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Assassinations and Drone Shooting Continue in Yemen, 4 Million Displaced in as a Result of the Continued War

January 1, 2020 

Yemeni Air Defenses Shoot Down 3rd Spy Drone within 24 Hours, December 31, 2019	Pro-Saudi Yemeni Army shoots down Houthi drone near Safar oil fields in Marib, December 30, 2019

Displaced Yemeni children, as a result of the war, file, December 31, 2019	Yemeni city of Abyan, December 31, 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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Army shoots down Houthi drone near Safar oil fields in Marib

Almasdar Online -  MONDAY, 30 DECEMBER, 2019

The Yemeni army shot down what appears to be a Houthi drone near the Safer oil fields in Marib Governorate, employees at the oil company and eyewitnesses told Almasdar Online.

Activists posted photos of the drone on social media and a video of a military vehicle transporting it from the crash site. Based on that footage, the aircraft appears to be a Houthi-assembled Qasef drone, which is a replica of the Iranian-made Ababil-T drone, according to a UN experts panel.

Saudi-led coalition warplanes were seen circulating in the area around the time the drone crashed, the sources said. 

In recent weeks, Saudi coaltion-backed Yemeni soldiers claim to have captured Houthi drones in the governorates of Dhamar, Al-Dhale and Abyan, while Houthi forces claim to have shot down numerous coaltion drones along the Saudi border during the same period.

This is the first time that a drone has reached the Safer oil field in easter Marib. However, the area has been targeted by several missiles in the past, most of which have landed in the desert, with one exception in September 2015, which killed more than 60 soldiers including 45 Emiratis and injured many others. 

Security belt commander and bodyguard shot dead by unidentified gunmen in Abyan 

Almasdar Online -  TUESDAY, 31 DECEMBER, 2019

A leader of the UAE-backed Security Belt forces and his escort were shot dead on Tuesday by unidentified gunmen in Al-Mahfad district in Abyan governorate.

Unidentified gunmen riding a motorcycle killed the commander, Yasser Shamlaq, near a shop in the center of Al-Mahfad at around noon on Tuesday, a source in Abyan’s security sector said.

Al-Mahfad city has witnessed ongoing clashes since October between armed factions loyal to the internationally recognized government and the UAE-backed Southern Transitional Council (STC). The Security Belt is aligned with the STC. 

The fatal shootings come less than 24 hours after a Yemeni army soldier was killed and three others were wounded in an attack by gunmen loyal to the STC in the same city.

In recent weeks, masked gunmen on motorcycles have assassinated a growing number of military and security forces in neighboring Aden governorate. The fighting in both Abyan and Aden coincides with the implementation of a Saudi-sponsored power sharing agreement between the STC and government forces. 

The signing of the so-called Riyadh agreement in early November halted a slide toward a broader civil war between the anti-Houthi allies, but implementation of the deal has fallen behind schedule amid obstruction from both sides.

Houthis release Saudi plane carrying seven captured soldiers after ransom paid 

Almasdar Online -  THURSDAY, 26 DECEMBER, 2019

On Thursday, the Houthis released a plane carrying seven Saudi soldiers captured on the Yemeni-Saudi border nearly three months ago.

The Saudi prisoners, who departed from Sana’a International Airport, were released for a ransom of more than 25 million Saudi riyals (about $6.7 million), a high-ranking officer in Yemen’s Ministry of Defense told Almasdar Online. 

The Houthis’ desire to complete the deal "could be seen as an indication of the group's willingness to further rapprochement with the Kingdom," said the officer, who works closely with Saudi military operations. 

Previously, the Houthis showed footage of Saudi soldiers saying they had been captured along with hundreds of pro-Yemeni government fighters from battles on the Kingdom's southern border with Yemen in August.

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

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Yemeni Air Defenses Shoot Down 3rd Spy Drone within 24 Hours

December 31, 2019, YemenExtra, M.A.

Air Defenses of the Army and Popular Committees shot down, Tuesday, a hostile spy drone, Phantom, run by the US-Saudi aggression, the third in less than 24 hours.
 
“Air defenses managed, thanks to God, to shoot down a Phantom spy drone in the At-Tina area of Hayran district, Hajjah,” Yemeni Armed Forces spokesman, Brigadier Yahya Sare’e said.
 
He noted that the drone “belongs to the Sudanese forces and was shot down this morning with an undisclosed missile while carrying out hostilities.”
 
The Armed Forces spokesman confirmed that Yemeni airspaces are not open anymore for the US-Saudi aggression and this target is an initialization of the new year, which will be, Air Defenses Year.
 
On Monday, air defense forces intercepted and targeted two drones conducting surveillance for the US-Saudi aggression, one of them is a Karayel spy drone in Al-Salif area in Hodeidah. Armed Forces spokesman said that it was downed with a surface-to-air missile.
 
The second spy drone was shot down over the Razeh district of the northern province of Sa’adah.
 
Less than a week before, another unmanned aircraft with a similar mission was shot in the skies over the southern Saudi border region of Najran. During the past few months, at least nine drones of the same type have been shot down.
 
On December 1, a surveillance drone belonging to the US-Saudi aggression was shot down by the Yemeni Army and Popular Committees while flying in the skies over the northwestern province of Hajjah.
 
The Armed Forces announced in a statement that Yemeni air defense forces targeted the Chinese-built medium-altitude and long-endurance Wing Loong aircraft with a surface-to-air missile on Saturday evening.
 
The statement added that the drone was struck over Hayran district.
 
On October 13, a drone operated by the US-Saudi aggression was intercepted and targeted while flying in the skies over Yemen’s strategic western province of Hodeidah. The Armed Forces said in a statement that Yemeni forces shot down the aircraft as it was on a reconnaissance mission over Kilo 16 district.
 
In late November, Yemen’s Armed Forces downed a Saudi Apache helicopter using “new technology” and have filmed the operation.
 
“Yemen’s air defenses have managed to down a Saudi Apache helicopter with a surface-to-air missile using new technology which we will unveil in the near future,” Brigadier General Yahya Sare’e announced, adding, “It was shot down this morning in the Majaza area facing [Saudi Arabia’s] Asir while carrying out hostile operations.”

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Brigadier Yahya Sare’e Revaels Statistics of Coalition Crimes Against Civilians in Yemen in 2019

December 31, 2019, YemenExtra, M.A

Armed Forces spokesman, Brigadier Yahya Sare’e, confirmed on Sunday that for the fifth consecutive year, the aggression coalition continues to target various regions and governorates, committing many massacres, destroying roads, service centers, citizens ’homes and properties.

“The total number of raids during the last year reached more than 6534 raids on nineteen governorates that were subjected to airstrikes during the year 2019,” he said.

This came during a press conference, in which it was revealed that more than 50% of the total number of raids targeted Sa’adah governorate, with no less than 3615 raids. Hajjah Governorate was subjected to more than 1427 raids, 424 raids were for Sana’a Governorate and more than 211 raids were on Al-Jawf Governorate.

the rest of the raids were distributed among Al Dhale’e, Marib, Amran, Al Hodeidah, Dhamar, Taiz, Al Baydha, Ibb, Lahj, Rima, Aden, Abyan, Shabwah, and Al Mahwit.

“In addition to the airstrikes, the aggression coalition pushed its forces and mercenaries to target various regions and try to progress on the ground,” he added.

Almasirah English

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4 Million Displaced in Yemen as a Result of the Continued US-Saudi Aggression and Siege

December 31, 2019, YemenExtra, M.A

The number of people displaced by US-Saudi aggression against Yemen increased by the end of last November 2019, to reach more than three million and eight hundred thousand people.

This came in a report issued by the Information Center of the Supreme Council for the Administration and Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. The report states that hundreds of thousands of displaced Yemenis throughout Yemen are living in a catastrophic humanitarian situation due to the aggression, which caused the worst humanitarian crisis in the world, amid the large failure of the international organizations in their work in relief and sheltering the displaced.

The statistics of the displaced families until the end of November 2019 reached 554,784, and the number of displaced people reached 3,883,488 for 15 governorates in the Republic of Yemen.

Almasirah English 

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80,000 Yemeni Children Suffer from Persistent Trauma, Psychological Disorders

December 22, 2019, YemenExtra, M.A

Yemen’s Ministry of Human Rights has warned that the ongoing Saudi-led military onslaught against the impoverished and conflict-ridden Arab country has taken a heavy toll on Yemeni children’s mental wellbeing, saying tens of thousands of minors suffer from persistent trauma and psychological disorders there.
 
The ministry announced in a report published on Saturday that almost five years of continuous conflict in Yemen have left a devastating impact on the mental health of children, and that 80,000 kids suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and other related issues.
 
The report added that 9,835 civilians, including 800 children, have been paralyzed as a result of direct targeting of their houses and places of residents by Saudi-led military aircraft.
 
The Yemeni ministry further highlighted that while 24 million and one hundred thousand people are in dire need of assistance, including food, healthcare, water, accommodation and education, more than 70 thousand civilians, who are suffering from conditions that cannot be treated inside Yemen, cannot receive required medication as the Saudi-led coalition does not allow the opening of a humanitarian air bridge from Sana’a International Airport.
 
The report stated that 8,000 family households in al-Durayhimi city of the western coastal province of Hudaydah urgently need food and medical supplies as they are under siege by the Saudi-led alliance.
 
The Yemeni ministry concluded by putting the poverty rate at around 85 percent, noting that 65 percent of the Yemeni labor force is unemployed as well.
 
Yemeni Minister of Public Health and Population Taha al-Mutawakel, citing a new report by the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), stated on December 12 that 300 Yemeni children suffering from various diseases, including cancer, lose their lives every day.
 
He warned that children with cancerous tumors suffer the most due to the scarcity of chemotherapy medicines and the dire shortage of treating facilities in the blockaded country.
 
According to Mutawakel, 40,000 Yemenis, at least 6,000 of them children, get inflicted with cancer each year. During the past nearly four years, the number of people diagnosed with various types of cancerous tumors has multiplied.
 
Mutawakel said the Saudi-led military coalition waging a war on Yemen is still preventing cancer patients from traveling abroad and barring them from crossing a UN-sponsored humanitarian air bridge.
 
Saudi Arabia and a number of its regional allies launched a devastating campaign against Yemen in March 2015, with the goal of bringing the government of former president Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi back to power and crushing the Houthi Ansarullah movement.
 
The US-based Armed Conflict Location and Event Data Project (ACLED), a nonprofit conflict-research organization, estimates that the war has claimed more than 100,000 lives over the past four and a half years.
 
The war has also taken a heavy toll on the country’s infrastructure, destroying hospitals, schools, and factories. The UN says over 24 million Yemenis are in dire need of humanitarian aid, including 10 million suffering from extreme levels of hunger.
 
Source: Press TV

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