Yemen: all you want (2011-2015)

[davidbfpo]

An unusual article in today's (UK) The Daily Telegraph, even odder as the author is a retired senior UK Army officer, MG Tim Cross:https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tim_Cross

The actual title: Our coalition partners the Saudis are creating conditions in Yemen which let Isil flourish.
Link:http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worl...-flourish.html

[davidbfpo]

A succinct, grim overview of the Yemen today:http://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-35160532

[CrowBat]

That map is largely wrong; indeed considering what one can read here - Wikileaks, The Saudi Cables, Buying Silence: How the Saudi Foreign Ministry controls Arab media - probably intentionally misinforming too.

A much better one can be downloaded here: http://i0.wp.com/archicivilians.com/...-Map-Nov15.png

It's from back in November, but most of details are still valid, with following exceptions:
- contrary to what is shown on that map, Taiz remains besieged by Hothis and Yemeni Army;

- latest Houthi/YA offensive brought them back much closer to Marib again; but foremost

- the Saudis have sabotaged the UN sponsored cease-fire by ordering that 'Yemen National Army' (a Saudi&Emirati-sponsored mercenary army of about 20,000) to launch an all-out attack from within Saudi Arabia into Jawf and Hajjah provinces, in northern Yemen, on 17 December.

Further to this, the Saudi-led intergalactic coalition never ceased flying air strikes: even as negotiations between Houthis and Hadi in Switzerland began, on 17 December, they flew over 300 air strikes over Yemen. So, no surprise the talks collapsed, i.e. were 'postponed to January'...

Anyway, the war re-intensified ever since (thanks certainly to USA and UK replenishing Saudi stocks of PGMs), with Saudi-led coalition flying over 1,900 air strikes in the last six days. Saudis are even claiming they have launched an airborne assault on Nihm, about 40km north of Sana'a, on 20 December.

Fierce fighting with hundreds of casualties on both sides is reported ever since (that is: Arab and Western media are NOT reporting about most of this, for reasons cited above).

Houthis are shooting back - primarily with help of SS-21 and Qahir-1 ballistic missiles (the latter are SA-2s deployed as ballistic missiles). About two dozens of these have been fired the last seven days, primarily targeting major coalition bases near Bab al-Mandeb and Marib, but also various targets inside Saudi Arabia. Saudis claimed to have shot down at least six by their PAC-3s.

What is also not properly shown on most of available maps of Yemen is the extension of AQAP's control over de-facto all of central southern Yemen. Namely, the area from Ataq in south-west up to Saudi border in the north, and from Thamud in north-east to Qusay'ir in south-east, is completely under AQAP control: 'loyalists' (to Hadi) have no say there.

Indeed, even parts of the coast of Gulf of Aden from Aden to Zinjibar are controlled by AQAP - and absolutely nobody is doing anything against this.

Bottom line: considering spread of the Daesh in eastern Yemen, the country is not broken into two, but into four.