YEMEN

End the War on Yemen

The History

The conflict in Yemen has been raging on for more than half a decade since Saudi Arabia, along with the help of other Gulf powers and the US and UK, intervened in the political situation of the country. The US and UK have participated in the war by providing intelligence to help the Saudi-led coalition conduct bombing raids, enforce a blockade that is the primary cause of the shortage of food and medicine, and supplying crucial parts for war planes that are necessary to continue bombing raids, among other support. The U.S. has continued to do this despite clear evidence of mass civilian casualties and purposeful starvation of the Yemeni populace that many experts say amounts to genocide.

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Our Goal

JFP is dedicated to pressuring lawmakers to end US military involvement in the Saudi-led coalition and to help create leverage to end U.S. participation in this brutal war on Yemen.

 

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Resources

What is the War Powers Resolution?
The US Senate made history in December 2018 when they passed SJRes7, the Yemen War Powers Resolution to end unauthorized US military involvement in the Saudi war on Yemen. It was the first War Powers Resolution to ever pass the both chambers of Congress since the original passage of the War Powers Resolution in 1973.

The passage of this War Powers Resolution has created leverage for peace talks, is saving lives and could lead to an end to the war.

Learn more

Visualizing Yemen’s invisible war

This multimedia special feature from The Yemen Peace Project explores the horrific consequences of US support for the Saudi-led intervention in Yemen, using first-hand accounts from airstrike survivors and exclusive visualizations of data from Yemen Data Project.

August 29 — Peace Concert for Yemen: Yemen Relief and Reconstruction Foundation fundraiser

  • A  virtual concert that will bring together musicians and activists to perform for peace and to raise funds for Yemenis in need.
  • Join us on August 29 at 8:00 p.m. Eastern. (Hosted by Yemen Relief and Reconstruction Foundation, Friends Committee on National Legistlation, Action Corps, and Demand Progress)

NEWS from FCNL: Sanders, Leahy, and Warren Introduce War Powers Resolution to End U.S. Involvement in Saudi War in Yemen

Sanders Can Call for Vote on Privileged Resolution Before End of July Work Period

WASHINGTON, July 14 – Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), along with Sens. Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) and Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), on Thursday introduced a joint resolution in the Senate to direct the removal of U.S. Armed Forces from unauthorized involvement in the war between the Saudi-led coalition and the Houthis in Yemen. The resolution, which is supported by a bipartisan group of more than 100 members of Congress in the House, is considered privileged in the Senate and can receive a vote on the floor as soon as ten calendar days following introduction.

“We must put an end to the unauthorized and unconstitutional involvement of U.S. Armed Forces in the catastrophic Saudi-led war in Yemen and Congress must take back its authority over war,” said Sen. Sanders. “More than 85,000 children in Yemen have already starved and millions more are facing imminent famine and death. More than 70 percent of Yemen’s population currently rely on humanitarian food assistance and the UN has warned the death toll could climb to 1.3 million people by 2030. This war has created the world’s worst humanitarian crisis today and it is past time to end U.S. complicity in those horrors. Let us pass this resolution, so we can focus on diplomacy to end this war.”

“The war in Yemen has been an unmitigated disaster for which all parties to the conflict share responsibility,” said Sen. Leahy. “Why are we supporting a corrupt theocracy that brutalizes its own people, in a war that is best known for causing immense suffering and death among impoverished, defenseless civilians? Congress never agreed to this war. Absent a congressional declaration of war that is required by the Constitution and the War Powers Act, Congress should end U.S. support for the Saudi military’s indiscriminate bombing, naval blockade, and other involvement in Yemen.”

“Millions of innocent Yemenis have endured untold suffering and a humanitarian catastrophe since the Yemeni civil war began,” said Sen. Warren. “The American people, through their elected representatives in Congress, never authorized U.S. involvement in the war – but Congress abdicated its constitutional powers and failed to prevent our country from involving itself in this crisis. The U.S. must immediately end its support for Saudi-led coalition in Yemen unless explicitly authorized by Congress.”

While there is currently a fragile cease-fire that has halted Saudi-led coalition airstrikes on civilians, there remains an inhumane aerial and naval blockade in place that is limiting travel and preventing food, fuel, and medical supplies from entering Yemen. Since the war began in 2015, more than 377,000 people have been killed – 60 percent of which can be attributed to nonmilitant reasons such as hunger, disease, and lack of clean water. In that time, the Saudi-led coalition has conducted over 23,000 airstrikes in Yemen that have killed almost 19,000 civilians, all while the U.S. has administered almost $55 billion in military support to Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.

At the start of his administration, President Biden pledged to halt support for Saudi-led “offensive” operations in Yemen. Unfortunately, the U.S. continues to provide maintenance, logistics support, and spare parts that enable the Saudi Air Force to continue to operate. The Yemen War Powers Resolution would follow through on Biden’s pledge by ending U.S. support for Saudi-led attacks on Yemen, including:

  1. Ending U.S. intelligence sharing for the purpose of enabling offensive Saudi-led coalition strikes.

  2. Ending U.S. logistical support for offensive Saudi-led coalition strikes, including the provision of maintenance and spare parts to coalition members flying warplanes which are bombing Yemen.

  3. Prohibiting U.S. military personnel from being assigned to command, coordinate, participate in the movement of, or accompany Saudi-led coalition forces engaged in hostilities without specific statutory authorization.

Read the resolution text, here.

 

In the House of Representatives, the Yemen War Powers Resolution (H.J.Res. 87) was supported by Rep. Gwen Moore. You can send a letter of thanks here:

https://fcnl.quorum.us/campaign/37146/?utm_source=fcnlaction

 

Seeking accountability for U.S. involvement in civilian harm in Yemen

We need to know whether and how U.S. weapons are being used in the Saudi-led war in Yemen. As part of a larger package deal, a bipartisan majority approved an amendment from Rep. Ted Lieu (CA-33) requiring the State Department to develop guidance for investigating such use. This comes on the heels of a report by the Government Accountability Office that found that we lack adequate information on the extent to which U.S. military support has contributed to civilian harm in Yemen.


Saudi-led airstrikes in Yemen have been called war crimes. Many relied on U.S. support.

A joint Washington Post analysis reveals for the first time that the United States supported
the majority of air force squadrons involved in the Saudi coalition’s years-old air campaign

By Joyce Sohyun Lee

Meg Kelly

 and 

Atthar Mirza

 

June 4, 2022

As global attention focused on Russia’s invasion of Ukraine earlier this year, the Saudi-led coalition carried out more than 150 airstrikes on civilian targets in Yemen, including homes, hospitals and communication towers, according to the Yemen Data Project. It was the latest uptick in bombing during a grinding, and often overlooked, civil war that has upended the lives of Yemeni civilians for the better part of a decade and spawned one of the world’s most severe humanitarian crises.

Hundreds of thousands have died from the fighting or its indirect consequences, such as hunger, the United Nations says. The devastating air campaign alone — carried out by a Saudi-led coalition — has killed almost 24,000 people, a number that includes combatants and nearly 9,000 civilians, according to conservative estimates by the Armed Conflict Location and Event Data Project (ACLED), which monitors war zones around the world.

While Russia’s bombings of a maternity hospital and other civilian targets in Ukraine have drawn widespread public indignation as war crimes, thousands of similar strikes have taken place against Yemeni civilians. The indiscriminate bombings have become a hallmark of the Yemen war, drawing international scrutiny of the countries participating in the air campaign, and those arming them, including the United States. U.S. support for the Saudi war effort, which has been criticized by human rights groups and some in Congress, began during the Obama administration and has continued in fits and starts for seven years.

New analysis by The Washington Post and Security Force Monitor at Columbia Law School’s Human Rights Institute (SFM) provides the most complete picture yet of the depth and breadth of U.S. support for the Saudi-led air campaign, revealing that a substantial portion of the air raids were carried out by jets developed, maintained and sold by U.S. companies, and by pilots who were trained by the U.S. military.

The Biden administration in 2021 announced an end to U.S. military support for “offensive operations” carried out by the Saudi-led coalition against Yemen’s Houthi rebels and suspended some munition sales. But maintenance contracts fulfilled by both the U.S. military and U.S. companies to coalition squadrons carrying out offensive missions have continued, The Post’s analysis shows.

Morocco

Kuwait

Bahrain

Jordan

Qatar

Saudi-led military coalition

Egypt

UAE

Saudi Arabia

Yemen

Sudan

500 MILES

The Post and SFM reviewed more than 3,000 publicly available images, news releases, media reports and videos identifying for the first time 19 fighter jet squadrons that took part in the Saudi-led air campaign in Yemen. More than half of the squadrons that participated in the air war came from Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates — the two countries that carried out the majority of the air raids and receive substantial U.S. assistance.

An analysis of public contract announcements shows that the United States provided arms, training or maintenance support to the majority of the fighter jet squadrons in the campaign. The Post found that as many as 94 U.S. contracts were awarded to individual Saudi and UAE squadrons since the war began.

Despite Pentagon statements that it is difficult to pinpoint which units in foreign militaries receive U.S. assistance, The Post-SFM analysis identified specific airstrike squadrons that received U.S. support, proving the universe of squadrons carrying out airstrikes is a narrow and knowable one.

“For most coalition countries, there is no way for [America] to support their planes without supporting squadrons that may be linked to airstrikes that human rights groups say are apparent war crimes,” said Tony Wilson, the director of Security Force Monitor.

The analysis revealed that 39 squadrons from Saudi-led coalition member states flew aircraft with airstrike capabilities. The majority of these units flew fighter jets that were developed and sold by American companies.

The Post and the Security Force Monitor used visual evidence from state media, news reports and government releases to identify 19 fighter squadrons that definitely took part in the air campaign in Yemen since 2015.

A review of more than 900 publicly available sales announcements revealed that the four squadrons from Saudi Arabia that fly F-15S/SA planes benefited — and the remaining 15 squadrons probably benefited — from U.S. weapons and equipment contracts signed after the start of the war.

At least one squadron each from Bahrain, Kuwait and the UAE benefited from U.S. contracts because of support going to a type of plane, but lack of specificity in information published by the Department of Defense makes it impossible to know the exact squadron.

The Post additionally reviewed more than 1,500 videos, photos and public statements by the Department of Defense and coalition members since the war began and found the United States participated in joint exercises with at least 80 percent of squadrons that flew airstrike missions in Yemen. At least four times, these exercises took place on U.S. soil.

In some instances, The Post and SFM could only determine that certain squadrons were likely to have benefited from U.S. contracts. Sales announcements never name specific squadrons that will benefit, only a type of plane or piece of equipment being sold. Thus for certain squadrons, The Post and SFM could only determine probability because every coalition country has at least two airstrike squadrons flying the same type of plane.

The Saudi-led coalition and every member state except Qatar did not respond to The Post’s request for comment on the report’s findings. A Qatar official familiar with the country’s role in Yemen told The Post that Qatar left the coalition in June 2017, but they did not answer questions about the country’s involvement in the air raids over Yemen.

When presented with the findings, the Defense and State departments pointed to the steps the Biden administration had taken to end the war in Yemen, the U.S. decision to end aerial refueling for coalition aircraft in 2018 and the ongoing trainings to reduce civilian casualties.

“America’s alliances and partnerships are our greatest asset, and so we are committed to standing shoulder-to-shoulder with our key partners in the Middle East,” said Army Maj. Rob Lodewick, a Pentagon spokesman. But, he acknowledged that “considerable work remains to be done” with the Royal Saudi Armed Forces’ targeting procedures and investigative capacity.

“Both [Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates] face significant threat to their territories,” State Department spokesman Ned Price told The Post, noting that the Houthis had launched hundreds of cross-border attacks on Saudi Arabia in just the last year. “We are committed to continuing to strengthen those countries’ defenses,” Price said.

The contracts reviewed for the analysis are only a small fraction of total U.S. arms sales to coalition countries. The specifics of certain sales are never released to the public. One such case is a direct commercial sale where American companies sell directly to governments, as opposed to foreign military sales where the U.S. government is the seller. Others — including arms deals that are valued at less than $14 million — do not require congressional review and so are not generally publicly announced.

The Post additionally reviewed more than 1,500 videos, photos and public statements by the Department of Defense and coalition members since the war began and found the United States participated in joint exercises with at least 80 percent of squadrons that flew airstrike missions in Yemen. At least four times, these exercises took place on U.S. soil.

In some instances, The Post and SFM could only determine that certain squadrons were likely to have benefited from U.S. contracts. Sales announcements never name specific squadrons that will benefit, only a type of plane or piece of equipment being sold. Thus for certain squadrons, The Post and SFM could only determine probability because every coalition country has at least two airstrike squadrons flying the same type of plane.

The Saudi-led coalition and every member state except Qatar did not respond to The Post’s request for comment on the report’s findings. A Qatar official familiar with the country’s role in Yemen told The Post that Qatar left the coalition in June 2017, but they did not answer questions about the country’s involvement in the air raids over Yemen.

When presented with the findings, the Defense and State departments pointed to the steps the Biden administration had taken to end the war in Yemen, the U.S. decision to end aerial refueling for coalition aircraft in 2018 and the ongoing trainings to reduce civilian casualties.

“America’s alliances and partnerships are our greatest asset, and so we are committed to standing shoulder-to-shoulder with our key partners in the Middle East,” said Army Maj. Rob Lodewick, a Pentagon spokesman. But, he acknowledged that “considerable work remains to be done” with the Royal Saudi Armed Forces’ targeting procedures and investigative capacity.

“Both [Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates] face significant threat to their territories,” State Department spokesman Ned Price told The Post, noting that the Houthis had launched hundreds of cross-border attacks on Saudi Arabia in just the last year. “We are committed to continuing to strengthen those countries’ defenses,” Price said.

The contracts reviewed for the analysis are only a small fraction of total U.S. arms sales to coalition countries. The specifics of certain sales are never released to the public. One such case is a direct commercial sale where American companies sell directly to governments, as opposed to foreign military sales where the U.S. government is the seller. Others — including arms deals that are valued at less than $14 million — do not require congressional review and so are not generally publicly announced.

Broadcasters reporting from Saudi air bases claimed to show the F-15SA, an American fighter jet sold to the Saudis in 2010 as part of a $29 billion deal, taking off to conduct airstrikes in Yemen as early as 2018. The F-15S and F-15SA fighter jets — flown by Saudi’s 6th, 29th, 55th and 92nd squadrons — were regularly promoted by Saudi state media as key to the coalition’s air campaign.

The last F-15SA was delivered to Saudi Arabia in 2020, and dozens of contracts supporting the new fleet and the upgrade of the other F-15s were awarded after 2015. A review of annual State Department reports by the Security Assistance Monitor show the Defense and State departments planned sales of approximately $2 million in F-15 trainings for Saudi aviators, including fighter jet trainings, through foreign military sales between fiscal years 2015 to 2020. The reports do not include any trainings that may have been purchased through direct commercial sales.

An analysis of news releases, videos and photos reveals for the first time at least three of these four Saudi squadrons not only received new equipment but participated in at least 13 trainings and joint exercises — including at least one on U.S. soil. A new training unit of F-15 SA fighter jets participated in a Red Flag exercise at Nellis Air Force Base with U.S. pilots as recently as March 2022.

Since 2015, human rights groups investigating the airstrikes have identified more than 300 that violated or appeared to violate international law, according to The Post and SFM’s survey of publicly available reports and documents. Although individual squadrons have never publicly been implicated in specific airstrikes, which are always described as being carried out by the coalition, the then-head of U.S. Central Command, Gen. Joseph Votel, confirmed in 2019 testimony that the United States had access to a detailed database of the coalition’s airstrikes in Yemen.

“We do have a database that does have that information and we have the ability to see that,” he said in response to a question from Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) asking if U.S. military personnel based at the Saudi-coalition headquarters readily had access to “a database that detailed every airstrike: warplane, target, munitions used and a brief description of the attack.”

The database’s existence suggests some American officials had more knowledge of which weapons were used and which squadrons participated in airstrikes leading to civilian harm than the public and members of Congress had been told they had. The U.S. Air Force declined a Freedom of Information Act request by The Post to access the database, claiming it did not have the records.

The United States is prohibited from providing security assistance to units of foreign security forces credibly implicated in the commission of a gross violation of human rights, according to two statutes known as “Leahy Laws” after their main sponsor, Sen. Patrick J. Leahy (D-Vt.). However, since the Clinton era, subsequent administrations have interpreted that the vetting of units under these laws only occurs when the security assistance — be it training, equipment or other assistance — is financed by the State Department or Defense Department, said Sarah Harrison, a senior analyst with the International Crisis Group and former associate general counsel at the Defense Department.

Wealthy countries, like Saudi Arabia and the UAE, are not subject to such vetting because they typically pay for all assistance through foreign military sales or direct commercial sales. Leahy “has long insisted that as a matter of policy, it makes no sense to have one such standard for weapons that we given to a foreign security force, and another for weapons that we sell to that same security force,” said Tim Rieser, the senior foreign policy aid to the senator.

The Defense Department did not respond to requests from The Post to clarify if and how these units might have been vetted or if Leahy’s provisions did not apply ahead of joint exercises or additional weapons deliveries.

Aiding and abetting

As early as March 2015, U.S. officials worried that coalition airstrikes may have violated the rules of war. Internal State Department documents, written between mid-May 2015 and February 2016 and released as part of a Freedom of Information Act request by Reuters, revealed concern at the State Department about the Saudi-led coalition’s airstrikes and the legal implications for U.S. officials.

Aiding and abetting war crimes under international law has been applied differently in courts, including domestic ones. Under one standard, individuals or a state may be found guilty of aiding and abetting if they continued to provide assistance to a problematic actor with knowledge that their support would contribute to future crimes and despite assurances.

“As long as the international humanitarian law violations by the Saudis and U.S. sales to support those operations are both ongoing, there are serious concerns about U.S. complicity in the Saudi war crimes that result,” said Oona Hathaway, a professor of law and political science at Yale Law School.

The United States implemented multiple measures aimed at curbing civilian harm beginning in 2016, including sending advisers, adding “civilian casualty avoidance, the law of armed conflict, human rights command and control” training for the Royal Saudi Air Force and by 2019, four years into the war, adopting a policy requiring that precision-guided missiles be sold with appropriate targeting infrastructure.

The United States implemented multiple measures aimed at curbing civilian harm beginning in 2016, including sending advisers, adding “civilian casualty avoidance, the law of armed conflict, human rights command and control” training for the Royal Saudi Air Force and by 2019, four years into the war, adopting a policy requiring that precision-guided missiles be sold with appropriate targeting infrastructure.

Yemen is in its longest period of no airstrikes under a cease-fire that began during the Islamic holy month of Ramadan and was renewed Thursday. Biden welcomed the continued truce, noting the United States will remain engaged with the diplomatic process over the coming weeks and months.

The months preceding the truce saw the longest sustained period of airstrikes since 2018, according to Iona Craig, the director of the Yemen Data Project, a nonprofit organization that tracks air raids. Strike data showed the escalation began in October 2021, the same month that the United Nations Human Rights Council voted to end its independent investigatory group on Yemen.

Transparency into the world of arms sales — particularly as it pertains to U.S. allies in the Saudi-led coalition — has long been muddied by complex laws, an alphabet soup of government agencies and deep U.S. interests abroad.

Still, “to have the U.S., over successive administrations, sell billions of dollars worth of weapons to governments that have carried out, over years, airstrikes on hospitals, markets, food production facilities and prisons: [Those] attacks have killed thousands of civilians,” said Priyanka Motaparthy, director of the Counterterrorism, Armed Conflict and Human Rights Project at Columbia University Law School’s Human Rights Institute. “It does not serve them well in the court of public opinion, or in the annals of history.”

Missy Ryan, Kareem Fahim and Alex Horton contributed to this report.


Thank you to Gwen MoorePeter DeFazio, Congresswoman Pramila Jayapal, Congressman Adam Schiff, Congresswoman Nancy Mace, and the 40+ Representatives who are working to end U.S. complicity in the suffering and death of the Yemeni people.
Don't see your Representative? Give 'em a call and urge them to support a War Powers Resolution for Yemen. https://bit.ly/YemenWarPowersRes

A FRAGILE TRUCE IN YEMEN

As lawmakers move to end US complicity in the Saudi-led war, warring parties take a stab at peace.

At the eleventh hour just last week, parties to Yemen’s eight-year war extended their two-month truce, which is a positive development. While some have said the reasoning is “unclear,” a recent introduction of a War Powers Resolution by Congress can easily be viewed as a critical factor in the extension. To make this peace truly permanent, Congress must pass the resolution and end US support for Saudi Arabia’s brutal war.

Yet, as Congress is considering finally using its leverage, President Joe Biden appears adamant about abandoning his. Biden had promised to make Saudi Arabia a “pariah” and had released the intelligence that implicated MBS in the brutal killing of Washington Post journalist Jamal Khashoggi. But now, for the sake of oil price concerns, Biden is breaking his rule of not dealing directly with Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman (referred to as MBS). Instead, he plans on traveling to the region to meet directly with MBS (albeit now delayed) and formalize a US security commitment with the Saudis and other Arab partners.

US ACTIONS ARE CRUCIAL IN INFLUENCING PEACE NEGOTIATIONS FOR ENDING SAUDI ARABIA’S BRUTAL WAR ON YEMEN.

Biden’s shift is troubling and could also have drastic implications for US policy and Yemen. For example, if US pressure to end the war evaporates, the Saudis, Emiratis, and their proxies will likely push to escalate fighting once the extended truce ends in early August 2022. The Houthis will respond in kind, regardless of the consequences for civilians, even though over 400,000 of them have been killed due to the war.

However, if the War Powers Resolution passes, it would effectively ground the Saudi Royal Air Force, significantly limiting the Saudis’ capacity to keep fighting. MBS is eager to avoid the humiliation of being unable to operate his air force, and this prospect represents a key factor in his apparent decision to encourage his Yemeni partners to renew the ceasefire.

A PRACTICE RUN 

The two-month truce was relatively successful: The Saudis halted airstrikes and allowed in 12 fuel ships, plus three flights from Sana’a airport in Yemen to Jordan, while the Houthis ceased transborder attacks on Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates. Humanitarian groups, such as the World Food Program, have also been able to access populations previously isolated by fighting. With news of the truce’s extension, hopes may grow that Yemen’s eight-year war could finally end.

But that is only likely if the United States maintains pressure on the Saudis. The warring parties have profited from the break-in hostilities to consolidate their military positions. If the fighting resumes, it’s expected to be even worse than the escalations in January 2022 — already one of the bloodiest months in the entire war. In that month, Saudi Arabia targeted a detention center and vital communications infrastructure, killing at least 90 civilians, wounding 200 more, and triggering a nationwide internet blackout.

The forces commanded by the newly appointed Presidential Leadership Council reflect unprecedented unity among the anti-Houthi camp, and the Council, as well as their Saudi and Emirati backers, are likely itching to test their new strength. In addition, the Houthis appear poised to redouble their efforts to take the strategic city of Marib, as reports from Marib indicate that Houthi offensives continued despite the truce.

During negotiations for a cessation of hostilities over the port city of Hodeidah in 2018, US actions were crucial in influencing what happens in Yemen. Moreover, the near-simultaneous introduction of a new War Powers Resolution and the renewal of the truce demonstrate that US influence remains a crucial factor. This new Yemen War Powers Resolution invokes Congress’s constitutional war powers under the War Powers Act of 1973 to end unauthorized US military participation in the Saudi-led war in Yemen. If passed, the resolution would prohibit the US military from providing intelligence sharing, logistical support, maintenance, and spare parts to Saudi warplanes conducting offensive operations against the Houthis in Yemen.

Now it is time to make that US influence a permanent factor.

FINALLY TAKING A STAND 

Members of the House and Senate must reassert their constitutional war authority and finally end US military support for a war that has helped kill nearly half a million civilians and driven millions more to the edge of famine. By doing so, they will hasten Saudi Arabia’s understanding that there is no military solution in Yemen and that the US military will no longer remain complicit in Yemen’s misery. It will also send a message to the White House that it must keep its promise to end the blind support for a regime intent on cracking down on dissidents at home and destroying Yemen.

While the United States can’t unilaterally bring about peace, it must use its leverage to persuade Saudi Arabia and its proxies to stay at the negotiating table to extend this truce and finally, end the Yemen war. Congress has an opportunity to do just that.

Hassan El-Tayyab is the Legislative Director for Middle East Policy at the Friends Committee on National Legislation.

Annelle Sheline is a Middle East Research Fellow at the Quincy Institute.


The mobilization for Yemen is a powerful model for today’s peace movement

By emphasizing support and solidarity, groups led primarily by Yemeni-American women are building momentum to end the world’s “forgotten war.”

Aswat Ensemble

https://www.facebook.com/aswat.ensemble/videos/544335937409458


Yemen Can't Wait Webinar 4/21/2022

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RGyjktSlTlY


National Coalition Demands End to Military Support of War on Yemen

https://www.fcnl.org/updates/2022-04/national-coalition-demands-end-military-support-war-yemen


When the Music Stops: Yemen, Art and War

DeclassifiedUK published this on March 2

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5O5OtjAyslc

This January, [Saudi] jets killed over 90 people in the bombing of a migrant detention centre. It was one of the worst atrocities of the entire Yemen war, which has been marked by countless war crimes and civilian massacres – like we are tragically now seeing in Ukraine. 

Amnesty International says a missile fragment found in the detention centre wreckage showed the weapon responsible was made by Raytheon, a US company with factories in Britain. Their equipment has been repeatedly linked to atrocities in Yemen, including the bombing of a wedding

Raytheon refused to comment when asked about alleged atrocities using Raytheon weapons.

Raytheon's CEO bragged on its earnings conference call that the wars in Yemen, Eastern Europe, and China that Raytheon will see benefit from it.

  Every 75 seconds a child dies from starvation in Yemen

https://every75seconds.org/?fbclid=IwAR3R0ESfswuCgYsmm0Kfb2mc47_WBqBfER4xwyq34nhyGJQJt7Yb3AMnZo4


From Friends Committee on National Legislation-

Saudi Arabia’s War and Blockade on Yemen

https://www.fcnl.org/issues/middle-east-iran/yemen

 https://fcnl.quorum.us/campaign/37146/?utm_source=fcnlaction

Since 2015, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, and other Gulf states, with the support of the United States, have been conducting a military campaign in Yemen aimed at ousting the Houthi faction.

Indiscriminate bombing of civilian targets, including hospitals, schools, and water treatment plants, as well as the blockading of Yemeni ports—committed largely with U.S. weapons and logistical support—have resulted in what the UN has described as the world’s worst humanitarian crisis with millions of Yemenis pushed to the edge of famine.

The ongoing Saudi blockade and thousands of gruesome air strikes have left the country’s population vulnerable and its vital infrastructures in ruin. The independent Yemeni organization Mwatana for Human Rights reported that 35 coalition air raids on 32 health facilities occurred between 2015 and 2018. Despite Congress passing legislation to end U.S. military support and block arms sales to Saudi Arabia, the United States continues to provide intelligence sharing and maintenance support for Saudi-led coalition warplanes and billions of dollars in weapons sales.

Congress must pass legislation to end military support and weapons sales, restore humanitarian aid funding, and promote robust diplomacy to bring the war to an end.

The situation in Yemen has grown increasingly dire with the spread of COVID-19. Yemen is one of the most vulnerable countries to the coronavirus, given that nearly 80 percent of Yemenis are considered immunosuppressed. Yemenis who do contract the virus have limited access to the country’s health care facilities, since 50 percent have been destroyed or shut down.

The situation has been compounded by a 50% cut in aid to most of the country by the World Food Program, the reduction or closing of three quarters of all major UN aid programs, and a rollback of World Health Organization programming. As Lise Grande, the UN humanitarian coordinator for Yemen, has previously said, “Yemen needs support now—literally, right now. There are shortages of absolutely everything that’s needed to treat the people who are likely to become ill.”

FCNL’s work in Yemen is far from over, and we continue to seek federal policies and practices that avoid violence and embrace peace. Congress must pass legislation to end military support and weapons sales, endorse diplomacy and restore humanitarian aid funding, and use robust diplomacy to pressure the Saudi-led coalition into bringing the war to an end.

Hassan El-Tayyab

Legislative Director for Middle East Policy

https://www.fcnl.org/people/hassan-el-tayyab


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The People of Yemen Suffer Atrocities, Too

By Kathy Kelly, World BEYOND War, March 21, 2022

The United Nations’ goal was to raise more than $4.2 billion for the people of war-torn Yemen by March 15. But when that deadline rolled around, just $1.3 billion had come in.

“I am deeply disappointed,” said Jan Egeland, the secretary general of the Norwegian Refugee Council. “The people of Yemen need the same level of support and solidarity that we’ve seen for the people of Ukraine. The crisis in Europe will dramatically impact Yemenis’ access to food and fuel, making an already dire situation even worse.”

With Yemen importing more than 35% of its wheat from Russia and Ukraine, disruption to wheat supplies will cause soaring increases in the price of food.

“Since the onset of the Ukraine conflict, we have seen the prices of food skyrocket by more than 150 percent,” said Basheer Al Selwi, a spokesperson for the International Commission of the Red Cross in Yemen. “Millions of Yemeni families don’t know how to get their next meal.”

The ghastly blockade and bombardment of Yemen, led by Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, is now entering its eighth year. The United Nations estimated last fall that the Yemen death toll would top 377,000 people by the end of 2021.

The United States continues to supply spare parts for Saudi/UAE coalition war planes, along with maintenance and a steady flow of armaments. Without this support, the Saudis couldn’t continue their murderous aerial attacks.

Yet tragically, instead of condemning atrocities committed by the Saudi/UAE invasion, bombing and blockade of Yemen, the United States is cozying up to the leaders of these countries. As sanctions against Russia disrupt global oil sales, the United States is entering talks to become increasingly reliant on Saudi and UAE oil production. And Saudi Arabia and the UAE don’t want to increase their oil production without a U.S. agreement to help them increase their attacks against Yemen.

Human rights groups have decried the Saudi/UAE-led coalition for bombing roadways, fisheries, sewage and sanitation facilities, weddings, funerals and even a children’s school bus. In a recent attack, the Saudis killed sixty African migrants held in a detention center in Saada.

The Saudi blockade of Yemen has choked off essential imports needed for daily life, forcing the Yemeni people to depend on relief groups for survival.

There is another way. U.S. Reps. Pramila Jayapal of Washington and Peter De Fazio of Oregon, both Democrats, are now seeking cosponsors for the Yemen War Powers Resolution. It demands that Congress cut military support for the Saudi/UAE-led coalition’s war against Yemen.

On March 12, Saudi Arabia executed 81 people, including seven Yemenis – two of them prisoners of war and five of them accused of criticizing the Saudi war against Yemen.

Just two days after the mass execution, the Gulf Corporation Council, including many of the coalition partners attacking Yemen, announced Saudi willingness to host peace talks in their own capital city of Riyadh, requiring Yemen’s Ansar Allah leaders (informally known as Houthis) to risk execution by Saudi Arabia in order to discuss the war.

The Saudis have long insisted on a deeply flawed U.N. resolution which calls on the Houthi fighters to disarm but never even mentions the U.S. backed Saudi/UAE coalition as being among the warring parties. The Houthis say they will come to the negotiating table but cannot rely on the Saudis as mediators. This seems reasonable, given Saudi Arabia’s vengeful treatment of Yemenis.

The people of the United States have the right to insist that U.S. foreign policy be predicated on respect for human rights, equitable sharing of resources and an earnest commitment to end all wars. We should urge Congress to use the leverage it has for preventing continued aerial bombardment of Yemen and sponsor Jayapal’s and De Fazio’s forthcoming resolution.

We can also summon the humility and courage to acknowledge U.S. attacks against Yemeni civilians, make reparations and repair the dreadful systems undergirding our unbridled militarism.

Kathy Kelly, a peace activist and author, co-coordinates the Ban Killer Drones campaign and is board president of World BEYOND War.  A shortened version of this article produced for Progressive Perspectives, which is run by The Progressive magazine



National Day of Action to End US Support for the War in Yemen

Tuesday, March 1st - Friends Committee on National Legislation Milwaukee Advocacy Team meeting with WI Rep. Gwen Moore's Aide, Chris Goldsen.

WE asked Rep. Moore to support the War Powers Resolution that will be out this month. WE pointed out that US material support of the war and blockade are unconstitutional. 
We asked her to oppose arms sales to Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.
We spoke about how the US is providing intelligence reports, spare parts, refueling, military training and advice that enables the Saudi coalition to continue the 7th year of war on Yemen.
WE asked her to support an increase in humanitarian spending.
image.png
Screen shot of the zoom meeting.
 
Peace for Yemen,
Pam Richard

 From Friends Committee on National Legislation-

 

End US Complicity in Saudi Arabia’s War and Blockade on Yemen
INTERACTIVE- Yemen war - air raids on YemenINTERACTIVE- Yemen war - Middle East military spending

 

  • 14,630 children have died so far in 2022, according to the worst-case estimates. In 2022, worst-case estimates are that 400,000 Yemeni children may die — one every 75 seconds or more than 1,100 per day (World Food Program and United Nations
  • Since the beginning of the Yemeni Civil War, at least 230,000 civilians have died — some 131,000 from indirect causes such as lack of food (UN), 85,000 children may have died between April 2015 and October 2018 (Save the Children)
  • As the situation deteriorates, 16 million Yemenis are on the brink of starvation with 2.3 million children under 5 suffering acute malnutrition; a spike in food prices and a further collapse of Yemen's currency in summer 2021 is driving even more children to hunger (UNWorld Food Program, and Save the Children)
  • Yemen is facing one of the world’s worst humanitarian crises as the war there enters its eighth year.

    The UN estimates the war had killed 377,000 people as of the end of 2021, both directly and indirectly through hunger and disease – 70 percent of those deaths are children.

The United States can stop this — by ending the Saudi blockade of Yemen!

Sponsored by End the Wars Coalition, Peace Action WI, Women’s Int’l League for Peace & Freedom-MKE, Friends Committee on National Legislation Milwaukee, Progressive Democrats of WI, Veterans for Peace Chapter 102, Milwaukee Public Enterprise Committee, United Nation Association of Milwaukee


 

INTERACTIVE- Yemen war - humanitarian situation(Al Jazeera)

INTERACTIVE - Yemen war - key players in the current conflict


THE GLOBAL LINKS OF THE RECENT ESCALATION IN THE YEMEN CONFLICT

The failure of the UN to play its primary role of a peacemaker in Yemen affects its humanitarian interventions.

Provides opportunities for the global war industry to make profits out of human misery.

The last month has seen a drastic escalation in the war in Yemen. According to the UN, January will most likely be the month with the highest ever casualties reported since the war began in 2014. The January 21 strike on a prison in Sa’ada which killed 91 people marked the highest death toll in a single strike in the last three years. The number of airstrikes carried out by the Saudi Arabia-led coalition last December was already the highest in years. In all likelihood, this figure will be even higher by the end of January.

On the other hand, the Houthis have demonstrated their capacity and willingness to retaliate against members of the Saudi-led coalition by sending drones and missiles hundreds of miles away to Abu Dhabi.

Exactly at a time when decisive international intervention to find a political solution to end the war is needed, the UN and the international community have shown their unwillingness to take the extra efforts required. This has encouraged the Saudi-led coalition to push harder to realize their regional ambitions and the war industry to make profits despite the obvious human costs.

Battle For Marib

The recent escalation in Yemen is attributed to the UAE’s increased involvement in ground offensives against the Houthis in Marib and Sabwah provinces located in the southern parts of the country and considered crucial for the future of the Saudi-led coalition’s presence. The regions also have significant natural resources such as oil and gas.

The Houthis lost their advances made after months of being on the offensive on both the fronts earlier this month. The loss is directly attributed to the UAE’s increased intervention on the ground through the so-called Giant Brigade. The advances made by the Saudi-led coalition have helped the forces loyal to Abdrabbuh Masour Hadi and may shatter the Houthis’ hopes to gain control over resources crucial to maintain the economy to serve the majority of the population in the north.

The Houthis’ actions against the UAE, such as seizure of its ship in the Red Sea and attacks on Abu Dhabi, can be seen as a message to the country’s rulers about the consequences of their intervention in Yemen.

Failure Of The UN

The United Nations has failed to play a constructive role to achieve peace in Yemen and has increasingly limited its role as a relief agency. It has refused to reconsider Resolution 2216 adopted in 2015, which imposes sanctions on the Houthis despite the changes in the reality on the ground. It has ignored the fact that the actual government in Sanaa run by the Houthis is a legitimate party in the conflict. The UN has continued to support the Hadi government, which has limited its acceptability and made it appear biased and compromised in the eyes of the Houthis.

As Nabeel Khoury told Al-Jazeera, the UN has failed to convince the parties of the war that all the natural resources in the country – in Marib and elsewhere – have to be shared by all. It has instead repeated the position taken by the Saudi-led coalition that the Hadi government is the only legitimate one in the country.

In October last year, the UN failed to renew the mandate of the Group of Imminent Experts on Yemen, effectively stopping its investigations into the war crimes and human right violations being committed in the country. With the only means of international accountability for the parties involved in the war being removed, they were given a free hand to escalate the war. The rise in the number of the Saudi coalition’s airstrikes in the aftermath of this decision acts as proof.

The failure of the UN to play any significant role in resolving the conflict in Yemen is clear as it has even failed to convince the Saudi coalition to end its criminal air, sea, and land blockade of Yemen, leading to growing disenchantment about the UN’s humanitarian role in the country. In the last two years, using the situation created by the COVID-19 pandemic, several countries have reduced their funding to agencies that are working to provide crucial humanitarian aid to millions of Yemenis. This has resulted in an increase in the food insecure population and forced several UN agencies to reduce their role at a time when the people need it the most.

A War For Corporate Gains

The attacks on Abu Dhabi have opened new possibilities for the global war industry. After the January 17 attacks, the US, in addition to expressing solidarity with the UAE, also offered fresh supplies of weapons to the country. This was despite the expressed position of the Biden administration in the months after taking office last year of ending US involvement in the war in Yemen.

The Biden administration decided to sell USD 23 billion worth of armaments to the UAE last year and also vowed to supply so-called “defensive weapons” to Saudi Arabia. The rejoicing among the world’s largest weapon manufacturers following the Abu Dhabi attacks underlines the well-known fact of the profitability of sustained global conflicts. This also raises questions with regard to the dubious role of the Biden administration in the war in Yemen, which has also prevented political resolutions in the UN Security Council.

INTERACTIVE - Yemen war - who controls what


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  • Pamela Richard
    published this page 2022-02-02 13:19:16 -0600