The Saudi Attack on Yemen.

A young Yemeni surveys the devastation in the aftermath of A Saudi airstrike on his nation. — A young Yemeni surveys the devastation in the aftermath of a Saudi airstrike on his nation.

April 11th, 2015. (Updated April 23nd)

When the Saudi led coalition announced yesterday that the air strikes were ceasing, they sated plainly and clearly that “the Houthi rebels no longer pose a threat to the Security of Saudi Arabia. The statement was a joke, predicated on the falsehood that the Houthis had ever posed a threat to Saudi security but this statement removes all pretensions of legality from this operation, this massacre, as the self defense as authorised by Section 51 of the UN charter was the only possible legal justification for this operation and the Saudi’s by their own words have admitted there is no threat to their security. Every bombing from now on is simply a naked, criminal terrorist attack. All of the deaths that the Saudis inflict from now on, including those depicted from Taiz after the supposed ceasefire are war crimes, even in the Saudi’s own self serving version of events.

Brigadier General al Asimi, now a self confessed war criminal. — Brigadier General Ahmed al-Asir, now a self confessed war criminal.

This is Brigadier-General Ahmed al-Asiri quoted by al Jazeera, of Qatar, part of the Saudi led coalition bombing Yemen.

http://www.aljazeera.com/news/2015/04/saudi-led-coalition-begins-phase-yemen-campaign-150421155500641.html

“The primary goals of the campaign have been achieved and sovereignty has been protected. We are able to confirm that the Houthis are no longer a threat to Yemenis or neighbouring countries.”

Which removes all pretensions to legality for all Saudi attacks, even on military targets. No threat, no legal fig leaf.

Massive crowd in Sanaa protest Saudi strikes in Yemen

Yemen: Houthi fighters locked in battle with pro-government militias in Aden

Yemen: Dozens killed in Saudi-led airstrike on Taiz, despite campaign’s ‘end’ *GRAPHIC*

Saudi Arabia declares end to Yemen air strikes after four weeks of bombing | World news | The Guardian

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/apr/21/saudi-arabia-airstrikes-yemen-military-campaign-end

Saudi Arabia have announced they will stop bombing Yemen, stating ridiculously that the “Houthi rebels no longer pose a threat to Saudi Arabia.” They never did.They seem to be trying to leave their options open for a ground invasion, my guess is that this will not happen because the Saudi casualties would be huge. Already at least 18 Saudi soldiers have died, mostly in clashes at the Yemen Saudi northern Yemen border region. The civil war will presumably grind on regardless of what the Saudis do. This operation has been without legal justification, there was no threat to Saudi Arabia there was no UN sanction and therefore this entire operation was a war crime. According to Press TV the death toll from the Saudi attacks more than 2700 people killed, Western sources, the New York Times and Wikipedia place it at around 1,000. The Saudis have simply humiliated themselves and proven their mendacity and impotence with this flailing and futile operation.

The Saudis Lied!

The Saudi announcement that the bombardment of Yemen was over turned out to be a brazen lie. Saudi airstrikes have continued after the supposed cessation as the fact that they have been completely militarily ineffective is slowly absorbed by the incompetent and despicable Saudi leadership. Ultimately a political solution is required and until that is achieved the Houthis will continue to defeat the al Qaeda extremists and their allies in Yemen backed by the West and Saudi Arabia and there is nothing the Saudis or the US can do about it.

False Flag Alert!?
Iran deploys warships off Yemen’s coast | Reuters

http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/04/08/us-yemen-security-iran-navy-idUSKBN0MZ11C20150408

US Navy Sends Aircraft Carrier, Warships To Intercept Iranian Weapons Shipments In Yemeni Waters | Zero Hedge

http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2015-04-20/navy-confirms-us-warship-intercepts-iranian-weapons-shipments-yemeni-waters

RAW: US warships steam towards Yemeni coast

Saudis Announce End to Bombing Raids.

The House of Saud may be entering it’s terminal phase beginning with this fiasco.

2015 military intervention in Yemen – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2015_military_intervention_in_Yemen#Casualties

Saudis Announce Halt to Yemen Bombing Campaign – NYTimes.com

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/04/22/world/middleeast/saudis-announce-halt-to-yemen-bombing-campaign.html?_r=0

Not Gaza, Yemen. Imagine the response if Iranian jets were inflicting these wounds upon Saudi children.

This comment from the Iranian President seemed on the mark.

“Speaking to reporters before heading to Indonesia, Rouhani mocked Saudi Arabia by calling it a country with dashed dreams in Iraq, Syria and Lebanon.

“All the failures have accumulated and caused mental and emotional imbalance for that country,” Rouhani said.

Some very strange blasts here.

Massive Explosion in Yemen Capital

Close Up View of Sanaa Yemen Blast

The Result was a Human Tragedy and a Massacre.

Yemen army: Riyadh used banned weapons in Monday airstrike

30 killed in Saudi airstrikes in west of Sana’a, 15 of them civilians

39 civilians killed, 547 injured in airstrikes in west of Sana’a

The Attack on Yemen and the “Game of Thrones” in the Middle East.
The beleaguered and impoverished citizens of Yemen are under attack. Saudi aircraft have been bombing Yemen with Western support for several weeks now, since the 25th of March.
The Saudi bombs have exacted an horrific toll on the people of Yemen and caused the widespread displaceent of civilians in the targeted areas. At least 600 people are dead and more than 100,000 civilians displaced.

The Saudi attacks are militarily ineffective and appear to be having a disastrous political affect if the massive Sana’a demonstration is a sign of the broader sentiment.
The Saudis may have actually done the one thing that may see many Southern Yemenis unite behind the Houthi rebels who have responded to the attacks by intensifying and widening their offensive operations against forces loyal to the former President Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi and their Sunni extremist allies of al Qaeda in Yemen.

‘We’re dying every day’: Yemeni civilians paint grim picture of suffering amid Saudi-led strikes

Yemen: Up to 45 killed and 400 wounded in Saudi-led airstrikes on Sanaa *GRAPHIC*

Yemen: Scud missile depot explodes. Shock wave rips through Sanaa

Political Map of the Middle East with Libya cut off at the far left.

Several Major Wars Between Saudi and Iran Allies.

So there is a large war in North and Western Iraq, all of Syria is effectively at war, there is now a new major war in Yemen. These wars date back to the illegal US invasion of Iraq in 2003 and the extremist groups that formed in the wake of the disastrous US occupation of Iraq. The US presence largely ended in 2011, only to see the US return to war in Iraq.in June 2014 in response to the massive gains made by the supposed Islamic State group in Iraq. Inclding most notably the seizure of Mosul the largest city in Nprthern Iraq.
Soon after the US also entered the Syrian Civil war,on the opposite side to that envisaged 12 months prior after the al Ghouta false flag chemical attack of August 21st, 2013.

The West came to the brink of attacking the Syrian Government in September 2013 in the wake of the al Ghouta false flag of August 21st. Russian diplomatic intervention combined with a negative vote in the British Parliament. And the reluctance of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff and other elements saw the attack averted only days from the scheduled barrage.

The Middle East Defined in the Broadest Sense and the Current Wars .
Technically speaking Afghanistan is in central asia and libya is in north africa, but if the middle east is defined in the broadest possible way as comprising the area between India and Morocco there are curreltly small or large wars are now underway in:Syria, Iraq, Afghanistan, Libya, Yemen and Egypt (Sinai specific) and even small parts of Lebanon, are currently engaged in war of small or large scale, ranging from the problem in Egypt, that is isolated to the far northern Sinai peninsula to the epic, biblical scale tragedy of Syria .
There are a series of large wars taking place in Northern Iraq, but southern Iraq and Baghdad are not at war.
The whole thing is such a complicated mess that it may be better rather than describing each and every conflict in detail, to look at the power players in the Middle East and trace their actions and understand what is happening from the viewpoint of the major regional powers.
Saudi Arabia.
Saudi Arabia is an absolute monarchy, major Cabinet posts are filled by the members of 5,000 person Royal family.
The very name gives a strong sign as to the nature of the state.Because naming the state Saudi Arabia would be exactly like calling the UK Windsor (or Saxe Coburg) Britain. Or Tudor Britain in the past. The very state bears the name of the ruling house.
Saudi Arabia has been ruled by the House of Saud since it’s inception in the 1920’s. The House of Saud had a positive relationship with the Imperial powers even before oil was discovered there decades later.
Saudi Arabia has the largest oil deposits of any nation and the oil is extremely accessible. Saudi Arabia is the largest and most powerful of the Gulf states and assumes a leadership role in the GCC, Gulf Cooperation Council.
The House of Saud and Wahhabism.
Saudi Arabia is the home of the major sites of Islam, mecca and Medina and the yearly Muslim pilgrimage remains a major source of income for the Saudis who historically have run the Haj absolutely disastrously, with overcrowding routinely leading to hundreds of deaths in a single pilgrimage.
The specific form of Sunni Islam practiced in Saudi Arabia is Wahhabism and this is deeply problematic. It’s not the practices of Wahhabism that are particularly troubling, although they are also problematic but the view that Wahhabism has of other groups is deeply antagonistic and really anti-human.
The sectarian intolerance of Wahhabism is the core problem of this 18th century doctrine.
Years ago, a pamphlet emerged that had been distributed to guest workers to the nation (another group treated abominably for completely different reasons) to Saudi Arabia. It was at face value a guide to Saudi culture but contained multiple vituperative attacks for example on Shia Islam. A large minority of the population of Saudi Arabia is Shia so this is no incidental blind spot.

This account from Ahmad Ali Khalid a Pakistani who lived in Saudi Arabia provides a neat short portrait of this.

A dangerous Saudi affair – Blogs – DAWN.COM
http://www.dawn.com/news/645184/a-dangerous-saudi-affair

“One can witness a pervasive sort of racism, a form of Saudi supremacy that views other types of Arabs and particularly the South Asian expats (who are mostly labourers) as inferior and mere ‘commodities’ who can be bought and sold ruthlessly. Expats are not human beings but a commodity to be bartered and acquired. Connected to racial supremacy is an attempt to insulate the regime from criticism by using the cloak of religion. Saudi textbooks are filled with references to hate; the Islamic Studies curriculum in the country is simply barbaric. I’ve experienced first-hand being taught by an Islamic Studies teacher in one of the most prominent private schools in Riyadh, about the dangers of having non-Muslims as friends and about the evil conspiracies hatched by Christians, Jews and Shias. In Pakistan, Saudi petro-dollars have funded factories of hate in the form of the madrassa system. ‘Petro-Islam’ is a nightmare scenario – capitalism and a dangerous ideology locked in a tight embrace. It is because of the sheer amount of money behind this austere and dangerous theology that it can easily overwhelm the moderate elements in any given society.”

Pakistan Said No.

Struggling to impose their will upon Yemen, Saudi Arabia requested that Pakistan offer up it’s Air, Naval and Army forces for the Yemen operation.

This implies that the Saudis are so deluded and hubristic that they actually thought that they might send the Army of Pakistan to conquer Yemen. Saudi Arabia has offered substantial financial support to the Pakistani military in the past, and Pakistani soldiers were involved in the operation to seize the Grand Mosque of Mecca from Islmaists who seized it in 1979. The Pakistani Government and Parliament said no to the Saudi Arabia requests, all of them, meaning that the attack on Yemen will grind on pointlessly until the humanitarian crisis arouses the attention of the UN Security Council and a political solution and ceasefire are reached.

It was astonishing to note that the Saudi US Ambassador tried to claim the attack on Yemen was legal under Un article 51, this was a worthless and ridiculous claim as Section 51 refers to the threat of an armed attack on the state. If the Houthi fighters were all lined up on the border poised to invade Saudi Arabia, they could invoke Article 51, there was no threat to Saudi Arabia, the Houthis were not attacking or planning to attack Saudi Arabia there is no basis to invoke Article 51.

Saudi Arabia represents wealthy and well connected backwardness and ignorance in the mode of Government. SLavery was outlawed in 1962. All the Saudi pretensions to leadership ring hollow due to the fact that a corrupt, sectarian monarchy with a policy of selling out to the West can never represent the future of any region. The House of Saud represents a corrupt and decrepit past that desperately clings to power no matter what. That is the one true goal of the House of Saud, to stay in power.

Iran.

The Iranian government seeks to represent the post colonial or anti Imperial trend in the region. The invasion of Iraq was a huge boost to Iran’s regional position, replacing the hostile Iraqi Sunni nationalist government of the Ba’ath party woth Shia parties, all of whom have a very positive relationship with Iran. The implications of this were huge because Iran already had long term strong allies in power in Syria and with a high degree of influence in Lebanon, The Iraq invasion thus created a vast land bridge of Iranian influence reaching from the Iran border with Afghanistan to the East to the Mediterranean coast of Lebanon,

This situation was intolerable to certain parties and more than anything else, the destabilisation of Syria appears to have been an attempt from Israel and Saudi Arabia to counter this
Israel.

Israel’s energies are directed towards provoking every possible disunity and enmity inside the Arab world. Extremists are offered lavish support. Anything that can be used to portray the Arab world as being violent and backwards is promoted. Anything that can distract from Israel’s daily crimes is promoted. Any who oppose either Iran,Syria or Hezbollah are supported.

The United States.

The US appears to have several different and contradictory foreign policies in the Middle East today. This presumably reflects internal power struggles underway in the US between the Israel firsters, as represented by almost all the Republican party, and the “realists” a less aggressive imperial faction represented by the President and actualised in the Iran nuclear deal and the decision to stop trying to overthrow the Government of Syria.

The Israel firsters are a simple group, they believe in Israel and war and especially wars for Israel.

The “realist” faction, they also believe in war, just on a smaller scale and without the occupation element. The first approach is more noxious, more racist, yet each method can lead to the destruction of nations.

Every time an African immigrant drowns in the Mediterranean, President Obama, David Cameron and Nicholas Sarkozy and the Governments of the US, UK and France all share a part of the blame.

Lampedusa migrant boat disaster: 700 feared dead as ship capsizes off Libya

Civilian casualties mount following latest Saudi-led airstrikes *VERY GRAPHIC*

Yemen: Yemenis march in force to condemn Saudi-led airstrikes

RAW: Thousands rally in Yemeni capital, blast Saudi-led airstrikes

Things weren’t working out for the Saudis, apparently due to poorly trained pilots, and so they made a plea for help… from Israel, their dear friend.

Leaked Audio Recording Shows Saudi Arabia Requesting Israeli Airplanes Target Yemen

And there is also this story, from late February. It is probably a psyop, but interesting nonetheless.
Reports Saudi Arabia to allow Israel use its airspace for Iran strike

The most obvious war crime of the technically speaking entirely criminal Saudi campaign was the massacre of displaced civilians by the Saudi air strike on the Mazraq camp in Northern Yemen at the end of March that left at least 45 civilians dead.

‘45 people killed, 65 injured’: Yemen refugee camp hit by airstrike — RT News

http://rt.com/news/245349-yemen-refugee-camp-strike/

Air strike on Yemeni refugee camp by Saudi-led coalition kills at least 40 | World news | The Guardian

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/mar/30/air-strike-refugee-camp-houthi-controlled-northern-yemen-kills-at-least-21

Many dead in ‘air strike on north Yemen refugee camp’