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Despite Constant Saudi Bombing, Yemen Rebels Advance, Seize Key Town; Ayatollah Trolls US, Saudis on Twitter
It appears that when the US inadvertantly "misplaced" $500 million of weapons in Yemen, the bulk of which fell right in Houthi rebel hands, it created a very credible adversary... for the US and its Saudi-backed coalition allies. Because despite the bombing campaign by the Saudi-headed coalition, AP reports that the rebels seized a key provincial capital in a heavily Sunni tribal area on Thursday as their patron Iran called the two-week air campaign a "crime" and appealed for peace talks.
According to media reports the Houthius overran Ataq, capital of the oil-rich southeastern Shabwa province, after days of airstrikes and clashes with local Sunni tribes. The capture marked the rebels' first significant gain since the Saudi-led bombing began.
The rebels' capture of Ataq came after days of clashes as well as negotiations with local tribes. When the Houthis and Saleh loyalists entered the city they encountered little resistance, raising questions about whether Yemen's fractured tribes -- even in Sunni areas -- can serve as reliable allies.
Ataq residents said the rebels and allied soldiers installed checkpoints all around the city. Government offices, shops and schools were closed, and residents appeared reluctant to leave their homes. "Ataq is like a military barracks. A tank here, an armored vehicle there and non-stop patrols," said resident Saleh al-Awlaki. "I consider this an occupation by all means. And all occupation must be removed, also by all means."
Military and tribal officials said some leading members in the tribes facilitated the rebels' entry after days of fighting. One official said the Sunni tribesmen didn't want to keep on fighting, even though they were assisted by coalition airstrikes. The official spoke anonymously because he feared reprisals. The military officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to brief reporters.
Mohamed Abkar, an Ataq resident, said locals looted unguarded weapons warehouses in the city on Wednesday, but that no shot was fired at the rebels as they entered the city.
Ataq's capture won't be the last: the coalition had hoped to keep the rebels out of the southern port city of Aden, which Hadi had declared his provisional capital after fleeing Sanaa earlier this year and before leaving the country last month. But there too the rebels and Saleh loyalists have advanced, sparking days of heavy clashes.
Meanwhile, even as Iran deployed two warships just off the Yemen coast and in proximity to two US aircraft carriers as reported yesterday, Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei called on Saudi Arabia to cease airstrikes targeting Shiite rebels in Yemen, calling the campaign “genocide” against Yemeni people.
The Ayatollah said "this is a crime, genocide and legally pursuable" according to comments posted on his website. He went on to warn that "the Saudis will lose" and that "Yemenis will resist and will win." He added that "The US will also fail & face loss in this issue."
In a testament to the social media age, then the supreme leader took to Twitter to troll not only the Saudis but the US in that medium as well:
What Saudis did in #Yemen is exactly what Israel did to #Palestine.Acting agnst Yemenis is a genocide that can be prosecuted in int’l courts
— Khamenei.ir (@khamenei_ir) April 9, 2015
Israel’s military is bigger than Saudi’s& #Gaza is a small area,but they failed;#Yemen is a vast country w a population of tens of millions.
— Khamenei.ir (@khamenei_ir) April 9, 2015
Despite disputes,#Saudis used to display composure w us but now inexperienced #youngsters have come to power& replaced composure w barbarism
— Khamenei.ir (@khamenei_ir) April 9, 2015
I warn that they should refrain from any criminal move in #Yemen. The US will also fail & face loss in this issue. pic.twitter.com/ittzr6JcOf
— Khamenei.ir (@khamenei_ir) April 9, 2015
Earlier, in speech in Tehran on Thursday, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani urged a cease-fire in Yemen to allow for broad-based talks on resolving the crisis.
"To the countries in the region, I say, let's adopt the spirit of brotherhood, let's respect each other and other nations. A nation does not give in through bombing," said Rouhani. "Do not kill innocent children. Let's think about an end to the war, about cease-fire and humanitarian assistance to the suffering people of Yemen."
He said the bombing campaign was "wrong," comparing it to Syria and Iraq, where a U.S.-led coalition is targeting Islamic State militants.
"You will learn, not later but soon, that you are making a mistake in Yemen, too," Rouhani said, without naming any particular country.
In a normal world, the US would simply grunt out a few remarks meant to put Iran in its place, and that would be the end of that. However, what makes things complicated is that in the current environment in which the Obama administration is desperate to maintain a good line of discussion with Iran so it can "deliver" the historic nuclear agreement, the US simply has no negotiating leverage, and Iran knows this. And, as a result, it is otherwise supporting the Houthi rebels in a way it otherwise wouldn't, in the process humiliating not only the Saudi bombing campaign, but also the biggest backer behind the counter-rebellion operation, the US itself.
Finally, to get a sense of the events on the ground, here is a video clip taken earlier in Yemen's rebel overrun city of Sana'a.
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Things aren't going as Uncle Shmuley intended.
Saudis just needed to send some tweets, instead of some F16s. #Idiots #except_most_terrorists_are_Saudi
No no no...
Virgin camels will do the trick..
maybe #bringOURweaponsback from the White House will be effective foreign policy?
no?
Seems to me the defense contractors are making out like bandits on this one.
First, they sell the original $500M in armaments which end up in the hands of the Houtis. CHA-CHING!
At some point that will all need to be replaced. CHA-CHING!
Next, they sell what will eventually be billions in armaments to Saudi Arabia and the other GCC members. CHA-CHING!
Next, they sell even more armaments to the USGOV to build up stores for when U.S. forces become directly involved. CHA-CHING!
I guess this is the process through which money actually gets into the U.S. economy.
What a racket.
.
Today Yemen, tomorrow Saudi Arabia!
Please dispense with bullshit like, "US inadvertantly "misplaced" $500 million of weapons in Yemen, the bulk of which fell right in Houthi rebel hands, it created a very credible adversary..."
Nothing was misplaced. Those weapons went exactly where they wanted them, so they could have a "new enemy" to be "forced" to fight against.
US GOV/CIA/MOSSAD constantly arms rebels so that they can have an excuse to destroy their country. This same M.O. has been played out for decades now, so it's not like this is some revolutionary piece of news.
Yup. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KbO0f9uaWZE
True that.
BTW Obama is doing his job, which is ruining the USA. More precise therm should be euthanasia.
Doesn't help that the name of the town is "Attaq..." What's a roving band of jihadis supposed to do when they see it on the map? If it says attack, attack!!
Next week. Flyover country.
I am in the tooling business. A lot is automotive and a lot is military. Some Cadillac stuff goes to General Dynamics. We are busy as hell.
"...The capture marked the rebels' first significant gain since the Saudi-led bombing began..."
Whaaa...? Even the MSM concedes the rebels have made a hell of a lot of 'gains' since the bombing began. I don't even know if they can even claim territory as 'gains' since they pretty much walk in to most places with the citizens consent. Ataq residents looted their arms warehouses yesterday and had plenty of firepower to repel the rebels if they wanted to, right? Ataq is a Sunni city and all Sunnis hate Iranian-backed Shia Houthis, right? Ataq leaders negotiated with the rebels, inviting them in rather than dying for a Saudi prince or their puppet president Hadi, right? That half-billion of U.S. military equipment was useless in Ataq - all the Houthi rebels needed was a BUS to drive to Ataq.
The only places the rebels have lost territory was where the Saudis bombed them to soften them up for a subsequent al Qaeda attack. With the help of U.S. targeting intel, of course. The only place where the rebels are meeting strong armed resistance is in Aden against Hadi loyalists or against al Qaeda.
"...Meanwhile, even as Iran deployed two warships just off the Yemen coast and in proximity to two US aircraft carriers as reported yesterday,.."
Another poster pointed out that this was factually wrong, Tyler. At least wait until the two US aircraft carriers ARE IN THE SAME GULF as the Iranian ships before repeating the AP exaggerations. The Iwo Jima is NOT a carrier and is the only 'big' U.S. ship in the Gulf of Arden right now - the Iranian ships wouldn't be allowed anywere near it without being mowed in half. And it was noted that Iran has been sending ships to the Gulf of Aden for a decade - presumably 'in proximity' to any U.S.N. ship or sub within a few hundred miles in the same Gulf. Painting the current rotation as an Iranian provocation is simply weak. The sailors and marines on the Iwo Jima would laugh their ass off at the suggestion the Iranian ships were in any way threatening. They probably can't even see the Iranian ships from the Iwo Jima.
Re the Iran Nuclear talks: "...the US simply has no negotiating leverage, and Iran knows this..."
What? Lifting thirty-five years of U.S. economic sanctions isn't leverage? Lifting a decade of UN economic and political sanctions isn't leverage? Yeah, funny Iran even bothered showing up for the talks. Personally, I think negotiations are futile. The U.S.'s job is to complete the Israeli Final Solution for Persians and kill the Iranians for Israel. Anything else happening now is a sideshow, including the nuclear talks.
I admit that I seem to be in the minority. There seems to be more people here hoping nuclear talks will fail simply because they don't like Obama and want anything he does to fail. I don't care much for Obama either, but I can't morally justify punishing 78 million Iranians with continued economic sanctions just to stick it to Obama. The Iranians didn't elect Obama.
Will the US be fighting on eight different sides of WW3?
Prolly gonna need some help:
https://community.callofduty.com/thread/200912705
Don't know about fighting; but arming 8 different sides, hell we're already doing it.
Will WW3 end like the last one, with the invasion of Russia?
Can't wait to see Russian flag over the White House.
WINNING, Obama proclaimed with a smile.
Yep and the Yemen spelling for winning is "CHAOS".
Ayatollah Trolls US, Saudis on Twitter
Future history books are gonna be really fucking strange.
Yup - his English is better than ours!
Strange doesn't even begin to describe it. Political wars for political ends tend to be really, really bad since everybody can justify anything they do. I'm just so happy that my body is too messed up to ever be called back up for this clusterfuck. (I hope)
Au contraire, I think that things are going exactly as the MIC (US) intended. The MIC needs wars to maximize profits, seeding- already paid for by the American taxpayer- $500 MM arms to the other side allows for moar war, of course. And, the weapons that ISIS army where did they come from? Mexico? Hee hee.
Everything is going as planned.
I'm making over $7k a month working part time. I kept hearing other people tell me how much money they can make online so I decided to look into it. Well, it was all true and has totally changed my life. This is what I do... www.globe-report.com
How does one pronounce "Houthi"? I think it sounds like SEE-EYE-AY, but I'm not sure.
In this case, pas de tout. The Houthi are a formerly marginal Shiite ethnic group that has been relentlessly persecuted by the US-backed Sunni autocracy that ruled Yemen. These are the last guys the CIA want to see make gains - genuine revolutionaries with the cause of autonomy (even though in many ways I think their culture is backwards and oppressive, they still are after autonomy from US hegemony.)
yeah yeah yeah, what'd the Yankees do yesterday?
Yemen? I seem to recall that name on Gen. Clarkes list..... something about disrupting several mid-east countries, He must have been a soothsayer..
This is quite the deal Obozo put together. Are we sure it's with Iran?
misplaced? More like a dead drop for ISIS
"but now inexperienced #youngsters have come to power" (RE Saudis)
Are 80 year olds now youngsters?
The son of the ruler is young and is the sec of defense.
Thar's soooo much money to be made by selling the tools of war to terrorists and tyrannical governments!
Russia tried a UN (lol) resolution to stop all weapons selling to all sides by all sellers but the West (and the UN) just laughed it off.
Well, at least this time the Saudis are up front about blowing up buildings.
Wow, Ukraine redux. Emperor Peace Prize is quite the commander in chief. Terror bombing leads to "rebel" gains just like in Eastern Ukraine.
Keep it up Obunghole and the Houthis will be in Riyadh by summer.
Nothing new. The Yanks funding Al Qaeda and providing weapons to the Saudis who are fighting with Al Qaeda and against the Houthis. At the same time USA is funding the Iraqis cooperation with Iran to fight Al Qaeda.
New York has been stirring up wars and funding both sides all sides for well over 100 years now.
'Ataq my vermin, ATAQ...!!!'
How many times do I have to tell those kids, "Don't leave the keys in the vehicle s"....
(Its almost like they do it on purpose)
There has to be a few more leaders in that area we could take out to fix this probem. I am sure of it, Obozo and the CIA say so and it's gonna work this time. /s
this war is meant to devide and conquer Saudi Arabia
The Oded Yinon Plan of Unusual Size?
I don't believe it exists....
http://historycommons.org/entity.jsp?entity=oded_yinon
http://www.historycommons.org/timeline.jsp?timeline=western_support_for_...
^^^see above, this guy gets it.^^^
The House of Saud is toast, kaputnik, a grease spot in the sand.
By Iran they could not even beat Iraq.
It's "Divide" not devide.
Some backstory on Yemen in general. There has been 2 major factions fighting for control of Yemen politically with a military that has been split loyalty wise among various factions since the 1994 Yemeni Civil War. Those 2 groups are Houthis and the Muslim Brotherhood aka Islamic Reform Party (al-Islah). They were the 2 big winners after the last revolution in 2011. Then externally you have Al Qaeda trying to gain control also along with the MB aligning with Al Qaeda once they lost majority control of parliament.
The place is a cluster fuck of tribal, religious and political
interests. It is not as black and white as one is led to believe.
Here is some reading for people.
http://www.muslimnews.co.uk/news/middle-east/yemen-coup-muslim-brotherho...
https://english.al-akhbar.com/node/21881
https://english.al-akhbar.com/node/19808
http://www.globalmbwatch.com/2015/03/12/houthis-say-muslim-brotherhood-i...
If you start digging you'll see the outright hypocrisy concerning al-Ishlah and Abdul Majeed al-Zindani. If the US really called the shots this guy would have been arrested and put in US custody a long time ago...
http://www.treasury.gov/press-center/press-releases/Pages/js1190.aspx
http://www.globalmbwatch.com/abd-al-majid-al-zindani/
Just nuke'em all...
It is an important shipping lane. Scorched earth policy isn't an option when the US and US interests still control the west side of the shipping lane in Djibouti and the Suez Canal still is functioning. The spice must flow at all costs at least for this shipping lane at the moment. Houthis can't blockade the shipping lane without outside help right now and if any outside entity, Iran, etc. tries to that will most likely be interpreted as an act of war. Frankly I wouldn't be surprised that Iran is using this as bargaining chips to wind this thing down in turn for votes to lift sanctions against them.
Just an aside on shipping lanes to illustrate the point.
http://www.thewire.com/global/2012/07/see-map-worlds-shipping-lanes/54847/
http://bioval.jrc.ec.europa.eu/products/gam/sources.htm
higher res png source of global shipping lanes on website.
http://bioval.jrc.ec.europa.eu/products/gam/images/large/shipping_laness...
Where do you reroute that traffic if the Gulf of Aden gets blockaded or irradiated to the point all traffic has to avoid it? It also effectively shuts down almost all Suez Canal traffic too. That will have a major ripple effect on the global economy if the shipping lane gets shut down.
Then you have Somalian piracy to contend with also at the same time.
http://www.businessinsider.com/the-convoy-escort-program-will-be-patroll...
The China-Spain railway should help impprove the stability of east/west trading routes.
you zionists keep it easy, just throwing hukes arround.
Time to build a taller tower.
the house of saud are oriental jews
originated as a tavistock project from london.
shaped by the british mi
controlled by david sterlings sas
using frank kitson pseudo gang techniques.
split 3 ways by cia,mi6 and the mossad.
these so called royal beards in flowing robes are actor shills
reacting to scripts and spells cast by the talmoo dick rabbi.
poor yemen
full to the brim with history
more human sacrifice for saturn
ge depleted uranium being dropped by the ton from pentagram planes
a billion year plus of cancers.
genetic code of an ancient race emploded.
cern saturn time must be zero
history must be wasted erased just like lovely alleppo
zionism odead near dead operation yinon is the plan
dance rabbi dance like you mossad danced the 911 fiddler on the van roof shuffle
obama a muslim you say fuck you
eye says
Trust me that genetic code imploded a long time ago from millenia of inbreeding
Awww, did I hurt some PC pussy's feelings? Spend some time in the middle east and you will agree pretty quickly.
The US left behind a number of armored Land Cruisers and Suburbans as well.
The DOS guys could have at least pushed them into the pool of the Sheraton before they ran out of town.
Reminds me of a Fish Called Wanda, "They whipped your hide, real good!"
http://www.marinecorpstimes.com/story/military/capitol-hill/2015/03/17/l...
Obirdbrain ordered the Marines to disarm totally before they left.
Unfucking believably progressive insanity man.
Blowback against progressive oppression is going to be nasty.
Grimaldus
All the way to Mecca and Medina, Houthi! Chop the head off every Saudi princeling and guarantee your future as an independent culture.
not really a fan of the mullahs or religious authorities in general, but insofar as the Houthis are fighting the Saudis, ISIS, Al Qaeda, and the US and Israel are also providing airstrikes or intel..
seems blatantly obvious the Houthis are the relative good guys here.
Next stop Riyadh! Woo Hoo! Down goes the House of Saud.
rest assured fear full goy
like libya
iraq
ukrainia
yemen last week
the gold of the saudi house will be
c130 transported out
for goldman sachs protection.
riyadh has huge amounts not to mention sovreign wealth funds in the hundreds of billions.
yes sir when kaos comes a riyadh calling
the saudi trinkets and treasure will be zionised cerned into another super safe talmoo dick dimension
as quick as you can say
its gone
all gone
If I were a rich man,
Yubby dibby dibby dibby dibby dibby dibby dum.
All day long I'd biddy biddy bum.
If I were a wealthy man.
I wouldn't have to work hard.
Idle-diddle-daidle-daidle man.
Obama's self-proclaimed "Model Of Success" in the "new and improved" middle east..
When American foreign policy is crafted in Tel Aviv (as israeli butcher Ariel Sharon declared), Obama's "success" in Middle East Foreign policy is a success. Was it Begin who said, about the Iran Iraq War, when goy fights goy, Israel wins.
Death and destruction is the American way. Destroy it to control it.
How very "Nobel" of our Hope and Change President.
You must give Obama his propers for pulling off Cold War II in Ukraine. Bravo, Mr. Peace Prize. Bravo! I'm sure Cheney is very jealous of that "achievement"
Nice to see the Dems are beholden to dual citizen Neo Conservatism/Neo Colonialism. Tweedledum and Tweedledee
Mission Accomplished!
"Nice to see the Dems are beholden to dual citizen Neo Conservatism/Neo Colonialism."
Totally wrong assclown. PROGRESSIVES are in Charge! You are witnessing the pinnacle of progressive banana republic style America hater statesmanship at it's finest!
The progressive stupid, it burns doesn't it?
Try real hard to blame it on conservatism, go ahead. But you forgot, there is not a constitutional conservative in sight anywhere!
You progressive assclowns own this, so embrace your America hating progressive suck.
The constitutional conservative would not intervene in other country's affairs. It's Progressives that are driven to control other people, other countries for their criminal aspirations.
Better watch out, the blowback for years of progressive assclown oppression is going to be nasty.
Grimaldus
Oooh did my "dual citizen" comment strike a nerve?
Feel free to go make love to yourself. I am no Progressive. Neoliberalism + Neoconservatism = Neocolonialism.
Rather than spew ad hominems back at you I will say this. I don't know what Obama's Foreign policy is. He kept Clinton moldy leftoevers and Bush's sloppy seconds. Worst of both worlds.
tehran is getting desperate because the barbarians are litterally days to weeks away from killing asad.
asad will be hung in the street like saddam and gadaffi. why? it's perfectly obvious that the united states and west cannot be trusted to broker a deal to let assad live the rest of his life in a cushy paris apartment.
it's not entirely clear that assads 'friends' and frienemies wouldn't come after him.
so...assad is DUG IN. he is not leaving even if hizbollah and iran send him more weapons and russia gives him a nuclear option.
he is dug in and cannot use his 'help' from either side to leave his position as syrian monarch. thus---------------the fighting is going to continue to the bitter end with saudi-merica funded al quedaisadidas litterally marching on damasacus.
this isn't in the news so much for good reason, isis is getting closer and closer and needs more and more american support as they ring fence damascus.
the yemen stuff is now the great distraction from the far more strategically important conflict in syria. ukraine was a good distraction for a while as well.
syria will fall . within 18 months pipeline construction will have begun in the gulf and hizbollah will also have some of their core leadership murdered by labenese christians. the discounted prices of european natural gas will be crushed and russia will be ever more dependent on chinese markets while europe gets a breather from high russian gas prices all the while suffocating under its mountains of debt.
will interest rates go up after the syrian natural gas pipelines are built. it's possible that only then will they let a little monetary steam out of the debt riddled system, but not all too likely.
Well, they're killing indiscriminately:
http://beforeitsnews.com/alternative/2015/03/the-answer-youre-looking-fo...
Aren't they?
USG were cetins - before the dumb black muslim arrived
"Despite disputes,#Saudis used to display composure w us but now inexperienced #youngsters have come to power& replaced composure w barbarism"
looks like what i had thought. this is more about testing the new leadership in saudi arabia. i bet iran has had this rebellion in the works for a hot minute.
Trying to solve issues by blowing things up is resorting to behavior that is waaaay down on the evolutionary staircase and is characteristic of an IQ in the low single digits....
How many people would like to see some Saudi Military Goons get bumped off invading Yemen? Saudi is the major supporter of Terrorism in the world, and the USA's best friend, after Israeli. One wonders the connects of alliance between Al-Qaeda, the USA, ISIS, Israeli and Saudi Arabia. These folks seem to have an awful lot of joint interests. ISIS seems able to thrive in areas the US, Saudi and Israel have made ripe for them to expand. Syria was the excuse the US used to pump enormous amounts or money and weapons in an army of radical Islamists that US security services transported from all over the Moddle East and North Africa to training camps in Turkey and Jordan, here they got military training, money, intelligence, passports and weapons. The US excuse was that these wre an anti Assad rebels army, when in fact, this was ISIS and Al-Qaeda and other various terror groups about to go out and do the wests dirty work.
All Islamist radicals claim to be fighting Israel. Yet none of them ever attack Israel. They attack Israel's enemies instead. Now, what does that tell you I wonder?
They ALL have the same war profiteering interests?
"All Islamist radicals claim to be fighting Israel. Yet none of them ever attack Israel. They attack Israel's enemies instead. Now, what does that tell you I wonder?"
Often wondered the same dang thang. (Scratchin' ma haid....)
Just send Longface Kerry over there. I'm sure he can fix this.
At least they didnt leave any Lorcin .380 or .25's , those are crazy deadly in Chicago.
Boomi Sunni!!
The Iranian people have a better understanding of the US federal govt, they know what lying scumbags the feds are, they've been working with ($$$$$$$$$$) high level US federal officials* since at least 2004 http://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/schlumberger-oilfield-holdings-ltd-agrees-plead-guilty-and-pay-over-2327-million-violating-us
Deputy Attorney General Jamie Gorelick SLM director 2004-2010 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jamie_Gorelick
Director of the CIA John Deutch SLM director 1997-2009 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_M._Deutch
and of course all the agencies connected to the, CIA, NSA, DOJ, FBI, DEA and their executive oversight 2004-2010
The Schlumberger plea indicates Bush treason (they ignored it while funding the enemy).
Saudi loss is foreordained...a bunch of spoiled billionaires living the good life aint never going to win no war...Saudis can hire mercs but theyll run out of money before the desperately poor rebels of Yemen run out of people.
Looking forward to the day the Saudis are strung up with piano wires.
Very true. The Saudi armed forces are also riven with factional and tribal rivalries.
You get a peace prize! You get a peace prize! Everybody gets a peace prize!
Say a guy wanted to invest in war profiteering. What whould he purchase? Warehouses? Concrete companies? Rebar manufacturing? Road equipment? Guess it doesn't matter as long as you have a fucking criminal bankster as your facilitator, right?
Oligarchy/Plutocracy 2016! 2+2=5
"Houthius overran Ataq, capital of the oil-rich southeastern"
Well with a name like that... like when that giant quake hit Phuquet.
I mean really, sometimes a name does say it all!
For the Military Industrial Complex Yemen is just another in a long line of loss leaders. The good news is the taxpayers never complain.