Onrust Jemen

[Poleme]

Is niet de eerste keer dat een Tactical Ballistic Missile richting de Saoedische hoofdstad wordt afgevuurd.

20 May 2017, Al Jazeera.

Yemen rebel missile shot down 200km from Saudi capital.

Yemen's Houthi rebels fired a ballistic missile towards the Saudi capital Riyadh and the Arab coalition waging war in the country said it intercepted and destroyed a projectile about 200km west of the city.

The incident on Friday occurred a day before US President Donald Trump was expected in Riyadh at the start of his first foreign trip since taking office in January.

The Iran-allied Houthis launched a Burkan-1 missile toward Riyadh, a statement by their official news agency said.

The Saudi-led coalition said later it downed a Houthi missile in the southern Saudi province of Ar Rayn, well to the west of Riyadh. The area is open desert and there were no casualties, the official Saudi news agency SPA said.

Saudi Arabia has deployed Patriot missiles to counter such attacks.

Saudi-owned Al-Arabiya TV said the Arab coalition that intervened in Yemen's civil war against the Houthis in 2015 were "massively" bombing a missile base outside the Yemeni capital Sanaa, which is controlled by the Houthis.   

The missile would be the longest range attempted by the Houthi rebels and their allies - former members of Yemen's security forces linked to ex-president Ali Abdullah Saleh - since they began retaliatory attacks against the kingdom two years ago.

Trump, whose country provides weapons, intelligence and aerial refuelling for the Arab coalition, is due to arrive on Saturday for two days of talks with Saudi, Gulf, and Muslim leaders.   

Riyadh and Washington accuse Iran of supplying weapons to the Houthis, but a United Nations Panel of Experts in January reported that it "has not seen sufficient evidence to confirm any direct large-scale supply of arms" from Iran, Riyadh's regional rival.   

In October the rebels launched one of their longest-range strikes against Saudi Arabia, firing a ballistic missile that was brought down near the holy Muslim city of Mecca, an attack condemned by Riyadh's Gulf allies.   

The rebels insisted the missile had been fired at Jeddah, the Red Sea city in the sprawling Mecca region, not at the holy city itself.

http://www.aljazeera.com/news/2017/05/yemen-rebel-missile-shot-200km-saudi-capital-170520020737152.html

[Lex]

..... Wel benieuwd wat de inzet Is geweest. Ze hebben hawk en patriot batterijen.

Volgens diverse berichten in de wereld van het blauwe vogeltje is dat gebeurd middels de Patriot opstelling die bij het vliegveld staat.

[Lex]

Volgens de media ging het om een Burqan 2H missile.
Zie: http://edition.cnn.com/2017/11/04/middleeast/saudi-arabia-ballistic-missile/index.html

[Lex]

Mmmhhh... Ben ik nu de enige die dit raar vind?
Yemen ligt ten Zuiden van Saoedi Arabie.
De raket is 'onderschept' maar komt ten Noorden van de hoofdstad neer.

De eerste berichten zijn altijd "sketchy".
Volgens CNN heeft het ministerie van Defensie van Yemen toegegeven een ballistische raket te hebben afgevuurd in de richting van King Khalid International Airport .
Deze ligt geografisch gezien rond 24.46N/046.34E; de vuurpijl zou afgevuurd zijn rond 18.25N/049.45E en is vervolgens ten NO van het vliegveld neergehaald.
Het is afwachten op nader nieuws.

[ARM-WAP]

Mmmhhh... Ben ik nu de enige die dit raar vind?
Yemen ligt ten Zuiden van Saoedi Arabie.
De raket is 'onderschept' maar komt ten Noorden van de hoofdstad neer.

[Lex]

Saudi-Arabië onderschept raket bij hoofdstad Riyad 

De luchtmacht van Saudi-Arabië heeft ten noordoosten van de hoofdstad Riyad nabij de luchthaven een raket onderschept en onschadelijk gemaakt, meldt de zender Al-Arabiya. 

De raket is vanuit Jemen afgevuurd, zo bevestigde een kopstuk van de Houthi-rebellen tegen het Duitse persbureau DPA.

De raket is volgens de sjiitische rebellenbeweging afgevuurd als vergelding voor de bombardementen op en het blokkeren van Jemen door een coalitie van landen onder leiding van Saudi-Arabië. Er zijn nog geen berichten over schade of slachtoffers.

Saudi-Arabië is bondgenoot van de regering in Jemen en voert regelmatig luchtaanvallen uit op doelen in de provincie Saada. De aanvallen zijn gericht op Houthi-rebellen die een deel van het land in handen hebben.

Nu.nl, 04 november 2017 21:27

[Ronald Elzenga]

De schepen zijn teveel verouderd. Deze wil je eigenlijk niet meer inzetten in een dergelijk dreigingscenario. Te groot risico ook op storingen of moeilijk oplosbare problemen.
Daarbij kunnen ze alleen ingezet worden in die regio als er escorte mee is. Er is immers nog steeds risico op FIAC, en zelfs ASM vanaf de kust.

Daarnaast is het te ver weg. Ja het is niet onmogelijk, na 20 dagen varen kun je in Djiboutie bij de Chinezen op de thee, of opereren vanuit SA. Dat is op zich te doen. Maar je haalt jezelf ontzettend veel risico's op de hals die je m.i. niet zou moeten willen.

I see...duidelijk!...en ook wel wat pijnlijk...(maar ja de harde realiteit van onze krijgsmacht nu..met dank aan Politiek Den Haag)

[Lex]

Interessant. Wat kan Nederland doen als dit daadwerkelijk gebeurd?
Want ja, dit zou ook ons enorm treffen. Theoretisch kunnen we natuurlijk een Alkmaar sturen, in de praktijk onwenselijk.

Zou dit kloppen, dan de volgende overwegingen:
1. Waar is het [eventuele] mijnengevaarlijk gebied, tov van de kustlijn?
2. Wat is [mogelijke] dreiging vanaf de vaste wal?
3. Hoe groot is het [vermeende] gebied?

Als ondersteunde logistieke haven in Djibouti geschikt en in de buurt.

[Ronald Elzenga]

Interessant. Wat kan Nederland doen als dit daadwerkelijk gebeurd?
Want ja, dit zou ook ons enorm treffen. Theoretisch kunnen we natuurlijk een Alkmaar sturen, in de praktijk onwenselijk.

In welke zin in de praktijk onwenselijk?

Hopelijk wordt dit scenario wel meegenomen bij de vMCM. (Zee)mijnen zijn nog steeds extreem goedkoop en  zeer effectief.

Dat hoop ik ook ja.

[Ronald Elzenga]

US warns of underwater mines planted by Houthis in Bab al-Mandeb
Bab el-Mandeb, which is 25 kilometers wide, is a very important waterway for global navigation. (Google Maps)
Staff writer, Al Arabiya English Monday, 6 March 2017



The US Office of Naval Intelligence (ONI) warned merchant ships from the dangers of mines that were set by Houthis and militias allied to former Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh in Bab al-Mandeb near the Mokha port entrance.

A report issued by the ONI stated that the attacks on ships in the strait, especially commercial ones, will trigger the involvement of other parties, pointing out that the US Navy will deploy all the needed efforts to protect the freedom of ships.

Bab el-Mandeb, which is 25 kilometers wide, is a very important waterway for global navigation, through which merchant ships in the Gulf of Aden sail to the Red Sea, and then to the Suez Canal and the Mediterranean Sea.

It is one of the most crowded waterways for oil transportation in the Middle East and other regions. More than 60 commercial ships cross the strait of Bab al-Mandeb with more than 3.3 million oil barrels per day.

The US warning noted that the closure of this waterway would lead to substantial increases in total energy costs and global oil prices.

Last month, Houthis attacked Bab al-Mandeb, targeting a Saudi frigate and an Emirati relief ship. They have also targeted a US navy patrol vessel in 2016.

Last Update: Monday, 6 March 2017 KSA 08:59 - GMT 05:59
http://english.alarabiya.net/en/News/gulf/2017/03/06/US-warns-of-underwater-mines-planted-by-Houthis-in-Bab-al-Mandeb.html

[Lex]

Merchant ships off Yemen brace for danger after attacks on navy craft

Reuters, Tuesday, 11 October 2016

Merchant ships in danger off YemenMissile attacks from Yemen on Western military craft risk spilling over into nearby busy sea lanes which could disrupt oil supplies and also other vital goods passing through the tense area, shipping and insurance sources say.

While shipping companies have yet to divert ships, there are growing worries that any further escalation could hinder oil supplies and potentially lead to higher insurance costs for shipments.

The route is among the world's busiest and used by major shipping groups such as container line Maersk and oil tanker carriers including Norway's Frontline and Iran's NITC, which has benefited this year from the lifting of international sanctions on Tehran.

A ship insurance source said some ships coming into Yemeni ports were already switching off tracking systems, which allow anyone to monitor their movements via the Internet, due to the violence in the country.

The source said war risk insurance premiums to Yemeni ports such as Hodaida in the north, already amounted to hundreds of thousands of dollars of cover for every vessel.

Yemen 

A US Navy guided missile destroyer was targeted on Sunday in a failed missile attack from territory in Yemen controlled by Iran-aligned Houthi rebels, a US military spokesman said, although the ship was not hit.

The Houthi movement on Monday denied its forces had carried out a missile attack on a US warship.

The attempted strike on the USS Mason came just a week after a United Arab Emirates vessel was attacked by Houthis and suggests growing risks to the US military from Yemen's conflict.

The attacks took place around the Bab al-Mandab gateway though which nearly four million barrels of oil are shipped daily to Europe, the United States and Asia.

"The Bab al-Mandab is a vital artery for shipping," said Gavin Simmonds, security and commercial policy director with the UK Chamber of Shipping.

"International shipping is totally dependent on the ability of the international community to provide safe transit of commercial vessels along major sea lanes."

The UN last week said it took threats to shipping around Bab al-Mandeb "extremely seriously".

"It is a deteriorating situation and it is worrying that this longer range weaponry is being used in the area," said Phillip Belcher marine director with INTERTANKO, an association which represents the majority of the world's tanker fleet.

Yemen has a 1,900-km coastline that also juts into the Gulf of Aden and Red Sea - a vast area to police given international navies are already stretched combating Somali piracy in the region, which has been contained in recent years.

The US Office of Naval Intelligence said in a report last week commercial ships in the Red Sea, Bab al-Mandab and Gulf of Aden areas should operate "under a heightened state of alert as increasing tensions in the region escalate the potential for direct or collateral damage to vessels transiting the region".

Riyadh is leading a coalition of Arab states which began launching air strikes against the Houthis in Yemen 18 months ago to restore to power ousted President Abd Rabbu Mansour al-Hadi.

The war has killed at least 10,000 people and brought parts of Yemen, by far the poorest country in the Arabian Peninsula, to the brink of starvation. Both sides accuse the other of war crimes.

[jurrien visser (JuVi op Twitter)]

Arab coalition says targets Houthi forces after ship attack

http://reut.rs/2digcKv via @Reuters

[StrataNL]

HSV-2 Swift (High speed vessel) van (of geleased door?) de UAE schijnt gisteren tot zinken gebracht te zijn door Huthis met een C-802 anti-scheeps raket. Laatste positie volgens marinetraffic op 30 september tussen Aden en Djibouti  Vrijwel alle schepen van/naar het oosten gaan daar langs.... dit gaat nog wat worden.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=58xPnztU4Cc&feature=youtu.be

[Lex]

Bolwerk al-Qaida in Jemen gevallen 

Jemenitische regeringstroepen en hun bondgenoten zijn zondag het zuidelijke Mukalla binnengetrokken. De havenstad was een jaar lang een belangrijk bastion van al-Qaida op het Arabisch Schiereiland (AQAP).

Gevechtsvliegtuigen van het bondgenootschap dat onder leiding van Saudi-Arabië de in het nauw gebrachte Jemenitische regering te hulp is gekomen, bestookten Mukalla de hele dag. De bombardementen kostten dertig strijders het leven, aldus inwoners van de stad.

Mukalla is het hart van een ministaatje dat al-Qaida in de kuststreek heeft gesticht. De invoerrechten die de extremistische beweging in de havens heft, zijn voor haar een belangrijke bron van inkomsten.

"De bevrijding van Mukalla uit handen van de terreurorganisatie al-Qaida is begonnen", zei de plaatselijke gouverneur Ahmed Saeed Bin Breik. Volgens een inwoner blazen Al-Qaida-strijders de aftocht en trekken pantserwagens van de regering de stad binnen.

ANP, 24 april 2016 22:30

[dudge]

Emirates Secretly Sends Colombian Mercenaries to Fight in Yemen

WASHINGTON — The United Arab Emirates has secretly dispatched hundreds of Colombian mercenaries to Yemen to fight in that country's raging conflict, adding a volatile new element in a complex proxy war that has drawn in the United States and Iran.

It is the first combat deployment for a foreign army that the Emirates has quietly built in the desert over the past five years, according to several people currently or formerly involved with the project. The program was once managed by a private company connected to Erik Prince, the founder of Blackwater Worldwide, but the people involved in the effort said that his role ended several years ago and that it has since been run by the Emirati military.

The arrival in Yemen of 450 Latin American troops — among them are also Panamanian, Salvadoran and Chilean soldiers — adds to the chaotic stew of government armies, armed tribes, terrorist networks and Yemeni militias currently at war in the country. Earlier this year, a coalition of countries led by Saudi Arabia, including the United States, began a military campaign in Yemen against Houthi rebels who have pushed the Yemeni government out of the capital, Sana.

It is also a glimpse into the future of war. Wealthy Arab nations, particularly Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the Emirates, have in recent years embraced a more aggressive military strategy throughout the Middle East, trying to rein in the chaos unleashed by the Arab revolutions that began in late 2010. But these countries wade into the new conflicts — whether in Yemen, Syria or Libya — with militaries that are unused to sustained warfare and populations with generally little interest in military service.

"Mercenaries are an attractive option for rich countries who wish to wage war yet whose citizens may not want to fight," said Sean McFate, a senior fellow at the Atlantic Council and author of "The Modern Mercenary."

"The private military industry is global now," said Mr. McFate, adding that the United States essentially "legitimized" the industry with its heavy reliance on contractors in Iraq and Afghanistan over more than a decade of war. "Latin American mercenaries are a sign of what's to come," he said.

The Colombian troops now in Yemen, handpicked from a brigade of some 1,800 Latin American soldiers training at an Emirati military base, were woken up in the middle of the night for their deployment to Yemen last month. They were ushered out of their barracks as their bunkmates continued sleeping, and were later issued dog tags and ranks in the Emirati military. Those left behind are now being trained to use grenade launchers and armored vehicles that Emirati troops are currently using in Yemen.

Emirati officials have made a point of recruiting Colombian troops over other Latin American soldiers because they consider the Colombians more battle tested in guerrilla warfare, having spent decades battling gunmen of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC, in the jungles of Colombia.

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The exact mission of the Colombians in Yemen is unclear, and one person involved in the project said it could be weeks before they saw regular combat. They join hundreds of Sudanese soldiers whom Saudi Arabia has recruited to fight there as part of the coalition.

In addition, a recent United Nations report cited claims that some 400 Eritrean troops might be embedded with the Emirati soldiers in Yemen — something that, if true, could violate a United Nations resolution restricting Eritrean military activities.

The United States has also been participating in the Saudi-led campaign in Yemen, providing logistical support, including airborne refueling, to the nations conducting the airstrikes. The Pentagon has sent a team to Saudi Arabia to provide targeting intelligence to the coalition militaries that is regularly used for the airstrikes.

The Obama administration has also in recent years approved the sale of billions of dollars' worth of military hardware from American contractors to the Saudi and Emirati militaries, equipment that is being used in the Yemen conflict. This month, the administration authorized a $1.29 billion Saudi request for thousands of bombs to replenish stocks that had been depleted by the campaign in Yemen, although American officials say that the bombs would take months to arrive and were not directly tied to the war in Yemen.

The Saudi air campaign has received widespread criticism from human rights groups as being poorly planned and as having launched strikes that indiscriminately kill Yemeni civilians and aid workers in the country. Last month, Saudi jets struck a hospital run by Doctors Without Borders in Saada Province in northern Yemen, and in late September the United Nations reported that 2,355 civilians had been killed since the campaign began in March.

On the other side in Yemen is Iran, which over the years has provided financial and military support to the Houthis, the Shiite rebel group fighting the coalition of Saudi-led Sunni nations. The divisions have created the veneer of a sectarian conflict, although Emirati troops in southern Yemen have also been battling members of Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, the Sunni terrorist group's affiliate in Yemen.

Dozens of Emirati special operations troops have died since they arrived in southern Yemen in August. A single rocket attack in early September killed 45, along with several Saudi and Bahrani soldiers.

The presence of the Latin American troops is an official secret in the Emirates, and the government has made no public mention of their deployment to Yemen. Yousef Otaiba, the Emirati ambassador to Washington, declined to comment. A spokesman for United States Central Command, the military headquarters overseeing America's involvement in the Yemen conflict, also declined to comment.

The Latin American force in the Emirates was originally conceived to carry out mostly domestic missions — guarding pipelines and other sensitive infrastructure and possibly putting down riots in the sprawling camps housing foreign workers in the Emirates — according to corporate documents, American officials and several people involved in the project.

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A 2011 intelligence briefing for senior leaders involved in the project listed Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, Somali pirates and domestic riots as some of the biggest threats to Emirati stability.

The troops were told that they might one day be called for foreign combat missions, but until the deployment to Yemen the only external missions they were given were to provide security on commercial cargo vessels.

Those missions were rare, and soldiers involved in the project describe years of monotony at the desert camp, housed within a sprawling Emirati military base called Zayed Military City. They rise every day at 5 a.m. for exercise and military training — including shooting practice, navigation and riot control. A number of Westerners, including several Americans, live at the camp and serve as trainers for the Latin American troops.

But by late morning the sun burns so hot at the windswept complex that the troops move into air-conditioned classrooms for military instruction.

The troops live in typically austere military barracks, hanging their laundry out the windows to dry in the hot air. There is a common computer room where they can check their email and Facebook pages, but they are not allowed to post photographs on social media sites. Meals are basic.

"It's the same food all the time, every day," one member of the project said several weeks ago. "Chicken every single day."

The Emiratis have spent the equivalent of millions of dollars equipping the unit, from firearms and armored vehicles to communications systems and night vision technology. But Emirati leaders rarely visit the camp. When they do, the troops put on tactical demonstrations, including rappelling from helicopters and driving armored dune buggies.

And yet they stay largely because of the money, receiving salaries ranging from $2,000 to $3,000 a month, compared with approximately $400 a month they would make in Colombia. Those troops who deploy to Yemen will receive an additional $1,000 per week, according to a person involved in the project and a former senior Colombian military officer.

Hundreds of Colombian troops have been trained in the Emirates since the project began in 2010 — so many that the Colombian government once tried to broker an agreement with Emirati officials to stanch the flow headed to the Persian Gulf. Representatives from the two governments met, but an agreement was never signed.

Most of the recruiting of former troops in Colombia is done by Global Enterprises, a Colombian company run by a former special operations commander named Oscar Garcia Batte. Mr. Batte is also co-commander of the brigade of Colombian troops in the Emirates, and is part of the force now deployed in Yemen.

Mr. McFate said that the steady migration of Latin American troops to the Persian Gulf had created a "gun drain" at a time when Latin American countries need soldiers in the battle against drug cartels.

But experts in Colombia said that the promise of making more money fighting for the Emirates — money that the troops send much of home to their families in Colombia — makes it hard to keep soldiers at home.

"These great offers, with good salaries and insurance, got the attention of our best soldiers," said Jaime Ruiz, the president of Colombia's Association of Retired Armed Forces Officials.

"Many of them retired from the army and left."

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/11/26/world/middleeast/emirates-secretly-sends-colombian-mercenaries-to-fight-in-yemen.html?smid=fb-share&_r=0