US urges Saudi-led coalition to stop airstrikes in ‘populated areas’ of Yemen
RT,
30
Npvember, 2018
The
US Secretary of State, Mike Pompeo, has urged the Saudi-led coalition
to stop airstrikes in heavily populated Yemen, shortly after Defense
Secretary Jim Mattis said a that long-lasting ceasefire is the only
possible solution.
"Time
is now for the cessation of hostilities, including missile and UAV
strikes from Houthi-controlled areas into the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia
and the United Arab Emirates. Subsequently, Coalition air strikes
must cease in all populated areas," Pompeo said in a statement.
“It
is time to end this conflict, replace conflict with compromise, and
allow the Yemeni people to heal through peace and reconstruction,”
declared the top diplomat of the country that supplies the coalition
with the bulk of its weapons, as well as intelligence and
reconnaissance assistance.
Just
hours earlier – while noting that American aircraft continue to
provide aerial refueling and intelligence to Saudi jets attacking
Yemeni targets – the Pentagon chief also demanded that the warring
parties work towards a long-lasting peace. “We want to see
everybody around a peace table based on ceasefire, based on a
pullback from the border, and then based on ceasing dropping bombs,”
Mattis said at the Institute of Peace (USIP).
Some
US lawmakers have long called on US leadership to halt support for
the Saudi-led coalition, which has been bombing Yemen since March of
2015, causing thousands of civilian deaths. The calls to cut the
sales of weapons to the Gulf Kingdom, however, really intensified
only in wake of the murder of Jamal Khashoggi, the dissident
Washington Post columnist killed inside the Saudi consulate in
Istanbul earlier this month.
While
Donald Trump has repeatedly refused to cancel the record $110 billion
arms sales contract he signed with the Saudis last year, some US
lawmakers paradoxically considered winding down US support for the
war in Yemen as a way to punish Riyadh for the Khashoggi murder.
Mattis, however, emphasized Tuesday that he views the journalist's
death and the conflict in Yemen as totally separate issues.
‘Not
satisfied’ after all: Trump wants more answers, but won’t scrap
Saudi deals over Khashoggi case
“We've
got to move toward a peace effort here and we can't say we're going
to be doing this sometime in the future. We need to be doing this in
the next 30 days,” he said.
Three
US senators have called on the Pentagon to immediately reveal the
extent of US military support to the Saudi-led Arab coalition that
launched an attack on Hodeidah, a key port city and last...
Tuesday's
statements by top US leadership signals a drastic shift from a mute
White House approach to the three-year-old conflict, which has
claimed over 10,000 lives and plunged Yemen into humanitarian
disaster.
The
Arab coalition has, since 2015, been waging a brutal military
campaign in Yemen against Houthi rebels, in an attempt to restore
exiled president Abd Rabbuh Mansour Hadi to power. Three years of
Saudi-led bombardment and a blockade of Yemen has led to a
catastrophic situation in the country, with 22 million people, or 80
percent of the population, in dire need of humanitarian aid.
Throughout the entire course of the conflict, Riyadh and its allies
have repeatedly been accused by NGOs of indiscriminate bombings of
civilians and infrastructure in the country, using mainly
Western-supplied weapons.
US Pressuring Saudis To Heal Qatar Rift, Ease Sanctions, As Riyadh's Isolation Grows
In
the latest fallout over the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi, the
United States is demanding that Saudi Arabia make nice with Qatar,
according to sources quoted in Bloomberg.
Three
officials with knowledge of the issue have described to
Bloomberg that the
US is "raising pressure" on the kingdom to "wind down"
its ongoing "political and economic isolation of Qatar" at
a moment that Riyadh is potentially facing its own such isolation as
international outrage has grown since the October 2nd slaying of
Khashoggi inside the Istanbul consulate.
One
U.S. official further says the Saudis are being asked to "take
steps" to wind down its over three-year long bombing
campaign in Yemen,
or at least to greatly mitigate the factors causing a massive
humanitarian crisis in famine — an
ironic and contradictory request given the Pentagon's own lead role
as part of the Saudi coalition.
Since
June of 2017, when a rift came out in the open and Saudi Arabia led a
full economic and diplomatic blockade of its tiny oil and gas rich
neighbor along side three other Gulf Cooperation Council states of
the UAE, Kuwait, and Bahrain (non-GCC Egypt also initially cut ties),
the two sides have essentially been in a state of war; however Qatar
has remained defiant throughout the unprecedented crisis, relying on
its vast oil wealth to weather the storm.
The
land, air, and sea Saudi-led boycott has included aggressive economic
sanctions, even food blockages, as most of Qatar's basic
staples had previously been supplied by land via Saudi Arabia. But
it's been hugely awkward for Western allies of both countries like
the United States and Britain, as Qatar
hosts the largest US/UK military base in the Middle East, Al
Udeid Air Base,
located 20 miles southwest of the Qatari capital of Doha and home
to some 11,000 US military personnel, plus Royal Air Force units.
Given
Washington's close economic and military ties to both countries,
healing the inter-GCC schism has been a priority for the White House,
and it now appears to be using the international outcry to pressure
Riyadh in an amenable direction regarding Qatar.
Could
the pressure already be working? Last
week at the Saudi Future Investment Initiative (FII) hosted in
Riyadh, which a number of Western companies and media outlets
boycotted, Crown Prince MbS took the the previously unheard of step
(since the 16-month crisis with Doha began) of acknowledging the
resilience of Qatar’s “strong economy” and
forecast progress over the next half decade.
“Even
Qatar, despite our differences with them, has a very strong economy
and will be very different” in
the next five years, the prince said at an investment summit in the
Saudi capital as he explained his vision for the Middle East’s
place in the world. — Bloomberg
These
words alone signal an opening between the two countries that
could lead to detente under Washington oversight.
Though
Trump had previously seemed to endorse the Saudi position that Qatar
is a state sponsor of terror in the region and had helped facilitate
Iranian influence and expansion, former Secretary of State Rex
Tillerson had previously attempted to negotiate an agreeable closure
to the crisis and softening of tensions, without success.
But
it appears that in the end the Saudis will only perhaps respond to
what they know best — blackmail.
So ultimately should MbS survive the heat of the Khashoggi
investigation, it will likely come at the expense of having to make
nice with Qatar and play by other Washington rules as well.
Three
officials with knowledge of the issue have described to
Bloomberg that the
US is "raising pressure" on the kingdom to "wind down"
its ongoing "political and economic isolation of Qatar" at
a moment that Riyadh is potentially facing its own such isolation as
international outrage has grown since the October 2nd slaying of
Khashoggi inside the Istanbul consulate.
One
U.S. official further says the Saudis are being asked to "take
steps" to wind down its over three-year long bombing
campaign in Yemen,
or at least to greatly mitigate the factors causing a massive
humanitarian crisis in famine — an
ironic and contradictory request given the Pentagon's own lead role
as part of the Saudi coalition.
Since
June of 2017, when a rift came out in the open and Saudi Arabia led a
full economic and diplomatic blockade of its tiny oil and gas rich
neighbor along side three other Gulf Cooperation Council states of
the UAE, Kuwait, and Bahrain (non-GCC Egypt also initially cut ties),
the two sides have essentially been in a state of war; however Qatar
has remained defiant throughout the unprecedented crisis, relying on
its vast oil wealth to weather the storm.
The
land, air, and sea Saudi-led boycott has included aggressive economic
sanctions, even food blockages, as most of Qatar's basic
staples had previously been supplied by land via Saudi Arabia. But
it's been hugely awkward for Western allies of both countries like
the United States and Britain, as Qatar
hosts the largest US/UK military base in the Middle East, Al
Udeid Air Base,
located 20 miles southwest of the Qatari capital of Doha and home
to some 11,000 US military personnel, plus Royal Air Force units.
Given
Washington's close economic and military ties to both countries,
healing the inter-GCC schism has been a priority for the White House,
and it now appears to be using the international outcry to pressure
Riyadh in an amenable direction regarding Qatar.
Could
the pressure already be working? Last
week at the Saudi Future Investment Initiative (FII) hosted in
Riyadh, which a number of Western companies and media outlets
boycotted, Crown Prince MbS took the the previously unheard of step
(since the 16-month crisis with Doha began) of acknowledging the
resilience of Qatar’s “strong economy” and
forecast progress over the next half decade.
“Even Qatar, despite our differences with them, has a very strong economy and will be very different” in the next five years, the prince said at an investment summit in the Saudi capital as he explained his vision for the Middle East’s place in the world. — Bloomberg
These
words alone signal an opening between the two countries that
could lead to detente under Washington oversight.
Though
Trump had previously seemed to endorse the Saudi position that Qatar
is a state sponsor of terror in the region and had helped facilitate
Iranian influence and expansion, former Secretary of State Rex
Tillerson had previously attempted to negotiate an agreeable closure
to the crisis and softening of tensions, without success.
But
it appears that in the end the Saudis will only perhaps respond to
what they know best — blackmail.
So ultimately should MbS survive the heat of the Khashoggi
investigation, it will likely come at the expense of having to make
nice with Qatar and play by other Washington rules as well.
Mattis Calls For Yemen Ceasefire Within 30 Days
30
October, 2018
Secretary
of Defense Jim Mattis has called for a ceasefire in the Yemen civil
war within 30 days, reports AFP.
"We
want to see everybody around a peace table based on a ceasefire,
based on a pullback from the border & then based on ceasing
dropping of bombs...you can’t say we’re going to do it sometime
in the future. We need to be doing this in the next 30 days,"
said Mattis while speaking at the United States Institute of Peace
Mattis says US support to Saudi Arabia and UAE in Yemen is limited: “we refuel less than 20 percent of their aircraft. They have their own refuelers by the way.”
Mattis says US refueling support of Saudi and UAE jets “provide a level of capability so they are not killing innocent people.” Hints that the US is looking for a ceasefire in 30 days to accelerate the peace process in Yemen. “I believe that the Saudis and the Emirates are ready”
Mattis added "I believe the Saudis and the Emiratis are ready."
The big take from #Mattis:
*Assad has to be managed out of power : Any election has no credibility
*Calling for a ceasefire in Yemen within 30 days
*A new approach for the solution in Yemen
Developing...
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