In Yemen, Saudi jets bomb civilian areas

[AlphaCentauri]

Source: Press TV

Houthi fighters in Yemen say Saudi warplanes have carried out several attacks on residential areas in the country's beleaguered north.

In a statement released on Sunday, the fighters said that Saudi jets launched over 30 airstrikes on villages in the northern parts of the country.

Saudi forces have also fired some 660 rockets and artillery rounds at civilian areas along the border, websites close to the fighters reported.

The warplanes reportedly fired more than 700 missiles overnight on the northern villages along the border with the kingdom on Saturday.


Read more: http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=114757§ionid=351020206

[alfredo]

1. Shit! Maybe I should do some research on this.

[IndianaGreen]

4. Here is some background on Yemen, posted in Editorials last week

"If we take this trade of Malacca away from them, Cairo and Mecca will be entirely ruined..." --Afonso de Albuquerque

Published on Saturday, December 26, 2009 by CommonDreams.org

Still Trying to Monopolize the Arabian Peninsula

by Dallas Darling

In recent times, and after World War I, Britain made Yemen into a crown colony and took control of its valuable port. The Port of Aden became a major international trading and fueling station for naval and commerce ships passing through the Suez Canal. The rise of Arab nationalism, combined with severe urban and economic problems, caused British opponents to launch a campaign of bombings, sabotage, and armed resistance. When Britain withdrew from the Yemen Arab Republic in 1968, domestic and international competition over the southern part of the Arabian Peninsula and Port of Aden increased. Although post-civil war Yemen held its first democratic election in 1993, it is still hampered by political, social, cultural, religious, and tribal divisions.

It was only a matter of time for the U.S. to once again become involved in Yemen's internal political and cultural affairs. Not only did the U.S. wrestle for control of Yemen during the Cold War, but it is the birthplace of Osama bin Laden's father, and it is where the USS Cole was severely damaged. Yemen is also home to several ultra-conservative Islamic movements, movements with ties to Saudi Arabia, Iran, and Egypt and that in President Obama's view, threatens U.S. national security and interests in the region. Behind the air strikes against al Qaeda targets and hideouts in Yemen, is the desire to monopolize and control the resources (especially oil), economies, peoples, and religions of the region.

In the end, the Global War on Terror is really a ruse for a centuries old dream by Western Powers to dominate the Arabian Peninsula. The thousands of Yemenis that demonstrated in southern Yemen denouncing the uncivilized and barbaric military campaign, ordered by President Obama, understand this. Is Yemen becoming a reserve base for al Qaeda, as a U.S. military official claimed, or is it becoming another military and trading outpost for the American Empire? Even though naval commander Afonso de Albuquerque claimed he and Portugal came in peace, when the city resisted, a witness described the bombardment: "The cannonballs came like rain, and the noise of the cannon was as the noise of thunder in the heavens and the flashes of fire of their guns were like flashes of lightning in the sky."

The 175,000 Yemeni refugees, and those who just lost family members, can attest to this.

http://www.commondreams.org/view/2009/12/26-4

[alfredo]

8. I was stationed nearby in Eritrea (Ethiopia at that time) during

the 1968 handover. Yemen has long been a concern, same goes for Somalia.

Google Kagnew Station. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kagnew_Station I worked at Tract C.

[IndianaGreen]

9. I salute a fellow veteran

When did you retire?

[alfredo]

11. 4 years and out. I had a problem with authority figures. If I

stayed in I would have ended up in the brig.

[MidwestTransplant]

10. North Yemen is a war between Saudi and Iran basically.

[alfredo]

12. War by proxy.

[IndianaGreen]

2. The Saudi-backed Wahhabi dictatorship of Saleh only controls a third of the country

with a Shia insurgency in the North, and a separatist insurgency in the South (they opposed the merger of North and South Yemen).

As in Vietnam, where we took sides on a civil war, and in Afghanistan, where we took sides on a Pashtun war, the US is once again acting as proxies for Saudi Arabia.

This will not end well!

[YouTakeTheSkyway]

14. Is the U.S. involved in what's going on in with the Shia?

Because from everything I've read, our interest lies more in rooting out the al-Qaeda presence, at least for the time being.

[StarfarerBill]

3. Well, well. The Saudis finally get to use those war toys we sold them...on Yemeni civilians.

:cry:

[IndianaGreen]

5. And when their jets can't reach their targets, they can count on Obama's drones

A total ignorance of the facts on the ground, and hubris, will lead to yet another war and another defeat.

[StarfarerBill]

6. Oh, I imagine the Saudi Royal Air Force can kill large numbers of civilians all on its own;

the Pentagon just wants to get in on the fun.

[YouTakeTheSkyway]

15. Perhaps you can correct me on this, but as I recall it

Saudi involvement began when the Houthi rebels seized a couple of Saudi villages, killing a border guard in the process (November 3rd).

[StarfarerBill]

17. That's true, according to press reports. Saudi forces are continuing operations inside Yemen...

against civilian as well as rebel targets, using white phosphorus bombs according to some reports:

http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=114578§ionid=351020206

http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/world/2009-12/22/content_9216017.htm

[Mari333]

7. god, we are such terrirtorial little monkeys

gods special little monkeys, tho.


sarcasm

[Cessna Invesco Palin]

13. I wish the Iranian propaganda administration would get its story straight.

Last time they reported this it was the Americans. Now it's the Saudis. Next week it will probably be Syria.

[skoalyman]

16. .

:hide: <======D######## <<rocket

[truthbearer]

18. Another Saudi Scandel

Check out this site.

http://arabfocus.webs.com