the new truce deal.

22 Jul 2015: In Yemen a Saudi military plane loaded with arms for fighters loyal to Yemen’s deposed president landed at Aden airport, the first flight to reach the embattled port city in four months.

24 Jul 2015: In Yemen Saudi led coalition air-strikes killed more than 120 civilians and wounded more than 150 after shelling a residential area in the Taiz province.

25 Jul 2015: Saudi led coalition forces announced a five day humanitarian ceasefire would take effect starting July 26 evening at the request of exiled president Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi.

27 Jul 2015: Yemeni military sources Saudi led coalition warplanes hit positions of pro-government forces in south Yemen by mistake, killing 12 people on the first day of a humanitarian truce.

28 Jul 2015: In Yemen Saudi led warplanes resumed raids on rebels, who clashed with loyalists.

Air strikes targeted rebels north of Aden, rebels in nearby Lahj province and a rebel convoy near Sabr.

Other raids hit a building occupied by insurgents in Jaawala.

An overnight strike hit rebels in Marib east of Sanaa.

29 Jul 2015: From Saudi Arabia Yemen’s exiled President Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi ordered that militias battling Shiite rebels in Yemen be merged with his national army, in an apparent attempt to unify ground forces.

29 Jul 2015: In Yemen Saudi led warplanes bombed targets in northerly Saada province.

A car bomb exploded outside the Ismaili Al Faydh Alhatemy mosque in an eastern district of Sanaa, killing 3 people and wounding seven.

The Islamic State militant group claimed responsibility.

Ismailis are a minority Shi’ite Muslim sect, as are the Zaydi Shi’ites, a community whose interests the Houthi group says it defends.

 

 

 

 

07 Aug 2015: A Saudi soldier was killed by shelling from across the Yemeni border, becoming the third death this week.

08 Aug 2015: In Yemen pro-government forces, strengthened by tanks newly supplied by the Saudi led coalition, launched an offensive to retake Zinjibar, the rebel-held capital of Abyan province.

A Saudi led coalition airstrike hit allied fighters in a friendly fire incident, killing at least 20 fighters on a coastal road as they headed toward Zinjibar.

17 Aug 2015: The Saudi military said 2 soldiers have been killed along the border by a missile fired from inside Yemen.

21 Aug 2015: In Yemen a helicopter from the Saudi-led forces battling anti-government fighters crashed along the Saudi border, killing the two pilots.

Huthi rebels said they have shot down a Saudi Apache helicopter.

25 Aug 2015: In Yemen about 100 Saudi forces arrived in Aden to help rebuild the local police force.

The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) said it has temporarily suspended its activities in Aden after its office was raided by unidentified gunmen a day earlier.

Al-Qaeda dynamited a headquarters of the secret police in Mukalla.

26 Aug 2015: In Yemen al-Qaeda militants blew up an army headquarters and set up checkpoints in the jihadist network’s southeastern stronghold of Mukalla, Hadramawt province.

Yemeni army units allied to the Houthi militia fired a ballistic missile toward southern Saudi Arabia but the Saudi military said it intercepted it and retaliated with air strikes on Yemeni territory.

 

 

 

04 Sep 2015: President Barack Obama hosted Saudi Arabia’s new monarch for the first time and said that the US shares King Salman’s desire for an inclusive government in Yemen that can relieve that impoverished Arab country’s humanitarian crisis.

04 Sep 2015: In Yemen Iranian allied Houthis attacked a weapons storage facility in Marib killing 45 soldiers from the United Arab Emirates (UAE), 5 Bahrainis, 10 Saudis and 4 Yemenis.

06 Sep 2015: Saudi led coalition jets bombed a Houthi military position and army bases in the Yemeni capital Sanaa through the night and into this morning in what appeared to be further retaliation for the killing of dozens of coalition soldiers two days ago.

Note: The war of attrition against Yemen has now progressed through 5 x  6 monthly cycles.

Death and destruction in each period has spiralled and the situation in the country is now desperate.

The Telegraph – Sputnik News – The Guardian – Anti-War News