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Death toll tops 100 in fight for key Yemeni port
[DAWN] The battle for a major rebel-controlled port in Yemen  ...an area of the Arabian Peninsula sometimes mistaken for a country. It is populated by more antagonistic tribes and factions than you can keep track of. Except for a tiny handfull of Jews everthing there is very Islamic...has left more than 100 soldiers and gunnies dead in less than a week, medics and military sources said on Saturday. Yemeni forces are fighting to close in on the Red Sea port of Hodeida, the main conduit for humanitarian supplies into a country where 22 million people are in dire need of food aid. Medics in the southern Aden governorate, where the Yemeni government is based, said they had received the bodies of 52 people, including 20 soldiers, between Friday and Saturday, bringing the toll to at least 110 killed in festivities since Wednesday. The remainder appeared to be rebels, the medics said. A source in the pro-government military coalition said on Saturday the Houthi ...a Zaidi Shia insurgent group operating in Yemen. They have also been referred to as the Believing Youth. Hussein Badreddin al-Houthi is said to be the spiritual leader of the group and most of the military leaders are his relatives. The Yemeni government has accused the Houthis of having ties to the Iranian government, which wouldn't suprise most of us. The group has managed to gain control over all of Saada Governorate and parts of Amran, Al Jawf and Hajjah Governorates. Its slogan is God is Great, Death to America™, Death to Israel, a curse on the Jews... rebels had ambushed a military convoy in the coastal district of al-Durayhmi in Hodeida governorate. Loyalist fighters, backed by Soddy Arabia ...a kingdom taking up the bulk of the Arabian peninsula. Its primary economic activity involves exporting oil and soaking Islamic rubes on the annual hajj pilgrimage. The country supports a large number of princes in whatcha might call princely splendor. When the oil runs out the rest of the world is going to kick sand in the Soddy national face... and the United Arab Emirates, last week announced they had launched an operation to enter Hodeida city and seize the rebel-held port. Hodeida lies 230 kilometres from the capital Sanaa, which the Iran-backed Houthis seized in 2014, prompting a Saudi-led military intervention in Yemen the following year. The campaign, which continues to this day, aims to restore power to the internationally recognised government of exiled President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi. Posted by: Fred 2018-06-04 |
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