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The Yemen Ceasefire Is Holding, With Few Exceptions

January 2, 2019 

Head of International Committee of ceasefire monitoring in Yemen, Patrick Cammaert, and Yemeni officials, January 2, 2019	Smoke showing artillery bombardment in Hudaydah, Yemen, January 2, 2019

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The following news stories are from the Yemeni independent website Al-Masdar (http://www.almasdaronline.com/category/42):

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The International Committee of ceasefire monitoring continue their meetings in Hodeidah

January 2, 2019, ALMASDARONLINE ٠٢ يناير ٢٠١٩

Meetings of the International Committee of ceasefire monitoring continues on Wednesday, led by the international head of commission commander Patrick Cammaert, to discuss ways of implementing the Stockholm Agreement.

And on Tuesday began the second round of meetings of the Committee, after the Committee members from the Government side have entered the city controlled by the Houthi militants.

According to «Al-Masdar online » reporter, the Government side and the Houthis provided their plans to stabilize the ceasefire and observers work procedures, then General Patrick to combine plans and come up with one plan binding on both parties.

He added that on Thursday there will be a workshop for all liaison officers are involved in linking the redeployment Coordination Committee with each party leaders who represent the units and subunits on the ground.

In context, the Acting Governor Mohamed Ayash Quhaim appointed forced local Council members to sign a document condemning General Patrick Cammaert as biased in favor of the Government.

The document also stresses that the Houthi militants have delivered the port of Hodeidah their coastguard, was under the local authority, and it should be accepted.

Our correspondent said that Quhaim called the local Council members to a meeting with the United Nations team, but the members who attended 13 out of 26, were surprised by the real cause of the meeting.

He added that Quhaim presented the document and request signature and prevent any member from getting out before signing up.

Two security forces soldiers were killed in Al-Mahrah

January 2, 2019, ALMASDARONLINE ٠٢ يناير ٢٠١٩

Two soldiers and members of the special security forces were killed by a gunman in Al-Ghaidhah the capital of Al-Mahrah on Wednesday.

The attacker was arrested by local police and imprisoned in Al-Ghidhah central prison.

The source did not indicate the reason behind the attack but he noted that the killer is the son of a tribal elder.

He noted that the public security forces (police) closed the road leading to central prison after insistence by the central security forces to imprison the attacker inside the camp prison to prevent any tribal attempts to mediations or to release the killer.

He stressed that differences over the agreement to take the legal course and to bring the accused to justice.

After 3 weeks of Sweden talks..Renewed fighting in the outskirts of Taiz

January 2, 2019, ALMASDARONLINE ٠٢ يناير ٢٠١٩

, Eastern and Northern Taiz City, after about 3 weeks of Declaration of understandings about the situation in the city in Sweden consultations.

A military source said the source of «Al-Masdar online », fighting renewed between Government forces and Houthi \militants late Tuesday night, the fighting erupted after an attack by Houthis on Government forces positions in AL-Tashrifat and Kelabah-East of the city, in addition to a similar attack in Ossaifera and Al-Arbaeen and al-Zonoj.

The fighting resulted in the deaths of four Houthis and injuring eight, while five gov’ soldiers were wounded in the attack.

This is the first time a breach occurs of understandings stated in the consultations of Sweden (6 -13 last December) between the parties on the situation in Taiz, which confirmed the ceasefire and the opening of crossings and demining.

UAE Foreign Affairs Minister: new year will witness a breakthrough in the Yemen crisis

January 2, 2019, ALMASDARONLINE ٠٢ يناير ٢٠١٩

 The UAE Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Anwar Gargash, said Tuesday that the new year will see breakthroughs in Yemeni crisis against Houthi Group's slipping, but he did not mention the stop of fighting occurring since the beginning of the year 2015.

On his «Twitter» page he said, «the Yemeni issues must have an internal Yemeni dialogue, but thanks to the intervention of the coalition led by Riyadh we became more optimistic.

He added, “The road still rugged “

Houthi militias commit 180 violations in Hodeidah, hold 88 relief ships

January 2, 2019, ALMASDARONLINE ٠٢ يناير ٢٠١٩

The Iranian-backed Houthi militias forcefully held more than 88 aid, commercial and oil vessels and prevented them from entering the Hodeidah and As Salif ports, west of Yemen.

The Higher Committee for Relief explained that the Houthi militias seized the ships and prevented them from entering the ports during the period from May 2015 to December 2018, including 34 vessels with products that got spoiled and damaged from being held by the militias for more than six months.

According to the committee, the militias targeted seven relief, commercial and oil vessels by directly shelling them in the Red Sea. Four of these vessels were from Saudi Arabia, two from the UAE and one Turkish ship.

The Houthi militias also held 697 relief trucks and looted them in Hodeidah, Sanaa, Ibb, Taiz, Hajjah, and Dhamar. The latest was a 32-ton truck in the port of Hodeidah meant to go to Sanaa on December 29, 2018.

Some of the looted trucks were carrying medicine to treat cholera, as well as children’s vaccines.

In October 2018, the Houthi militias held 51,000 tons of wheat provided by the World Food Program (WFP), meant to feed almost four million people, for more than four months.

The Houthis also bombed and blasted four relief trucks in Marib from the King Salman Humanitarian Aid and Relief Center, which was on its way to the needy in al-Bayda governorate. It also burned the WFP’s warehouses and destroyed more than 4,000 tons of wheat.

The Houthis committed many violations against relief workers as well as facilities and warehouses for relief work, including more than 185 violations in the province of Hodeidah alone, where the militia killed two truck drivers and abducted more than 25 employees.

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The following news stories are from the pro-Houthi website Yemen Extra (http://www.yemenextra.net/):

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Civilians Injured or Wounded, Including Children, as Saudi-Paid Militias Shell Taiz

Jan 2, 2019, YemenExtra, M.A.

Saudi-led coalition mercenaries have committed last Tuesday night a new war crime against a whole family who lives in Yemen’s Taiz. Coalition paid militias have been indiscriminately targeting villages and cities in most of the country and resulting in deaths, injuries among the civilians.

Local sources in the province said that the Saudi-paid militias shelled the houses of citizens in the district of Mawiya, which resulted in taking the lives of three citizens, including two children and wounding three others, a child and two women, after targeting their house along with close by houses.

The shelling resulted also in extensive destruction in their home and neighboring houses.

According to humanitarian organizations and official sources, the toll of the killed during the war in the year 2018, were amounted to 1733 civilians, while the injured reached 2057.

Saudi-Led Coalition Continues to Breach Hodeidah Truce

Jan 2, 2019, YemenExtra, M.A.

On Wednesday, the Saudi-paid militias continued committing violations of the cease-fire agreement regarding Yemen’s Hodeidah.

A military source said that the Saudi-paid militias shelled al-Koei area in the district of the Durayhmi.

The source added that the forces of the Saudi-led coalition bombed with medium leveled weapons the positions of the Yemeni Army and the Popular Committees East and North Hays.

The Spokesman of the Yemeni armed forces, Brigadier General Yahya Saree said yesterday evening, that the Saudi-led coalition along with its mercenaries continue to violate the cease-fire agreed upon in Sweden referring to Hodeidah, where they stepped up their violations during the past 48 hours, committing more than 191 violations.

The unexpected ending for Sudan at the hands of Yemeni army forces !

Dec 24, 2018, YemenExtra, Y.A

By: Yousra Abdulmalik

Yemen’s popular Houthi Ansarullah movement condemned Sudan for seeking to retain and even increase its troops in a Saudi Arabian-led coalition, while Sudanese officials and citizens expressed their anger, too.

“The announcement by Sudan to send more soldiers to Yemen came during a meeting with the delegation of the Saudi Army, because Al-Bashir regime only deals with criminals of his likes,” said Mohammed Ali al-Houthi in his Twitter account on Wednesday. “It is an additional confirmation of the countries of the Aggression rejection and planning against any peace efforts,” he added.

“The Sudanese regime is incapable of defending the legitimacy of its president Al-Bashir, who is wanted internationally for his terrorist connections and his crimes. Yet, Al-Bashir is to fight in Yemen to defend the decisions of a so called, international legitimacy,” Al-Houthi said.

“Al-Bashir should not sell the dear Sudanese people with money. The Sudanese people are looking for a solution to the crisis of bread, oil and are fighting a struggle against the high commodity prices,” he also added.

“The best thing Al-Bashir’s regime can do, is to allow democracy to take its course for a change,” he said. “Sudan is capable of producing great Politicians and experts who will help pull it out of its current situation,” he concluded his Tweet.

Ansarullah formed the committee in 2015 to run Yemen’s administrative affairs after the former government resigned and its head, Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi, fled to Riyadh as he faced increasing popular discontent.

Saudi Arabia led a number of countries, including Sudan, into a war on Yemen shortly after Hadi’s flight to restore the former regime by force.

President of the Sudanese National Umma Party, Sadiq al-Mahdi, called on President Omar al-Bashir to accept change and listen to the demands of the protests that have been sweeping several Sudanese cities for several days. Sadiq Al-Mahdi said in a press conference in Khartoum on Saturday that Peaceful movements are legitimate and justified by the deterioration of living conditions, “referring to” the fall of 22 martyrs and the arrest of dozens of opponents”.

“We support the peaceful expression and condemn the armed repression and appeal to the security forces not to oppress the citizens,” calling for “the conduct of the procession of a mosque in which all political and civil forces with the highest representatives to provide a memorandum to the presidency offer alternative to move from random to planning”, he said.

The Sudanese opposition leader said that there are calls to be directed to the opposition to agree on the text of the memorandum and the date of the march,” stressing that “if the system was responsive and if it refuses to face the anger of the people and call for a general strike and the rest of the scenario of the intifada.

Demonstrations took place on Saturday in the western Sudanese city of Al-Rahad. Protesters set fire to the headquarters of the ruling party, while Sudanese authorities warned against resorting to violence and sabotage during the protests. This comes as the Director of the Sudanese Security and Intelligence, Salah Qosh, the existence of a living hardship suffered by the citizen, stressing the right of citizens to refuse, and express it, pointing at the same time that will not be tolerated with the users of violence and vandalism.

Sudan’s Defense Minister Lt. Gen. Awad Mohammed bin Oaf had on Tuesday told a visiting Saudi military delegation in Khartoum that his country intended to keep up its cooperation with the Riyadh-led coalition and even enhance its contribution.

Thousands have died and Yemen has been pushed to the edge of an all-out famine as a result of the war.

On Thursday, the Houthis and the representatives of the former Yemeni government agreed during UN-brokered talks in Sweden to a truce in Yemen’s western province of Hudaydah.

Sudan’s announcement came on the same day  as the ceasefire took force.

Sudan witnessed demonstrations in different areas due to high costs of living and the scarcity of goods. It was confronted with the suppression of police forces using tear gas to disperse demonstrators. Eight demonstrators were killed in the eastern city of Gedaref.

In May, 2018 , Saudi Arabia forced to lure Sudan with more money to abandon its intention to withdraw from participating in the coalition against Yemen, after popular pressure due to heavy losses of the Sudanese forces in Yemen.

According to Sudanese Alyoumaltali newspaper, a Saudi military commander explained the reason, behind the Sudanese mercenaries desire not to continue their participation in the fighting in Yemen, to be the delay of their salaries, by Riyadh, for the bast three months.

The newspaper pointed out that the Saudi military commander promised that this delay will not happen again and that “all insured soldiers and families of killed ones will be compensated with any required aids. Soldiers should also be provided all needed equipment to support their mission.”

In March 2015, the US -backed –Saudi-led coalition started  a war against Yemen with the declared aim of crushing the Houthi Ansarullah movement, who had taken over from the staunch Riyadh ally and fugitive former president Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi, while also seeking to secure the Saudi border with its southern neighbor. Three years and over 600,000 dead and injured Yemeni people and  prevented the patients from travelling abroad for treatment and blocked the entry of medicine into the war-torn country, the war has yielded little to that effect.

Despite the coalition claims that it is bombing the positions of the Ansarullah fighters, Saudi bombers are flattening residential areas and civilian infrastructures.

More than 2,200 others have died of cholera, and the crisis has triggered what the United Nations has described as the world’s worst humanitarian disaster.

However, Saudi Arabia relies heavily on the US in its brutal war on Yemen. Washington has deployed a commando force on the Arab kingdom’s border with Yemen to help destroy arms belonging to Yemen’s popular Houthi Ansarullah movement. Washington has also provided logistical support and aerial refueling.

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