By Randi Nord
Source: Geopolitics Alert
Sana’a (GPA) – While the mainstream media focuses on condemning President Trump for pulling US troops out of Syria, Yemen faces a national health crisis. The last functioning hospitals across multiple major cities in Yemen will shut their doors and stop providing services to patients. Geopolitics Alert spoke with Yemen’s Ministry of Health spokesman Yousuf Al-Haidari to discuss the repercussions of this crisis.

Yemen has completely run out of fuel.

Imagine how communities across the United States would screech to a halt if gas stations simply ran dry one day. People couldn’t drive to work. Families couldn’t cook food. Homes wouldn’t have hot water to clean or bathe.

For a country living under siege like Yemen, lack of gas also means that hospitals must close. Most hospitals have reduced their working hours and the rest are preparing to close entirely.

“There are hundreds of thousands of patients, if not millions, who will die quickly and slowly, they will die in pain. Who will provide oil to millions of Yemenis who need transportation to reach these hospitals? Who will provide transportation for the 6,000 kidney failure patients to the health center twice a week? Who will provide fuel to the private sector, which provides treatment services to about 60% of the population?” Health Ministry spokesman Dr. Yousuf Al-Haidari told Geopolitics Alert.

The poorest communities living in Yemen’s rural areas, like Hodeidah, are most at risk because they cannot afford transportation to functioning hospitals five-hours away in Sana’a.

Hospitals close in Yemen and the media remains silent
Dr. Yousuf Al-Haidari explained that while 50% of the healthcare sector operates in a country running on simple health infrastructure, the number of people in need of health services after the aggression and siege has multiplied five times over.

Here’s what the current crisis looks like in practical terms:

120 government hospitals and 255 private hospitals
3000 government health centers, 900 private
More than 5000 pharmacies, public and private
Hundreds of laboratories
27 dialysis centers
3 cancer treatment centers
Al-Haidari highlighted the already devastating health crises facing his country:

More than 50,000 total citizens wounded — including men, women, and children — due to the coalition military attacks.
The number of malnourished children (under five) has risen to 2,200,000 out of 5,000,000 children — or 44% — 500,000 of whom are severely malnourished.
1.1 million women of child-bearing age are malnourished which affects their children and future pregnancies.
A woman dies every two hours due to complications of pregnancy and childbirth.
UN reports and MoH reports also say that a Yemeni child dies every 10 minutes from malnutrition or a deadly disease.
48,000 health workers’ salaries have been cut off for 40 months due to the relocation of the Central Bank of Yemen from the capital Sanaa to the city of Aden, under the Saudi-Emirati occupation.
Weaponizing disease
Not only has the Saudi coalition continued its aggression, but it’s also tightened the noose on Yemen’s aid and healthcare in an attempt to strangle Yemen’s most vulnerable civilians to death. Cancer patients, kidney patients, pregnant women, children, and the elderly face the worst consequences.

Many people may not realize how a fuel shortage and blockade affects every aspect of Yemeni healthcare.

95% of the medical devices in Yemeni government hospitals are out of their validity period but doctors must work with them because there is no alternative. Patients with chronic diseases such as diabetes (500k patients), heart disease, kidney failure (6000), kidney transplants (3000), cancer (60k), and other chronic diseases cannot access their medicines due to the high price in the commercial market. The government isn’t able to offer a free or affordable alternative due to the blockade.

MoH spokesman al-Haidari said that dozens of people die from a lack of access to vital medicine every day.

Epidemics have spread again, which disappeared in Yemen decades ago, due to the destruction of Yemeni infrastructure, whether in water or sanitation. As part of the cholera epidemic, 2,099,531 people were infected as of October 5, 2019.

Al-Haidari highlighted that the blockade, deteriorating healthcare system, and poor sanitation has caused medieval diseases to return in Yemen with devastating consequences:

“Another 3,662 never arrived by ambulance to hospitals because of the poor economic conditions, the destruction of roads, and fear of warplanes targeting them and other reasons. This is a catastrophic figure in one epidemic and in the 21st century!”

It’s common for Riyadh to carry out “double-tap” airstrikes that target ambulances, media crews, and EMTs following an initial airstrike on a civilian home or gathering. Last summer, warplanes struck a crowded fish market in Hodeidah and subsequently bombed the entrance to the hospital, killing 55 and injuring over 130.

Compounding the cholera issue, a diphtheria epidemic has also surged with 4,244 infected and 233 killed as of September 2019 — 79% of which were children under 14. Furthermore, H1N1 flu, malaria, dengue fever, measles, and many other epidemics have spread and killed thousands of Yemenis.

Another 42,000 Yemenis died due to the closure of Sanaa airport, which was closed on August 8, 2016 and is still closed today.

“More than 200,000 patients need to travel abroad for treatment and cannot because of the closure. We lose about 30-50 patients daily,” he said.

Why do Yemeni hospitals need gas?
Only 40% of Yemen had access to electricity prior to the war. During the course of the nearly five-year aggression, US-backed Saudi coalition warplanes have bombed vital power stations and equipment that major cities needed to supply power. Most hospitals, factories, hotels, large buildings, and industrial operations all relied on backup gas-powered generators to supply electricity even before the war began.

Many Yemeni homes and communities throughout the capital Sana’a have shifted to solar power to break their reliance on gas. However, it’s not uncommon for the Saudi coalition to target community solar stations as well. While solar power may fill the gap for homes, hospitals and large operations still require gas power.

Yemen is an oil-producing country and home to more than 3 billion barrels of crude oil reserves but the United States and the United Arab Emirates currently occupy Yemen’s major oil fields and export the product.

As a result, Yemenis must import fuel and rely on aid to survive.

The US-Saudi coalition is arbitrarily detaining fuel ships to create a crisis
The unlawful US-backed Saudi-imposed land, sea, and air blockade restricts all imports to Yemen. Before ships dock at Hodeidah port to distribute aid, they must first dock in Djibouti where both the Saudis and UN inspect the ships for weapons and missile supplies.

The process takes weeks and food often rots in the hot African sun before it even makes it to Yemen.

Last month, Sana’a officials and local NGOs revealed that the Saudi coalition had arbitrarily detained at least 13 ships filled with food, fuel, and medical supplies. These ships had already passed inspection in a neighboring port yet Saudi authorities refused to allow the ships to dock and unload in Yemen’s Hodeidah port.

Riyadh’s actions detaining the ships are a blatant violation of the Stockholm Agreement from December 2018 where Yemen’s Sana’a government and members of the Saudi coalition worked out a partial peace deal. While Yemen’s Ansarullah held up their end of the bargain (which included handing over control of Hodeidah port to international observers), the Saudi coalition immediately violated the agreement with airstrikes and military bombardment and continues to do so.

Mohammed Al-Houthi of Sana’a’s Supreme Revolutionary Committee said in a Tweet that the ship detentions prove that the coalition is not interested in peace.

“The escalation of the blockade by detaining ships does not represent positive intentions and does not imply a practical orientation towards peace. The world should realize that exacerbating the humanitarian situation through increasing the blockade is nothing but a catastrophe. Yemen is known to be undergoing the worst humanitarian crisis created by the aggression. We hope to take the matter very seriously as it is purely a humanitarian issue.”

No media coverage for catastrophe in Yemen
Remember the surge of coverage about the so-called “last hospital in Aleppo?” Unsurprisingly, those same journalists are nowhere to be found now that Yemen’s healthcare system is legitimately collapsing due to the actions of Washington, Riyadh, and Abu Dhabi.

A quick Google search shows that on the contrary, promoted articles written by Saudi coalition media outlets actually highlight Saudi “aid” to Yemen.

Source: MWC News
UN warns of ‘incalculable human cost’ in Yemen’s Hodeidah

Hundreds of thousands of lives hang in the balance as fighting in port city threatens food supply, says UN official.

The humanitarian crisis in Yemen has worsened “dramatically” in the last week since UN-sponsored peace talks collapsed and fighting resumed in the port city of Hodeidah.

Lise Grande, UN humanitarian coordinator, said on Thursday that “hundreds of thousands of lives hang in the balance” in rebel-held Hodeidah, where “families are absolutely terrified by the bombardment, shelling and air strikes”.

The three-year war has unleashed the world’s most urgent humanitarian crisis in the nation of 28 million people with 22 million dependent on aid.

The UN warned ongoing fighting in Hodeidah, the entry point for the bulk of Yemen’s commercial imports and aid supplies, could trigger famine in the impoverished nation where an estimated 8.4 million people are facing starvation.

“We’re particularly worried about the Red Sea mill, which currently has 45,000 metric tonnes of food inside, enough to feed 3.5 million people for a month. If the mills are damaged or disrupted, the human cost will be incalculable,” Grande said in a statement.

Battles rage

Yemeni forces, backed by a Saudi Arabia and United Arab Emirates-led coalition, seized the main road linking Hodeidah to the capital Sanaa, blocking a key supply route for the Houthi rebels in control of the country’s north.

“The main entrance in Hodeidah leading to Sanaa has been closed after forces backed by the UAE took control of the road,” a pro-coalition military source told the Reuters news agency.

Residents said the city’s main eastern gate had been damaged in air raids and fighting was continuing on secondary streets off the main road.

There was no immediate word from either side of the conflict on their casualties.

Doctors and medics in two hospitals in Hodeidah province told the Associated Press news agency that 50 people have been killed in the past 24 hours.

Hundreds of civilians have fled their homes in Hodeidah to escape the fighting and heavy smoke was rising above parts of the city, AP quoted officials as saying.

The fighting in Hodeidah intensified following the collapse of UN-sponsored talks in Geneva last week after the Houthi delegation failed to show up.

‘Living hell’

Coalition forces – which aim to restore the internationally recognised government of Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi, who fled Yemen after the Houthi takeover – believe their control over Hodeidah by cutting off supply lines would force the rebels to join the negotiating table.

Martin Griffiths, the UN special envoy on Yemen, is expected to meet Houthi representatives as well as Yemeni government officials living in exile in Saudi Arabia this week in a bid to revive talks.

Meanwhile, Meritxell Relano, UNICEF’s representative in Yemen, said more than 11 million children faced food shortages, disease, displacement, and lack of access to basic services.

“The conflict has made Yemen a living hell for its children,” she said. “An estimated 1.8 million children are malnourished in the country. Nearly 400,000 of them are severely acute malnourished, and they are fighting for their lives every day.”

According to the UN, at least 10,000 people have been killed since the Saudi-Emirati-led coalition intervened in Yemen in 2015. The death toll, however, has not been updated in years and is likely to be much higher.

Source: RT
The death toll in the Yemeni conflict has surpassed 10,000 people, according to “estimates” from a senior UN official, amidst the ongoing chaos in the war-torn country suffering a tremendous humanitarian disaster.

“I don’t know the figures but the estimates are that over 10,000 people have been killed in this conflict and almost 40,000 people injured,” UN Yemen Humanitarian Coordinator Jamie McGoldrick told the reporters at a press conference in Sanaa.

The estimates seem to be pretty rough, since McGoldrick stated in August last year that “at least 10,000 people” had been killed in the protracted conflict.

Previous estimates voiced by McGoldrick were based on “official information” from medical facilities in Yemen, but now, many areas in the war-ravaged country have no medical facilities left. Both local and internationally-supported hospitals have been struck by Saudi-led coalition planes in numerous incidents often blamed on “mistakes” and “bad intelligence.” The statistics are scarce as the dead are often buried without any official records.

“This is a war of aggression being waged by Saudi Arabia. Civilians are being targeted, they are not simply collateral damage,” Brian Becker, National coordinator of the ANSWER coalition told RT.

While McGoldrick gave no breakdown on civilian casualties, October figures from the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), states the conflict has claimed the lives of at least 4,125 civilians and left at least 7,207 wounded, with the majority of the casualties caused by coalition airstrikes.

“These people are committing war crimes routinely, systematically against the people of Yemen. This amounts to Holocaust, not just war crimes it’s Holocaust,” Kim Sharif, a human rights lawyer and director of Human Rights for Yemen, told RT.

“There are about 11 million people in this country who need some sort of protection in terms of human rights, to protect their dignity and their safety,” McGoldrick added at the press conference.

Yemen’s population in 2013 was estimated around 25 million people, which means that roughly a half of Yemenis experience problems with human rights’ implementation and thus need “some sort of protection.” Over 21 million people are in urgent need of “humanitarian assistance,” according to UN World Food Program (WFP) statistics.

“And there’s another 2.9 million living in acutely affected areas, who require legal and other types of support. Some of them are related to being displacement, some of it related to gender-based violence,” McGoldrick added.

However, “legal type of support” might be actually not the most urgent need for Yemenis, since 7.6 million people are “severely food insecure” according to UN’s own statistics.

RT’s Arabic-language crew recently visited the district of Tuhayat on the Red Sea coast, one of these “acutely affected areas.” Most people there, including children, are starving, since the Saudi-led international coalition blockaded the coastal area and deprived the locals from fishing, which was their main source of food, coupled with a an absence of medical care.

The new UN revelations documenting the scale of the humanitarian disaster unfolding in Yemen, came as UN Special Envoy to Yemen, Ismail Ould Cheikh Ahmed, arrived in the southern city of Aden, the temporary capital of the government of president Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi, who was reinstated by the Saudi-led intervention.

The UN envoy was expected to present a new peace plan to Hadi on Monday, according to a spokesman. Previous peace efforts failed, since Hadi urged the Houthis rebels to withdraw from all cities and lay down the arms, while the rebels are pressing for a political deal.

By Afraa Dagher
Source: Syria News
Over 10,000 people have been martyred and 13,000 injured in Yemen since the beginning of the Saudi aggression on Yemen, in March 2015. The latest — though not the last — carnage committed by Saudi Wahhabi absolute monarchy and its disgraceful Arabic Coalition, the Arabic NATO bombed the funeral ceremony for the father of Jalal al Roweishan, Yemen’s Interior Minister. This attack on 8 October was organized and planned in an accurate and savage way. The Saudi-NATO coalition chose the target of mourning, where 2,000 Yemenis were gathering for the funeral. This savage slaughter was 5 days after terrorists bombed the Sanabel Wedding Hall, in al Hasakah province of Syria. These savages kill civilians in times of grief and in times of joy.

These Arab leaders are finally united but not to defend their own countries against the greed of the US. These Arab leaders do not defend oppressed people in Palestine. They made the coalition of Arab against Arab for Arab to kill Arab…to serve the enemy. Saudi is ISIS. The rule “Divide and Conquer” is as old as warfare.

At the bombed funeral hall, as soon as people and medical staff rushed to evacuate the injured who were stuck under rubble which caused by Saudi bomber jets, the Saudi aggressor launched its second raids over those innocent people, which claimed the lives of more than 700 [420 killed and over 250 seriously injured – RT] civilians till now, add to many critically wounded. Saudi bombers also launched a third strike on the same target, after that. Western media now report on fake investigations and report more that Saudis denied these savage bombings.

This scene of devastation in Yemen capital of Sana’a, is so similar to the ones in Syria. The differences come in western reporting. On the rare times that the west is forced to mention massacres on Yemen, everyone plays that they do not know how such a thing happened, and investigations will find out (it is difficult to find a western report that does not demonize Iran, though Iran is not bombing Yemen. Saudis are bombing Yemen.). However the terrorists in Syria are covered by the immunity of “moderate rebels.” Saudi, Qatar, US, Israel and also the European Union support both aggressions whether against Yemen or against Syria.

In Syria, you can notice the same devil way in bombing civilians, with the suicide bombers, always two. There is the first bombing, then after people are gathering to help the injured and carry them to hospitals, the other suicide bomber blows himself by those gathering people.

Same master mind, same hands which are stained by the blood of innocent people of this region.

The scene in Yemen, brings also to our memory, the Israeli massacres , in Sabra, Shatila and Qana. Israel’s Netanyahu once spoke of the good friendship between Israel and the Saudis, and hoped to become even closer allies.

Saudi have been bombing hospitals, schools, buildings, every where in Yemen, Exactly as the so called moderate rebels in Syria, who have been attacking hospitals, ceremonies, weddings, schools.

The international community is supporting Saudi to bomb Yemeni people who rejected the Arab Gulf proxy-puppet president Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi. In March 2015, Hadi flew to Riyadh [ed. Some western sources so praised him as to suggest he rowed himself in a boat while simultaneously fixing holes in it.] This puppet president went to a foreign country and asked it to bomb his own people and the west reports this as Saudis somehow defending themselves. One day after the arrival of the traitor to Riyadh, Saudis began their genocide bombing campaign against the people of Yemen.

While the west supports traitor Hadi, it punishes us, the Syrian people for standing with our president. The western politicians insult us by saying our votes for President Assad are “illegitimate.”

Moreover, we can compare this Saudi led coalition and its destruction to the Yemeni infrastructures and its crimes against Yemeni People. By the latest war crime of the US led coalition against the Syrian Arab Army position in Deir EL-Zour, during the period of the supposed cessation of hostilities.

Furthermore the air strikes of this coalition against Syrian infrastructure. This coalition has bombed our oil refineries, our power plants, and our civilians.

The ironic point is that the United Nations Security Council has turned a blind eye on the Saudi war crimes against Yemeni people, and the US has its advantage by selling its advanced weapons and it is cluster missiles to Saudi, who by its turn ”tests” them on Yemeni civilians. Saudi coward denies its responsibility about this latest crime. And the UNSC needs to do an investigation. Such a naïve lie; who else would bomb Yemen? Maybe some ghosts there? Yemeni resistance does not have warplanes. All the world that has open eyes knows it is Saudi coalition who have been bombing Yemen since March 2015.

Here also, we need to think about the US aggression over Syrians soldiers. The US pretended that it was an accident, an accident that lasted over 50 minutes of bombings and murdered 83 of our soldiers. The UNSC turned a blind eye on that massacre, too and US Ambassador Power was mad that Russia called an emergency meeting about it.

On 29 September our ambassador to the UN, Dr. Bashar al Ja’afari again accused UN personnel of supporting terrorists in our country.

Source: RT
Fighter jets from the Saudi-led coalition hit the Yemeni capital of Sanaa during a massive rally that attracted some 100,000 pro-Houthi rebels and sympathizers of ex-President Abdullah Saleh.

Tens of thousands of people rallied in Sanaa’s central square on Saturday in a powerful display of support for the Shiite Houthi rebels and Saleh. Demonstrators cheered a recently established Supreme Political Council that includes representatives of the Houthi movement, as well as supporters of Saleh.

The huge gathering also denounced Saleh’s successor, Mansur Hadi, who fled the country last year and is seeking reinstatement with military backing from Saudi Arabia.

During the demonstration, fighter jets bombed Yemen’s capital, including the area around the Presidential palace, according to AP. The bombardment resulted in an “unknown number of casualties,” the agency reports, quoting local officials. People on Twitter said that at least three civilians were killed and a number were wounded.

“Suddenly, they started bombing and the crowd started running. I basically bolted out of the area. People started screaming… Because everybody’s very well armed, they started shooting their AK-47s and their machine guns into the sky,” Hisham al-Omeisy said, as quoted by the BBC.

For its part, Saudi Arabia claimed earlier that a rocket had been launched at Narjan, a Saudi city, from Yemen, killing one person and injuring six others, ArabNews reports.

Saudi Arabia has been repeatedly slammed for causing civilian casualties during its bombing campaign. In the latest case on August 13, at least ten children were killed in an airstrike blamed on the Saudi-led coalition that hit a religious school in northwestern Yemen. Doctors Without Borders (MSF) confirmed that 28 youngsters were also injured in that attack. After Saudi jets hit their hospital, killing 19 people, MSF announced on Thursday that it was pulling its staff out of northern Yemen.

In January of this year, the UN condemned Riyadh for carrying out “widespread and systematic” assaults on civilian targets. “The panel documented 119 coalition sorties relating to violations of international humanitarian law,” the UN stated.

Saudi Arabia, along with eight allies, began a military operation in Yemen in March of 2015 at request of Yemeni President Hadi, a Sunni, who fled the country after Shiite Houthi rebels seized the capital of Sanaa. The rebels recognize Abdullah Saleh, who was ousted earlier, as Yemen’s legitimate president.

A UN backed peace process to end the civil war has so far yielded little result. A Supreme Council recently established by the Houthis has been denounced by the government of President Hadi and Riyadh as well.

The latest round of peace talks between the Houthis and supporters of Hadi collapsed on August 6. The UN expected the sides to get back to the negotiating table in September, however that proposal was brushed aside by the rebels because the Saudis have since ramped up their airstrikes, AP reports.

Meanwhile, after a meeting between Russian special representative for the Middle East, Mikhail Bogdanov, and Yemen’s deputy prime minister in Saudi Arabia, Abdulmalik Al-Mekhlafi, Moscow called on both sides to continue to seek a peaceful solution to the ongoing war.

“During the lengthy conversation, we discussed in detail the military, security, and humanitarian situation in Yemen, stressing the need for an urgent peace solution form the crisis in the country,” Bogdanov was quoted by TASS news agency as saying.