Date: Tue, 23 Jun 2015 18:40:16 +0200
After nearly a week of discussions in Geneva, Switzerland the United Nations peace talks to end the fighting in Yemen have adjourned with no resolution to the months-long war.
These talks broke down after the Saudi Arabian and Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) backed politician, the ousted and fugitive President Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi, demanded that he be re-installed as the head-of-state in order for a halt to the bombing of the country which has been taking place daily since March 26.
Anywhere ranging from 2,500-4,000 people has been killed in the bombing and fighting on the ground. Some 500,000 have been reported as dislocated by humanitarian organizations.
Efforts to provide relief assistance by the Islamic Republic of Iran and other popular organizations internationally have been thwarted by the Saudi-GCC alliance backed up by Washington. The Pentagon and the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) are assisting the Riyadh alliance through refueling and the sharing of information.
Although the administration of President Barack Obama has engaged in talks in Oman with the Ansurallah (Houthis) Movement which has taken large areas of the country, the U.S. has come down solidly in favor of the aggressors. With the withdrawal of Special Forces and diplomatic personnel, Washington has sought to maintain its influence through the Saudi-GCC forces.
The Bombing Must Stop Before Peace Can Be Achieved
The Ansurallah (Houthis) demanded that peace cannot be achieved until the Saudi-GCC coalition backed by the U.S. halted the bombing of the country which has gone on for three months.
In a Press TV report from June 21, it says “According to media outlets, in their latest acts of aggression against Yemen on Sunday, Saudi fighter jets, bombarded a Yemeni military base in the district of Harad in the northwestern Yemeni province of Hajjah. The Saudi warplanes had also attacked the district of Abs in the province earlier in the day.”
Continuing this report the same article notes that “Saudi Arabia also pounded residential areas in Yemen’s northwestern province of Sa’ada. There have been no reports on the number of casualties or material damage caused in the latest attacks. Reports also said that a number of Yemeni people were injured in Riyadh’s air blitz on the town of Saqayn in the northern Yemeni province of Sa’ada.”
U.S. supported air strikes killed at least 15 people and injured many more throughout Yemen, the Ansurallah-allied Saba news agency reported on June 21. The people dead included five women and two children in bombing attacks on Saada and Marib provinces, these news reports said. Forces opposed to the Ansurallah reported that they beat back an assault by the Houthis and their allies in Yemen’s army still loyal to former President Ali Abdullah Saleh in the southern city of Dhalea on June 21 in fierce battles which left 17 Ansurallah fighters and two locals dead. (Times of Malta, June 22)
In the southern port city of Aden, four local people died in clashes. Residents living in Aden said the Saudi-GCC coalition delivered artillery including mortar batteries to the anti-Ansurallah militias.
These attacks continue along with al-Qaeda provocations on areas controlled by the Ansurallah forces and their allies within the military still loyal to former President Saleh.
A series of car bombings targeting Ansurallah forces have escalated over the recent period.
The Associated Press reported an “Islamic State-claimed car bomb exploded outside a mosque in Yemen’s capital Saturday (June 20), killing at least two people and wounding six amid the country’s raging civil war, authorities said. The bomb targeted the Qabat al-Mahdi mosque in Sanaa’s old city, where Shiite rebels known as Houthis and others pray, security officials said. The Islamic State group claimed the attack on a Twitter account associated with the extremists, saying it targeted Shiite Houthis, who the Sunni extremists view as heretics.” (June 21)
Attacks on Shiite mosques have occurred in both the capital of Sanaa in Yemen as well as eastern Saudi Arabia. In response the Ansurallah has taken the war into Saudi Arabia, attacking military bases and border checkpoints.
Press TV also reveals as being reflective of taking the war to the imperialist-aligned forces that “In response to Saudi aggression against Yemen, Yemeni forces backed by popular committees, targeted Riyadh’s military bases in the southwestern Saudi province of Jizan, inflicting losses on the Saudi military equipment in Jizan and capturing three military bases there.” (June 21)
Washington Issues Report Still Labeling Iran as a Threat
These developments took place during the same week that the State Department issued a report still charging Iran with supporting “terrorism” despite a recent agreement involving Tehran’s nuclear program.
Such an analysis clearly indicates that hostilities towards Tehran will continue and even escalate over the next year.
The State Department report says “In 2014, Iran continued to provide arms, financing, training and the facilitation of primarily Iraq Shia and Afghan fighters to support the Assad regime’s brutal crackdown. Iran remained unwilling to bring to justice senior Al Qaeda members it continued to detain and refused to publicly identify those senior members in its custody.”
This report suggests an Iran government that is aggressive in its foreign policy taking measures which are contrary to the interests of U.S. imperialism. Although the Obama administration says publicly that it is willing to hold talks with current leaders in Iran, on the ground in the region the hostility persists.
Although it appears that the U.S. and Iran have a common adversary, the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria, the State Department claims that Iran’s role in Iraq risks escalating divisions based upon sectoral interests. Washington is bombing Syria under the guise of combating the IS yet it is committed to overthrowing the government of President Bashar al-Assad in Damascus.
The Obama administration report covers 2014 but says that their hostility towards Iran continues into the present year. Developments in Yemen illustrate that U.S. imperialism regards Tehran as an obstacle to its strategic objectives in the Middle East.
Until imperialism is defeated in the Middle East the ruling classes in the U.S. and Europe will continue to divide and conquer the people of the region.