Critical Observer

ISIS MAKING BIG GAINS IN YEMEN AND WHAT IT MEANS

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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">One point we’ve been keen on driving home as the war in Syria intensifies is that while the sheer number of combatants and the overt involvement of at least seven world powers certainly means that among the many conflicts raging in the Mid-East, the war in Syria is the fight that matters most for the non-Arab world, it’s important not to miss the forest for the trees.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">That is, it’s critical to see the bigger picture here, and that entails understanding how Syria is related to the conflicts raging in Iraq, Yemen, and to a lesser extent, Afghanistan. Iran is determined to expand its regional influence. Tehran is the power broker in Iraq, Syria, and Lebanon and it’s no coincidence that the Houthis in Yemen are backed by the Iranians and neither is it a coincidence that Iran is rumored to be funneling weapons and money to its old enemy the Taliban in Afghanistan. This is about checking the spread of Sunni extremism and, concurrently, curtailing and diminishing Saudi influence. While Iran and the Taliban make for strange bedfellows (the militants are, after all, Sunni extremists), Tehran is determined to check the spread of Islamic State and with the IRGC, Hezbollah, and the Quds-controlled Shiite militias already fighting ISIS on two fronts (Syria and Iraq), the Ayatollah isn’t particularly thrilled about the prospect of an expanded ISIS presence on its eastern border. Supporting the Taliban in Afghanistan (with whom Iran nearly went to war in 1998), should help to check ISIS gains in the country and has the added benefit of keeping the US off guard which itself speaks to how quickly alliances can change as it was just 12 years ago that Iran assisted the US in picking Taliban and al-Qaeda targets (read more <a href="http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2015-11-28/russia-sends-10000-ak-47s-afghanistan-government-mulls-inviting-moscow-help-fight-te" style="color: #666666; text-decoration: none;">here</a>).</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">As for ISIS, the official line is that everyone is an enemy. The Taliban are led by “illiterate warlords,” al-Qaeda are “a bunch of donkeys”, the Houthis are heretics as are the Iranians, the Saudis are just plain in the way in Yemen, and everyone else is an infidel. Of course there’s no telling what the group’s leadership really thinks given the support they undoubtedly receive from any number of states governed by “nonbelievers,” but we’ll leave that aside for now. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">Ok, so why are we telling you this? <strong>Because on Sunday, ISIS killed the governor of the Yemeni port city of Aden in what amounts to the group’s most brazen attack in the country to date.</strong> As <a href="http://www.wsj.com/articles/islamic-state-claims-responsibility-for-yemen-blast-1449402824" style="color: #666666; text-decoration: none;">WSJ reports</a>, “in a statement distributed on social media and translated by the extremist-tracking SITE Intelligence Group, <strong>an Aden-based branch of Islamic State claimed responsibility for a suicide car bomb that killed governor Jaafar Saad and several of his guards as his convoy traveled through the city.”</strong></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">Sunday's explosion could be heard about 10 km (seven miles) away," <a href="http://www.reuters.com/article/us-yemen-security-governor-idUSKBN0TP05K20151206#2g0v2fUTAJ0wLOy4.97" style="color: #666666; text-decoration: none;">Reuters reports</a>. "<strong style="line-height: 1.3em;">Medics said the body of Saad and the others who were killed were burned beyond recognition."</strong></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">In a statement ISIS said it detonated a car packed with explosives as Saad's convoy drove by. The group promised more operations against "the heads of apostasy in Yemen". Here's the statement:</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">Recall that Aden was a <a href="http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2015-04-02/chaos-yemen-rebels-turn-aden-warzone-al-qaeda-stages-prison-break-saudi-arabia-suffe" style="color: #666666; text-decoration: none;">major battleground</a> during the spring and it was also the site of China’s first naval rescue operation involving foreign nationals. The Houthis nearly took control of the city earlier this year after driving President Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi out of the country, but a summer offensive by the Saudi-led, UAE- and Qatar- assisted coalition drove the rebels back. Now, the coalition wants to retake San’a. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">As WSJ goes on to note, “Mr. Saad, a major general in Yemen’s army, was a prominent figure among pro-Saudi forces in Aden before his appointment as governor in October.” Here’s a bit more color: </span></div>
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<em><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">Islamic State and al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, or AQAP, have both exploited the instability to carry out attacks and make territorial gains.</span></em></div>
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<em><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">Numerous Islamic State branches have sprouted since the Saudi campaign began. <strong>Twin attacks by Islamic State militants on Houthi mosques in San’a killed more than 140 people in March.</strong></span></em></div>
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<em><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">Islamic State attacks have targeted the Houthis and the Saudi coalition, both of which the group considers enemies.</span></em></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><strong>This comes just days after Wilayat Aden Abyan (you can identify the origin of ISIS videos by whatever comes after the word "Wilayat" in the introduction that always precedes the clip) released a video depicting the execution of around two dozen Houthis</strong>.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">We'll spare you the footage, but here are some screenshots that should give you a decent idea of the fate that befell the men.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">What this suggests is that ISIS is now set to expand its influence in Yemen. Remember, the country's proxy war is really no different in character to what's going on in Syria. The distinction is that in Yemen, Iran is fighting via proxy while the Saudis and Qatar are there in person while in Syria, Iran has boots on the ground while the Saudis and Qatar are fighting via proxies.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">Of course one of Riyadh and Doha's proxies in the Syrian conflict is ISIS, and as mentioned above, the group is now targeting the Saudi coalition's support base in Aden which would seem to indicate - and this is a colorful metaphor we've used before - that this is but another example of Frankenstein breaking out of the lab and attacking its creators. <strong>Whether or not an expanded ISIS presence in Yemen will benefit the Saudi cause largely depends on whether the Houthis become Islamic State's main target in the country, or whether they intend to wage a protracted war against pro-Hadi forces.</strong></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">Given the sectarian divide, we're inclined to believe that the Houthis will get the worst of this and that's just fine with Riyadh and Doha as anything that weakens Iran's proxies helps to restore Hadi by default.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">And you never know, it could be that much like the cost of destabilizing Assad involves the loss of civilian lives in places like Paris and in the skies over the Sinai Peninsula, the cost of having one more anti-Houthi force on the ground in Yemen is that occasionally a few pro-Hadi government officials end up vaporized in a car bombing, because at the end of the day, covertly supporting groups like ISIS and al-Qaeda (who of course are also operating in Yemen) is a bit like raising tigers as pets - you can foster quite a bit of loyalty over time, but there's always a chance they might kill you.</span></div>

ISIS MAKING BIG GAINS IN YEMEN AND WHAT IT MEANS

One point we’ve been keen on driving home as the war in Syria intensifies is that while the sheer number of combatants and the overt invo...

Read Article »

HUNDREDS OF SUDANESE TROOPS ARRIVE IN YEMEN'S ADEN

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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Security officials say hundreds of Sudanese troops have arrived in Yemen's southern port city of Aden, the third batch of an expected 10,000 reinforcements for the U.S.-backed Saudi-led coalition fighting the country's Shiite Houthi rebels.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">They say Monday's reinforcements come as coalition strikes and clashes rage on in the western province of Taiz, killing three civilians and 20 Houthi fighters. Rebel leaders say they killed 15 pro-government fighters.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Yemen is torn by fighting between the coalition-backed government and the Houthis allied with army units loyal to a former president.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">The officials remain neutral in the conflict that has splintered Yemen's armed forces. They spoke on condition of anonymity because they are not authorized to speak to reporters, as did the rebel leaders.</span>

HUNDREDS OF SUDANESE TROOPS ARRIVE IN YEMEN'S ADEN

Security officials say hundreds of Sudanese troops have arrived in Yemen's southern port city of Aden, the third batch of an expected...

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SAUDI OBJECTIONS HALT U.N. INQUIRY OF YEMEN WAR

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GENEVA — In a U-turn at the United Nations Human Rights Council, Western governments dropped plans Wednesday for an international inquiry into human rights violations by all parties in the war in Yemen that has killed thousands of civilians in the last six months.<br />
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The change of direction came as the Netherlands withdrew the draft of a resolution it had prepared with support from a group of mainly Western countries that instructed the United Nations high commissioner for human rights to send experts to Yemen to investigate the conduct of the war.<br />
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<span style="background-color: #cccccc; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><i>Comment: Surely it had nothing to do with Saudi Arabia just being appointed to sit on the board of the Human Rights council. </i></span><br />
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That proposal was a follow-up to recommendations by the commissioner, Zeid Ra’ad al-Hussein, who detailed in a report this month the heavy civilian loss of life inflicted not only by the relentless airstrikes of the military coalition led by Saudi Arabia but also by the indiscriminate shelling carried out by Houthi rebels.<br />
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The Dutch resolution also called for the warring parties to allow access to humanitarian groups seeking to deliver aid and to the commercial import of goods like fuel that are needed to keep hospitals running. Deliveries of aid and other goods have been slowed by the coalition’s naval blockade of Yemeni ports.<br />
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But in the face of stiff resistance from Saudi Arabia and its coalition partners, and to the dismay of human rights groups, Western governments have accepted a resolution based on a Saudi text that lacks any reference to an independent, international inquiry.<br />
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Instead, the new resolution supports a decree, issued by the exiled Yemeni government of President Abdu Rabbu Mansour Hadi, appointing a national commission of inquiry. It asks the United Nations human rights office only “to provide technical assistance and to work with the government of Yemen, as required, in the field of capacity building.”<br />
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Mr. Hadi’s government is supported by Saudi Arabia and is a party to the war, commanding loyal forces in Yemen that are fighting the Houthi rebels.<br />
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“The result is a lost opportunity for the council and a huge victory for Saudi Arabia, protecting it from scrutiny over laws of war violations which will probably continue to be committed in Yemen,” said Philippe Dam, deputy director of Human Rights Watch in Geneva.<br />
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The United States had earlier signaled its support for the Dutch resolution and its call for an international inquiry, but human rights experts monitoring negotiations on the resolutions say it appears that the United States, Britain and France chose instead to back a consensus resolution that was scheduled for a vote in the council on Friday.<br />
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Such a resolution is much more “powerful,” said a diplomat close to the discussions, who requested anonymity because of the delicacy of the matter. Moreover, it also gives the United Nations human rights commissioner a mandate to monitor and report on developments in Yemen, the diplomat said.<br />
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To the consternation of human rights groups, the consensus approach coincides with evidence of sharply rising civilian casualties in Yemen. Mr. Hussein’s spokesman reported on Tuesday that the number of known civilian casualties since late March had risen to more than 7,217, including 2,355 people killed.<br />
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The civilian toll from airstrikes was “starkly underlined” by report s that more than 130 people had been killed at a wedding party in Taiz, the spokesman, Rupert Colville, said. The United Nations was trying to confirm what had happened, he said.<br />
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Meanwhile, Mr. Colville said, the coalition was “indubitably responsible” for the blockade of Yemen’s ports, which was “greatly exacerbating the extremely dire humanitarian situation affecting almost all of Yemen.”<br />
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Mr. Dam of Human Rights Watch was disappointed.<br />
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“This was the time to put the parties to this conflict under scrutiny for human rights violations,” he said. “Human Rights Council members have failed to send a clear message to Saudi Arabia and to the Houthis that they have to change the conduct of hostilities.”

SAUDI OBJECTIONS HALT U.N. INQUIRY OF YEMEN WAR

GENEVA — In a U-turn at the United Nations Human Rights Council, Western governments dropped plans Wednesday for an international inquiry...

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CIVILIAN DEATH TOLL IN YEMEN RISING FAST

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Civilian casualties in Yemen continue to spiral, largely due to relentless Saudi-led airstrikes against Houthi rebels, the U.N. Human Rights office reported Tuesday.</div>
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An airstrike Monday hit a wedding party, killing 131 people and making it the deadliest single incident since the start of the country's civil war, U.N. officials and local medics said Tuesday.</div>
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The Saudi-led coalition, which has been targeting rebels since March, denied it was responsible for the attack on the village of Wahijah. Spokesman Brigadier-General Ahmed al-Asseri called the allegation "totally false."</div>
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Civilians have been caught in the yearlong battle between Houthi fighters, who seized the capital Sana'a last September and then pushed south to the port city of Aden in an offensive that sent President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi fleeing to Saudi Arabia.</div>
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The civilian death toll in Yemen over the past six months includes 2,355 killed and 4,862 wounded, including many women and children, the U.N. Human Rights office said Tuesday. The figures don't include Monday's casualties.</div>
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However, the U.N. said it believes the overall toll is underestimated and the number of civilian casualties is higher.  </div>
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Human Rights spokesman Rupert Colville blamed both sides in the conflict, saying civilian casualties continue to be a result of airstrikes and indiscriminate shelling in residential areas.</div>
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Colville said an increasing number of deaths and injuries have been caused by airstrikes targeting bridges and highways.</div>
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<strong>Naval blockade, aid issues</strong></div>
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The Human Rights office also blames the Saudi-led coalition’s naval blockade of Yemen’s main seaports for hampering the import of vital humanitarian supplies.</div>
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U.N. aid agencies said this is greatly exacerbating the extremely dire humanitarian situation. It reported that 4 of 5 Yemenis -- about 21 million people -- are in need of humanitarian assistance.</div>
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The World Food Program (WFP) said 10 of Yemen’s 22 governorates are facing food insecurity at an emergency level -- just one step below famine</div>
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In addition, the WFP said the conflict is causing the country's child malnutrition rate, which is normally high, to soar to life-threatening levels.</div>
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Meanwhile, a high-level meeting on Yemen during a U.N. global gathering Tuesday repeats an urgent call for humanitarian aid access but makes no mention of the latest civilian deaths or who might be to blame.</div>
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Tuesday's statement calls the humanitarian situation in the Arab world's poorest country "appalling."</div>
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The meeting, chaired by Britain, the U.N. humanitarian chief and the Organization of Islamic Cooperation, noted that "civilian suffering has reached unprecedented levels," with thousands killed.</div>
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<strong>Bear responsibility</strong></div>
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While it calls on "all parties to the conflict" to bear their responsibilities, it does not go as far as U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, who on Monday said "most of the casualties are being caused by airstrikes."</div>
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A statement late Monday from Ban's spokesman highlighted the illegality of attacks against civilians and said Ban again called for all parties in Yemen to halt the fighting.</div>
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The fighting has forced about 1.8 million people from their homes in Yemen, according to U.N. data, and left many more in need of food and other basic humanitarian aid.</div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">From AP <span style="color: #717070; font-style: italic;">Lisa Schlein contributed to this report from Geneva</span></span></div>

CIVILIAN DEATH TOLL IN YEMEN RISING FAST

Civilian casualties in Yemen continue to spiral, largely due to relentless Saudi-led airstrikes against Houthi rebels, the U.N. Human Ri...

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SAUDI AIR STRIKE KILLS 131 AT WEDDING IN YEMEN

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<span style="font-weight: normal;">The conflict in Yemen has killed at least 2,100 civilians so far, according to U.N. figures.</span></h2>
SANAA, Yemen (AP) — The Saudi-led coalition targeting Yemen's Shiite rebels mistakenly struck a wedding party on Monday, killing at least 38 people, Yemeni security officials said.<br />
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<i>September 29, 2015 - As of latest update the new death toll figure now stands at 131.</i><br />
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The strikes hit the celebration in al-Wahga, a village near the strategic Strait of Bab al-Mandab, said the officials, who remain neutral in the conflict that has splintered Yemen.<br />
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At least 40 people were wounded in the two airstrikes, they said. The strikes, a senior government official said, were "a mistake." Many of the victims were women and children, according to several villagers.<br />
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Yemen has been embroiled in fighting that pits the rebels, known as Houthis, and forces loyal to former President Ali Abdullah Saleh against the Saudi-backed and internationally recognized government as well as southern separatists, local militias and Sunni extremists. The U.S.-backed coalition has been carrying out airstrikes against the rebels and their allies since March.<br />
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Further details and circumstances that led to the wedding party being mistakenly hit were not immediately known, but the village in which it took place lies in the battered Taiz province, where civilians routinely fall victim to daily Saudi airstrikes as well as rebel mortar shells.<br />
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Only seven of Taiz's 21 hospitals are currently open but they are "totally overwhelmed" and have run out of essential medication, Hassan Boucenine of the Geneva-based aid group Doctors Without Borders, also known as Medecins Sans Frontieres or MSF, said earlier this week.<br />
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All officials and local residents spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to talk to the media or fear reprisals.<br />
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From: Associated Press By AHMED AL-HAJ

SAUDI AIR STRIKE KILLS 131 AT WEDDING IN YEMEN

The conflict in Yemen has killed at least 2,100 civilians so far, according to U.N. figures. SANAA, Yemen (AP) — The Saudi-led coalition...

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YEMEN REBELS RELEASE FOREIGN HOSTAGES, INCLUDING 2 AMERICANS

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Yemen's Shiite Houthi rebels have released six foreign hostages, including two Americans, and flown them to the Gulf country of Oman, which helped negotiate their release, officials said Sunday.</div>
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Oman's Foreign Ministry said two Americans, three Saudis and a British citizen were released following mediation efforts by diplomats acting on behalf of Sultan Qaboos bin Said, according to a statement carried by state-run media. It did not elaborate.</div>
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The White House confirmed that two Americans had been freed and sent to Oman, which it thanked for helping to secure their release. A statement from the National Security Council did not identify the Americans or detail the circumstances of their captivity or their release.</div>
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The White House said it had "worked tirelessly to secure the release" of the Americans since they were taken earlier this year.</div>
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"This outcome underscores that we have been and will continue to be tireless in pursuing the release of all Americans detained abroad unjustly, including those who remain in the region," the statement said.</div>
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A spokesman for a New Orleans-based logistics company, Transoceanic Development, confirmed that employee Scott Darden, 45, was freed. Darden was helping to deliver aid throughout the region for Transoceanic and relief organizations among its clients. It was not immediately clear who the other hostages were.</div>
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Yemen has been torn by a ferocious war pitting the Houthis and forces loyal to a former president against fighters loyal to exiled President Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi, as well as southern separatists, local militias and Sunni extremists. The conflict escalated in March as a Saudi-led, U.S.-backed coalition launched an air campaign against the Houthis.</div>
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Houthi officials and officials at the airport had earlier said the hostages included three Americans, two Saudis and a British citizen. The reason for the discrepancy was not immediately clear. It was also not immediately clear when the hostages had been seized.</div>
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Officials from the Houthi media center refused to explain why they had detained the hostages, but said at least one of them is a journalist who "entered the country illegally" and "worked without notifying the authorities." The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to release information to reporters.</div>
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<tr><td><span style="color: black; font-family: Verdana,Sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">(AP) Smoke rises after a Saudi-led airstrike hits an army academy in Sanaa, Yemen,...</span></td></tr>
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A Houthi delegation left with the hostages to go to Oman, where they will resume talks with the U.N. envoy to Yemen, Ismail Ould Cheikh Ahmed, the Houthi officials said. The delegation is accompanied by another from the party of former President Ali Abdullah Saleh, who is allied with the Houthis, said Aref al-Zouka, the party's secretary-general.</div>
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Houthi spokesman Mohammed Abdel Salam held a press conference at the airport earlier Sunday. He refused to confirm the release of the hostages, saying only: "If we were to release anyone, it would be in exchange for the release of Houthis."</div>
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The British Foreign Office was unable to confirm the hostages' release.</div>
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In June, American freelance journalist Casey Coombs, who was held by the rebels, was set free. Following Coombs' release, which Oman mediated, State Department spokeswoman Marie Harf said they were working to win the release of several Americans detained in Yemen.</div>
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Last month, the United Arab Emirates helped free British petroleum engineer Robert Douglas Semple, who had been held for 18 months after being kidnapped by al-Qaida in Yemen, which has expanded its reach in the country amid the fighting between Houthis and their opponents.</div>
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Also released in August was World Bank consultant Isabelle Prime, a French national who thanked Oman's sultan for aiding her release.</div>
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Transoceanic spokesman Ken Luce said Darden was held since March, had worked for the company for a little less than a year, and that his wife and son live in Dubai. Luce said he did not know if anything was given for the hostages' release.</div>
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"I am not privy to that information if there was anything," he said. "With the peace negotiations still ongoing, it's very difficult to ascertain anything."</div>
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The company's CEO, Gregory Rusovich, said in a statement: "We cannot begin to express the sense of joy and relief we feel with Scott's release. He has been safely evacuated and will be reunited with his family very soon."</div>
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Darden's wife, Diana Loesch, said she was leaving for Oman to be reunited with her husband. She said she had spoken to Darden over the phone and he said the Houthis had treated him well.</div>
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"He just landed in Muscat, actually. He just called me. He's both elated and overjoyed. I can't imagine what it must have been like for him to be in Sanaa for so long."</div>
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Darden also spoke with their 10-year-old son, Eesa. "He's very elated to finally be going to see his father after all these long months of not being able to talk to him or see him."</div>
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Associated Press writers Janet McConnaughey in New Orleans and Adam Schreck and Jon Gambrell in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, contributed to this report.</div>

YEMEN REBELS RELEASE FOREIGN HOSTAGES, INCLUDING 2 AMERICANS

Yemen's Shiite Houthi rebels have released six foreign hostages, including two Americans, and flown them to the Gulf country of Oman, w...

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YEMEN REBELS KILL 3 PEOPLE IN SAUDI ARABIA

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Authorities in Saudi Arabia say incoming fire from Yemen hit a residence for construction workers in the kingdom's south, killing at least three people and wounding 28.<br />
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A report Friday in the state-run Saudi Press Agency quoted a local civil defense official as saying the incoming fire landed in Jizan province. The report suggested the three killed were foreign workers, though it did not identify their nationalities. Of the 28 wounded, the report said four were Saudi citizens.<br />
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Southern Saudi Arabia has been targeted by Yemen's Shiite rebels known as Houthis since a kingdom-led coalition started targeting the insurgents with airstrikes beginning in March.<br />
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Saudi, Emirati and other allied troops backing exiled President Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi are pushing to take Yemen's rebel-held capital, Sanaa.

YEMEN REBELS KILL 3 PEOPLE IN SAUDI ARABIA

Authorities in Saudi Arabia say incoming fire from Yemen hit a residence for construction workers in the kingdom's south, killing at ...

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SAUDI-LED COALITION POUNDS YEMEN REBELS NEAR CENTRAL CITY

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The Saudi-led coalition targeting Yemen's Shiite rebels pounded the insurgents' positions Thursday with heavy artillery fire on the outskirts of the central city of Marib, part of their push to retake the capital, Sanaa.</div>
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The heavy bombardment came hours after the rebels, known as Houthis, aired footage on their satellite television channel purporting to show a Saudi soldier held as a prisoner of war. A top al-Qaida leader in Yemen meanwhile praised the campaign against the Houthis and called for Islamic rule in the Arab world's poorest country.</div>
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The dull thud of artillery fire rumbled across Marib but its residents, many carrying Kalashnikov assault rifles, appeared unperturbed by the nearby fighting. Shops downtown were open for business, and residents crowded a market to buy qat leaves, a mild narcotic widely consumed in Yemen.</div>
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"As you see, there are no clashes, mostly just shelling ... from far away," deputy governor Abdul Rab Ali said Thursday.</div>
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Marib is the capital of the largely desert province of the same name east of the capital. Authorities say the coalition's operations in the area include targeting Houthi positions near the Marib dam and the town of Sirwah, about 40 kilometers (25 miles) west on the road to Sanaa.</div>
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The provincial capital is controlled by forces loyal to exiled President Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi. Ali said 80 percent of the province is controlled by pro-Hadi forces, while the Houthis and their allies control the rest.</div>
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Military vehicles used by forces from the United Arab Emirates, a central member of the coalition, made their way Thursday along a two-lane road between Marib and a sprawling military base further east.</div>
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The war in Yemen pits the Saudi-led coalition against Iranian-backed Houthis and troops loyal to former President Ali Abdullah Saleh. Others opposing the Houthis include southern separatists, local and tribal militias, Sunni Islamic militants and troops loyal to Hadi.</div>
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Coalition troops and allied Yemeni forces will have to traverse rugged mountains as they push westward toward Sanaa. It is an area that Emirati Brig. Gen. Ali Saif al-Kaabi likened to parts of Afghanistan, where Emirati troops were deployed as part of the NATO-led mission.</div>
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Coalition and pro-Hadi forces also are advancing toward the capital from the south after retaking the key port city of Aden over the summer.</div>
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In addition to rockets and mortar rounds they lob at their opponents, the Houthis and their allies have laid land mines in the path of the advancing forces, military officials say.</div>
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Mine-resistant armored vehicles and tanks the Emirates has deployed east of the capital provide some protection, but the mine threat clearly has commanders concerned. An Emirati soldier was killed by a mine on Monday — the country's 54th loss this month.</div>
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"Our people are running into difficulty because of the terrain, and number two, because of the fearless enemy who is ready to die," Sultan Ali al-Aradeh, the governor of Marib province, said in an interview Monday.</div>
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The influx of troops and hardware from the Emirates and other Gulf states appears to be adding momentum to the fight to retake territory. The immediate aim is to reinstate Hadi's government, while the wider goal is to block what the coalition sees as Iranian expansion across the region.</div>
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<tr><td><span style="color: black; font-family: Verdana,Sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">(AP) Smoke rises after a Saudi-led airstrike hits an army base in Sanaa, Yemen, Thursday,...</span></td></tr>
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"Our brothers from Saudi, the Emirates and the rest of the Gulf are helping the Yemeni people. We are one of theirs and they are part of us," Yemeni Gen. Abdul Rab Qassim al-Shadadi said Monday.</div>
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A missile attack on an ammunition depot at the Emirati forward operating base at Saffer in Marib province on Sept. 4 killed 52 Emirati troops, as well as at least 10 soldiers from Saudi Arabia and five from Bahrain. It was the heaviest military loss for the Emirates since its founding in 1971.</div>
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The Houthis also claim to have captured some Saudi soldiers. Footage aired on their satellite channel purported to show a Saudi corporal saying other troops are held by the rebels, though he didn't elaborate.</div>
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The Associated Press could not independently verify the claim. The state-run Saudi Press Agency did not immediately report the claim, nor did government officials acknowledge it.</div>
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The Saudi-led coalition has been training thousands of pro-government troops and working with some tribesmen. They have had some success in recent months, particularly as they brought additional weapons, armor and trained personnel to the fight.</div>
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But the fighting has taken a heavy toll on Yemen. More than 4,000 people have been killed, and the humanitarian crisis has left the impoverished country on the brink of famine.</div>
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Meanwhile, video has emerged of a top al-Qaida leader praising the campaign against the Shiite rebels. Khalid Batarfi, al-Qaida's leader in Hadramawt, Yemen's largest province, called on his followers to continue the fight. The Sunni militants of al-Qaida view Shiite Muslims as heretics.</div>
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Batarfi also called on followers not to allow the exiled Yemeni government "to go back to rule Yemen with secularism and democracy."</div>
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"This is your chance, so seize it. Today the initiative is yours to take, God willing," he said in an online video uploaded Sunday. "Raise the flags of Shariah and guidance by the book ... and live under the rule of Islam."</div>
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Washington considers al-Qaida's Yemen branch to be the most dangerous offshoot of the terror network. Al-Qaida has played only a minor role the war, though it has added hundreds of young men to its ranks and is stockpiling weapons, several officials have said.</div>
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by By ADAM SCHRECK, Associated Press writer Maram Mazen in Cairo contributed to this report.</div>

SAUDI-LED COALITION POUNDS YEMEN REBELS NEAR CENTRAL CITY

The Saudi-led coalition targeting Yemen's Shiite rebels pounded the insurgents' positions Thursday with heavy artillery fire on t...

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YEMEN DRONE STRIKES KILL MORE CIVILIANS THAN TERRORISTS

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American drones strikes may have killed as many as 40 Yemeni civilians over the past year, the UN reported on Monday, offering a tally of the human cost of the long-running US campaign against al Qaeda in Yemen, which has continued amid the chaos of country's current war.<br />
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The data on drone strikes came from the latest report on Yemen issued by the UN's Office of the High Commissioner For Human Rights (OHCHR), which compiled accounts of human rights violations from July 1, 2014 to June 30 of this year.<br />
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The US first launched armed unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) over Yemen in 2002, but the bulk of strikes carried out by the aircraft have taken place since since 2011. According to figures maintained by the Bureau of Investigative Journalism's Drone War program, at least 101 people have been killed by confirmed drone strikes in Yemen, plus 26 to 61 others killed by "possible extra drone strikes." Between 156 and 365 civilians have also been killed in other covert missions since 2002, according to the group.<br />
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If accurate, the UN's estimates would represent a significant rise in confirmed civilian casualties in the country as a result of drone strikes.<br />
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"OHCHR received reliable information indicating that as many as 40 civilians, including a child, may have been killed during the period under review as a result of drone attacks in Al-Baida, Al-Jawf, Marib and Shabwah," the OHCHR report states.<br />
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Chris Woods, an investigative journalist with the airstrike-tracking website Airwars, said it is well known that the US is the only country operating armed drones in Yemen, particularly after Houthi rebels forced the Yemeni government to flee to Saudi Arabia's capital Riyadh in March. The US claims to exclusively target alleged members of al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP), widely considered the terror group's most dangerous franchise. In recent years, AQAP has had a hand in several of the most notorious planned terror attacks on aircraft, including a failed bombing attempt on Christmas Day in 2009 when a passenger tried to set off plastic explosives sewn to his underwear.<br />
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Though the US operates deadly drone-based counterterrorism operations in other countries, including Pakistan and Somalia, Woods said the strikes in Yemen appear to be carried out with fewer safeguards.<br />
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"The drone ops we tend to see in places like Yemen, I am absolutely sure they are using a different rule book because they are counter-terrorism targets and they're deemed to be higher value targets," Woods told VICE News. "That places civilians at greater risk on the ground. We see more civilians killed when it's counter-terrorism ops, because the targets are deemed as a threat to the US homeland and therefore there's a greater tolerance of collateral damage."<br />
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As Yemen's war worsened this year, US military forces in the country, who were involved in targeting drone strikes, were forced to leave. That development, said Woods, could make the strikes even less accurate, and lead to greater civilian casualties.<br />
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"The UN numbers are deeply worrying," said Woods. "Time and again we find that civilian casualties on the ground are completely counterproductive to America's long term strategic interests in the region."<br />
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The drone data was only a small part of OHCHR's reporting, which largely pertained to the ongoing conflict.<br />
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The UN cited both Houthi rebels and allies loyal to former Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh as responsible for 508 civilian casualties, predominantly due to indiscriminate shelling. The Saudi-led coalition that has fought the Houthis and their allies since they drove Yemeni President Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi to Riyadh in March were cited for 941 civilian deaths. Al Qaeda, which has capitalized on the ensuing chaos to capture some territory, claimed responsibility for attacks that killed 24 civilians — fewer non-combatants than the UN says may have been killed by the American drone program.<br />
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Last Thursday, the UN announced that Hadi, along with representatives from the Houthis and Saleh's General People's Congress, had agreed to commence peace talks this week. Over the weekend, however, Hadi said he had no such intentions, and refused to broach the question of peace talks until the Houthis retreat from all territory they have seized and lay down arms seized during their insurrection.<br />
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The abrupt turnaround recalled a July announcement about a humanitarian pause that the UN claimed was agreed to by all parties. That pause was violated almost immediately and wholly ignored by all sides.<br />
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Peace talks, unlike the pause, do not require a cessation of hostilities, and it remained unclear what made Hadi reportedly change his mind.<br />
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An email, written by UN special envoy for Yemen Ismail Ould Cheikh Ahmed, and leaked earlier this month, showed that officials felt the Saudis were not invested in peace talks, and appeared intent of defeating the Houthis militarily. On Monday, some UN officials said that they believed Hadi was pressured by the Saudis.<br />
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by Samuel Oakford of VICE Media

YEMEN DRONE STRIKES KILL MORE CIVILIANS THAN TERRORISTS

American drones strikes may have killed as many as 40 Yemeni civilians over the past year, the UN reported on Monday, offering a tally of...

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CLAIM: Saudis intercepted SCUD missile fired by Yemeni rebels

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SANAA, Yemen (AP) — Saudi Arabia said its military "intercepted and destroyed" a Scud missile fired across the border by Yemeni rebels early Wednesday. The Saudi military destroyed the missile's launch pad inside Yemen, Saudi's official news agency said. It said the missile was in the Jizan region in southern Saudi Arabia when it was intercepted.</div>
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The Shiite rebels, known as Houthis, said in a statement the missile hit a power plant in Jizan.</div>
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Yemen's conflict pits the Shiite Houthi rebels and troops loyal to a former president against an array of forces including southern separatists, local and tribal militias, Sunni Islamic militants as well as troops loyal to President Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi.</div>
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The Iran-supported Houthis took over the capital, Sanaa, last September, and in March a Saudi-led coalition started launching airstrikes against them</div>
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A high-ranking Saudi general was killed Sunday in Jizan by hostile fire. Several dozen Saudi soldiers have been killed in border attacks since the airstrikes began, mostly by missiles launched by the rebels and their allies.</div>
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The Saudi-led coalition meanwhile bombed several locations in Sanaa and in the central Marib province on Wednesday, according to tribal officials and security officials on both sides of the conflict.</div>
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Ground clashes were underway in Taiz, Yemen's third largest city, according to independent security officials, and in the town of Mukayris in the Bayda province, according to witnesses, independent security officials and the Houthis. The rebels said the coalition bombed areas in the northern provinces of Saada and Hajjah, and the western coastal Hodeida province.</div>
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All officials requested anonymity because they are not authorized to brief reporters.</div>

CLAIM: Saudis intercepted SCUD missile fired by Yemeni rebels

SANAA, Yemen (AP) — Saudi Arabia said its military "intercepted and destroyed" a Scud missile fired across the border by Yemeni...

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Yemen officials say al-Qaida seizes key areas of Aden

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SANAA, Yemen (AP) — Al-Qaida militants have seized control of key areas in and around Yemen's port city of Aden, high-ranking security officials said Saturday, a major gain for the group which has been making inroads amid the chaos of the country's civil war.</div>
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The move, part of a weekslong expansion in Aden in the wake of major fighting there between Shiite rebels known as Houthis and pro-government forces backed by Saudi Arabia, shows how the organization still holds formidable clout despite its relatively low-profile role in the country's raging civil war.</div>
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Fighters took Tawahi district, home to a presidential palace and Aden's main port, and were patrolling the streets, some carrying black banners, the officials said. The militants also took parts of Crater, Aden's commercial center, and parts of Dar Saad town, just north of Aden, including an army base that their fighters turned into a training camp, they added.</div>
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Security officials near the seized base, in Dar Saad's al-Lohoum district, said it is now training some 200 militants. The officials, who hail from the military, security forces and police, all spoke on condition of anonymity because they weren't authorized to speak to journalists.</div>
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Yemeni government spokesman Rajeh Badi, now based in Saudi Arabia, did not respond immediately to requests for comment.</div>
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Original Article: http://apnews.myway.com/article/20150822/ml--yemen-e611ea9ee3.html</div>

Yemen officials say al-Qaida seizes key areas of Aden

SANAA, Yemen (AP) — Al-Qaida militants have seized control of key areas in and around Yemen's port city of Aden, high-ranking secur...

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