Will the Saudis enter Sana'a?

[Bengal_Tiger]

i want pakistan to stay out of this, these arabs treat pakistanis like crap yet they call for pakistan when they want to conquer some place or protect themselves,

If Pakistani troops end up in Yemen and end up getting killed/captured there what do you think will happen?

Btw, I'm fully aware most educated Pakistanis are totally opposed to any Pakistani involvement in Yemen.

[tripledouble]

If Pakistani troops end up in Yemen and end up getting killed/captured there what do you think will happen?

Btw, I'm fully aware most educated Pakistanis are totally opposed to any Pakistani involvement in Yemen.

Saudis will just let them slaughter us, we are inferior beings, we have to take the bullet for our "arab masters".

They even started bombing yemen when 5000 pakistanis were still stranded, they didn't care about evacuating first.

anyways most pakistanis have had enough of arab supremacism, we won't put up with this and they are running out of oil and money, so in future we won't have to be their servants.

[Bengal_Tiger]

Saudis will just let them slaughter us, we are inferior beings, we have to take the bullet for our "arab masters".

They even started bombing yemen when 5000 pakistanis were still stranded, they didn't care about evacuating first.

anyways most pakistanis have had enough of arab supremacism, we won't put up with this and they are running out of oil and money, so in future we won't have to be their servants.

Maybe most educated middle class Pakistanis have but there are many conservative people in rural areas who see the Arabs with a halo of sanctity due to being the "people of Islam", plus there are Deobandis (massive following) and others who would love to fight for "Islam" (as they see it).

Anyway Nawaz Sharif is known to be a Saudi man, so despite what the middle class want for the time being Pakistan is still under heavy Saudi influence e.g. aborting a strategically beneficial gas pipeline with Iran.

[Bengal_Tiger]

Nah they probably will call daddy yankee for help.

I think the Saudis have seen the writing on the wall.

They know American power is declining.

America couldn't bomb or invade Syria, it couldn't stop Russia in Ukraine, it couldn't stop the UK from joining the Chinese created AIIB.

With the decline of US power and it being less able/interested in defending its vassals e.g. Saudi, such states e.g. Saudi are going to have to defend themselves or create alternative regional alliances.

It seems to me this new Arab military force is the first step in that. A big step in an increasingly post-USA world.

[Bengal_Tiger]

[Bengal_Tiger]

From the economist.

The House of Saud is played and had again by the US. This invasion of Yemen is parallel to the green light that was given to Saddam Hussein before invasion of Kuwait in 1990. It is astonishing how stupid and clueless are the Arab clients rulers. The US and Iranian strategists are playing these fools for their oil wealth. Strategically speaking, this invasion of Yemen will result in fragmentation of the country known as Saudi Arabia. US and Iran are the only two super powers in the Persian Gulf and greater Middle East.

Yemen would have escaped the violence after the departure of Saleh if only all the power brokers, tribal leaders, and military leaders all did their job properly during the Transitional Period (i.e. Hadi's presidency).

Hadi tried to restructure the military to make it more professional as opposed to a rag tag militia, where previously, batallions and divisions were the under control of other actors with their own ambitions, and who did facilitate Hadi's job.

If only Saleh had actually been killed in 2011, he would not have been able to wield so much subversive power through the GPC and his own connections.

No-one really knows the calculus of the Houthis. Maybe they had always wanted to take over the country, maybe only recently they saw the opportunity. Now thanks to them also, (and Saleh), everything is collapsing.

Anyone in Yemen with a gun and a bit of power is to blame for the total disintegration of the country: Ali Abdullah Saleh, his son Ahmed Ali, ISIS/Al Qaida, the Houthis, the Ahmar mafia clan, Ali Mohsin, and almost all the tribes, all these people are thinking about themselves before anyone else. All of them want money, power, control, and they all fight against each other, yet none of them are quite powerful enough to take control and keep everyone else quiet.

This is at the same time the entire nation is starving, about to run out of water, rapid urbanisation, high population growth, about to run out of the little oil they had which provides over 90% of the government budget, Yemenis are kept prisoners in their own country so they can't work abroad and send remittances, no jobs, no nothing.

And now you have a Saudi-led coalition who only cares about themselves too. The Houthis control everything on the ground, and even with air strikes, they will not go away. It will only crystalize their resolve and generate recruits who are against foreign interference and bombing, are looking to get paid, and in the end just want someone to take control of the country and provide some kind of stability and basic governmental services. When you're half-starving to death and being bombed by a bombastic tribal billionaire dynasty, you don't care who's sunni or shia or whatever, you're just going to be pissed off.

And history of Yemen shows that when outsiders get too involved in Yemeni disputes:
1) the conflict is prolonged much longer than needed and of course causes a great deal more of suffering and destruction (look at Egypt's involvement in Yemen in the 60s)
2) Yemen is impossible to invade and/or control, so the Saudis are just going to lose money, prestige, and everything (see Ottoman Empire)
3) And will of course create further instability, allowing demagogues like Houthis, Isis and AlQaida, or even Saleh or his son to become more powerful.

Everyone loses, not least the people themselves.

http://www.economist.com/blogs/economist-explains/2015/03/economist-explains-24

- Saudis should never have intervened in Yemen this way.

- They should at least lhave left the poisoned chalice that is "governing Yemen" in to the hands of the Houthis, who if they had failed to meet the demands of the people (e.g. Yemen is said to have 65% unemployment) would have lost significant support and be seen as "just another faction".

After a year or so the Yemenis would have had enough of them especially the south Yemenis.


- Instead the Saudis are going to make the Houthis look like resistance heroes and Yemeni patriots.



April Glaspie, the American diplomat who basically gave Saddam the impression before his invasion of Kuwait that the US wouldn't do anything i.e. the US is accused of tricking Saddam in to invading Kuwait and then destroying Iraq to smithereens in the war that followed. It looks like Saudi might be being baited in to invading Yemen.

[Bengal_Tiger]

Iraqi Militiamen Plan To Travel To Yemen To Battle U.S.-Backed Coalition

Posted: 03/30/2015 11:48 pm EDT Updated: 1 hour ago



BAGHDAD -- Iran-backed Shiite militiamen in Iraq say they're ready to take up arms in a country most of them have never been to: Yemen.

“We defeated ISIS in Syria, we’re defeating ISIS in Iraq, and we’ll defeat them in Yemen,” Abu Kumael, a volunteer fighter with the powerful Iran-supported Shiite militia known as the Peace Brigades, told The WorldPost Monday. “We’re not just talking. We’re physically ready to go and fight.”

In Iraq, the militias are working on the same side as U.S. forces against the self-declared Islamic State. But once the militiamen get to Yemen, they'll be fighting not for the U.S., but against the Americans -- which means that the U.S. will be battling the same forces, and in some cases the very same men, that ISIS is taking on in Iraq.


Last week, a Saudi-led alliance began bombing Yemen’s Houthi rebels -- airstrikes that were supported with U.S. logistics and intelligence. The rebels have largely driven Yemen's government from power. The government had been backed by the U.S. because of its willingness to battle militant extremists, and to allow the U.S. to do the same within its borders. It also had the strong backing of Saudi Arabia and other Gulf nations that see Shiite Iran as their true enemy.

The Shiite Iraqis see the unfolding events in the Arabian Peninsula as an extension of their own fight in Iraq and Syria. It’s a sectarian war, they say, in which they see no choice but to defend the Houthis, adherents of the Zaidi branch of Shiite Islam.


The Yemen conflict complicates U.S. policy in the region because the Houthis have the support of Iran. That means the U.S. is fighting alongside Iran in two countries and against it in at least one other. "We finally figured out a way to fight a proxy war against ourselves," is how comedian Jon Stewart put it. "Now we're just punching ourselves in the ****."

But the previously unreported intention of the Iraqi militias to travel to Iraq and battle the U.S.-backed coalition takes the contradiction to new heights. Shiite paramilitary forces keen on fighting in Yemen say innocent Shiites are being slaughtered there by Saudi Arabia, which makes their war one and the same. On Monday, Arab coalition airstrikes killed dozens of people in a camp for those displaced in the country's north, according to the International Organization for Migration.

The White House declined to comment on the development.



Abu Ahmed, 33, who fights with the Iranian proxy militia Kata'ib Sayyed al-Shuhada near the northern Iraqi city of Kirkuk, where ISIS still vies for control, said men from his fighting force have already begun signing up to fight. One of the group’s leaders told the fighters that there would be a chance, very soon, to go to Yemen, according to Ahmed. He said his brother immediately added his name to the growing list.

“We’re ready, 100 percent, to go and defend the Houthis,” said 35-year-old Wissam, a militiaman with the Peace Brigades. “The battle is against the Shia. It’s a sectarian war. We’ll never forget our brothers in Yemen.”

Wissam, currently in Baghdad, said he was one of many who had already spoken to their leaders about heading to Yemen. He added that he might be able to somehow coordinate with people in Lebanon, where Iran also has a strong influence.

“We have armies waiting for the call,” said Abu Kumael. “We’re getting ready in the next few days to prepare to defend our brothers in Yemen.”

Tens of thousands of Iraqi Shiites joined forces last summer when the country’s top Shiite cleric, Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Husseini al-Sistani issued a call to arms to fight off the extremist group closing in on the capital and other major Iraqi cities. Now, Kumael said he expects the Marjaya -- Iraq’s leading religious authority -- to soon call on Iraqi Shiites to join the fight in Yemen.

While many Iraqi Shiites view the militias as heroes for taking security into their own hands when the state could not, thousands of Sunnis who insist they are being pushed out of their homes, detained and killed, say the fighters are nothing but sectarian bullies.

The U.S. has an uneasy relationship with the Shiite militias. They are one of the few solid fighting forces capable of taking on ISIS, whose reach extends close to Baghdad. But they also have until relatively recently been openly battling U.S. forces and shelling the Green Zone, home to U.S. diplomats and advisers in Baghdad. They are under varying degrees of control by the Iranian government, which also has broad sway over the Iraqi government.

Last week, U.S. officials pushed for the militias to take a backseat in operations against ISIS, while the militias claimed to be stepping aside to protest U.S. entrance into the battle.

Iran’s sway is obvious in Baghdad, where posters for Iranian-advised, paid, and armed militias adorn the city. The face of Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei is seen plastered to checkpoints and billboards everywhere.

Meanwhile Iran, the U.S., and its five negotiating partners are approaching Tuesday's deadline for the political framework of an agreement to curb Iran’s nuclear program. Saudi Arabia has been skeptical of the negotiations, fearful of the geopolitical implications of U.S. rapprochement with Iran. Its government and other Arab nations over the weekend announced they would create a joint military force in the Middle East.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/03/30/iraq-militias-yemen_n_6973846.html

*I had said this would all become a mess and it looks like heading that way.

The Saudis should not send their troops inside Yemen so Iraqi Shias and Houthis can kill or kidnap them.

This powerful display of Saudi aerial power is sufficient. Other than that let Yemenis sort their situation out themselves as long as they do not attack Saudi borders.

[Khostai]

I hope Saudi will be destabilized by Yemen like Sovjet Union was after withdrawl from Afghanistan. This will bring an end to all the terrorist funding in the world.

And may all pakis die with the Saudis, a loyal dog must follow the same faith as his master.

[Bengal_Tiger]

- Saudi bombing kills 37 Arabs in a Yemeni dairy plant.

Link.

- A few days earlier at least 45 Arabs were killed in a refugee camp.

Link.


So 37 and 45 make 82 Arabs killed just from these two attacks alone.

That is after one week.

Arabs killing Arabs.


Meanwhile in non-Arab parts of the middle east:




Tel Aviv, Israel.

Whilst Arabs kill Arabs, Jewish shoppers walk around Tel Aviv.





Tehran, Iran.

Whilst Arabs kill Arabs, Iranian shoppers walk around Tehran.




So Arabs are killing Arabs.

Arab refugees are being killed.

Arab dairy plants are being destroyed.

Arab airports are being destroyed.

Arabs are destroying an Arab country.

[Bengal_Tiger]

The international community has been calling for an end to the violence:

- Russia, 1/6th of the world's land mass and has largest nuclear arsenal on earth.

- China, largest country in the world, biggest economy (in PPP) in the world.

- India, 2nd largest country in the world by population.

- Indonesia, 4th largest country in the world by population, biggest Muslim country.

- Algeria, biggest country in the Arab world by size.


All these countries have called for an end to violence.




Let's hope the Saudis end this operation soon and there is a political solution.

Arabs are killing Arabs.

Arabs are destroying an Arab country.

[Bengal_Tiger]

This whole thing is proving to be a disaster.


- The Houthis are on the verge of taking Aden.

Yemen Houthi fighters backed by tanks reach central Aden

(Reuters) - A unit of Houthi rebels and allies backed by tanks pushed into central Aden, the main foothold of fighters loyal to President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi, witnesses said on Wednesday, despite a week of air strikes by Saudi-led coalition forces.

The alliance of mainly Sunni Gulf Arab states has also attacked the northern Shi'ite Houthis from the sea but their advance toward the southern port city has been relentless.

Hadi's aides expressed alarm.

"What's happening now would be a disaster for Aden and its people, if Aden falls" Reyad Yassin Abdulla told Al Jazeera television.

The Houthi movement was jubilant.

"We can say that after a week of bombing on Yemen the aggressors have not achieved any result ... The victories in Aden today embarrass this campaign and silenced the aggressor states," Houthi spokesman Mohammad Abdulsalam told the militia's al-Maseera television.

Even if the Houthis do not take complete control of Aden and the Saudis keep on bombing it, the Saudis will be destroying Yemen and the city declared as the temporary capital of Yemen.

If Hadi cannot govern from Aden, then the Saudis will be humiliated as they have failed to reinstate him as the actual effectual leader of Yemen as per their stated goals.




- Yemenis are turning against the Saudi bombing

Yemenis Turn Against Saudi-led Bombing

Airstrikes cause mounting civilian casualties and destroy vital infrastructure in Yemen
By HAKIM ALMASMARI in San’a and MARIA ABI-HABIB in Beirut
Updated April 1, 2015


Yemenis once supportive of the Saudi-led bombing campaign against Houthi rebels in their country are turning against the operation as civilian casualties mount and vital economic infrastructure is destroyed by airstrikes, including one on Wednesday that killed 39 employees at a dairy factory far from rebel-held areas.

At least 164 civilians have been killed since the airstrikes started last week, according to Yemen’s health ministry, while the United Nations put the figure at 93 dead and 364 wounded.

Aid agencies say their ability to provide Yemen with urgent medical and food supplies has been restricted by both ground fighting between local factions and the Saudi airstrikes.

Even those who cheered the Saudi intervention against Houthi rebels are now appealing for its end....

Abdulaziz Jubari, the head of the Justice and Peace party and a chief supporter of Mr. Hadi, denounced the Saudis’ ongoing assault, saying the toll on civilians and Yemen’s infrastructure was too high. Mr. Jubari joined the president’s entourage last weekend during the Arab League talks in the Egyptian resort of Sharm el-Sheikh, where many regional heads of state applauded Riyadh’s intervention.

“We backed President Hadi and attended the Arab League hoping to meet Arab leaders and try to end the crisis in Yemen. We had no intention this was going to be a war against our own people,” said Mr. Jubari. “The Saudi war against Yemen must stop
immediately.”

http://www.wsj.com/articles/yemenis-turn-against-saudi-led-bombing-1427897950

Arabs killing Arabs. There are many graphic images of the bombing including dead people from https://twitter.com/HussainBukhaiti/media



- Already a key Hadi ally after a week of bombing is calling for an end to this bombing.

- The Saudis have not even removed the Houthis from Sana'a and Aden.

Here are their choices.

1. Keep on bombing and look like thugs and bullies bombing and massacring Arabs in the poorest country in the Arab world.

However if their Yemeni allies fail to expel the Houthis from the 2 biggest cities (as is the current situation), they will be humiliated.




2. Stop bombing.

Look like fools who started a major operation with great fanfare and achieved nothing.




3. Send their own ground forces in to Yemen and face guerilla warfare in the Zaydi inhabited mountains and areas of the north and if they even make it to Sana'a street to street fighting.

Even if they managed to secure control of Sana'a with massive air support they will end up destroying half or all of Sana'a.

Yemenis will hate them for decades.

Iran will win as the Yemenis will hate the Saudis and turn even more to the Iranians for support.




The best option is no.2 because they can issue spin portraying the bombing campaign as a success and due to requests from allies (Algeria, Pakistan etc) they have ended the mission.


This is the least worst option because Hadi (who was voted in an American-backed "election" - where he was the only candidate) will not be the real de facto president of Yemen and operation "decisive storm" will have failed.


It seems Pakistani military advisors played a strong role in planning and encouraging this ridiculous idea and operation.

[Kushan Prince]

Jews have succeeded in making Arabs fight against each other.

[HalloIsBack]

Afghanistan supports Saudi-led intervention in Yemen
By MIRWAIS ADEEL - Wed Apr 01 2015, 10:05 pm
0 Comments73 viewsEmail Email Print Print
Afghanistan supports Saudi intervention in yemenThe government of Afghanistan on Wednesday announced support to military intervention by the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia in Yemen.
The Presidential Palace media office said the situation of Yemen was discussed during the National Security Council (NSC) meeting.
A statement by the Palace said the government and people of Afghanistan have deep religious and historical ties with the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and reaffirmed support to Saudi Kingdom and people against any threat.
Saudi Arabia launched airstrikes against the Houthi rebels in Yemen early Thursday, one day after the Yemeni president Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi was driven out of the country.
Houthis began their offensive in September, seizing the capital, Sanaa, and later holding embattled President Abd-Rabbo Mansour Hadi under house arrest.
According to reports dozens of civilians have been killed in the Saudi-led coalition’s air assault.
There are also reports of heavy clashes between Houthi fighters and armed men supporting Hadi in the southern port city of Aden.

[Bengal_Tiger]

Jews have succeeded in making Arabs fight against each other.

This is a must read about the Yemen crisis.

http://www.moonofalabama.org/2015/04/the-war-on-yemen-makes-no-sense.html#more

[MENTION=1201]Toramana[/MENTION] and others,

I may post this blog on another thread as it deserves a specific thread of its own.

[HalloIsBack]

not only saudi destroy the islamic world, iran does it too
it's cold war but with iran and saudi